The committees and communities within the city of Shelby are becoming more active as the weather warms up, with many activities discussed at Monday night’s City Council meeting including a new small business and the Shelby Shop Hop.
The Community and Economic Development Committee meeting produced many upcoming events in Shelby. Councilmember Steve Schag shared the news of a new small business in Shelby called Phoenix Financial Solutions, which provides customer service for all dealers that use dealer-controlled financing.
In addition, a new film “The Wind Is Watching,” 80 percent of which was shot in various Shelby locations, is due to be released this coming August. Visit the Facebook page.
“Upcoming community events include the Shelby ‘Shop Hop’ on Thursday, April 10, generating excitement among the downtown businesses participating in this unique shopping experience,” Schag continued. “Two faith-based community home improvement projects will be coming to the Shelby area starting in June, titled ‘TeenServe’ and ‘Light Our City.’ Activities that involve opportunities for area families include the Shelby Community Gardens, with plot sign ups starting at Marvin Memorial Library on April 12 from 10 a.m. to noon.”
In other activity, the Public Works and General Operation Committee discussed a drafted lease between the city of Shelby and the Board of Education. Councilmember Garland Gates specified the lease would be for 16 acres of land at the Waste Water Treatment facility for the Shelby FFA to use.
“We discussed the term of that, we felt that three years was an adequate term at a dollar per year,” said Gates. “We discussed some language regarding insurance that we would want the Board of Education to provide to cover the activities of students there.”
Gates noted Law Director Gordon Eyster prepared a revised draft for the lease and Project Coordinator Joe Gies has forwarded the draft to Superintendent Tim Tarvin at the Board of Education. The committee will wait to hear back from Tarvin before taking any further action.
“It does seem to be a very fine arrangement, we’ve got land that we’re not using and they’re looking for land,” said Gates. “It’s a good situation, and a piece of land not all that far from the high school.”
Shelby Mayor Marilyn John shared the Health Department’s “Look Who’s Walking” program started up again Monday evening, with walks from 5:30 to 6:30 every Monday evening from April through the end of October. For the month of April, walks will be held at Reservoir #2. For the month of May, walks will be held downtown starting behind City Hall. In 2013, 80 people participated in the walking program.
Mayor John also announced that Regional Planning has approved the city of Shelby for an additional $2.1 million to be spent on the Mansfield Avenue paving project starting in 2016.
“We are on the Urban Paving Program with ODOT and we are scheduled to have State Route 96 and 61 paved in 2015 and Mansfield Avenue paved in 2016,” John explained. “There have been some questions from businesses about doing some additional work; the curbs along Mansfield Avenue are basically non-existent and there’s a lot of other work that needs to be done to Mansfield Avenue besides just the paving.”
Gies applied for the money, and John stated the additional funds would greatly enhance the project and make huge improvements along Mansfield Avenue.
“The areas we want to concentrate on are curb replacement all the way through, the lighting of the intersection at Franklin/Glenwood, and supply Morningside and Mickey Road with new traffic signalization and widen those intersections properly for a turn light,” Gies specified. “That will help with the congestion.”
In other news, Council approved two emergency ordinances that would transfer appropriations for the year 2014 and amend the Annual Appropriations ordinance for 2-14, respectively. Ordinance 6-2014 states it is necessary to transfer funds from one line item to another within the existing 2014 budget so as to balance the books and fund necessary expenditures and/or projects. A total of $5,791.50 was transferred from two miscellaneous funds to the transportation fund.
“This money was basically spent on the temporary budget; it was money that was sent to the county for our commitment to the bus service, and I did not put enough in the budget to do that,” explained Finance Director Bob Lafferty. “I didn’t put enough money in that line item for that transaction, so I’m searching for money to put into that transaction.”
The second item, Ordinance 7-2014, amends the Annual Appropriation Ordinance whereas it is necessary to increase line items within the 2014 budget and to fund said line items with previously unappropriated monies. Expenditures were increased in fund 600-CAP-515 by $400,000 for equipment and fund 702-PEF-510 by $325 for clothing allowance.
“This legislation came about when Mr. (John) Ensman and I discussed the budget,” said Lafferty. “This is the line item we have purchased the generator for the water plant from, and it has not been expended. It was discussed by Mr. Ensman and myself but somehow didn’t get back into the budget.”
Lafferty noted at the end of March the General Fund was in the red by $31,000 but as of Monday night’s council meeting, the fund was in the black.