Regular Council Meeting Thursday, April 7, 2005 Mayor Dave France called the meeting to order. Roll Call: John Synodinos present, Dr. Robert Price present, Thomas Bottorf present, Robert Martin Sr. present, Matt Parise present, Dave Smith present. Officials: Mayor Dave France present, Solicitor Christopher D. Becker present, Clerk Treasurer Mike Payne present, Administrator Walt Ziemba present. Moment of Silence Pledge of Allegiance Reading of Minutes Motion by John Synodinos, second by Dr. Robert Price to approve the minutes from the March 17, 2005 regular Council meeting as corrected. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dr. Robert Price yes, Thomas Bottorf yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Matt Parise yea, Dave Smith yea. Motion passed 6-0. Persons Appearing Before Council Robert Cochrun said that McDonald's Restaurant near Harding Stadium would be contributing a percentage of their proceeds to the Special Olympics and School of Bright Promise on Monday April 11, 2005 from 4:30 to 7:30 PM. Betty Stinard, said that the Jefferson County Recycling Board would like to have the Mayor and Council come to Reisbeck's on Friday at 1:00 PM to discuss recycling with the Herald Star. Ordinances and/or Resolutions Ordinance 2005-08: An Ordinance changing the posting of Ordinances was read for the 2nd time. Ordinance 2005-09: An Ordinance concerning Mobile homes was read for the 2nd time. Reports Announcements and Communications Mike Payne informed Council that the state Auditor's Office would not be performing a financial audit on the Village's records until early 2006. He said at that time the State Auditors would perform the 2004 and 2005 audit at a cost of approximately $12,000, which would be a savings of around $4,000 if the two years would have been audited separately. Mayor Dave France read the Magistrate, Police and Code Enforcement Officers reports for March 2005. Administrator's Report Walt Ziemba said that the Village had been approved for an Ohio Public Work's Grant in the amount of $93,115 for paving Winters Drive, Rex Ave. and Russell Ave. Walt Ziemba said he had been in contact with the United Church of Christ regarding the telemetry project being located on their property. He said that an appraisal would be done on the property. Walt Ziemba said that a property owner had asked for relief from a recent sewer bill. He said that a tenant of the landlord had turned the heat down causing the pipes to break and resulting in a large water and sewer bill. John Synodinos said that he thought it would be a good thing to give the property owner a break on the sewer portion of the bill. Motion by John Synodinos, second be Robert Martin Sr. to waive the sewer portion of the property owner's water bill. Discussion of the motion: Matt Parise said that it had been the Village's policy in the past not to waive sewer portions of the bills in these circumstances. He cited an example of a resident who had to refill his pool because of replacing his pool liner and the Village did not grant the person a break on the sewer portion of the bill. He said that if the Village granted relief on a case by case they were taking a chance of discriminating. John Synodinos said that he recalled instances in the past when the Village had waived the sewage part of the water bill. He said that he was not at the Council Meeting when Council voted not to give relief to the person who owned the Pool in Matt Parise's example. He also said that the Village has several residents that have separate lines that they are only charged for water. Robert Martin Sr. said that the property owner had no control over this situation and that should make a difference. Dave Smith asked if any water from the bill in question went into the sewer system. Walt Ziemba said that some of the water could have gone into the drain and through the sewer system. Thomas Bottorf said that he knew of multiple instances in the past few years that came before Council and no exceptions had been made. He said that if the bill was adjusted, an adjustment should be made for any water that went down the drain. Robert Martin Sr. and Dr. Robert Price agreed that any sewer portion of the bill that was adjusted should have a percentage still charged for the amount estimated to have run through the sewer system. Matt Parise said that he could support a 50% reduction of the sewer portion in the bill for this situation, but that a policy must be adopted if Council was going to start waiving charges, so that everyone could be treated the same. Chris Becker said that this situation needed to be addressed through an Ordinance that deals with these situations to avoid flip-flopping on every situation. Albert Carapellotti said that the property Council had been discussing was owned by him, and he agreed that a policy allowing a percentage credit on these types of sewer bills seemed fair. Motion amended to allow only a 50% credit for the sewer portion of the bill in question for the property owned by Mr. Albert Carapellotti. