By Martha Jacob
The August 12 meeting of the Village of Sardinia Council revealed some serious concerns from its residents regarding police coverage as well as the job its Mayor, Greg Cassidy was doing.
The following day after the meeting, Mayor Cassidy turned in all his keys to fiscal officer, Karen Miller and stated that he wouldn’t need them any more.
Mayor Cassidy was running for mayor in the race in November, but withdrew his petition and pulled out of the race. Mayor Cassidy was unavailable for comment. Five other candidates are now running for mayor of Sardinia including Tina Coday Townes (pending certification), John Hudepohl, James Stokes, Tyrone Pack, Bill North and Dustin W. Puckett, Sr.
Later in the same meeting Village Administrator Tim Mock turned in his resignation as of December 31, 2019. He thanked the residents of the village, village employees and council for all their support over the years. Council accepted his resignation.
During the meeting Sardinia resident Duke Snyder told council that he feels the Sardinia Police Department should be out on the streets in the mornings and evenings.
Police Chief Jim Lewis told council that most of his department’s auxiliary officers work a 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. shifts and are on patrol during that time.
“We have 10 officers who work two days per month and cover as much of the schedule as possible, Chief Lewis stated. “We did lose an officer that had been working days on Sundays. We swore in an officer last month that needs to do some continuing education because he has been out of police work for over a year.”
One member of the audience asked how many of the police hours are spent on SR 32, to which Chief Lewis responded that out of the 160 hours that are worked each month, less than 40 hours are on SR 32.
Snyder also told council that he sees reckless driving and speeding on Maple Avenue and feels more needs to be done about the issue.
One resident commented that the police need to be more visible on the streets of Sardinia.
Discussions continued at the meeting regarding, public safety meetings, police scheduling, concerning activities on Winchester Street, suspicious activities at the cemetery and response time for police officers.
Following a lengthy discussion, Mayor Cassidy reminded everyone at the meeting when the public safety committee meetings will be held. He said all the comments would be taken into consideration, but that in order to increase the manpower of the police department, it would take significant budget adjustments.
Chief Lewis then game his monthly report to council. His department wrote 37 citations with 39 violations, including one for no operators license, one for possession of drug paraphernalia and one to a juvenile. At least 29 of the citations were written on SR 32 and four reports were taken.
At the July council meeting, Chief Lewis heard comments from a resident regarding loose dogs and parking in front of fire hydrants.
“The husky dog that had been loose was no longer at the same property,” Chief Lewis said, “They got rid of it. They do have a fenced in back yard, but the husky jumped the fence. The dog they still have is tied up unless they are out with it.”
In other business at the meeting, Councilman Bill North with the public works committee reported that work on the Purdy Road sewer project has now begun and the old gas station was torn down and he asked council for input on what should be built on the property, owned by the village.
Mayor Cassidy told council that five of the six property owners who applied for grant assistance with sewer installation on Purdy Road and Brown Avenue qualified for 80% grant funding.
Mayor Cassidy said he would like for the village to pick up the remaining 20% cost (approximately $1,800 each) and then allow the residents to make payments on the cost, similar to the way the village handles tap fees.
Also discussed at the meeting was possible construction of a storage unit at Crestview Estates, and the cost of zoning permits.
The finance committee chair, Councilwoman Juanita Watson reported that they are considering separating the administrator and the public works superintendent positions and what funds any personnel expenses would come out of.
Administrator Tim Mock also told council that he had received a call from the Ohio Department of Transportation stating that they would no longer be mowing SR 32 within the village limits.
