Village balks at LED offer

FORT RECOVERY — The village would be interested in switching all of its streetlights to LEDs, but not if it’s going to come with a cost increase.

Village administrator Randy Diller told Fort Recovery Village Council on Monday that a discussion about such a change stemmed from the need to replace a light at Monument Park. But based on the contract details he was presented, he recommended no changes be made at this time.

Council also discussed planting new trees in the downtown area.

Diller told board members that the offer from Miami Valley Lighting to change all of its 79 streetlights in the village to LEDs — they are currently high-pressure sodium — would come at a cost increase of about $50 per month (about 5 percent). That’s in addition to an initial fee of $25 per light.

The change would also require extending the village’s contract with Miami Valley Lighting through 2023. (The current contract will be up in 2019.)

Diller said he will continue to talk with representatives from Miami Valley Lighting but without a better offer suggests keeping the lights as they currently are. (The village has been gradually putting in its own LED lights in conjunction with street projects, and plans to continue that this year with the William Street project just east of Fort Recovery High School.)

For safety reasons, Diller said he would also like to see lights added along Ohio 49 on the south side of the village, along Sharpsburg Road near the elementary/middle school and at the corner of Fort Recovery-Minster Road and Flaler Road.

Solicitor Erin Minor updated council on a series of grant applications, noting that the village is seeking $25,000 from a Dayton Power and Light program for new planters and trees in the downtown area. The downtown trees that remain are now more than 25 years old, Diller added, proposing that they all be replaced.

Council members asked several questions about the trees, wondering if the roots had caused issues with sidewalks and if birds had created a nuisance.

Diller said the roots have not been a problem. He noted that there have been some complaints about birds, but that he felt those issues have been in part because the trees have grown too large for the area.

Both Diller and Minor said they believed Fort Recovery Merchants Association is in support of replacing the trees, and Minor said she would raise the issue with the organization at its meeting scheduled for this morning.

In other grant news, the village has asked Fort Recovery Community Foundation for $30,000 to be put toward the construction of a three-season shelter house at Community Park and is seeking a NatureWorks grant for signs in its parks. A decision on the community foundation grant is expected in May.

Minor said about $185,000 of the estimated $225,000 to $250,000 needed for the project has already been raised.

She also told board members Greg Schmitz, Scott Pearson, Dave Bretz, Erik Fiely, Cliff Wendel and Al Post that the village did not receive funding through the Scott’s Field Refurbishment Grant Program for work on its baseball and softball diamonds.

In other business, council:

•Approved the purchase of a Dodge Ram police vehicle at a total cost of about $41,000 from Bud's Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in Celina. The village will get $4,500 for the trade-in of a 2008 Chevrolet Trailblazer.

•Appointed Schmitz to the village’s tax incentive review council. Dave Garman, who retired from village council at the end of 2017, had previously served in that role.

•Heard from Diller that potential paving projects for the year will be under review in March.

•Was reminded that the Fort Recovery Chamber of Commerce awards banquet is scheduled for March 11 in the elementary/middle school auditeria.