GREENVILLE — Park appropriations, easements, the hiring of an assistant law director, and an increase in the number of police officers were among the items considered by the Greenville City Council at its meeting Tuesday night.

Council approved an ordinance authorizing appropriations of $1,500 for additional concessions to sell and $4,000 to cover salaries at Greenville’s Municipal swimming pool.

City Auditor Roxanne Willman told council the increases were due to more people using the pool than anticipated.

“Due to the exceptionally warm weather that we’ve had, pool attendance has been very high,” she said. “There’s obviously been more candy and pop consumed than ever before, last year was quite a bit different, and the pool being open more often required more lifeguards needed.”

She noted that the revenue from the pool’s operations has already exceeded estimates budgeted for 2016.

Council approved ordinances accepting permanent easements for roadway construction at the following locations:

• Northwest corner of the intersection of Virginia Avenue and East Main Street;
• Northeast corner of the intersection of East Main and Ohio Streets;
• Northwest corner of the intersection of East Main and Ohio Streets;
• Southeast corner of the intersection of East Main Street and Virginia Avenue.

City Law Director Eric Brand thanked the residents at the locations for their cooperation with the city, calling it a “great act of citizenship.”

“For those four corners, if you will, we’re paying $1,687.10. Since the appraisals alone were $2,000, we’ve saved a lot of money and I think that all those property owners should be commended,” he said.

Council also approved an ordinance hiring Chance Cox to provide the services of assistant law director at a pay rate of $24,000 per year.

Noting that the Greenville City School District had hired a second School Resource Officer, Safety/Service Director Curt Garrison explained the purpose of an ordinance, which was approved, to increase the number of Greenville Police officers from 16 to 17.

“That will pull [Officer Ryan Boroske] from the road and that will leave a vacancy in the current numbers that we have patrolling the streets in the City of Greenville,” he said.

Garrison also asked council to share its thoughts on providing sewer and water services to Erwin Bros. Trucking of Ansonia, Ohio. The company, currently constructing a fuel stop station south of Greenville, had requested to be tied in to water and sewer services from the city but has yet to sign off on a pre-annexation agreement.

Council had previously tabled an ordinance which would have created an exception to city code to allow the city to provide water and sewer utility services to Darke County properties, including the Sheriff’s Office, the County Home, and the under-construction ODOT and Erwin Bros. properties outside of the corporate limits.

Garrison recommended that the city should insist on certain conditions as a prerequisite for an agreement with the Erwin Bros. facility, including the installation of curbs, sidewalks, storm infrastructure, and a widening of the road, noting his opinion that with its current two 12-foot lanes, the road would not easily accommodate expected semi-truck traffic.

“You’ve got [Ohio Department of Transportation] semis, you’ve got big dump trucks that will be going into one side,” he said. “It’s a fuel center, you’re going to have semis coming in. You have 12-foot lanes, there’s no turn lane.”

“If the city’s going to take this on, there may need to be some road widening that’s associated with that when that happens,” he added. “In my opinion, it would be better…that we would hold fast, that if we’re going to sell our water and our sewer outside of the city, that we would hold those who are developing that land to city standards.”

Council agreed by consensus to the terms recommended by the safety/service director, who will relay the city’s concerns to Erwin Bros. Trucking and the county.

Council also agreed to consider legislation in a future meeting for upgrades to the Police Department’s outdoor camera system. The cost to upgrade will be $2,908 and will include 13 new cameras, new cable and a new television monitor.

“Some of them are failing completely, others are just old technology and the picture’s unclear. We would like to do an upgrade to provide better security around our police department and on city property,” Garrison said.

Garrison informed council that Capt. Russell Thompson of the Greenville City Fire Department has been named interim fire chief following the resignation of Chief Mark Wolf. A fire chief’s promotional examination will be held September 6.

Greenville City Council meets the first and third Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in the city’s Municipal Building. The meetings are open to the public.