5/24/2012 - South Side Leader
     

An absentee landlord who attempts to maximize profits on rundown rental properties by continuing to let them deteriorate is known as a “slumlord,” and these are the people Mayor Rick Justice specifically wants to keep out of Lakemore Village.

During the May 21 Council meeting, Justice announced zoning issues continue to be addressed with positive results in the village. He said 30 violations have been identified since February and now are in compliance.

“Sometimes all it takes is talking to people to get things straightened up,” he explained. “There has been an improvement.”

Justice said cleaning up the village is a “huge part” of the current plan for economic revival in Lakemore. He re-emphasized his desire to attract “positive investors.”

“We have a slumlord problem,” he said. “It is easy to see a foreclosed home or a distressed house and have the wrong kind of investor take it over and not fix it up. They take in a tenant and say goodbye to the property.”

Justice is hopeful the situation will continue to be remedied over time.

In other news, the mayor reported Kellbran Candies broke ground recently in the village’s industrial park and should be open by October. This will be a positive addition to Lakemore, he said.

He additionally announced Dollar General will break ground soon at its new site at Sanitarium and Canton roads and also should be completed in October. He also said the new traffic light on Canton Road at Springfield Lake Drive should be up by October.

Also during the meeting, Council:

• accepted financial reports from Fiscal Officer Rick Quay and purchase orders in the amount of $26,214. Quay explained the village began the year with a total fund balance of about $13,000, and by the end of April, the fund balance was at about $191,000.

“We have gone in a positive direction, and everything is staying in line as it should,” he said;

• authorized the appointment of Justin Cikity and Dustin Willoughby as firefighters/emergency medical technicians for a one-year probationary period with the Lakemore Fire Department. Chief Barry Saley explained the staffing level fell below the desired 25 man roster, but the addition of Cikity and Willoughby will bring the department up to where it should be numbers wise;

• authorized the appointment of Ben See and Dakota Parsell as unpaid support personnel for the fire department. Saley explained this would allow village residents to assist with the department, much like the Springfield Police Auxiliary members already do in the community. Anyone interested in helping the department should contact the village for an application;

• instructed Saley to have Life Force Management write off two-year-old uncollectable accounts of Lakemore residents;

• permitted leashed dogs in the Lakefront Park for the 2012 park season on a trial basis. According to the approved resolution, all residents bringing dogs into the park must obey all leash laws and clean up after their pets. Failure to clean up after dogs may result in the village rescinding the resolution, the legislation states.

“We need places to walk dogs, but we also need you to respect the park,” Justice said; and

• approved an ordinance to transfer $2,435 from the General Fund to the Drug Enforcement Fund as a financial cleanup measure.

In other village business:

√ Council President Tammie Coontz thanked all those who took part May 5 in the Community Cleanup Day, which she called a “success.”

√ Saley announced the Firefighters Association would host its annual Memorial Day Pancake Breakfast May 28 from 9 a.m. to noon at the station.

√ The Memorial Day Parade lineup will take place at noon at Springfield High School and start at 1 p.m., Justice said. The event will include special speakers and a 21-gun salute, he added. [See related story on Page 1.]

The next regular Lakemore Village Council meeting will be June 4 at 7 p.m. at the Municipal Building, 1400 Main St.

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