Village Offices Will Be Closed on Thursday, December 5th

All Village of LaGrange offices and maintenance will be closed on Thursday, December 5th, 2019 so that all of our employees can attend the Memorial Service for Village Administrator, Walt Sukey. Following the service, the LaGrange Police will escort Walter’s hearse through the Village…he will be here one more time.

Snow Parking Ban and Leaf Removal Ordinances

Snow Bans/Snow Removal

Whenever snow has accumulated to a depth of two inches (2″) or more on any curbed street or on any paved street, parking shall be prohibited until such time as snow has been plowed from any such street. This prohibition shall not apply to parking in Public Square.

Snow and Leaf Removal

It is against Village Ordinances to blow snow from driveways onto Village streets.  YOU CAN BE TICKETED!  This is a safety issue.  It is also illegal to place or blow leaves onto Village streets.  Leaves plug up storm water drainage grates.  Please follow these Ordinances.

Light Up the Village of LaGrange

“LIGHT UP THE VILLAGE OF LAGRANGE”

HOLIDAY DISPLAY DECORATING CONTEST

 

 THE MOST LIGHTS ON THE HOUSE

  MOST FESTIVE

 MOST TRADITIONAL

 MOST IMAGINATION

WHICH BUSINESS HAS THE MOST SPIRIT

 

HOUSES WILL BE JUDGED

DECEMBER 15, 2019 AT 6:00 PM

PLEASE HAVE YOUR LIGHTS ON!

 

CERTIFICATES WILL BE AWARDED!!!

Help With Social Security!

Government services are often underutilized by the people who need them simply because they don’t know where to go or who to get in touch with. We’re trying to cut down the confusion when it comes to Social Security services.

As a non-partisan group, we hope our new Social Security directory will help ALL people in LaGrange access these services without frustration. We want these citizens to know where to go when it comes getting information about:
• Retirement Benefits
• Disability Benefits
• Social Security Cards
• Other Federal Government Services

Social Security Office Near Me is the first comprehensive resource that includes all of this information so that citizens can have frustration-free interactions with our federal government.

Here’s what it looks like: https://socialsecurityofficenear.me/in/ohio/

No More Cardboard Recycling Bin!

Republic Services has notified the Village that there will NO LONGER be recycling of cardboard in bulk quantities.  Our cardboard container has been removed from the former Village Hall and not replaced.  You may still place cardboard in your home, recycling containers. The dumpster at the Keystone Bus Garage behind the Village Administration building does not belong to the Village.  Please do not use the Keystone dumpster, it is illegal.  Thank you!

Lorain County Emergency Notification System

Emergency situations have become, all to often, the rule rather than the exception. In these days and times, we need to help and support each other! We also need to be vigilant regarding unforeseen circumstances or situations! Click on the link above for more information!

Update on Secession Talks: Chronicle Telegram

LOCAL NEWS

LaGrange Township, village may use arbitrator

LAGRANGE — Despite a letter from the township trustees saying LaGrange Township won’t “accede to the demands” from the village, LaGrange Village Council still hopes the two sides can work out their differences without the village seceding.

Thursday night, Council met for the first time since the township sent a letter telling village leaders that the trustees “have grown weary of the continued unsubstantiated criticism directed toward the township.”

In the letter, the trustees said the village has accounted for 60 percent or more of the fire and EMS service calls for the township fire department. Village Council members said they weren’t sure where the township got the numbers it was using.

“These are just percentages, and they don’t make any sense to me,” Council President Gary Kincannon said. “I can’t believe 60 percent of the runs are in the village and only 40 in the township.”

Kincannon said he would like to have the township fire chief, James Rader, come to a committee-of-the-whole meeting and go over the numbers with Council.

Council also questioned why it would matter if a resident from the village or township requested service from EMS, since EMS isn’t paid per run.

“Also the biggest cost here, what they’re saying, is EMS,” Kincannon said. “The EMS cost where they’re saying it’s this much for the township and this much for village, but I thought EMS was paid by the hour, whether they were watching TV, playing cards or on a run. I asked the mayor to reach out to (LaGrange Township Trustee Gary) Burnett, and that’s a fact: they aren’t paid by the run. It makes no difference at all.”

Kincannon said he was at a loss and didn’t know how to respond to the letter.

Mayor Kim Strauss said he spoke with Burnett, who had a suggestion on how the two sides might work things out.

“I’ve been asked to talk to Council about if both sides brought in an independent arbitrator to look at both sides’ concerns, all the issues and the numbers and say, ‘This is what you ought to do,’” Strauss said. “I thought it was a great idea, only because it seems like we’re not getting anywhere.”

Last month, Kincannon told the trustees the village would like the township to pay the village’s share of the maintenance costs of the LaGrange Community Park and continue maintenance on the cemetery property that lies within the boundaries of the village. If the township refused, then the village would proceed with seceding from the township.

On Thursday, Council said it had meant for what it presented to the trustees to be more of a proposal rather than an ultimatum and had hoped the township would have come back with a counterproposal.

The village has claimed that its residents pay about $60,000 of inside millage each year to the township but don’t see any benefits from those taxes. Township leaders have disputed the figures of how much inside millage village residents pay.

Village Council seemed receptive to the idea of bringing in an arbitrator to help with the situation.

“There has to be someone out there that can come in that has nothing to do with the township and nothing to do with the village,” Strauss said. “They could sit down, listen to our concerns, listen to their concerns, look at the whole picture and say, ‘Look, this is what I think you ought to do.’”

The village hopes to reach out to the township and set up a meeting where both sides can sit down and discuss things further.

Contact Scott Mahoney at 329-7146 or smahoney@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @SMahoneyCT.