LISBON – Councilwoman Melissa Hiner suggested a council of the whole meeting for discussion of the vacant building rules after Mayor Peter Wilson raised an issue with the ordinance, saying there were several flaws with the current section.

The brief discussion took place Tuesday when Wilson suggested the need for a vacant building ordinance rewrite, talking about flaws and pointing out a problem with one building in particular in the downtown area.

According to Wilson, the building is for sale and has a sign, but the phone number to call doesn’t go to the owner.

Hiner, who serves as council president, said they shouldn’t be talking about specific buildings.

“There’s a lot of things we can do with vacant buildings. We need to do something to help people do something with their vacant buildings,” she said.

Wilson again pointed out that the sign has a phone number, but the number isn’t to the owner. The ordinance allows for a waiver of the vacant property monitoring fee if there’s a sign showing it’s for sale or lease, according to the ordinance.

Hiner took issue with Wilson bringing up a particular business and said the topic should be discussed in a council of the whole meeting.

A proposal by Wilson to have council meetings recorded live on video and placed on a YouTube channel was tabled, with Hiner asking Village Solicitor Alec Beech to look into it, saying it needs to be done legally. Wilson said he just received the quote the day before from Weber Technology, saying the initial cost for equipment would be $111, with a fee of $30 per meeting. With 23 meetings per year, that comes to $690 plus the $111.

This would give residents who can’t attend the meetings more access.

Council members said no to Wilson’s request to apply for a Spotted Lantern Fly Mitigation grant, with the application due Friday. The grant requires a 10 % match and he said they could use village manpower to take down some Tree of Heaven plants, which attract the Spotted Lantern Fly, and educate the public.

Hiner questioned having the village employees do it and said she didn’t think the village should do this. He said the grant pays for eradication. He asked for permission to apply for $4,000 and said they would not overspend the grant.

“I would say no, we don’t have enough information,” Hiner said.

Councilman Joe Morenz questioned how many trees would be taken for that amount of money. He also said this is probably too much, too fast.

Beech updated council members on reducing speed limits, saying council can’t lower a speed limit by itself, but can petition the Ohio Department of Transportation to reduce a speed limit, which would require a speed study.

Morenz noted in school crossings or within 300 feet of a school the speed could be limited to 20 mph. Beech will look into the possibility.

Regarding a team building session being sponsored by the Rural Community Assistance Partnership, Hiner said it was a little misleading the way it was presented before. It was presented as two hours, but then they learned it could be a possible four-hour course. Wilson said council could choose what they want to do, either two hours or four hours.

He said it’s about communication and “gives us the tools needed to do the best for the village.”

He said it will be a great platform to share ideas and if everybody gets to know each other better, they could get even more accomplished.

The consensus was to do a two-hour session.

Lisbon resident Jeff DeCourt approached council about installing retaining walls or back stops at the pickle ball court, saying it could be a liability issue. He also said the court surfaces are in sorry shape. He said there’s a company in Nebraska that can resurface bad courts and bring them “back up to snuff.”

Councilman Jerry Cox said there’s a company in Canfield that does the same thing and came to see the court.

Council agreed to spend $1,450 for stump grinding by Barnes Tree Service for stumps on South Lincoln Avenue in the 200 block, Washington Street behind the VFW, two stumps in front of the Morenz house on South Lincoln Avenue and one stump at the neighboring house on South Lincoln Avenue.

“I did not ask for any of this stuff to be done by my house,” Morenz commented, abstaining from the vote.

In other matters, council approved a resolution to support the Ohio Commission for the U.S. Semiquincentennial (America250-OH), tabled an update on the catch basins project, learned the village will wait until March to get bids for the village hall roof project, approved a resolution to have a full-time officer assigned to the Columbiana County Drug Task Force and accept $20,000 toward the cost from the county commissioners, and accepted the price of $180 per hour for street sweeping by Everbrite, Inc. this year in the spring and again before the Johnny Appleseed Festival.

The next council meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 10.