BELMONT — Village Council recently discussed the need to have a place where residents can dispose of sticks, branches and other yard waste.

Councilwoman Lorie Grob opened a discussion on the topic during a recent council meeting, saying she had been asked by a number of people after the recent windy weather left many yards littered with downed branches and sticks.

The village previously allowed residents to dispose of yard waste in an area behind the village recycling bins at the end of Bridge Street, but the practice was ended after numerous abuses including an incident in which a local tree removal contractor knocked down a power line near the dump site.

“We want people to clean up their properties, but I’m on council and don’t know where to put my sticks!” Grob said.

A number of options were discussed, including reopening the dump site and/or renting a chipper for a day to help get rid of the waste. Council eventually tabled the matter until the May meeting while those options are looked into in more detail.

Grob also suggested that the village donate a gymnasium rental to the nearby McDonald’s restaurant so it can hold a benefit for three employees who are battling cancer. Grob reminded the rest of council that the restaurant is always generous when the village is in need of supplies for various community events and the rest of council agreed, voting in favor of donating the rental once a date is agreed upon.

Grob also reminded everyone that the annual community yard sale would be held May 6 with the community cleanup being held on the following Saturday, May 13.

Mayor Ron Woods thanked Grob for organizing another successful Easter egg hunt and expressed his appreciation to everyone who donated and participated this year.

“We had plenty of donations and plenty of toys,” Woods said before he and Grob thanked a local 4-H group for helping to fill the eggs.

Grob added that the only thing the village had to spend money on for the event was a small amount of candy.

Board of Public Affairs President Ken Davis informed council of a recent visit by the village’s Ohio Public Entities Pool insurance representative and said that while she was pleased with work that has been done on various village-owned structures, she informed him that some kind of safety measures were required to prevent falls or injury from falls around the ball field bleachers.

Davis said she had given him information on a grant that could be used to complete that fix as well as some other safety-related things they were working on.

Davis also said that village wells were still producing 100% of the water being used in the village, and he and council discussed what could be done to manage the excess water that is being produced.

Davis also thanked Joel Braido of Braido Memorials for his donation to the village cemetery fund, adding that they would continue to solicit donations for that fund on social media and other outlets to help the village pay for mowing this spring and summer.

Fiscal Officer Ricky Burkhead informed council that while he had spoken recently to officials from Belomar Regional Council concerning their efforts to abate and demolish the old Belmont school building, there was nothing new to report at this time.

Burkhead also informed council that this year’s audit by the state would begin soon, but that the village had been approved for an Agreed Upon Procedures Audit, which would be considerably faster and less expensive than the standard audit.

Council held the final reading of and adopted an ordinance establishing new rental rates for the Belmont gymnasium, noting the rates paid by a number of “legacy renters” would remain unchanged.

Council also approved council President Derek Cain’s request to budget $1,500 for material needed to fix the surface of one of the ball fields and discussed a recent vandalism incident at the basketball courts, where someone cut a lock so they could lower the baskets.

Belmont Village Council meets at 6 p.m. the second Wednesday of each month in the Stanley Sobel Village Offices in the basement of the Belmont Gymnasium on Brown Street.