By Hannah Poling
Staff Writer
Mark Shaw, director of Southwest Public Libraries along with Christina Edwards, circulation librarian for the Grove City Library, attended the Jan. 28 Pleasant Township board meeting to discuss an upcoming renewal opportunity for a levy which had been passed in 2010.
Shaw made a presentation at the meeting regarding Issue 20, which will be on the ballot in March. Issue 20 is a one-mill renewal levy. If passed, it would provide funding for 10 years. The levy is a straight renewal with no tax increase.
Since the passing of the levy in 2010, the Westland Area Library has been expanded and includes a new public meeting space and a larger, more interactive youth services area. In a partnership with the city of Grove City, a new Grove City Library was also built and opened in 2016. The renewing of the levy is intended to continue the public services and programming at the Westland Area Library and the Grove City Library.
This levy provides roughly 37 percent of the library’s operating income. The Public Library Fund from the state of Ohio provides the majority of the rest of the library’s income.
Pleasant Township resident Sarah Karlsberger also attended the meeting to address a flooding issue in her neighborhood.
Karlsberger lives on Avon Drive and said there is a property down the road where a resident is trying to build a structure on a slope next to Spring Park. The resident said with the rain this past spring, she had mud flooding into her garage, which caused a partial collapse. The building resident had put straw bales up to attempt to resolve some of the flooding.
“It has kind of just diverted the mud down the road to the other neighbors but it is eroding so badly that it’s building up behind those and if we get rain this spring and he hasn’t done anything, it’s going to over top it. It took a significant amount of work to get the mud out of my garage,” said Karlsberger.
This building project has not only affected Karlsberger, but another neighbor down the road as well. Their well was reportedly swamped by the mud running off of this property.
Robert Bausch from the township’s road department plans to reach out to soil and water to address this concern.
