Special Council Meeting Thursday, December 12, 2002 Meeting called to order by Mayor Robert E. Cochrun. Roll Call: John Synodinos present, Dave France present, Dave Smith present, Robert Martin absent, Beth Rupert present, Gene Pool present. Officials: Mayor Robert E. Cochrun present, Solicitor Christopher D. Becker present, Clerk Treasurer Mike Payne present, Administrator Gary R. Folden present. Moment of Silence Pledge of Allegiance Reading of Minutes Motion by John Synodinos, second by Dave France to approve the minutes from the Regular Council Meeting held on November 20, 2002. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dave France yea, Dave Smith yea, Beth Rupert yea, Gene Pool yea. Motion passed 5-0. Persons Appearing before Council Council Members briefly discussed the limit of trash permitted by residents. It was agreed that the six-bag limit was to include leaves and that residents placing more that six bags of trash out each week would incur a $1.00 charge for every bag over the limit. Matt Parise said that he did not feel that Council Members had put enough thought in the decision to combine the Community Day event with the Fireworks Celebration. Gene Pool said that one of the reasons for combining the events was that next year was the bicentennial. Dave France said that the other reasons considered when deciding to combine the events including taking advantage of the large turnout for the Thunder-in-the-Ville fireworks event. Matt Parise questioned who had the law enforcement authority at the airpark if any problems existed. Mayor Cochrun said that the Sheriff's office and Cross Creek would have laws enforcement authority at the event. Chief Laman said that he expected Wintersville Police Department officers would be temporarily sworn in as deputies for the event similarly to the previous year. Beth Rupert said that the combining of the events had been discussed enough and that to keep discussing the issue that had been decided already would not be good for the Community. Matt Parise said that this was the first time that he had come before Council to express his opinion on this matter. Gene Pool said that the Village needed to focus on more important Village matters. John Synodinos said that business owners that he had talked to were against moving the event out of the Community. Chief Laman requested an executive session to discuss personnel matters sometime during the meeting. Robert Laukert, BHJ representative, gave an update on the bridge study meeting recently held. He also addressed Council regarding his thoughts on the Route 43 Construction, and stated that the Village should take the advice of ODOT and consultants regarding decisions that need to be made during the construction. He also discussed the idea of additional transportation needs for Wintersville due to expansion. Reading of Ordinance and/or Resolutions Ordinance 2002-24: An ordinance approving the permanent appropriations for 2003 was read for the 3rd time. Motion be Dave Smith, second by Dave France to approve Ordinance 2002-24. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dave France yea, Dave Smith yea, Beth Rupert yea, (Gene Pool had temporarily left the meeting). Motion passed 4-0. Ordinance 2002-25: An ordinance repealing previous base pays established by the Village and establishing new base pay rates for Village employees was read for the 1st time. Motion by Dave France, second by Beth Rupert to suspend the rules for the 2nd and 3rd readings of Ordinance 2002-25. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dave France yea, Dave Smith yea, Beth Rupert yea, Gene Pool yea. Motion passed 5-0. Ordinance 2002-25: An Ordinance repealing previous base pays established by the Village and establishing new base pay rates for Village employees was read for the 2nd time. Ordinance 2002-25: An Ordinance repealing previous base pays established by the Village and establishing new base pay rates for Village employees was read for the 3rd time. Motion be Gene Pool, second by Dave France to approve Ordinance 2002-25. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dave France yea, Dave Smith yea, Beth Rupert yea, Gene Pool yea. Motion passed 5-0. Reports, Announcements and Communications Mayor Cochrun read the November Magistrate Report. Mayor Cochrun read the November Police Report. Mayor Cochrun read the November Building Inspector's Report. Mayor Cochrun asked Council to consider a request to pick up trash for the Hutton Residence on Amos Avenue off of Two Ridge Road, which was just outside the Village boundary. Beth Rupert said that the Village might be setting a precedent by offering this service to this resident. She said she would rather see the resident request annexation and then the Village could provide all Village services to them. John Synodinos said that he did not think this was setting much of a precedent. He said that the Village could always deny any further requests. Chris Becker said that the Village might be setting itself up for having to accept similar future requests. His opinion to Council was to deny this request and have the resident pursue the annexation recourse. Mayor Cochrun said that the Ray Laman Christmas Party would be held Saturday, December 14, 2002 at 10:00 AM. At the St. Florian Hall. Mayor Cochrun said that Council members were invited to the annual senior citizen's dinner to be held Saturday, December 14, 2002, at 1:00 PM. The dinner will be held at the Blessed Sacrament Social Hall. Council members discussed having