By KAREN PARKER | County Line Editor
Plans for street improvements ran into a roadblock at Tuesday night’s Norwalk Village Board meeting.
A project estimate to redo Church Street to the playground and North Street came in at about $500,000. That would leave the village short-handed for other projects, said village clerk Sharon Karis.
About $350,000 is available now, Karis added. However, the village’s reservoir cover may need replacement after DNR testing revealed this week that the structure might possibly leak.
Some board members favored a seal-coating project as a short-term fix for the street, and others were concerned that if the project were delayed, the price would only go up.
The board agreed to seek prices on seal coating and return to the subject next month.
Other business
• The board approved a Class B liquor license for Lucas Bender to operate the Long Shot Saloon, formerly Lil’s Corner Tavern. Bender, who operates the Lone Star in Wilton, said he hoped to be open later this week. Also, the board approved an operator’s license Brian Holland.
On a related note, the board agreed to refund $343.73 to Maureen Kotten, who had obtained a license for the property but had 7 1/2 months remaining on the annual license.
• The village has purchased the Ryan property on Main Street from Monroe County for $183. The partially burned house will be razed, and the adjoining neighbors are expected to purchase the property.
• The board debated forgiving a $7,000 block-grant loan on the former Boyd Zietlow property at 120 W. Center St. Evidently the property had been seized by F&M Bank of Kendall and sold at a short sale without the knowledge that the village had a loan against the property. Trustee Chad Marti argued that someone had a responsibility to pay the debt and suggested the board research the matter before going forward with forgiving the debt.
• Trustee Theresa Lehner noted that village’s Holidazzle Committee had funds to improve the ball diamond lighting but would not want to cover the entire cost. She had contacted John Hansen of Ontario regarding some effort by the local ball teams to contribute to the project, but had not yet heard from him.
• When it was apparent that no one from the Wilton Ambulance Service would attend the meeting to answer questions about the new contract, the board agreed to defer signing the contract with the service until next month.
• The village’s fire/emergency whistle is not working correctly, and the board instructed the maintenance staff to seek repair estimates.
