Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
The latest Walbridge village council meeting was highlighted by the hiring of Dominic McCrum as a full-time police officer.
McCrum was sworn in at the end of the meeting by mayor Ed Kolanko and police chief Ken Campbell, and he will receive $22.17 per hour.
That news came during the mayor’s report, which also included the hiring approvals for Jay Blazevich as a seasonal maintenance worker at $14.86 per hour and Paul Gray as a code enforcement officer with a six-month probationary period.
Earlier in the meeting, several key dates were discussed and motioned for with approval, including the scheduling of community-wide garage sales for May 16-17, June 27-28 and Aug. 15-16, as well as Halloween trick-or-treating hours as 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., instead of 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Furthermore, pool admission rates were motioned to be kept at the same rate as last year.
Kolanko spoke of a positive reception to last year’s trick-or-trunk event in the back parking lot. He said it was a good idea and something the village can grow from, and he requested that council keep that in the back of their heads.
In other news, the mayor said he has had some communication with First Energy about scheduling a time to discuss the prevention of power outages. It was said that in 2022, the city had six or seven power outages over a short period of time, and Kolanko would like to prevent that from happening again considering there were two outages recently.
It was also noted that there’s been positive feedback regarding the striping adjustments at Railway Park, which was intended to create an improved flow of traffic. The annual Tony Mass baseball tournament was also discussed, and the village is preparing for that.
The tennis court and pickleball nets are up, and Kolanko is waiting for feedback on the potential new playground equipment. The rep is on vacation until next week, and he should have more details after that. He received one quote for new equipment and installation at Loop Park, but he’s waiting on a second one.
Councilman Thomas Urbina reported that he has asked the administration to take a look at some quotes for a new Welcome to Walbridge sign near 280.
Kolanko said they are also working on signage for the front of the administration building and other areas such as the sign at Railway Park.
More from Kolanko included the news that workers have been out trying to fix some pothole issues where they see them, and he’s waiting on some quotes for work at the 100 block of Breckman, Raymond and Warner. Furthermore, he’s working on railroad crossing improvements associated with a $25,000 grant, which includes lighting, some signage, markings on the pavement, etc.
Council entered into an executive session for 22 minutes with no action taken.
