Regular Council Meeting Thursday, August 4, 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 Robert Martin Sr., second by Dr. Robert Price to approve the minutes from the July 28, 2005 Council Meeting. Persons Appearing Before Council None. Reading of Ordinance and/or Resolutions Ordinance 2005-22: An Ordinance assessing property owners of Sam's Way was read for the second time. Ordinance 2005-23: An Ordinance creating new water rates was read for the first time. Reports, Announcements and Communications Mayor Dave France read the Magistrate, Police and Code Enforcement Reports for July 2005. Dr. Robert Price reported that a Personnel Committee Meeting had been held at 6:00 PM prior to today's Council Meeting. Motion by Matt Parise, second by Thomas Bottorf to go into executive session to discuss personnel and potential litigation matters. Motion by Matt Parise, second by Thomas Bottorf to return to regular session. Administrator Report. Walt Ziemba said that no bids came in on the 2002 Dodge truck so that the trade-in terms would be used to dispose of the truck. Walt Ziemba explained that the Waste Management bid for Sanitation services did include the fuel surcharge; therefore the Waste Management bid of $39.08 per ton represented the lowest bid for the weekly landfill service. Motion by Thomas Bottorf, second by Matt Parise to accept the bid of Waste Management for a one year contract at the bid rate of $39.08 per ton as listed in Part A of the bid information. Parts B & C of the bid sheet were not accepted. Discussion on the motion: Matt Parise said that in the current contract language with Waste Management the Village had to use Waste Management exclusively, including the Spring Cleanup. Chris Becker said that the contract language would need to be reviewed by him to allow the Village to use another company to accept hauling from the spring cleanup. Robert Martin Sr. said he would rather deal with the issue of Spring Cleanup now and accept the lower bid of Daily Refuse for the Spring Cleanup portion of the bid. John Synodinos suggested waiting until next year to deal with the Spring Cleanup issue. Matt Parise said that this was a crapshoot on whether sanitation landfill rates would be higher or lower next summer. Thomas Bottorf said that the situation concerning landfills might lead to lower rates next year. Motion by Robert Martin Sr., second by John Synodinos to approve the bid in Part C of the landfill specifications to Daily Refuse for the Spring Cleanup at a rate of $52.00 a ton. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dr. Robert Price yea, Thomas Bottorf nay, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Matt Parise yea, Dave Smith yea. Motion passed 5-1. Walt Ziemba reported that the fencing project at the street garage had begun. Walt Ziemba said that several catch basin's repair projects had begun. Walt Ziemba asked that the Woodridge property be advertised for rent. Motion by Thomas Bottorf, second by John Synodinos to advertise for rent the Woodridge property with a minimum bid set at $400 per month. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dr. Robert Price yea, Thomas Bottorf yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Matt Parise yea, Dave Smith yea. Motion passed 6-0. Motion by Thomas Bottorf, second by Robert Martin Sr. to accept the recommendation to hire Jason Fabian to replace Larry Cornell effective August 15, 2005. Motion by John Synodinos, second by Robert Martin Sr. to pay Larry Cornell $75.00 per month per the agreement suggested by the Administrator. (The terms of the agreement included paying this monthly amount of $75.00 beginning at the end of each month following Larry Cornell's retirement date of July 31, 2005 until the month he reaches age 65 in April of 2010. Walt Ziemba asked Council members to not contact Perry Pool or the other employees if there were non-emergency work that needed to be done in the Village. He asked that they contact him or Tammy for these items so as not to disrupt the work force and to allow work to be prioritized. Unfinished Business Walt Ziemba said that he is no longer receiving complaints regarding the odor problems in Sunset Gardens. He said the County has been working with the Village to keep the odor issue from being a problem. Walt Ziemba said he would be discussing the telemetry property issue with a Board Member from the Church who owns the property. Walt Ziemba said he would be receiving a price quote from the Village's software company to update the handheld meter readers. Chris Becker told Council Members that a trial date of February 7, 2006 had been set for the suit against the Village regarding the unpaid deductibles with Midwest Insurance Company. He said he is working on resolving the matter before that time. Walt Ziemba said that he is working on a packet of information to give Chief Laman regarding the illegal water connection involving Mr. Sherrin. Walt Ziemba said he is waiting on plans from Mr. McDevitt regarding the Troy Place catch basin. He said that he would attempt to meet with Mr. Freshwater and Mr. McDevitt on this issue. Matt Parise asked to be notified of this meeting. Robert Martin Sr. suggested having a sunshine meeting and inviting all Council to this meeting. Thomas Bottorf said that he is expecting additional health insurance quotes from the Village's agent. He said that the Village could renew with the current carrier with only an 8% premium increase. Mayor Dave France said that the property owned by Mr. Means on South Avalon may have to be looked at for