LORI CUNARD
August 7, 2023
Meeting Minutes (7-6-23)
The Council of the Village of Woodsfield
July 6, 2023
The Council of the Village of Woodsfield met in Regular Session on July 6, 2023.
I. Roll Call:
Present: Council Members; Dale English, Tom Kirkland, Anthony McDaniel, Leann Harper, Tiffany Ramsay, Matt Schaber, Mayor Carol Hehr, Fiscal Officer Lori Cunard, Solicitor Ryan Regel, and Village Administrator Kevin Brooks.
II. Pending Meeting Minutes Approval:
Dale English made the motion to accept the June 19, 2023 meeting minutes. Tom Kirkland second. Leann Harper – abstain. Motion passed 5-0.
III. Registered Visitors/Guest:
None
IV. Old Business:
DORA – Solicitor Ryan Regel said he has nothing new to report on for DORA. The only question left is what to do for the logo and that is up to Council. Solicitor Regel said he does not think it has to be on the application, but he thinks it best to put it on the application. Mayor Hehr had passed around guidelines to be put on the cups at the last Council meeting, she asked if everyone was ok with this which everyone agreed. Solicitor Regel said he would incorporate it on the application and circulate it.
V. Administrator Report:
Village Administrator Kevin Brooks said he does not have anything to bring up other than there is a Resolution to be passed tonight for Ohio Public Works that has to do with street paving.
VI. Fiscal Officer Report:
Fiscal Officer Lori Cunard said that June’s bank statement has been reconciled. She also reported that on Thursday, July 13th she and Brenda Mauck will be going to South Zanesville to meet with Chris Kerby for mid-year revenue and appropriations update/review.
Lori Cunard also gave Council members the reports for the Utility Department to keep them updated.
VII. Committee Chair/Council Reports:
Dale English – Nothing to report.
Tom Kirkland – Tom Kirkland said the flowers at each end of the islands are blocking the view when turning right on red. He said residents have been commenting on this and he has noticed it himself. He said the flowers need to either be drastically trimmed back or taken completely out because there is going to end up being an accident. Tiffany Ramsay said she actually did pull out in front of someone because she did not see them due to the flowers. Anthony McDaniel said once the signalization is finished downtown, and the traffic pattern changes it would take care of it but in the meantime maybe we should trim the flowers back. Kevin Brooks said the signalization may be done next week. Mayor Hehr said she hates to trim the flowers back because they are in full bloom. Tom Kirkland stated that if there is an accident, we will be blamed for it. Tom Kirkland asked what the status is with the BMV contract? Kevin Brooks said his understanding is that no one has gotten back with Solicitor Ryan Regel on how we want to amend the agreement, whether to have the BMV pay their own utilities or pay a higher monthly rent. Solicitor Ryan Regel suggested we reach out to Beverly Landefeld and have her come to a Council meeting to discuss the contract, he said when he spoke with her, she was very receptive. Mr. Brooks said that no one on Council has provided any input on what they would like to change if anything. Tom Kirkland said he had spoken with Solicitor Ryan Regel after the last meeting and gave him his input, but we all need to come to a decision on what we want to do. Mayor Hehr said we will invite Beverly Landefeld to the next meeting and Council members should decide by then on what they want to do, whether to raise the rent or have them pay their own utilities.
Anthony McDaniel – Nothing to report.
Leann Harper – Nothing to report.
Tiffany Ramsay – Nothing to report.
