On the heels of the village council hearing from Scioto Paint Valley at a recent council meeting about an in-patient treatment facility on the east end of the village, council heard Wednesday about a similar out-patient group eyeing such a facility.

City manager Ron Coffey said Thursday that Jeremy Carpenter, executive director of Join Groups, spoke to council members at Wednesday’s regular meeting about the group’s interest in coming to Greenfield. It would offer out-patient counseling and Suboxone therapy. Suboxone is a prescription medication used to help those with an opiod addiction.

“In light of the ongoing discussions about in-patient treatment centers and out-patient drug and alcohol counseling proposed for Greenfield,” Coffey wrote in his report, “it’s worth noting that overdose incidents in Highland County continue to rise.”

Coffey discussed figures reported recently by The Times-Gazette regarding “overdose calls” to the Highland County Sheriff’s Office dispatchers and responses by the Paint Creek Joint EMS/Fire District. Coffey said tose figures serve to underscore the opioid epidemic: five years ago there were a total of 130 calls between both agencies, and so far this year there have been 315 overdose calls to the two agencies.

According to Coffey, Carpenter said the Chillicothe facility is currently seeing approximately 30 people from Greenfield. He said Join Groups wants to make the treatment and counseling option more convienient for those who would benefit.

The Join Groups website says it has counseling centers in several states, and locations in both Wilmington and Chillicothe. The website says that the organization is working to offer treatment to as many people in as many communities as possible. More information can be found at joingroups.com.

In other business, no one appeared before council in opposition to the rezoning of 651 Jefferson St. from residential to commercial. Wednesday was the designated date for a public hearing on the matter. Council members later passed legislation on the property being rezoned to commercial.

Other legislation included the approval of the village’s 2018 tax budget, and the second reading of a resolution to continue with the service contract between the village and Isaac Wiles Burkholder & Teetor, LLC to serve as village solicitor. It is a continuation of the same arrangement as in past years in which current village solicitor Brian Zets, who works for the firm, has served in that position.

Coffey said that Greening Greater Greenfield (G3) has contacted him about displaying banners on the light poles of the downtown area to honor veterans. Although Coffey said there were still “a few details to work out,” the community group is planning to have the banners up by spring.

The long-awaited Massie Street paving got underway this week, Coffey said, as did another project at Jefferson Street and Edgewood Avenue. The city manager said that years of heavy trucks have taken their toll on the curb on the northeast corner of the intersection, and Greenfield Research stepped up to pay for improvements to the curb to minimize damage in the future.

As reported by Coffey, upcoming events include a tire collection on Aug. 19 at the Hi-Tec Center at 1575 N. High St. in Hillsboro from 8 a.m. to noon. More information about the event can be found at greenfieldohio.net. G3’s Community Wide Yard Sale will be Sept. 8-9 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.

The Greenfield Village Council meets in regular session the first and third Wednesday of every month in the council chambers on the first floor of the City Building at 7:30 p.m. To contact the village offices, call 937-981-3500.