City Council

December 18, 2023 The Fredericktown Village Council met in regular session on December 18, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. at the Fredericktown Municipal Building. PRESENT: Council Members Brewer, de Rojas, Hobson, Lanuzza, McKnight, and Shoemaker; Police Chief Myers; Fiscal Officer Graves. Mayor Day called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. INVOCATION: Andy Smith, NewLife Community Church. MINUTES: Lanuzza made a motion to approve the November 20, 2023 Council meeting minutes. Seconded by Hobson. All Yea. VISITOR COMMENTS: None LEGISLATION (Third Reading) RESOLUTION NO. 2023-29 - A RESOLUTION DECLARING CERTAIN VILLAGE PROPERTY SURPLUS TO THE NEEDS OF THE VILLAGE OF FREDERICKTOWN Lanuzza made a motion to pass Resolution 2023-29. Seconded by Brewer. All Yea. (Second 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 McKnight made a motion to waive the third reading of Resolution 2023-31. Seconded by Shoemaker. All Yea. Lanuzza made a motion to pass Resolution 2023-31. Seconded by Brewer. All Yea. (Emergency) RESOLUTION NO. 2023-32 – A RESOLUTION CONSENTING TO RESURFACING AND RELATED WORK ON STATE ROUTE 13 IN THE VILLAGE OF FREDERICKTOWN, OHIO, KNOX COUNTY Lanuzza made a motion to waive the three readings of Resolution 2023-32. Seconded by Brewer. All Yea. Lanuzza made a motion to pass Resolution 2023-32. Seconded by Brewer. All Yea. (Emergency) RESOLUTION NO. 2023-33 – A RESOLUTION REPLACING ANY PREVIOUS PARKS LEASE AGREEMENTS AND CONTINUING THIS LEASE THROUGH THE YEAR 2043 AND DECLARING THIS AN EMERGENCY, IN ORDER TO ACCOMMODATE RECREATION DISTRICT GRANT FUNDING REQUIREMENTS McKnight made a motion to waive the three readings of Resolution 2023-33. Seconded by Shoemaker. All Yea, except Lanuzza - abstained. McKnight made a motion to pass Resolution 2023-33. Seconded by Brewer. All Yea, except Lanuzza - abstained. OLD BUSINESS: • Equipment life spreadsheet: Spreadsheet is on Google Drive. • Administrator Snell put the plan on the Active Transportation Plan on the Google drive. Discussing the Transportation Advisory Group with Tami Ruhl. • Still waiting on word about the ODOT and OPWC grants • Christmas Lighting Contest winners: First Place – Deborah Cox, 95 Struble Circle Second Place – Brook Dunham, 13 Miami Avenue  Third Place – David and Patricia Dumbaugh, 147 South Main • Lanuzza the Fredericktown Christmas Walk Committee for having a great, successful Christmas Walk on December 2. NEW BUSINESS: • Mayor Day asked Council to consider amending the Zoning Code, specifically to remove the hard surface driveway requirement. • de Rojas thanked Administrator Snell for the summary on the Planning Commission meeting about subdivision regulations. Suggested Council review the subdivision regulations, and old ordinances and resolutions. • Mayor also would like the Rules of Council be reviewed again, as well as the Water and Wastewater Regulations. VILLAGE ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT: See report. FISCAL OFFICER'S REPORT: • Council reviewed the bills, financial reports and bank reconciliation statement for the month of November 2023. Hobson made a motion to approve the financial reports, bills and bank statement for November 2023. Seconded by Brewer. POLICE CHIEF REPORT: • Have two new part-time officers: Danielle Cook and Ronny Flynn. Still looking for full-time officers. • Finished self-defense training with City of Mount Vernon Police Department. • Addressed the school threats that occurred last week. Threats were found not to be credible, and used the situation for training purposes. ZONING INSPECTOR’S REPORT: None SOLICITOR’S REPORT: None COMMITTEE REPORTS: PLANNING COMMISSION: None. To be determined. FINANCE, PUBLIC WORKS, SAFETY: None. Next meeting, January 16, 2024 at 5:30 p.m. MISCELLANEOUS COMMITTEE REPORTS: None EXECUTIVE SESSION: Lanuzza made a motion to enter into executive session to personnel and compensation and asked Chief Myers and Fiscal Officer Graves to remain. Seconded by Brewer. All yea. Council entered into executive session at 7:28 p.m. Council returned to regular session at 8:34 p.m. ADJOURNMENT – Hobson made a motion to adjourn. Seconded by McKnight. All Yea. Meeting Adjourned at 8:35 p.m. _____________________________________ Mayor Jerry Day ___________________________ Suzan Graves, Fiscal Officer TO: MAYOR & COUNCIL FROM: BRUCE SNELL, VILLAGE ADMINISTRATOR DATE: DECEMBER 18, 2023 SUBJECT: ACTIVITY REPORT ASSET MANAGEMENT I plan on having my version of an asset management spreadsheet on the Shared-Drive within the next day or so. This spreadsheet lists most of the significant assets that belong to the Village, including structures, vehicles, and most of the large equipment. I provided as much useful information as possible and it is accurate to the best of my knowledge. The spreadsheet will be a working document and will likely evolve over time, in order to best serve the needs of Council and staff. ACKERMAN NATURE