Staff photo / J.T. Whitehouse Kurt Hilderbrand presents the final drawings to Poland Village Council on Tuesday for a traffic control box covering featuring former President William McKinley’s boyhood home.

POLAND — At Tuesday’s Poland Village Council meeting, Kurt Hilderbrand gave an update on the beautification project with coverings for traffic control boxes and said the first box was set to receive a covering very soon.

“I am here to seek approval for the design on the first box,” he said. “We’ll try to have it done by Celebrate Poland.”

The annual festival is scheduled June 26-27.

He gave council members the artwork and design for the covering, which is similar to the strong decals used on police cruisers. The program is geared toward covering the plain steel traffic control boxes with artwork that improves the look and brings historic value to each.

The first box on the agenda is in front of House of Benny’s restaurant at Main and College streets. The design will show former President William McKinley along with photos of his boyhood home that once existed at that location.

Council looked over the design and voted unanimously to accept it.

Additional boxes involved in the program include locations by Huntington Bank, at Peterson Park, the intersection of routes 224 and 170, and Route 224 at Riverside Drive. Each box will have its own design.

POLICE LEVY

Also Tuesday, council unanimously accepted the auditor’s rates for a 1-mill police renewal levy and voted to place it on the November ballot. The first step was the approval to send it to the auditor, which was done May 19. The auditor came back with a 1-mill levy to bring in $58,000 annually.

“This is a renewal of an operating levy for the police department,” said Bob Cantor, Poland Village fiscal officer. “It can be used only for the police department. Payroll, fringe benefits, retirement system contributions, fuel and purchases of any equipment the police department may need are the only expenditures that are paid from the police levy fund.”

In other business, council:

● Approved $3,712.80 to ABC Communications District-2025 for annual participation for dispatch services.

● Approved hiring a person for the cleaning of Village Hall at a cost of $125 per cleaning, not to exceed $4,000 for the remaining six months of the year.

● Approved the purchase of 10 office chairs from Office Depot at a cost of $309 per chair, not to exceed $3,400 total. Council also approved vinyl flooring and carpet squares for Village Hall at a cost not to exceed $11,408 from WOW Flooring of Canfield.

● Heard from Dee Dee Graph, who asked if the Public Library board could be held liable for maintaining the present building in the coming years while waiting for the new structure to be built. She is concerned the library may neglect the present building.

● Discussed a request from the nonprofit Town One, Range One. The organization asked if the electric box that was used for Yellow Creek Theater could be reconnected and turned on. They mentioned the possibility of bringing back movie night and other events. Council President J. Michael Thompson said the electricity is connected to the bridge lighting and is already owned and electricity paid by the village. Council unanimously agreed to have it reconnected.

● Gave the go-ahead to Edison Lighting, which wanted to string Village Hall in red, white and blue lighting for Celebrate Poland. It would be similar to the Christmas lighting, and Edison would remove the lights after July 4.