{"id":187786,"date":"2024-12-23T22:39:01","date_gmt":"2024-12-24T03:39:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=187786"},"modified":"2024-12-25T07:26:09","modified_gmt":"2024-12-25T12:26:09","slug":"safety-changes-at-crossing-addressed-during-council-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2024\/12\/23\/safety-changes-at-crossing-addressed-during-council-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Safety changes at crossing addressed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steps have been taken to make the intersection of S. Washington St. (U.S. 127) and Crawford St. safer for students who need to cross for school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During Monday night\u2019s meeting of Van Wert City Council, Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming informed council members that the city has lowered the speed limit along a portion of S. Washington St. to 25 miles per hour and moved the speed limit sign approximately a block-and-a-half back to South Ave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also said the city has blacked out and removed a parking space near the intersection of Crawford and Washington. He added the timing buttons have been adjusted to allow more time to cross the street at the Crawford\/Washington St. intersection. Council members will need to pass legislation to make the changes official. Two separate ordinances will appear on the next agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming talks about safety improvements at the intersection of Washington and Crawford streets. Scott Truxell\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Those changes are being made in response to a request from a city woman, Meghan Klinger-Dallas, who young son was hit by a car in November while crossing the street at the intersection of E. Crawford St. and S. Washington St. The boy suffered serious injuries and Klinger-Dallas asked council to improve pedestrian safety at the intersection and spoke of issues with signal response times and cars parking near the crosswalk. After hearing her plea, council members and Fleming agreed to explore various options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fleming also noted that for approximately one week next month, the week of January 13, the northbound lane of N. Washington St. (U.S. 127) at Bonnewitz Ave will be closed for work related to the Bonnewitz Ave. extension project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have to go out into the street and do a storm and sanitary connection in that northbound lane so it\u2019s going to have to be closed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On an unrelated matter and in response to a question posed earlier this month by city resident Joe Jared, Fleming said the city spends approximately $10,000 to fluoridate the city\u2019s drinking water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Law Director John Hatcher informed council that starting next year, he may try a different approach toward renters who repeatedly violate the city\u2019s junk and rubbish laws. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter the first junk and rubbish or failure to maintain premises charge with a tenant at a location, any further charge I would probably consider bringing in the land owner at that point,\u201d Hatcher stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Hatcher said the policy would be used at his discretion and added he plans to discuss the idea with the Van Wert Police Department next month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other business, council members heard the first of three readings of an ordinance that will increase water rates by 10 percent, effective March 1. Council approved several year-end supplemental appropriations and fund transfers, along with a pair of \u201cthen and now\u201d invoices \u2013 one for $30,470.50 for Van Wert Municipal Court, and another for $5,100 for a new dining room table for the Van Wert Fire Department. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Council also agreed to appoint Randy Baer to a full five-year term to the Board of Zoning Appeals. He was appointed last year to fill an unexpired term that ends December 31 of this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monday\u2019s meeting was the final one of the year. The next meeting of Van Wert City Council will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday, January 13, in Council Chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Building, 515 E. Main St.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor Steps have been taken to make the intersection of S. Washington St. (U.S. 127) and Crawford St. safer for students who need to cross for school. During Monday night\u2019s meeting of Van Wert City Council, Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming informed council members that the city has lowered the speed limit along a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-187786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 21:41:15","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187786"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":187826,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187786\/revisions\/187826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}