February 16, 2016 Council Meeting Minutes

Regular Council Meeting

February 16, 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, Scott K. Gordon, Josh Schoenberger, and Jacalyn Slemmer. Also present were Joshua C. Mehling, Clerk-Treasurer, L. Leah Reibel, Solicitor, Carolee Noonan, Planning Commissioner, and William P. Charles, Street Commissioner. Guest of Council was Jim Dippel from Burgess & Niple. At 7:03 pm the Mayor called the meeting to order.

Swearing In

1. The Clerk-Treasurer swore Scott K. Gordon in as the President of the Village Council.

Minutes

1. The minutes of the regular Council meeting of January 19, 2016 were not read since each member had received a copy. Gordon 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. Schoenberger moved and Gordon seconded the motion to approve the payment of bills and to accept the financial reports for January 2016 as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The motion carried (4-0).

Report of the Mayor

1. The Mayor updated the Council as to the situation with the infrastructure project. He has had several meetings recently relating to the project and outlined a rough timeline for the project.
2. The Mayor reported that the Worthington Board of Education had made a decision regarding the overcrowding problem at Evening Street Elementary School. In the short term, the sixth grade students will attend classes in the Kilbourne Middle School building. There are no plans to redistrict in the near future, but the Mayor stated that he would keep Council updated if such plans were to arise.
3. The Mayor stated that he had received a Police report for 2015 and January 2016, with no notable activity in the report.
4. The Mayor stated that he had received an email from Franklin County about their annual tree & plant sale. He mentioned that in the past, the Village had subsidized a portion of tree purchases for residents and that Council may want to offer this again. Slemmer inquired whether this could be worked into the Village Stormwater Management Plan and the Street Commissioner responded that such a program would be a benefit to the plan. Schoenberger asked how such a program would be structured. Benevento stated that his first question would be if the Village could afford such a program and recommended capping the potential cost to the Village. Gordon suggested that the Village contact multiple vendors to find the best deal and the Street Commissioner stated that he would look into this as well as the Franklin County program.
5. The Mayor reported that the Infrastructure Committee Chairs had named several residents to the Committee. These residents are Greg Ross, John Oberle, and Dan Schlichting. He felt that this group had a good mix of financial as well as construction experience.
6. The Mayor stated that he had not yet had an update from the Communications Committee.
7. The Mayor stated that he had received the Hazardous Chemical Preparedness Report.

Report of the Solicitor

1. The Solicitor reported that the Village had received and responded to a Freedom of Information Act request on the salaries within the Village.
2. The Solicitor reported that she had been contacted by the person responsible for knocking down street signs and a kiosk within the Village. He had been ordered to pay restitution to the Village as part of his sentence and wished to pay this through his insurance company. The Solicitor then contacted his Probation Officer, who stated that the payment should be made through the Probation Department, but that he could pay it directly to Riverlea and then the Solicitor could notify the Probation Department. The Solicitor mentioned that she had been contacted by the insurance company belonging to the defendant and that they were pursuing this option.

Report of the Street Commissioner

1. The Street Commissioner reported that there had been a clean out of the Lift Station on February 4. After this clean out, there were still some alarms going off, so Radico checked on this and did not find anything seriously amiss.
2. The Street Commissioner stated that he had received the detailed change request from Burgess & Niple for work on the sewer outfall repair repairs. Jim Dippel was also in attendance to answer any questions that Council members might have. Benevento questioned whether any line items in particular were added as part of this additional fund request. Dippel replied that he had simply taken all the work performed as part of the project, calculated the total, and subtracted the original estimate, it was not a matter of adding lines to the request. Dippel stated that the original estimate was too low, both in terms of time & cost. A large part of this was time spent on legal negotiations with the homeowner as well as a more drawn out bidding process than originally planned. Included on the change request are estimates for work to be performed in the spring to repair the landscaping. Dippel assured the Council that there would not be any changes to these estimates once the work was performed. Slemmer moved and Schoenberger seconded the motion to approve the change request from Burgess & Niple. The motion carried (4-0).

Report of the Planning Commissioner

1. The Planning Commissioner reported that the Committee had approved a COA and variance for 5731 Olentangy and a variance for 141 Southington.

Report of the Web Manager

1. The Web Manager was not in attendance. The Mayor reported that the Web Manager and the Solicitor were planning on meeting to discuss the job description, which would then need to be reviewed by the Communications Committee. He also mentioned that she had slightly redesigned the web site and had asked Council members to review and comment on these changes.

Comments from Residents on Agenda Items

Old Business

1. Committee on Infrastructure
   In addition to the appointments mentioned in the Mayor’s report, the Chair reported that the Committee would be scheduling a meeting sometime in the near future.
2. Communications Committee
   The Chair reported that the Committee would be finding residents to join the Committee and scheduling a meeting.

New Business

1. Resolution 2016-03,
   Resolution 2016-03, A Resolution to Confirm the Appointment of William Charles as Street Commissioner was introduced by Slemmer and given its second reading.
2. Local Waste Services Contract
   The Solicitor stated that she had spoken several times with representatives from Local Waste Services. She had requested an updated contract to go along with their request for a price increase, with no response. The Clerk-Treasurer reported that no price increase had yet been implemented.
3. Social Coordinator Budget
   The Clerk-Treasurer presented a budget of $1,500 on behalf of the Village’s Social Coordinator, which is the same amount as had been approved in 2015, with the exception of $1,000 added for a tent to be used with the picnic and public forum on the November 2015 ballot issues. Schoenberger moved and Slemmer seconded the motion to approve this budget. The motion carried (4-0).

   Benevento questioned whether the Village had ever explored creating a civic association, which could then be in charge of planning events within the village without involvement from the Council. He stated that the Council could supply some sort of allowance of Village funds, but then the rest of the funds would come from resident donations. The Solicitor stated that she would explore the possibility of the Village donating to such an association.

4. Expenses
   Gordon moved and Slemmer seconded the motion to authorize the following expenditures:
   Ohio Utilities Protection Service – $50.00 – 2016 Assessment
   Ohio Treasurer of State – $24.60 – Initial audit work
   Ohio Treasurer of State – $225.00 – Annual training conference for Clerk-Treasurer

   The motion was approved unanimously (4-0).

Comments from Residents on Non-Agenda Items