Greenfield Village Council is getting closer to deciding who the next city manager will be after another session to discuss candidates for the position.
Council chair Phil Clyburn said at Wednesday’s regular council meeting that last week council members held two special meetings to interview the prospective candidates. Then after Wednesday’s council meeting, an executive session was held to discuss the matter, but no action was taken. An executive session was also held for the same purpose after council’s last regular meeting in February.
According to Clyburn, there were “a lot of good applicants,” 30 in all, for the position of city manager and the field has been narrowed, but by how much was not detailed. He said council anticipates making a decision by mid-March.
Current Greenfield City Manager Ron Coffey, who has served as city manager since January 2013, is set to retire at the end of next month.
In other business, a couple traffic lights in town received some attention Wednesday as there have been some issues, Coffey reported. A controller was replaced in the signal at the Jefferson and Washington streets intersection and some “wiring issues were corrected” at the traffic signal at Sixth Street, he said.
Coffey added that the village is working on getting the flashing sequence of the signal at Jefferson and Washington streets modified to blink red in all directions when there are problems with the signal. Currently, when the traffic light goes to flashing mode, the lights facing Jefferson Street blink yellow and the lights facing Washington Street blink red, and there have been some “near misses” at the intersection due to that.
As reported after council’s meeting earlier in the month, Ray Kammer, president of the Cincinnati Railway Company and the Lebanon, Mason & Monroe Railroad, has indicated his interest in running passenger excursions on Greenfield’s railway, but Coffey said that things like this have previously not been allowed due to a liability coverage requirement in the village’s operating agreement with Indiana & Ohio Railway.
Greenfield Law Director Brian Zets on Wednesday reported that he continues to look into the matter.
Coffey said that he and Kammer were going to look at sites along the railway on Thursday. He said Kammer is still looking for excursion dates in May and October, which Coffey said would coincide with annual events held by G3 (Grow Greater Greenfield).
On an ongoing and long-awaited matter, Coffey told council members he is hopeful that Greenfield’s industrial park, now known as the South Central Ohio Industrial Park, will become certified with the state by the summer. As previously reported, certification of the industrial park will make it more visible to prospective businesses looking for such a site, increasing the village’s chances of attracting industry.
Council is also looking into potential grant opportunities to fund widening the turn from SR 41 to south Washington Street, the corner where Corvac is located, making the street more accessible for semis heading to the industrial park from SR 41. Clyburn said that as far as council has been informed, there are 172 semis per week coming into and out of the industrial park.
Coffey also included in his report an upcoming G3 event this weekend, the annual Blues, Brews & Stews, which will begin at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. The event will feature homemade soups that attendees can sample and vote on, as well as live entertainment across two venues: Catch 22 Sports Pub and Jerry’s Pizza. For more information go to Grow Greater Greenfield’s Facebook page.
The Greenfield Village Council meets in regular session the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7:30 p.m. in the council chambers located on the first floor of the City Building. The meetings are open to the public.
