The Village of Waterville was named a Clean Energy Community by the state, resulting in a $50,000 grant to spend on more energy-efficient projects.
At last week’s Village Board meeting, Trustee Dan Nichols, who headed up the effort for the recognition, said the village has 90 days to submit plans to the state on how to spend the $50,000. Some ideas include LED lights to save energy and money.
Waterville received the last of the $50,000 available to communities that took four of 10 steps to receive the certification. The village did training and installed electric car chargers for two of the steps.
DPW Superintendent Jamie Bechy said Eastern Energy Solutions will do an evaluation for the village to see the cost of replacing the lights and what the savings will be.
Nichols is also working with Codes officer Whitey Brown to come up with a standard routine for handling codes violations and following up to see if the violations have been addressed.
Along those lines, Mayor Gene Ostrander said Walt Friebel was issued another notice for codes violations on his White Street property. He has until the end of the month to clean the debris and trash from the yard or go back to Village Court.
Because Friebel pled guilty and paid a fine for the same violations issued almost a year ago, Village attorney Bill Getman said the process starts all over again. Local court can only make fines, but cannot order someone to clean up the property, Getman said.
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