November 20, 2003

Council business—
First session held for new Council

Four of the five faces were the same, but nonetheless Monday night’s meeting marked the first session of the new Village Council.

Before a small audience of mainly family and friends, Yellow Springs Mayor David Foubert swore in Mary Alexander, George Pitstick and Jocelyn Hardman, the three Council members who were elected in the November election. They joined Tony Arnett and Denise Swinger on Council.

Of the five, only Hardman, who received a four-year term in the election, is new to Council. Alexander, who garnered the most votes on Nov. 4 and received a four-year term, was appointed to Council in the spring to fill a vacancy. Pitstick was re-elected this month and received a two-year term. The three Council members were the only candidates to appear on the ballot.

Foubert, who ran unopposed in the election, also was sworn in and will serve his seventh term in office.

Council re-elected Arnett as the board’s president. He was the only person nominated for the post. Council elected Swinger as vice president. She also was the only person nominated.

As it typically does during its first meeting after an election, Council named its representatives to its boards and commissions. Council unanimously approved the representative posts.

Arnett will continue to serve as Council’s liaison to the Village Mediation Program Steering Committee and the Community Council. He will also serve as an alternate representative to the Village Planning Commission, the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission and its Transportation Committee.

Alexander will continue to serve on the Cable Advisory Panel. She also volunteered to serve on the Library Commission and the Greene County Regional Planning and Coordinating Commission.

Hardman will serve on the Village Environmental Commission and the Human Relations Commission. She also volunteered to serve as the alternate Council liaison to the Yellow Springs Chamber of Commerce.

Pitstick will continue to serve on the Village Planning Commission. He is also the alternate representative to the Environmental Commission.

Swinger volunteered to continue representing Council on the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission and its Transportation Committee and the Chamber of Commerce, on which she is the vice president. She will also serve as an alternate representative on the Human Relations Commission, the Cable Advisory Panel and the county Planning Commission.

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In other Council business:

• Council unanimously approved four grant applications, all of which will be sent to the state and federal governments, seeking funds for improvements at three Village facilities.

Two applications seek funding to replace the Yellow Springs Library boiler and make the library more accessible. The former project would cost an estimated $125,000. The latter is projected to cost $40,000. This project involves redesigning the handicapped entryway to the library and repairing the facade of the building’s columns and stairs.

The third application would provide funds to repair the Gaunt Park Pool gutter system, which is leaking. The project is estimated to cost $100,000. The fourth application is seeking $74,000 to upgrade the heating and cooling system in the Bryan Community Center.

• Council unanimously approved the first reading of an ordinance adjusting the Village wage scale to reflect an increase in responsibility for Harold “Dunie” Hamilton. Hamilton, who oversees the streets and sewer departments, is now also responsible for maintaining the Village parks and facilities. A second reading of the ordinance will take place at Council’s next meeting, Dec. 2.