Matt Schaber – Matt Schaber sent an email to Council members regarding the 5 controller boxes. He would like to have them painted or purchase skins for the controller boxes because currently they are silver, and he thinks they would be a target for graffiti. Village Administrator Kevin Brooks said there are skins that can be purchased that can be put on the boxes and then peeled off and replaced, then sell advertising space. M.A.C.O. can make decals for businesses, the businesses can then sponsor the boxes by having their decal on the box for advertising, similar to what we did with the parking meters. Kevin Brooks suggests we get 5 sets of skins with the Woodsfield logo on them to start and his understanding is they can be peeled off and re-used. We then can get decals for businesses that would like to sponsor a box for advertisement. Mayor Hehr said she read through Matt Schaber’s email quickly, but she thought we were going to have students at Monroe Central do something with the controller boxes. Matt Schaber said that was just a thought to have students come up with ideas, but he did not think of the skins until Kevin Brooks suggested it. Dale English asked how long businesses would pay to advertise. Mr. Brooks said it would be for a month at a time and once we know the cost of the skins and decals, we can determine how much to charge businesses who want to advertise. Leann Harper said she feels we should make this a community relations project, whether it be the Arts Council or Art students at the school and let them do the boxes for free. She said there are a lot of talented people in the community, and she is not in favor of making money from businesses sponsoring a controller box. Kevin Brooks said he does not agree with painting them because the paint will eventually peel and chip off and it will end up being a lot of maintenance. Anthony McDaniel asked if we could make decorative decals instead of painting them. Mayor Hehr asked Matt Schaber if he and Leann Harper could gather information and ideas for the controller boxes for the next Council meeting and Matt Schaber agreed. Kevin Brooks said to keep in mind that if painted and they become problematic it will be up to us to fix them. Mayor Hehr stated that if we did the painting, we would have to see a drawing first of what would be painted on them. Kevin Brooks said there are already some rules in place such as nothing political and no campaign advertisements. Matt Schaber agreed the drawing would have to be approved first.
VIII: Solicitor’s Report:
Reported on DORA during old business, nothing more to report.
IX: Mayor’s Report:
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve the payment of bills. Anthony McDaniel made the motion. Leann Harper second. Motion passed 6-0.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve the Mayor’s Court report, June 2023. Dale English made the motion. Tom Kirkland second. Motion passed 6-0.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve the Income Tax Report, June 2023. Anthony McDaniel made the motion. Tiffany Ramsay second. Motion passed 6-0.
Mayo Hehr said the fireworks were very good. She thinks they get better every year. She thinks the food truck did very well, he seemed to be busy most of the time. She also reported that the events committee sold ice cream and trinkets for the kids, it was by donation. She said they took in over $300.00. Dale English said he thinks the event committee is doing a good job and the music in the park a couple weeks ago was well attended and very nice. The food truck seemed to do very well that night also. Kevin Brooks said we also need to thank the Brown Center for the use of their parking lot for overflow parking. Mayor Hehr also thanked Kreg Robison, MC Beacon, for the front-page article about the event committee.
Mayor Hehr said she received a call from Steve Eikleberry, Park Superintendent, today. She had ordered another piece of exercise equipment and a picnic table for the Walking Trail, and they were
delivered today. She is still waiting for the gazebo; it is not quite finished. These purchases were made with NatureWorks grant funds.
Kevin Brooks said that the bench in front of Jerry Lee’s is the prototype of the benches for downtown. He said he would like to keep the one in front of Jerry Lee’s and order 2 more regular benches and 3 benches that the back will flip up into a half picnic table. He asked if Council has any preference on color scheme for the benches or any input on ordering 5 more benches for downtown. Mr. Brooks likes the look of the black and red color scheme; they are $500.00 each and are very well constructed. Leann Harper asked where they are planning on putting the picnic table benches and Mr. Brooks replied in front of the restaurants, but it also depends on whether the store owners want them in front of their business. Anthony McDaniel said he had family in town over the weekend and they commented on how nice downtown looks. Mayor Hehr said she has had many comments also. Tom Kirkland made the motion for the purchase of 2 regular benches and 3 picnic table benches @ $500.00 each for the downtown area. Matt Schaber second. Motion passed 6-0.
