March 17 Council Meeting 2009

From the opening rap of the gavel to closing it took 36 minutes to conduct the meeting. All members were present except Don Brown. Don had knee replacement surgery earlier this week. It will be a while until the doctors & therapists let him loose. Hope you have a speedy recovery Don. The only administrators present was Jim Saracco and WFD Chief Smith. Village Solicitor Andy Beech & Fiscal Officer Dale Davis was also in attendance.

Under Public Speaking Main Street resident Glenn Fields addressed council and furnished pictures to illustrate his points. Along with several other concerns he opened his remarks about another Main Street residence with garbage piling up in front of the place. He asked if village employees can pick it up. He also asked about fences around above ground pools. In the State of Ohio a fence is not required for above ground pools as long as they have fold-up ladders. He also asked about fences around properties. There is an ordinance in the ville stating that fences can't go past the front of a house for safety reasons. Those places that have fences past the front of the house were grandfathered in before the ordinance was adopted. Lastly he mentioned signs for businesses that have deteriorated to the point of becoming unsightly and unsafe. It was decided that he would meet with the Mayor and the Village Administrator on Wednesday to address all his concerns.

Under Administration Reports Saracco advised the village is in the process of hiring a company to smoke test our sewers to determine where down spouts are discharging rain water into the system. Discharging rain water into the sewer system is prohibitive and causes an overload at the filtration plant. It is a costly practice the village is trying to eliminate. Saracco advised letters were sent to all residents some time ago. Anyone caught doing this could be fined.

Saracco also gave a detailed report on sewage bill collections being done by Clerk Nancy Murray. For the last six months of 2008 over $57,000 was collected for delinquent bills & $57,709.67 was collected on current bills. For this year January collections were $7,025.50 for current bills and $8,536.56 for 95 delinquent accounts. February saw $7,303 taken in for 251 current bills and another $11,516.48 for 114 delinquents. Councilman Joe Soldano relayed his thanks to Mrs. Murray for her very precise report and also brought up the idea of possibly having the village to once again handle the billing and collections for sewage accounts. We use to do this. Remember Betty Bright and Bud Salter after Betty retired? According to Fiscal Officer Davis we are paying United Water $1,700 a month for this function. It may require the hiring of another clerk and was decided to refer this matter to committee. With all the money taken in on delinquent accounts it seems Nancy is doing a whale of a job.

WFD Chief Smith presented council with a package of bids for a new outdoor siren for the department. The best bid he received is in the range of $9,000. Right now we have a siren on loan from Liverpool Township to use in the interim. It is their back-up we're borrowing. A hearty thanks should go out to Liverpool Twp. for being good neighbors and coming to our aid.

Chief Smitty also advised he has been "in contact with people over in Lisbon" in regards to the tear down program they have been working on. Smitty said he was going to be quite busy with title searches on targeted structures. According to the mayor we are applying for grants for this program from two different sources. Surace advised there is money coming. They just don't know how much just yet. Smitty also announced they are looking at the last Saturday in June to do an erecting of the flood wall exercise. That's not set in stone yet.

Under the Mayor's Report Surace advised that the Magistrate Court took in $7,280 in February in fines. Year-to-date income from the court is $19,552.44 in fines & court costs.

Under Committee Reports Finance Chairman Tony Cataldo made a motion for the mayor to apply for grants for two additional police officers from the COPS program. This is a US Dept. of Justice program under their Cops Hiring Recovery Program. It is a four year deal where the program pays for 100% of the officer's salaries & benefits for three years and the village pays for the fourth year. Hopefully by the fourth year the village will be in better financial shape and will be able to handle the costs for these additions to the WPD. The motion passed without any opposition. Cataldo also announced there will be a meeting for the committee next Monday at 2 P.M.

For Streets Joe Soldano advised they will be meeting with the county inspector to go over what streets will be treated under the chip & seal program for this summer. They have to come in and see if the streets & alley ways on the list are wide enough for their equipment to get through. It was also noted they are waiting for a check for the new lights for the 18th Street playground and that some vulgar graffiti has be found inside the ark at the play ground. Former Mayor Nunzio Lombardozzi has volunteered to paint over the graffiti using paint that is left over from last year's Fix-Up, Clean-Up efforts. Councilman McMahon thanked Nunzi for his time and trouble.

For Water & Sewage a motion was made by Chairman Randy Allmon to authorize village engineering firm G,G&J to complete an application to the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources for funds to repair the dam at the old reservoir. The dam has been inspected by ODNR to determine what needs to be done. Buckeye Water District will be turning the reservoir property back over to village control later this year. After that it will only be used by BWD as an emergency back up if the need ever arises. That agreement with the water company is the reason the dam has to be repaired & maintained.

Another motion was made to have G,G&J apply for $1.4 million in stimulus money for filtration plant refurbishing & upgrades and for new man-holes. Nearly $400,000 will be earmarked for the man-hole program and the rest will be used on the filtration plant. Both motions passed without any opposition.

Under Personnel Allmon advised the village will be switching insurance companies for medical coverage for village employees effective April 1. This change will save the village $67,000/year from what we have paying Anthem. Allmon related that some costs for Emergency Room visits and deductibles will be less for employees with the new carrier. Employees will not lose any coverage under the new plan. Soldano thanked insurance agent Greg Arcuri & Cataldo for all the work they did putting this improved package together.

Property Committee Chairman McMahon said that the ordinance to change the hours at the 18th Street Playground is in the works. The new hours will be dawn to dusk for being open and from dusk to dawn for being closed.

Rosie Goss had nothing for Claim, Rules & Ordinances but she did publicly thank Joe Soldano for getting a couple of street lights quickly repaired. Soldano related that AEP does a nice job once he calls them.

Under Legislation Ordinance 09-03 authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement with Grant Source Professional LLC was tabled. Soldano said he had a few more questions he would like to get answered before voting on this.

Under suspension of rules Ordinance 09-04 was approved to appropriate money for expenses and other expenditures for this year.

Also under suspension of rules Ordinance 09-05 was approved to amend Section 95-03 to change the hours at 18th Street. The need to change the signs down there was also discussed. This ordinance wasn't on the printed agenda. I have a feeling that Andy Beech brought it with him when he came to the meeting unbeknownst to McMahon.

There being no New Business the meeting was adjourned at 6:38 P.M. Next meeting is April 7. This meeting was sparsely attended. Other than three village officials there was only three other people in the cheap seats. One of those was the guy from the new health insurance company.

ole nib