Ada council receives update on tree damage from Friday storm

ADA — Damaged trees and limbs from last Friday’s storm are in the process of being cleaned up, said Ada village administrator Jim Meyer.
Meyer, reporting at Tuesday’s village council meeting, said 10 to 11 trees were damaged in the storm and need to come down. More of them, he said, sit on private property. Letters will go out to those who have trees on their property that need to come down.
Because of the extent of the damage, the cleanup process will be a time consuming one, the administrator said. He asked that residents work with the village and be patient.
“Those (tree removals) will happen as time allows, but we’re chipping every day. We’re chipping from 6 a.m. to noon and because of the heat and the job, that’s probably all we’ll chip every day,” Meyer said. “Then in the afternoon, they’ll do all of their other work that isn’t getting done, like work orders and those type of issues.”
Meyer added that if anyone sees any trees the village misses to give them a call and they will be down to assess them. Bigger tree limbs and trunks will be left from the cleanup, he said, and residents are more than welcome to take it if they desire.
“We’d love to see it disappear – that’s just that much less we have to haul,” the administrator said. “If it’s back behind the sidewalk and on private property, I can’t tell them they can take it – that’s up to the homeowner. But if it’s in the tree lawn, if we leave it there, they’re more than welcome to haul it away.”
If residents are worried about their grass or something else as a result of the tree damage and can’t wait on the village to clean it up, they need to hire someone to haul it away, according to Meyer.
“Hopefully we’ll get the town back to normal as soon as possible,” he said.
During his comments, Mayor David Retterer commended the village employees and the Ada Police Department for their involvement during the storm.
“As soon as the chief called me to tell me things were under control, I jumped in my truck and headed up town. By then, all the street lights were running and the generators were running,” Retterer said. “It was really well handled and our employees know what to do and they just do it. That’s not something most places can say, I’m guessing.”
The mayor also remarked on how well the situation was handled by AEP in keeping him up to date on the latest information available.
“They sent at least three emails to me saying this is how many people we have out of power, this is when we think we’re coming back, this is where we have crews, how many crews, how many stations were down; it was useful knowledge,” the mayor added.
Also during the meeting, Meyer gave an update on the Lincoln Street project, informing council that the second of two pours for the alley and driveway entrances were done Tuesday and that they are currently in the seven-day waiting period. The tree wells along the street have also been poured, he said.
In other business, council:
– Approved a resolution establishing the necessity of a certain public improvement along Christopher Circle, Brandi Place, Jocelyn Drive, Northernview, Southernview, Pleasantview, Clint Drive and Valerie Drive.
– Approved the changing of Ada pool employee Eleni Guyton’s position from lifeguard to head guard and increasing her pay from $7.70 to $8 per hour retroactive to June 20.

By TY THAXTON
Times staff writer

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Posted by Kenton Times on July 5, 2012. Filed under Local News,Recent Headlines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry