By Martha Jacob –
It was a bitter sweet meeting on Dec. 13 as Fayetteville Council members said good bye to two of their own, Harriett Kleemeyer and Joe Huber.
New council members Wendy Evans and Eileen Erion will be sworn in before the January 2018 meeting.
Fire chief Mark Rosselott spoke briefly to council about possible ideas for possible events planned for the village as its sesquicentennial is celebrated. “I’m here to talk a little about our 150th celebration of our village,” Rosselott said. “We just had our business meeting last Sunday and everyone agrees that our fire department wants to continue celebrating our Fireman’s Festival which is held on Father’s Day each year. We’re going into our 64th year.”
“But, we do need to know what the village is planning on doing about the sesquicentennial. We have our festival, the church festival is always on Labor Day so my question is, and can we really support another big event? I’m not so sure we can.”
Fayetteville Mayor Randy Carson said a committee will be formed to help organize a sesquicentennial celebration. He said because the village has limited funds, the event will most likely be a two day event.
“We all know that we cannot afford to put something huge on in our village,” Carson said. “So what we’ve been talking about doing is join in with the Fireman’s Festival and combine both festivals. Have the festivals with the sesquicentennial, adding our big car show, a fireworks display at Lake Lorelei, organize a baseball tournament, maybe even a queen pageant, have some good entertainment, and make the whole weekend of Father’s Day celebrating.”
Council went on to discuss ongoing efforts to force property owners to clean up their properties or be sited for violating warnings to move old cars and trash. Council discussed planning a special Clean-up Day, similar to the clean-up days held by Perry Township and provides dumpsters for residents for a couple days, the first of May.
Council also talked about plans to fix the sidewalk problems in the village which forces pedestrians to walk in the streets creating a safety issue. Councilwoman Tina Houk told council that she is working on trying to get the village flags taken down and could possibly consider hiring a tree service to help take them down safely.
Administrator Bob Campbell asked for the third and final reading of an ordinance increasing the water rates by 3%.
Fayetteville’s Solicitor Cecelia Potts met briefly with council and updated them on court matters regarding the village and upcoming contract issues.
Fayetteville Police Chief Chad Essert asked council to consider a pay raise for his department to bring their salaries comparable to area departments of the same size. Following a brief discussion, council agreed to review the request. The chief also talked about a new program his department now has that will automatically gather statistics from his department and categorizing them for council.
Chief Essert said he is still having problems with his cruisers but was able to get one of his vehicles back on the road for only $200, but it still needs front-end work done. He said he is looking forward to taking five local kids from Fayetteville on the Shop With a Cop’ event set for Tuesday, Dec. 19.