Mayor Hehr stated that the 2-hour parking signs are up downtown and if you are parked longer, you will be ticketed. The signs for back-in parking will be put up once the brackets are received. Kevin Brooks wanted Council to know that we had nothing to do with ordering signs or putting signs within the downtown project. The signs were all put up by ODOT and Shelley and Sands. The 2-hour parking signs were put up outside the project quadrant. The 1-hour parking for the handi-cap area was also within the downtown project and put up by ODOT and Shelley and Sands. The Village had no input on the street signs. We questioned the 1-hour parking for the handi-cap and were told that it is what it is, and we have no discretion to change it until after the project is closed at which time, we can change it if we want. Leann Harper asked if ODOT was asked about a misspelled sign for one of the streets and Kevin Brooks said he was told that research was done and that is the actual name of the street. Kevin Brooks said when the project is closed, we can look at some of the signs and change them if we want but we have to wait until the project closes.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to pass Ordinance #06-2023, An Ordinance Providing for Amending and Revising Specific Line-Items in the Appropriations of the Expenditures for the Village of Woodsfield for the Calendar Year 2023 and Declaring an Emergency. Anthony McDaniel made the motion. Leann Harper second. Dale English – yes, Tom Kirkland – yes, Tiffany Ramsay – yes, Matt Schaber – yes. Motion passed 6-0
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to suspend the rules and pass Ordinance #06-2023 by its second reading, declaring an emergency. Dale English made the motion. Tiffany Ramsay second. Tom Kirkland – yes, Anthony McDaniel – yes, Leann Harper – yes, Matt Schaber – yes. Motion passed 6-0
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to suspend the rules and pass Ordinance #06-2023 by its third reading, declaring it an emergency and adopt. Tom Kirkland made the motion. Anthony McDaniel second. Dale English – yes, Leann Harper – yes, Tiffany Ramsay – yes, Matt Schaber – yes. Motion passed 6-0. Ordinance #06-2023 adopted.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to pass Resolution #2023-04, A Resolution Authorizing the Village of Woodsfield to Prepare and Submit an Application to Participate in the Ohio Public Works Commission State Capital Improvement and/or Local Transportation Improvement Program and to Execute Contracts as Required. Anthony McDaniel made the motion. Matt Schaber second. Motion passed 6-0. Resolution #2023-04 passed.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to pass Ordinance #07-2023, An Ordinance Amending Section 945.01 of the Village of Woodsfield, Ohio Codified Ordinances Titles “General Rule and Regulations” and Declaring an Emergency. Anthony McDaniel made the motion. Matt Schaber second. Dale English – yes, Tom Kirkland – yes, Leann Harper – yes, Tiffany Ramsay – yes. Motion passed 6-0.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to suspend the rules and pass Ordinance #07-2023 by its second reading, declaring it an emergency. Dale English made the motion. Matt Schaber second. Tom Kirkland – yes, Anthony McDaniel – yes, Leann Harper – yes, Tiffany Ramsay – yes. Motion passed 6-0.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to suspend the rules and pass Ordinance #07-2023 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 – yes. Motion passed 6-0. Ordinance #07-2023 adopted.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to go into Executive Session/Consultation/Legal Counsel. Tiffany Ramsay made the motion. Anthony McDaniel second. Motion passed 6-0. Executive Session entered at 6:17 p.m.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to go back into Regular Session. Dale English made the motion. Tom Kirkland second. Motion passed 6-0. Regular Session entered at 6:40 p.m.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to pass Resolution #2023-05, A Resolution Declaring the Necessity to Levy a Tax in Excess of the Ten-Mill Limitation, ORC 5705.19, ORC 5705.191, ORC 5705.25, ORC 5705.26. Matt Schaber made the motion. Anthony McDaniel second. The Resolution is for a 3 mill levy for police protection and capital expenditures. Leann Harper said a sixth officer is much needed. Kevin Brooks stated that with the five officers we have now, if one of them is off Chief Jones fills in for them, he is salary, and he should not always have to fill in. Leann Harper asked if the 3 mill is what we need and we are not asking for more than needed. Kevin Brooks replied that we are absolutely not asking for more than needed. Motion passed 6-0.
XI. Un-Registered Visitors:
None
XII. Adjourn:
The Mayor asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Leann Harper made the motion. Tiffany Ramsay second. Motion passed 6-0. The meeting was adjourned at 6:45 p.m.
ATTEST:
___________________________ ____________________________
Carol Hehr, Mayor Lori Cunard, Fiscal Officer