ARCANUM — The Arcanum Village Council met on Tuesday evening to discuss village electricity, traffic lights and tornado sirens.

Village Administrator Bill Kessler told the council that after tests were done earlier this month by disconnecting village transformer lines and and testing the village transformers, it was determined that the issue was unrelated to the transformers and that a cable line was tied up in a gear switch near downtown. Kessler noted that this issue was much cheaper to fix than if there were an issue with a village transformer.

“We thought we would have to replace a transformer, that’s $10,000 to $12,000,” he said. “We ended up spending $2,850 to have High Voltage maintenance come in.”

Next, Safety Committee Chairman Rick Genovesi told the council that the committee received final approval from the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) to move forward with a new stop light they want to install on both sides of Trojan Avenue near the school building. The project includes crosswalks and a flashing yellow caution light that the committee plans to have operating during school hours only.

Genovesi, along with Kessler, Utility Committee Chairman Tim Philipot Sr., Arcanum Superintendent John Stephens and School Resource Officer John Wilt met with Capitol Electric on Tuesday on sight at the school building as a first step in proceeding with the project.

“There’s so much involved in this project,” Genovesi said. “It’s amazing, Tim and I found out today when these guys came out and showed us, and talked to us about everything that it’s going to take to get these lights up. It’s going to be a process. But we have to go through it methodically to do the best job we can for this village.”

The project will be funded by both the village using State of Ohio Highway funds and the school using ODOT Safeway to School grant funds. The council said they don’t expect to have it complete any earlier than spring 2022.

Lastly, Genovesi told the council there are issues with the village tornado sirens not functioning properly in recent storms. Kessler said he will contact Federal Signal to see if they have a stronger antenna the village can purchase, as he thinks with the intensity of the storm that the radio signal wasn’t strong enough. The village will test the sirens on Monday, with someone at every siren.

Arcanum Village Council meets the second and last Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m.