(Posted April 11, 2023)
By Kristy Zurbrick, Madison Editor
The village of Mount Sterling has a new tool to use in its quest to vanquish potholes.
At the April 10 council meeting, village administrator Tom Byrne reported that the village purchased a DuraPatcher machine. A company representative from Texas recently spent a day training village maintenance employees on how to use it.
“We’re good to go. We’re confident that we can run this machine and start filling some of these potholes,” Byrne said.
The machine, which requires two people to operate, allows the village to take care of small- and medium-sized potholes in-house. The village still needs to contract with an outside company for large potholes.
Byrne said the goal is to take care of all of the small- and medium-sized potholes this summer. He asks that motorists give the crew space when they are operating the machine. He noted that it doesn’t take long to fill a pothole but still asks for the public’s patience when the crews are out working. Once filled and sealed, a pothole takes about 30 minutes to set, he said.
The village is making a priority list, setting the order in which they will fix the potholes around town. Residents are welcome to report potholes by calling town hall at (740) 869-2040. Becky Martin, chair of council’s street committee, asked the public to patient with the overall process.
“We have a very small crew. We will get to (all of the potholes),” she said.
Swings for Mason Park
Martin also chairs the parks and recreation committee and reported that several types of swings will be added to the playground area at Mason Park later this year. The current playground does not include swings of any kind.
On order are bucket swings for babies, traditional belt swings for all ages, two handicap accessible swings, and two generational swings that allow an adult and a child to face each other while swinging.
“We are talking to vendors now to get things lined up,” Martin said.
Due to manufacturing backlogs, the village doesn’t expect delivery of the new swings until fall.
Events coming up at Mason Park include an Arbor Day and Earth celebration set for 10 a.m. April 21, a softball tournament hosted by Madison-Plains on April 22, opening day for the Mount Sterling Eagles Youth League on April 30, and the United Methodist preschool graduation on May 12.
Due to a change in plans, movie nights at the park will start in June rather than May. They are set for the last Saturday of June, July, and August. The May date will be rescheduled; details will be announced at a later date.
