Mayor Nathan Frisch called the August 24, 2023 Village of Attica Council regular meeting to order at roughly 7:30 PM.
Roll Call: Ed Beamer, Owen Best, Keith Hopple, Nicole Lenhart, Louie Sanders, Kirk Stanfield
Others Present: Solicitor, Heather Heyman Niedermeier Billing Clerk, Alyssa Mason
Approval of Warrants: Motion by Councilman Beamer, seconded by Council Best to approve the warrants for payment. Vote: 6-0. Motion carried.
Approval of Minutes: Motion by Councilman Best, seconded by Councilman Sanders to approve the minutes. Vote: 5-0 with Councilman Beamer abstaining. Motion carried.
Written & Oral Communication: Diego Sandina of 581 S. CR 35 who has been dealing with a high-water bill asked for more time on him the past due amount. He has not been able to establish what the second line feeds. He plans to have another professional come out. Diego wondered if it wasn’t a line belonging to the Village, the Mayor stated it is after the meter, so his responsibility. The Mayor asked if he wants to set up payments. Diego stated he didn’t at this time because he wants to find the source of the issue. Councilman Stanfield asked if this started after Dakota messed with the meter. Councilman Beamer explained the Sandina’s had a high-water bill prior to Dakota going out and looking at the meter. The high bill is what prompted Dakota to go look into it. Councilman Beamer stated he is okay with giving him more time, but he needs to set up payments. Diego asked why his bill couldn’t be adjusted to the usual amount prior to the issue. The Mayor stated we will need to hear what the professional has to say before deciding. Councilman Beamer asked the Billing Clerk to look into the sewer portion of the high bills. She agreed. The Mayor stated Diego needs to pay something to keep his water on. He stated he made a payment recently of $200 taking his bill to roughly $869 and vowed to make an additional $200 payment in the coming weeks.
Public Safety: None.
Streets & Properties: Councilman Stanfield asked if brush pickup would happen on Friday. Councilman Beamer said it should. Councilman Stanfield explained he has not had his brush picked up in two weeks.
Councilman Beamer asked if the Village would be responsible for repainting the parking spots and crosswalks following the ODOT paving of route 4. Mayor Frisch stated he wasn’t sure, ODOT didn’t specify. Councilman Sanders stated the property around the old school has high grass. The Mayor stated that is the property at 22 Seneca St. that we sent a letter to earlier this summer. The property is vacant and they did mow once.
Council received a request from FO Hatfield (who was absent due to illness) to discuss an email received from County Auditor Julie Adkins concerning 1 Mill St. It was Councilman Beamers understanding the property went from 1 Mill St. to 1 Venice Hills Ct. and the property owner wanted to go back to Mill St. He thought the address had been changed by the Village to 1 Venice Hills Ct. several years ago. Councilman Sanders stated that no the Village did not change it, it should still be technically 1 Mill St. Sanders elaborated that the property owners, the Keaton’s, requested the county to change the address several years ago. The Mayor stated the address would be whatever the 911 center has for the address. Councilman Beamer detailed he believes the county should work out the situation then. Councilman Stanfield reported he had issues with the Board of Elections several years ago when the Keaton’s signed his petition to run for council and using an address that wasn’t correct according to the Board of Elections records.
Parks: Councilwoman Lenhart reported the event committee wanted her to ask if Council was still okay with them using the sidewalk and parking lot for their events coming up. She stated if so, who would be liable in the event of an accident. The Mayor stated that would be up to the insurance. The Solicitor spoke up and said the Village would be unable to indemnify the event. Councilwoman Lenhart reported they plan to start decorating for the fall event in the coming days. She then reported she visited Legion park recently and wondered who was responsible for mowing. The Mayor stated the Village is responsible. She then elaborated that the weeds are high. She said there are some swings that could use replaced and some painting that needs done, but not much work needed otherwise.
The Mayor asked if the Fair Board returned the Villages picnic tables. Councilman Beamer said he wasn’t sure, but they did offer to store them if the village would like. Councilwoman Lenhart reported she didn’t recall seeing them back at the pool. The Mayor followed up by saying the Church on the corner recently poured a new patio and was interested in purchasing the octagon ones if they were no longer of use to the Village. The Mayor asked the Solicitor how the village would go about selling if they were interested. The Solicitor reported Council would have to rule that they don’t need them and then they would have to sell them through a bidding process to give fair opportunity to purchase. Councilman Beamer asked if the Village could just let them use them. The Solicitor asked how the Village would you ensure they were available for public use. Councilwoman Lenhart reminded Council that they could be used when and if they decide what to use the pool property for. The Mayor said he would report back to the church and go from there.
