T-L Photo/JOSIE BURKHART Brookside Mayor Richard Kurner informs council Tuesday evening that CodeRED is up and running in the village, offering emergency alerts for residents.

BROOKSIDE — The emergency alert service CodeRED is ready to be used now by residents of Brookside.

Mayor Richard Kurner informed council the alert service is now up and running in the village and is ready to alert residents to all sorts of emergencies.

CodeRED is a service used to send emergency notifications by phone, email, text and a free mobile app to keep residents informed of emergencies, such as evacuation notices, utility outages, water main breaks, fires or floods, chemical spills and more.

Kurner is able to send out notifications to residents of specific streets, so the whole village doesn’t have to get all of the notifications.

“CodeRED is a very beneficial thing. People are saying they wanted the siren to blow for tornados and stuff. You don’t hear it all (in all places in the village) … ,” Fire Chief Alan Ketzell III said. “Where the CodeRED, you’re going to hear it and it’s sent to you.”

Kurner encouraged everyone to register for the service and said it’s an easy process. Residents can sign up by going to the link on the Belmont County 9-1-1 site at belmontcounty911.com.

Meanwhile, Solicitor Richard Myser read the resolutions and ordinances of the night.

The first was Resolution 2025-03, to adopt guidelines for citizens’ participation at village council meetings. At an earlier meeting, council discussed the new set of guidelines that residents visiting meetings and council members will have to follow.

Members will now be handing out a pamphlet to each visitor that contains guidelines for the conduct of both council members and guests.

At the earlier meeting, council discussed creating a resolution that lists the requirements for residents who wish to speak at meetings. Myser brought the completed resolution to the meeting Tuesday.

It was the first of three public readings of the resolution, but all council members indicated they are on board.

Myser said he thinks this is a great thing.

“I think this is very good. I think this is unique,” he said. “I’ve been a village solicitor for probably most of the villages here in Belmont County for the last 42 years, and I’ve never seen guidelines promulgated for visitors who want to attend meetings and address council. I think this is a very good thing for council to come up with.”

The next ordinance, 2025-04, is to change and to address posting of ordinances to inform residents of new ones that have passed.

Myser said council must post a copy of the resolutions and ordinances, and the village’s old ordinance on the matter states council has to post legislation at certain locations. Now, that has to change. Myser said the Ohio legislature decided that is not a good way to let the community know about new ordinances and resolutions.

Council had two options for how it will post legislation now: posting them in a newspaper of general circulation or on the village website and social media. Myser shared his opinion that the best decision financially would be to post the legislation on the website and social media.

Council members including Mike Tully, Roger Stewart, Paula Curtin, Sara Mudrick and Paul West voted to suspend the rules requiring three public readings and also to approve the ordinance. Councilwoman Wendy Anderson was absent from the meeting.

The next ordinance, 2025-05, was not up for passing but for discussion of what the ordinance will look like. This ordinance is to amend Brookside Codified Ordinances, Section 1248, to zone district maps and the district boundaries for residential and commercial properties.

The most substantial ordinance that needs to be amended is the one that defines its business district, consisting mainly of businesses along U.S. 40. Right now, the ordinance states the business district goes to the centerline of the streets behind Driggs Lane, Chestnut Street, Brookside Avenue and Ross Street.

Council wants to change the ordinance to try to keep businesses facing U.S. 40, so they’re not back in the residential area.

Myser read that the committee is still working on what the ordinance is going to say, but basically residential is going to be all of the area in the village not specifically identified in section B as business and commercial. Section B will state that businesses and commercial operations are limited to lots or parcels with buildings that front on U.S. 40, on both the north and south sides of the street. There is an exception for a property at 23 Bridge Lane, as it is already an established business now grandfathered in.

Curtin then told council some residents have been complaining about the stop light that was taken down on Overbrook Drive and replaced with a stop sign. Curtin said she tells residents it’s a done deal. Kurner added there have been fewer accidents there since making this change.

Meanwhile, it was announced that the Route 40 Yard Sale will be from May 28 to June 1.

The paving project for Overbrook Drive will begin the Tuesday after Memorial Day, May 27, as the contract has been signed.