the beautification committee discuss a sign honoring former Olympic Star Lester Carney. Mayor Cochrun asked if Council Members wanted to give employees Christmas Eve off this year. Motion by Gene Pool, second by Beth Rupert to give employees Christmas Eve off as an additional holiday. Council Discussed whether employees called out to remove snow or repair a water break would have to be paid time and one half on top of the paid day off if they voted this day as an additional holiday. Chris Becker said that he felt the Village would have to pay time for the holiday and time and one half to workers called out if they granted employees a holiday for Christmas Eve. Vote: John Synodinos nay, Dave France nay, Dave Smith nay, Beth Rupert nay, Gene Pool yea. Motion Failed 4-1. Motion by Dave France, second by John Synodinos to award prizes the same as last year to business and residents including a $25.00 Mayor award for Christmas decorations. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dave France yea, Dave Smith yea, Beth Rupert yea, Gene Pool nay. Motion passed 4-1. Mayor Cochrun said that judging would take place December 20th from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. Council members judging the decorations should meet at the Village at 9:00 PM. with their choices. Mayor Cochrun said that anyone wishing to nominate individuals for "Citizen of the year" should submit their nomination by December 22nd to the Administrator along with a letter explaining why they are nominating the person. Administrator Report Gary Folden said that he was using the Leonard Ave. building for temporary storage. Gary Folden suggested that Council members need to consider implementing a hotel/motel tax in the event that the Village has a hotel/motel constructed in the Village. Gary Folden said that the traffic maintenance contract does not expire until 2004, therefore the motion to go out to bid for these services made previously is void. Gary Folden said that Chris Becker, Jack Gilmore, Attorney Dennis O'Toole and himself would be meeting on December 20th to discuss water contractual matters. Gary Folden said that he would be attending an OWDA Meeting on Friday, December 13, to listen to discussions about grants available for municipalities. Gary Folden said that EPA had received the study submitted by our consultant and agreed that the Village was off to a good start but that the first phase of the plan included in the study needed to be implemented within 18 months. Gary Folden said that Mrs. Crawley, a resident, was irate about her water bill being so high and that she wanted Council members to be aware of her complaint. Council members agreed that the Village should renew its membership with the Ohio Municipal League for 2003. Old Business Gary Folden said that bids for leasing the Woodridge property were due in on December 18th. Dave Smith asked if there had been a decision on constructing a new vehicle garage. Gary Folden said that it might help if he had representatives from a company that would construct a steel building come in and talk to Council members about this type of structure. Council Members agreed to have the administrator continue to research the costs and advantage of different types of building structures. Motion by Beth Rupert, second by Dave Smith to go into executive session to discuss personnel matters. Vote: John Synodinos nay, Dave France yea, Dave Smith yea, Beth Rupert yea. (Gene Pool had temporarily left the meeting.) Motion passed 3-1. Motion by John Synodinos, second by Beth Rupert to return to regular session. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dave France yea, Dave Smith yea, Beth Rupert yea, Gene Pool left the meeting. Motion passed 4-0. Kathy Collopy suggested that the Village contact the JVS about building a garage for the Village. Beth Rupert said that it appeared that the number of water breaks increased when hydrants were flushed. She asked Perry Pool to see if he could monitor the correlation in the future. Mike Payne stated that the majority of the water has continued to be purchased by the Village from Steubenville instead of from the County, which is less expensive. He said the difference was only .11 cents per thousand gallons now but would be significantly higher in January, costing the Village thousands more each month. Gary Folden said that he was hoping to switch back the majority of the water purchase back to the County. Motion by Beth Rupert, second by Dave France to amend the minutes from the November 7, 2002 meeting regarding combining the Community Days and Fireworks event. The amendment to the motion was that Gary Folden was to serve as Chairperson of the combined event. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dave France yea, Dave Smith Beth Rupert yea. Motion passed 4-0. New Business John Synodinos read a statement regarding his response to a recent letter to the editor written by Mayor Cochrun. He cited items in the Mayor's Letter that he claimed were not true. He then called for censuring of the Mayor for trying to deceive the constituents of the Village. Solicitor Chris Becker told John Synodinos that according to the Ohio Revised Code, Council could only censure other Council members and not the Mayor. Beth Rupert left the meeting at this point. No Motion to adjourn was made due to the fact that a quorum of members were no longer available to vote. Next regularly scheduled meeting is December 19, 2002 at 7:00 PM. C. Michael Payne - Clerk / Treasurer Robert E. Cochrun - Mayor