NELSONVILLE — Nelsonville-York City Schools may be getting a school resource officer.

Nelsonville Police Chief Scott Fitch and schools Superintendent Rick Edwards interviewed Jason Lyons for the position recently, said Fitch during his report to city council Monday.

“The school system seems to be very committed. This will be a nice safety program,” he said at the council meeting. “It will also help with the case load, as we deal with a lot of calls at the school. We’ll still have a big presence at the schools, in addition to the SRO. We’ll have someone there every day, which will be very nice.”

Lyons, a graduate of Nelsonville-York High School, has served as a law-enforcement officer for over 20 years, mostly in Gallia County, Fitch said.

Part of the SRO’s duties will be to implement programs during the summer months.

In addition to having active-shooter training, Lyons has been active in several programs focused on juveniles while working with the Gallipolis Police Department.

“He likes working with children,” Fitch said. “He has a vested interest in seeing this succeed.”

The position pays a yearly salary of $49,920, along with insurance and payments to the state retirement fund, for a total expenditure of approximately $68,000. The school district plans to pay these expenses, while the city will have to pay for uniforms and other items, Fitch said.

Nelsonville City Council will hold a special meeting at 7 p.m. Monday to discuss and approve ordinances to allow the hiring of Lyons before school starts.

In other matters, Jordan Castle was hired as the city’s new code-enforcement officer. Her first day was Aug. 1.

Already, Castle has issued 12 warnings and has started following up on some of those, Fitch said.

“We’re acclimating everyone to having a code officer back,” he said. “She’s doing a very good job. … She represents the city well.”

In other matters, the department marked the one-year anniversary of the death of Office Scott Dawley. He was killed in a three-vehicle accident while responding to a call of “shots fired” on Aug. 4, 2021.

In other matters, City Manager Scott Frank noted several items regarding the city pool during his report to council.

McDonald’s submitted a request to sponsor the pool and have a 5 foot by 8 foot sign installed inside the fenced-in area, he said. The sponsorship — $800 — will go toward replacing the pool’s speaker system.

Many area high school have sponsorship signs located throughout their sport facilities, Council President Tony Dunfee noted. Several Councilmembers suggested that Frank get the rates set so there is guidance going forward. Those rates are tentatively scheduled to be shown at the next Parks and Recreation Committee meeting next week.

Also, the shades the city ordered for the pool in February came in this week.

“We will put them up next spring,” Frank said. “There’s no need to de-color them now.”

The pool house will get a new roof that will have solar panels installed in the future. The current roof is 22 to 23 years old, he said. The estimated cost for the standing seam metal roof is $34,OOO.

In other matters, council did the first reading of a resolution authorizing Frank to submit an application to participate in the Ohio Public Works Commission State Capital Improvement and/or Local Transportation Improvement program(s) and to execute contracts as required.

The applications are to get funds for paving.

Council met in executive session for one hour and 11 minutes to discuss personnel and legal matters. No action was taken after the executive session.

The next regular meeting of Nelsonville City Council will be held at 7 p.m. Aug. 22.

Your comment has been submitted.

There was a problem reporting this.

Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.

Would you like to receive our daily news? Signup today!

Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.

Check your email for details.

Invalid password or account does not exist

Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.

An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account.

Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.

A receipt was sent to your email.