May 6, 2023 2 min read

Washington City Council awarded a $303,156 road paving contract Thursday to Alex E. Paris Contracting Co. of Atlasburg.

Mayor Scott Putnam abstained, as that is his place of employment. The other four members of council approved the contract.

Roads scheduled for paving are West Strawberry Alley, and Brownson, Donovan, Shirls, South Wade, Shannon and Linn avenues. The police station and senior citizens center parking lots will also be paved.

Also Thursday, the “Pride in Washington” certificate of appreciation was presented to Robert Griffin, executive director of the Redevelopment Authority.

“His commitment to Washington is unmatched from his role at the NAACP to youth sports to the Brownson House to the redevelopment authority,” Putnam said. “He’s always looking out for the city of Washington.”

Griffin said Friday that he was surprised to receive the honor.

“I’m certainly thankful to Mayor Putnam and council that they recognized me in this way. I’m very honored,” Griffin said. “I don’t think I’ve done anything out of the ordinary to deserve this because there are a lot of good people in the city that care about their neighbors and devote their time and talents to make the community the best it can be.”

Council voted unanimously to participate in a glass recycling program in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Washington. As part of the motion, council approved payments from the recycling fund not to exceed $1,600 in 2023.

With the program, a glass recycling container would be placed at Washington Park to alleviate the large amount of glass going into Arden Landfill.

“The less we can put into our waste stream and into the landfills, I think the better off we are,” Putnam said.

Also, a certificate of appreciation was presented to Doug DeCosta, the Good Samaritan who reported seeing a stolen vehicle March 23 that was carrying two toddlers kidnapped from Zanesville, Ohio. Washington police stopped the car and took the suspect into custody. The children were returned to their family unharmed.

“Doug saw the alert on Facebook, recognized the vehicle, called 911 and stayed with the vehicle until police got there to make sure it didn’t get away,” Putnam said.

Also Thursday, city Patrolmen Roger Frazee and Brad Resnick were promoted to corporal.