Village Council Late November Meeting
Village Council met Monday, discussed the Vincent Street retaining wall and right-turns-on-red, and passed some end-of-year legislation.
Vincent Street Retaining Wall
The Vincent Street stabilization project is now complete, but everyone agrees that the retaining wall is ugly. On the river-facing side, much more of the structure is visible than anyone expected (probably due in part to a large portion of the hillside sliding down into the river during construction). The village plans to look into covering the concrete pillars to camouflage them with paint and/or plantings.
Right Turn on Red
During the Police Chief’s report Councilman Corkran asked for enforcement at the corner of South Franklin and East Washington Street during rush hours. He has watched as drivers speed through that right turn (from northbound Franklin to eastbound Washington) without yielding to pedestrians in the crosswalk or southbound vehicles turning left, slowing, or coming to a complete stop as required by law.
A lengthy discussion followed about the challenges (due to space constraints) of enforcement in that area, the problems with permitted right turns on red, and the fact that they are currently prohibited at most downtown intersections, but neither signed nor enforced. In the end we decided that the Chief will arrange for enforcement at that spot, and the Safety Committee will add that topic to our next meeting and make a recommendation to either 1) reaffirm the prohibition and add signage and enforcement or 2) revise the traffic map to remove the prohibition.
Legislation
The 2026 budget was left on readings until our next meeting on December 8. We passed ordinances to extend the village contract with Thrasher, Dinsmore & Dolan through 2027, engage Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Ohio for health insurance coverage, and adopt a cybersecurity policy, as well as some routine end-of-year actions.