Georgetown officials spent most of the day June 11th in committee meetings, culminating in a public village council meeting on Thursday evening in the Gaslight Theater.

To start, Fire Chief Joe Rockey gave an update on the Firehouse renovations. Designs include individual rooms for staff to stay in overnight, and ventilation and electricity in those rooms, in addition to the windows and door that were part of the original expansion. This design is now being used to solicit bids for the project.

Police Chief Robert Freeland presented an observation that aging police cruisers may be costing the village more money in repairs than it would cost to replace them. Some discussion took place about making the replacement of police vehicles more procedural in order to pre-empt the issue. However no formal actions were taken on June 11th. Councilman Dave Guenther weighed in: “It’s also important that our people don’t get into a car with something wrong with it when they really need to be somewhere.”

The utility committee heard a presentation from Estel Newberry representing Core&Main. Newberry articulated the next steps in modernizing water and electric meters for Georgetown users. Items from Sensus – whose products Georgetown already uses – are available which would make it easier to collect and manage usage rates. The installation of the new equipment was estimated to take place over two to five years. Officials resolved to get input from budget committee members and ensure the synergy of all infrastructure development projects. According to Administrator Tyler Thompson, a recent review of water and sewage systems in the village revealed a few urgent, and potentially costly, vulnerabilities.

The community development committee discussed a new design for the Georgetown village logo. Before replacing some weathered signage around town, the committee is exploring a new logo for the signs and other Georgetown properties. Councilman Andrew Clift stated that the current logo is busy and hard to discern on village trucks. The new logo would feature a minimalist outline of Merchants Row. Two other residents showed up and spoke positively about the new design, while offering suggestions for different colors. The new logo has not yet been adopted.

The headline event, however, was the completion of the Village Charter. Since the beginning of the year, the 15-person commission has met to draft the Charter in preparation of Georgetown reaching a population of 5,000, and therefore becoming a city. Chair Patrick Hornschemeier and Jeremy Varner presented the completed product to the council and a few dozen Georgetown residents on Thursday evening.

Varner stated that the commission’s two goals in all decisions were to “limit change” and “exercise home rule.” The Charter was drafted in such a way to keep on the same track that has worked for Georgetown and make sure that future decisions are made in Georgetown and not in Columbus whenever possible.

The biggest institutional change was to shift the election schedule for one council seat so that each cycle three out of six councilmembers are up for reelection as opposed to alternating between two and four council elections.

As with many ordinances, this Charter will be given the standard three readings before being voted on. June 11th constituted the first reading, and throughout this process Varner is encouraging as much participation as possible. “Our biggest thing is making sure people know what it says,” stated Varner, “and letting us know if there’s anything they don’t like.”

The current version of the Charter was passed unanimously by the commission and praised by the councilmembers as well as Mayor Cahall. The second reading will take place at the next council meeting on Thursday, June 25th.