Council continues discussion of police benefits

SOUTH POINT — A replacement levy that will appear before voters on the March 19 primary ballot is essential for village services, South Point Mayor Jeff Gaskin said.

The 3 mill levy comes before voters every five years and has been approved for 30 years, he said.

However, in last year’s general election, the levy failed.

In making his case, Gaskin stressed that the levy is “the same three mills we’ve had for 30 years.”

“There is no new millage,” he said. 

He said the levy pays for many services in the village.

“It is very important for a our twice a year clean up,” he said. “It is very important for our brush pickup and it is very important for our street lights.”

Gaskin said, should the levy fail, the village will be forced to curtail services, including the clean up scheduled for April.

Gaskin also discussed this month’s meeting of South Point council.

He said there was a lengthy discussion of a police benefits package, going on more than two hours, but, for now, the council is taking no action and will revisit the topic next month.

“We did not finish the discussion and there was no agreement,” he said.

Gaskin said they also heard from the village’s fire chief, Mark Goodall

He said the fire department has secured a $15,000 grant for turnout gear, bringing the total amount of grants received by the fire department in the past year to $100,000.

The mayor also discussed the village’s water replacement project, the third phase of which is underway.

Gaskin said the project should be completed within a year and is ahead of schedule.

“We have two crews in town — one on the east end and one on the west end,” he said.

The first phase of the project began in 2021 and more phases are planned.

Gaskin said the first three phases are in areas where the village has had 80 percent of its water main breaks in the past.

“The idea is to loop as much as possible and use as many valves as practical,” he said, noting this will allow them to isolate any problems that could occur in the system.