Regular Council Meeting

June 19, 2017

The Council of the Village of Riverlea met on the above date at the Thomas Worthington High School, Worthington. Worthington. The following Council members were present: Mayor Eric A. MacGilvray, Scott K. Gordon, Chad A. Lowe, Kathy McClintock, and Josh Schoenberger. Also present were Leah Reibel, Solicitor and William P. Charles, Street Commissioner. At 7:00 pm the Mayor called the meeting to order.

Minutes

  1. The minutes of the regular Council meeting of May 15, 2017 were not read since each member had received a copy. McClintock moved and Schoenberger seconded the motion that the minutes be approved as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The motion carried (4-0).

Report of the Clerk-Treasurer

  1. Lowe moved and Schoenberger seconded the motion to approve the payment of bills and to accept the financial reports for May 2017 as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The motion carried (4-0).

Report of the Mayor

  1. The Mayor reported that he, the Clerk-Treasurer, the Solicitor, and Benevento had recently met with Dennis Schwallie of Dinsmore & Shohl about the status of the bonds for the infrastructure project. Schwallie discussed the impact of the OPWC loan on the financing process and offered his firm’s services throughout the funding process. One aspect that the Mayor mentioned is that the Village is almost two years into the 28 year collection process from residents and that the OPWC loan term is 30 years, so this will need to be shortened. Based on the proposals submitted by Schwallie, Gordon moved and Lowe seconded the motion to approve the payment of no more than $17,335 in total combined fees for Bond Counsel services from Dinsmore & Shohl for the OPWC and OWDA loans. The motion carried (4-0).
  2. The Mayor reported that he had spoken with Anne Brown, the Public Information Officer for the City of Worthington, about their use of the Civic Plus system. She recommended that the Village not be added to this system, as it may add to confusion among residents who may receive information that pertains only to Worthington residents. She recommended Mail Chimp, which had more flexibility in its use.
  3. The Mayor reminded Council members that there would be four seats open for the November elections and that it would be preferable to have elected rather than appointed Council members. Those interested in running for election in November should contact the Franklin County Board of Elections.

Report of the Solicitor

  1. The Solicitor reported that she had spoken with Steve Mershon, the previous Solicitor for the Village, and he asked if the Village was interested in his 12 to 15 boxes of old Village records. The Solicitor said that she would pick these boxes up as she finds herself in Granville and deliver them to the Clerk-Treasurer.
  2. The Solicitor reported that she had spoken with a representative of Verizon Wireless, who is interested in installing fiber optic cable within the Village and wanted to know what permissions to obtain. The Village had established a video provider fee in 2008, of which there are a few providers paying. The potential issue is that the lines are mostly located behind houses in the Village, meaning that they are not in the public right of way and that Verizon would need to work with homeowners individually to obtain permission to install. At the moment, the Verizon project is in the research phase and the situation may develop further in the future. Schoenberger questioned whether Verizon or another provider may be interested in taking advantage of the infrastructure project to install lines underground. The Mayor stated that he would contact MORPC to see if they had any information on whether funding might be available for this purpose, including possible Smart City grants.

Report of the Street Commissioner

  1. The Street Commissioner reported that there had been no progress on purchasing a generator for the Village or installing power to the Village Green.

Report of the Planning Commissioner

  1. There was no report, as the Planning Commissioner was not in attendance.

Report of the Web Manager

  1. The Web Manager was not in attendance. Schoenberger reported that he had spoken with the Web Manager, who stated that the website has over 800 pages. He will send this information to companies to get quotes on moving the website to a new platform.

Comments from Residents on Agenda Items

There were no comments from residents.

Old Business

  1. Committee on Infrastructure

    The Chair of the Infrastructure Committee was not in attendance. Lowe reported that the Committee had met and discussed four important issues:

    1. Sump pump discharge — As discussed previously, installing discharge lines throughout the Village is estimated to cost about $275K. Installing lines only in known trouble spots would decrease this amount to about $45K. A third option would be to install dry wells, which would cost about $500 per site, or $10K-$15K overall. The current recommendation of the Infrastructure Committee is to continue to drain sump pumps to the street, and then if bids for the existing infrastructure project come back lower than expected to consider adopting the $45K option. It is also the recommendation of the committee that the Council should develop a policy pertaining to how new builds within the Village handle their sump pump discharge.
    2. Sewer filtration – Based on the current plans, the Village can install one filtration system, rather than three, which will meet OEPA requirements and cost about $35K less than installing three.
    3. Driveways – There are a few driveways within the Village for which the installation of a cement apron may not be desirable, given the construction of the driveway. The Village needs to decide whether to reimburse some of the cost if these owners choose to install a different apron than the rest of the properties in the Village. The recommendation of the Infrastructure Committee is that it should be up to the owners to install their own apron if they opt out of those associated with the project. The Mayor will speak with these homeowners to discuss options.
    4. Obstructions – There are several properties within the Village that have objects, such as stones, plants, or lampposts, which will be in the right of way during construction. Given that it is possible that construction will begin in the winter when the ground is frozen, it may be advisable to remove these obstructions in the fall before construction starts. The recommendation of the Infrastructure Committee is that these residents be notified this fall, so that they can move these objects when it is easier to do so. Residents will also be responsible for moving any invisible fences or sprinkler systems that cannot be located externally.

    The Infrastructure Committee would like to have a public forum, like the ones that were held regarding the bond levy issue, to inform residents about issues relating to the infrastructure project such as the ones listed above. This forum would likely be held in late September/early October.

  2. Committee on Communications

    The Chair of the Committee was not in attendance, so Schoenberger reported that the cards to send to residents to request information were complete and should be going out in the next few weeks.

  3. Tree Removal

    Schoenberger moved and McClintock seconded the motion to authorize $150 in expenditures to remove a dead tree in the Village Green and grind the stump. The motion carried (4-0).

New Business

  1. Resolution 2017-04

    Resolution 2017-04, A Resolution to Request the Franklin County Budget Commission to Grant the 0.65 Mills in Available Inside Millage to the Village of Riverlea, Ohio was introduced by Gordon. Gordon stated that he would prefer not to collect this millage, but if the Village did not collect it, it was the right of another entity to do so, and also that as part of the previous SCIP loan for sanitary sewer repairs, the Village agreed to obtain every possible source of revenue. Gordon moved and McClintock seconded the motion to waive the three readings of this resolution in order to send it along with the tax budget to Franklin County in a timely manner. The motion carried (4-0). Lowe moved and Schoenberger seconded the motion to approve the resolution. The motion carried (4-0).

  2. Tax Budget

    Resolution 2017-05, Village Tax Budget 2018 was introduced by Schoenberger and had its first reading.

  3. Social Committee

    McClintock reported that a group had met to discuss the reimplementation of a Social Committee to plan events within the Village. The group had discussed putting on an event in October. The group will meet again in September to discuss this further and assign tasks.

Expenses

There were no expenses to be approved.

 

Comments from Residents on Non-Agenda Items

There were no comments from residents.

 

Next Meeting Announcement

The next regular meeting will be Monday, August 21 at 7:00 pm at the Thomas Worthington High School. There is no meeting scheduled for July.

 

Adjournment

There being no further business, McClintock moved and Gordon seconded the motion to adjourn. The motion was approved unanimously (4-0). The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 pm.

ERIC A. MACGILVRAY, MAYOR

JOSHUA C. MEHLING, CLERK OF COUNCIL