Trash cost won't increase

FORT RECOVERY — Residents won’t see their bills for trash collection go up for at least another five years.

Meanwhile, they will have a new option for how to pay money owed to the village.

Fort Recovery Village Council on Monday approved a new trash collection contract with Maharg Trash Services of Celina while also agreeing to implement a system that will allow residents to pay bills with credit cards.

Maharg, which is Fort Recovery’s current provider for trash collection, was one of two bidders for the new contract that begins April 1. It submitted a quote with no increases from the current rates, which are $1.45 per bag for trash and 70 cents per bag for recycling. As requested by the village, the contract is for three years with an option to extend for another two years.

The other bidder, Rumpke, offered a different pricing structure that would have seen all residents pay $18.50 per month. The company would have provided 32-gallon plastic trash cans instead of bags.

Village administrator Randy Diller recommended staying with Maharg for several reasons, including the company’s excellent service over the years. Council members Erik Fiely, Cliff Wendel, Al Post, Greg Schmitz and Scott Pearson, absent Dave Bretz, voted in favor of that recommendation.

Council also voted to allow Mayor Dave Kaup and clerk-treasurer Roberta Staugler to sign contracts to implement a new credit card payment system.

Staugler noted that such a system had been brought up in the past but dismissed because of the additional cost and work involved. She said there is now a service — GovPayNet — that specializes in working with government entities and that there would be no cost to the village.

Instead, residents who choose to pay by credit card — either in person, on the internet or over the phone — will be charged a fee.

Staugler recommended the change, saying she has had more and more requests for a credit card option.

“We’ve got to get with the times,” she said.

Also Monday, village solicitor Erin Minor reported that $140,000 was allocated in the state’s capital budget for improvements to the baseball/softball diamonds at Community Park.

The changes will include redoing all four diamonds as well as adding lights to diamond No. 3. There will also be upgrades to walkways and concrete pads underneath bleachers.

The work is slated to begin in late summer or early fall.

The village also has a survey active regarding the design of new signs for Community Park, Fort Site Park and Ambassador Pool. It can be found on the village’s Facebook page or at bit.ly/FRParkSignSurvey.

The signs would be paid for through a NatureWorks Grant, for which the deadline to apply is June 1.

Plans for a new three-season shelter house at Community Park have been submitted to the state for approval.

Diller told council that the street committee met earlier Monday after touring the village and set priorities for paving this summer as Industrial Drive West, Center Street from Main Street east, parking in the downtown area and Black Eagle Drive. The village has budgeted $100,000 for paving this summer. That funding won’t cover all four areas of priority, Diller said, and projects will be finalized after cost estimates come in.

In other business, council:

•Approved the following: a five-year depository agreement with Second National Bank; the continuation of an enterprise zone agreement with J&M Manufacturing; closure of the brick section of Wayne Street on June 13 for Taste of Fort Recovery.

•Learned the village did not receive a grant from Dayton Power and Light that would have provided funding for new planters and trees in the downtown area.

•Heard a reminder from police chief Jared Laux that he will be holding a self-defense class Thursday at Fort Recovery High School. There will be a session for seventh through 12th graders from 3:45 to 5:45 p.m. and one for adults from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.