CANFIELD — Mahoning County Area Court Judge Molly Johnson honored five local officers for their participation in helping with a recent school tour.

“I recently had a group of 20 fourth graders from Salem visit my court and I want to thank officers for helping with those students,” Johnson said to city council members this week.

She said the officers — four from the Canfield Police Department and one Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office deputy — put on displays and spent time with the students during the visit. As a token of her appreciation, Johnson issued each officer an America250 challenge coin.

Officers receiving the recognition included Canfield officers Mark Meshula, Josh Wells, Matthew Hunter and Brandon Baroni, and Mahoning County deputy Steve Lindow with his cadaver dog, Tango.

VOTE FOR AUTO DISTRICT

Following the appreciation segment, council took a vote on the B-3 Zoning District for limited auto sales, which was discussed in a public hearing prior to the meeting. No one offered opposition to the proposed ordinance, so it was added to the meeting agenda for the night.

City Attorney Mark Fortunato said the zoning designation will permit no more than five vehicles to be displayed for sale outside the building. The vehicles would have to be operational and could not be leased or rental vehicles.

The request came from a new owner of the former auto parts store on East Main Street. The business is selling trailers, but also wants to sell some vehicles.

“We are allowing for very limited vehicle sales in a B-3 zoning district,” he said. “It doesn’t have anything to do with trailer sales, which are permitted in a B-3 district.”

City Manager David D’Apolito gave an update on the Glenview Road culvert replacement.

“The integrity of the road has been compromised,” he said. “We placed plates over the collapsed section of the road, but it continued to erode, so we placed barricades around it.”

He said the culvert being made for it has been held up by an excessive work load, but the company assured D’Apolito it would be ready by the end of summer or beginning of fall. In the meantime, a gas line that needs moved will be taken care of to speed things up.

“The gas company is supposed to start that next week,” he said.

On the other side of town, the Fairground Boulevard water main was approved for replacement. D’Apolito said in the past few years, there has been a series of breaks on the line because of its age.

“We decided it is in the city’s best interest to go ahead and replace it,” he said. “We are running out of Band-Aids.”

In other business, council approved entering into a contract with Kirila Contractors Inc. for street paving at a cost not to exceed $252,421.

It also unanimously approved a resolution to place the 3.9-mill police levy renewal on the Nov. 3 ballot. D’Apolito said the levy brings in $812,524 annually, which is the same amount it brought in when it was first adopted in 2016.