By Tom Leonard, Ripley Mayor and Pete Renshaw, Administrator –
“Looking back at the past year, 2016, the Village of Ripley has accomplished a great deal,” said Ripley Village Administrator Pete Renshaw. Mayor Leonard and I prepared the following information, month by month on all that has happened in our village.”
January, 2016
• New water wells drilled and casings and screens installed
• Brown County Emergency Management Agency conducted a “table top” exercise scenario for Ripley Village leadership
February, 2016
• The dock downtown has been refurbished with new stainless Steel hardware and then power washed
March, 2016
• Water Quality Report 2015 released with all items within normal limits and no EPA violations
• Southwest Ohio Catholic Charities Food Pantry opened with distribution every third Wednesday
• Water Line Flushing program begun
April, 2016
• Sanitary Sewer Pump Station at Ohio Valley Manor rebuild begun
• Women’s Club donated 3 dog waste receptacles and bags to the Village
• Arbor Day program Friday April 29 held at 1 p.m. in Maplewood Cemetery at the monument
May, 2016
• Potholes filled
• Village Building parking lot sealed and striped
• Stones vandalized in Maplewood Cemetery
June, 2016
• Front Street Stone Wall being repaired near Liberty Monument
• Several electrical power outages occurred. Tree branches cleared from electrical line, ending a series of outages.
July, 2016
• New water treatment plant operator hired to replace contract operators
• Pipeline connecting new wells and the water treatment plant contract advertised and awarded to contractor.
August, 2016
• Met with planners of the Rural Heritage Festival
• Water treatment plant operator recognized by the Ohio EPA as Operator of Record
• Surprise Wastewater Treatment Plant EPA Inspection completed with no discrepancies
• Police Chief Harvey Bowman retired after thirty six years of service
• Backup Electrical Generators Annual Inspection and Maintenance completed
• Village website www.villageofripley.com now in operation
September, 2016
• US 52 Resurfacing Project (ODOT) From Congress Street in Ripley to the Village of Aberdeen
• Raw water main from new wells to the water treatment plant route revised to cut costs
October, 2016
• Sanitary Sewer Pump Station at OVM refurbishment complete. Station should be good for another 20 years
• Ohio Department of Natural Resources Urban Specialist held training on proper tree pruning
November, 2016
• Fire Levy passed
• New Fire Contract signed with Union Township for fire protection
• Star moved to Rankin Hill and set upon its base with new LED light bulbs
December, 2016
• Holiday Forest of Lights lit December 1
“We look forward to 2017 and we already have a lot of projects on our agenda, including the following,” Renshaw said.
• Complete well project
• Inspect sidewalks and refurbish those not in compliance
• Have Village Engineer inspect unsafe structures and condemn those found to be unsafe and unsanitary
• Enforce grass and week ordinance
• Repave several streets
• Pay off trash truck
• Replace 100 year old Third Street garage with a new storage building