At Wednesday’s Washington C.H. City Council meeting, council member Dale Lynch explained his distaste of 2020 political signs being placed throughout the community so soon.

Lynch said, “I am concerned that already we are seeing political signs for the 2020 election. First of all, I don’t think that’s allowed in our community at this point in time. And second, I wonder what that opens us up to as time goes on. I am very much opposed to the political scene starting as early as it does.”

Lynch explained that his political views are not the reason for his displeasure with the signs, because the signs he’s seen are of Republicans and he is a registered Republican.

“I think we have a problem if we start doing these things—you know you can start at a certain time putting out city council people running because they’re coming up this fall. But to do something for the 2020 presidential election at this point—I’m sorry, I don’t care who you like and who you don’t like, it’s too soon.”

Council chairperson Jim Chrisman agreed with Lynch about the signs.

Also during the meeting, one ordinance passed and another ordinance was placed on first reading.

Ordinances must pass through three readings before becoming law. Ordinance number 3-2019 is the one that passed. It enacted and adopted a supplement into the code of ordinances for the city.

The ordinance that was placed on first reading would authorize city manager Joe Denen “to abate public nuisance at 924 E. Temple Street; authorizing a private contract for payment of the abatement of nuisance; and directing the collecting of the cost of the abatement of nuisance from the owner of the property.”

Essentially, a nuisance is caused within the city if a property is dangerous, in a state of disrepair, is uninhabitable, decreases local property value or decreases the enjoyment of life of surrounding neighbors. An abatement of nuisance is a way for the city to handle the situation.

During the meeting, Denen complimented contractor Shelly and Sands for its work on the Washington Avenue reconstruction project, as well as expressed thanks to those who live along Washington Avenue.

The roof replacement project on the city building in Washington C.H. that has caused traffic disruption along Court Street will be completed soon. Once completed, the equipment can be removed from the street and traffic returned to normal.

According to Denen, there was an unexpected problem with the internal sewage line in the city building that needs to be fixed, as well as an air conditioning unit from 1969 that needs to be repaired.

As of Thursday, “an outside person” will be looking at the city’s cyber security to judge how well the electronic network is protected. This comes following the Fayette County electronic system being infiltrated by a type of Malware called Ransomware.

In other business, Denen thanked everyone involved with the July 4 Fire in the Sky fireworks display. “That was an exceptional fireworks display,” he said.

Some of the other topics addressed by Denen included the Fayette County Fair, which is coming up next week, the 4-H program, which is popular among the youth in the community, the American Legion Buckeye Boys and Ladies Auxiliary Girls State, which recently held a dinner to bring together the participants and their sponsors, and the Facebook page for the Economic Development and Wingate Packaging Video that has a focus on helping show what types of jobs exist in the county.

“I hope everyone has a very pleasant time out at the Fayette County Fair,” said Denen.

Other closing comments from council members included the following:

Lynch said, “My saying is: Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your work with excellence.”

According to Lynch, he was thinking about this quote in reference to all the people who made Fire in the Sky happen and kept it safe, along with the businesses in town. “I think that applied very well to what our city does and the people in our city work very hard to make it a unique place.”

Council member Steve Shiltz thanked the service department for handling some concerns the council received from citizens living beside an alley. He said, “If you have any concerns anywhere, you can come to anyone of us. We are all very approachable. You can tell us your situation, your concern and we’ll listen to you and we’ll take it to our city manager, Joe Denen, and I guarantee we’ll come up with some kind of solution for you.”

Chrisman told everyone to have a nice evening and to enjoy the fair.

Reach Jennifer Woods at 740-313-0355.