04-30-03: Ohio to give $300,000 to Mendon

04-30-03: Ohio to give $300,000 to Mendon

By TIMOTHY COX
The Daily Standard

    MENDON - Village officials learned Tuesday the town has been approved for a $300,000 Ohio Department of Development grant aimed at improving economically distressed communities.
    The grant money is three times more than Mendon's annual general fund budget. Mayor Ron Griesdorn has called the grant the best thing to ever happen to the town.
    Village officials have pledged to provide an additional $70,000 in matching money over two years, and Mercer County Commissioners have stated their intentions to grant the town up to $50,000 over two years, giving village leaders $420,000 to begin the reconstruction of Main Street.
    Jared Ebbing, an engineer for Fanning/Howey Associates, Celina, told village officials about the grant award at Tuesday's regular meeting. The villages of Ohio City, New Weston and Bradford also were approved for $300,000 grants, Ebbing said.
    Ebbing praised village officials for their work in securing the grant funding. Without the public meetings, income surveys and outside assistance from county officials, the town likely would not have received the award, he said.
    "Those things helped put them over the top," Ebbing said. "It just proves that when a community comes together, look what you can get."
    Mendon qualified for the special program after an income survey of the town showed that 64 percent of residents met low- to moderate-income guidelines.
    The money represents a huge influx of money into the town that will pay for a project the town likely could have never financed on its own. Complete reconstruction of the road surface and the installation of curb and gutter along the entire 3,000-foot stretch could cost an estimated $1.2 million. Officials are hoping they can do one-third to half of the project with the first round of funding.
    Mendon would be eligible to apply for further distressed community funding next year, but program administrators likely would look elsewhere for a community in need of funding, Ebbing said. But that doesn't mean there isn't more grant money available for Mendon.
    Ebbing said he plans to use the $420,000 in grant and local money as a match to apply for an additional $300,000 in Ohio Public Works Commission Issue II money. The sizable local match makes it a good possibility the town can secure additional funding, he said.
    "The goal is to get the entire street done. We're going to do everything we can to get as much assistance with that as possible," Ebbing said.
    Also Tuesday, discussion about filling the vacant cemetery sexton's position led to the resignation of Bill Snider as the town's street commissioner. Snider will continue to serve as utilities superintendent.
    The sexton post has been vacant since the end of 2002 and officials have had no luck in finding someone interested and qualified. Council members decided Tuesday that the work could be done by village employees and assigned the task to the street commissioner. But Snider did not want the extra work and resigned his title of street commissioner. Snider said the town's other employee, Randy Severn, should be responsible for the street commissioner work, including the new cemetery duties, anyway.
    In other business Tuesday, council members:
    - Passed second reading of a resolution transferring $3,000 from the general fund to the cemetery fund.
    - Passed second reading of a resolution authorizing a contract with the Mercer County Emergency Medical Service for ambulance service.
    - Passed second reading of an ordinance granting 3.5 percent pay raises to village employees with the pay hikes retroactive to Jan. 1.
    - Passed final reading of an ordinance to participate in an American Municipal Power of Ohio study to see if the cooperative should develop a new coal-based electricity plant.
    - Passed second reading of an ordinance amending the town's grass and weed ordinance that allows officials to respond faster to complaints and problems.
    - Passed second reading of an ordinance that prohibits construction debris from being stored in open view.
    - Passed second reading of an ordinance amending the junk car ordinance that gives alleged violators more time to remedy any problems.
    - Passed second reading of an ordinance that bans tractor trailers from parking anywhere within the village or driving semis on streets that are not designated highways.
    - Passed second reading of an ordinance removing Presidents day from the list of paid holidays for village workers and adding the day after Thanksgiving.

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