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, Thomas Bell, Leah M. Pyter, Emily J. Saving, and Suzanne Surface. Also present were Joshua C. Mehling, Clerk-Treasurer, Bryce Jacob, Planning Commissioner, Leah Reibel, Solicitor, and William Charles, Street Commissioner. Guest of Council was resident Jeff Mussman. At 6:36 p.m., the Mayor called the meeting to order.

Minutes

The minutes of the Council meeting of September 16, 2024 were not read since each member had received a copy. Amick moved and Surface seconded the motion that the minutes be approved as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The following vote was recorded on the motion: Yea: 5, Amick, Bell, Pyter, Saving, Surface; Nay: None; Abstain: None. The motion carried (5-0).

Report of the Clerk-Treasurer

Saving moved and Bell seconded the motion to approve the payment of bills and to accept the financial reports for September 2024 as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The following vote was recorded on the motion: Yea: 5, Amick, Bell, Pyter, Saving, Surface; Nay: None; Abstain: None. The motion carried (5-0).

Report of the Mayor

  1. The Mayor asked new Council member Thomas Bell if his email and electronic access have been set up and he responded that these have been set up.
  2. The Mayor stated that Beggars’ Night would be held in the Village on October 31 from 6-8 pm. He mentioned that no residents had reached out about handing out food in the Circle Park as had been done at times in the past and the Village no longer has anyone serving in the Social Chair position who would coordinate this. Surface said that she would reach out to Kathy McClintock, who had previously served as Social Chair, about this and potentially hold something on Halloween.
  3. The Mayor stated that the crack sealing had been performed throughout the Village. The Mayor is waiting on the invoice for these services to arrive, and it is expected to be well below budget. The Mayor stated that he had not heard any comments from residents one way or the other on the work that was performed.
  4. The Mayor reminded Council that the audit report for the Village had pointed out that members need to complete their Ohio Sunshine Law training. He found that there is a 3-hour course offered online for this and recommended that anyone holding elected position within the Village take this. Amick pointed out that this was covered in the new member training that a few of the members had taken earlier in the year. The Solicitor pointed out that she has recently taken this as well.

Resident Jeff Mussman stated that he had been Village Solicitor in another town and that they had designated the Clerk to take this each term via Resolution and that any other members only needed to take this training once.

5. The Mayor stated that he had received a request at the September Council meeting to schedule street sweeping with Sharon Township and that he would likely schedule this in late November or early December.

Report of the Solicitor

  1. The Solicitor stated that she had been contacted by the Worthington Law Director, who asked her to report that the Worthington Deer Committee would be meeting on November 13 to discuss options and that there is a survey on the Worthington website for residents.

Saving asked if Worthington’s planned deer mitigation efforts would encroach on Riverlea and the Mayor replied that Worthington cannot encroach upon the Village boundaries without approval and without knowing what these plans will be, Riverlea cannot make an informed decision on whether to participate or not. Saving asked if it is the intention of Riverlea to take part in these efforts and the Mayor stated that this would be up to Council but that there are no plans to take part yet. Saving stated that she is planning to attend the November 13 Deer Committee meeting.

2. The Solicitor reported that Jody Croley Jones, who had previously served as Web Manager for the Village, had recently passed.

Report of the Street Commissioner

  1. The Street Commissioner reported that he had received a quote from Radico for $1,641 to obtain a new storm sewer casting and have it installed at Dover & Melbourne. Bell inquired if there was any damage to the drain itself and the Street Commissioner replied that the damage is to the cover only. Amick moved to approve an amount not to exceed $2,000 and Surface seconded the motion. The motion carried (5-0).
  2. The Street Commissioner stated that he would be scheduling a cleanout of the lift station in late November or early December.
  3. The Street Commissioner reported that there had recently been an issue at the lift station that he thought was due to a faulty battery but turned out to be related to a systemwide outage with the monitor.

Report of the Planning Commissioner

The Planning Commissioner was not in attendance. The Clerk-Treasurer reported that the Commission had met and approved plans to raze the current property at 5859 Olentangy and construct a new ranch-style home.

Comments from Residents on Agenda Items

There were no comments from residents on current agenda items.

Old Business

  1. Committee on Infrastructure

 

  1. Schlichting, the Chair of the Committee, reported that the sealing of cracks in the streets throughout the Village is complete and that Burgess & Niple is reviewing the CCTV video of the sewer lines. They will make recommendations of further work to perform after this review.
  2. The Chair of the Committee reported that there are still a few punch list items to be completed on the lift station and they will be complete soon.
  3. The Chair of the Committee stated that he had purchased the items for repairing the Village entrance signs and that these will be repaired over the next couple of months. Amick stated that he would help with the repairs to the sign on Olentangy and Bell stated that he would help with the entrance signs along High St.

