By Martha Jacob –
The Ripley Village Council opened three sealed bids on a rural water main project for new wells to the water plant at its recent meeting.
The village received three bids for the project and accepted a bid of $217,250 from Unger Construction, LTD in West Union. Other bids were considered including a bid of $276,265 from Hartman and Smith Construction Company in Amelia and a bid of $306,570 from Rose Excavating and Development, Inc., of New Richmond.
According to a letter to council from J.D. Stine, P.E. & Associates, Inc., Ripley’s consulting engineers, J.D. Stine recommended that the contract be awarded to Unger Construction. The letter from Stine also stated that the OWDA (Ohio Water Development Authority) had been advised of the bid results and have indicated that the village may award the contract. Council approved the contract.
“We recently had an EPA inspection of the wastewater treatment plant,” Village Administrator Pete Renshaw said. “It was for compliance and we did very well.”
In other business at the council meeting, Ripley was recognized by Wendi Van Buren with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Forestry, as the recipient of an award for being a Tree City, USA member for 10 years. The program is sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation.“We were very happy to get this recognition as a Tree City USA,” Mayor Tom Leonard said. “I was here when we officially became a Tree City, and to date, we are the only one in Brown County.”
Council also decided that the dates of the next official Townwide Yard Sale would be Sept. 8, 9 and 10.
Mayor Leonard said he received a letter from the American Payroll Association (APA) and the Greater Cincinnati and Northern-Kentucky Chapter of the APA regarding National Payroll Week in the Village of Ripley.
The theme of National Payroll Week 2016 is “America works because we’re working for America.”
Mayor Leonard later proclaimed the week of Labor Day (the first full week of September as National Payroll Week, showing support for the event.