By Anna DeWine-Bolton
XENIA — City Council met in the new Xenia City Administration Building for the first time on Tuesday.
One topic during session focused on trash pickup for the city.
Local resident Charles Huff stepped up from the audience and raised the concern at the beginning of the meeting. Huff has worked on the city’s beautification committee for three years.
“I’ve spent a lot of my time going around downtown picking up trash … I was observing that there are very few trashcans, and the ones we have are in bad shape,” Huff said.
Vice President Wesley Smith added onto Huff’s statement by raising the question of having a bulk trash pickup, and possibly having two trash pickups per month.
City Manager Brent Merriman confirmed that a second pickup will be held during the Christmas season. Its official date will be announced at the next meeting and will be posted on the city website and social media platforms.
“I think the streets look much better with the uniform containers. I’m not seeing the red containers overflowing. It’s a huge improvement there,” Smith said.
Merriman is continuing to look into the issue of trash containers and frequency of pick-ups.
“Candidly, we’ve got a problem with the trashcans downtown. They’re falling apart and we’ve got to replace them. It’s not a cheap proposition but we need to,” Merriman said.
Merriman and the assistant city manager are already receiving quotes for what a full replacement of trashcans would cost.
“With as much work as we’ve done on our streetscape and buildings, downtown looks beautiful. But something as small as trashcans — that small detail shouldn’t be an impediment to the beautification of the city,” Merriman said.
President Michael Engle brought up the option for having a recycling pickup, as well. “That might be a nice option to further encourage recycling in the city,” he said.
Among other agenda items included an ordinance introduction to relocate the stop sign on East Second Street from South Collier Street to South Whiteman Street and to construct a new pedestrian crosswalk at the Whiteman Street intersection.
“There are so many positive things happening in our community,” Smith said as the meeting concluded. “I’m very proud of our city. We are moving in a positive direction.”
Smith also reminded everyone to check on neighbors during the holidays, and to check on pets during the cold weather this winter.
City Manager Brent Merriman gave his State of the City address following the meeting.
