Greenfield Village Council mulls building department

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As detailed after Greenfield Village Council’s last regular meeting, the village as of Sept. 1 will be without a building inspector for residential and commercial properties, and council members on Tuesday took a step forward in remedying that problem.

Legislation making way for the creation of a commercial building department in Greenfield had its first reading and was received by council at Tuesday’s meeting.

A building department in Greenfield would serve as “a pass through so we can control what is being built,” City Manager Todd Wilkin said previously.

He said at a July meeting that a building department would not be a “big money maker” at all. The village would examine plans, determine if they are conforming and what permits need issuing, collect the money for permits, pay that money to a third party certified building official, and pay a 1- or 2-percent fee to the state.

The village has contracted with the Ross County Building Department for a number of years, but Wilkin said last month that Ross County has decided to terminate Greenfield’s contracts for the residential and commercial building inspection. However, the Ross County department will see through all projects currently ongoing.

A related piece of legislation received by council after its first reading on Tuesday requests certification to enforce the Ohio Building Code within Greenfield.

Both ordinances will come back before council at its next regular meeting for a second reading.

In other business, even though Wilkin was not present at Tuesday’s meeting, he left a report that discussed the purchase of software to aid in cemetery record keeping.

According to his report, “last week we had several issues presented in regards to our cemetery, which exposed our outdated and cumbersome methods” used in maintaining cemetery records.

He wrote that one of the issues involved 18 gravesites purchased more than a century ago and the “intentions of those purchases have been forgotten and left to the village” to figure out.

Another issue involved six purchased gravesites with the original intent of those gravesites changing due to life events. He said he approved two lot transfers regarding that issue.

Wilkin reported that “after spending time evaluating our current records and the amount of time we consume on these types of issues,” the village will be purchasing a “cemetery software solution” that will help make record keeping more efficient and mitigate any future issues.

It is going to cost $24,500, Wilkin wrote, and the idea has been discussed with other local cemeteries, one of those being in Washington Court House, which spent about $30,000 on similar software.

“I believe this expense is well worth the service that will be provided to the citizens of Greenfield,” Wilkin wrote. “Not only will we start creating more accurate records… this system can also be utilized by families to locate their loved ones while visiting our cemetery.”

In other council business, Greenfield Finance Director Carolyn Snodgrass reported July’s preliminary numbers. Those are: month-to-date revenue – $335,853; year-to-date revenue – $2.25 million; month-to-date expense – $220,567; year-to-date expense – $1.99 million; and a general fund balance of $216,227 as of July 30, 2018.

Greenfield Village Council meets in regular session the first and third Tuesday of each month, with the next meeting scheduled to be held on Aug. 21. The meetings begin at 7:30 p.m. in council chambers on the first floor of the City Building. The meetings are open to the public.

Angela Shepherd is a stringer for The Times-Gazette.

Pictured during a previous Greenfield Village Council meeting are (l-r) council members Phil Clyburn, Chris Borreson and Bob Bergstrom.
http://www.timesgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2018/08/web1_f-gf-council.jpgPictured during a previous Greenfield Village Council meeting are (l-r) council members Phil Clyburn, Chris Borreson and Bob Bergstrom. Angela Shepherd | For The Times-Gazette
City manager discusses cemetery record keeping software

By Angela Shepherd

For The Times-Gazette

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