The Council of the Village of Riverlea met on the above date at the Old Worthington Library. The following Council members were present: Mayor Dan E. Schlichting, Jeffrey Amick, Nicholas B. Bartels, Janet Heidkamp, Leah M. Pyter, Emily J. Saving, and Suzanne Surface. Also present were Joshua C. Mehling, Clerk-Treasurer, William Charles, Street Commissioner Leah Reibel, Solicitor, and Greg Bonk, Web Manager. Guests of council were Robert Mintz, Emily Andrews, and Maria Schaper of the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission. At 6:35 p.m., the Mayor called the meeting to order.
MORPC Metropolitan Transportation Plan
Maria Schaper, Associate Director of Transportation Planning for the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC), presented the draft copy of the organization’s Metropolitan Transportation Plan. This plan must be submitted to the federal government every four years and contains an assessment of the anticipated demographic changes of the area and the plans to build and maintain the transportation infrastructure around those changes. Residents can access the plan at www.morpc.org/mtp2050 in anticipation of the MORPC board vote on the plan in May.
Minutes
The minutes of the Council meeting of March 18, 2024 were not read since each member had received a copy. Heidkamp moved and Bartels seconded the motion that the minutes be approved as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The motion carried (6-0).
Report of the Clerk-Treasurer
The Clerk-Treasurer reported that he had transferred $1.2 million of the Village’s general and infrastructure bond repayment funds into the STAR Ohio account to achieve a higher rate of return.
Bartels moved and Heidkamp seconded the motion to approve the payment of bills and to accept the financial reports for March 2024 as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The motion carried (6-0).
Report of the Mayor
- The Mayor reported that he had met with representatives of Columbia Gas to discuss and sign the easement to allow the City of Worthington access to Riverlea’s gas lines during the life of the Selby bridge replacement project.
- The Mayor reported that he had sent an email to residents concerning several bits of information, such as the deer ordinance, upcoming construction on Melbourne, and graduation banners.
Report of the Solicitor
The Solicitor reported that the draft deer ordinance would receive its second reading at the night’s meeting and asked if anyone on Council had attended the meeting of Worthington’s Deer Committee. There was no one on Council who had attended the meeting.
Report of the Street Commissioner
The Street Commissioner stated that the lift station had been cleaned out as it had been about a year since the last cleanout.
Report of the Planning Commissioner
The Planning Commissioner was not in attendance. The Clerk-Treasurer reported that the following had been approved by the Commission at the April meeting:
- A Certificate of Appropriateness for an addition at 5925 Olentangy Blvd.
- A Certificate of Appropriateness and Variance for an addition at 5778 Olentangy Blvd. The Variance was requested and approved because the presence of an existing 180-year-old tree in the yard limits where the addition could be placed.
Comments from Residents on Agenda Items
Resident Emily Andrews addressed Council about the large number of deer that gather in the plain along the river and toward the park at the end of Olentangy. She reported that there is one of the neighbors who feeds the deer from a farm trough, twice a day. She asked how any deer feeding ordinance within the Village be enforced. The Solicitor responded that the ordinance is modeled similar to that of Worthington, where the penalty is similar to that of a traffic ticket, with increasing fines for each violation.
Resident Robert Mintz also addressed the deer population and shared his concerns with the large volume of these deer and their effect on the ecologic balance of the area.
Old Business
- Committee on Infrastructure
- Schlichting, the Chair of the Committee, reported that the Committee had met and discussed the asset management plan designed by Burgess & Niple for the Village after the infrastructure improvement project. The Committee recommended that the Village pursue the sealing of cracks that have appeared in the pavement of the streets throughout the Village and will ask Burgess & Niple to provide a list of potential vendors for this. Pyter inquired about he gouges in the street surface at points of the Village. The Chair responded that for the most part, the Village cannot prove the cause of these gouges, but that these would be filled during the crack sealing project.
- The Chair reported that Burgess & Niple recommends a feasibility study be performed for the replacement of the lift station and will prepare a proposal and estimate for this.
- The Chair reported that the new No Parking signs had been installed along the southeast side of Riverglen by the apartment building.
- Web Manager
The Web Manager reported that he had performed standard updates and maintenance of the Village website and information infrastructure.
- Communications Committee
Pyter, the Chair of the Committee, presented a draft copy of the Village directory and asked how many would be needed to distribute copies to all residents. The Mayor estimated that about 300 would be needed to cover all the houses and apartments throughout the Village. Although not all residents had opted into their information being shared in the directory, the Mayor stated that he felt that the houses of those who had not opted in should include the name of the legal owner of the property, as this is publicly available information.
The Chair stated that she is requesting Council to authorize an amount for the printing of these directories. The Clerk-Treasurer will research the amount that had been approved by a previous Council for the printing of these directories.
- Ordinance 01-2024
Ordinance 01-2024 – An Ordinance to Add a Section 90.17 to the Ordinances of the Village of Riverlea to Prohibit the Feeding of Deer had its second reading. There were concerns about the notification to residents of this new code once it goes into effect. Pyter stated that the Communications Committee can do an email blast to residents with the information. Heidkamp inquired as to whether the Village could also do a flyer to post throughout the Village. The Solicitor noted that there may be residents throughout the Village who do not regularly access the website and the Village would need to be creative about how they choose to notify residents.
The Mayor inquired as to whether the ordinance should address some form of a reasonable period for a resident to address a violation once notice is given and the Solicitor stated that she would contact the Worthington Law Director to see how they chose to address this. Amick stated that he felt that the ordinance should not include a designated timeframe for this to be addressed but should state that enforcement will not occur until the offender has had time to remediate the issue.
New Business
- Flag Lighting
Amick stated that he had received emails from residents about the lack of lighting for the flags in the Circle Park, noting that federal guidelines call for these to be lowered or lit at night. He had researched this issue and found a solar light that will clamp to the flagpole to light these. He will do further research into this and other options and share more information at the next Council meeting.
- Rush Run Park Rules
Saving noted that the sign at the entrance to Rush Run Park had recently been changed to state that dogs are not allowed in the park and asked if anyone had heard explanation as to this change. The Web Manager stated that the designation of the park had been changed to a nature preserve, which have different rules than parks.
- Break-ins
Heidkamp stated that there had been several recent break-ins to automobiles and garages in the neighborhood and that she is concerned about these and whether they may be connected to a larger trend throughout the area. The Mayor stated that he receives reports of fire runs in the neighborhood, but that he had not recently received activity reports from the Police. He will follow up with the Police department for this information.
Expenses
Saving moved and Pyter seconded the motion to authorize the following expenditures:
$207.00 – Dan Schlichting – OML New member training
$100.00 – Ohio Municipal League – New member training
$ 96.80 – Gudenkauf Corp – Water & gas line locating
$ 50.05 – Gudenkauf Corp – Water & gas line locating
$379.09 – Josh Mehling – Supplies & postage
The motion was approved (6-0).
Comments from Residents on Non-Agenda Items
There were no comments from residents on non-agenda items.
Next Meeting Announcement
The next regular meeting will be Monday, May 20, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. at the Old Worthington Library.
Adjournment
There being no further business, Surface moved and Bartels seconded the motion to adjourn. The motion was approved unanimously (6-0). The meeting was adjourned at 8:13 p.m.
Joshua C. Mehling, Clerk-Treasurer
Daniel E. Schlichting, Mayor