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Local News
Plain City may have use for old school
May 13, 2009 at 12:18 pm
By MAC CORDELL
Plain City officials are exploring the possibility of moving village offices into the Plain City Elementary School.
The Jonathan Alder School District is in the early stages of constructing a new school building. That would leave the current structure at 340 W. Main St. empty.
Plain City Village Administrator Steve Hilbert met with an architect to consider moving the village offices.
“He thinks it is actually very feasible, moving the village offices there,” Hilbert said
The architect said retrofitting the building to make it handicapped accessible would be easy given the spacious design of the structure.
Hilbert said all the departments, except the police department, could be easily moved.
He said fire and police departments “have their own standards.”
The architect said some of those standards could be worked around because the police department does not have a dispatch center, nor does it house prisoners.
Hilbert told council members the architect was “pretty encouraging.”
He added that the professional did the review as a courtesy.
“I think if we want to get with him again, we are probably going to need to put him on payroll,” Hilbert said.
Village Mayor Sandy Adkins said she isn’t sure if moving the offices is the right thing for the village.
“We don’t know if it’s going to happen,” Adkins said. “It is just kind of a possibility.”
Hilbert confirmed the architect was making no plans, simply “looking at it to see if it’s feasible.”
Plain City officials are also waiting to learn if their proposed pool renovations will bring the village into compliance with new federal guidelines.
“We have sent the request to the department of health so we are just waiting on them to get back to us with that,” Hilbert said.
Earlier this spring there had been discussion among village officials about not opening the pool amid financial concerns. Adding to the fiscal burden was a newly enacted federal law requiring changes to the drain system of pools nationwide. The new federal law forbids pools from using a standard round drain. The law indicates the round drain can too easily pull children towards it and the children can become stuck.
The law requires the new drain to be installed by a certified vendor.
Tara Lee, a village resident and an engineer for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, said the state agency has been dealing with the same federal laws at its pools.
She said a vacuum release can be installed and will meet the requirements of the new law. Lee engineered a fix for the village pool.
Hilbert said he would contact the health department in hopes of expediting approval for the vacuum release design.
Adkins suggested Lee make the call.
“She may have some pull with them,” said Adkins. “It may be better to have her do that and follow up and let us know.”
Hilbert said he was contacted by the village insurance company to see if they bring the pool into compliance with the new law. He said he was also contacted by a national pool safety advocacy group which saw in the newspaper that Plain City was working to come into compliance with the law. He said the advocacy group has a list of communities not preparing to make the changes required by the legislation.
“Obviously they are checking every newspaper out there to see who had and who hadn’t,” Hilbert said.
Lee said the vacuum release devise costs about $550. She said there is still installation and some piping that must be run. Other pool options discussed could cost as much as $20,000.
Councilman Doug Saxour said because of the pool expenses, other park projects planned would need to be delayed, specifically mentioning the extension of split-rail fence around the park.
“This year, it’s going to be basically maintenance and upkeep,” Saxour said.
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