BARNESVILLE — Village Council moved forward with plans for major improvements to Barnesville Memorial Park this week.

Councilman Les Tickhill presented the park committee’s proposal to replace the park’s “Amazing Playground” with a new, more modern playground design through a state purchase program for a cost of $146,292, with removal and disposal of the old playground and installation of the new adding $28,321 to the project. Tickhill also informed council members Monday that if they decided to move forward with the proposal immediately, the playground could be completed in time for the Pumpkin Festival in September.

Councilmen Tony Johnson and Brad Hudson both expressed their desire to see village crews perform some of the work in order to save on the installation, but there was concern whether their current workload would allow that to happen within the time frame required. Assistant Fire Chief Tim Hall proposed that members of the fire department could tear down the old playground, which would save the village about $8,000.

Council voted to move forward on the playground project, leaving some of the details of the installation logistics and costs to be determined with the total expenditure not to exceed $174,613.

Meanwhile, Village Administrator Roger Deal announced bid results for the park paving project and reminded council that the bids had options to extend paving as far as the Amazing Playground on Park Lake Road. After some discussion, council accepted the low bid with the additional paving option for the amount of $170,537.

Mayor Dale Bunting said these two projects in the park plus planned improvements to the pool, such as getting work done to the filter system, were part of a park improvement project made possible by a donation from the estate of Lucille Wittmer of more than $750,000 that was announced in February.

Also at the meeting Hall announced that a work session that was held July 19 was to discuss the purchase of a new fire truck and that three bids had been received; the lowest was $458,000. Council voted to approve the purchase.

Council then discussed the need to get an Emergency Medical Services levy on the November ballot, and Village Solicitor Marlin Harper told council that due to time constraints the village would need to get the certification process started through the county auditor’s office.

Hudson expressed his displeasure at the circumstances that have led to having to ask taxpayers to help keep the EMS running.

“I hate it, it bothers me,” he said. “I don’t like doing it, but it’s the reality. Do you want the e-squad to come when you have an emergency, or not? Taxpayers are going to have to pick it up.”

Council ultimately decided to submit paperwork to the county auditor to see how much revenue a 1.5-mill levy would yield, with the caveat that the amount could be adjusted down during the next step in the process prior to being submitted to the elections board.

Deal announced results of the bid process for the Ohio Public Works Commission grant-assisted street paving project to pave all or part of 14 streets in the village.

He recommended and council accepted the low bid of $320,087 made by Lash Paving, with Deal noting that this exceeded the original estimate for the project by about $21,000.

Deal also announced that officials from American Electric Power had decided to redesign their plan for a power grid upgrade project and that the company would no longer be seeking an easement through the village’s Crestview Cemetery.

Mayor Dale Bunting asked council to begin the process to get needed work done at the water pollution control plant by approving a request for a quote on the needed repairs; council agreed.

At the request of Police Chief David Norris, council approved the promotion of Rocky Sirianni from sergeant to lieutenant, citing his work on the county drug task force and his demonstrated ability to make the right calls when needed.

Hudson closed the meeting by honoring the memory of lifelong Barnesville resident Bill Chaney, who died July 21.

“That fella was an asset to the community,” Hudson said.

Hudson went on to cite Chaney’s activity on many organizational boards and community projects over the years, making special mention of his being one of the original organizers of the Ohio Hills Health Services, which now provides services to thousands of people in four counties.

Barnesville Village Council’s next meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Aug. 7 at the Municipal Building.