<!--Michele Deluca--><table width="234" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" background="http://static.cnhi.zope.net/flashpromo/niagaragazette/images/byline_234x60.jpg" height="60"><tr><td><div align="center"><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By Michele Deluca</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></font><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="mailto:michele.deluca@niagara-gazette.com">michele.deluca@niagara-gazette.com</a></font></div></td></tr></table>
The Youngstown Village Board meeting Thursday night was one of the quickest in recent memory, officials said. It ended about a half-hour after it began, but board members then tackled a 17-item agenda during a two-hour work session afterward.
During a lightly attended regular session, the six-member board voted on just a handful of items, including approving a request from the Niagara County Department of Health to hold a free rabies clinic in late March or early April.
The board also accepted correspondence noting that water usage in December was up approximately 25 percent in the village.
Mayor Neil Riordan said after the open session that the village’s antiquated water system has been undergoing a “very aggressive” renovation for the past decade.
He said the water usage increase of that nature is very unusual, and “more than we might expect” but that the restoration project is ongoing.
The following items were among matters addressed in the work session afterwards:
• Board members agreed to get an estimate on the cost of changing utility meters for the 90 Lake St. apartment complex to a single “meter pit” unit for the entire complex. The board also requested clerk to set up a meeting with the owner of the complex to discuss the matter.
• Trustee Karl Bykowski agreed to attend a meeting Friday with the Department of Environmental Conservation and two other village representatives to discuss continuing efforts to cleanup the long vacant Cold Storage facility on Nancy Price Drive.
• Agreed to set up a meeting with village veterans representatives to discuss moving the Veterans Memorial in Veterans Park to a site that is more secure and more public.
• Discussed the possibility of a new village welcome sign and the need for one or two kiosks promoting local events.
The next board meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Jan. 28 at the Village Hall, 240 Lockport St.
