The village of Moscow has staved off being dissolved.

On May 2, voters in the village showed up and shut down the proposed issue to surrender the corporate powers of the village.

According to the unofficial election results from the Clermont County Board of Elections for the May 2 election, a total of 84 votes were cast; 74 voted ‘no’ on the issue, and six voted ‘yes.’

Moscow Mayor Tim Suter expressed his relief after the polls closed and the returns came in.

“The village is still a village for now, by an overwhelming vote,” he said. “It’s a good feeling. It’s hopefully over with now and the people that did this will leave it alone, but you never know.”

Suter commended the work of the community members who led the campaign to save the village of Moscow from dissolving.

“It was a very good group, community effort; it wasn’t just one person or several people; it was the entire community that pulled together and did it,” he said. “This election once again proves this community comes together when it needs to, and always has, regardless of the situation, whether it be a [natural] disaster or this personal need of one person in the community; in this case, it was the community as a whole that came together and saved the village.”

Sutter was referring to the tornado that ripped through Moscow in March 2012.

Now, with the election in the rearview, Moscow can re-focus on getting back to business, which is notable because as Sutter explained it, the village could not enter into any obligations when it was under the initiative petitions.

“If you know the law, that just stalls the village out totally,” he said.

Looking ahead, Moscow will need to manage the evolving changes in its revenue stream. The village, along with neighboring townships and school districts, has had to figure out how to manage after the May 2022 closing of the Zimmer coal-fired power plant.

“We’ll survive,” Sutter said. “Just because Zimmer shut down, the village is not going away. There’s no doubt there’s some tough days ahead, but we’ll be fine, just because of the people we have here.”