BARNESVILLE — Village officials recently heard concerns from residents and property owners on Railroad Street.

During a council meeting held April 24 Mike Muffet addressed council asking that something be done about a mess on a property on Railroad Street resulting from a resident working on cars in his driveway and yard. Muffet implied that the man was running a business out of his garage and said he was in the process of retaining a lawyer to get the issue remedied.

Beth Teague said the situation was making it difficult to sell her house and that the mess does get cleaned up sometimes, but that it is only temporary. She added that getting out of her driveway can be “like playing chicken” due to visibility being blocked.

Councilman Steve Hill, who had raised this issue previously, pointed out that the designated path of the recently approved Rails to Trails project would frequently be blocked by the vehicles in that driveway.

Mayor Jake Hershberger said officials already had updated procedures and paperwork to better enable village leaders to remedy situations like this.

“I am committed to continue to make a difference on that,” Hershberger said.

A resident who was apparently the owner of the property being discussed came into the meeting to defend himself, saying he tries to keep the mess cleaned up and that he wasn’t bothering anyone. The man did not identify himself on the council floor.

Muffet replied that the man should have understood there were restrictions when he purchased the property. As the resident began to respond, Police Chief Rocky Sirianni intervened to keep the argument from going any further, noting that both sides had been given a chance to speak on the issue and that he and other village officials would handle the situation.

Meanwhile, Hershberger said the village has $100,000 budgeted for street paving this year and asked for input from council.

Councilman Brian Yarnall said he would like to see the budget doubled to get some alleys chipped and sealed as well as paving some streets.

The matter was discussed further before it was decided a street and alley work session would be held to iron out the details.

Council President Tony Johnson spoke of what he felt was a fairly significant slip on the side of a road in Memorial Park, saying he thought the village needed to get a game plan together and get it fixed within a couple months.

Village Administrator Roger Deal said a couple of contractors had looked at it, but the consensus was reached that they needed to do some digging to determine the depth of the slip before proceeding.

Council also discussed upgrading the village’s road salt storage bins at some length before the matter was tabled.

Deal said village crews were working on getting streets swept and patched, and that he was still in need of a seasonal mowing crew.

Resident and business owner Scott Wolfe addressed council about the unfair enforcement of village ordinances, naming others who he believed were in violation of ordinances he had been cited under.

Dallas Adkins expressed his appreciation to Hershberger, Deal and village crews for fixing a large hole on Highland Avenue.

In other business, council approved paying bills in the amount of $180,175 and approved the village’s Ohio Department of Transportation road salt contract for the coming winter.