Minister council approves levy to go on general election ballot

MINSTER — At its meeting on Tuesday night, Minster councilors suspended the rules and approved placing a levy on the Nov. 2 ballot that would benefit the village’s fire and emergency management services.

The measure is for a 3-year, 3-mill levy for fire and EMS that generates $293,101 per year, said Village Administrator Don Harrod.

The measure must be certified by the Auglaize County Board of Elections by Aug. 4.

This will be the second term for the levy as it was first approved in 2018.

Also Tuesday, Craig Sherman was sworn in as Minster council’s newest member, replacing the seat left vacant by Paul Enneking.

Enneking served on the village for 12 years and stepped down as he and his family were moving out of the area.

Council also passed a resolution accepting bids for the village’s minor street resurfacing project.

Streets slated to be improved this year include: Stadium Drive, which was last resurfaced in 1985; Green Hills Drive, which was last resurfaced in 1996; state Route 66 access road, which was last resurfaced in 1998; Park Place Drive which was last resurfaced in 2001; Savannah Place, which was last resurfaced in 2001; Northcrest Drive, which was last resurfaced in 2000; and the intersection of Cleveland and Seventh streets.

Council approved a bid of $312,869.60 from Barrett Paving Materials out of Franklin to complete the work.

Harrod told councilors the village received three total bids for the project with the other two being:

Buehler Asphalt Paving, St. Marys, at $326,914.75 and the Shelly Company, Shelly, at $327,451.25.

Harrod said that the engineer’s original estimate for the project was $284,926 but due to higher cost of materials, the bids were up.

Harrod said the village had originally appropriated $324,000 for the project.

In other business:

• Harrod reported that crews from Minster Concrete Coatings were continuing to work on applying rubber surfacing underneath the new playground equipment at Four Seasons Park. He said they are installing the top section of the rubber this week and should be complete by the end of the week as long as the weather holds.

• Council heard Harrod say that the electric department is continuing to work on setting new poles along Main Street, north of state Route 119 and Bensman Road.

• Council approved the June invoice from Washington, D.C. law firm Duncan and Allen for $22,290.40.

• During his committee report, Councilor Craig Oldiges thanked the parks department for their work during the Minster Classic last weekend. “I talked with a few different people not from Minster over the weekend that were amazed how our parks held up and they were able to play at the Classic this weekend,” he said. “They said it was amazing how many people were helping. Definitely a huge kudos to our parks guys and everybody that was out there.”