T-L Photos/GAGE VOTA Bridgeport Village Council members listen and respond to concerned residents on Tuesday.

BRIDGEPORT — Concerned residents voiced their worries to Bridgeport Village Council on Tuesday evening.

The first resident to address council was Karen Crupe. She asked council members if there was a way to add a speed limit sign in Aetnaville to reduce the number of vehicles that speed through the area.

“There’s a lot of children now that are up around that area playing, and I know the police can’t be everywhere at once,” Crupe said.

Assistant Police Chief Darby Copeland responded that there are already two speed limit signs in Aetnaville, with one visible in each direction. Copeland said that last week he ran radar in Aetnaville and, although cars appear to be going faster than they actually are, he has recently written a few speeding tickets in the area.

“We have a single officer out for the majority of the time, so we’re getting calls and running traffic as we can, but I can have the officers do a conservative effort up there to slow folks down,” Copeland said.

He then asked Crupe what time of day the speeding is worst, to which she replied around 4 p.m. and after when people are usually returning home from the work day. Copeland assured her that he will be getting a police officer to patrol the area as much as possible.

“And one last thing. I know this is a biggie, but the sidewalks, if they could be more handicap accessible. There are a few people in chairs that go around the neighborhood and it’s just scary,” Crupe said.

Village Solicitor Michael Shaheen responded to Crupe.

“Anything that is replaced afterward has to be,” he said of current requirements. “They’re not going to go and tear up sidewalks, but anything that gets replaced, they have to replace it with ADA.”

ADA is the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination based on disabilities and requires handicap access to public facilities.

The next resident to address council was Sandy Crupe, who spoke about a resident in her neighborhood who she said multiple residents have filed complaints about. The complaints have been related to excess junk in the resident’s yard.

Mayor Norma Teasdale interjected to let her know that the council is aware of the complaints and that the individual in question is moving the excess junk in his yard.

“He just moved everything over, and he’s got wood everywhere,” Sandy Crupe replied. “With all of this dry heat we’ve been having, if that catches on fire Aetanville is gone on that whole hillside. It’s bad. He cleans it up for a little bit and then it’s back.”

Village Superintendent Travis Snodgrass responded, saying that he actually made contact with the individual in question today when he stopped by his residence.

“He actually had taken out two additional trailers. I want to see it all gone just as well as you do, however it’s a slow process.” Snodgrass noted.

Sandy Crupe was not convinced.

“Because what he does is he’ll take a trailer today and load some more onto it, but he brings the junk in so the trailer that he leaves with nothing from his house is junk that he brought from somewhere else and leaves it sit there and then he’ll take it somewhere else.”

Snodgrass agreed that he will keep a closer eye on the individual to make sure the issue gets resolved.

Next, resident Frank Papini asked the council if there was a problem with the village’s water.

“I live in Kirkwood Heights, and it seems like we’ve been having an awful lot of impure water going through our pipes the last few weeks. The water’s coming out brown,” Papini said.

“We’ve been having an issue with the pressure tank up there, losing pressure. I actually just sent out for a quote yesterday to replace the pressure tank,” Snodgrass said.

He added that he believes the current pressure tank was put in around 1957. Papini asked him if that would result in discoloration in the water.

“When it drops pressure in the line, we get an alarm. We go up and raise the pressure, which actually pushes the water which circulates the water and stirs it up, so yeah,” Snodgrass said.

Snodgrass said he posted it on the Bridgeport Ohio Concerned Citizens Facebook group. He proceeded to tell the residents that a new check valve to be installed today should alleviate some of the pressure loss.

Shaheen added that the village is working on creating a website to consolidate all of the information that needs to get out to the residents of Bridgeport.

Village Administrator Jesse Kosegi said the person who was hired to create the village’s website is out of town on vacation, but once she gets back the website should be up in running shortly.

Kosegi then addressed the council about the possible contract renewal with Kimble Sanitation for garbage service for the village. Shaheen asked Kosegi when the current contract expires. Kosegi said he believes the current contract expires in August. Shaheen mentioned to council that Kimble does not have an automatic renewal and that village leaders should seek bids before renewing.

The next Bridgeport Village Council meeting will be at 6 p.m. Aug. 27 instead of its regularly scheduled day due to a scheduling conflict with multiple council members.