By Genine Hopkins
If you’ve ever taken a walk East on W. Main Street in Marion, from just a couple of blocks West of Mill Street and across from the Marion United Methodist Church, perhaps you took a stumble or two on the very rough sidewalk. This sidewalk, however, will no longer be a problem!
At the June 3 meeting of the Marion Village Council, the members voted to (finally!) fix that stretch of sidewalk. The vote however, was not unanimous, with Trustee Cal Ellens voting nay to the project, out of concern both for the money spent – Ellens was concerned the council might need to have more money in the coffers for potential other projects as well as requesting a sign on who paid for the replacement, the Village of Marion, put not only on that improvement/repair but on “everything.”
“People need to know this is coming from Village money,” said Ellens, “I want a sign for every project we pay for!”
Ellens explained his request was made due to some signs he’s seen on projects that state specific program/administration paid for the project. To prevent the meeting from taking a turn into the political, Council President Flora Grundy steered the conversation back to the sidewalk project.
Trustee Scott Salisbury chimed in, “I say let’s do it, NOW!” in reference to the past two years of talking about repairing the sidewalk with no action being made.
The cost would be $15,347 with approximately $2,160 from the water grant funding able to be used, perhaps a bit more. This would leave the Village portion at $13,247.
