City Council

January 16, 2024 The Fredericktown Village Council met in regular session on January 16, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. at the Fredericktown Municipal Building. PRESENT: Council Members Brewer, de Rojas, Lanuzza, McKnight and Shoemaker; Police Chief Myers; Administrator Snell; Fiscal Officer Graves. ABSENT: Council Member Hobson. Lanuzza made a motion to excuse the absence of Council Member Hobson. Seconded by Brewer. All Yea. Mayor Day called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. INVOCATION: Chief Tracey Myers, Fredericktown Police Department. MINUTES: Lanuzza made a motion to approve the January 2, 2024 Council meeting minutes. Seconded by Shoemaker. All Yea, except Hobson. VISITOR COMMENTS: None LEGISLATION (Second Reading) ORDINANCE NO. 2024-01 - AN ORDINANCE SPECIFYING THE STAFFING AND WAGES OF EMPLOYEES OF THE VILLAGE OF FREDERICKTOWN, OHIO (Emergency) ORDINANCE 2024-02 - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 2024 Lanuzza made a motion to waive the three readings of Ordinance 2024-02. Seconded by Brewer. All Yea, except Hobson. Lanuzza made a motion to pass Ordinance 2024-02. Seconded by Brewer. All Yea, except Hobson. (Emergency) RESOLUTION NO. 2024-03 - A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE VILLAGE ADMINISTRATOR TO PREPARE AND SUBMIT AN APPLICATION TO PARTICIPATE IN THE OHIO BUILDS WATER INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM AND TO EXECUTE CONTRACTS AS REQUIRED FOR THIS PROJECT Brewer made a motion to waive the three readings of Resolution 2024-03. Seconded by Shoemaker. All Yea, except Hobson. Shoemaker made a motion to pass Resolution 2024-03. Seconded by Brewer. All Yea, except Hobson. OLD BUSINESS: • Transportation Advisory Group met on Wednesday, January 10th. Minutes are on the Google Drive in the Public Works folder. • Still waiting on word about the ODOT and OPWC grants. • Planning Commission will discuss amending the Zoning Code specifically to remove the hard surface driveway requirement (per Mayor’s request), as well as subdivision regulations and old ordinances and resolutions. • Approve Mayor’s 2024 Annual Appointments. De Rojas made a motion to approve the Mayor’s 2024 Annual Appointments, seconded by McKnight. All yea, except Hobson. • Review Rules of Council as well as Water and Wastewater Regulations. NEW BUSINESS: • Mayor mentioned possible annexation of part of Wayne Township. Wayne Township requested that they receive property taxes until the property is developed. VILLAGE ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT: None. FISCAL OFFICER'S REPORT: • Council reviewed the bills, financial reports and bank reconciliation statement for the month of December 2023. Lanuzza made a motion to approve the financial reports, bills and bank statement for December 2023. Seconded by de Rojas. All Yea, except Hobson. POLICE CHIEF REPORT: • January Neighborhood Watch meeting, Wednesday, January 17. • February Neighborhood Watch meeting, Wednesday, February 21. ZONING INSPECTOR’S REPORT: None SOLICITOR’S REPORT: None COMMITTEE REPORTS: PLANNING COMMISSION: Next meeting, January 29, 2024 at 5:00 p.m. FINANCE, PUBLIC WORKS, SAFETY: Next meeting, February 20, 2024 at 5:30 p.m. • Safety: Chief Myers gave 2023 Year in Review presentation. MISCELLANEOUS COMMITTEE REPORTS: None ADJOURNMENT – McKnight made a motion to adjourn. Seconded by Brewer. All Yea., except Hobson. Meeting Adjourned at 7:24 p.m. _____________________________________ Mayor Jerry Day ___________________________ Suzan Graves, Fiscal Officer TO: MAYOR & COUNCIL FROM: BRUCE SNELL, VILLAGE ADMINISTRATOR DATE: JANUARY 16, 2024 SUBJECT: ACTIVITY REPORT ACKERMAN NATURE PRESERVE A conservatory group, led by Kim and Pam Rose, is gaining some ground and we will likely see some new construction at the Ackerman Nature Preserve. This construction will likely include: mowed walking paths, wooden observation decks, a parking lot, and a windmill. The windmill will be used to aerate the lake. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT The Fredericktown Community Development Foundation (FCDF) met on January 4th to discuss economic development in the community. They will meet again at the FLS Board of Education The minutes for the meeting on December 7th are on the Shared Drive. BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS The Board of Zoning Appeals did not meet in December as there was no business to discuss and we do not anticipate a BZA Meeting being scheduled in January. KOKOSING PARK Kokosing Park will be closed until Memorial Day Weekend but the parking lot will remain open to the public on a year-round basis. OHIO PUBLIC WORKS COMMISSION We hope to hear back from OPWC in regards to our application requesting grant funding for the 2024 Street Improvements. The proposed 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. Three overgrown maple trees will also be removed as they have destroyed to existing curb and are in danger of breaking during heavy storms. A resident on the northeast corner of College and Pleasant Avenue has expressed opposition to us removing the two large trees in front of her home. I explained to her why we were planning to remove the trees and I indicated that she could make some suggestions to the Shade Tree Committee as to what species she would care to see the two trees in question replaced with. We will work to appease her while striving to complete the project within our budget. 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 on both streets 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 PLANNING COMMISSION The Planning Commission did not meet in December as it had no business to discuss. ROAD SALT We have used roughly fifty tons of road salt this winter. We generally plan on using approximately 400 tons of road salt tons per winter, so this has been a relatively mild winter for us and salt usage is significantly lower this winter than in previous winters. The biggest challenge we are having is road salt itself is far less effective when the temperatures drop below 20F. SERVICE DEPARTMENT The Service Department had previously been dealing with a sewer back up at the residence on the southwest corner of Pleasant and College Streets for the past two weeks. We determined that there was likely an unknown sewer line that was clogged under the street, within the intersection. We dug up the area and determined that a 14” clay pipe had collapsed and caused the clog, which directly affected the sewer drainage of two residential dwellings. The Service Department was able to get the line exposed and repaired in one day and the affected residents are very pleased. SOLAR ECLIPSE The Knox County Emergency Management Agency hosted an online meeting with officials throughout Knox County in regards to the anticipated solar eclipse, which is expected to occur on April 8th. Many officials expect a potential influx of tourists to arrive in Knox County for this event, depending on the weather, and they are partnering to prepare for such an influx. STREETSCAPE The Streetscape Project is scheduled to begin in March and the contractor anticipates the project being substantially completed by September 2024. They have also indicated that in no way will this project have a detrimental effect on the 2024 Tomato Show. TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVE PROGRAM FUNDING We have been given the go-ahead by ODOT to apply for TAP funding for the proposed SR 95 overpass enhancements and for the Bollinger Drive and W. Sandusky new sidewalk construction. The deadline for submitting grant applications is January 31st and Jason says we will have no problem meeting that deadline with both applications. UTILITIES There is legislation for Council review and consideration which will allow the Mayor to apply for Ohio Department of Development grant funding for replacing roughly 18,000 linear feet of antiquated 4” water line and twenty-five fire hydrants and replacing the 4” water line with 8” PVC. The estimated construction and administrative costs for the project is $2,999,150, with the local share being ten percent ($299,915). The Fiscal Officer has indicated that we do have the cash reserves in the Water Fund to easily cover our local share. 2/2