Wellsville Village Council

Tuesday – December 21: The Wellsville Village Council held their last regular meeting of the year at Village Hall. Present at the meeting was Mayor Joe Surace, Councilwoman Sue Haugh, Councilman John McMahon, Joe Soldano, Randy Allmon & Tony Cataldo. Also attending was Fiscal Officer Dale Davis, Village Administrator Jim Saracco & Acting Police Chief Ed Wilson. Councilwoman Rosie Goss was excused. The meeting was held at 1 PM due to a conflict with Magistrate Court.

In opening Administration Reports Mayor Surace recommended that new police officer Ryot be made part of the Wellsville Police Department. At that time Lt. Wilson along with K-9 Officer Tony Mancuso introduced Ryot. We'll have more on Ryot in a separate post. Councilman Soldano said he would like to make it official and made a motion to appoint Ryot as the newest member of the WPD. The motion was seconded by Cataldo and was approved.

For the Finance Committee, Chairman Cataldo reported there is $1,700 in the General Fund, $2,900 in the Street/State Highway Fund and a total of $119,388 in all funds as of the end of November. Cataldo remarked that for the last several months he's been saying the Village is broke. We don't have any money. No one wanted to listen. For the next year we can't do any spending until after the first quarter. Surace remarked that he thinks it's already being done. The Police Department has cut back on dispatching. Wellsville no longer has an officer on the CC Drug Task Force. That will eliminate some part time hours that were used to cover his shifts. Overtime has been eliminated until it can be determined what can be done.

Haugh questioned whether other departments have cut back other than the WPD and Surace assured her all departments have been cutting back. Cataldo remarked that the Village Administrator has agreed to stagger shifts in the Street Department in case of a snow emergency. If snow is forecasted one employee will be moved to night turn to eliminate paying over-time. Except for emergencies spending has to be cut out all together, Cataldo concluded.

For Streets, Lights & Parking, McMahon reported they met with Wellsville Terminals and their lawyer in regards to the sink hole at 17th & Main. Everything was laid out on the table and they are waiting to hear back from them. It was proposed that the cost of the street repair be split three ways between the Village, Marathon Oil and Wellsville Terminals. Up until they lawyered up Wellsville Terminals were reluctant to even talk on the phone with Village officials. Marathon Oil offered months ago to work with the Village.

Randy Allmon, for Water, Sewer & Refuse, reported that United Water sent a letter stating the cost of their services will increase 1.2%, effective June 1, 2010, as allowed in their contract due to the Cost of Living Adjustments. United Water operates Wellsville's Sewage Treatment Plant. The increase will raise the monthly fee by $243.11, for a total monthly cost of $20,503. The increase will be first added to the December invoice and is not retro-active for previous months.

Cataldo noted that the letter also requested the deletion of a section of the existing contract for compensation regarding changes in “flows/loadings”. United Water Area Manager Gary Timmer noted in the letter the section was overlooked when negotiating the new agreement. It was discovered after reviewing the last three agreements. Allmon concluded his report stating the letter has be sent to Village Legal Advisor Andy Beech for his review and comments.

For the Personnel Committee, Councilman Soldano got a motion approved to order in legislation to adjust the paid holidays for all Wellsville employees. Once the legislation is approved everyone will have the same holidays.

Under Legislation seven new ordinances were dealt with. Six of the seven were passed under suspension of rules. With one council member absent and Soldano abstaining, the ordinance for wages and other conditions of employment for the Mayor's secretary was placed on first reading. Soldano is the husband of the Mayor's secretary.

The ordinances passed under suspension of rules established the wages and other compensation for the Fire Chief, firemen, Police Chief, the First & Second Lieutenants and full time police officers. The last two ordinances approved were book keeping ordinances making appropriations for current expenses and other Village expenditures.

The ordinances to advertise for bids to repair the 17th & Main sink hole and abolishing the Tree Board remain tabled.

For the Mayor's Report, Surace reported that the Assistant Court Clerk has collected $79,957.05 in back fines from 2008 to date. That averages out to $26,652 per year for three years.

For New Business, Allmon advised the Village Administrator that there are a stop signs at the end of 17th Street covered with stickers. Soldano questioned the Council Clerk on the status of the letter to be sent to residents effected with the zoning change requested for the proposed Ohio River Bread Co. Davis replied that prior to sending the letter an ordinance has to be prepared and presented to Council and new zoning map be prepared showing the changes if approved. The Legal Advisor is working on the ordinance and the Zoning Administrator is working on the map. In addition they are drawing up a list of properties and owners to make sure the letters are addressed to the right people. Some of the effective, surrounding properties are rental units. The zoning change from residential to light industrial is for the old MacDonald School and was requested by principles of the Ohio River Bread Co.

Being no other business the meeting was adjourned at 1:27 PM. The next regularly scheduled meeting is for Tuesday, January 4, 2011, at Village Hall.

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