Local law enforcement and beyond were commended for their response to the Fourth of July shootings in the area. Greenfield City Manager Ron Coffey, during Wednesday’s meeting of the Greenfield Village Council, began his report by thanking the Greenfield Police Department, Highland County Sheriff’s Office, and Ross County Sheriff’s Office for their “rapid response that led to the capture of the suspect in Hilliard later that day.”
“While these acts of violence occurred outside the city limits,” Coffey said, “our local police took action to keep our community safe and were in constant communication with the other departments as the story unfolded.”
The first reported shooting occurred in what is known as Higginsville, a small residential area to the south of Jefferson Street that lies between the railroad tracks and SR 138 south. The next reported shooting came from Rapid Forge Road, just east of the village.
The two shootings, and a third later on Tuesday, are alleged to have been the responsibility of Jeffrey Ryan Holsinger, who was captured in Franklin County Tuesday night after evading multiple law enforcement agencies.
In other business, Coffey reported that a rezoning request has been made to the village for the property at 651 Jefferson St. to be rezoned from residential to commercial. A public hearing on the matter is set for the Aug. 16 council meeting.
Coffey reported that two bids were received for the farming of 11 acres of village property in Ross County, and one bid for the farming of 175 acres of village property in the industrial park. Council members approved legislation awarding the bid for farming both those properties to Kenny Friedman of Friedman Farms.
Also reported by the city manager was that the village received a communication in regard to Blue Rock Quarry, which has been closed for several years, in Fayette County. In the communication, the EPA informed village officials that Martin Marietta, which owns the quarry, has applied for a discharge permit. Coffey said that Blue Rock management had previously expressed interest in reopening the quarry. He said that according to the letter from the EPA, the “permit would be related to nonmetallic mineral mining and processing of limestone aggregate.” The letter is to be posted for public view.
Paving projects that began in May across the village, if not already completed, are wrapping up. All that remains is the paving of Massie Street, which is being put out for bid by the Highland County Board of Commissioners as a portion of the funding for the project is to be done through a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG).
On a related matter, councilman Chris Borreson noted that with the paving done at Mitchell Park, the city needs to add berms of dirt and/or gravel to the steep edges of some of the paving to help ensure that the new pavement won’t give way to the weight of vehicles parking on it.
Finance director Carolyn Snodgrass provided the preliminary numbers for June. Those are month-to-date revenue, $272,343; year-to-date revenue, $1.94 million; month-to-date expense, $654,226; year-to-date expense, $2.13 million; and a general fund balance as of June 30, 2017 as $313,909.
Greenfield Village Council meets in regular session the first and third Wednesdays of each month at 7:30 p.m. in the council chambers on the first floor of the city building. The meetings are open to the public. Anyone wishing to speak to council can call the village offices at 937-981-3500 to be put on the meeting agenda.
