The Council of the Village of Riverlea met on the above date at the Old Worthington Library. The following Council members were present: Mayor Eric A. MacGilvray, Scott K. Gordon, Janet Heidkamp, Leah M. Pyter, Emily J. Saving, and Dan E. Schlichting. Also present were Joshua C. Mehling, Clerk-Treasurer, Leah Reibel, Solicitor, and Bryce Jacob, Planning Commissioner. Guests of Council were residents Lauren Paxton and Corey Shields, along with Randy Webb of Three Pillars Homes. At 7:00 p.m., the Mayor called the meeting to order.

Minutes

The minutes of the Council meeting of April 17, 2023 were not read since each member had received a copy. Saving moved and Schlichting seconded the motion that the minutes be approved as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The motion carried (5-0).

Report of the Clerk-Treasurer

Schlichting moved and Saving seconded the motion to approve the payment of bills and to accept the financial reports for April 2023 as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The motion carried (5-0).

Report of the Mayor

  1. The Mayor reported that a real estate attorney had drafted a Deed of Easement for the proposed house at 5691 Olentangy Blvd to grant the Village the necessary rights of way to maintain and eventually replace the lift station. He stated that the Solicitor had drafted a resolution authorizing him to sign this deed. The resolution will be voted on later in the meeting.
  2. The Mayor stated that he and the interim Planning Commissioner had met with Insight Pipe Contracting LLC regarding the upcoming sewer relining work. Before work begins, representatives will be handing out door hangers to residents asking them to limit water usage when lining is being done in their area.
  3. The Mayor reported that street sweeping in the Village will take place on Monday, May 22.
  4. The Mayor reported that the lift station had been cleaned out that morning.
  5. The Mayor reported that the No Parking signs along the southeast end of Riverglen had been removed per the ordinance passed at the April meeting, and that parking is now allowed on the south side between the No Parking sign and the apartment driveway. He has informed Worthington Police about the change.
  6. The Mayor announced that William Charles is serving as interim Street Commissioner as the Village searches for a replacement.
  7. The Mayor stated that he has reached out to several potential candidates but there had not been any takers yet. He discussed the possibility of delegating some of the responsibilities to Burgess & Niple and making the position more of a liaison between the engineer and the Village if necessary.
  8. The Mayor reminded Council that his term would be up at the end of the year and that preferably a candidate or multiple candidates will run for election to replace him in the November election.
  9. The Mayor stated that he will be out of the country for the planned Village Council meeting on June 19. After discussion of several options, Council decided to reschedule the June meeting for Monday, June 26.

Report of the Solicitor

  1. The Solicitor stated that she had drafted two resolutions for Council to consider later in the meeting. The first resolution is to appoint William Charles to the Street Commissioner position on an interim basis and the second is to authorize the Mayor sign the Deed of Easement for the property at 5691 Olentangy Blvd.
  2. The Solicitor reported that the Village had received a settlement check in the amount of $17k from Monsanto as the result of a national class action lawsuit by municipalities against the company. The terms of the agreement state that the proceeds are to be used for PCB sampling and mitigation efforts in waterways. The Village will explore options for using these funds.

Report of the Street Commissioner

There was no report from the Street Commissioner.

Report of the Planning Commissioner

The Planning Commissioner reported that the Commission had met in May and approved the construction of a house at 5691 Olentangy Blvd. and the construction of a fence around the new generator at the lift station. After some discussion, Council requested that the fence be stained to improve its appearance and longevity. The Mayor will reach out to the property owners to see if they have a preference as to color.

Comments from Residents on Agenda Items

Corey Shields, owner of the new house being constructed at 131 W Southington Ave, addressed Council to discuss issues they had been having with establishing a sanitary sewer connection during construction. Shields reviewed the history of the project and issues he and his fiancée had encountered with inaccurate and incomplete information, in trying to locate and open the connection to the sewer lateral. He felt that this had caused delays and additional expenses and asked the Village to reimburse him for the cost of connecting the lateral from the sewer main up to the right of way line. He presented an estimate for $30k that he had received for this work and stated that he is attempting to get another estimate. Lauren Paxton, Shields’ fiancée, stated that other properties in the Village had encountered similar issues with sewer laterals and that she did not want other buyers to experience the problems they had.

Gordon stated that he felt that the responsibility in this situation lies with the previous owner of the lot who did not convey the information about the location and condition of the lateral. He pointed out that the $30k ask is more than 10% of the Village’s annual operating budget and suggested that the Council take some time to think about the request before deciding. Pyter stated that she feels that the Village should at least split the cost with the residents.

The Street Commissioner will work with Shields and Paxton to get a work order together for the work needed, and Shields will get a second quote for Council to consider in the future.

Old Business

  1. Committee on Infrastructure

 

  1. Schlichting, the Chair of the Committee reported that the committee had met in May to discuss the sewer relining project and fence for the lift station.
  2. The Chair reported that he had removed the No Parking signs on the southeast end of Riverglen and placed a sign pointing towards High St to indicate no parking between that point and the end of the street.
  3. There was a discussion about the organization of Street Commissioner’s files so that this information can be passed to the new holder of the position when they are appointed. The Solicitor stated that if files are hosted on a cloud server, she has concerns about complying with public records laws. Saving suggested setting up a working group to discuss the management of all drives owned by the Village and the control of who has access to these drives. Gordon stated that if the Communications Committee is to be used for this purpose, it would need to be reestablished as a standing committee. The Solicitor stated that she would draft a resolution for that purpose.

 

  1. Web Manager

There was no report from the Web Manager.

  1. Communications Committee

Gordon, the Chair of the Committee, stated that he feels that there should be a statement about the upcoming open Village government positions on the website as he has concerns that no one will run for the Mayor position. He also mentioned that he would like to see more emails sent to residents about this issue. Council will readdress the issue of adjusting Village salaries to make the positions more attractive at the June meeting.

New Business

  1. Resolution 2023-06

Resolution 2023-06, A Resolution to Confirm the Interim Appointment of William Charles as Street Commissioner was introduced by Gordon. Gordon moved and Schlichting seconded the motion to waive the three readings of this resolution in order to have the Street Commissioner in place in a timely manner. The motion carried (5-0). Gordon moved and Saving seconded the motion to approve the resolution. The motion carried (5-0).

  1. Resolution 2023-07

Resolution 2023-06, A Resolution to Authorize the Mayor to Sign the Deed of Easement for 5691 Olentangy Blvd, Lot #237 of the Van De Boe-Hager Co. Addition No. 11, also Known as Riverlea, as the Same, is Numbered and Delineated upon the Recorded Plat thereof, of Record in Plat Book 16, Page 55, Recorder’s Office, Franklin County Ohio, and to Declare an Emergency was introduced by Schlichting. Schlichting moved and Pyter seconded the motion to waive the three readings of this resolution in order to sign the agreement and begin construction in a timely manner. The motion carried (5-0). Pyter moved and Schlichting seconded the motion to approve the resolution. The motion carried (5-0).

Expenses

Saving moved and Pyter seconded the motion to authorize the following expenditure:

– $ 319.28 – Sarah Mehling – Graduation banner reimbursement

– $ 110.00 – Gudenkauf Corp – Water & gas line locating

The motion was approved unanimously (5-0).

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, June 26, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. at the Old Worthington Library.

Adjournment

There being no further business, Saving moved and Pyter seconded the motion to adjourn.  The motion was approved unanimously (5-0). The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m.

 

Joshua C. Mehling, Clerk-Treasurer

Eric A. MacGilvray, Mayor