Trending
LISBON -- Lisbon Village Council approved an environmental study for the replacement of the Pritchard Avenue bridge for $13,790 from Mentor-based HZW Environmental Consultants.
Lisbon Mayor Peter Wilson said money has already been budgeted for the environmental study, which came in less than the $30,000 the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) predicted.
"It was much cheaper than ODOT estimated," Wilson said.
Council approved a right-of-way study in December for $18,585, the second item required in order to access Ohio grant funds to complete the project, Wilson said.
"This is the only thing the village needs to do, the environmental study and the right-of-way, everything else is already paid for by the state through the grant," he said.
HZW submitted the lowest of four bids for the environmental study. Wilson noted that if HZW finds mussels in the creek under the bridge, it would add between $7,000 and $8,000 to the cost for "additional work," because mussels are an endangered species.
"There's mussels in that creek," council member Jerry Cox said.
During the fire department report, Lisbon Fire Chief Mark Hall announced that the department received a matching grant of $7,547.50 from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. With the village's 50% match, the funds will total $15,095 and will go toward buying a new sliding unit for the department's grass fire pick-up truck. The sliding unit can go into the back of the pick-up truck and includes a pump, water tank, and hose reel, Hall said after the meeting.
"Our grass fire truck, the unit on the back of there, is old, off the back of a 1976 Jeep," Hall said at the meeting.
In other business, council approved the purchase of three globes for decorative street lights from StressCrete Group for a total of $2,299.
"The price has not changed," Wilson said.
"I have a feeling this is going to reoccur," Street Department Supervisor Jim Oliver said. "Most of the globes are sun-baked so they're really brittle."
Council also approved a $1,994.68 repair to the street department's 2012 Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD dump truck with Lisbon's Brothers Mechanical Repair Service LLC.
In other business, council approved individualized keychains for members of the police and fire department, which will be made and donated by Lisbon resident Kiana Howe in "appreciation for first responders," Wilson said. Howe requested the unit numbers for each member in both departments to include the numbers and the police or fire department logos on the keychains.
Wilson informed council that 10 new LED lights have been installed at Cedar Street Park and he has heard positive comments about them, although there have already been two instances of vandalism. He said additional lights or extra security cameras may be needed to deter vandalism.
At its next meeting on Feb. 27, the village council will consider a draft moratorium banning cannabis businesses from Lisbon for a specified period of time.
Village Council President Melissa Hiner recommended a moratorium, since the state has not yet finalized rules for recreational cannabis businesses, and she suggested that zoning regulations for regulating cannabis businesses in Lisbon be studied.
Lisbon Mayor Peter Wilson mentioned that while attending a mayor's roundtable meeting with Ohio State Rep. Monica Robb Blasdel on Monday, Blasdel said she doesn't know when the Ohio General Assembly will pass regulations governing the operation of recreational cannabis businesses.
Ohio voters passed a referendum last November, Issue 2, that legalized the use, cultivation, and purchase of cannabis by adults 21 and older, but the Ohio General Assembly has yet to implement rules around legal cannabis.
"It has to be done by the end of the year," Wilson said of the rulemaking.
Wilson told Village Solicitor Alec Beech he will give him Salem's moratorium resolution to adjust it for Lisbon.
The Salem resolution, passed in January, implemented a 12-month moratorium on the issuance of building permits and/or certificates of occupancy for any building, structure, use, or change of use that would enable the cultivation, processing, or retail sale of recreational cannabis in the city limits.
The village council will next meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 27 at village hall.