Lewisburg revitalizing downtown

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LEWISBURG — The Village of Lewisburg continues to work on beautifying its downtown with the Downtown Revitalization project.

Not only has the project allowed improvements to the village such as painting and other means of beautification, but there is a possibility of new businesses coming to town thanks to grant money.

During the village council meeting on Thursday, Oct. 5, Village Manager Jeff Sewert presented an update on the project.

“There are 15 businesses who have applied for grant money with the downtown project. That is the number we originally presented. Out of that, three or four of those grant applications are new owners or businesses, which is really what this whole program’s meant to do. At the end of August of next year you’re really going to see a change to the downtown,” he said.

“The downtown project is going forward. We finished the allocation part of that grant up at the end of August. That was the first phase of the downtown, which was completed on time.”

Sewert added, they want to beautify the downtown stop light and hide some of the exposed wires, which he noted, are not to code. He mentioned adding different decorative elements.

In other village news, Lewisburg residents might see a sewer rate increase come Jan. 1, 2018.

“Our waste water treatment facility has had some operational maintenance costs come up and some things with BPA that are out there that we’re going to have completed here in the next year or year and a half, so I think it might be time to have some type of sewer rate increase to pay for and maintain those improvements,” Sewert explained.

He then requested authorization from council to start looking into the issue and preparing some numbers. The potential rate increase will be discussed further and have its first reading at the council meeting on Thursday, Oct. 19, at 7:30 p.m. in Lewisburg Fire Station.

By Kelsey Kimbler

[email protected]

Reach Kelsey Kimbler at 937-683-4061 or on Twitter @KKimbler_RH

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