Ripley CouncilBy Martha Jacob –

It was business as usual at Ripley Village Council’s meeting, July 26 with attendance from full council. Visitors at the meeting included Alvin Wallace and Dave Poole who did not request to speak.
Village Administrator Pete Renshaw briefly discussed the recent water line flushing, which is nearly completed. “So far we’ve had no complaints from anyone about their water being discolored,” Renshaw said. “I am very pleased with the job the new water treatment plant supervisor,  Dusty  Dryden, is doing. There are a lot of challenges at the plant and he is addressing them one by one. Right now he is doing a turnover with the current company that has been doing the job, and finding out how they do things.”
Renshaw said the plant has had five different operators in the past nine years and he was happy to now have an experienced full time operator on the job.
He added that he intends to meet later with Gary Williams, the design engineer who designed Ripley’s plant, to go over exactly what the plant is designed to do.
Renshaw continued, “The trees on lower Main Street between 2nd Street and Rt. 52 and Front Street need attention. The roots are coming up through the sidewalks and the decorative bricks and causing some damage. The trees have also gotten so tall that they are blocking some of the merchants’ signs and some satellite TV antennas.”
Renshaw said that when planted, the trees were never supposed to get so tall, plus the roots were designed to go straight down, but are growing upwards and out. He said somehow, the wrong trees were planted, and he said the Village of Georgetown had the same problem at one point across from the courthouse.
“I talked to Georgetown’s Administrator Art Owens about it and he said, because Ripley is a Tree City, USA, they have to be very careful that if we take the trees out, we will have to plant a new tree,” Renshaw said. “I’ve contacted an arborist about these trees, (approximately 8 trees) and he’s going to direct our next move.”
In other business, Renshaw  said that residents seem to be looking forward to the Aug. 12, ‘Night Out in the Park” sponsored by the Ripley Police Department.