LORI CUNARD
September 22, 2022
Meeting Minutes (7-18-22)
The Council of the Village of Woodsfield
July 18, 2022
The Council of the Village of Woodsfield met in Regular Session on July 18, 2022.
I. Roll Call:
Present: Council Members; Dale English, Tom Kirkland, Jamie Hill, Carol Hehr; Mayor Mike Ricer, Fiscal Officer Lori Cunard, Village Administrator Kevin Brooks, and Solicitor Kristy Rothenbuhler.
Absent: Councilman Anthony McDaniel.
II. Pending Meeting Minutes Approval:
Councilman Jamie Hill made the motion to accept the July 5, 2022 meeting minutes. Dale English second. Absent – Councilman Anthony McDaniel. Motion passed 4-0.
III. Registered Visitors/Guest:
Chief Corey Jones, Officer Zane Love, and Officer Kory Hill – Officer Zane Love was sworn in by Mayor Ricer as Police Lieutenant and Officer Kory Hill was sworn in as Police Sargent. Chief Corey Jones stated that as discussed at last Council meeting, the proposal is Officer Zane Love be given the title of Lieutenant and along with this Chief Jones is asking his hourly wage to be increased to $18.25/hr. Chief Jones also proposed Officer Kory Hill be promoted to Police Sargent along with a request for an increase of hourly wage to $18.75/hr. Carol Hehr made the motion to increase hourly wages to $18.25/hr. for Officer Zane Love and he be given the title of Lieutenant and also an increase of hourly wages for Officer Kory Hill to $18.75/hr. and he be given the title of Sergeant. Dale English second. Jamie Hill – abstain. Anthony McDaniel – absent. Motion passed 3-0.
Chief Corey Jones told Council that this past week the Street Dept. employees, Cemetery employees, Mayor Ricer and himself did an extensive clean-up of a property over on Oaklawn. Chief Jones said that he knows we do not want to get in the habit of doing this but the neighbors really appreciated it. Councilman Jamie Hill asked why our employees went in and did it and Chief Jones replied that the residents said they would not clean it up and neighbors have been complaining about this property for several years and it was the worst it has ever been. Village Administrator said that we still have money in the property maintenance fund and if there were a few more properties that Council would like cleaned up to say so because the only cost of doing so is for the dumpster. Councilwoman Carol Hehr said that was a good property to clean-up because the residents are no longer living there so it won’t go right back to the mess it was.
IV. Old Business:
Mayor Ricer asked if anyone would like to make a motion to fill the vacant council seat. Kevin Brooks spoke up to say that there were 2 letters of interest received for the vacant seat which he emailed to all Council members late last week. Councilman Anthony McDaniel had been in touch with Mr. Brooks stating that he knew of someone else that would potentially be interested but they were on vacation and may not get the letter of interest in until a later date. Mr. Brooks also said that Anthony McDaniel has requested that Council wait until he is in attendance to vote for the vacant seat because he would like to be able to participate but that is Council’s decision. Kevin Brooks also reminded Council that they have 30 days to fill the vacancy which would be up on August 3rd so there would be another Council meeting before that date on August 1st. If they do not fill the vacancy by a majority vote in 30 days it would be the sole decision of the Mayor to appoint someone to the vacancy and would not require a vote. Councilwoman Carol Hehr said she hates to fill the vacancy if someone else may be interested but has been unable to get the letter of interest in however, she feels the person interested could have at least emailed. Carol Hehr also asked if Anthony McDaniel would be here for the meeting on August 1st and Mr. Brooks replied that yes, he said he would be here. Some discussion followed regarding whether to wait until next meeting or not and it was decided to vote at tonight’s meeting. Jamie Hill made a motion to appoint Matt Schaber to fill the vacant seat on Council. Tom Kirkland second. Absent – Anthony McDaniel. Motion passed 4-0.
V. Council Member takes Oath of Office:
Matt Schaber, appointed council member to serve the unexpired term of the vacant council seat which goes through December 31, 2023 was sworn in by Mayor Mike Ricer.
VI. Administrator Report:
Kevin Brooks reported that bids were taken for the Land Pride mower at the Cemetery and the high bidder was Terry Wade in the amount of $2,025.00. Tom Kirkland made the motion to accept the bid
from Terry Wade in the amount of $2,025.00 for the Land Pride Mower. Dale English second. Matt Schaber – abstain. Anthony McDaniel – absent. Motion passed 4-0.
