GAMBIER — Council discussed the planned installation of a new heating and cooling system for the village community center at Monday’s meeting.
Steve Mullins of Complete Comfort spoke before council and offered his assistance in the village’s effort to have the new system installed. He said he can provide an insider’s view of what will work and give advice as to which companies will do a good job. Mullins offered to give this advice for free.
He also suggested the village use the present heating system ducts to heat and cool the entire community center, and recommended replacing the existing furnace with separate, high-efficiency furnaces to heat different zones of the building — the library and an adjacent room, council chambers and an adjacent room.
Mullins said the gymnasium could be efficiently heated and cooled by an independent unit placed on the ground next to the east wall of the gym. He said the gym currently takes away from the heating and cooling from the rest of the building.
According to Mayor Kirk Emmert’s report, Mullins’ engineer can put the specifications for the heating and cooling system in a form ready for bidding for $2,500. The village must have competitive bidding for the contract; Mullins understands that he may or may not win the contract. The mayor added that the heating and cooling system could be constructed for $75,000 to $80,000, though the exact price depends on the bidding.
Bids for the community center heating and cooling system were opened Feb. 16. These bids were rejected because they were considerably higher than what the village is able to pay for the new system.
Emmert said he, Village Administrator Rob McDonald and Councilman Lee Cubie met with Mullins before the meeting, and think council should have Complete Comfort draw up the specifications, have the bid prepared in an economical way, then put the project out to bid.
Council voted to authorize this strategy.
McDonald said five leaking services lines have been identified in the village, many of which are under pavement. He said he has asked Ohio Rural Water for its cable puller system, which allows them to be replaced without digging up the road. This relatively quick process involves digging an entry and receiving hole. The device can be purchased for less than $1,000.
Council approved the purchase of the device.
McDonald said he would like to hire a local man for a part-time mowing position. This individual comes highly recommended from his previous employer, the Village of Centerburg. He said it is important to get him on board, in part to prepare the baseball field by the community center for the start of Little League Baseball later in the month.
Councilwoman Betsy Heer said she would like to begin soliciting donations for a dog park for area residents. It would be located on about four acres between the baseball field at the community center and the Kokosing Gap Trail. The park would be fenced in with two gates on each end to prevent dogs from running off. The village would be responsible for mowing, but dog owners would be responsible for cleaning up after their pets.
She spoke of the possibilty of having plastic bags readily available and trash cans at the park to dispose of the waste. Most likely, the park would be open from dawn to dusk and people would not be allowed to leave their dogs unattended.
Heer estimates the cost of the park to be about $3,000, but said she isn’t certain about this figure. She said money in the village’s Buildings and Grounds Committee could be used, and perhaps local donations could be the match to these funds.
Councilwoman Liz Forman said such dog parks are popular in larger communities and attract a large number of people. She said it will be interesting to see what the park would be like in a rural community like Gambier.
If there is not enough money in the end, Heer said, contributions received by the village could be returned. She said donations would be tax deductible and should be made out to the Village of Gambier for the dog park.
Council voted to endorse the general project.
In other business:
•Emmert said Dumpster Day in Gambier will be May 5. He added that there will be an Arbor Day celebration on April 27 at which trees will be planted in an area across from Wiggin Street School.
•Emmert reported the trained bow hunters who volunteered to help the village resudce the local deer population harvested 10 deer during the first month of Gambier’s deer control program. Bow hunting will contnue until April 15 on the private property of those who have given written permission to the village. It will resume Aug. 1.
•Adopted an ordinance approving a 4 percent increase for salary employees of the village and a one-time $1 an hour raise for hourly employees.
•Adopted an ordinance amending the village zoning ordinance. It limits the number of temporarary, accessory buildings such as sheds. Before the vote, Emmert said there were no limits on these structures. A property owner could have more than one by obtaining a conditional use permit. He said the village zoning commission felt one was enough.
•Approved several expenditures fror supplies: $5,000 to H.D. Water works for inventory of repair parts for the village water distribution/sewer collection system; $5,500 to AgriSludge for sludge hauling; 1,607 to Lowes for the annual purchase of a bulk of inventory and supply items; $868 to ICI paints for paint; and $646 to Wal-Mart for supplies.