FLUSHING — Flushing Village officials last month set the dates for upcoming holiday observances in the village and discussed making changes to the plans to attach a garage to the village office building.

Lori Mann, representing the Flushing Fire Department, addressed council informing them that the fire department was planning their annual Halloween cake walk for Saturday, October 25 noting that they traditionally hold the village’s Trick or Treat on the same night for everyone’s convenience.

Council members approved Mann’s suggestion that they hold trick or treat from 5 p.m. until 6:30 p.m., with the cake walk following at the Flushing Fire Hall from 6:30 p.m. until 8p.m.

Mann said they planned to hold the Flushing Christmas Parade on Saturday, December 6 with line-up at Schuler Park beginning at 10 a.m. and the parade stepping off at 11 a.m. with the annual Craft Show at the fire hall being open until 12:30.

Mann also informed council that they were holding a blood drive and baked steak dinner from 10 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, adding that the dinners would cost $15 and that there would be a baked goods auction and raffles benefitting the Thomas Freedom Tree Foundation.

Mann also submitted the fire department’s financial records for the year to date while council approved the release of fire and ems levy funds to the department.

A brief executive session was held at the request of Mayor Preston Eberhart to discuss a personnel matter, but no action was taken after the closed door session.

Meanwhile, Council President Bryan Clark reported to the rest of council the results of a Building and Grounds Committee meeting that was held to discuss the specifics of a planned addition to the village office building.

Village officials have been planning for some time to use roughly $16,000 in American Rescue Plan funds to build a garage attached to the offices to store police vehicles and village files as the old municipal building is suffering from a number of structural issues.

Clark said they had decided on a 24 by 40 foot metal pole building with two garage doors and one “man door,” and that they had a quote from James Van Curen of $40,720, noting that the quote did not include excavation, concrete, or gutters.

Fiscal Officer Jeryl McGaffick pointed out that they had a previous quote from Withrow Contracting for the project and that she had issued the purchase order last year to beat the deadline for usage of the ARPA funding, although the money did not have to be spent until the end of 2025.

After some discussion, McGaffick said she would research whether they could switch contractors on the project without jeopardizing their ability to use the ARPA funds.

Clark along with former Mayor Angelo Vincenzo and Ashley Barto were just appointed to council in June and July this year after three council members resigned in May so had not been involved in the previous discussions about the project.

Eberhart informed council that the old Flushing School property would soon be transferred back to the village by the Belmont County Port Authority.

The Port Authority had assumed ownership of the property in order to expedite the asbestos abatement and demolition of the old school buildings and to facilitate the sale of the lower portion of the property for the construction of the Dollar General.

Eberhart also said that he had been working with Village Solicitor Gary Smith to see what village properties had been unitized for gas and oil exploration, noting that the reason that the school property transfer had become a priority was because Gulfport was interested in leasing the gas and oil rights there.

Council also discussed with Smith the complicated history of ownership of a number of cemeteries being maintained by the village.

When asked about a missing street sign on Bank Street, Village Administrator Kris Chini said that they had ordered a number of replacement signs, but that not all of them had been received yet.

Flushing Village Council meets at 6 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month in the Village Offices on High Street.