Minutes of West Lafayette Village Council Regular Meeting on June 25, 2001

West Lafayette Village Council met in regular session at 7:00 P.M., in the municipal building with Mayor Jack Patterson presiding.

Pledge of Allegiance

Roll Call:        Steve Bordenkircher, Kelly Gossett, Ron Lusk, Dave Rogers, Roger Warne and Jan Shannon

(6 members present)

Motion to approve minutes of meeting held on June 11, 2001.

            Made and seconded by: Bordenkircher / Gossett                      (R.C. 6 yes 0 no)

Correspondence:

            Ohio EPA – Received a letter commending the village on their efforts to protect the ground water in our area. Also included with the letter was the Susceptibility Report, which is part of the EPA’s Source Water Assessment Program. The susceptibility report must be included in the annual consumer confidence report.

            Present at the meeting were Mr. Howard Freeman and Mr. John Myers representing Freeman Construction Company. They were present to voice their concerns at what they consider an excessively high building permit fee for their general contract to build the Ridgewood High School. The permit fee was over $35,000, which they compared to several other communities where they had built similar projects. The highest example provided for a project of the same size was Wooster, which was slightly over $3000. There was general discussion about the ordinance 17-77 and resolution 31-92 which establish the building permit requirement and fee structure. Council’s major concern was that with a project of this size the village had no recourse to recover the costs that might be associated with public roadway damage. Currently $1500 had to be spent to repair a portion of Johnson Road and it is anticipated that more will have to be repaired after the project is completed. Bordenkircher recommended that this particular fee be reviewed by the utility and planning committees and that they bring a recommendation back to council next meeting.

Ordinances:

            17-2001 – A resolution to amend the appropriations ordinance 6-2001 by adding $20,200 to the General Fund and declaring an emergency. Bordenkircher / Shannon made and seconded a motion to suspend the rules and give res. 17-2001 a second reading. (R.C. 6 yes) Res. 17-2001 was given a second reading. Warne / Gossett made and seconded a motion to suspend the rules and give res. 17-2001 a third reading. (R.C. 6 yes) Res. 17-2001 was given a third reading. Rogers / Lusk made and seconded a motion to adopt res. 17-2001. (R.C. 6 yes) Res. 17-2001 was adopted.

            18-2001 – A resolution to transfer $3000 to the pool fund and declaring an emergency. Warne / Shannon made and seconded a motion to suspend the rules and give res. 18-2001 a second reading. (R.C. 6 yes) Res. 18-2001 was given a second reading. Rogers / Gossett made and seconded a motion to suspend the rules and give res. 18-2001 a third reading. (R.C. 6 yes) Res. 18-2001 was given a third reading. Lusk / Warne made and seconded a motion to adopt res. 18-2001. (R.C. 6 yes) Res. 18-2001 was adopted.

Reports:

            Village Administrator – Reported that Rich Wheeler had brought in a doctor’s release for him to return to full time work on July 9, 2001, and that Rich was looking well. Reported that he had finally received a second estimate to replace the roof on the council chambers. The first estimate was for $14,000 and this one was for $7900 from Maple and Sons. The estimated was the complete job including trusses, overhang and boxing in the eves. Our grant from the State was for $7200 so the project would only require $700 from the General Fund. Bordenkircher / Lusk made and seconded a motion to approve the expenditure of $7900 for the new roof from the land & buildings – capital outlay appropriation in the General Fund. (R.C. 6 yes)

Annexation (Lusk) – Reported that Attorney Owens was working on the petition for the Johnson Road annexation. Council member Lusk will report back to council next meeting on the approximate legal fees for the North Kirk Street area annexation.

Community Service (Shannon) – Reported that the community meeting was well attended and there seemed to be genuine excitement about the “Main Street” project. We have received a check for $3000 as seed money to get started and another community meeting is scheduled to review some variations on the details of the project. The clerk / treasurer explained that the funds, including the grant, any donations and / or village appropriations, would have to be handled in the same accounting process as any other public funds. That means amended estimates of resources, appropriation amendments, purchase orders and council approval of bill payments. The project would be assigned a number and all transaction would be tracked via that project number.

Finance (Warne) – Reported that the committee had reviewed and approved the 2002 budget. Lusk / Warne made and seconded a motion to have a public budget hearing on July 9, 2001, at 6:30 P.M. in Council Chambers. (R.C. 6 yes)

Fire (Shannon) – The clerk presented council members and mayor with a copy of the new policy / procedure for requesting run expense reimbursement by the volunteers. The new procedure requires detailed run reports be submitted in a timely fashion for reimbursement. Council agreed this was needed. New 4x4 truck is still not in service and no one was sure what the hold up is.

Grant (Lusk) – Reported he had attended an Issue II meeting last week and was starting on proposals for a couple of projects. VA commented that he had heard that the “Greenspace / Brownfield” money from the state was tentatively going to be distributed by the Ohio Public Works Commission. This should be kept in mind as we apply for money from OPWC.

Ordinance (Warne) – Warsaw is using an outside source to codify their existing ordinances to clean up any duplication or conflicting language. It was recommended that the village contact Warsaw to see how the process is going as we are in need of the same services.

Pool (Rogers) – Reported the new probes for the chemical system had been ordered and would be installed as soon as they arrive. He feels we need to contact a consultant specializing in public pools as we are still having problems with the coating applied last fall. The tarps had been taken down as a result of citizen complaints about impeded airflow. The dust situation has not been a problem to this point but the tarps will go back up if it becomes a problem. The employee provided by the Jobs & Family Services Dept. has been working in the concession stand and seems to be doing fine. There was a general discussion about maintenance duties and lifeguard pay rates. The clerk was instructed to investigate the pay rate for last year’s 4 year and this year’s 5 year lifeguard.

Chamber Rep (Rogers) – Details for Homecoming are progressing and applications for float entries are starting to come in. Food and supplies will be ordered soon.

Clerk’s Report – Reported that the state auditors had vacated the upstairs which meant they were nearing completion of the audit. May be stopping in briefly but still anticipated the post audit conference in July sometime.

Committee Meetings Set:

            Planning            6-26     6:30 P.M.         Council Chambers

Lusk / Warne made and seconded a motion to approve the bills presented for payment. (R.C. 6 yes)

Lusk / Shannon made and seconded a motion to adjourn until the next regular meeting on July 9, 2001, at 7:00 P.M. in council chambers. (R.C. 6 yes)

                                                                                    _____________________________

                                                                                    Mayor Jack L. Patterson

Attest:

___________________________

Clerk / Treasurer

Village of West Lafayette