Dover welcomes new businesses and development
Paving completed in Dover over the summer has the downtown looking good. One final project will be completed on Walnut St. from 15th Street to Slingluff Avenue in the next few weeks.
Growth is alive and well in the city of Dover. Interim Mayor Shane Gunnoe announced at the Sept. 19 council meeting that the city of Dover has welcomed several new businesses.
A groundbreaking was held on Sept. 15 for a new Starbucks that will be located on Ohio Avenue. It is hoped the new project will lead to additional development nearby in the future.
A new restaurant, El Hefe Kitchen & Bar is now open at 232 N. Tuscarawas Ave., it features Italian-Mediterranean cuisine.
Weaver Appliance recently located to 2613 N. Wooster Ave., behind Dollar General. They have a showroom and service department.
Youthful Aesthetics LLC will be relocating to a building formerly used by Catola’s Dry Cleaning on Wooster Avenue.
“We wish all these businesses success in their endeavors,” Gunnoe said.
The new senior housing being created on Dublin Drive is attracting a lot of attention.
“The developer tells me there has been very strong demand for the seven housing units initially started in Phase I,” Gunnoe said. “The city’s planning commission is working through the approval process of Phase II. This phase will consist of an additional 15 housing units for those 55 and over.”
Gunnoe also reported he presented a mayoral proclamation to Dover Tank and Plate in honor of their 100thanniversary.
The city will host an open house of the power plant Oct. 3 as part of public power week and everyone is invited to attend.
One final paving project will be completed on Walnut Street from 15th Street to Slingluff Avenue in the next few weeks.
More progress is being made at Canal Dover Park and the goal of connecting to the Ohio & Erie Towpath Trail.
Gunnoe requested a committee assignment accepting a generous donation from the Dover Exchange Club and the former Dover Jaycees of approximately $47,000 to build a picnic shelter at Canal Dover Park.
“The city is grateful for this proposed donation, and it will add another substantial improvement for our residents to our riverfront park,” Gunnoe said.
On Sept. 21, the city will close on the purchase of 8 acres of property from the Union Country Club.
“This property represents the next step in working our way closer to the Ohio & Erie Towpath Trail,” Gunnoe said. “Funding for this purchase came primarily from Clean Ohio funds approved several years ago.”
The Dover Lions Club 2022 Halloween parade will be Wednesday Oct. 26. The parade steps off at 6:45 p.m. Registration and a waiver can be found at www.doverohio.com. Trick or Treat Night in Dover will be Saturday, Oct. 29 from 6-8 p.m.
In legislation, emergency ordinance 48-22 was passed. In addition to some miscellaneous changes, it adds a new committee of Community and Economic Development to the existing committees of Utility, Finance, Service, Parks and Recreation, Safety and Human Resources, and Planning and Zoning Codes Administration. The new Community and Economic Development committee with be chaired by Gina Space and include councilmembers Joe Sciaretti and Sandy Moss.
Also passed was emergency ordinance 47-22 to grant consent by the city of Dover to ODOT for bridge inspection program services. The service is free to the city.
Amended resolution 21-22 was adopted. It authorizes the auditor, the mayor, the safety director, the service director, and superintendents, chiefs, and department heads under those offices supervision to dispose of personal property not needed for municipal purposes including junk vehicles with VIN numbers as listed in the body of this resolution and equipment that are old, inoperable, and have little or no value, and each item having an estimated value of less than $1,000 pursuant to ORC 721.15.
Four vehicles were listed in the ordinance to be sold including a 2000 Ford F 250, a 2000 Chevy 2500, a 2002 Ford F 250, and 2004 GMC truck.
Falling under this ordinance will be the disposal of some Dover light plant equipment, five heat exchangers that have been at RCE Heat Exchangers in Carrollton. Former light plant Superintendent Dave Filippi had promised RCE a purchase order to rebuild the units for future use. The company never received a PO, so they did not do the work.
The units have been at RCE for 4-5 years and storage costs amount to about $4,500. If Dover relinquishes the units to RCE, they will sell them for scrap value of about $2,500 and close out the situation for both parties.
Gunnoe just learned of the issue late last week.
“Fortunately for us, unlike other situations that we ran into in 2021, that company did not proceed without a purchase order to do any sort of overhaul or repair on this equipment,” Gunnoe said. “Mr. Hall (assistant light and power plant superintendent) does not believe we have any sort of use for them, absent some sort of large-scale expansion, which doesn't appear to be on the horizon.”
Avoiding the storage costs would be beneficial.
“I think it's everyone's recommendation at this point that it's no longer in the best interest of the city to pay $4,500 to have scrap units returned to us,” Gunnoe said. “And that we can release those to the company and move on if you pass amended resolution 21-22 tonight.”
Other resolutions passed were 24-22, a resolution accepting the alternate formula for distribution of local government and local government funds as proposed by the Tuscarawas County Budget Commission and as prescribed in section 5747.53 of the ORC. And resolution 25-22 was passed accepting the amounts and rates as determined by the budget commission and authorizing the necessary tax levies and certifying them to the county auditor.
The next council meeting is set for Oct. 3, with a service committee meeting at 7 p.m. and a parks and recreation committee meeting at 7:15 p.m.