 

  1. Web Manager

 

  1. The Web Manager stated that he had added new Council member Bell to the system and set him up with an email address.
  2. The Web Manager stated that he had been researching potential software for centralizing the management of digital assets within the Village. These potential solutions range from $1200 – $8000 per year. The Mayor asked about the current process for archiving emails from Council members when they step down from Council. The Web Manager stated that these are archived on a Google Drive but that he was unsure on the process if the Village would need to search these old emails. Saving pointed out that the current asset management structure makes it more difficult for the Village to be in compliance with rules around record requests and that assisting with this compliance would be a benefit of a potential new system.

 

  1. Communications Committee

 

  1. Pyter, the Chair of the Committee, stated that she is working on an onboarding guide for new members of Council, which would contain such items as Council members and their terms, how to vote on issues, subcommittee meeting information, and setting up official communication methods, among others.
  2. Bell questioned how much liability coverage the Village has for Council members and the language around this. The Clerk-Treasurer stated that the Village maintains this coverage for any suits against the Village for any acts conducted on official Village business. He stated that he would bring this coverage to the November meeting to answer this question and any other potential questions.

 

  1. Ordinance 02-2024

Ordinance 02-2024 – An Ordinance to Amend Chapter 151: Zoning Code of the Ordinances of the Village of Riverlea had its second reading.

New Business

  1. Resolution 2024-10

Resolution 2024-10 – Resolution Accepting the Amounts and Rates as Determined by the Budget Commission and Authorizing the Necessary Tax Levies and Certifying them to the County Auditor was introduced by Saving and had its first reading. Saving moved to waive the three readings of this resolution in order to submit it to the County in a timely manner and Surface seconded the motion. The motion passed (5-0). Amick moved to approve the resolution and Bell seconded the motion. The motion passed (5-0).

  1. Ordinance 03-2024

Ordinance 03-2024 – 2025 Annual Appropriation Ordinance (Village) was introduced by Saving and had its first reading.

  1. Resolution 2024-11

Resolution 2024-11 – A Resolution to Provide Legal Counsel to the Village of Riverlea was introduced by Pyter and had its first reading. Pyter moved to waive the three readings of this resolution in order to sign the contract in a timely manner and Surface seconded the motion. The motion passed (5-0). Saving moved to approve the resolution and Bell seconded the motion. The motion passed (5-0).

  1. Village Retention Process and Asset Management

The Clerk-Treasurer reviewed the Village’s document retention policy and the types of documents that the Village typically retains. He mentioned that in reviewing the document retention records, the only disposal of documents on records was back in 2010, during which records dating back to the founding of the Village were disposed of.

The Clerk-Treasurer reported that he maintains a Google Drive with electronic copies of most Village documentation that he deals with, including financial records, contracts, and committee minutes, among other types of records. The Street Commissioner stated that he maintains a hard drive with copies of records that he deals with. The Web Manager stated that a centralized location for all of these documents would assist the Village with continuity of maintenance, given the turnover that occurs with government positions and the possibility of a death or incapacitation of a Village official that may make it impossible to access their records. The Mayor also raised concerns that Google has been shutting down and removing inactive accounts, which may make it impossible to access the records of former officials after a period of time.

The Mayor stated that the Village should reinstate the Records Management Committee and that this committee should meet semi-annually to discuss these issues and handle the regular maintenance and disposal of Village records. Pyter felt that the Village should have a central repository for its digital asset storage that is accessible by at least the Mayor, Clerk-Treasurer, and Web Manager. The Web Manager will continue to research the possible solutions for this storage and their prices. Amick pointed out that there will need to be exemptions for public records for certain issues, including but not limited to, personnel matters. The Clerk-Treasurer will schedule a meeting for the Records Retention Committee, which is to contain at least the Mayor, Clerk-Treasurer, Web Manager, and Solicitor. Resident Jeff Mussman also volunteered to be on this committee.

Expenses

There were no expenses to approve

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, November 18, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. at the Old Worthington Library.

Adjournment

There being no further business, Bell moved and Saving seconded the motion to adjourn.  The motion was approved unanimously (5-0). The meeting was adjourned at 8:12 p.m.

 

Joshua C. Mehling, Clerk-Treasurer

Daniel E. Schlichting, Mayor