GAMBIER — A controlled bow hunt slated to take place in a ravine within village property drew fire from a pair of residents at Monday’s council meeting.
Carlos Piano of Kokosing Drive said residents in the area of the ravine received inadequate notice from the village that hunting got under way late last month on properties just west of the village, not far from homes on Ward Street and Kokosing Drive. He said he had safety concerns about future hunting that will take place in the ravine, near his back yard.
He asked council who pays if property is damaged or a person injured from hunting — the college, the village or the hunters. Mayor Kirk Emmert said the hunters have accepted that liability. He added that he had asked the hunters not to hunt in the ravine until there was an opportunity to address the matter.
Piano asked how hunters would deal with wounded deer and the possibility that they might crash through patio doors, whether they be pursued and how far.
Helina Piano said teenagers often cut through the ravine, and hunting in that area could cause a safety problem. She said she was concerned about wounded deer wandering into a yard where children might have to suffer the trauma of seeing it killed. She also said she will not give permission for deer to be killed on her property.
Councilwoman Liz Forman said that, although she loves the deer, the overpopulation has caused a number of deer to starve. She said she had seen sick and injured deer wandering about the village, and said that is a worse sight than watching them being killed by hunting.
Gordon Lehman, who is helping coordinate the hunt, has been a hunter for 46 years, a member of the Ohio Bowhunters Association for 20, and has taught hunter safety courses. According to Emmert, Lehman will assign a hunter to specific property owners who have already given written permission allowing hunting on their properties.
Lehman said he has made it clear to hunters involved that they are not to shoot toward residences, and are to keep a safe distance away from houses.
Lehman said a deer that runs into a yard has to be retrieved. He said he has spent weeks tracking a wounded deer in the past, but added that the sharp broadhead arrows being used by the hunters generally pass right through a deer. Lehman said it only takes about 15 minutes for the animal to die once it is hit, but that is time enough for it to travel a great distance. Asked about the likelihood of wounded deer running into someone’s house, Lehman said they might do that regardless of whether or not they’ve been shot.
The deer harvest is not just open to any hunter, he said. All of the selected hunters are well trained, and have had their backgrounds checked by the game warden for any hunting violations.
Helina Piano said children sometimes walk home from school on Kokosing Drive. Carlos Piano said these children sometimes cut through the woods in the area.
Lehman said the hunters will not be hunting around children. He said hunters will scan the area where they are stationed and will be aware of what is taking place. They will be aware of any nearby houses and will only shoot in a clear, open range where there is no danger of coming cloe to an arrow landing near a house.
Emmert asked Lehman if it were possible for hunters to hunt in the wider, deeper area of the ravine, further to the south and further away from houses on Kokosing Drive; Lehman said it would probably be better for the hunters to be in that area
Carlos Piano said the hunting in the ravine will make it dangerous for him to haul large limbs that must be moved to the back of this property. Lehman said neither he nor any of the hunters have any desire to go near the backyards of residents.
Lehman said there may be hunting in the ravine near Kokosing Street and Ward Street over the course of the next two weeks on Saturdays and Sundays, in either mornings or evenings. There may be one hunter in the area during the week. Lehman said hunts will generally take place either early or late in the day, as light permits.
Emmert said the village gave inadequate notice to residents in the area of the hunt. He said the administration will do a better job in the future., and added that the village council has been working on implementing the hunt for two years.
“The overwhleming majority of people in the village support this plan,” he said. “I know some people oppose it in principle and I respect that.”
In his monthly report, Emmert said he wanted to thank Village Administrator Rob McDonald for the efficient and thorough removal of snow during the recent winter storm.
McDonald said the snow on Feb. 12 and 13 was a good test for his department.
“The village employees responded in a committed and professional fashion,” he said. “We found the benefits of brine were that the snow did not bond to the pavement and thus once we removed the upper layers of snow, we were able to get down to bare pavement.”
McDonald said his department worked closely with College Township and Kenyon College to help in the planning of snow removal. He said he plans to meet with township and college representatives in the future to review methods and seek areas to improve snow removal techniques.
McDonald said bids for a new HVAC system for the village community center were opened Feb. 16; all were rejected because all were over the estimated project cost. The village has about $78,000 in the budget for the new system; bids went as high as $171,495. McDonald said the administration is now looking at other systems, such as having room units to supply heating and cooling to all offices and meeting rooms, and to have one large unit to heat and cool the building’s gym, hall ways and bathrooms.
McDonald said he is seeking bid specification proposals for the painting of the village water tower. Proposals should be reviewed at the March meeting of the Street and Utilities Committee, with a recommendation at April’s council meeting.
In other business:
•Council voted to appropriate $19,150 to Jobes and Henderson of Newark for engineering work needed to implement a village storm water utility.
•Council adopted an ordinance that exempts unreimbursed, itemized business expenses from village income taxes. The ordinance is to be passed by April 15 to conform with federal law.
•Gave a first reading to an ordinance that allows for a 4 percent cost of living increase in the salary of village employees and one-time, $1 an hour increase for hourly villages employees.