Kevin Brooks stated there was an outage on Guilford on Friday and he had emailed Council members to let them know what was going on. He said there are some employees who do not have phone service at their homes, it doesn’t happen often but sometimes they are very hard to get ahold of. He ended up calling Paul Robison, who only lives about a mile from Lewis Hill, so that Paul could let Lewis Hill know what was going on. So at the staff meeting this morning the issue of not being able to get ahold of anyone was discussed. They talked about the possibility of an on-call roster of employees who would be on call for after hours. The rules when being on call are that you must be within 30 minutes of the Village and can respond to urgent situations with on-call compensation of $50/day for Saturday and Sunday. The guys did not have a lot of interest with the on-call roster, and it very rarely happens that no one can be gotten ahold of so this will just continue to be monitored for now.
The Pool is scheduled to be closed on Saturday, August 20th. We are thinking about doing Employee Appreciation Day at the pool on Sunday the 21st or the following weekend. The leftover concessions can be used and possibly hamburgers or hotdogs and the pool can be used by staff and family. Mr. Brooks will try to get an idea on interest and give more information on this later.
Mr. Brooks said there is a video conference tomorrow with ODOT and Shelley and Sands for a pre-construction meeting. Hopefully there will be a schedule to report on as far as what will transpire and when for the project at next Council meeting. Mr. Brooks said there are traffic counts at the four quadrants of the downtown but it has nothing to do with the project. He said that he is concerned about the traffic count being done now over the summer when school is out because they are not getting accurate counts. He has been assured that there were counts done during the school year and they do have accurate counts for proper timing of the traffic lights. It will be a process to get the timing correct on the traffic lights, it may take 3 – 6 months to get the timing right.
Kevin Brooks said they have been in contact with Daniel Denbow regarding the website and Kinetic regarding the existing domain name and existing emails, which we paid for both. We have around 17 emails that we have paid for and we are wanting those specific emails, there would be issues if we were to have to change the emails for the Police Department because they use their emails. Jamie Hill asked if Kinetic is wanting a fee for the domain name and Mr. Brooks explained that the employee who worked for Kinetic that set up our existing website and emails is no longer employed there, Kinetic does not have the password, cannot get ahold of him and have been working on the issue but are getting nowhere. Mr. Brooks said we are just going to go ahead and get another domain name, which he hates to do, but we are getting to a point where we have spent so much time on this and aren’t getting anywhere, but Mr. Brooks would like to retain the emails if possible.
Kevin Brooks also said we are working on a long-distance carrier. Nextiva has been our long-distance carrier for a significant amount of time, we have been having issues with them as far as changes on the account. They still have the previous Fiscal Officer listed as a contact and they will not change our banking information since the change to WesBanco. We have told them that they either need to make the changes or we will be changing long-distance carriers. Mr. Brooks will keep Council updated on what happens with Nextiva.
Kevin Brooks said that we have engaged CT Consultants for the architecture and design of the new municipal building project. There will be some core drilling done on the site of the new building and we are continuing to pursue planning grants for the design costs. Mr. Brooks will be giving monthly updates on this project from here on out.
The meeting regarding the hotel is still set to take place on Tuesday, July 26th at around 4:00 p.m. Mr. Brooks asked for Council to be sure and let him know who will be in attendance because if there are 3 or more the meeting will have to be advertised to the public as a special meeting. Dale English, Tom
Kirkland, and Carol Hehr did say they would like to attend which would make it open to the public as a special meeting. Councilman Tom Kirkland asked if there would be any sensitive issues talked about
during the meeting that we should keep it a closed meeting. Kevin Brooks said he had talked to Jason Hamman and he did not indicate that it should be a closed meeting or that anyone was very sensitive to not having their name associated with this project. Mr. Brooks thinks this is mainly a meet and greet between the hotel chain, the bank, and the investors to see if there is a match but, if anything sensitive does come up during the meeting we can go into Executive Session.
Kevin Brooks reported that the budget for the second half of the year is being reviewed. Chris Kerby, traveling clerk, is working with the Fiscal Office on this. There will need to be a few adjustments to the budget because there a few funds that are running low to finish out the year.
VII. Fiscal Officer Report:
Mayor Ricer reported that an investment the Village had with US Bank was cashed out and closed the other day. The amount had been listed as a non-pooled investment fund but it will be moved to a pooled fund in the General Fund. Tom Kirkland made the motion to move the US Bank non-pooled investment fund in General Fund to a pooled investment in General Fund. Jamie Hill second. Anthony McDaniel – absent. Motion passed 4-0.
