Wellsville Council Meeting

Tuesday - December 1: Wellsville Village Council held their regular meeting Tuesday evening at Village Hall. All Council members were present along with Mayor Joe Surace, Fiscal Officer Dale Davis, Village Administrator Jim Saracco, Village Solicitor Andy Beech, Zoning Officer Rick Williams and Animal Control Officer Leslie Dean.

Wellsville Area Ministerial Assoc. member Terry McCuen gave invocation to begin the meeting. McCuen is a Deacon at the First Baptist Church.

In the Public Speaking portion of the agenda Riverside resident Bobbi Holt representing the St. Francis Animal Shelter welcomed everyone to join them at the Pizza Hut Wednesday evening for pictures with Santa.

Connie Carmichael of 10th St. representing the Rivitalization Committee announced that the committee have picked as their next project to clean up Main St. in town. She said in that vein they have held meetings with Heritage Ohio who asked what the Revitalization Committee could do to begin. It was decided that the first step was to clean up the streets and town. Carmichael invited Council to "team up" with the Committee and to make a firm commitment to heartily enforce Village codes and ordinances.

Mayor Surace inquired about setting up a future meeting and Councilman Joe Soldano remarked that he and Councilman Allmon attended that meeting. One of the decisions at that meeting was to hold a Town Hall Meeting open to all residents, business owners & operators and anyone else interested. It was hoped to set up the meeting soon after the first of the year. Soldano went on to state enforcing ordinances is up to Council and the Village Administration and said Saracco is doing all he can. He felt it was a good project to get involved with.

Candy Bangor of Riverside and also on the Revitalization Committee said the actual program is called Main Street USA. She went on to further explain the Heritage Ohio program would be doing an assessment of the Village and they will be setting up four basic committees. One would be dedicated to public relations, one for marketing Wellsville businesses, one for seeking grants and one for streetscaping. They hope to have artist Gina Hampson to do a drawing of the vision of what the town could look like with the program. Bangor stated we are a small town, a little town and the goal is to clean up the town. Bangor went on to introduce Wellsville native John Corak. Corak was a member of WHS Class of 75 and now resides in East Liverpool. He has done a lot of work for the Port Authority with the Intermodal Park downtown.

Corak has volunteered to help Wellsville and stated that he has worked as an architect on a few Heritage Ohio programs. He said it is a good program and it does work. All it takes is a little bit of commitment and a lot of time. The Mayor remarked "it's our time" and it takes the cooperation of all to make it happen. Surace said he believes Council is ready to get involved with him. Councilwoman Rosie Goss remarked that she was visiting in Toronto the other day and noticed the streets were completely clean of leaves. She said the joke going around in Toronto last year when they were pushing for a sales tax levy was either pass it or look like Wellsville. Goss said that hurt and pledged her full support and help to the project.

For more info on the Heritage Ohio meeting see our report dated 11-21-09 of that session.

Riverside resident Jack Cataldo stated he was wondering if Buckeye Water paid rent to hold their monthly meeting in Village Hall. Being good neighbors the Village has offered the use of Village Hall for the monthly meeting going back to when the water district was first formed. Cataldo went on to state it could be a source of income instead of charging rent to the Sewage Dept. and their customers for Christmas bonuses. He thought it would be worthwhile looking into.

Former Council member Diane Dinch of Aten Ave. stated that when she asked about the cost of the revised police manual one question that was not answered was who authorized engaging Lencewicz & Assos. In the past when she was on Council when something like this came up it went before Council and the cost was fixed. If the cost went over the fixed amount it had to go before Council again.

Mayor Surace responded that he and the Police Chief have the authority to bring in a consultant. When the problem first arose with the manual it was reviewed and discovered it hadn't been looked at since 1974. At the time Attorney Greenberg advised to revise the manual and recommended Lencewicz with his expertise in these matters. It was a matter of having to do something quickly. Surace went on to explain that the total amount paid the consultant was for several invoices, some for other services.

Dinch went on to ask what fund the invoices were paid from. Fiscal Officer Davis replied it was from the General Fund out of a Council line item for professional services.

Yellow Creek Twp. resident Carl Capestrain, along with three neighbors, addressed Council about illegal dumping going on at the old Village Dump on Oak Ridge Rd. Explaining that four or five years ago the EPA cleaned up all the discarded tires out there and it is once again building up. All four Yellow Creek residents own adjoining property around the unused dump and are getting tired of the dumping. One local businessman has piled up an additional 60 -70 tires at the site. Capestrain said the EPA is once again coming in to clean up the tires free of charge but stated they obviously don't want come back again. He asked Council for permission to erect a gate to block off the road so abusers will not be able to get in there. He said keys will be given to surrounding property owners and Village officials. Capestrain said township trustees felt they didn't have the legal power to authorize the road being closed off since it was Village property. A motion was passed to assist the Yellow Creek landowners to erect their gate with possibly some help with Village equipment.

