March 29, 2016 Council Meeting Minutes

Regular Council Meeting

March 29, 2016

The Council of the Village of Riverlea met on the above date at the Thomas Worthington High School, Worthington. The following Council members were present: Mayor Eric A. MacGilvray, Marc Benevento, Michael D. Blanchard, Chad A. Lowe, Scott K. Gordon, Josh Schoenberger, and Jacalyn Slemmer. Also present were Joshua C. Mehling, Clerk-Treasurer, L. Leah Reibel, Solicitor, Carolee Noonan, Planning Commissioner, William P. Charles, Street Commissioner, and Jody Croley Jones, Web Manager. At 7:00 pm the Mayor called the meeting to order.

Minutes

1. The minutes of the regular Council meeting of February 16, 2016 were not read since each member had received a copy. Schoenberger moved and Benevento seconded the motion that the minutes be approved as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The motion carried (6-0).

Report of the Clerk-Treasurer

1. Schoenberger moved and Lowe seconded the motion to approve the payment of bills and to accept the financial reports for February 2016 as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The motion carried (6-0).

Report of the Mayor

1. The Mayor reported that the Easter Egg Hunt had been held the previous day and went well. He thanked Sarah Mehling for her work in organizing the event and reminded Council members to be on the lookout for someone to fill the Social Chair position.
2. The Mayor stated that Renee Albert, Ryan Mehl, and Brenda Ross had been named to the Communications Committee.
3. The Mayor stated that he had received the police report for the months of January and February. He did not feel that there were any events in the report that stood out to bring up for discussion.
4. The Mayor reported that he had a call from a resident inquiring about obtaining recycling bins. He then spoke with a representative from SWACO, who stated that the waste removal provider would provide this service. He then contacted a representative with Local Waste Services, who said that they would do this, but was unsure where the pickup location was. The Web Manager confirmed that she had recently picked some up, but that they were not free of charge. The Mayor said that he would do more research as to costs and pickup location for these bins.
5. The Mayor brought up the fact that the Council meeting had been delayed by a week due to inability to get inside the High School during Spring Break. He asked the Council members if they had any other ideas of alternative locations to hold meetings that would not be subject to the academic calendar. Slemmer stated that Council had previously discussed holding meetings at the library, but could not remember why they decided against this option. The Web Manager stated that it was because of the policy for booking the room that it could not be booked on a standing basis and would have to be booked each month. The Planning Commissioner stated that she had similar difficulties when trying to book a room at the library for Committee meetings. Benevento stated that the Infrastructure Committee had looked into the Library and school for their meetings and ended up selecting the Community of Christ Church in Colonial Hills. The consensus in the room was that the Council members were generally happy staying with the current arrangement at the High School, due to visibility and access.

Report of the Solicitor

1. The Solicitor researched a question from the February meeting concerning whether or not the Village could contribute to a Civic Association in lieu of the current social & recreation program. She stated that the Village would be able to contribute via a resolution that would need to state that the money was being given for a public purpose. She stated that one possible complication in the future could be other programs asking for public money, so at some point the Village might need to create a written policy. Gordon suggested that the Communication Committee survey residents to gauge interest in a Civic Association program.
2. The Solicitor reported that the Village had received a check for $1,026 as restitution from the driver who had damaged several street signs. The Clerk-Treasurer had placed this money into the General Fund.
3. The Solicitor mentioned that she had heard from the Natural Resource and Property Manager for the City of Columbus that someone had been chopping down trees and saplings within Rush Run Park. Schoenberger & Gordon stated that they had seen signs of squatters living in the woods, and the squatters may be responsible for this. The Solicitor said that they would notify the Worthington Police and ask them to keep more of an eye out for these activities.
4. The Solicitor stated that the Village had still not yet received a contract from Local Waste Services, but that it had also not received an increase in the requested fees.

