Village Council

Village of Wellington Council Meeting Minutes Barbara O'Keefe, Mayor Council: President Guy Wells, Sandy Denes, Helen Dronsfield, Jeff Hyde, Steve Maurer, Hans Schneider Council Chambers Monday April 6, 2015 7:30 p.m. 1. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – Mayor O’Keefe called the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance. 2. ROLL CALL Councilwoman Sandy Denes – Present Councilman Steve Maurer – Absent Councilwoman Helen Dronsfield – Present Councilman Hans Schneider – Present Councilman Jeff Hyde – Present Council President Guy Wells – Present Others Present – Mayor O’Keefe, Village Manager Pyles, Finance Director Shaw, Law Director Bond, Police Chief Barfield, Public Works Supt. Brasee, Electric Supt. Bealer, Water and WW Supt. Rosemark, Zoning Inspector Furcron, Clerk of Council O’Brien, LCCC Rep. Amy Szmania, WFD Reps. Brown and Regal, Enterprise Reporter Urbanik, Residents Joe Davidson and Madison Schneider 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – Motion by Wells, 2nd by Hyde to approve the minutes of the March 16, 2015 meeting. Roll call vote was taken with all members present voting “yes”. 4. FINANCIAL REPORTS Ms. Denes had a couple of questions regarding the bills and mentioned that she would email Ms. Shaw about those. Motion by Denes, 2nd by Hyde to approve the expenses and pay the bills. Roll call vote was taken with all members present voting “yes”. 101 GEN $ 74,226.13 201 Street CM&R $ 1,145.01 202 State Highway Fund $ 4,500.00 211 Cemetery Pass Through $ 12,097.25 290 Caring Fund $ 200.00 401 Capital Improvement $ 1,832.00 501 Water $ 12,497.35 502 Sewer $ 15,976.89 503 Elect $ 22,410.12 **Power Bills $ 525,783.95 504 Garbage $ 100.00 505 Cable TV Franchise Fund $ 10,907.63 506 Storm Sewer Capital $ 1,000.00 508 Consumer Deposit $ 2,000.00 Total $ 684,677.30 Pay 6 $ 87,603.64 Pay 7 $ 80,708.93 Grand Total $ 852,989.87 5. COMMUNICATIONS FROM MAYOR, COUNCIL, AND VILLAGE OFFICIALS: § Mayor O'Keefe § Law Director Bond – Nothing to report. § Chief Barfield – Chief Barfield informed Council that have begun utilizing Facebook and asked village residents to “like us on Facebook” to keep up with notifications. § Finance Director Shaw – Ms. Shaw reported that she had attended a Fiscal Officer three day seminar in Columbus. She mentioned that it was very informative. Ms.  Denes mentioned that she noticed they began the Records Commission process; Ms. Shaw reported that they began with a one page document and ended up with an approximately 21 page document. She further mentioned that she learned there are more things that need to be added, which she learned of at the seminar. § Village Manager Pyles – Mr. Pyles reported that the new secretary started last week; Mr. Schneider mentioned that he had met her and she seemed very nice. § Main Street Wellington – Amy Szmania reported that they were still interviewing for the Director’s position and they hoped to have a new one soon. 6. REPORTS OF COMMITTEES § Finance – Mr. Hyde mentioned that the committee will meet on April 20th prior to council. § Police – Mr. Wells reported that the committee met prior to council and discussed updates on the recording system and the New World system updates. He further reported that the committee will discuss the implementation of the emergency notification system in May and will also discuss the SRO program at that time. He mentioned that they will also be discussing the emergency warning siren for tornados in the future. He further mentioned that the current siren was installed many years ago and they would be discussing the possibility of expanding the warning system. § Public Works – Ms. Dronsfield reported that the committee met prior to the council meeting and discussed summer mowing. She further reported that according to the ordinance grass should be kept to no higher than eight inches, and reminded residents that lot mowing is the responsibility of the property owners and not the village. She reported that the Barker St. construction had begun and Elite Excavating has installed the waterline, the sanitary line and were currently working on the storm line. Ms. Dronsfield made a motion to accept the HD Supply materials bid for the Johns St. waterline for the amount of $51,735.85, 2nd by Schneider. Roll call vote was taken with all members voting “yes”. She mentioned that the work would be done by village employees. Ms. Dronsfield reported that the new soccer fields are ready to be played on and drainage had been installed on ball fields 2 & 3. She further reported that the dugouts on fields 1 & 3 have been expanded and still needed to have the fencing installed. She mentioned that the High School boys were using field 1 and that the High School girls were using field 3. She further mentioned that she was happy that the High School teams were able to use the facility. Ms. Dronsfield mentioned that coaches from the Hot Stove league had attended a previous meeting with concerns about field scheduling. She informed council that they had met and were working things out amongst themselves. Ms. Dronsfield made a motion to hire returning summer employees, Katie Stumphauser, Anthony Cwalina and Nick Dowdell at $8.31 per hour effective immediately, 2nd by Denes. Roll call vote was taken with all members present voting “yes”. Ms. Dronsfield made a motion hire returning summer help Stephanie Mims and Taylor Bollin at $8.21 per hour effective immediately, 2nd by Wells. Roll call vote was taken with all members