MayorLouis SanderscalledtheOctober 10,2024, Village of Attica Council regularmeeting to order at 7:30PM.
Roll Call:Owen Best,Keith Hopple,Nicole Lenhart, Kirk Stanfield
Others Present:Superintendent Tom Scott,Administrator Shock, Cindy Brookes of RCAP
Absent:Ed Beamer
Approval of Warrants:Motion by Councilman Best to approve the warrants for payment, seconded by Councilwoman Lenhart. Vote: 3-0 with Councilman Stanfield abstaining. Motion carried.
Approval of Minutes:Motion by Councilwoman Lenhart to approve both sets of minutes from September, seconded by Councilman Best. Vote: 3-0 with Councilman Stanfield abstaining. Motion carried.
Written & Oral Communication:Cindy Brookes was present to give Council and update on the regionalization project. She reported that the question arose if the portion of waterline to Siam still had to be completed since there have been no more issues with it and provided the Village is dealing with more breaks in town. She indicated someone has suggested the money to repair Siam lines should be used to address the issues happening in town. She reported that the EPA would be fine with that, they just want to ensure we are making repairs that will decrease the amount of water loss. She went on to say that any waterline repair would not be eligible to be part of the 0% regionalization financing. She said it would have to be done with small communities’ money, or some other financing that will undoubtedly have an interest rate attached. Councilman Best asked Cindy if the projects have to run concurrently, to which she replied no.
Cindy also shared that she has been watching interest rates waiting for a good time to apply for refinancing on the USDA loans the village currently holds, she will continue to keep a close eye on them to watch for the right time.
Public Safety: Admin Shock shared he received a report of a resident throwing human waste in the grass. He said he reported it to the health department and taken care of.
Streets & Properties:None.
Parks: Councilwoman Lenhart reportedthe Farmers Market is done for the year. She thanked Council Members who were uptown forthe Autumn Village Daythis past Saturday. TheEvents Committee is working on the Christmas event which will be held on November 16th. She indicated that the trees that she ordered for Myers parks will be here in November.
Trees:Admin Shock shared there is a resident complaining about trees in the boulevard pushing up the sidewalks and in the power lines. He said the resident would like them removed. Councilwoman Lenhart reported the power company was out by her house the other day and marking and cutting trees back out of the electric lines. Supt. Tom reported there is a tree at Legion Park that is going to be an issue. No decisions were made.
Fire:None.
EMS:None.
Cemetery:None.
Personnel:Councilwoman Lenhart reported the Fiscal Officer position has been posted and resumes are starting to come in. Councilman Bestreported he would be meeting with a Class III operator.
Zoning Commission:Admin Shock reported that he has received a Zoning Application for a house build on Eden Street. He said so far everything looks okay. He reported he needs to get the Zoning Board together for a meeting to get their opinion.
Finance and rule:Cash balance: $1,434,999.31All funds includeCDs and reserved or restricted funds, and debt reserve funds. FO Hatfield shared she spoke with the bank about cashing in the $30,000 water Certificate of Deposit and they said the fee would be $30. Council agreed that amount of is minimal. She asked for a motion to cash in the CD. Councilwoman Lenhart moved to cash in the water CD to use for the purchase of the mini excavator and skid steerer. Councilman Best seconded the motion. Vote:4-0. Motion carried.
FO Hatfield shared she had 3 pieces of legislation for Council. She shared Ordinance 2024-23Appointing a Village Solicitor and Declaring and Emergency.
Councilman Best moved to suspend the three-read rule on Ordinance 2024-23, Councilwoman Lenhart seconded the motion. Vote: 4-0. Motion Carried.
Councilman Best moved to declare an emergency on Ordinance 2024-23, Councilwoman Lenhart seconded the motion. Vote: 4-0. Motion carried.
Councilman Best moved to adopt Ordinance2024-23;Councilwoman Lenhart seconded the motion. Vote: 4-0. Motion carried
FO Hatfield shared Ordinance 2024-24 Authorizes the Mayor to Enter into a Contract for the participation in SourcewellCooperative Purchasing program and declaring an emergency. She reported this legislation is needed to move forward with the equipment purchase.
Councilman Best moved to suspend the three-read rule on Ordinance 2024-24, Councilwoman Lenhart seconded the motion. Vote: 4-0. Motion Carried.
Councilman Best moved to declare an emergency on Ordinance 2024-24, Councilwoman Lenhart seconded the motion. Vote: 4-0. Motion carried.
