The Council of the Village of Woodsfield
June 2, 2025
The Council of the Village of Woodsfield met in Regular Session on June 2, 2025.
I. Roll Call:
Present: Council Members; Tom Kirkland, Anthony McDaniel, Tiffany Ramsay, Matt Schaber, Mayor Carol Hehr, Fiscal Officer Lori Cunard, and Village Administrator Kevin Brooks.
Absent: Council member Dale English and Solicitor Ryan Regel.
II. Pending Meeting Minutes Approval:
Anthony McDaniel made the motion to accept the May 19, 2025 meeting minutes with corrections. Tom Kirkland second. Dale English – absent. Motion passed 4-0.
III. Registered Visitors:
None
IV. Old Business:
None
V. Administrator Report:
Village Administrator Kevin Brooks requests Executive Session regarding pending litigation at the end of the meeting.
Mr. Brooks said there were two quotes solicited for the speaker/sound system for the Village for Alumni weekend. One was from AT&T and the other from Josh Allen who is local. Mr. Brooks has a quote for $16,460.00 that includes a comprehensive speaker system for the downtown square. It includes speakers for all of the islands as well as the handheld unit and microphone. Lewis Hill, electric superintendent, has spoken with both entities and one of the big differences between the two, along with price, is that AT&T cannot install before Alumni weekend. Pending Council approval, Josh Allen will have the system installed by Alumni weekend and it is totally wireless so we can move it around and will have a lot of flexibility. Tom Kirkland made a motion to engage Josh Allen to install the speaker system in the downtown square in the amount of $16,460.00. Matt Schaber second. Dale English – absent. Motion passed 4-0.
Kevin Brooks said the pool is almost ready for opening but there are several issues that need to be remedied as far as maintenance before opening. The original plan was to open by June 6th, but he does not think that will happen because there is a pump down. The pumps are expensive, and it is hard to get parts right away. The other problem is the dolphin that is used to clean the pool is not working. As soon as the parts are in, we will work on these things to get the pool open and running.
Kevin Brooks reported that there was a pre-construction meeting with Stoeffer Construction held last week regarding Airport Road. Airport Road is set to be paved and striped from St. Rt. 78 to just above the Fire Station. The project is set to start the last week of June or first week in July. We have communicated with Mike Young and let him know they are going to keep one lane of traffic open through the Fire Station and above at all times.
When we met with Stoeffer, we had a conversation about additional paving in the Village. We gave them a list of about 10 streets throughout the Village to be quoted and they are very interested in doing the additional work while they are in town. We have a certain amount of money that we want to spend on paving so we will work the additional streets in until the money is spent. Mr. Brooks said the list of streets will be presented to Council when the quotes are in for their approval.
Kevin Brooks said we have talked for quite some time about the conversion of the Village electric from 2400 to 7200. Some of the reasons we have not done the conversion is because we have not been able to find an electrical engineering firm that can handle the project. There are only two firms in Ohio that do this work, we were in contact with them, but they chose not to go forward with the project because of their workload and the distance to the Village. Mr. Brooks has found a firm in Michigan that is very interested in taking on the project. He wants Council to be aware this is not an overnight project. There was a significant phone call between Lewis Hill, Electric Superintendent, Mr. Brooks, Aaron Teeders, Electrical Consultant from Sawvel, and the electrical engineering firm and the steps that need
to be taken to correct the system. Mr. Brooks said this is at least 3 to 4 years from start to completion, including design, and it is also extremely costly, $4 – $6 million. The transformer that needs to purchased is a high dollar piece of equipment with a minimum 12 – 16 month lead time. We are also going to make significant grid improvements that will focus on resilience and make distribution more efficient and effective.
We are going to go after United States Department of Energy Funding to complete the project. So, in the next 30 days we will make a request for qualifications and select an engineering firm based on qualifications. Then we will negotiate a contract and start the engineering and design process which will probably take 18 months to complete.
