BROOKSIDE — Brookside Village Council will now hand out a pamphlet to each person who visits a council meeting that contains guidelines for public participation.

Council discussed its new guidelines for residents who come to speak to council at Tuesday evening’s meeting.

Guests are already required to sign in so council can create a log of who attended, but council intends to create a resolution that lists requirements residents and council members will have to follow when a visitor wishes to speak. All council meetings are open to the public, and they are held at 6 p.m. the second Tuesday of every month at the village hall at 875 National Road.

“I’ve represented almost all the villages here in Belmont County. This is the first time I’ve seen a written set of guidelines,” Solicitor Richard Myser said. “I think this is very, very good.”

Meanwhile, Mayor Richard Kurner told council he has signed the village up for Belmont County CodeRED, which is a service to send emergency notifications by phone, email, text and on a free mobile app to keep citizens informed of emergencies, such as evacuation notices, utility outages, water main breaks, fires or floods, chemical spills and more.

Kurner, who will serve as the administrator and provide updates for the service, will be able to notify residents of problems, such as water breaks on a specific street or where traffic is stopped.

Kurner said he thought it was important to get the village signed up because residents will be able to download an app on their phones and be notified of emergencies immediately.

Council also discussed its ordinances that need to be codified, which means to arrange laws, rules or regulations into a systematic code. The village has to codify its ordinances this year and will make any changes to them that are needed.

Several ordinances need to be amended, some with only minor changes to wording. But the most substantial one for the village is one that defines its business district, consisting mainly of businesses along U.S. 40. Right now, the ordinance states that the business district goes to the centerline of the streets behind Driggs Lane, Chestnut Street, Brookside Avenue and Ross Street.

What village leaders want to do is to change the ordinance to try to keep the businesses facing U.S. 40, so they’re not back in the residential area.

Kurner said Comcast’s property line goes back right up against Driggs Lane, which is a residential area. However, it is not affected by the soon-to-be amended ordinance.

There is one business on Driggs Lane, Bench Law Firm, that will be affected by the change, and Kurner said the plan is to help it as long as it is in business. If and when the business closes, the house it operates out of will then revert back to a residential designation.

Kurner added that the village already has enough problems with traffic.

On U.S. 40 in Brookside, there is a square patch of bad asphalt that is crumbling on Brookside Avenue heading west. The Ohio Department of Transportation came in and did its inspection several years ago and cut out the square and repaved it. Now, Kurner said, for some reason that section is crumbling. Kurner contacted an ODOT representative who said they will send someone to look at it.

The village will also be getting a paving project done on Overbrook Drive. R&D Asphalt and Trucking will take on the project after submitting the lowest bid at $34,955.

Cleanup days in the village will be May 21-22. Residents will need to put everything to be picked up out in their front yards.

Patterson Road will be getting a new stop sign soon; it is currently on a pedestal. Village leaders want to sink the post down into the ground, but they are waiting for Shelly and Sands Inc. to finish paving in that area.

Lastly, just in time for the holiday, the Easter Bunny will be making its way through the village starting at 2 p.m. April 19 on behalf of the park board.