Ripley Village Council met on Tuesday, July 28 and made progress on many topics.

The meeting was attended by Drew Watson, an account representative for Rumpke. Notably, village officials have spent several months considering the costs and benefits of contracting out for garbage collection within Ripley. Watson was present to explain each of two offers that he made available for council members to consider. If either offer is accepted in the future, many specifics like the rate that customers pay to the village would still need to be decided. But the aspects of Rumpke’s service that both options have in common include once-a-week pickup as opposed to twice weekly, allowing business to represent themselves instead of businesses in Ripley paying a fixed rate to subsidize residents, and providing each customer with a 96-gallon trash cart for their use.

There will be three readings of any resolution to allow Ripley citizens to comment.

“These are two alternatives the public might have input on,” said the village’s new Solicitor Christian Jenkins.

As of Tuesday night council as a whole was leaning toward option one, which received four votes while two council members voted “No for now.”

Council did give Administrator Phil White approval to sell the 1996 International garbage truck that they had been using.

Another topic that council addressed was the cemetery fund which was drained shortly after being established. The costs of maintaining the cemetery have since been carried by the general village fund. Mayor Dallas Kratzer revealed that a levy of one mil would not raise the amount that needs to be collected to cover the fund shortfall. Council voted and provided for a levy of 1.5 mil to be placed on the ballot in November as long as the Brown County Auditor is able to file the proper paperwork in time.

“The people I talked to felt like it would be a necessary tax,” said Mayor Kratzer. “We desperately need it.”

Village officials spent a short amount of time in executive session to “discuss potential litigation.” After coming out of executive session, a few subjects were brought up for the first time for Solicitor Jenkins to look into for future decisions. The first involved establishing a DORA (Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area) along Front Street during community events or certain weekends. This ordinance, common in villages throughout Ohio with entertainment districts, would allow for alcohol outside of establishments within that area. Finally, Councilman Alvin Wallace suggested making Ripley a “Patriot Village,” a term that municipalities across the United States use when declaring themselves 2nd Amendment sanctuaries. No discussion took place regarding which elements of a Patriot Village would be adopted by Ripley in particular.

The meeting was adjourned after about one hour.

By Marty Cornelison