ST. PARIS – Village council earlier this month tabled discussions regarding potential walkways from the village to Graham Local Schools.

During a Jan. 19 council meeting, resident Brenda Cook spoke about the Safe Routes to School program and said she wanted to see if the village could receive federal funding to help the village get a multi-use path from the village to the middle school.

She mentioned the Safe Routes to School National Conference, which will be held on April 5-7 in Columbus, and asked to send Village Administrator Joe Sampson to the conference.

During the Feb. 1 meeting, mayor Joe Reneer said council asked Cook if she would be willing to go to the conference since she has done a lot of the footwork. He added Cook agreed to be council’s liaison for the convention.

Cook said she met with the school district recently and they were working on a travel plan for the Ohio Department of Transportation. Speaking on the price of attending the conference, Cook said it would cost $450 in addition to gas mileage and lodging.

After discussion about the cost of the conference, council decided to table any action to find out more information about what the school district will contribute toward the expense.

Administrator discusses lead testing

In response to extensive news coverage on lead in water, Sampson said situations in Sebring, Ohio, and Flint, Mich., were more complicated than what is reported. He also reiterated that the village tests for lead in water and this is not an issue for the village.

As a precautionary measure, Sampson said the village is going to perform a test to check the corrosiveness of the water. If there was lead in the water this test would tell if there is enough for it to be an issue.

“We’ve done that test a long time ago, we passed with flying colors,” Sampson said. “I want to pull it again to make sure everybody knows that we don’t have lead in our water, we’re OK.”

Our Town Update

During the mayor’s notes portion of the meeting, Reneer read the winter newsletter from Our Town St. Paris outlining some of the major events that will take place this year.

The letter stated the farmer’s market will begin May 6 between 2:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. at 135 W. Main St. The farmer’s market will take place every Friday until Oct. 14.

Flower barrels will be planted in May and a garage sale day will be held June 18 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Our Town St. Paris annual meeting will be held June 27 with the location of the meeting to be announced.

Christmas in the Village will be held on Dec. 3. During the meeting, Sampson said Our Town asked council for permission to hold a light parade with antique tractors and cars.

After council discussed a potential route for the parade, they unanimously approved preliminary plans for the parade.

Our Town St. Paris will hold their next meeting on Feb. 22 at 6 p.m. in the council room at the municipal building.

In other action:

•Sampson said notices for job openings in the street department and water/sewer department will be posted next week and the village will accept applications until the end of February.

•Council was informed that no bids were received for the sale of property located at 9746 W. U.S. Highway 36.