MINSTER — Minster Village council met on Tuesday in order to approve raises for the police chief and fiscal officer and hear about final plans for a pedestrian bridge.

Council approved the pay raise for police chief Eric Morris, increasing his annual salary from $68,000 to $74,000. The village fiscal officer Tricia LeDoux saw a salary increase from $51,000 to $54,000.

Council also approved helping pay for the Ohio Department of Transportation project which will build a pedestrian bridge over state Route 66, north of Seventh Street and across from the Eagle Acres Plaza. The total cost of the project is estimated will be $142,000 with the village paying $51,000. Village administrator Don Harrod said they expect to have the project put up for bids in June with a construction start date in August.

Third and final readings were given to two ordinances regarding street signage and traffic restrictions. One ordinance establishes a four-way stop at the intersection of Third Street and Garfield Street and another at the intersection of Seventh Street and Hamilton Street within the village. A second ordinance removed Seventh Street from the list of truck routes within the village.

Council gave final approval to an ordinance which increases the pay rate of village employees during mutual aid response from time and a half to double time pay.

A second reading was approved of an ordinance to amend the codified ordinances of the Village of Minster adding a new Chapter 111, titled “Adult Cannabis Operators”, banning all sales, growing or processing of marijuana in village boundaries.

Council accepted the April 2024 Income Tax Report from the City of St. Marys. The April total was $863,000 for a current 2024 total of $2,031,000.

With the summer season coming, the group accepted a motion to hire 17 pool employees and 3 for the Parks and Rec department.

Council accepted both a $66,000 proposal to buy furniture for the police department building as well as the purchase a new $187,000 excavator for the village public works department. Also accepted were receipts of $ 2,810,726.93 and invoices of $ 2,648,758.83.

Harrod also reported about activities in the village.

Fenson has completed the paving of both Sixth Street and west Seventh Street. All other work except for seeding has been completed as well on these two streets. Gehret Nursery will do the seeding which should occur within the next week or so, he said.

Harrod said HA Dorsten has substantially completed the first phase of the Police Department construction and renovation project. The first phase consisted of building the new addition onto the department. On Monday, May 20, village crews began helping the police department move everything over to the new addition so renovations on the existing building can take place.

Hohenbrink Excavating will be prepping Seventh Street and North Paris Street for curb and gutter this week with anticipation of pouring the curb and gutter starting on May 28.

The electric department, with the assistance of Vaughn Electric, have replaced all of the old wooden 69 KV transmission line poles along the golf course and up to just north of First Street. This project was completed last week. The department is getting prices on some additional ductile iron poles in anticipation of replacing the existing wooden poles from First Street to Fourth Street.

Moody’s have completed the 24-hour pump test on both wells and have taken samples from both of these wells to determine what levels of TDS they may both have. The results from the pump test and sampling have been sent to CDM Smith to evaluate. In the meantime, Shinn Brothers continue to work on the installation of the water line from these wells to the waste water treatment facility.

America’s Decorative Concrete have installed the sidewalks along state Route 119. In addition, they have prepped the ground for seeding, which will be completed by Gehret Nursery. Work that remains, is the installation of the rapid flashing beacon at the intersection of Miami Erie Drive and state Route 119. Electrical crews will begin to install some street lighting in the area shortly.

The Village received notification that the village will receive $9,655.00 from the H2Ohio Drinking Water Distribution Equipment Grant Program. These dollars will allow the village to purchase leak detection equipment to help the village identify potential water leaks. The grant will cover the full cost of the equipment and was put together by Scott Langenkamp.

The Parks Department has been working on prepping the swimming pool of the upcoming season. The pool is scheduled to open on May 27. Season passes, along with registration for swimming lessons and KinderKamp can be completed on line on the village’s website.

The punch list for the work conducted on the new water tower has been completed. This will close out the contract on the water tower.