The Council of the Village of Woodsfield
January 19, 2026
The Council of the Village of Woodsfield met in Regular Session on January 19, 2025.
I. Roll Call:
Present: Council Members; Tom Kirkland, Bill Allen, Alicia Gardner, Kim Schaber, Matt Schaber, Mayor Carol Hehr, Fiscal Officer Lori Cunard, Solicitor Ryan Regel, and Village Administrator Kevin Brooks.
Absent: Council member Tiffany Ramsay.
II. Pending Meeting Minutes Approval:
Bill Allen made the motion to accept the January 5, 2026 meeting minutes as written. Matt Schaber second. Tiffany Ramsay – absent. Motion passed 5-0.
Before going on to registered visitors, Mayor Hehr wanted to congratulate Fiscal Officer Lori Cunard, Deputy Fiscal Officer Brenda Mauck and Village Administrator Kevin Brooks for receiving a Certificate of Outstanding Achievement from the Ohio Auditor of State for open and transparent government.
III. Registered Visitors:
Lewis Hill, Electric Superintendent – Lewis Hill attended to give a quick recap of 2025.
Lewis Hill said the electric department met every peak shave in 2025 and did not have any issues with running or producing electric with the generators. They ran a total of 41.75 hours demand and produced 90.5 megawatts, which would be around $250,000.00 worth of savings in transmission and capacity charges.
The electric department replaced 15 electric poles in 2025, 5 which were hit by vehicles, 6 were storm damage, and 4 were aging poles.
Lewis Hill reported there were 14 power outages in 2025, half being animal related or the main line being dropped, issues at the substation (AEP), or storm damage.
The electric department replaced 10 transformers due to damage or age of transformers and service upgrades.
Lewis Hill said they are in the process of switching their security lights and streetlights to LED’s.
There were a lot of upgrades at the Fairground last year. There were 5 new services installed, 1000 feet of underground primary wire pulled, a transformer installed, 3 full mount transformers, and there was over 900 feet of overhead primary wire pulled and 4 poles installed.
Mayor Hehr asked Lewis Hill to explain peak shaving and what it does. Lewis Hill said basically it helps set our rates for the following year because rates are based off of our peak usage times. He said that whenever the Village is having a peak usage time, we will generate electric with the generators to make our cost lower. Kevin Brooks said our transmission rates are set by the 5 highest peak hours of the year and whatever that transmission rate is, that is what becomes our rates for the following year. He said we have been peak shaving since 2019, and we have saved our customers in excess of $5 million in transmission costs.
Kevin Brooks said not to forget that the electric department also hangs all of the banners in town for special events such as alumni, fair, etc.
Matt Schaber asked about the poles that were hit and Lewis Hill said normally in a year there may be one but last year there were 5. Lewis Hill said they are covered by insurance in these cases. Contractor’s come out to replace the pole and the insurance covers their wages and Village employee wages, fuel costs, etc. and the average claim to replace a pole is about $20,000.00.
Brian Harrigan, Water/Wastewater Superintendent – Brian Harrigan reported that in 2025 there were 19 water breaks, 4 new water taps, a system flush which entails flushing the hydrants in town, and they cut and abandoned 6 water services.
Brian Harrigan reported that in the sewer department they had 7 lift stations pulled, inserted new valves at the pump station on the west side, they had 43 plugged sewers and had to run the jetter, and a total of 450 OUPS tickets.
Mayor Hehr stated that at one time the Fire Department flushed the hydrants but since they are down in number of volunteers, they do not have the time, so Brian Harrigan and his crew do it. Brian Harrigan said his plan is to start in April and flush them for a longer period of time to flush the whole main line.
Mayor Hehr stated that Brian Harrigan would be working with the contractors on the Storm Sewer Separation project. Brian Harrigan said there will also be the backwash tank at the Water Plant so there are big projects for 2026.
Matt Schaber asked Brian Harrigan if he would replace any of the hydrants when they are flushed. Brian Harrigan said they would not be replacing any hydrants.
Kevin Brooks said the last time hydrants were replaced was in 2021 and it was funded through Ohio Public Works Project; there were 24 replaced. Bill Allen asked how many hydrants there are in town and Kevin Brooks could not remember but is thinking about 190. Bill Allen asked if there were hydrants put on the big line running to the fairgrounds and asked if there were any between our tanks and the fairgrounds. Brian Harrigan explained that the fairgrounds is a loop system with a new line coming off of Maple Avenue. He said the new system has hydrants on it and it went from a 2-inch line to a 6-inch line in 2020-2021 when the new system was put in.
John Williams, Street Superintendent – John Williams started with the Village as Street Superintendent on June 16th, 2025. He said he spent at least part of every day for the first month he was here doing maintenance on equipment. John Williams said that before he started, the Village had already planned on the paving of Airport Rd. and the alley running from West Court to West Marietta paved.
John Williams reported they re-ditched Airport Rd. before they paved it and they ditched Buck’s Lane, Old Brick Rd., and they went around the walking trail making sure everything was open.
