Richfield Community Days schedule set
By Jeff Gorman
Richfield Village Council talked about Community Days events during the May 15 meeting.
Richfield Community Days will take place Aug. 10-12 this year. The parade will take place Aug. 10, followed by the steak fry Aug. 11 and the main celebration Aug. 12.
Parade participants will gather at 6 p.m. at Richfield School and head toward Richfield Woods Park at 6:30 p.m. The Richfield Color Guard will lead the parade.
John Evans, of the Meridian Sun Lodge, wrote to Council and thanked the members for their appropriation of $3,007 for the chairs, tables and tents for the steak fry. The lodge is sponsoring the steak fry along with the AMVETS and Kiwanis organizations.
Also at the meeting, Police Chief Dale Canter reported the police and fire departments participated in a mock DUI drill at Revere High School May 14.
“We had two smashed cars in the football stadium,” he said. “We had actors portraying the accident victims. Life Flight and the rescue squad came to take them away.”
The mock disaster took place in advance of the prom to warn students against drunk driving.
In other business:
• Fire Chief Joseph Stopak asked for Council to hire fire medic Kevin Urban in a part-time capacity. Council approved the request. “He worked for us in the past before going to the Carolinas and Brecksville,” Stopak said. “We’re looking for someone to fill in for vacations, and he knows the system.”
Stopak also said he is trying to choose among three kinds of thermal imaging cameras, which are being funded through a federal grant.
Stopak and Canter also will participate in the Richfield Relay For Life fund-raising event June 16 at Richfield Woods Park to benefit the American Cancer Society. Other members of the police and fire departments will join them.
• Service Director Melanie Tibbs said her department has completed its work on the ceiling of the dispatch office. Service workers also are continuing their landscaping work at Town Hall.
• Mayor Mike Lyons said local business OE Connection was recently named one of the top 10 employers in Ohio.
• Councilman George Strongosky said the Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) is progressing well with its work on the village’s Comprehensive Plan. Strongosky also said the PZC should take a look at the sidewalk plans before Council approves them.
Council Vice President Bobbie Beshara disagreed. Beshara also spoke about the intersection of Broadview, Brecksville and Wheatley roads, saying it is too dangerous. “When you’re turning north onto Brecksville, the visibility is very poor,” she said.
• Zoning Inspector Roger Swan said he has successfully forced a pair of property owners to move unsightly vehicles and signs from their property. He also said the PZC would soon discuss the reopening of the Taverne of Richfield with its original signs.
• Councilman Andrew Ellis reported that the Tree and Landscape Commission would be taking the summer off. When its members return in the fall, they will discuss the concept of a memorial arboretum.
• Council only passed one piece of legislation, approving the expense of $8,900 to finish paying the cost of a cab-fitted tractor.
• Richfield Township Trustee Laurie Peters Gilmore appeared at the meeting. She said that since township voters defeated a bond issue that would have funded the cost of constructing a new Town Hall, the township would have to remain in the former recreation building behind the fire station until the trustees come up with another plan. Under the 2003 separation agreement between the two entities, the township has a total of 10 years before it has to move out of the building.
The next Richfield Village Council meeting is scheduled for June 5 at 8 p.m. at Town Hall, 4410 W. Streetsboro Road. Also, Council voted to cancel its July 3 meeting.
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