DANVILLE — Tuesday’s Danville Village Council meeting welcomed three new members to village government. Former Interim Village Administrator Freedom Desich was hired as the village administrator. Patrick Crow and Deb Ridgeway were also appointed as new council members to fill two vacant seats.
Desich was appointed the interim village administrator in 2019 after the passing of late village administrator Rob McDonald. In addition to his serving as the interim village administrator, Desich has been a maintenance foreman for 13 years.
Two seats were left vacant on the council after former councilmember Joe Mazzari’s election as mayor and Joe Duncan’s resignation. Five candidates attended Tuesday’s council meeting as potential new councilmembers.
Each candidate was given the time to introduce themselves to council.
Patrick Crow is the son of former Danville mayor Pat Crow. Crow said that he had been involved with the community all his life for having active parents in the community. He also submitted that he was involved in the family business to renovate the Woodward Opera House in downtown Mount Vernon.
“(It) was a $22 million dollar construction project,” Crow said. “The last half of it, I was in charge of the financial aspect.”
Crow proposed that he would bring this experience to the council to “focus on things that matter” such as electricity and plumbing.
Deb Ridgeway is a resident of Danville for 21 years and an active member in the Lion’s Club. She currently teaches special education in Mount Vernon.
“We’re hoping to set something up in the Danville community in the not so distant future,” Ridgeway said, speaking of the special education program she works in.
Other candidates included Lisa Muncie, who also teaches special education and runs an equine therapy program for at-risk youths; Danny Slone, a former councilmember, who worked closely with the Howard water department for 40 years; and Steve Workman, who has 33-years experience in construction where he said he frequently worked with the public.
Council decided in executive session to appoint Deb Ridgeway to fill Mazzari’s former seat, a four year term, and Patrick Crow to Duncan’s former seat, a two year term, effective immediately. Crow and Ridgeway were sworn in and joined council for the rest of the council meeting.
The meeting covered a letter from The Sanctuary Community Action with their pledge to work with the new mayor and village government in Danville, ordinance to adopt the 2020 Ohio Basic Code, Knox County Regional Planning for 2020 and an authorization to contract with Area Development Foundation for 2020.
The Area Development Foundation has been established to assist areas with blighted properties in Knox County. Danville has received a $40,000 Knox County Foundation grant that it can access, in totality or piecemeal, for the next four years. Council has formed a Steering Committee to access and direct the allocation of this fund, according to Mazzari.
“We need to meet on a regular basis with our community folks here in Danville to discuss options on what we’re going to use that money for,” said Mazzari.
A Steering Committee open session is scheduled in the Danville Municipal Building council meeting room Thursday at 6 p.m.
