Meeting Minutes (3-20-23)

                                        The Council of the Village of Woodsfield

                                                             March 20, 2023

The Council of the Village of Woodsfield met in Regular Session on March 20, 2023.

I.  Roll Call:

     Present:  Council Members; Dale English, Tom Kirkland, Anthony McDaniel, Leann Harper, Tiffany Ramsay; Mayor Carol Hehr, Fiscal Officer Lori Cunard, and Village Administrator Kevin Brooks.

     Absent:  Councilman Matt Schaberand Solicitor Ryan Regel.

II.   Pending Meeting Minutes Approval:

      Dale English made a motion to accept the March 6, 2023 meeting minutes as written and the March 8, 2023 Special Meeting Minutes as written.  Leann Harper second.  Matt Schaber – absent.  Motion passed 5-0. 

III. Registered Visitors/Guest:

      Eric Preston, Laborer/Cemetery – Eric Preston attended the meeting to be introduced to Council.  He is the new hire for the Cemetery Laborer position.  Mayor Carol Hehr welcomed Eric Preston as an employee of the Village.  Village Administrator Kevin Brooks said that Mr. Preston will be cross trained to help in other areas such as reading meters and last week he was at the City building cleaning walks with Mr. Eikleberry when it snowed.  Mr. Brooks said Mr. Preston has been very agreeable to being trained in different jobs along with what he was hired for at the Cemetery. 

     Hunter Thomas, Water Department – Hunter Thomas attended the meeting to be introduced to Council.  He is the new hire for the Water Plant as Operator in training and will hopefully sit for his EPA Licensure in the next year.  Council welcomed Mr. Thomas to the Village.  Mr. Thomas said he appreciates the opportunity and things have been going great.    

 IV.  Old Business:

     DORA – Nothing new to report on for the DORA District as of now.

V.  Administrator Report:

     Kevin Brooks requested Executive Session, Personnel/Compensation at the end of the meeting.  Mayor Hehr asked Mr. Brooks if he would report on the grants that were submitted for the Village.  Mr. Brooks stated that we submitted earmark requests to Congressman Johnson’s Office for 3 projects.  They include Phase II Water/Sewer Separation, Woodsfield Government Center Building, and the Downtown Revitalization.  We will be submitting requests to Senator J. D. Vance’s office in the next couple weeks, and we will also submit requests to Governor Sherrod Brown’s office.  The priority on the projects is the Government Center as #1, Water/Sewer Separation #2, and Downtown Revitalization #3.  They were prioritized based on what are our other funding options and which request has the highest probability of being funded.  We worked with CT Consultants for quite some time and got them submitted or ready for submission on time, now we will just wait and see if we get any of the grants.  Kevin Brooks said that several people have been asking when the completion will be of the new Government Center and the best-case scenario is start construction in spring of 2024 with completion in fall 2024 and worst case scenario is start construction in the fall 2024 with completion in spring 2025. 

VII.  Fiscal Officer Report:

      Fiscal Officer Lori Cunard asked if everyone signed the bank reconciliation. 

      Lori Cunard is working with James Bates, CPA.  Mr. Bates will be doing the audit of the Village.  Mrs. Cunard has submitted the reports that he has requested. 

      Lori Cunard reminded Council that next week is the LGOC in Columbus that she and Kevin Brooks is attending.  Kevin Brooks and Lori Cunard are doing the Public Records training as designees for Council. 

      Leann Harper asked Mrs. Cunard if she had gotten any current CD rates.  Lori Cunard replied that she had not, the rates change weekly and WesBanco increased the interest rate to 3.50% on the sweep account.   Kevin Brooks spoke up to say that we would like to wait until after the audit to invest to make sure we have no issues that need addressed.  After the audit is complete, he would like to talk to the State so maybe they could give us some direction on investing. 

     Lori Cunard also wanted Council to know that the United Health Dental does not send cards to members.  To get a card members need to register an account and request a card. 

     Leann Harper asked if Lori Cunard could explain the USDA statement in Council packets.  Mrs. Cunard explained that USDA tried to pull the payment from Citizens in January so now the payment will not be pulled from WesBanco until March 27^th and the amount has changed. 

VIII.  Committee Chair/Council Reports:

      Dale English – Nothing to report.

     Tom Kirkland – Tom Kirkland said he would like to thank Brian Harrigan, Water/Sewer Superintendent and Andy Copley, Street Superintendent and their crews for the work they did at Andover Road on the sewer repair.  There is still some work to be done out there but the sewer is fixed, and Mr. Kirkland commended them on the job they did. 

      Anthony McDaniel – Anthony McDaniel stated that he was approached by EMS.  They are having a back-up power generator installed at the building and they are currently fueling it with propane because they have no gas line that runs to their building for natural gas.  They have asked if the Village would consider assisting them with having natural gas run to the building, which would just be crossing the road.  Kevin Brooks asked if Dominion would be doing it or if it is a private contractor.  Mr. Brooks said he has no issue with putting a gas line to the building but when talking about crossing the road it could get extremely expensive.  Kevin Brooks said they would either have to cut the road, which he doesn’t really want to do, or bore under the road which is costly.  He would like to know the cost and how they would be doing it before we could give an answer.  Mr. Brooks thinks there should be a gas line in the area somewhere that we would not have to cross the road.  Tom Kirkland said that Dominion should be able to tell us where there is a line to tie into.  Kevin Brooks said he would be glad to talk to someone at EMS about it in more detail. 

      Leann Harper – Nothing to report.

     Tiffany Ramsay – Tiffany Ramsay reported the Downtown Revitalization Committee will be having a meeting on Monday, March 27^th at 6:00 p.m. at the City building.

     Matt Schaber – absent.

