POLAND — Village council began its Tuesday meeting with the swearing in of Laurie LaPlante, who was selected to fill out the remaining months of Michael Zembower’s term. Mayor Tim Sicafuse administered the oath.

Zembower moved to the township and had to step down from his seat on council. At the previous council meeting, LaPlante was selected to fill that seat, which expires Dec. 31. LaPlante said she does plan to run for a full term in November and has been collecting signatures on her petition to do so. She also was approved to fill Zembower’s committee seats that include the council seat on the Architectural Review Board.

Sicafuse said that since LaPlante is now the council member of ARB, she had to vacate her citizen seat on that board. Sicafuse appointed resident Larry Bartos to fill the citizen seat.

In other business, council unanimously approved asking the county auditor to certify the funds for the 2.0-mill road levy renewal. While the election is in November, Village Solicitor Joseph Macejko said this is simply a first step.

“We are just asking for a number,” he said. “We are doing it now to have time to make any changes that may be needed.”

He said simple wording can sometimes be a problem, and if there is not enough time to get the final ballot issue in, it could go on the ballot with the wrong wording. By taking the first step now, Macejko said council would have time to review and ensure everything is in order for the November election.

Also Tuesday, Macejko reported he had eight applications for the new historic preservation grants. He said some may not qualify, but he will submit all eight to the ARB for the final decision.

“One is a business and one just doesn’t fit,” he told council. “Even the ones I question will go to ARB for review. I will include my thoughts on each one and the ones that need more details.”

Macejko requested the ARB review and report back to council with the results at the May meeting, and the amounts for which any of the applications are approved. The grants are up to $5,000 per approved application.

Police Chief Don Lambert requested council approve additional wages for the two road department employees who handle the police cruiser oil changes and safety inspections. He said that at a dealer, it would cost approximately $170, but the village buys the supplies for about $50 and road department employees do the work.

“I think they deserve it,” Lambert said.

Council members seemed to agree, but could not settle on how much or how to make the payment. The decision was made to work out some details and present them at the next council meeting.

Lambert also warned residents of the increase in scams by phone, text messages and emails.

“We are really getting hit with a lot of scams,” he said. “The newest one is to help the victims in the California fires. There is also a lottery for a Mercedes and a few other odd scams going around. They all want the person to withdraw $5,000 or more from their checking account, purchase a Visa gift card and give them the numbers off the card.”

He said the gift cards can’t be easily traced and some are taken for a big amount. He said one local person was scammed out of $38,000 before knowing what was going on.