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Shadyside council talks solicitation

SHADYSIDE — Village Police Chief Don Collette provided an update regarding a pamphlet called “The Voice” that has been causing a stir in the community.

The pamphlet contains multiple write-ups claiming that a particular resident was “swindled” out of his “estate” on Highland Avenue.

Collette said Frances Wright was charged with soliciting for distributing the pamphlets.

“She was found, and we don’t tolerate any of that,” Collette said.

Councilman Brandon Parr said that during the last council meeting, members discussed the possibility of making an ordinance about time guidelines for soliciting in the village.

“We need to look into getting everybody on council an ordinance book, because at the last meeting we talked about passing an ordinance. I don’t know when, but there’s an ordinance. I don’t know when it was passed, but it states solicitation is completely prohibited, period. So there’s no time frame we need to establish or anything, because it’s strictly prohibited,” Parr said. “​​In the last meeting, we talked about it, and we were looking at an ordinance, but it was an old ordinance so we don’t need to do that.”

He added that it may be wise for council to update its ordinance book because he believes there are close to a half a dozen ordinances that need to be updated. Councilman Robert “Bushwacker” Gorrell added that last time council updated its ordinance book, it cost roughly $10,000.

“It’s not cheap. The police department’s was updated in 2020 and is based on the city of Cambridge. I got their ordinance book and all their laws and regulations,” Collette said.

Gorrell replied to Parr, asking him to find out how much it would cost for council to update the ordinance book and said council can go from there.

Village Law Director Kelly Kotur said that if council were to change the ordinance book, it would just have to pass a motion allowing her to update the ordinance book.

“I just actually opened up the definition of solicitation: it’s trying to obtain something or going out selling something,” Councilman Mike Meintel said.

Mayor Robert Newhart said the people distributing the pamphlets fall under “solicitation and canvassing” because what they were doing could be considered slandering elected officials.

Newhart then said the Shadyside Community Building will be updating its rental policy.

“When somebody calls to rent the building, if it’s open (secretary) Betty (Snyder) will put their name in the book. The problem is if the person ends up not wanting it, they never call and cancel so it sits vacant. It’s Betty’s idea for a $25 non refundable deposit,” he said.

Newhart added that he believes he will need a motion from council to implement the non-refundable deposit. Councilwoman Melanie Haswell that motion made with Meintel seconding it. The motion was then passed unanimously.

Newhart also announced that the village will be conducting smoke testing on its sanitary sewer system on July 9-10.

“Smoke line testing begins July 9, and as we get closer and get more information we will put it on the village’s Facebook page. Right now, we’re just putting it out the month of July we’ve got smoke testing coming up,” Newhart said.

The test will assist the village in locating breaks and defects in the sewer system. According to a notice the village is publicly displaying to its residents, the smoke should not enter any homes unless there is a defect in the home plumbing system or it has drain traps that are dried up.

The last topic council discussed was Kirke’s Homemade Ice Cream and Coffee Central will be having its grand opening at 9 a.m. Friday.

“The grand opening is Friday at nine o’clock, and then it will be open from now on. After Friday, Monday through Sunday, it is 6: 30 in the morning until 9:30 in the evening. And this Friday, which is Friday the 13th, it will be officially opened. They’re having the ribbon cutting, but otherwise, the times are 6:30 in the morning to 9:30 in the evening,” Haswell said.

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