BOTKINS — The Botkins Village Council met Tuesday night and mostly discussed soccer. Several important projects and their finances were discussed as well.

The council adopted a resolution which gives the village authority to keep their tax rates for property tax. The village is allowed to collect a small amount without going to the voters every year. So this is just a yearly resolution that must be passed to keep that the same.

The water plant was inspected by the EPA about a month ago. Village Administrator Ryan Piche told the council they got the report back and only had minor things they needed to address.

They will be required to add a screen for the salt tank back flow. Piche said is like a $10 fix. the other thing they need to do is a better job with their hardness range. Piche said their softeners are just getting to the end of their life and aren’t that consistent.

The EPA recommended the village get the north water tower under some sort of maintenance contract. Also that they get auxiliary power for the plant in case it were to ever lose electricity. Piche said they’d basically just need to get a generator. They also recommended that they do a better job at exercising the valves. They’re supposed to do it once a year, but Piche said, the truth of the matter is that they have old valves and when they exercise them, they run the risk of them breaking.

He said, we don’t go around twisting valves we don’t have to twist. So they recommended that they try to start fixing that.

Piche also reported that the village is asking for a 70/30 split for the Edgewood Street project from the state. That would be a $512,000 project.

So the village would contribute about $155,000 of their own money, it gives them 30 percent of the project. The council then passed a motion to set aside that money for the project. Piche said, by doing this, it will give the state confidence that they have this money for the project.

The council also passed a motion to allow the application to be completed; just another step that must be done to move forward with the project.

Kevin Lynch was in attendance at the meeting to discuss some concerns the council has heard from community members about soccer usage at the village park. Lynch represents Grand Lake United and Botkins Soccer Club’s.

Council members had heard that Grand Lake teams have been using the fields at the park extensively, causing the Botkins teams to not be able to play.

Many concerns were brought up in the hour-long discussion, but it was decided that the council needs to know the numbers of kids playing and plan to play, and where they all live, before moving forward with any decisions. It was also decided that better communication and planning is needed between all the entities in the future.

In other business the council discussed the accident which occurred last week at the intersection of state Route 274 and County Road 25A involving Police Chief Tom Glass.

The police vehicle will need to be replaced and so Piche is working with the insurance companies to get that sorted out.

A study of that intersection was done in 2005 and 2013 at that intersection. They both found that approximately 3,000 vehicles traveled through in a day.

Glass reported at the safety committee meeting that he gets about three to four calls about near misses at the intersection every week. He suggested a four-way stop be put in.

The village is going to work with the county to try to put a counter down on the road to get a more current number on traffic.

The Ellinger family recently donated $60 to the village park.