BARNESVILLE — Village employees will receive pay raises of $2 per hour heading into 2025.

Council recently approved raises for village workers and voted to provide vision insurance for full-time employees. Council approved what amounted to $2 per hour raises for all part-time and full-time village employees during a Nov. 18 meeting by adopting a series of ordinances. It was noted that salaried employees were given the equivalent of $2 hourly wage increases as well.

The rules requiring that ordinances be read on three separate occasions were suspended for each ordinance and the raises were enacted unanimously, with the final ordinance increasing the starting wage schedule for employees by $2 per hour as well.

Mayor Jake Hershberger said village leaders had begun discussions about the pay increases in late August, and he thanked council and all the department heads for their cooperation during the process.

Hershberger also informed council that the village could cover vision insurance for all full-time employees for a total of $500 per month through VSP Vision Care, noting that the village had chosen VSP because it was accepted by both vision centers located in the village. After a brief discussion, council voted to pay for the vision plan.

Also at the Nov. 18 meeting, Somerset Township Trustees Jeff Miller and Dale Betts presented pictures of a flood culvert at Slope Creek Reservoir, with Miller saying the 60-foot long 10-foot high culvert was nearly filled with silt.

“Now would be the time to do something about it, as dry as it is,” said Miller, who added that he thought it needed to be replaced in response to a question from Councilman Steve Hill.

Both Village Administrator Roger Deal and Hill thought the matter should be taken to the Belmont County engineer to determine next steps toward correcting the issue.

Council also approved a resolution required to seek funding from the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Safe Routes to School program through Belomar Regional Council. The program’s goal is to provide communities with resources to encourage K-12 students to either walk or ride their bikes to school.

Hershberger noted that Councilman Steve Hill’s concerns about a sidewalk issue on Shamrock Drive – raised during discussion at the Nov. 4 meeting – had been added to the list of items that would be considered for the project.

Council also approved a budget of $2,500 for the Village Employee Christmas Luncheon and the purchase of $5,150 in “Barnesville Gold” to be distributed to village employees for the holidays. Deal noted that full-time employees would receive $100 certificates while part-time employees would receive $50.

Barnesville Gold is a gift certificate program sponsored by the Barnesville Area Chamber of Commerce with cards redeemable at participating village businesses.

Council approved building permits for Laura McBride at 420 N. Chestnut, Brandy Waterhouse at 624 Wiley Ave., and Albert Bohandy at 226 W. South St. to install new vinyl siding, and for Les Tickhill at 108 and 110 Pine Lane and the East Main Street Church of Christ to install new metal roofs, and for Adam Ackerman to construct a privacy fence at 302 W. South St.

Fire Chief Tim Hall informed council that he had condemned the property at 231 Hunts Ave., noting that the structure was in “deplorable condition” and had been empty for a number of years.

A previous discussion about switching building permit fees to a flat fee rather than the 1% of the cost of the job was revisited, with Hershberger saying that Village Solicitor Richard Myser had prepared legislation to do so but that the amount had been left open for discussion.

After a brief discussion, council decided to set the rate at $25 and held the first reading of the ordinance. The second reading of the ordinance took place during the Dec. 2 meeting.

As part of a light agenda at the Dec. 2 meeting, council heard from Barnesville Senior Center Secretary Kathleen Lucas, who had learned that the senior center had been on the village’s list of insured properties.

She said according to the records she had found that, the village had owned the property at 229 E. Main St. from 1986 to 2000, but that it was now owned by what Hershberger later referred to as “the senior citizen group.” She said she had canceled checks showing that the group had been paying for its own property insurance, although she had not yet looked back further than 2019.

Herhsberger said he had already contacted the village’s insurance carrier to see if the village could be reimbursed.

Also during the Dec. 2 meeting, Deal informed council that the community had received $12,965.62 in assistance from the Ohio Emergency Management Agency for damages and cleanup from a storm on April 1.

Deal also expressed his appreciation for the work done by village crews in preparing and putting up the Christmas decorations downtown.

Hill commended Public Works Director Collin Seevers for doing a great job since being promoted to the newly created position earlier this year, noting that the increase in efficiency with which projects are being completed has been noticeable.

Councilman Terry McCort expressed his appreciation for Derek Deal’s work on the village newsletter and again expressed his desire to make the quarterly publication more widely available to residents. Hershberger voiced his support of that idea.

Barnesville Village Council meets again at 7 p.m. Monday in the Municipal Building on Arch Street.