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dr. Robert Price yes, Thomas Bottorf yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Matt Parise yea, Dave Smith yea. Motion passed 6-0. Mayor Dave France asked that the water and sewer committee get together as soon as possible to discuss this situation. Walt Ziemba said that the Jefferson County Recreation Funds totaled $167,000 this year and the Village should apply for come of the grant money available. Robert Martin Sr. said that he had already told the County officials that the Village would be applying for some of these funds. He said he would meet with the Administrator on this matter. Mayor Dave France suggested that Robert Martin Sr. hold a Recreation Committee Meeting to decide on how much and what to apply for from the County. Walt Ziemba said that he a supplier that would be demonstrating fire hydrant equipment that would cost approximately $5,000 - $7,000. Walt Ziemba said that he would be attending a local FEMA meeting to discuss County flood issues. Walt Ziemba reported that it has been 5-6 years since the Village's water tank had been inspected. He said he received a quote for $2995.00 from a local company to do an inspection of the Tank (World International Testing) who also had inspected the tank in 1997. Matt Parise said he would like the Administrator to obtain a couple more quotes before proceeding with the inspection. Walt Ziemba said that the Sewage Plant gate fencing needed replaced and he had obtained quotes to do this replacement work. He reported that G.L. Thermes had quoted a price of $3400 and McNeil Fencing had said they would do this same work for $3,600. Matt Parise asked the Administrator to check to see if there was any Homeland Security money available for this project before starting the work. Walt Ziemba asked permission from Council to hire 4-6 seasonal full time employees to help perform work this summer. Robert Martin Sr. suggested checking with the Community Action Council about the availability of workers. Walt Ziemba said that his understanding of using that program last year was that some of the employees needed transportation and it became a problem. Matt Parise agreed that the transportation issue had been a problem last year but he would like the Administrator to check again with the CAC about the availability of summer help. Robert Martin Sr. said that the Village needed to make a decision on whether to hold a spring clean up this year. Motion by Matt Parise, second by john Synodinos to hold the annual large item Spring Clean-up in June. Discussion on the motion: Dave Smith asked Mike Payne if there was money in the sanitation budget to pay for this expense. Mike Payne said he would have to review the budget to check on the availability of funds. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dr. Robert Price yes, Thomas Bottorf yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Matt Parise yea, Dave Smith yea. Motion passed 6-0. Walt Ziemba told Council that they needed to appoint New Members to the Equalization Board for the Sam's Way Assessment. Robert Martin Sr. said that only two people were needed since Mr. Byers was still willing to serve. Chris Becker suggested that the Old Board be disbanded and a new board be appointed. Motion by Matt Parise, second by Robert Martin Sr. to disband the current Equalization Board regarding Sam's Way. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dr. Robert Price yes, Thomas Bottorf yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Matt Parise yea, Dave Smith yea. Motion passed 6-0. Walt Ziemba said that the individuals behind the Meridian Greene project were asking about house numbers and he wondered if the Street needed to be accepted in the Village. Robert Martin asked how the situation stood concerning Bull dog security moving into part of the Riebeck's store. Walt Ziemba said that the store owner, Mr. Ferguson was not interested in having another client in the store at this time. Mayor Dave France said that a variance discussion was taking place regarding this store's location. Robert Martin Sr. said that Bull Dog Security could bring in 15-30 jobs and that the Village should assist in making this happen if possible. Walt Ziemba said he needs to discuss purchasing additional vehicles at the next finance committee meeting. Walt Ziemba said that he had sent RITA a letter naming himself as the Village Tax Administrator and a letter authorizing a subpoena program to be in place until Council wished to discontinue the practice. Chris Becker said that he had forwarded to Midwest Insurance Company a letter including previous correspondence that had been sent to them regarding the claim the Insurance company has against the Village foe deductible reimbursement. Mayor Dave France said that he was aware of the two proposals by Council that they had developed to reduce water rates for residents. He said that he was going to limit the time that each Council person could discuss or promote their plan to