There was a lot of mowing done on West 78 and East 78, Moose, Holiday Ave., Monroe Street, and all of Buck’s Lane and Old Brick Rd.
John Williams said they started in late August, early September with the Street Sweeper and cleaned every catch basin in town. He has now implemented a program starting in the spring where there will be a section of town cleaned once a month as far as catch basins go.
Since the middle of June there have been 48 tons of cold mix used. It was purchased from the Engineers office, but he is thinking of purchasing it elsewhere this spring due to the cost.
John Williams said they have been awarded an OPWC paving project, but it will not let them bid out until July. The streets they want to pave are E. Marietta, Paul Street, Monroe Street, W. Church Street, Hancock/York, Shady Ave., and Plum St. This is contingent on how the bids come in as to whether all of them can be done. He knows the Mayor is working on a grant to have Sycamore and Andover paved also.
Kim Schaber asked if the road pulling into Riesbeck’s and going to the top of the hill is Village or private. John Williams stated it belongs to Riesbeck’s however, they have patched holes there before and they actually patched there last week.
Kevin Brooks said to remember that due to health issues, when John Williams started there was only one person on the street crew. He said by the middle of July they had a full crew again. Kevin Brooks said one thing John Williams did that needed to be done desperately was inventory. We now have an idea of how many miles of road we are taking care of. John Williams said he is still working on it and does not have it completed yet, but when he started, he asked for a mileage counter on his truck. He said it goes off of the motion of your vehicle and will accurately measure in miles, feet, and meters from point “A” to point “B”. He said this is how he came up with the figures for the OPWC Project. He has most of the West end of town done and he has measured each individual street by its length, width and he can GPS each manhole or storm drain on the street.
Kevin Brooks stated that there has been no significant paving done in the Village for over 25 years and we have $450,000.00 in OPWC funds to spend on paving. So, when choosing the streets to be paved we need to use the criteria of how bad the street is. It will also depend on where the bid comes in on whether all of the streets can be done but we are hoping we will be able to supplement if the bid comes in high and we are going back to OPWC for more funding for 2027. John Williams said paving is
estimated by square footage and it is around $3.00/square foot so just to pave East Marrietta Street you are looking at about $210,000.00 just for blacktop. Mayor Hehr said she knows most people do not
understand the cost of paving the streets in town and we cannot just take money from the General Fund to pay for it.
John Williams said they just purchased a roller that was desperately needed for $10,000.00 and he invites anyone to come out to the street garage to take a look at it.
Mayor Hehr said the Village has the best superintendent’s and employees. She said when they are called, they come out, they are very loyal to the Village, they all work together well, she considers it a privilege to work with them.
Kevin Brooks said the superintendent’s definitely make his life easier and he appreciates everything they do. He agreed with Mayor Hehr that when the guys are called, they answer and it is a pleasure to work with all of them.
IV. Old Business:
Matt Schaber asked how long the Village has been with R.I.T.A. and Kevin Brooks replied January 2020. He said our collections have increased every single year since being on R.I.T.A.
Kim Schaber asked about the possibility of installing closed circuit video so we could possibly post as video the Council meetings either on the website or on Facebook. Solicitor Ryan Regel was going to check on the ramifications or complications of doing so and she was wondering if he had time to do so. She has checked with the high school, and they do have a media class, so she is going to meet with them on Thursday to learn a little more about it. Solicitor Ryan Regel said things to consider with having it on video would be the cost, storage, is it going to be live stream or posted afterwards, who would be in charge of posting it, and the retention schedule. He can put together a list for Council to review. Kim Schaber said she is not thinking of live streaming the meeting, but she just thinks it would be a resource to post on the website or on Facebook for people who cannot get here. People can then go on Facebook or the Village website and watch it at a later time to hear what was discussed. She said there was a lot of information in tonight’s meeting, and she thinks it would be an excellent resource for residents to hear what superintendents are saying. Kim Schaber said she just wanted to bring this up again because this is something she is very interested in, and she does not want it to fall to the wayside and be forgotten about. Mayor Hehr said we need to gather as much information as we can and present it to Council for a vote.
VI. Administrator Report:
Village Administrator Kevin Brooks reported that Dan Denbow’s IT Tech contract was up the last of December 2025. The contract has not changed since last year; it will be $6,000.00 again for 2026. Kevin Brooks feels Dan Denbow has been a good resource for us. Tom Kirkland made a motion to renew Dan Denbow’s contract in the amount of $6,000.00 as Village IT Tech. Bill Allen second the motion. Tiffany Ramsay – absent. Kim Schaber asked if anyone had looked at the website. She said the Homepage is completely different and you can click on things that had been working that don’t go anywhere at all now. She said on the menu, a lot of the tabs do not open up, and the minutes have not been posted since December 1st. Kim Schaber said she left a message in the contact section for Dan Denbow thinking if he saw it maybe he would have the time to look at it. She said she will not vote against his contract, but she would like to have an updated, better working website where we could add more public information such as the video playback if we can do it. Bill Allen asked if Dan Denbow is the only one that can go in to update the website and he said maybe we should have someone else, that would know how, keep the website updated but Kevin Brooks said we cannot do that. Motion passed 5-0.
