City Council

November 20, 2023 The Fredericktown Village Council met in regular session on November 20, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. at the Fredericktown Municipal Building. PRESENT: Council Members Brewer, de Rojas, Hobson, Lanuzza, McKnight, and Shoemaker; Village Administrator Snell; Police Chief Myers; Fiscal Officer Graves. President Pro-Tempore Lanuzza called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. INVOCATION: Brian Snow, First Baptist Church. MINUTES: de Rojas made a motion to approve the October 16, 2023 Council meeting minutes. Seconded by Brewer. All Yea. VISITOR COMMENTS: • Robin McClay from Fredericktown Christmas Walk discussed events that will happen on Saturday, December 2nd. Requested Mayor’s presence for tree lighting at 4:00 p.m. • Kate St. James from Behavioral Health Care Partners shared available services to those in crisis. They are in the fundraising stage to build a Crisis Stabilization Center in Mount Vernon, on Blackjack Road. LEGISLATION (Third Reading) ORDINANCE NO. 2023-24 - AN ORDINANCE DEFINING THE VILLAGE OF FREDERICKTOWN’S POLICY ON CREMATION AND DISPOSAL OF THE CREMATED REMAINS OF DECEASED INDIGENT RESIDENTS de Rojas made a motion to pass Ordinance 2023-24. Seconded by Shoemaker. All Yea. (Second Reading) ORDINANCE NO. 2023-27 - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE 2018- 18 OF THE VILLAGE OF FREDERICKTOWN INCOME TAX ORDINANCE REGARDING MUNICIPAL INCOME TAX Shoemaker made a motion to waive the third reading of Ordinance 2023-27. Seconded by Brewer. All Yea. Shoemaker made a motion to pass Ordinance 2023-27. Seconded by Brewer. All Yea. (Second Reading) RESOLUTION NO. 2023-28 - A RESOLUTION PROVIDING TEMPORARY APPROPRIATIONS OF FUNDS TO MEET CURRENT AND OTHER EXPENDITURES OF THE VILLAGE OF FREDERICKTOWN, KNOX COUNTY, OHIO FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING JANUARY 1, 2024 McKnight made a motion to waive the third reading of Resolution 2023-28. Seconded by Brewer. All Yea. de Rojas made a motion to pass Resolution 2023-28. Seconded by McKnight. All Yea. (Second Reading) RESOLUTION NO. 2023-29 - A RESOLUTION DECLARING CERTAIN VILLAGE PROPERTY SURPLUS TO THE NEEDS OF THE VILLAGE OF FREDERICKTOWN (First Reading) RESOLUTION NO. 2023-31 - A RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING THE TIME AND PLACE FOR THEMEETINGS OF THE COUNCIL OF THE VILLAGE OF FREDERICKTOWN FOR THE YEAR 2024 OLD BUSINESS: • Equipment life contact: Administrator Snell is working on spreadsheet and will have first draft before end of year. • Administrator Snell will put the plan on the Active Transportation Plan on the Google drive. Per the Complete Streets Policy, there is to be a Transportation Advisory Group established, Snell is checking with Tami Ruhl on this. • Administrator Snell has applied two ODOT grants. One for sidewalks on Bollinger and St. Rt. 95/Sandusky St., and another for the St. Rt. 95 bridge beautification, as well as an OPWC grant application for 2024 street paving. • Knox County ADF has approved the remaining $16,000 in strategic funds to be used on the banner program. • Lanuzza spoke with Solicitor Landon about council vacancies effective January 1, 2024. Village can advertise the open seats, and conduct interviews before January 1, however, no decision can be until January 1, 2024. Fiscal Officer will put the openings in the Mount Vernon News, as well as on the Village’s website, electric sign, and Facebook. NEW BUSINESS: • Lanuzza said that the Village office and gazebo will get new Christmas lighting this year through a local contractor who will install and maintain the lights. • Council agreed to conduct the Christmas lighting contest again this year. Prizes will remain the same as last year: 1st - $75; 2nd - $50; 3rd - $25. VILLAGE ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT: See report. FISCAL OFFICER'S REPORT: • Council reviewed the bills, financial reports and bank reconciliation statement for the month of October 2023. Hobson made a motion to approve the financial reports, bills and bank statement for October 2023. Seconded by Brewer. All Yea, except Shoemaker (left early). POLICE CHIEF REPORT: • SOS Tree Service donated a respectful door entry kit • Now have a Naloxone box in lobby, through a project with the Mount Vernon Probation Department and Leadership Knox. • Thanked Mount Vernon Police Department for patrol tactics and traffic stops training. • Delivered Thanksgiving meals from the Moose Lodge / Brian Saunders to local individuals on the weekend of November 15th. ZONING INSPECTOR’S REPORT: None SOLICITOR’S REPORT: None COMMITTEE REPORTS: PLANNING COMMISSION: None. Next meeting, November 27, 2023, 5:00 p.m. FINANCE, PUBLIC WORKS, SAFETY: None. Next meeting, December 18, 2023 at 5:30 p.m. MISCELLANEOUS COMMITTEE REPORTS: None EXECUTIVE SESSION: Lanuzza made a motion to enter into executive session to discuss the possible purchase, lease or sale of real estate and asked Administrator Snell and Fiscal Officer Graves to remain. Seconded by Hobson. All yea, except Shoemaker (left early). Council entered into executive session at 7:34 p.m. Council returned to regular session at 7:44 p.m. ADJOURNMENT – Hobson made a motion to adjourn. Seconded by Brewer. All Yea, except Shoemaker (left early). Meeting Adjourned at 7:44 p.m. _____________________________________ Mayor Jerry Day ___________________________ Suzan Graves, Fiscal Officer TO: MAYOR & COUNCIL FROM: BRUCE SNELL, VILLAGE ADMINISTRATOR DATE: NOVEMBER 20, 2023 SUBJECT: ACTIVITY REPORT AREA DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION Mayor and I attended a workshop at ADF in regards to planning for the next twenty-five (plus) years of growth in Knox County in Knox County. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT The Fredericktown Community Development Foundation (FCDF) met on October 5th to discuss economic development in the community. They will meet again at the FLS Board of Education Building on Thursday, December 7th. I will share minutes as soon as they become available. ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGERS Suzy indicated that we did receive approximately $5 in revenues once again from the stations over the past month. FREDERICKTOWN TOMATO SHOW The Fredericktown Tomato Show Board has asked me to extend their gratitude to Council and staff for all the support we have provided to the Board each year to help make this event a success. On behalf of Council, I thanked the Board for their hours and hours of hard work throughout the year for the past forty-six years. BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS The Board of Zoning Appeals met on November 1st to discuss a zoning variance request for Richard and Lisa Smith, on Simons Avenue. The Smiths indicated that they were not made aware of the requirement for a driveway with a hard surface when they applied for their building permit for their new house in 2020. The Zoning Inspector indicated that he did tell the Smiths they would need a hard surface driveway when they built their house. We had nothing in writing and the BZA felt that is was fair to give them the variance and they asked that Village staff include the hard-driveway requirement on the builder’s checklist that we include with the building permit. KOKOSING PARK Kokosing Park has been winterized but the restrooms will be opened for the Christmas in the Village event on December 2nd. A gentleman has asked if he could install a menorah on the square for Hanukah and I told him we will accommodate him but we want to work with the Christmas in the Village Committee to ensure that we space decorations out appropriately and keep all parties satisfied. OHIO PUBLIC WORKS COMMISSION We applied for OPWC funding for our 2024 Street Improvements Project. The project consists of replacing dilapidated curb and gutter, milling and overlaying approximately 600 linear feet of E. College Street, from Mount Vernon Avenue to where the Streetscape Project ends on E. College, about 110’ east of Main Street. In addition to this, we included milling and paving Taylor Street, from High Street to Salem Avenue. Our engineer’s estimate for the total cost of construction was $268,475 and we have requested: $128,868 (48%) in the form of a grant; $69,803 (26%) in the form of a zero-interest loan; and we committed to $69,804 (26%) in local out of pocket funds. 1/2 OHIO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION WORKSHOP I attended an ODOT workshop “Show Me the Money” which discussed ODOT grant funding available to municipalities, among other agencies. I learned more about the grants we’ve applied for in the past and some we’ve recently applied for. More importantly, I had the opportunity to meet in person ODOT staff I have been dealing with for years. PLANNING COMMISSION The Planning Commission will meet on November 27th to discuss the Village’s Subdivision Regulations. The meeting will start promptly at 5 PM. RESERVE ADVISORS I will continue work on our asset management spreadsheet and have something ready to share with Council at the first meeting in January. ROAD SALT We have roughly 200 tons of road salt on hand in the event winter weather abruptly sets in. We generally use 350 to 400 tons per winter so we are in relatively good share from a supply standpoint. SERVICE DEPARTMENT I had the pleasure of filling in on the Leaf Crew one day last week. The normal crew makes vacuuming leaves look easy but it was quite a workout. The guys will continue collecting leaves until we are required to prepare for snow/ice, at which point we will install a v-box and a plow on the bigger dump truck. The medium-sized dump truck already has the salting and lowing equipment installed on it for the winter. STREETSCAPE Mayor, Matt Thomsson and I met for a pre-construction meeting with ODOT and Smith Paving on October 19th. Smith Paving, out of Norwalk, had the low bid of $1,595,404.75 and was awarded the project by ODOT. According to a representative from Smith Paving, construction will not likely begin until March 2024 and will likely be finished before November 2024. The traffic lights will be removed in lieu of four-way-stops. Streetlighting will be replaced with historical-themed LED lighting. Trees will be replaced and additional trees will be added and will include tree grates. Sidewalks and streets will be widened as a result of eliminating diagonal parking and replacing with parallel parking. Overhead utilities will be moved underground to the furthest extent possible. The paving (overlay) will be included in the project. Smith Paving has assured us that they will not be working downtown during the Tomato Show. TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVE PROGRAM FUNDING We applied for TAP funding for the proposed SR 95 overpass enhancements and for the Bollinger Drive and W. Sandusky sidewalk construction. We should find out in January whether these projects will be funded. UTILITIES We have had some minor issues with the microwave last month and we were able to get it repaired for a nominal cost. As we have discussed, the microwave has a finite life of sorts, and it will need replaced, but we will use it for as long as it appears to be cost-effective. At some point in the future, we will need to consult with KEM in determining whether we want to continue to produce Class A bio-solids VETERAN BANNERS Adam is working on an agreement between the Village and FCDF in regards to the banners. 2/2