Former Sharon City Hall to be Remodeled
BY JASMINE WILLIAMS
jasmine@dresdenenterprise.com
SHARON (September 14) – The City of Sharon held its September meeting after canceling last month’s meeting to discuss improvements to the city.
The board held a public hearing and final reading of an ordinance to approve absentee by-mail voting. This was approved unanimously by the board and allows non-resident property owners in Sharon to vote in city elections utilizing the mail-in ballot option.
There was a discussion of the former city hall building located at 143 E. Main St. in Sharon. The city received many calls from interested buyers for the building. Alderman Ali Stalter said that she did not want to see the building be turned into a storage building. She stated the city could clean the building and possibly rent it to a business to have a storefront in Sharon. This would generate income for the city and bring in another business into Sharon.
The board agreed with Stalter’s suggestion of having a building for the city to use for a new business.
Stalter also recommended installing a new decorative light and flag pole in front of the new city hall building.
It was agreed that installing a flag pole and light in front of city hall would need to be done, but some members of the board expressed concern over having electricity to the light that might be difficult. The city will move forward with having a new light and flag pole installed.
The board held its first reading of an ordinance to allow residents to pay their property taxes in small portions. However, property owners would need to have their taxes completely paid by the end of February of each year or be counted as delinquent. The board did pass the first reading of the ordinance. After final passage, Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS) will need to accept this new plan before it can go into effect.
In other news, the board ratified to have the city recorder and the police chief not be rehired every year and instead work as any other employee. Sharon’s board also passed to open a new depreciation account for water and sewer. The board passed to create this new account, but to look into which bank would offer the best rates before officially opening it.
After the monthly reports from the fire and police department, Greg Evans with public works expressed a need in the department for more personnel to be hired for the upcoming leaf season. He asked for more part-time help to assist with the leaf truck for November until January. One member of the public works is currently not working due to health reasons, which will limit the department if he does not return. The board asked if the current staff could handle the leaf work, which Evans responded that he will be conducting sewer tests and will be unable to work much with leaf pickup.
After much discussion the board agreed to ask if the worker who is out sick could return by the end of October and if cleared by the doctor, to drive the leaf truck while another gathers the leaves. This would allow the worker to be limited and offer less physical work while having the department work as normal during the leaf season. But if the worker is not able to return, the city might have to look into hiring a part-time worker for the coming months. The board will discuss this further as leaf season approaches before deciding to hire any part-time help.
The next regular board meeting is October 12 in City Hall at 6:30 p.m.
