Regular Council Meeting Thursday, December 18, 2003 Mayor Robert E. Cochrun called the meeting to order. Roll Call: John Synodinos present, Dave France present, Thomas Bottorf present, Robert Martin Sr. present, Beth Rupert present, Dave Smith present. Officials: Mayor Robert E. Cochrun present, Solicitor Christopher D. Becker present, Clerk Treasurer Mike Payne present, Administrator Gary R. Folden absent. Moment of Silence Pledge of Allegiance Reading of Minutes Motion by Robert Martin Sr., second by Thomas Bottorf to approve the minutes from the Regular Council meeting held December 4, 2003. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dave France yea, Thomas Bottorf yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Beth Rupert abstain, Dave Smith yea. Motion passed 5-0 with 1 abstention. Persons Appearing Before Council Paul Firm, Steubenville Trucking Center, and Perry Pool to discuss the situation with a Village Truck that apparently was undersized for the work it needed to do. Mr. Firm said that the 1 ton Village truck was currently in his shop having a clutch replaced for the second time because the truck was being used beyond its capacity. He said that to replace the clutch was costing the Village $1600.00 each time and the Village needed to use a medium size body of a truck for snow removal instead of the light size that they had purchased. He offered to sell the Village a new medium capacity truck for $15,000 after a trade-in allowance for the truck purchased earlier this year. He would then have the new truck fitted with the hydraulics and snow plow equipment from the old truck for an additional $6,200. Perry Pool said that apparently DiNovo’s had sold the Village a truck that did not meet the needs of the Village. Perry Pool said that not having this truck for snow removal reduced him down to 3 large salt trucks and two small trucks used for snow plowing only. Motion by John Synodinos, second by Dave Smith to go out to bid to purchase a new truck that will meet the specs developed by Perry Pool and to handle the weight required. Discussion on the motion: Robert Martin Sr. felt that the winter would be over by the time the Village was able to purchase a truck through the bidding process. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dave France yea, Thomas Bottorf yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Beth Rupert yea, Dave Smith yea. Motion passed 6-0. Dave Smith presented a plaque to Beth Rupert for her years of service to the Village as a Council Person. Dave Smith presented a plaque to Mayor Cochrun for his 30 years of service as Mayor and Council Person. John Synodinos said that he had enjoyed working with the Mayor over the years. Reading of Ordinances and/or Resolutions Ordinance 2003-18: An Ordinance approving the 2004 appropriations was read for the 3rd time. Motion by Robert Martin Sr., second by Dave France to approve Ordinance 2003-18. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dave France yea, Thomas Bottorf yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Beth Rupert abstain, Dave Smith yea. Motion passed 5-0 with 1 abstention. Reports, Announcements and Communications Dave Smith read a letter from the Jefferson County Humane Society, requesting contributions since their funding had been reduced. Dave smith read a letter from the Ray Laman Children’s Party Committee thanking the Village for its support. Mayor Cochrun read the sanitation schedule for the next two weeks. Motion by Dave France, second by Thomas Bottorf to move the Council Meeting in January to the 8th and the 22nd because of the Holiday on January 1st. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dave France yea, Thomas Bottorf yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Beth Rupert abstain, Dave Smith yea. Motion passed 5-0 with 1 abstention. Motion by Dave Smith, second by Dave France to go into executive session to discuss a personnel matter regarding a sanitation employee. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dave France yea, Thomas Bottorf yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Beth Rupert yea, Dave Smith yea. Motion passed 6-0. Motion by John Synodinos, second by Dave France to return to regular session. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dave France yea, Thomas Bottorf yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Beth Rupert yea, Dave Smith yea. Motion passed 6-0. Administrator’s Report Mayor Cochrun asked Perry Pool for an update on the Throckmorton property sale request. Council discussed this issue briefly. Motion by John Synodinos, second by Dave France to deny the request to sell Village property to the Throckmorton’s at this time. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dave France yea, Thomas Bottorf yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Beth Rupert yea, Dave Smith yea. Motion passed 6-0. Old Business John Synodinos asked Robert Martin Sr. the status of installing the lights on Grove Street. After discussing the project with Perry Pool, Robert Martin Sr. felt that it was ok to move forward on the project. Motion by Robert Martin Sr., second by John Synodinos to accept the quotation from Cattrel Electric to perform the installation on the light poles in the amount of $3500.00 plus up to an additional $1000.00 to install a controller device. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dave France yea, Thomas Bottorf nay, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Beth Rupert nay, Dave Smith nay. Mayor Cochrun broke the tie by voting yea. Motion passed by 4-3. Motion by Dave Smith second by Dave France to have the Solicitor prepare an Ordinance to increase the Magistrate Court Costs by $10.00 for General Fund Purposes. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dave France yea, Thomas Bottorf yea, Robert Martin Sr. Yea, Beth Rupert yea, Dave Smith yea. Motion passed 6-0. Dave Smith reported that the Finance Committee met and spent several hours reviewing next year’s budget. He said some of the other topics discussed included, Holiday pay for the Police Officers, paid lunches, grass cutting by the contractor in November, and the Fire Levy deadline. Chris Becker said that the Motion by Council to put the Fire Levy on the ballot in March required a resolution as well as certifying the resolution through the county auditor’s office and finally filing the auditor certification and the resolution with the Board of Elections. He said that Rob Herrington brought this to Council too late for all of the above to be completed by the December 18th deadline. He said he had spoken to Chief Herrington concerning this situation. Chris Becker also said that it was not legal to have the Levy on the ballot in March 2004 and be for the tax year 2003 as requested by Rob Herrington. Chris Becker said that at some