Raising a Village
Published 11:12 am Wednesday, January 7, 2009
CHESAPEAKE — As Dick Gilpin enters his second year as the mayor of the village of Chesapeake, his agenda is simply more of the same.
“It’s not much different as last year,” Gilpin said. “It’s improving the image of the village, the cleanliness and sprucing it up.”
The mayor hopes to continue work on drainage problems that plague the village, especially around Rockwood Avenue. The state brought in special equipment during 2008 to help.
“It was amazing what it did,” he said. “We’ve got a couple of storm drains we need to be taking care of. We have requests in for grants from the federal budget and the state.”
Chesapeake has applied for federal budget funds for 2009 to help cover costs of a road slip in North Huntington Heights. However, Gilpin is aware that the village, like many in the county, will have to watch its purse strings in the economic crisis gripping the country.
“Everyone is being short of money. We will have to do some adjusting. We don’t know where,” Gilpin said. “We won’t be as affected as larger areas. We didn’t get that amount of money.”
Also on tap is to do some repair work to the village hall, including replacing the front steps and possibly adding a sidewalk there.
Last year Chesapeake joined Ironton and the village of South Point in looking for funds as part of the Safe Roads to Schools program, designed to encourage walking and bike riding around school areas. Funds may go for sidewalk and cross walk improvements, traffic signals and a safety officer.
“We are awaiting the results of our applications as to what we can do with that,” Gilpin said. “There are a lot of facets to it.”
As he considers his first year, Gilpin finds being mayor a mixed, albeit basically enjoyable, bag.
“It is fun. I can’t say it is all fun,” he said. “It is a challenge and we are meeting that challenge.”