Report of the Street Commissioner

1. The Street Commissioner reported that he & Blanchard would work to replace the damaged street signs in the coming week.
2. The Street Commissioner stated that he was planning on marking the areas on the roads to be repaired, so that Decker could give the Village an estimate of the costs to repair these. Gordon asked if there was any planned order to the streets to be worked on as part of the infrastructure project, so as to minimize any repairs on streets that would end up being torn up anyway. The Street Commissioner replied that this had not yet been decided and also that this project was still years away and that these repairs needed to be made as soon as possible.
3. The Street Commissioner reported that he had researched the Franklin County tree program, and that for the most part, the trees involved in this were saplings, not of any appreciable size. He had also contacted Oakland Nursery, which the Village had used for an earlier program, and was waiting to hear back from them on their offerings. Oakland offers planting as part of this program. The Street Commissioner stated that during the earlier program, the Village had assisted residents with 25% to 50% of the cost of the trees. He stated that if the Village were to implement such a program, he would recommend limiting it to trees to be planted in the front yard, not in the back.
4. The Street Commissioner reported that he needed to purchase some new control floats for the Lift Station, as the current ones need to be replaced. He estimated the cost of this replacement to be about $400. Blanchard moved to approve $400 for the purchase and installation of these floats and Slemmer seconded this motion. This motion carried (6-0).

Report of the Planning Commissioner

1. The Planning Commissioner had no report, as there was no meeting in March.

Report of the Web Manager

1. The Web Manager asked the Committee Chairs to send any approved minutes to the Clerk-Treasurer, who would then forward these on to her.
2. The Web Manager reported that she had set up a new Gmail address and Google Drive for Village use. This drive is available for Committees to share information. Benevento raised a question on how the Freedom of Information Act would apply to files shared on this drive and the Web Manager replied that anything on this drive would then be subject to public inspection if requested. She clarified that any public document that is stored on a private drive or cloud would then make that drive or cloud open for public inspection. There was some discussion about whether members could work on documents on their private drives without making these drives open. The Solicitor stated that these would not be considered public documents until they were communicated and shared publicly.
3. The Web Manager asked the Clerk-Treasurer to send her the roster of Village residents including email addresses so she could make sure that her list was up to date.

Comments from Residents on Agenda Items

Old Business

1. Committee on Infrastructure
   1. The Chair of the Committee reported that they had their first meeting on February 29 and that future meetings would be on the first Monday of each month at 7:00 pm at the Community of Christ Church. At the February meeting, they had discussed a potential timeline and Lowe had agreed to work on a model for financing this project.
   2. The Chair of the Committee reported that he had spoken with a representative from Columbia Gas about coordinating gas line improvements during this project. The representative had informed him that they would need about a year of lead time before doing such work. They stated that they would not be sure of what work could or would need to be performed until there was more clarity around the project.
   3. The Chair of the Committee stated that he had spoken with Wilma Yoder of MORPC about the application for funding assistance. She stated that MORPC would post the process to their website on July 1 and that completed applications would be due in to their office on Sep 12 at 5:00 pm.
   4. The Mayor stated that he had been in touch with Dennis Schwallie, who had informed him that if the Village were to wish to begin design work on the infrastructure project, this would need to be funded by a short term bond issue
2. Communications Committee
   There was no report from the Chair of the Committee.

New Business

1. Resolution 2016-03,
   A Resolution to Confirm the Appointment of William Charles as Street Commissioner was and given its third reading. Slemmer moved and Blanchard seconded the motion to adopt this resolution. The motion carried (6-0).
2. Ordinance 01-2016
   An Ordinance to Approve a Modification and Realignment of Ordinance 11-2015, The Annual Appropriation Ordinance (Village), and to Declare an Emergency was introduced by Slemmer. Schoenberger moved to waive the three readings of this ordinance so that the money could be appropriated on the March financials and Gordon seconded this motion. The motion carried (6-0). Schoenberger moved and Benevento seconded the motion to adopt this resolution. The motion carried (6-0).

   The Mayor advised the Clerk-Treasurer to contact Dennis Schwallie about the best way to set up the structure for this new fund.

3. Expenses
   Gordon moved and Blanchard seconded the motion to authorize the following expenditures:
   Radico – $1,285.00 – Lift Station maintenance
   Ohio Auditor of State – $32.80 – Audit work
   CompManagement – $145.00 – Annual fee
   Franklin Co. Emergency Mgmt & Homeland Security – $744.00 – 2016 share
   Josh Mehling – $88.81 –Supplies & postage

   The motion was approved unanimously (6-0).

Comments from Residents on Non-Agenda Items