The Council of the Village of Woodsfield
August 18, 2025
The Council of the Village of Woodsfield met in Regular Session on August 18, 2025.
I. Roll Call:
Present: Council Members; Dale English, Tom Kirkland, Anthony McDaniel, Alicia Gardner, Tiffany Ramsay, Matt Schaber, Mayor Carol Hehr, Fiscal Officer Lori Cunard, and Village Administrator Kevin Brooks .
Absent: Solicitor Ryan Regel.
II. Pending Meeting Minutes Approval:
Dale English made the motion to accept the August 4, 2025 meeting minutes as written. Matt Schaber second. Tiffany Ramsay – abstain. Motion passed 5-0.
III. Registered Visitors:
None
IV. Old Business:
None
V. Administrator Report:
Kevin Brooks reported that Seth Alleman and Jesse Lewis, Electric Department, have completed their intermediate Lineman training courses. Per the Village employment agreement and continuing education, they are now entitled to a $2.00/hr. increase in wages. Matt Schaber made the motion to increase wages for Seth Alleman and Jesse Lewis, Electric Department, by $2.00/hr. Tiffany Ramsay second. Motion passed 6-0.
Kevin Brooks said in Council packets is Resolution 2025-10 establishing pole attachment fees. The Village established pole attachment fees in 2013; however, the document has never been updated, and the fee structure is way off from what everyone else is charging. The Resolution is updating pole attachment fees and also provides for them to give us a current inventory. South Central, AT&T, and MCTV has connections to our poles, and we charge for that. Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve Resolution #2025-10, A Resolution Authorizing the Village Administrator of the Village of Woodsfield, Ohio to Adopt and Use the Pole Attachment Agreement Template Negotiated by AMP Ohio and Declaring an Emergency. Matt Schaber made the motion. Tom Kirkland second. Motion passed 6-0.
Kevin Brooks said he has no issues with the pricing on the information sheet for the Brown Community Center, but he would like to see a provision added stating that Village employees can use the Brown Community Center for an event free of charge. Mayor Hehr said there is a Special Projects Committee that she would like to have meet and go over the pricing and the rules for the Brown Community Center. Lori Cunard, Fiscal Officer, spoke up and said that some individuals and the election board have already booked and paid for the Center for later dates this year. They have paid the pricing shown on the information sheet. Mayor Hehr said she thinks the information sheet needs restructured and we need to be more competitive and the pricing on the information sheet is not competitive. Mayor Hehr said the individuals who have paid this year are fine, she agrees we should not do anything about pricing this year but maybe make it effective for next year. Kevin Brooks said we are not intending on making it a large revenue source. He said there has been discussion about hiring a part-time maintenance person to open the building for events and then clean afterward. Kevin Brooks said he just does not want to operate the Brown Community Center at a significant loss, and we need to look at it as a business and try to operate as close to break-even as possible and minimize a loss.
Kevin Brooks reported there was a phone conference with Verdantas last week. Dale English, Mike Carder, Lewis Hill, Mr. Brooks and the design engineer participated. Mr. Brooks had hoped to have a proposal for Council this evening, but it will not be ready until the September 2nd meeting. The proposal will be for the transfer of the electric utility system to the 7200. They do not have the exact cost, but it will probably be $300,000 – $500,000 for design. As part of the contractual agreement, we are actively pursuing grant funds through the United States Department of Energy. This project will be done in
phases and most likely will be a 3–5-year project. Mr. Brooks said we have to figure out how we are going to fund the project because he does not want to spend three figures on design and not go through
with the project. So, they were very clear with Verdantas that we need to have funding for the project in place before we can do the design because we don’t want that big of an expense on design before we know for sure the project can be built. Mr. Brooks said the U. S. Department of Energy has a specific program for rural communities and we are a perfect match, but it is a very cumbersome grant application that is going to take time and a lot of input from different areas of the Village.
VI. Fiscal Officer Report:
Lori Cunard, Fiscal Officer, reported that we are working on 2026 budget. There is an Ordinance in Council packets that needs to be approved. Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve Ordinance #10-2025, An Ordinance Providing for Amending and Revising Specific line-items in the Appropriations of Expenditures for the Village of Woodsfield for the Calendar Year 2025 and Declaring an Emergency. Let it be noted, a motion to suspend the three-reading rule and pass this Ordinance as an emergency measure was made. Anthony McDaniel made the motion. Matt Schaber second. Dale English – yes, Tom Kirkland – yes, Alicia Gardner – yes, Tiffany Ramsay – yes. Motion passed 6-0.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to suspend the rules and pass Ordinance #10-2025 declaring it an emergency and adopt. Tom Kirkland made the motion. Dale English second. Anthony McDaniel – yes, Alicia Gardner – yes, Tiffany Ramsay – yes, Matt Schaber – yes. Motion passed 6-0. Ordinance #10-2025 adopted.
Lori Cunard asked for Executive Session regarding Personnel/Compensation and Investments at the end of the meeting.
VII. Committee Chair/Council Reports:
Matt Schaber – Nothing to report.
Tiffany Ramsay – Tiffany Ramsay reported that the Community Strong has an upcoming event on September 20th, Music on Main, a band will be playing on the lot next door. Kevin Brooks said if they are going to need water or electric to let him know.
Alicia Gardner – Nothing to report.
