May 13, 2002 By Steve Ostrosky 5 min read

CLARKSVILLE – When John Dilts moved to this small community on the Greene/Washington County line 12 years ago, he thought the borough would be an ideal location to raise his family. But over the past decade or so, he said, he has seen the borough gradually deteriorate and watched concern about the borough among some of its residents fall by the wayside.

He points to abandoned, dilapidated buildings that dot the landscape of the borough, home to about 230 people.

He sees yards that have turned into makeshift garbage dumps and grass and weeds that have overgrown the headstones at a small cemetery where two American flags still fly.

Trying to get snow removed from side streets also proved problematic this past winter, and he said repairs to roads take longer than usual to get completed, citing a case in which a broken water line caused sheets of ice to form near a bus stop earlier this year,.

He said he has spoken with many residents who rattled off similar issues they say are plaguing the borough and preventing it from moving forward.

“You can see how small the town is. It wouldn’t take much to keep it maintained,” he said.

Therein, according to Dilts, lies the problem.

He claims the borough has done little, if anything, to address the community’s problems in the past few years, and council has met only once in the past four months while dealing with vacancies on the board.

He pointed to the Borough Council Handbook from the Governor’s Center for Local Government Services that states the council has 30 days to fill a vacancy, and then it is up to the vacancy board to fill the open seat within 15 days. If the vacancy board cannot fill the positions, the chairman of the vacancy board must petition the court to fill the vacancy.

Dilts said it has been four months since the new council took office and the two vacancies were filled, but they may not have been filled properly.

Several new council members were elected into office last November, and Dilts said he wanted to give them time to get settled when they took office in January. He also volunteered to loan information he received from the Governor’s Center, an offer he said was refused.

His frustration with what he saw as council’s lack of support for the borough inspired him to help circulate a petition among residents to see the borough dissolved and incorporated into either neighboring Jefferson Township or Morgan Township.

“A lot of people said they would be better served if we merged with an adjoining township, because they have the equipment and the manpower to address more of our needs,” he said.

While Dilts saw dissolution of the borough as the best route, Councilwoman Rachel Costa said a different approach was taken to address the issues facing the community. Two weeks ago, Greene County Judge William Nalitz granted a petition by the council to lower the number of council seats from seven to five.

Costa said one of the major problems facing the council in the past six months has been obtaining a quorum for its meetings, held the second Monday of every month.

She admitted that, because of a lack of quorum, council has not held a meeting since February, but she said the judge’s ruling will allow enough council members to attend meetings to conduct borough business.

“Now that we are down to five, we should be able to start meeting every month and start planning for the community,” she said.

Costa said she wants council to install a bulletin board near the borough building to provide residents with a list of council members and telephone numbers to call with concerns, and also to offer an area to post community events and notices.

She said the community input is important as council tries to begin working to tackle the problems facing the borough.

“The more people that are involved, the more ideas we can get,” Costa said.

She said council has tried to track down owners of some of the borough’s dilapidated buildings, in an attempt to get them torn down or repaired.

Many times, she said, the county or even the state cannot find the owners and the properties often are in tax claim.

While she agrees with Dilts about some of his concerns, she said he often has “made mountains out of molehills” and has been less than eloquent in driving his points home to anyone who will listen. However, she said his input will be welcomed as the new mayor, secretary and council members begin to meet more often.

Costa said the council can still function on its own and the borough should not be dissolved into a neighboring township. Public input is growing, she said, and now that the number of council seats has been lowered, the board members can address some of the residents’ concerns.

“At this point, we have had some rough spots and problems, but I don’t think they are anything that is unsolvable,” she said. “There is no need to dissolve the borough yet. Give us a chance to see how it all works out.”

Sam Benyi is Clarksville’s mayor, and June Dowlin, Albert Kingan, James Kovach and John Maskola serve with Costa on borough council. Bill Davis is the borough solicitor.