Trees: Councilman Beamer received an email regarding tree limbs on Seneca St. that need trimmed due to scraping the school buses. He said there are some other trees in the area hanging low over the sidewalk. He said one way or another they will be trimmed.
Fire: Councilman Sanders reported in July there were 23 calls and 2 rescue calls. Venice Township had 1 fire call, 13 rescue calls, and 1 Willard mutual aid call. Councilman Beamer asked if they had been able to obtain a quote for a new generator yet. Councilman Sanders reported no but he expects it to be expensive.
EMS: None.
Cemetery: None.
Personnel: Mayor Frisch reported Dakota Conley put in his 2-week notice. The Village has the position posted on Indeed and in newspapers. Councilwoman Lenhart suggested putting the posting on the website. The Mayor went on to say that him, Councilman Beamer, and Councilman Best interviewed a class 3 operator named John Christopher. The Mayor stated John would prefer to be a hired employee as opposed to a contract operator. He would work 60-80 hours a month at $35 an hour. He could start on September 18th. He would be willing to work up to 40 hours a week to satisfy EPA requirements. Councilman Stanfield asked if he was retired. The Mayor said he was. Councilman Best was impressed with John’s experience. Councilman Beamer stated they discussed John acting as the administrator, but initially John wants to focus on the operating the water plant. The Mayor did say he would be responsible for supervising the maintenance employees to give them some direction. Councilman Stanfield asked if the Village would still need Gary Weis working too. The Mayor said yes with Dakota leaving Gary has all of the institutional knowledge. The Mayor reported John would implement a valve turning program. He asked Council how they feel about hiring him. Everybody was on board. Councilman Sanders moved to hire John Christopher at $35 an hour, Councilman Beamer seconded. Vote:6-0. Motion carried.
Zoning Commission: None.
Finance and rule: Cash balance: $1,553,816.06 All funds include CDs and reserved or restricted funds, and debt reserve funds.
Water & Sewer: Councilman Beamer asked the Billing Clerk if the water bill on Lemmon St. was cleared up. Alyssa replied yes. Councilman Beamer asked Council how they felt about changing the billing ordinance to give the Village the ability to do shut off’s in a timely fashion. Currently, residents are able to become 30 days late before getting a disconnect notice, at which time they are getting another bill. He said he had Willard’s bill and they have theirs due on the 20th and do shut offs on the 24th if the bill isn’t paid. The Solicitor suggested not doing shut off’s on Friday to avoid people going all weekend without water. The Billing Clerk stated she was doing research and the Ohio Administrative Code states the billing clerk must be scheduled to work the day following shut offs. Councilman Stanfield then asked about itemizing the bills so they hidden charges appear. Councilman Beamer replied that the rate schedule is public, so the charges are not hidden. Councilman Stanfield followed up asking about the loan payment due in October for $167,000 where does that come from. The Billing Clerk replied she is not sure if the software is capable of breaking out the bills in that manner. Councilwoman Lenhart asked if the Village could do online bill payments. The Mayor asked if Council was interested in changing the ordinance. Everyone was onboard for changing the ordinance but they felt like 4 days was to quick to do shut offs. Councilman Sanders suggested 15 days. Councilwoman Lenhart stated she would be comfortable with 7-10 days Councilman Beamer agreed. Councilman Beamer then stated the Village should also look at changing the shut off and turn on fees of $25 each, because the Village is paying wages for an employee to take time to go do the shut off and to turn the water back on. He stated he would be more comfortable with $50 for shut off and $50 to turn back on, but he wanted to see what Willard charges.
Mayor Frisch let Council know RCAP had a scheduling conflict on the day Council agreed to training. Council agreed to reschedule for October 2 from 6-9 pm.
Village Website & IT: none.
Unfinished, Old Business and New Business: Councilman Beamer asked the Solicitor is she had updated the personnel policy ordinance. She stated she would have it for the next meeting. He then asked her if she looked into the question he asked at the last meeting in July about the Village paying someone who owes the Village money. She stated she hasn’t not found any information related to that request yet.
Next meeting: Thursday, September 14, 2023 at 7:30 PM.
Motion by Councilman Best, seconded by Councilman Beamer to adjourn the meeting. Time: Roughly 8:30 PM. Vote: 6-0. Motion carried.