five minutes, plus another five minutes for follow-up after every Council person had an opportunity to speak. Motion by John Synodinos, second by Robert Martin Sr. to have the Solicitor prepare an Ordinance to reduce water rates and increase sewer rates outlined in the rate structure known as Plan "A". Discussion of the Motion: John Synodinos explained his reasoning for supporting Plan "A". Matt Parise described Plan "A" in more detail including the fact that all customers would see a net decrease in water and sewer rates of $1.50 per thousand gallons used. Thomas Bottorf described the rate structure that he had developed, Known as Plan "B", in detail. His description of Plan "B" included the fact that residents, small Businesses and Commercial businesses would each have a base rate that they would be charged each month ($17, $20, $40, respectively) and then a usage charge of $3.25 (per thousand gallons) for residential customers and $4.00 (per thousand gallons) for businesses for the remainder of 2005 and then $4.00 per thousand for all customers beginning in 2006. Robert Martin Sr. stated his support for Plan "A" and reminded everyone that Plan "B" would automatically increase rates for everyone in 2006 from $3.25 per thousand gallons to $4.00 per thousand gallons. Dr. Robert Price stated his support for the rate structure developed in Plan "B". Dave Smith stated his support for Plan "B" including the fact that Plan "B" had provision for covering expenses in 2006 that Plan "A" did not. Matt Parise stated that Plan "B" rates for 2005 were using surplus funds in the Water Fund to enable to hold down the rates in 2005. He said that his plan (Plan "A") would maintain the same rates through 2006. Albert Carapellotti questioned why Council could not compromise and come up with a blend of the two plans. Shelly Polsinelli, Village Resident said that she had read the proposals in the paper describing the two water rate structures and prepared a handout showing how her family's annual water bills would be affected under each plan. Her handout indicated that Plan "A" would save her $144 per year and Plan "B" $324 per year. She stated that based on those calculations she supported the rate structures in Plan "B". Chief Ed Laman stated that he was currently paying approximately $195 per month for water, sewer and sanitation services to the Village. He said that he supported Plan "B" because if would save him more money each month. Vote on the motion: (in support of Plan "A") : John Syndinos yea Matt Parise yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Thomas Bottorf nay, Dr. Robert Price nay, Dave Smith nay. Mayor Dave France voted nay. Motion defeated 4-3. Motion by Thomas Bottorf, second by Dave Smith to have the Solicitor to prepare an Ordinance to change Village water and sewer rates as outlined in Plan "B". Vote on the Motion: John Synodinos nay, Matt Parise nay, Robert Martin Sr. nay, Thomas Bottorf yea, Dr. Robert Price yea, Dave Smith yea. Mayor Dave France voted yea. Motion passed 4-3. Council asked Albert Carapelotti if he had put in the required dumpster for his property near Krogers. Albert Carapelotti discussed this matter with Council and agreed to put in a dumpster as required by Ordinance in a place where it could reached by the Village vehicle. Chris Becker said that the Garage property on Roberts Street may need to be demolished. Chris Becker explained to Council why AEP was billing the Village $600.00 concerning poles being located close to fire hydrants. Mayor Dave France called for a brief recess for the meeting. (John Synodinos left the meeting at this time.) New Business Robert Martin Sr. said that the property at 131 Orchard Street needed to be cleaned up. Matt Parise said that he, Robert Martin Sr. and John Synodinos would be attending leadership Conferences and would not be able to make the May 5th or July 21 Council meeting. Council agreed to reschedule the May 5 Council meeting to May 3, 2005 Thomas Bottorf asked that the Solicitor bring to Council a draft of an Ordinance for Council to review regarding residents cleaning up after there dogs. Motion by Thomas Bottorf, second by Matt Parise to approve the line item transfers and the increase in appropriations for the Fire Levy Fund. Vote: Dr. Robert Price yes, Thomas Bottorf yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Matt Parise yea, Dave Smith yea. Motion passed 5-0. Motion by Thomas Bottorf, second by Matt Parise to pay bills approved by Council as funds become available. Vote: Dr. Robert Price yes, Thomas Bottorf yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Matt Parise yea, Dave Smith yea. Motion passed 5-0. Motion by Robert Martin Sr., second by Matt Parise to adjourn. Vote: Dr. Robert Price yes, Thomas Bottorf yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Matt Parise yea, Dave Smith yea. Motion passed 5-0. Next Regular scheduled meeting is April 21, 2005 at 7:00 PM. Disclaimer: These are a draft of the minutes and not deemed official until approved by Council.