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Village council approved the first phase of a new major paving project and discussed health insurance options for village employees in its March meeting.
The paving project will see the currently damaged concrete on the section of Walnut Street between Main and high Streets cut out and repoured in three sections. Mayor Kevin Siembida said the program is being planned in sections as each section will take about eight days to complete from the removal of old concrete, installation of new rebar and curing of new concrete. Siembida also cited cost as reason for taking a segmented approach, saying each section has an estimated cost of $45,000 for a total approximate cost of $135,000 to completely repave the hill.
The funds for the project will be drawn from the Permissive Motor Vehicle License Tax Fund, which Fiscal Officer Nick Mistovich said averages approximately $45,000 per year in revenue from the state of Ohio through permissive sales tax. At the time of the meeting the fund's balance was $45,493.09, having accrued approximately $10,000 this year, with a further $35,000 in revenue anticipated throughout the remainder of 2023. Mistovich said any cost overruns would be paid from the general fund. Further phases are to be completed when funding becomes available at council discretion.
The new health insurance policy will be available to the village's full-time employees and has an anticipated annual cost to the village of $46,074. The wait period for the policy was set for 90 days, and if an employee's spouse is offered insurance through their own employer, they are required to be covered through their employer's policy rather than being covered by the village employee's insurance. In the event a village employee has a child that is eligible for coverage under their spouse's insurance policy, it is left to the parents to decided which policy they want the child to be insured under. It is anticipated the program will take effect on June or July 1, barring any complications, and will be backdated to the employee's start date. The village's insurance policies must be reviewed and reconsidered each year.
In his report Siembida also thanked the Washingtonville Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5532 for its recent donation to the village.
"I would like to personally thank the Washingtonville VFW for their donation of $1,000 for the purchase of American flags for the streets, so I wanted to take a minute to personally thank them, and we will be sending them a letter of thanks from the village for their generous donation, as well," said Siembida.
Village council will meet next at 6:30 p.m. April 5.
mahart@mojonews.com