The Greenfield Village Council met on Monday, June 17 to discuss current issues and oversee pending legislation.

During her report to the council, Finance Committee Chair Mary Ellen McMurry said the committee met to review the 2025 tax budget and other financial issues.

“The $5.3 million grant that we received from the state will not come through Greenfield,” McMurry said. “Ross County is going to be the one handling that money and disbursing that money to the vendors for that work … The water fund at the end of the year 2025 right now is estimated to be around $100,000. The sewer fund is estimated to be around $590,000.”

She said the city is going to check on the requested estimates to determine if the city will be able to reduce the water rate increases for next year.

She also discussed funding for the water tower.

“We do need to send out for new bids on that, but we are waiting until we actually get the funding and the guidance from Sherrod Brown’s Office for that $500,000 grant, but the latest estimate that we did receive was less than $500,000,” McMurry said.

She also discussed repairs that need to be made to the electronics on the water tower from damage caused by a lightning strike. She said that included that they need to manually read all of the town’s meters until they can get it fixed, with the repairs to cost around $40,000.

“There will also be something tonight for entries in the street fund and cemetery fund for an urban forestry grant,” she said. “This is the grant that we will use and then we will be reimbursed for that money.”

She discussed the third reading of an ordinance to appropriate $20,000 for special elections.

“It was recommended to table this for tonight because we do not know what the cost will be now that that item is going to be under the general election ballot in November rather than the special election,” McMurry said.

In other news, Greenfield City Manager Todd Wilkin announced Porter Roe as the Greenfield Citizen of the Month. Roe wrote a letter to the village stating that Greenfield needed an official flag, and included his drawing of a proposed version of the flag.

“What I love about this is that we have a young man, ten years old, who took his own initiative to write a letter,” Wilkin said. “I couldn’t imagine writing a letter at ten years old to any local government for that matter, so I love the initiative that you took in drawing this and sending it to my office, and for that, I feel like we need to recognize you as a Citizen of the Month for Greenfield.”

Wilkin also presented the Spring Home and Garden Award to Mike and Judy Conklin, who live on South Washington Street.

“We’ve been doing this for five years, and for five years I’ve recommended your home to receive this award, and this year I said if your home doesn’t get this, nobody deserves to get this award,” he said.

Wilkin then announced Tate Wagner as the village Employee of the Month, thanking him for his “dedication” to the village and for keeping the wastewater treatment plant in compliance.

Wilkin said reported that the village’s railroad project is nearly complete.

“There is some cleanup that has to occur yet with the railroad ties that are still being cleaned up,” he said.

He also said the project can be funded through the Ohio Department of Development, so the village will not need to obtain a bank loan.

“We do have an invoice right now of about $662,000,” Wilkin said. “That’s not the final bill, but the two intersections that have been rebuilt – one on State Route 134 and then on State Route 73 – have gotten a lot of good feedback.

Wilkin announced that he plans to move the village’s 225 Celebration from July 6 to September 14 because documents showed the 125th anniversary of Greenfield was celebrated in September. He said a $10,000 grant and funding from the railroad project will be used to fund the celebration which may include fireworks.

Sarah Blair of No Child in Need requested permission to stay in Mitchell Park after dark to hold a movie night on June 22. The council voted to approve the event to be allowed until midnight that evening.

An ordinance to increase appropriations of the 101 General Fund of the Village of Greenfield and within the 2024 budget was approved on its third reading.

An ordinance to amend the pay step schedule for non-police personnel to create the position of human resources generalist was approved on its third reading.

An ordinance to increase appropriations of the 101 General Fund of the Village of Greenfield and within the 2024 budget was tabled.

“On this one here, my recommendation is that, per the finance committee tonight, we table this,” Wilkin said. “This is for the special election, and then once we find out what the cost will be then we bring it back off the table with amendments if needed.”

An ordinance authorizing the repeal and replacement of an ordinance in order to prevent cutting off utilities on a holiday or the day before was approved on its third reading.

An ordinance approving and adopting the 2024-2028 Countywide All Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan prepared by RFG Associates Inc. was moved to a third reading.

An ordinance to increase appropriations of the 201 Street Fund and 203 Cemetery Fund of the Village of Greenfield and within the 2024 budget was moved to a third reading.

An ordinance approving the Solid Waste Management Plan for the Ross-Pickaway-Highland-Fayette Joint Solid Waste Management District was approved on its first reading as an emergency.

“This is what provides for the recycling bins that we see around town and throughout the counties, and they do this revision every several years,” Wilkin said. “It’s run by the commissioners technically, so we are just agreeing to be part of the program.”

An ordinance to increase appropriations of the 600 Water Fund of the Village of Greenfield and within the 2024 budget was approved as an emergency on its first reading to allocate money to repair the electronics on the water tower caused by lightning.

A resolution authorizing the city manager to accept the bid of and execute an agreement with Anthony Thompson for the work at 137 Washington St., a property currently owned by the village, was moved to a third reading.

A resolution adopting the 2025 tax budget for the Village of Greenfield and authorizing the city manager to execute the plan was moved to a second reading.

“Understand that what is in this is a wish list, it is not next year’s budget,” Wilkin said.

Reach John Hackley at 937-402-2571.