PORT JEFFERSON — Two Port Jefferson Village Council seats were filled during council’s first meeting of the year Monday night.
Krystal Cox and Robert “Bob” Bollinger both held office until Dec. 31. Both had opted to not run for re-election in November 2019. No other resident filed a petition for either seat.
Port Jefferson Mayor Steve Butterfield notified council of the situation reminding them if they did not nominate and approve someone at the first meeting of the year, that he (Butterfield) had the authority to appoint someone at the next meeting in February. Both Cox and Bollinger were in attendance and both were asked if they desired serving on council for another term and they both verbally replied “yes.”
Based on their confirmation and the fact no one else expressed any interest, councilman David Clem moved to appoint them to their former positions, the motion drew a second by Councilwoman Sharon Whitehead, was passed unanimously, and the new appointees were sworn in and resumed their council seats.
After approving the payment of monthly village expenses from December 2019, Butterfield reported the village took in $2,652.66 in traffic fines for the month of December and the latter part of November. Of that amount $1748 went to the village general fund, $741.00 to the State of Ohio, $55.66 for the village computer fund and $108 to the Port Jefferson Police Department. Council approved an ordinance for a temporary emergency appropriation measure drafted to cover the cost of conduction village business for the first quarter of the year 2020. A permanent budget and appropriation will be submitted for approval later in February or March.
Butterfield said the party guilty of damaging the village stop light with a farm combine has not stepped forward to accept responsibility for the damage and it appears the village will have to pay the bill for repairs. Butterfield said there was a witness to the crime.No charges have been filed and no official police investigation was conducted and there was no indication was made as to why not. The mayor indicated he had talked to Jackson Center Village Administrator Bruce Metz about getting the light repaired. Council approved turning the repair into insurance if the cost was over $1,000 or just paying for it out of the general fund if it was less than that amount. Clem asked if now would not be a good time to also look into repainting all four of the village traffic lights while repairs were being made. Butterfield indicated he would look into that possibility and the cost.
Clem reported the village Christmas party held in December 2019 was a big success and very well attended.
“We had a lot of people show up, a lot of them were children who had a great time visiting with Santa Claus. Everyone had fun singing, playing a variety of games and the adults seemed to really enjoy the opportunity to get to know each other better and share in some good conversation. I just want to personally thank the village for allowing the use the community Center for the event, it was a great time and good for our community as a whole,” Clem said.
Councilman Tim Smith noted the village police needed to look into an old dog house that has been sitting curbside for quite some time on the east end of town.
“I think is was put there for refuse pick-up but it never happened, it needs to be cleaned up.” Smith said. Village Police Officer Austin Knight said he would contact them about the cleanup.
Butterfield reminded village residents to put their garbage and trash containers away after the weekly garbage pick-up.
“A lot of people are leaving their garbage cans and trash receptacles sitting out along the street all week long after the trash is picked up, it’s unsightly and unhealthy and there is an ordinance in place to prevent it; I just want to remind everyone this is a punishable offense and they can be fined if they don’t follow the rules.” Butterfield said.
Council’s next meeting will be Feb. 3, at 7 p.m. at the community center unless it is extremely cold then the meeting will be held in the village office west of the community center.