present voting “yes”. § Utility – Ms. Denes reported that the committee will meet on April 20th prior to council. She mentioned that Main Street Wellington will meet on Thursday April 16th. § Ordinance – Mr. Schneider mentioned that the committee will be discussing solar panels and another possible topic at the next committee meeting. He reported that the Ambulance Board will meet on Tuesday April 14th. He further reported that he had attended the Fire Board meeting on April 1st and mentioned how well the board is run. He further mentioned that it is nice to see the fire fighters in attendance at those meetings. Mr. Schneider reported that he had spoken with Ayers Ratliff and discussed the possibility of the village having a booth at the Duke Pride carnival this Saturday. He mentioned that the township had a booth and he felt that it was a good idea for council to have a booth. He mentioned that he would be willing to represent  council at the event. He further mentioned that it would be a good opportunity to distribute village pamphlet information. Ms. Denes offered to help Mr. Schneider at the carnival. Mayor O’Keefe mentioned that she would help with the candy donations for prizes, if Mr. Schneider would come up with a game for the booth. Mr. Pyles and Ms. Shaw will look into information for handouts. Ms. Shaw suggested checking with Ms. Lent for information concerning the Office of Aging. 7. ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS ORDINANCE NO. 2015-08 AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING ENTERING INTO A NATURAL GAS PROGRAM AGREEMENT WITH THE NORTHEAST OHIO PUBLIC ENERGY COUNCIL AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY Tabled 3/16/2015 3rd Reading No action was taken. ORDINANCE NO. 2015-17 AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES FROM THE HOUSING COUNCIL MEETING BASED UPON THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE HOUSING COUNCIL MEMBERS AND DECLARING THIS ACT AN EMERGENCY 1st Reading 8. OLD BUSINESS – Ms. Denes asked Zoning Inspector Furcron the status of the lawsuit concerning the property at 123 Dickson St.; Mr. Furcron explained that the property owner is working on improving the property and that the process was still ongoing. Mr. Bond reported that he had applied for an order for the property owner to be held in contempt of court as the property owner has not complied the interim things he had been ordered to do. 9. NEW BUSINESS · Wellington Fire Department representatives Bill Brown and Chad Regal were in attendance to talk about the Fire Replacement Levy which will be on the May ballot. Bill explained that the levy is their 5 year replacement levy and this year it was a 2.75 mill levy. He further explained that the levy replacement for the past 10 years had been a 2.5 mill levy, due mostly to the poor economy. Mr. Brown reported that through long term planning, the additional .25 mills will help the department run smoothly and will help with equipment replacement which will be needed in the future. Mr. Brown further reported that the additional .25 mills will add 78 cents a month to a home with an appraised value of $100,000. Mr. Brown mentioned that the department seeks grants to help offset expenses and last year received approximately $12,000 in grant funding, which only amounts to 1% of the budget. He reported that the Fire Fighters Association (which is separate from the department) holds events like A Night at the Races, and the association donates approximately $10,000 per year to the district. Mr. Hyde reported that the district is one of the largest districts in the area, with 125 square miles to cover. He further reported that the department is very well run and the district finances are also managed very well. Mr. Hyde mentioned that Wellington has always supported the fire district and recommends everyone get the word out about what a great district we have. Mr. Schneider asked how many hours of training the department does a year; Mr. Regal reported that last year the department had 30 people and 4,800 training hours were logged. Mr. Regal mentioned that the trucks were on a 25 year replacement cycle and to replace a truck cost the district approximately one million dollars. Mr. Wells made a motion to resolve to urge voters to support this levy, 2nd by Hyde. Roll call vote was taken with all members present voting “yes”. · Amy Szmania from LCCC was in attendance. She thanked Chief Barfield for holding the personal protection class at the college. She reported that it was a huge success and they will be having another class on May 20th. Ms. Szmania reported that LCCC offers new Lorain County high school graduates the opportunity to take a 3 credit summer class for $122.00 per credit hour and an additional summer class for $1.00 per credit hour (the first summer after graduation). She further reported that this is available even if you are not attending college at LCCC, a student can take the classes and transfer them to  the school they are attending. Mr. Schneider asked if the program was available to students who took PSEO classes their senior year; Ms. Szmania said yes. She mentioned that in the fall there would be changes to PSEO program, it will be called College Credit Plus. She further mentioned that anyone who may be interested to stop out to the LCCC branch and the staff would be happy to help. Ms. Dronsfield mentioned that the offer was a great deal for graduating seniors. 10. ADJOURN - Motion by Denes 2nd by Hyde to adjourn at 8:15 PM