NEW PARIS — The Village of New Paris will not be able to begin an East Cherry Street project until spring, as Preble County has not yet received a contract from ProGrade Excavation & Demolition.

Susan Laux, with Motes & Associates, brought this news to council during its meeting on Monday, Nov. 5.

“I know this is bad news, but you know what? They’re not going to get it done now. I think it would be foolish to start tearing that up and making it worse before winter and then just sitting with that mess,” Mayor Kathy Smallwood said.

In other business:

•The waterline project has been completed and final paperwork is due. First, council had to approve a change order in the amount of $2,080. Next, they had to approve the third pay request for the rest of the completed work, in the amount of $59,656.20.

•The Spring Street Bridge feasibility study was recently submitted to Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT).

•The village previously agreed to pursue the Land and Water Conservation grant program through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) to fund their park project. If awarded, the village will receive money equal to a match provided, with a match of $500,000.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund application for the park project is due on Nov. 15. The village has committed $250,000 to the project as a match, meaning, if awarded, the village will have $500,000 to spend on the project. Council held a public meeting before the regular council meeting, to show community engagement in the project.

“I think the [public meeting] went relatively well tonight. We had a lot of support from people. We had a lot of people wondering what was taking so long. What is taking so long is money. We are tired of waiting also. Nobody wants this done more than this group right here and I tried to explain that tonight,” Smallwood said.

“‘Why can’t we just build something little?’ Well, its not our plans and we don’t have the funds to building anything until we see what it is going to cost us.”