Village of New Concord Mayor Jennifer Lyle discussed village-wide COVID-19 concerns as well as resources the village is offering as of mid-April.
The village remains offering all basic services. This includes full fire department services, full EMS services, and full police department coverage. Operations teams including street teams and wastewater teams are also considered essential employees.
“Our primary goal is to make sure that because our employees are so essential, they’re also safe. That’s why Village Hall has been closed to the public, but phone calls and emails are all being responded to,” said Lyle.
A policy the village adopted before the State of Ohio signed into law is that water services will not be turned off due to an inability to pay a bill on time.
“We [Village Hall] would never shut off water to anybody under these circumstances. The state mandates that we wouldn’t shut off water, but we already knew from day one that we wouldn’t do that to anybody,” said Lyle.
For residents who cannot pay their water bill, their services will stay on, but they are still responsible for paying that bill. Residents are urged to contact Village Hall to notify them of any issues paying a water bill. The village plans to work with residents to ensure payment is made eventually.
Residents should continue to pay bills either online or through the drop-off box at Village Hall. Paying in-person to the Village is currently suspended. The walk-up payment window has been closed.
The Village of New Concord walk-up pay window has been closed. Residents can deliver payments via the drop box near the front entrance.
One concern Lyle has regarding COVID-19 are the long-term impacts it has to the village, which includes impacts to small businesses and revenue.
“We don’t know [the long-term impact] because everything will get affected…people who are out of work, so that will affect our income tax revenue. So, this will affect our revenue for sure. If people who are out of jobs can’t pay their mortgages and property taxes, that’s another element in addition to businesses,” said Lyle.
Another resource that Lyle has in contact with is the Mayor’s Partnership for Progress, a small government mayor’s association of approximately 80 communities in Southeastern Ohio where Lyle is a member. In this organization, mayors can share problems and situations in hopes to learn from other small governments.
“That organization has been extremely important through this crisis because we are sharing information, solutions, ideas, and information with each other. The organization has put us in touch with legislators. We’ve had phone calls, meaning active dialog with the governor, lieutenant governor, both of our senators and state and federal legislators, who are all talking to us and listening to what the needs are of rural Southeastern Ohio communities,” said Lyle.
Lyle discussed what she misses most about “normal” life in the village.
“What is miss is seeing friends. Going to the businesses that right now aren’t open. Being able to freely run to the supermarket, to Riesbeck’s to pick up an item for dinner. Also, all the events that have gotten cancelled. Normally in the springtime, in April and May, there’s two or three banquets, awards events, commencement, things like that. I miss all of that because along with that is seeing people and interacting with people,” said Lyle.
Lyle shared a bit of hope and gratitude for New Concord residents.
“Together is how we will get through this and how we will manage whatever the long-term impacts are. I believe that’s how this community has always operated. I would also like to say thank you to every single person who is staying home because that keeps someone else from possibly being contaminated to everybody who is making sacrifices, especially all the people who are out there every day doing their jobs,” said Lyle.
Residents should contact Village Hall via phone at (740) 826-7671 with questions or concerns.
Lyle hosted April Village Council committee and monthly meetings from Orbit TV’s studios at Muskingum University via Zoom. Listen to the April 13 New Concord Village Council meeting.
For updates on everything happening in the Village of New Concord, tune into WMCO 90.7 FM and follow Orbit Media on Facebook and Twitter.
