City Council

May 20, 2024 The Fredericktown Village Council met in regular session on May 20, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. at the Fredericktown Municipal Building. PRESENT: Council Members Brewer, de Rojas, Hobson, Lanuzza, McKnight, and Shoemaker; Administrator Snell; Chief Myers; Solicitor Landon; Fiscal Officer Graves. Mayor Day called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. INVOCATION: Andy Smith, NewLife Church of Christ. MINUTES: Lanuzza made a motion to approve the May 6, 2024 Council meeting minutes. Seconded by Hobson. All Yea. VISITOR COMMENTS: • Mickey Cochran presented KIA banners for display on Sandusky Street. Snell said street department will be installing hardware and banners Tuesday, May 21st. • Bill Kershner, Watson Street has concerns about 11 and 11 ½ Watson Street that needs attention, property is in very bad shape. Chief has spoken to the property owner, who has sold the house on land contract and says she is not responsible. Solicitor Landon said the property owner is ultimately responsible, and he will reach out to her. LEGISLATION (Third Reading) RESOLUTION NO. 2024-09 - A RESOLUTION TO PROCEED WITH SUBMISSION OF THE QUESTION OF LEVYING A RENEWAL TAX IN EXCESS OF THE TEN- MILL LIMITATION FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONTINUING CURRENT OPERATIONS McKnight made a motion to pass Resolution 2024-09. Seconded by de Rojas. All Yea. (Third Reading) ORDINANCE 2024-11 - AN ORDINANCE IMPOSING A SIX (6) MONTH MORATORIUM ON THE ACCEPTANCE, CONSIDERATION AND/OR GRANTING OF ANY APPLICATIONS FOR LOCAL LICENSING APPROVAL, AND/OR ANY ZONING, OCCUPANCY, OR OTHER PERMITS RELATING TO CULTIVATORS, PROCESSORS, OR RETAIL DISPENSARIES OF MARIJUANA PRODUCTS WITHIN THE VILLAGE OF FREDERICKTOWN CORPORATION LIMITS, AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY de Rojas made a motion to pass Ordinance 2024-11. Seconded by Brewer. All Yea. (First Reading) ORDINANCE NO. 2024-12 - AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE FISCAL OFFICER TO SUBMIT THE PROPOSED 2025 BUDGET FOR THE VILLAGE OF FREDERICKTOWN TO THE KNOX COUNTY AUDITOR (Emergency) ORDINANCE NO. 2024-13 - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE 2024 CERTIFICATE OF ESTIMATED RESOURCES FOR THE VILLAGE OF FREDERICKTOWN Hobson made a motion to waive the 3 readings of Ordinance 2024-13. Seconded by Shoemaker. All Yea. Hobson made a motion to pass Ordinance 2024-13. Seconded by Shoemaker. All Yea. (Emergency) ORDINANCE 2024-14 - AN ORDINANCE MAKING SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS Hobson made a motion to waive the 3 readings of Ordinance 2024-14. Seconded by Brewer. All Yea. Hobson made a motion to pass Ordinance 2024-14. Seconded by Brewer. All Yea. OLD BUSINESS: • Still waiting to hear from Wendy – Compass Point Planning, draft of new Subdivision regulations; Smith Environmental to provide options for sewer plant upgrades; Water/Sewer Infrastructure Grant, State Representative Troy Balderson. • Hobson asked if we had heard anymore from the company that has installed underground fiber optic cable in town, and how they were going to implement their services. Brightspeed reached out to the Village. Snell and Graves spoke with Trent Monday about options. Customers can go to brightspeed.com to check availability. • Speed limit sign was installed on Edgehill Drive. NEW BUSINESS: None VILLAGE ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT: None FISCAL OFFICER'S REPORT: • Council reviewed the bills, financial reports and bank reconciliation statement for the month of April 2024. Hobson made a motion to approve the financial reports, bills and bank statement for April 2024. Seconded by McKnight. All Yea. • Will schedule Budget Hearing for June 17th at 6:45 p.m. • Village audit is tentatively planned for July. POLICE CHIEF REPORT: • Had 40 lbs. turned in for National Drug Take Back Day. • Ohio Criminal Justice Service grant for body cameras approved for $7,186. • Received body armor grant through Bureau of Workers’ Compensation for $4,532. • National Night Out, August 6th from 6-9 p.m. at Merrin Park. ZONING INSPECTOR’S REPORT: None SOLICITOR’S REPORT: • Public Records Committee met at 6:30 p.m., May 20th. Chief updated the Police Department’s RC2 and will submit to the Ohio Historical Society for approval. • Explained different types of annexation of property to the Village. COMMITTEE REPORTS: PLANNING COMMISSION: Next meeting to be determined. FINANCE, PUBLIC WORKS, SAFETY: • De Rojas – Public Works Decorative - poles on First Street were not included in Streetscape Project. Lanuzza made a motion to purchase additional poles. Seconded by Shoemaker. All Yea • Next meeting, June 17th. MISCELLANEOUS COMMITTEE REPORTS: • Lanuzza – Recreation District: Windmill is now up at Ackerman Park; Baseball and Softball games are currently underway; Annual July 4th festivities and fireworks are planned. ADJOURNMENT – Hobson made a motion to adjourn. Seconded by Shoemaker. All Yea. Meeting Adjourned at 7:41 p.m. _____________________________________ Mayor Jerry Day ___________________________ Suzan Graves, Fiscal Officer TO: MAYOR & COUNCIL FROM: BRUCE SNELL, VILLAGE ADMINISTRATOR DATE: MAY 16, 2024 SUBJECT: ACTIVITY REPORT ACKERMAN NATURE PRESERVE Construction is still underway at Ackerman Nature Preserve, on the Salem Street Extension. Once their Building Permit was approved, the conservatory group began to remove earth for the gravel parking lot. Local private and public parties volunteered their time, equipment and materials to lay out a nice gravel (maybe 80’ x 50’) parking lot so bird enthusiasts and other patrons of the preserve have a designated parking area. Most recently, the group constructed a windmill that will serve to provide aeration for the lake. We have learned that “birders” from as far away as Oregon have stopped by the Nature Preserve to see rare birds in their natural habitat. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT The Fredericktown Community Development Foundation (FCDF) met on May 9th to discuss economic development in the community. We have starting meeting on the second Thursday of the month, so we meet next at the FLS Board of Education Building on June 13th. BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS The Board of Zoning Appeals did not meet in April as there was no business to discuss and we do not anticipate a BZA Meeting being scheduled in May. OHIO PUBLIC WORKS COMMISSION We had requested grant funding in the amount of $129K for a $268K project for the 2024 Street Improvements. The project finished thirty-two in scoring but only the top thirty-one projects were selected for funding at this time. I was assured by the Executive Committee, which scores the applications, that not all thirty-one projects will actually materialize, once the requesting parties are required to begin executing their projects, and our project will likely be funded after all. PLANNING COMMISSION The Planning Commission will meet on Tuesday, May 28th to discuss Tom Carter’s proposed addition to his development of five residential duplexes on Taylor Street. SERVICE DEPARTMENT The Service Department has been working hard to keep up with mowing. In addition to this, the guys will be working diligently to get the banner brackets and banners installed (if the banners arrive on time). In addition to this, the guys are working to get the splash pad opened by Memorial Day weekend. We are currently waiting on a contractor to finish resurfacing work, which should be completed this-coming Tuesday. 1/2 STREETSCAPE Smith Excavating has completed the vast majority of the new concrete sidewalk and ramps on the Streetscape Project. This past week, Miller Cable installed the new light poles and the lights are working. There are still two light poles remaining to install on the north end of the project, at Mill Street, where the existing light poles will soon be removed to make room for the two new poles. Smith Paving has indicated that they still plan on wrapping most of this project up by Memorial Day Weekend, which would be ideal. Kokosing may perform the asphalt work later in the summer, but the rest of the construction will likely be mostly completed by Memorial Day Weekend, if the spring weather cooperates. After Memorial Day, the new decorative stop signs and other signage will be installed. SUBDIVISION REGULATION REVIEW The Planner has indicated that she is partially finished reviewing our current Subdivision Regulations and she hope to have them a revised draft version of new and improved Subdivision Regulations for Council review later this month, or early next month. BRIDGE ENHANCEMENT AND NEW SIDEWALK FUNDING We have formally notified that our applications for TAP funding for the proposed SR 95 overpass enhancements and for the Bollinger Drive and W. Sandusky new sidewalk construction have been awarded funding. We have been awarded up to $550,000 funding for the bridge enhancements and $800,000 for new sidewalk funding. This is federal funding, administered by ODOT. Obviously, this $1.35 million in funding is in addition to the previous $1.3 million in federal funding we had received for the Streetscape. UTILITIES We have been discussing the future of the WWTP. As you know, the current biosolids press and microwave (for killing harmful bacteria) is over twenty-years-old and, like any mechanical equipment, has a finite life. We are currently exploring options as to how we will approach this in the future. We recently formally requested federal funds for replacing roughly 18,000 linear feet of antiquated 4” water main and twenty-five fire hydrants, 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 cover our local share. We have received word back from U.S. Representative Balderson’s Office that our request has been sent to the Appropriations Committee for further consideration. This is a very big deal for the Fredericktown Community, as the requested funding would provide us with the ability to make much needed improvements to our 100-year-old under-sized four-inch mains without raising water rates to cover the debt service a project of this magnitude would require. 2/2