Richard Foltz | News Journal
SABINA, Ohio — “At the beginning of the week, Friday the 13th was nothing compared to what was to come,” said Sabina Mayor Abe Arnold in response to hardships suffered by the residents of the village at the beginning of the third week of September.
The comments addressed to the village council and the public were in response to a fire set at a structure in Sabina Village Park late Sunday, Sept. 15. The investigation on who set the fire is still ongoing, as of the Sept. 26 council meeting, according to Chief Joe Noland of the Sabina Police Department.
“Catastrophic loss for the village, Sunday night at 10:53 p.m. from a senseless act of arson,” said Arnold. “Don’t know what rhyme or reason or what it accomplished for the individual or individuals who set the fire to the table…but I have a sense of the impact of the community.”
“We used it for Christmas,” continued Arnold in his statement. “We used it for Easter egg hunts. It’s just a shame. I don’t know what to say. I mean, what the person was thinking.”
Also touched on at the council meeting was the water main break that occurred the following Monday, which left the village without water for several hours.
“And right after that,” said Arnold. “On Monday afternoon, we had another test in this village when the crew installed the guardrails and hit the water main. They could not turn the water off. The bridge valve was inaccessible. The valve on North Street was not functioning. By the time they could turn the water off, we had lost water in the tower and had to shut down the system.”
The mayor then went on to thank residents and individuals within the Sabina government who helped solve the water main issue, including one unnamed resident who brought a water pump to help pump out water from the site.
The mayor then discussed plans moving forward, including contingency plans, checking water shutoff valves, and addressing issues pertaining to the slow shutdown and strategic turning water back on of sections within the city, excluding the affected area in the case of future incidents. Also discussed were where the village could obtain four gallons per person in the event of another water system malfunction.
On top of these issues, Arnold addressed issues residents had with property utilities and property ordinances delivered by two residents.
“I’m pretty fed up. I really am,” said Arnold. “When it comes to the workers in this village, I do need to be a little harder.”
He added:
“I need my staff… as I told them when I first came in, the first meeting I had with them, I gotta rely on you guys to do your job. And I gotta rely on you to tell me what’s going on. And to be quite honest, I don’t get that from everybody. I’m fed up. So either two things are gonna happen. Either I need to resign, or people are gonna start losing their jobs.”
The council is set to meet again on Oct. 10.
