Crown City Lanes of Dunkirk will be reopening its doors in August. New owners Duane Marcum and Tim Ritchie have been renovating the facility (pictured) at 115 Eaton Pike. To help with renovation costs, the business will be receiving a $25,000, five-year loan from the city’s Downtown Revitalization Program. (The Commercial Review/Bailey Cline)
Crown City Lanes of Dunkirk will be reopening its doors in August. New owners Duane Marcum and Tim Ritchie have been renovating the facility (pictured) at 115 Eaton Pike. To help with renovation costs, the business will be receiving a $25,000, five-year loan from the city’s Downtown Revitalization Program. (The Commercial Review/Bailey Cline)
DUNKIRK — The city’s bowling alley will be reopening this summer.

Dunkirk City Council agreed Monday to move forward with a $25,000, five-year loan agreement through its Downtown Revitalization Program to help with renovations the new owners are making at Crown City Lanes.

Duane Marcum and Tim Ritchie are currently working on renovations to the facility at 115 Eaton Pike. Tentative plans are to open the bowling alley in August, noted mayor Jack Robbins.

Marcum and Ritchie will pay off the loan in increments of $5,000 a year, with the first installment due June 1, 2023.

The building is legally owned by another person, city attorney Wes Schemenaur noted, meaning a mortgage to help secure the loan may or may not be possible. He suggested the city create a personal guarantee agreement with Ritchie and Marcum — it would hold the owners responsible for the corporation’s debt — in the event the corporation defaults. (The city has had issues in the past with similar loans not being repaid, although council previously expressed they do not think it will be an issue with Marcum and Ritchie.)

He noted documentation still needs a few tweaks, such as adding Ritchie’s name and language about the mortgage. He said council could approve the agreement on the condition that there may not be a mortgage.

“I think we’re doing the best we can and doing more than we ever did, so this is a good thing for us,” said council member Jesse Bivens.

Council then agreed to move forward with the loan agreement.

Bivens asked how soon the council could provide funds to Ritchie and Marcum, who are planning to put in new carpet at the facility soon.

Schemenaur noted both owners could visit the city office in the morning and sign the documentation to make it official.

Also Monday, council approved an update to the city’s COVID-19 policy to allow employees to take five days of paid leave in one calendar year if required to isolate or quarantine. (If the employee is required to isolate or quarantine for more than five days, they will be required to use accrued sick days or their absence will be excused but unpaid, according to the ordinance.)

The ordinance previously called for 14 days of paid sick leave for employees who contracted the coronavirus. Schemenaur noted it had not been updated since 2020. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently suggests five days of quarantine for individuals who test positive for the virus.

Clerk-treasurer Tina Elliott noted the city office is offering free COVID tests while supplies last. Each pack comes with two tests.

“Please come up and get those and have them so you can check yourself,” she said.

Also, council OK’d Robbins to apply for another Community Crossings grant. His hopes are to receive funding to pave streets around Quincy Place — Hart Drive, Merry Court and Shrack Lane — along with Mount Auburn Street from Main Street to Dunkirk City Park.

In other business, council members Bivens, Tom Johnson, Kevin Hamilton and Christy Curts, absent Bryan Jessup:

•Heard council will have an executive session at 6 p.m. May 23 with Dunkirk Industrial Development Corporation, with its regularly scheduled meeting to follow at 7 p.m.

•Again discussed that the city will need to pass a resolution addressing the alley that splits property owned by Tammy Uhrick at 368 E. High St. He learned there was an ordinance passed in 1984 that vacated a non-existing alley nearby — it was likely meant to vacate the alley splitting Uhrick’s property — and attributed it to a scrivener’s error.

•Heard from multiple members of the public, including: Kenci Grayson of Live in Joy, who expressed that she and Bizy Dips owner Hannah Long’s interest to get involved with the community; Randy Murphy, who was recently appointed to Dunkirk Park Board; and rural Hartford City resident John Bartlett, who is running for District 33 state representative in the general election against Incumbent J.D. Prescott.

•Were notified by Robbins that work on six streets scheduled to be paved — they were paid for through a Community Crossings grant — will be finished by the end of the week.

•Heard from water department superintendent Dace Mumbower the city will be flushing hydrants between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. the week of May 23 to 27.