PRESERVE A group of local bird-watchers (“birders”) are working together in planning improvements to the Ackerman Nature Preserve, which is located on the Salem Avenue Extension. The future improvements will likely include: (a) a windmill, used for aeriation of the pond; (b) a gravel parking lot; (c) a walking path around the pond; (d) several elevated structures for bird-watching. The group is currently raising funds for these future improvements. We are told by this group that birders from all over the region (even from other states) visit the Ackerman Nature Preserve to observe rare bird species. BRIGHTSPEED Bright-speed, formerly known as Century Link, will be installing overhead fiber-optic throughout the Village in 2024. I have reviewed their plans twice and they do not have any intentions of installing any overhead lines on N. Main, between Sandusky and Mill. They will be running fiber-optic lines throughout the Village and it will be nice to see the community have the option of going to fiber-optic lines if they so desire. CHRISTMAS WALK The Christmas Walk was held on December 2nd. As in years past, dozens of local people volunteered to step up and make this event a huge success. A group recently asked permission to install their menorah on the square and, following the Christmas Walk, we provided them space on the front lawn at the Municipal Building for the installation of the menorah. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT The Fredericktown Community Development Foundation (FCDF) met on December 7th to discuss economic development in the community. They will meet again at the Fredericktown Local Schools Board of Education Building on Thursday, January 4th. The November meeting minutes are on the Shared Drive, in the FCDF folder. I will share December minutes as soon as they are approved, following the January Meeting. 1/3 FREDERICKTOWN TOMATO SHOW Service Worker Mike Warner has been appointed to the Tomato Show Board and that will help greatly in that the Village will have someone to serve directly as a liaison of sorts between the Village and the Tomato Show Committee moving forward. BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS No new business since the November meeting. OHIO PUBLIC WORKS COMMISSION We are waiting to hear next month whether we will receive the requested OPWC funding. We applied for grant 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. OHIO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION We did receive word back from ODOT in regards to our two Letters of Intension to apply for Transportation Alternate Program funding for the proposed sidewalk improvements on W. Sandusky and Bollinger Drive and the proposed aesthetic improvements to the overpass at SR 95 and SR 13. We will plan on moving forward with KE McCartney on these two TAP funding grant applications, which will be due January 31st, unless Council instructs me otherwise. PLANNING COMMISSION The Planning Commission met on November 27th to discuss the Village’s Subdivision Regulations. Jim Fox was representing a developer (3FK, LLC) on Bollinger Drive and he asked for a variance to the Village’s Subdivision Regulations. The Planning Commission tabled the request until we could get an opinion from our legal counsel on this matter. Adam and his partner advised us that, while allowing the developer to deviate from the Subdivision Regulations is legal when such a variance is approved by Council, they would advise the Village to be very cautious when doing so as this would set precedent for developers in the Village in the future. I would suggest that, if anything, Council has the Planning Commission review the Subdivision Regulations, so that every developer faces the same expectation, rather than changing expectations depending on whom is developing a given subdivision. 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. 2/3 SERVICE DEPARTMENT We have completed leaf collection and brush chipping for this year. The yard waste dump is also closed for the winter until weather conditions allow it to dry out enough for vehicles to drive through without making ruts. We anticipate opening the dump back up to residents sometime around early April. STREETSCAPE 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. UTILITIES We have had some more 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 (sludge – the solid biproduct of fully processing the waste water) or just go back to producing Class B bio-solids. The engineer has recommended going back to Class B sludge, as he feels that would be more cost-effective at some point in the future. The Utility Superintendent would like to continue producing Class A sludge as long as possible, as it is what the EPA desires. At this point in time, it seems most cost-effective to stick with what we have until it begins bringing diminishing returns, then explore more thoroughly the possibility of going back to producing Class B sludge, as we did decades ago. 3/3