Danville swears in new council

DANVILLE — The Danville Village Council welcomed two new council members at its meeting Monday.

Richard Dusthimer and Michael Waldeck were sworn in by Mayor Bob Dile after being elected in November to fill the spots vacated by Todd Didinger and Sandy Ridgway. Didinger and Ridgway both retired after many years of service on council.

Brad Walls was also sworn in after being re-elected to his spot on council. After an executive session, the five members appointed Jill Byers to the vacant spot on council. Three others — Pat Crow, John Kaiser and Darin Durbin — had also submitted letters of application for the position.

During the meeting, Walls was elected president pro-tem and committee chairs were named by Dile. Walls was named chairman of the finance and park committees, Jim Holmes will chair streets, Gary Moreland solid waste, and Dusthimer, police. Dile will continue to represent the village on the Eastern Knox County Joint Fire District board. Dusthimer was appointed representative to the Knox County Regional Planning Commission with Waldeck being named alternate.

In other news:

•Council agreed to renew the village’s membership with the Mount Vernon-Knox County Chamber of Commerce at $200 per year.

•Council contracted its legal service with Noel Alden at the current rate of $100 per hour.

•Holmes reported he submitted the application to The Community Trust Foundation for a grant to purchase flashing lights near the school. He said $35,000 was applied for to help with the $50,000 project that will install lights at the intersection of Rambo, Mickley and High streets. That intersection has a lot of pedestrian traffic during the day as students walk between the elementary and high schools for lunch and other classes.

•Village Administrator Robert Shipley asked for and was granted permission to look into purchasing a second dump truck for the village. The current one works well, he said, but it takes a long time to transform it from a snowplow/salt spreader to one able to be used for other projects, such as a waterline break. Shipley will also look for a canvas cover for the generator at the new water treatment plant.

•Council tabled discussion on limiting parking on the north side of West Main Street near the square until the Jan. 19 meeting. Council is considering removing parking on the street there and only allowing two spots for loading/unloading of children at the day care center.

•Resident Pat Crow said he is looking for people interested in helping out with the Turkey Festival. The EKCJFD will no longer be coordinating the event and Crow is hoping to find enough people to continue it. He said a meeting will be held soon.

Council adjourned at 9:30 p.m. The next meeting will be Tuesday, Jan. 19, at 8 p.m. The meeting was moved because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on the normal meeting date, Jan. 18.