point Council would need to pass a new motion to put this levy on the November 2004 ballot for the tax year 2004. Mike Payne suggested Council pass a motion to start the process so that the paperwork could be filed for the November election. John Synodinos said that he would prefer to wait until Robe Herrington came back to Council and brought this request to Council members. Chris Becker said that he still had no resolution on the $25,000 in claims coverage from the Village’s insurance carrier and that the Village may end up getting sued on this matter. Chris Becker said that he would be giving Council a opinion on the matter concerning the contract with Waste Management. Chris Becker said that the residents of Sam’s Way had been making several requests and that he would be discussing these with the new Council in January 2004. Mike Payne asked Council’ s opinion on paying part time employee for time they would have worked on the Friday after Christmas that Council had agreed to give employees off. Robert Martin Sr. said that it was the intent of Council to cover all employees. This seemed to be the intent of the other Council members as well. Chris Becker said that he would follow up on an Ordinance that the Village had previously passed that would keep the Village in compliance with a recent Attorney General’s opinion regarding the purchase of food, water and coffee for Village employees. Mike Payne reported that the cost of those items for 2003 was approximately $1000.00. New Business Motion by John Synodinos, second by Dave Smith to have an ordinance prepared to change the employee handbook to eliminate paid lunches. Discussion on the motion Robert Martin Sr. said that there could be consequences if such a motion was passed because employees might not be able to respond as quickly to problems such as water breaks or waiting on customers. Dave Smith and Dave France said that by staggering lunches some of these situations could be avoided. Chief Laman said that his officers do not take regular lunch breaks, but take time to eat whenever they have a chance. He said they usually end up working 8 ½ hour days. Vote on Motion: John Synodinos yea, Dave France yea, Thomas Bottorf nay, Robert Martin Sr. nay, Beth Rupert nay, Dave Smith yea. Mayor Cochrun broke the tie by voting yea. Motion passed 4-3. Dave France read a letter of resignation of his Council seat that indicated he was making his resignation effective immediately to allow a smoother transition for his position. Motion by Beth Rupert, second by Thomas Bottorf to accept the resignation of Dave France as a Council Person effective immediately. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Dave France abstain, Thomas Bottorf yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Beth Rupert yea, Dave Smith yea. Motion passed 5-0 with 1 abstention. Motion by Thomas Bottorf, second by Dave Smith to appoint Dr. Robert Price as the replacement Council Person for the newly vacated seat held by Dave France. Discussion on the motion. Matt Parise said that he did not think it was right to appoint Dr. Robert Price since Council had approved to take applications for the position and the deadline of December 29, 2003 had not yet occurred. John Synodinos felt that this was not the right way to appoint someone and that it was different than past practice. He also said that this appointment was politically motivated. Chris Becker said that this appointment was legal since a quorum was present and that a majority of the remaining members could elect a new Council Person as soon as a vacancy occurred. Dave Smith said that the people had given Dr. Price the 3rd highest vote tally in the recent election and therefore deserved to be appointed to this position. He also said that Robert Martin Sr. himself thought that he should have been appointed to the Council position when he had been the next closest vote getter two years ago. Thomas Bottorf read a letter from Dr. Robert Price stating why he felt he was qualified to be chosen as the new Council Person. John Synodinos said that he felt the proper process was being circumvented for the wrong reasons. Matt Parise asked the Council members who had voted to place the advertisement for a Council person in the newspaper. All members except, Beth Rupert who had not been present at the previous meeting, acknowledged they had approved the action. Matt Parise also asked Council members how many applications had been received to date for the Council position. Dave France said that no other applications had yet been received. Vote on motion: John Synodinos nay, Thomas Bottorf yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Beth Rupert yea, Dave Smith yea. Motion passed 4-1. Mayor Cochrun swore Dr. William Price in as the new Council Person after a brief recess. Dr. Price thanked Council for considering him and choosing him as the new Council Person. Thomas Bottorf asked Chief Laman to come in front of Council to discuss his request for additional pay for his employees on holidays that he had brought up at the Finance Committee meeting. Chief Ed Laman said that he would like to have his officers paid four additional straight time hours whenever their shift fell on a holiday. He said that currently his officers had been awarded $536 annually for working up to 12 holidays each year, but this amount had been based on wages from the 1970’s when they were only making around $14,000 per year. Mike Payne reminded Council that the budget had recently approved without this proposal being considered. Chief Laman said that he felt that he could transfer $3000 (the approximate cost of this request) from his supply line item to cover this request. Motion by Robert Martin Sr., second by Thomas Bottorf to have an Ordinance prepared to approve four extra hours of pay for all Police Officers who work a holiday. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Robert Price yea, Thomas Bottorf yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Beth Rupert yea, Dave Smith yea. Motion passed 6-0. John Synodinos said that he would like to schedule a Sanitation Committee Meeting. Members agreed to meet December 23rd at 1:00 PM. Motion by John Synodinos, second by Thomas Bottorf to pay bills as funds become available. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Robert Price yea, Thomas Bottorf yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Beth Rupert yea, Dave Smith yea. Motion passed 6-0. Motion by Beth Rupert, second by John Synodinos to adjourn. Vote: John Synodinos yea, Robert Price yea, Thomas Bottorf yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Beth Rupert yea, Dave Smith yea. Motion passed 6-0. January Meeting were moved to January 8th and 22nd at 7:00 PM. Sanitation Rate Committee was scheduled for December 23 at 1:00 PM. Dave France, Mayor Mike Payne, Clerk/Treasurer