possible water leaks. Dr. Robert Price had to temporarily leave the meeting to handle a medical emergency. New Business John Synodinos said that Starkdale Church would like the Village to remove the sign that is located on their property so that they could place a sign of their own in that spot. Walt Ziemba said he would work with the City of Steubenville on this matter. John Synodinos asked that the Solicitor send a letter to Mike Keptilis, a resident who had experienced sewer backup problems, explaining why the Village or the Village's insurance company would not be reimbursing him for his damage. Chris Becker said that he would follow up on this matter after obtaining a copy of the letter issued by the Village's insurance carrier from Tammy Plante. Mayor Dave France read a prepared statement that discussed an incident that occurred at the July 7, 2005 Council Meeting concerning accusations made by a Council person regarding spending Village funds for information that had been prepared to be mailed out to residents regarding water plans. Walt Ziemba explained that the Office staff had received several calls concerning the water rates and he decided to place a flyer in the mail to explain the pending legislation changes in the rates. He said that this mailing would have been similar to what the State of Ohio does on similar matters. He said that it was his decision to do this and because another mailing was already going out their would not have been any additional postage costs. Chris Becker said that he had been concerned about this mailing going out at the time and had requested that the mailing not take place, but rather be discussed at a Council Meeting first. He said that he did not feel that the mailing would have been illegal, but had not researched the issue to determine if the mailing would have been improper. Motion by Thomas Bottorf, second by Dave Smith to pay bill as funds become available. Motion by Thomas Bottorf, second by Dave Smith to approve the increases in appropriations prepared by Clerk Treasurer Mike Payne. For the Good of the Village Bonnie and Bob Cain, Gumps Lane, explained the problems they have had over the past 2 years regarding odor and discoloration of their Village water. They said that the Administrator told them that he had attempted to find Grant funds to take care of the problem and if not the Village would use General Funds to do something to help the situation that affected most of the homes on Gumps Lane. Walt Ziemba said he had met with the Cains and Mrs. Wilson from Gumps Lane several times. He said that a sample of the water had sent out for analysis but the results had yet to be sent back. He said that the lines were over 50 years old and that the sediment in these lines was probably causing the problems. He said that to replace these lines on Gumps Lane would cost $90-$115,000. He said that there have been similar complaints from other areas of the Village, but if Council wanted to do this project it would be easy to engineer and could start this fall or they could try again for grant funding that would not be available until July 2006. Robert Martin Sr. asked if $115,000 would take care of the problem. He said that the residents of Gumps Lane had waited 2 years for something to be done and if this would take care of the problem the Village should borrow the money to do it. Walt Ziemba said that putting in a new 6 inch line would help the residents in that area, he just was not sure how long it would be before they had problems again. He said that if a line was put in the residents might want to consider installing a new connection line in their homes to eliminate possible problems from from that area. John Synodinos agreed that the Village should borrow the money to do this project. Dave Smith questioned whether the Gumps Lane line could be tied into another Village line. Walt Ziemba said that a line could be looped, but this was a Village wide problem that affected the lowest area the most. Deeise Wilson, Gumps Lane, said that she also had an odor problem with her water. Mayor Dave France said the Village would be prioritizing projects that needed to be done and addressing them during the budget process. Robert Cochrun said that 15 years ago this problem on Gumps Lane was addressed. He said that engineers were brought in and they had the Village flush the lines and add certain chemicals. He also said that money was put aside to start saving to replace the lines. Thomas Bottorf said that the Village might try to use chemicals with flushing the lines and also consider bringing in Quicksall to study the issue. Robert Martin Sr. said he would prefer not spending money on chemicals and engineering studies, when putting in a new line would take care of the problem. Walt Ziemba said he would report back to Council next meeting on this issue. Diane Denny said that she thought it was a mistake to lower water rates when these problems in the Village needed addressed. Bob Gale, Stardust Drive, said that Council should consider having the 2nd and 3rd readings of the Water Rate Decrease at the next meeting. Motion by Dr. Robert Price, second by Robert Martin Sr. to adjourn. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dr. Robert Price yea, Thomas Bottorf yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Matt Parise nay, Dave Smith yea. Motion passed 5-1. Next regular scheduled meeting is August 18, 2005 at 7:00 PM. Disclaimer: These are a draft of the minutes and not deemed official until approved by Council. Mike Payne, Clerk Treasurer Dave France, Mayor