As part of the project, because it will take 3-4 years to completion, we have talked about shutting down the power plant and not using the diesels. We have talked many times about sunsetting those units in 2027-2028. Part of this project will also include an alternative source to peak shave and peak shaving is important because it saves our customer base transmission costs. As an alternative source we are thinking of solar with a battery back-up, however, we would have to find a site and the site has to be free of debris and we have to have sun a significant portion of the day.
Mr. Brooks wanted it to be clear that we have never generated for energy consumption by our customers through our plant. The plant has never been certified or licensed to do anything but peak shave. We really need to do this project right so that the problems are solved permanently.
Anthony McDaniel asked if the upgrade for the peak shaving is included in the estimate, which it is. Mr. Brooks said it also includes auto reading of all the meters.
Mr. Brooks said some of the areas for the solar field are areas that we own but some of the parcels are not conducive to the solar panels because you still have to get the energy to your grid.
Kevin Brooks said we have to look at market costs, energy is actually very affordable, and we buy a minimal amount off the open market. Our contracts for baseload power are very strong and inexpensive, we signed the contract through 2027 so we will hopefully have something where we can generate starting in 2028 when our contract is expiring. But part of the due diligence is looking at market prices at that time because we may be better off signing an additional year with AMP to provide us with power from other resources.
The main thing Mr. Brooks wants to express to Council is that this is going to take time and we need to make sure it is done right.
VI. Fiscal Officer Report:
Lori Cunard presented the bank reconciliation to Council for signature, and she said next week we will be starting to work on temporary budget.
VII. Committee Chair/Council Reports:
Dale English – Absent.
Tom Kirkland – Tom Kirkland reported that the Street Committee met on May 30th and conducted interviews for the Street Superintendent position. The Committee is recommending the hiring of John Williams @ $48,000.00/year with the signing of an employee agreement. Kevin Brooks said it will be drafted and signed prior to him starting. Tom Kirkland said the Committee is also recommending Andy Hughes be promoted to Equipment Operator @ $16.00/hr.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to accept the resignation of Steve Carpenter, Street Department, effective June 2, 2025. Tom Kirkland made the motion. Tiffany Ramsay second. Dale English – absent. Motion passed 4-0.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to accept the hiring of John Williams as Street Superintendent @ $48,000.00/year pending the signing of the hiring agreement. Tom Kirkland made the motion. Matt Schaber second. Dale English – absent. Motion passed 4-0.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve the promotion of Andy Hughes to Equipment Operator @ $16.00/hr. Anthony McDaniel made the motion. Matt Schaber second. Dale English – absent. Motion passed 4-0.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to advertise for the Laborer position in the Street Department. Tiffany Ramsay made the motion. Anthony McDaniel second. Dale English – absent. Motion passed 4-
0. Kevin Brooks stated that we have had a standard wage that we start employees at and Mayor Hehr has been saying it is significantly lower than it should be, and he agrees that we are not competitive with other businesses. We will be starting at a higher wage to maybe get a more qualified individual. He is bringing this up because we have hired in the Water/Wastewater Department and Cemetery Department so we will have to re-visit their wages since we are going to re-establish our starting wage.
Kevin Brooks stated that Bev Landefeld, BMV, was going to retire this year but has agreed to stay as Deputy Registrar for another year, her retirement date is now May 31, 2026. We had checked to see if the Village could take over the BMV and the director of the BMV said the Village is not eligible, the County Auditor or County Clerk would be eligible or a non-profit or individual. If someone does not step up, we may lose the BMV office here in town. We will have to renew her lease because her lease is up, all of the terms will remain the same, we just need to change the dates to add another year through 2026. Anthony McDaniel asked if the County knew they would be eligible to run the BMV and Kevin Brooks said they did, but his understanding is that they are not interested in doing so. Mayor Hehr said she has spoken with Bev Landefeld and anyone who is interested needs to speak with her and get as much information from her as they can because you can make a profit from running the BMV.