Councilman Best moved to adopt Ordinance 2024-24;Councilwoman Lenhart seconded the motion. Vote: 4-0. Motion carried
3rd reading of Resolution 2024-20 Accepting the Amounts and Rate as Determined by the Budget Commission and Authorizing the Necessary Tax Levies and Certifying Them to the County Auditor.
Councilman Hopple moved to adopt Resolution 2024-20,Councilwoman Lenhart seconded the motion. Vote: 4-0. Motion Carried.
FO Hatfield shared Council would need to meet in a special meeting to appropriate the funds to purchase the equipment sooner rather than later. She said she believes Ag Pro/ John Deere will probably not appreciate waiting two additional weeks for payment. Council didn’t object. It was agreed to meet on Monday, October 14th at 5:30 pm.
Councilman Stanfield asked if the large USDA payment has been paid yet. FO Hatfield reported that the loan has been set up to come out of the bank account on October 1st since she has been with the village. She reported she has not entered it into the Finance software yet, because typically October consumer rent payments are needed to have the proper fund balance to pay the payment. She did review the fund balance at that time and indicated that the balance is appropriate to cover the payment now, so she would enter it. Councilman Stanfield wanted to know what the bank balance would be after the payment, she said she it would be less the roughly $155,000 amount. He stated the payment should be $167,000. She told him that the payment in October is $155,000, the additional $12,000 is due in a different month.
Water & Sewer:Councilman Best reported the draft agreement was sent to Willard. Councilman Best shared there is no big update. Councilman said the lead line inventory deadline is quickly approaching. He said he was in touch with Arcadis about helping with the Village’s lead line inventory. He did say Arcadis had some questions. He sent the list of unknown and known lead lines. We have a lot of blanks. They suggest sending a list to the EPA with unknown, unknown materials. Following issuing the inventory to the EPA, the village will issue letters to the residents with unknown lines and include a self-report. Then Arcadis would come out and jet each unknown. Cindy Brookes said she is under the impression that putting them as unknown and then you will have a few years’ time to determine what the lines are. Following that, the villages would have the opportunity to replace the lines. Councilman Stanfield asked what hydro jetting would do. Councilman Best reported it would make the line accessible to scratch the line to determine the material. Councilwoman Lenhart asked how meter changes are going. Supt. Scott indicated they have about 60 meters left on the shelf to use, but in the last week they were doing meter readings, so they were unable to replace any meters. He said Alyssa is still scheduling meter replacements and is having success. Councilwoman Lenhart reported that she knew Councilman Beamer discussed the possibility of issuing a letter to residents whom we are finding difficultly accessing their meters and threatening disconnection if they don’t contact the village. The Solicitor stated she reported talking about that in the past, but she hasn’t heard anymore.
Village Website & IT:Councilwoman Lenhart said shepostedabout trick or treating and the last call for Brush clean up will be November 1st. She also reported posting information about the upcoming Election and the parks renewal levy. She asked Council to share it.
Unfinished, Old Business and New Business:Councilwoman Lenhart asked Council if they were okay with advertising the items the village is selling. Council didn’t object. They discussed posting how long the items would be advertised for. Councilman Best thought the longer the advertisement runs, the better. Councilwoman Lenhart is looking for a contact with the newspaper for advertising.
New Business: Supt. Scott indicated the village is going to need a new trailer. He said he could beef up the trailer we have, but by the time he is finished, it would cost as much as a used trailer, and the axles will still be light. Councilwoman asked if we could trade in our current trailer. Supt. Scott shared if we buy a used trailer, we won’t be able to trade it in. Councilwoman Lenhart asked if we should include it in the bids. Solicitor Heather said that if the value is over $1000, you will need new legislation. Councilman Best said could we include the legislation Monday. The Solicitor told him yes.
Admin Shock indicated he received the County Mitigation Plan meeting schedule. There are 2 meetings on Thursday, October 17, the first meeting will cover engineering, infrastructure and utilities, the second meeting on Thursday will cover community development. The meeting on Friday, October 18 will be a dam owners meeting. They will be held at the Seneca County Fairgrounds. He reported that if he must attend, the mayor should attend with him. Mayor Sanders agreed to attend.
Executive Session:None.
Next meeting:Special Meeting Monday, October 14th at 5:30 PM. Regular meeting on Thursday, October 24,2024,at 7:30PM.
Motion byCouncilmanBest, seconded byCouncilwoman Lenhart to adjourn the meeting. Time: 8:25PM. Vote: 4-0.Motion carried.
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Mayor Louis Sanders- Fiscal Officer Natasha Hatfield
