LISBON — Lisbon council met last week and tackled a long list of agenda items including approving two job descriptions that splits a current position in two.

“We already have a mayor’s [administrative]/zoning clerk so no changes were made to that, but we did add the income tax administrator,” Council President Melissa Hiner explained. “We had nothing really up to date on an income tax administrator. What we are asking is to have the income tax administrator be one job as it should be and then we will hire for the other, which is the mayor secretary/zoning clerk.”

That position will be part time under 30 hours with no benefits at a pay rate of $13.16 per hour.

“We are kind of thinking of splitting the hours throughout the week, five to six hours a day, sometimes in the morning sometimes in the afternoon, whatever meets the schedule here to also help with the contractors who come here to get permits for zoning,” Hiner continued. “This will also help with the zoning officer so once this code is rewritten and all that settles down we can go back to the zoning officer checking in on the residential and commercial properties and issuing violations and other complaints as we did in the past which hasn’t been done as of late.”

The action is meant to help address the condition of all properties in the village. Lately, village discussions have been dominated as to how to remedy those properties with talks centered on rentals. Mayor Pete Wilson has pushed for much-stronger rental regulations in the village, including a rental registry, annual inspections of all Lisbon rental properties and a yearly registration fee to be paid by landlords. He also has advocated for the creation of a housing inspector.

Dialogue between all stakeholders — landlords, residents, renters and village leaders — continues as council considers the best remedy. Splitting the positions of income tax administrator and mayor’s administrative assistant/zoning clerk is council’s first step toward finding a solution.

In additional discussion related to conditions of village properties, Wilson said a garbage issue on East Pine Street was being handled. Recent complaints of the accumulation of trash at residential properties and what to do when the owner refuses to clean it up was also discussed. Council advised that moving forward village personnel will clean up the trash and the property owner will be billed at the rate of $100 an hour per village employee involved to be placed on their property tax, similarly to how uncut grass is dealt with.

Council also approved an emergency permanent moratorium on cannabis operations in the village and motions to install catch basins on East Washington Street at a cost of $4,500 and to install HVAC units and run electricity to the second floor of the fire station at a cost of $18,000. The upgrades to the fire station will be paid for with the Fire Levy Fund.

Council also approved a request from the Board of Public Affairs and Village Solicitor Alec Beech to hire Dooley Gembals for a contract dispute. The BPA will pay for the representation.

Also during the meeting:

— Council approved street sweeping the week of April 7 at a cost of $175 per hour for eight hours.

— Wilson gave an update on the Grant Street Bridge and the Pritchard Avenue Bridge projects, reported that bidding to pave East Washington Street will start on March 3 with the bids being opened on April 16, a fireworks display will return to the village on July 3 at the fairgrounds and an electronic waste collection will be held July 19.

— Council finalized with an easement with the Columbiana County Agricultural Society for the NE Pressure Project.

— Council approved supervision training, DTF officer training for the police department and the re-hiring of a part-time police dispatcher.

— Council approved a request for an ADA compliant parking space in front of Huntington Bank.

— Council approved a donation request from the Lepper Library, agreeing to give $250 to the library for prizes for its summer reading program.

— Council approved a transfer of $24,162 from the cemetery endowment fund to the cemetery’s operating fund.