IX:  Solicitor’s Report:

     None

X:  Mayor’s Report:

      Mayor Hehr asked for a motion for the payment of bills.  Tom Kirkland made the motion.  Dale English second.  Matt Schaber – absent.  Motion passed 5-0. 

     Mayor Hehr reported that she still has not had to do Mayor’s Court but on Monday morning there could possibly be 3 cases.  Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve the Mayor’s Court Report, mid-March 2023.  Anthony McDaniel made the motion.  Leann Harper second.  Matt Schaber – absent. Motion passed 5-0.  Anthony McDaniel asked what time they will be doing Mayor’s Court on Monday morning, the Mayor replied 9:00 a.m.

     Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to pass Ordinance #03-2023, An Ordinance Providing for Amending and Revising Specific Line-Items in the Appropriations of Expenditures for the Village of Woodsfield for the Calendar Year 2023 and Declaring an Emergency.   Leann Harper made the motion.  Anthony McDaniel second.  Dale English – yes, Tom Kirkland – yes, Tiffany Ramsay – yes, Matt Schaber – absent.  Motion passed 5-0. 

     Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to suspend the rules and pass Ordinance #03-2023 by its second reading, Declaring it an Emergency.  Dale English made the motion.  Leann Harper second.  Tom

Kirkland – yes, Anthony McDaniel – yes, Tiffany Ramsay – yes, Matt Schaber – absent.  Motion passed 5-0. 

     Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to suspend the rules and pass Ordinance #03-2023 by it third reading, Declaring it an Emergency and adopt.  Anthony McDaniel made the motion.  Tom Kirkland second.  Dale English – yes, Leann Harper – yes, Tiffany Ramsay – yes, Matt Schaber – absent.  Motion passed.  Ordinance #03-2023 adopted.

     Kreg Robison, MC Beacon, asked if lines could be painted for parking spaces in front of the Beacon office.  Kevin Brooks said it would be no problem, he would talk to Andy Copley, Street Superintendent, about it. 

     Mr. Robison stated that the Monroe County Commissioners met with representatives from Swiss Valley today.  Swiss Valley is a grant provider and he asked about the Village working with them to get a part of the $5,000,000 from the Appalachian grant money.  Kevin Brooks said we are working with CT Consultants to submit grant requests.   Mayor Hehr spoke up and said we have applied for the Appalachian grant and she has been going to every meeting and is going to a meeting at Buckeye Hills on Thursday morning. 

     Mayor Hehr reported that she and Kevin Brooks have talked to an individual with the Alumni Association about getting a sound system for the Village for parades and special events.  She said she found a $1,000.00 grant through the Foundation for Appalachian funds called the Dale Hillman Legacy Fund to help with the purchase of a sound system, so she wrote the grant over the weekend.  Mayor Hehr talked to Lewis Hill, Electric Superintendent, and he said he would try and come up with something to make it portable so it can be moved to different areas of the Village.  She has no idea what the cost of a sound system will be, it may be out of the ballpark, but she will keep Council updated.  Kevin Brooks spoke up and said it is much needed and making it portable is a very good idea.

     Mayor Hehr is still looking for volunteers to help plan special events in the Village, she has only one person that has volunteered so far. 

     Mayor Hehr thanked Dale English for attending the District Advisory Committee Meeting and she will be going to Buckeye Hills on Thursday for the Appalachian grant.

     Mayor Hehr attended the landbank meeting today and it’s looking like we will get funding again.  As of now, she has 9 houses on her list.  She will have to contact the owners to see if they are interested in having them torn down. 

     Mayor Hehr attended a meeting last Thursday for Summer Youth Program.  There were representatives from GMN and JFS there and they are doing the Summer Youth Program.  Mayor Hehr thought it may be a good idea to check into the Program for the Cemetery or even other departments if needed because the kids are available to work, we have used the Program in the past, and it is free.  She said they will be sending applications around to the schools for kids to fill out.

     Mayor Hehr reported that she would like to give Proclamation’s to residents in the Village who turn 100 years old.  Jean Eggar will be turning 100 this weekend and Mayor Hehr has a Proclamation to present to her.  Mayor Hehr read the Proclamation to Council and asked for a motion from Council to accept the Proclamation for Jean Eggar.  Dale English made the motion.  Tom Kirkland second.  Matt Schaber – absent.  Motion passed 5-0. 

     Dale English reported that he had a gentleman contact him today regarding special events in the Village.  He has a band and would like to play sometime for the Village, he has some dates available in August.  

XI.  Un-Registered Visitors:

     None

     Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to go into Executive Session regarding Personnel/Compensation.  Anthony McDaniel made the motion.  Leann Harper second.  Motion passed 5-0.  Executive Session entered at 6:20 p.m.

     Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to go back into Regular Session.  Dale English made the motion.  Tom Kirkland second.  Matt Schaber – absent.  Motion passed 5-0.   Regular Session entered at 7:20 p.m.

     Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to increase Vincent Palombi, Water/Sewer Department, wages from $11.69/hr. to $13.00/hr., Jesse Lewis, Light Plant, increase wages from $13.79/hr. to $15.79/hr., and Brian Harrigan, Water/Sewer Superintendent, increase wages from $46,000.00/yr. to $48,300.00/yr.

These increases take effect for the pay period starting March 13^th.   Tom Kirkland made the motion.  Leann Harper second.  Matt Schaber – absent.  Motion passed 5-0.

XII. Adjourn:

   The Mayor asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting.  Leann Harper made the motion to adjourn.  Tiffany Ramsay second.  Matt Schaber – absent.  Motion passed 5-0.  The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 p.m. 

ATTEST:

______________________________                                                 ____________________________

Carol Hehr, Mayor                                                                                  Lori Cunard, Fiscal Officer