Kevin Brooks said there has been a review of the distribution of utility collections and the account balances of the accounts that collect from the $5.00 per user service fee. He said the Property Maintenance Fund has over $80,000.00 and the largest expense we have from that is for the dumpsters during clean-up week. The Sidewalk Reimbursement Fund has over $72,000.00 whereas Street Paving has $7,900.00 and Storm Utility has $23,000.00. Mr. Brooks said we have been using a lot of money in the last few years for street paving and storm. He would like Council to approve a change of the allocations so we can accelerate the storm and paving. Currently, the allocation is as follows: Property
Maintenance – 30%, Sidewalk Maintenance – 30%, Street Paving – 20%, Street Capital – 17%, and Storm Sewer – 3%. Mr. Brooks proposes the allocation be as follows: Property Maintenance – 10%, Sidewalk
Maintenance – 10%, Street Paving – 50%, Street Capital – 15%, and Storm Sewer – 15%. Mr. Brooks said he thinks it would be good to change them for 2026 and when we start the 2027 budget, we will take another look at the funds and discuss if reallocation is needed again. Bill Allen asked if they could be changed again if we think this is not working out. Kevin Brooks said the accounts are monitored and it would be good to change them now and take a look at them at the end of 2026. He said we are doing a lot of paving and a lot of storm sewer, so it just makes sense to accelerate them now and slow the other funds. Mayor Hehr agrees we should reallocate, but we have plans to take down 2 houses this year which would be $30,000.00-$35,000.000 spent from the Property Maintenance Fund. So, she also thinks it would be a good idea to look at it when doing next year’s budget to see if we will need to adjust again. Bill Allen made the motion to reallocate the customer service fee from utility collections. Tom Kirkland second the motion. Tiffany Ramsay – absent. Motion passed 5-0.
Kevin Brooks said the Village has had an unofficial policy in place regarding dumpsters and street grindings. As we have done more paving and have a lot more grindings we have started giving them out and the protocol has been that you have to be a resident to get the grindings, we do not deliver or pick up, and the Street Superintendent would have discretion as to the quantity of grindings that would go out. Kevin Brooks said we are going to have a significant amount of grindings this year due to all the paving that is going to happen. He said there has been a request from a non-resident and we had to deny the request even though the individual works in the Village. It has been a policy for the last 7 years that you have to be a resident. He is sure this will come up again and would like Council’s thoughts so he can address any requests properly. Mayor Hehr said she thinks it should be in an Ordinance. Bill Allen asked if the Village uses the grindings and Kevin Brooks said they absolutely get used. Bill Allen said if that has been policy then we should leave it that way. Mayor Hehr said it has not been written policy so she still feels it should be in writing as a formal policy. Council agreed the policy should stay as is but be written as a formal policy.
Kevin Brooks asked for Executive Session for consultation with legal counsel at the end of the meeting.
VII. Fiscal Officer Report:
Fiscal Officer Lori Cunard stated the Village did receive the check in the amount of $150,000.00 for the EMS Building.
Solicitor Ryan Regel said the deed will be recorded at the Recorder’s Office and should be available for the Village tomorrow.
Kevin Brooks said just so everyone knows it will revenue to the Building Fund which will give that fund around $300,000.00.
VIII. Committee Chair/Council Reports:
Tom Kirkland – Tom Kirkland reported that the Finance Committee met on January 12th but there is nothing to be brought to Council tonight however, in the future there will be some decisions to make.
Bill Allen – Nothing to report.
Alicia Gardner – Nothing to report.
Kim Schaber – Nothing to report.
Tiffany Ramsay – Absent.
Matt Schaber – Nothing to report.
IX: Solicitor’s Report:
SolicitorRyan Regel reported the sale of the EMS Building has been completed and he is requesting Executive Session regarding acquisition of real property at the end of the meeting.
X: Mayor’s Report:
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve the payment of bills. Matt Schaber made the motion. Tom Kirkland second the motion. Tiffany Ramsay – absent. Motion passed 5-0.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve the Mayor’s Court Report, mid-January 2026. Matt Schaber made the motion. Tom Kirkland second the motion. Tiffany Ramsay – absent. Motion passed 5-0.
Kevin Brooks brought to Council’s attention that Mike Young included the 2025 call list in Council Packets for the Fire Department.
XI. Un-Registered Visitors/Guests:
None
The Mayor asked for a motion to go into Executive Session for consultation with legal counsel and acquisition of real property. Tom Kirkland made the motion. Matt Schaber second the motion. Tiffany Ramsay – absent. Motion passed 5-0. Executive Session entered at 7:00 p.m.
Mayor Hehr called the meeting back into Regular Session at 7:42 p.m.
XII. Adjourn:
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Alicia Gardner made the motion. Matt Schaber second. Tiffany Ramsay – absent. Motion passed 5-0. The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 p.m.
ATTEST:
___________________________ ____________________________
Carol Hehr, Mayor Lori Cunard, Fiscal Officer