Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
Garage sale signs grounded in Coldwater
By Betty Lawrence
COLDWATER - Garage sales are nice, but they need governed, say village officials.
Councilors heard first reading Monday evening on a new ordinance that annually will limit the number of garage/yard sales per address in the village, as well the length of the sale.
Also, Village Manager/Engineer Eric Thomas says garage and yard sale signs that are placed on the village's utility poles, be it wood or metal, should not be there and will come down.
"I have taken down several and we'll continue to do it," Thomas said at Monday's council meeting. "There have been some people who taped them on the metal poles and unfortunately, the paint comes off when you take the signs off. There's a place for the signs and that's on the ground, where they don't block views and, with the owner's permission."
The ordinance, which spells out garage and yard sale regulations, states any person can conduct two sales per address within a calendar year and each garage sale must be limited to four consecutive days of operation.
Participation in the village's annual community garage sale does not count toward the authorized sales.
Other sales listed in the ordinance include basement sales and any similar sale by a person who is not in the retail or wholesale sales business and who is not licensed.
Thomas reported the Seventh Street sewer and water project is coming along and expects the work to wrap up by the end of the week. In the course of the work, Vine Street will be closed to traffic one day this week, he said.
Finance committee chairman Rob Fisher reported that Area 8 Workforce Investment Act (WIA) representative Bea Kriegel was present at an Aug. 31 meeting to go over the WIA youth program that places people in jobs at no expense to the village.
"It's turning out well, one of the WIA workers is with us and we'll keep him as long as possible," Thomas added.
In other action, councilors:
• Went into executive session to discuss personnel with no action taken.
• Hashed over options for repair/replacement of the village's skid loaders with action tabled for further discussion.
