11-18-02: Montezuma gets time to pay for park work

11-18-02: Montezuma gets time to pay for park work

By LANCE MIHM
The Daily Standard

    MONTEZUMA - A six-month window for payment may allow the village of Montezuma to pay for the park project without getting a loan, councilors learned Saturday at the regular council meeting.
    Montezuma Park committee chairman Randy Garman said Celina-based Shinn Brothers, the construction company revamping the park, will allow the village to pay for the project in payments until grant money is received to cover the cost.
    The park project will cost approximately $38,000, and the village is responsible for about $9,500 of that cost. The rest of the project will be covered with a grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR).
    However, the grant funds will not be received until an invoice is sent to ODNR showing the bill paid. The village does not have the money to pay for the project up front and could not obtain a loan from local banks.
    Councilors on Saturday decided to pay $8,600 of the cost and send the invoice into ODNR for reimbursement. Councilors then will use the reimbursed money to make another payment and will continue with this procedure until the entire bill is paid.
    "We will get three-fourths of that back with the invoice. We can then send that money in. We can continue doing this until its paid off," Randy Garman said.
    Village officials plan to revisit the issue in six months.
    The moving of a liquor permit from Beaver Street to East Main Street led to a dispute at the meeting.
    Tom Cole, who plans to open a grocery that sells beer and wine, requested the permit be switched to a location on East Main Street. The Main Street property is where three trees on village right-of-way were cut down by Cole and resident Dan Klosterman last year, which upset some residents and village councilors.
    Cole and Klosterman replaced the trees, but the trees died because of the drought conditions during the summer. The agreement with council said the trees must remain alive for a year.
    Cole said now that he would be putting a driveway into his new grocery at the location of the trees, he was hoping the trees would not have to be replaced. Council had other ideas.
    "I don't think it is fair to just drop it," Mayor Charlotte Garman said. "It doesn't mean what you did a year ago was okay. We need to find some way to work this out."
    Charlotte Garman mentioned the possibility of planting the trees somewhere else, and Cole responded.
    "The situation has changed," Cole said. "That is why the trees were not replanted."
    Cole said it would be useless to plant the trees and then tear them down for the driveway.
    "No one in town had anything negative to say about those trees coming down," Cole said. "Everyone thought it cleaned up the property. As far as I'm concerned, I'm being singled out every time I come up here."
    While the conversation ended with neither side discussing a resolution to the problem, Charlotte Garman said, "I think you (Cole) are a man of your word. I think something needs to be worked on."
    In closing the meeting, Charlotte Garman briefly commented on a dispute that occurred between herself, her husband Randy Garman and a few residents who were raking leaves in the village Nov. 9. The resident raking leaves alleged that Randy Garman was driving a truck out of control and attempted to run into another resident, which led to an argument between those involved.
    The Mercer County Sheriff's Department was called to the scene and took a report. No citations have been issued yet.
    "I can't speak for the initial incident because I wasn't there, but when we went back to pick up the leaves and the argument broke out, at no time did we show disrespect to our positions," Charlotte Garman said. "At no time did we antagonize an argument. I just wanted council to be aware of this. We may be visiting this issue in the future."
    In other business, the council:
    € Approved $500 for maintenance to the village truck.
    € Allotted $500 for putting up Christmas lights.
    € Discussed establishing a $15 fee for payment to the village zoning
inspector for inspection and report on buildings with no action taken.

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