With Greenfield’s railroad in the midst of an improvement project and the impending arrival of a new manufacturer in town, the city manager reported at Wednesday’s village council meeting that a recent meeting was held in regard to a transloading project in the village.

Greenfield City Manager Ron Coffey said the project would allow for materials brought by rail to be offloaded onto trucks for road transport to “local industrial customers.” It’s a capability that Corvac Composites “has expressed an interest in,” he said.

It was recently announced that the auto industry supplier’s purchase of the RR Donnelley building was complete. It’s been previously reported that new production at the facility is slated for early next year.

If the transloading station came to fruition, Coffey said the “service would be available to other businesses wishing to utilize the railroad.”

He said that village officials as well as state and county officials met on Wednesday to discuss the possible project. The “target area” for the project, Coffey said, was the gravel area parallel to S. Washington Street and S. Second Street.

Coffey said a project could “enhance” the village’s income from the railroad.

He said Wednesday that there was interest from the state to provide money to help fund a transloading project.

The railroad and the multimillion dollar improvement project that began in June is moving closer to completion, with work on the bridge spanning Paint Creek set to begin soon, Coffey said.

On another matter, a neighborhood watch meeting was held in council chambers on Monday. The well-attended informational session, Coffey said, was put together by council member Chris Borreson.

Borreson said another meeting is set for Monday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers and is open to anyone wanting to attend. Additionally, there are two Facebook pages dedicated to the topic of neighborhood watch. One is Greenfield Ohio Crime and the other, Greenfield Crime Watchers.

The matter of a neighborhood watch was a topic of discussion at the last council meeting, as was a recent rash of vehicle break-ins. Since that meeting, Coffey said five juveniles have been arrested in connection with those break-ins.

In other business, the block of Second Street between Jefferson and Mirabeau streets will officially be open to two-way traffic on Friday. Left turns onto Jefferson Street from Second Street will be prohibited.

Council approved the legislation last month to make the block open to two-way traffic and to place a sign forbidding left turns onto Jefferson.

The city manager also reported that Dayton Power and Light plans to ask the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio for a rate hike to begin in January 2017. Coffey said that a letter from DP&L said the reasons for the rate hike request were due to costs of maintaining “poles, wires, transformers, and other distribution infrastructure.”

Coffey said the increase would amount to about 3 percent, which would be about “$4.07 to a typical 1,000 kWh residential customer’s monthly bill.”

Three council members voted no on a first reading of an ordinance to vacate an alley between Mill and Beatty streets, and an alley between N. Fifth and N. Fourth streets, thereby rendering the legislation dead in the water. The no votes came from Bob Bergstrom, Chris Borreson, and Bill Redenbaugh. Council members Betty Jackman and Brenda Losey voted in favor.

The matter had previously been brought to council by homeowners along the alleyways.

Two resolutions were passed by council, one allowing ODOT to resurface a portion of SR 28 within the village limits, and the other to allow the village to sell surplus items. Those items are three pumps removed from the aeration tanks at the waste water treatment plant when the village installed the energy-saving, fine-bubble aeration system.

On financial matters, Greenfield Finance Director Carolyn Snodgrass reported preliminary totals as follows: October month-to-date expense, $667,808; October month-to-date revenue, $763,826; year-to-date expense for 2015, $6.47 million; year-to-date revenue for 2015, $6.51 million. The general fund balance as of Oct. 31 was reported as $408,267.

Reach Angela Shepherd at 937-393-3456, ext. 1681, or on Twitter @wordyshepherd.