South Jacksonville Board President Harry Jennings presided over his final regularly scheduled Board of Trustees meeting last night. It was also the last for Village Clerk Megan Moore. Neither Jennings nor Moore sought reelection in Tuesday’s consolidated election.
The Board wasted little time in approving several action items, in a meeting lasting just over twenty minutes.
Matthew Hunnicutt was approved for hire to the fire department. Fire Chief Evans says the new hire brings the total on the department to 22, including six paramedics and nine EMTs. Evans says the department is working toward hosting an EMT B class at the fire station later this year.
Public Works Director John Green confirmed the Village has received permission to open the Splash Pad at Godfrey Park this season. Green says after checking with the Morgan County Health Department, they were given the go-ahead to open up next month.
“They said that we could do it. We don’t charge admission so we are under a little bit different circumstances there. But there really are no regulations on splash pads per se because we don’t reclaim the water and treat it like in a swimming pool. The water is chlorinated and treated through the municipal water system but does not recycle through the pad again.
So the Health Department was okay with it and the state was the same when I talked to them. There really are no guidelines for splash pads. The state told me that Knight’s Action Park is also opening back up so they were good with it as well. They said if anything comes down the pike they would keep us informed, but at this point, we are good to go.”
The restrooms in Godfrey Park will open on April 15th, and the splash pad will open Friday, May 28th which is the Friday of Memorial Day weekend.
The Board also approved a resolution to make an unofficial village event, an official one. Jennings says since the City of Jacksonville has welcomed Village residents to take part in its City Wide Yard Sale, the board felt it was only right to return the favor.
“Unofficially the village-wide yard sale has always been on the weekend of the steam show. So what we decided to do was make it an official village-wide yard sale in the fall. The City [of Jacksonville] does one in the springtime and they include residents from the village in their City Wide Yard Sale. So we are going to do the same and we will advertise city residents in our village-wide yard sale, so there will be one in the spring and one in the fall.”
Both Green and Jennings also announced at the meeting that fire hydrant flushing will begin on Monday and continue through all of next week.