Staffing concerns to finish out the water park season was a highlight of City of Uhrichsville Service Director Cade Watkins’ report.
At the latest council meeting, Watkins indicated that, with classes starting soon, staffing shortages are occurring, this is a critical time for staffing, especially after August 3rd.
“We’re winding down our water park season. As August comes on it’ll be more difficult to staff the water park. I’m doing the best I can, and we can down there to schedule ahead. We’re looking at that following week to see if we’ll be able to open up the weekdays. It could be a challenge to do so. A lot of people going back to school, college kids, and football starts up a little more. We’re going to keep looking at that, but it is a fear we have that we might not be able to do weekdays that first week of August.”
The water park season ends Labor Day weekend.
Meanwhile, Mayor Jim Zucal noted that paving was pushed back to minimize higher traffic congestion in the McCauley Drive area, since the city’s biggest project will be N. Water Street extension.
In his report, Zucal said that Uhrichsville has hired a new police officer.
“We had a swearing-in of a new police officer. He’s a young man freshly out of the academy. Very promising. I really like him. His name is Justice Al-Rubiay. We welcome him on board, and he will start on August 4th.”
They are still looking to hire one more officer to bring their staff up to full capacity.
The mayor also mentioned getting promotions for the next census in 2030. The 2020 census shows the Uhrichsville population to be at 5,255, but it was projected to decline. The city is in danger of becoming a village, as the US Census Bureau defines a village population as under 5,000.
Visitors at the meeting expressed concerns over a neighbor hanging out bird feeders, saying they now have, at times, over 20 pigeons on their roof. The mayor responded after the residents questioned whether a feeding wildlife ordinance existed.
“I talked to [Council President] Buck [Cottrell]. We had a meeting on this. I gave him some language on outdoor feeding of animals, various species of animals, and Buck has that and so if he gets that to a committee then they can eventually get that to the law director. There is also language there, I think, from Mogadore and other communities that have a ban on feeding.”
In other Uhrichsville updates, Zucal said administration are working on obtaining a Small Cities grant for road improvement on Trenton Avenue and Jaycee Drive.
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