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By Lucas Bechtol lbechtol@bryantimes.com
Jul 11, 2022
PIONEER — After seven months of work, State Street in Pioneer is all but finished.
The project gave North and South State streets new curbs, storm drainage, waterline and sidewalks and resurfaced State Street, along with work on other side roads.
It started in January and Pioneer Village Administrator Al Fiser said at Monday’s regular village council meeting that work was “basically done.”
“We haven’t submitted, yet, but we do have a punch list with a number of items like land repair, seeding, stuff like that,” he said. “We’ll be meeting and getting that straightened out. Overall, the project went pretty well.”
Village workers will begin replacing mailboxes on State Street today with U.S. Postal Service delivery returning on Wednesday or Thursday, he said.
When asked about road closed signs still being up at Ohio 15 and 20, Fiser said responsibility for their removal falls on the Ohio Department of Transportation.
Mayor Ed Kidston said ODOT — which did the reconstruction work on State Street, which is also Ohio 15 — wanted to keep traffic down while they finished laying the asphalt.
Anthony Burnett, street department supervisor, said the contractors also still have several street signs they need to put into place.
Separately, council discussed village policies on fireworks and four-wheelers.
In terms of fireworks, Councilman Randy Cochran asked if the village would opt out of a new state law allowing fireworks on certain days of the year.
Police Chief Tim Livengood said many municipalities around the state were opting out and he had discussed it with Village Solicitor Tom Thompson.
Kidston said he generally wasn’t a fan of opting out.
“I personally don’t like making rules to take entertainment away from people, if they can do it in a safe manner,” he said. “I’m in favor of restricting. I don’t want people doing it three weeks from now.”
Kidston suggested council give their thoughts to Fiser and they can talk about it more at next month’s meeting.
Along that same vein of rules and regulations, Fiser said they need to establish policy regarding four-wheelers at the park.
“I’ve had a couple people call and ask about our policy,” he said.
Livengood said the village doesn’t have a policy but generally tries to follow state statute, meaning ATVs shouldn’t be on the road.
To really crack down on it, he said if these vehicles were to be on the road they would have to be street legal. That means the vehicle is registered, has a license plate, a driver at least 16 years old and so on.
Kidston again said he doesn’t like making rules when he doesn’t have to, and those vehicles are great for elderly people who can drive them up to the baseball fence and watch their grandkids play sports.
When asked, Livengood said he hasn’t seen people abusing rules.
“I’ve only had to make a couple of corrections with some juveniles out on golf carts,” he said. “By and large, I don’t see it getting abused. I do see more out on the road.”
In other business, council:
• Heard from a citizen who had flooding issues on part of his land after a village project a couple years ago.
• Councilwoman Traci Filson asked about putting a fence up at the river on the west side of the foot bridge at Crommer Park. Kidston said people have asked about a fence there for years but they “haven’t lost a kid, yet.” He said the council can discuss putting a fence up after they complete an upcoming project on the riverbank.
• Heard from Kidston and Livengood that the Kaleb McLaughlin Ride to Remember and Organ Donation Awareness Event went well.
• Appointed Councilman Ben Fiser to the board for Williams County Economic Development Corporation with a 5-0 vote. Ben abstained.
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