Anthony McDaniel – Anthony McDaniel said the Fiscal Officer asked for Executive Session at the end of the meeting regarding Personnel/Compensation and investments and action may or may not be taken. Athony McDaniel made a motion to go into Executive Session at the end of the meeting. Tiffany Ramsay second. Motion passed 6-0.
Tom Kirkland – Nothing to report.
Dale English – Nothing to report.
VIII: Solicitor’s Report:
Absent.
Kevin Brooks reported that Solicitor Ryan Regel is working on a Resolution for the next round of funding from OPWC for significant street paving, it is included in packets. We are applying for grant funding in a consortium with Lewisville and Lee Township.
Solicitor Regel is also continuing to procure the easements for the water and sewer project that is set to start by mid-September.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve Resolution #2025-11, A Resolution Authorizing the Village Administrator to Prepare and Submit an Application to the Ohio Public Works Commission State Capital Improvement Program for a Village Street Improvement and Paving Project and to Execute Contracts as Required, and Declaring an Emergency. Tom Kirkland made the motion. Dale
English second. Motion passed 6-0. Kevin Brooks said the Resolution is required by OPWC before we can apply. The application is due on September 5th. Mayor Hehr said we are going to do CDBG, once she gets the information needed, she will talk with Council about starting the surveys.
IX: Mayor’s Report:
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve the payment of bills. Anthony McDaniel made the motion. Tiffany Ramsay second. Motion passed 6-0.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve the Mayor’s Court Report, mid-August 2025. Dale English made the motion. Tom Kirkland second. Motion passed 6-0.
Mayor Hehr reported that she attended a seminar at Buckeye Hills last week titled Small Communities – Big Impact.
Mayor Hehr said she saw on Facebook that there is a young lady in Woodsfield named Bristol Pope. She has been awarded the World All-Star Wrestling Outstanding Wrestler. Her record as of July 31, 2025 is 52 wins, 20 losses and 42 pins. Mayor Hehr wanted to recognize her during the meeting.
X. Un-Registered Visitors/Guest:
Tom Dick – Tom Dick attended to inform Council that he would like to start a business at 306 South Main Street called Flowers on the Main. He is asking Council for a variance in zoning from residential to commercial. Mayor Hehr explained that the zoning is permanent, and a variance lasts as long as he owns the business. If he sells, then the next owner would have to apply for another variance. Kevin Brooks said the zoning would be changed from residential to commercial and would be for one parcel. If Council agrees to go forward with the variance, then we would notify adjoining property owners and set a public hearing in 30 days giving the affected property owners the chance to voice their opinion to Council if desired. At that time Council would make a final vote on whether to approve the variance. Anthony McDaniel asked if there would be enough time to vote on this zoning variance on September 15th with the other two zoning variances and the vacating of alleys. Kevin Brooks said past practice is to allow 30 days to give affected property owners enough time to clear their schedule for the public hearing so, he said that would be the first meeting in October. Anthony McDaniel made the motion to go forward with the public hearing on October 6th for the zoning variance. Tom Kirkland second. Mayor Hehr told Tim Dick he could pick up the paperwork needed, and Kevin Brooks said there is no paperwork to be done. Mayor Hehr said at one time there was paperwork provided and the individual asking for a variance went to the adjoining property owners and collected signatures and it gave them the opportunity to ask questions. Kevin Brooks said we have not done that in the recent past, but he would talk to Solicitor Ryan Regel about writing up a form when doing a zoning variance.
Kim Schaber – Kim Schaber commented on how nice the flags looked in town for the fair. Kim Schaber also commented on Raymond Dalrymple, Park/Cemetery Dept., and what a good job he does watering the flower baskets in town, the flowers look great.
Kim Schaber wanted to bring up the website and asked Council to look at it. She said the website really bothers her. She said Council will see what is missing, what is late, and what has never been updated. She said the website serves some people as community promotion. She said there is nothing showing community events to let people know what we are doing. She said we are not promoting the good things we do. Kim Schaber said the website could be changed up to promote the Village instead of clicking on a drop-down menu and it being empty such as our event calendar. She said there are several things on the front page that are past due. Kevin Brooks spoke up and admitted that we are bad about promoting the Village and the achievements. One thing that had been talked about was hiring a part-time Public Information Officer. This individual would update the website and Facebook. Kevin Brooks said with respect to Daniel Denbow, he is our IT person, he was hired as our troubleshooter when emails are down, or our website has crashed, etc. Kim Schaber said she had made the offer before to Mr. Denbow to help with the website, and the offer is still good.
Mayor Hehr thanked visitors for coming and said Council would now be going into Executive Session. Executive Session entered at 6:10 p.m.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to return to Regular Session. Dale English made the motion. Tom Kirkland second. Motion passed 6-0. Regular Session entered at 6:50 p.m.
Anthony McDaniel made the motion to pay-out salaried employees their overage of vacation and comp time. Tom Kirkland second. Motion passed 6-0.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to withdraw the Brague Fund money from stocks and invest in StarOhio. Tom Kirkland made the motion. Anthony McDaniel second. Motion passed 6-0.
XI. Adjourn:
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Alicia Gardner made the motion. Tiffany Ramsay second. Motion passed 6-0. The meeting was adjourned at 6:55 p.m.
ATTEST:
___________________________ ____________________________
Carol Hehr, Mayor Lori Cunard, Fiscal Officer