From The Mayor's Desk - December 7, 2025

Good evening residents of the Village of Hartsburg.  I hope that everyone is safe and in good spirits with all the snow and cold weather the last few weeks.

The Village held its November Village Board Meeting on Monday November 24, 2025, with another healthy turnout.  Four of the 7 residents present took the opportunity to share their thoughts, ranging from suggestions on how to spend the money from the Viper Mine Grant to creating a Task Force to help lend a helping hand to residents throughout the year and make the Town Wide Clean-Ups even more successful.

One resident shared the suggestion to use a large portion of the Viper Mine Grant to make some of the suggested repairs to the Water Tower. 

The Village is currently working through its recommendation for the allocation of the funds from the two Grants and will take this suggestion into consideration.

Another resident suggested that the Village investigate establishing a recycling program and creating a volunteer task force to help others in the community. 

These are both great suggestions.  As we head into the Winter months, these two suggestions might sit on the back burner for a while, but come Spring, the Board will revisit them and investigate implementing them.  Thank you for the suggestions. 

The question was asked if the unreturned items pertaining to the Water Dept, that were mentioned at the previous meeting, had been returned to the Village.

The charging cord for the wand was returned to the Village.  The software was not provided to the Village and therefore had to be rebuilt by Luke from Core and Main and the spreadsheets recreated by Village Trustee Erica Sherwood.

A resident thanked the Board for updating the Website.  They also offered their assistance in creating an Emergency Services Plan.

Thank you for bringing the bugs and minor fixes on the Website to our attention.  Please continue to offer us grace as we work through the implementation and roll out of the Website and Facebook Page.  I have suggested to Village Trustee, Chris Bowling, to ask Josh Gasperini, Logan County Emergency Management Agency, to be a guest speaker at one of the upcoming Village Board Meetings. 

Another resident asked how much each of the Board Members and Village Employees get paid.  They asked if the Water Dept salary has been going back into the Water Dept.  The resident also asked what the Village can do about a residence’s house on front street, stating that it was an “eye sore”.

The elected officials and employees of the Village receive the following:

·       Board Members $40/meeting

·       Village Clerk $75/meeting

·       Mayor $75/meeting

·       Treasurer $432.50/quarter

·       Ordinance Officer $100/quarter

·       Zoning Officer $100/quarter

·       Water Clerk $475/month

·       Maintenance Worker $15/hour

The Village has not paid out wages for the Water Clerk responsibilities since the former Water Clerk received a prorated amount after her resignation mid-October.  The work by Leonard and Erica to read meters and revamp the Water Dept Software and billing system along with sending out the bills has been public service so far.  The Village would very much like to see the residence on Front Street, along with a handful of other properties in town, to no longer be an “eye sore”.  The Village is working through its Ordinance Officer to have the necessary conversations with residents to continue the progress that was started earlier this year towards cleaning up the Village and holding all residents accountable to the Ordinances that have been in place for years.

I have received a few calls regarding residents who were charged a late fee on their December water bills.

On November 3rd, 2025, we sent out communication that late fees would be waived for any November water bill payments received by December 5th, 2025. Rest assured, we did not forget that this extension was offered.  The Village Board discussed and agreed that in order to ensure December bills were sent out on time, any account that had not yet posted a payment by December 1st automatically reflected a late fee on the December bill. At the bottom of your bill, you will see the following notice: “Reminder: Our records show we have not yet received your full November water payment. You will see a late fee on this bill; however, if your November payment is received in full by December 5th, the late fees will be waived.”  Any qualifying payments received by the extended deadline will have the late fee removed accordingly.

I have had a few residents reach out to me with questions regarding the Village selling our Water Department to American Water.

As you are all aware, the Village is currently facing challenges in operating an efficient and financially sustainable Water Department. Over the past several months, we have been thoroughly reviewing all aspects of the water system to better understand how we can operate more efficiently and avoid operating in the red. Throughout this process, we have been transparent in sharing our findings, including surrounding area water rates, monthly water costs versus monthly water revenue, and anticipated future water-related expenses. We are also very close to selecting a new billing program that will be more efficient and may offer the option of online payments. As part of our research, I reached out to American Water to understand what that process might look like for the Village of Hartsburg  This information was shared with the Village Board at the November meeting so that the Board could review and understand all available options. Currently, American Water is not an option for the Village.  They have responded to the Village’s inquiry and stated they are not interested in discussing the purchase of our Water Department. Moving forward, we are focusing our efforts on identifying grant opportunities that will help update and upgrade our current water system.

As we continue navigating the modern age of social media, I caution residents not to believe everything they read online.  Some pages or sites spread misinformation.  Please continue to use the Official Village of Hartsburg Facebook page and DiscoverHartsburg.com as your trusted sources for accurate information.  If you would like to receive Village Website updates directly to your email and “Stay Connected with Hartsburg”, please hit “subscribe” at the bottom of the page on our website and enter your email address. 

I continue to welcome the residents to our Board Meetings and look forward to following up on questions or concerns in this same transparent manner in the future.  The next Village Board Meeting is scheduled for Monday December 22^nd at 7pm.  I hope to see you there.

With Sincerest Regards,

Darien Ritterbush

Mayor of the Village of Hartsburg

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