Anthony McDaniel – Anthony McDaniel said he would like to set a Finance Committee meeting. He can do it on June 5th, June 10th, or June 12th. He said he would need to do morning, and Dale English is not in attendance this evening, but Anthony McDaniel said he would plan on June 10th @ 9:00 a.m. and will confirm with Dale English to make sure he can make it.
Anthony McDaniel said he wanted to report on the Street Committee meeting. They had two internal candidates and one external candidate for the Street Superintendent position. He said the two internal candidates are very good employees and had good ideas but the external candidate, John Williams, has a lot of experience to bring to the table and he came in with plans already made up on what he would like to do. Kevin Brooks spoke up and said he spoke with Andy Hughes and Mr. Brooks said he is a very good worker but just does not have the experience yet. He believes that over the next few years with John Williams working with Mr. Hughes and he continues to learn we may have a future successful internal candidate as a Street Superintendent. Mr. Brooks said he appreciates the Street Committee coming in and handling the interviewing and hiring process.
Tiffany Ramsay – Tiffany Ramsay said included in Council packets are some things that the Park Committee had talked about during the last several meetings. The pool rules that they recommend be posted and recommended pool pricing for the season are all included. Anthony McDaniel made the motion to accept the Park Committee recommendations for the pool rules and pool pricing. Matt Schaber second. Dale English – absent. Motion passed 4-0.
Tiffanny Ramsay reported that the Property Maintenance Committee met before the Council meeting. The dumpsters are outside and have been filled, emptied and filled again. The Police Department has been addressing several issues of tall grass and trash.
The Property Maintenance Committee is still talking about the problems with abandoned houses, and they are making a list of ones that need to be torn down. Chief Corey Jones is still looking for an inspector, we need an inspector that meets certain criteria, and it has been a huge obstacle for the Committee but hopefully we can find someone soon.
The next Property Maintenance Committee meeting will be July 7th @ 4:30 p.m.
Music in the Park will be this Friday at 6:00 p.m. at the City Park. Kevin Brooks asked if she wanted the key to the Brown Center since they are calling for rain on Friday. Tiffany Ramsay said she would get the key from him.
Mr. Brooks said the documents for the Brown Center are signature ready, but Solicitor Regel just has not been able to get everyone together to sign. He said he does not think there is a problem if Music in the Park would need to be held at the Brown Center due to rain. Mayor Hehr asked who will be responsible for cleaning it on Saturday because there is an event to be held on Sunday, Mr. Brooks said we will figure something out.
Matt Schaber – Nothing to report.
VIII: Solicitor’s Report:
Absent
IX: Mayor’s Report:
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve the payment of bills. Anthony McDaniel made the motion. Tiffany Ramsay second. Dale English – absent. Motion passed 4-0.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve the Mayor’s Court Report, May 2025. Matt Schaber made the motion. Tom Kirkland second. Dale English – absent. Motion passed 4-0.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve the Income Tax Report, May 2025. Anthony McDaniel made the motion. Tom Kirkland second. Dale English – absent. Motion passed 4-0.
X. Un-Registered Visitors/Guest:
None
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to go into Executive Session regarding litigation. Tom Kirkland made the motion. Tiffany Ramsay second. Dale English – absent. Motion passed 4-0. Executive Session entered at 6:20 p.m.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to go back into Regular Session. Tiffany Ramsay made the motion. Anthony McDaniel second. Dale English – absent. Motion passed 4-0.
Kevin Brooks asked Council to make a motion to engage Marlowe Construction Solutions for the amount of $60,550.00 to do clean-up at 200 South Main Street and at the Cemetery. Matt Schaber made the motion. Anthony McDaniel second. Dale English – absent. Motion passed 4-0.
Anthony McDaniel let Council know that he will be on vacation on June 16th, the next Council meeting date, so he will not be at the Council meeting.
XI. Adjourn:
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Tiffany Ramsay made the motion. Anthony McDaniel second. Dale English – absent. Motion passed 4-0. The meeting was adjourned at 6:40 p.m.
ATTEST:
___________________________ ____________________________
Carol Hehr, Mayor Lori Cunard, Fiscal Officer