The Mayor asked for a motion for the Village to run an ad in the Monroe County Beacon for Community Days. Carol Hehr made the motion. Tom Kirkland second. Anthony McDaniel – absent.
Motion passed 4-0.
Mayor Ricer asked Carla Wobschall, Monroe County Beacon, if she remembered to run an ad for the Shred Day in the Village. Shred-it will be in the Municipal Building parking lot for community shred day on August 6th@ 9 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
VIII. Committee Chair/Council Reports:
Dale English – Nothing to report
Tom Kirkland – Nothing to report
Anthony McDaniel – Absent
Jamie Hill – Nothing to report
Carol Hehr – Councilwoman Carol Hehr reported that she submitted the NatureWorks Grant which consisted of 2 picnic tables, a gazebo, and another piece of exercise equipment.
Carol Hehr talked to Mary Jo Westfall regarding the paving of the walking trail and painting the tennis courts, they will be completed by the end of August.
Carol Hehr also asked if one of the employees could go and spruce up the islands a little bit. Kevin Brooks replied that because the project is close to being started he did not want anyone in the island’s. Carol Hehr asked if she could go ahead and sign the paperwork and do it herself and Mr. Brooks replied that is her prerogative if she wants to do it. Mr. Brooks also stated that he is sending guys up to the walking trail before paving to trim back some weeds and branches.
Matt Schaber – Nothing to report
IX: Solicitor’s Report:
Solicitor Kristy Rothenbuhler asked Council to please let her know if anyone is contacted by EQT, Eqitrans, or Midwest. We have not signed any driveway permits, RUMA, or anything of that nature for them to cross Barber Ridge because they will not agree to our terms. They are trying to get someone to sign off on their terms but are being very sneaky about it and they have lawyered up so it has become a legal matter.
Kristy Rothenbuhler stated that the individual who is donating their property to the Village has paid the $23.00 for second half of 2021 taxes so we can hopefully get the deed back and the recording done
pretty quickly to get this wrapped up. The individual does not want any recognition for the donation of her property.
Kristy Rothenbuhler is currently working on the parking agreement with a resident in the Village, the Alternative School Agreement, and on-going royalty issues and negotiations with Gulfport. Kevin Brooks spoke up to explain that the parking agreement Solicitor Rothenbuhler is working on is a liability waiver because a resident had been parking on Village property, which he does not have a problem with, but he does have an issue when it goes beyond 24 hours and the Village can be held liable for vandalism or damage to vehicles. After discussing the issue with the resident, we have decided to have a liability waiver drawn up stating that they can park on Village property for up to 24 hours and if they go over that, it becomes a whole other issue which is going to require special authorization.
X: Mayor’s Report:
The Mayor asked for a motion to approve the payment of bills. Dale English made the motion. Tom Kirkland second. Anthony McDaniel – absent. Motion passed 4-0.
The Mayor asked for a motion to approve the Mayor’s Court Report, mid-July, 2022. Jamie Hill made the motion. Carol Hehr second. Anthony McDaniel – absent. Motion passed 4-0.
Solicitor Rothenbuhler spoke up to let Council know that Todd Abbott is leaving Yoss Law on August 1st, , he is counsel to Lewisville, so the Ordinance he was working on for Village Police Department to help out Lewisville will be delayed for some time. Kevin Brooks said he would call Yoss Law and talk to them about it.
XI. Un-Registered Visitors:
None
Before adjournment Mayor Ricer read the resignation letter submitted by Councilman Jamie Hill. Jamie Hill is resigning as Council member effective at the end of the meeting tonight. Jamie Hill stated that it has been a pleasure serving as a council member and he is going to miss it. Tom Kirkland regretfully made the motion to accept the resignation of Jamie Hill as council member. Dale English second. Anthony McDaniel – absent. Jamie Hill – abstain. Motion passed 3-0. The remaining council members along with Kevin Brooks all stated that they enjoyed serving with Jamie Hill and he will be greatly missed.
XII. Adjourn:
Councilman Jamie Hill made the motion to Adjourn from Session. Carol Hehr second. Anthony McDaniel – absent. Motion passed 4-0. Meeting adjourned at 6:46 p.m.
ATTEST:
___________________________ ____________________________
Michael E. Ricer, Mayor Lori Cunard, Fiscal Officer