Main St. resident John Cianni next addressed Council on two issues. The first is ordinances covering grass cutting and property maintenance. He advised the existing ordinances need to be looked at and the Mayor advised they are looking at them. Cianni also advised he has discussed the dilapidated house issue with the Fire Chief and commended the Chief for the work in progress. Cianni gave a video to the Mayor he made of houses that he feels needs looked at. Many of them are already on the NSP program list. Cianni explained he was not trying to come off as a hatchet man. His intention is to bring neglected properties to Council's attention without being offensive. He said his efforts ties in with the Revitalization Committee and hopes "the gas can be turned up" on this program.

Cianni's second concern was the light on the flag for the Melvin Newlin Memorial in the north end of the Village. Councilman Soldano remarked a motion was made at the last meeting to have this repaired or replaced. An electrician has been hired for that job and right now is checking with AEP for what can be done to restore the light.

Roslyn St. Resident Mary Ellen Palmer was the last to address Council about a dog that was shot and came onto her property which is inside Village limits and died. After calling both the County and the Village Animal Control she was told there was nothing they could do. She then contacted the police who in turn contacted the dog's owner. The owner came and got the dog but Mrs. Palmer felt that people shooting guns up there should be investigated. The Mayor responded that another resident had been in about a deer that was shot elsewhere and died on his property. After checking it was found out it is the property owner's responsibility to have the carcass of dead animals removed. The Mayor said he would need to check with the police on the gun shooting issue and promised to get back to Mrs. Palmer.

For Administration Reports Village Administrator Jim Saracco remarked that everything is beginning to fall into place. He recently talked to County officials who advised they will be advertising for bids from contractors to take down dilapidated houses in two weeks. Wellsville is in the second round of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program and after nearly a year's efforts it is going to get started. He also reported that the block grant program for property owners to repair their houses has seem to go by the wayside. Councilman Tony Cataldo said we had that when we were classified as a city. Now that we're classified as a village Wellsville is no longer eligible for those grants.

Saracco advised they are now looking into a street vacuum that sucks up leaves and debris and bags them at the same time. The cost is around $2,000 and it is hoped that money can be found for this. As noted it is really needed. Saracco said they have been doing the best they can with only three Street Dept. employees. He said many times when a resident advises they have their leaves swept up in a pile by the time they get there the wind has blown them all over the place again. Lastly Saracco reported that a representative from Diamond Speciality Inc. from Steubenville will be in next Monday to make arrangements to have the street sweeper taken to their shop for a thorough inspection. They will determine if the sweeper is repairable.

Zoning Administrator Rick Williams reported the Zoning Office took in $420 in November for permits.

Animal Control Officer Leslie Dean submitted her monthly Activity Report. From October 23 she has received 18 call through November 30. Eight of them was for dogs running loose. One citation was issue for an owner not having a dog license on his pet. With the winter months approaching activity is starting to fall off. Dean also clarified that it is the property owner's responsibility to have dead animals removed according to ORC. Village animal officials are only responsible for animals on public property.

For the Mayor's Report Surace thanked everyone that is getting involved in the town clean-up project. He remarked that although he thinks Wellsville is beautiful maybe some morning we can wake up and everyone will see a beautiful Wellsville.

Surace also commended the Asst. Court Clerk for collecting over $60,000 since being hired in October, 2007. Cataldo comment there are still a lot of people out there with judgements against them. He believes there is still over $100,000 in back fines owed. Soldano reminded everyone that if you owe fines they are going to come after you. It is best to come in and make arrangements. Driver licenses can be suspended without your knowledge.

For Committee Reports for Finance Chairman Tony Cataldo commented that there are people in the village that now have liens on their houses for not repaying CDBG low interest loans for home improvements. There are folks that owe back income taxes to RITA. That's money owed the village that could be used.

For Legislation two ordinances that were placed on first reading at the last meeting pertaining to Animal Control matters were adopted after being put under suspension of rules. One covers the inoculation and licensing of dogs. The other covered fees for dogs lodged in the pound.

A third ordinance was also placed under suspension of rules and passed to appoint Attorney Andy Beech as Legal Counsel for the Village and its officers. This was actually a renewal that required attention before the first of the new year.

Under New Business Councilman John McMahon reminded residents with wood burners that they have to be properly ventilated so the exhaust does not fill the neighbor's house with smoke. There are ordinances on the books. Chimneys have to be above the roof eaves.

The next regular meeting is Tuesday, December 15 at 6 P.M. Thursday there will be a Finance Committee meeting at 1 P.M. and a Claims, Rules & Ordinance meeting at 2 P.M. Both meetings will be at Village Hall.

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