Street milling in Oil City will start Monday, city manager Mark Schroyer announced at Thursday’s Oil City Council meeting.
On the schedule for milling Monday are Jefferson Street, Clarion Alley, Murray Avenue and a patch on Seneca Street in front of 100 Seneca where a water line burst in January.
Milling is also scheduled for East Seventh Street, East Eighth Street and West Sixth Street as well as Oakwood, Glenwood and Woodland drives.
In some other business at Thursday’s council meeting, Schroyer said security cameras for the Oil City stretch of the Justus bike trail from the marina to the wastewater treatment plant in the West End have been ordered.
He added that the difficult part will be mounting the cameras on polls and providing electricity to them.
The cameras cost about $30,000, said Schroyer, who also noted that the city received about $18,000 for the purchase of the cameras that was raised by the family of Suzette Nellis.
Nellis, an avid trail user, was found dead near the trail in the West End in late March. Her death was ruled a homicide.
Following her death, the Nellis family established a GoFundMe page to raise money to purchase the cameras as well as to create a “memorial spot with a positive message to spread kindness, like she did,” according to the GoFundMe account.
The account, organized by Nellis’ daughter, Amy Still, raised $17,650 before donations were turned off.
Schroyer also said he was sorry to hear that Heath’s Market on the North Side is closing, adding that when there are small businesses in the city, like Heath’s, people should support them and shop local since that is the only way small businesses continue.
In other news, Schroyer said the last day the Oil City municipal swimming pool in Hasson Heights will be open is Aug. 27.
He added that every year he gets asked why the pool won’t be open until after Labor Day, and he said the reason is that as much as the city would like to keep the pool open longer, that is not feasible since the lifeguards are high school and college students who go back to school well before Labor Day.
Council approved a new three-year Community Development Block Grant plan Thursday.
Kelly Ryen, the city’s community and economic development director, said little has changed in the newest iteration of the plan.
The only new item of note, Ryen said, is including a request to rehabilitate public parking lots in the downtown using CDBG funds.
Bob Cross was sworn in Thursday as the new city controller.
Cross, who has served previously as the controller, was appointed at council’s previous meeting to take over for Michael Haney, whose resignation took effect this week.
Cross will serve out the remainder of Haney’s four-term which expires in December 2025.
Schroyer also said that fixing the public works building roof will likely begin in late August and that things are coming together to fix a collapsed culvert on Union Street.
