Continental Village Council met in regular session in the Council Meeting Room on February 8, 2022 with Mayor Miller presiding. Members present were Armey, Bartley, Varner and Sullivan. Solicitor Welch, Fiscal Officer Darby and Administrator Prowant were also present. Streicher entered late. Visitors: Paulette Mills with Poggemeyer Design Group and members of the Summer Baseball/Softball Association. The meeting opened with the pledge of allegiance.
Minutes, Bills and Receipts since last meeting were approved. Then & Now Purchase Orders over $3000: J&M Excavating for emergency repair work for $4,402.50 and for Kalida Truck for the snow plow, labor & misc. parts for $11,989.20 were approved.
Mayor Miller administered the Oath of Office for re-elected council member Mike Varner.
HEARING OF THE PUBLIC: The Summer Baseball/Softball Association wanted to see if the Village had plans for the old sewer plant off of Road E. They have been in search of land to put in some ball fields and parking for the summer leagues. Currently, they have to travel to Dupont & Cloverdale to play their games and would like to keep it in the Village. They have looked at the GIS mapping through the County and believe there would be room enough for three fields and a parking lot on the Village owned land. Mayor Miller suggested they draw up a plan as their next step and Paulette Mills of PDG said they could draw some fields on an aerial photo. This will help with getting a better picture on how it would look as well as the first step in looking for grant money. (Streicher entered the meeting) Various grants were discussed some of which require matching funds. In-kind donations of equipment and labor would count toward the matching funds. The members thanked Council and left the meeting.
Park Project: Paulette Mills from Poggemeyer, gave each member an aerial photo of a proposed project at Buckeye Park (the pond area). It has been a goal of the Mayor to develop that area into a passive recreational area. She had three different projects mapped out and construction costs. The first listed is an eight-foot crushed stone walking path around the top of the ponds for $67,500 plus engineering. The second is an ADA (Americans Disability Act) approved parking lot and sidewalk to the shelter house for $62,334.25 plus engineering. And the third, is a forty-foot long by fifteen-feet wide fishing pier that extends into the pond for a total of $117,425 plus engineering. She stated there are multiple funding opportunities for recreational projects now, including the Capital Budget, NatureWorks, Recreational Trails and Land & Water Conservation. Some of these require matching funds which in-kind donations can be counted. Council tabled for the time being.
OLD BUSINESS
Streetlights: County Electric was in the Village to replace some of the light bulbs in the street lights and to repair the 4-way flasher. A new relay is needed for the traffic light and is on order. Some of the bulbs were replaced in the street lights but they found that some of the fiberglass poles are in bad shape and need to be replaced. Mayor Miller is checking with AEP to see what their requirements for new poles are.
Greensand Filter – Filter two has been painted but needs to cure for a week or so before filling. The cold and snowy weather set the painting back a few days. The Water Tower still hasn’t been filled due to the frigid temperatures.
Generator: Council reviewed two quotes for a permanent three phase generator. One was for a 60 KW Kohler generator for $49,900 installed and the other was for a 60 KW Cummins generator for $56,182 installed. The Kohler is 18-23 weeks out for delivery and the Cummins was 20-30 weeks out. Council approved purchasing the Kohler generator.
Ash Street Lift Station: A quote to convert the Ash Street Lift Station to a three-phase system for $11,523 was reviewed. There have been a lot of problems with the lift station and this will be more reliable. If we proceed, new pumps will have to be purchased that work on three-phase but the existing pumps could be used as backups to the other lift stations. No decision made.
Vacate Alley Ordinance: The Village reviewed a request to close the alley located directly East of the former Bob’s Carryout between lots 43 and 44. Council suspended the rules and passed the Ordinance in emergency.
Flow of Traffic: Council then discussed changing the flow of traffic on the one-way alley remaining. Council suspended the rules and passed the Ordinance in emergency.
NEW BUSINESS
Internet: The Village currently has a lease agreement with Brightnet, they have their antennae on the old village water tower, but the tower will be coming down within the next few months. The terms of the lease require the Village to give them a 12 month notice prior to terminating this lease. They have offered a guaranteed 25 megs for the Village in return for letting them put the antennae on the new water tower. However, Metalink has offered the Village 100 megs. Welch advised to re-negotiate a contract with Brightnet for one year to meet the terms of the lease and then the Village can choose who they want.
Change Order # 2 for Water Tower: The Village has received the paperwork for the change order to install the aerator in the water tower and for additional work that had to be done to locate water lines. The change order is for a total increase of $78,038.42 and will come from the contingency amount included in the grant and loan amounts. This will also extend the completion date of the project to May 31, 2022 even though the water tower will be online before then. Council moved to approve the Change Order.
Condemned Properties: – The cement has not been removed from the property on Grove Street that had a fire and was demolished. The pieces are too big for the Village’s equipment to pick up so they have contacted GL Lloyd to have him get rid of them. Any cost of having Lloyd remove the concrete will be subtracted from the money held in escrow. A home on Rice Street will have cameras installed to monitor rodents that are living near an abandoned house to see where they may be coming from. Regarding the Commercial properties: the one property has sold, but the original owners never filed an appeal so the new owner assumes the responsibility of the demolition costs. The other property is in the midst of an appeal.
The next council meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 22 at 7 p.m.
With no other business, meeting adjourned.
Susan Darby, Fiscal Officer
Village of Continental
