Continental Village Council met in regular session on January 11, 2022 with Mayor Miller presiding. Members present were Bartley, Armey, Knipp, Streicher and Sullivan. Also, present were Mayor Miller, Administrator Prowant and Fiscal Officer Darby. Mike Varner was absent. The meeting opened with the pledge of allegiance.
Mayor Miller administered the Oath of Office for re-elected council members Tom Armey, Dan Sullivan and Jordan Streicher.
Mayor Miller opened the floor for nominations for Council President. Armey nominated Jordan Streicher as Council president and Bartley seconded the motion. After asking if there were any other nominations it was put to vote, four yeas and abstain by Streicher, motion carried.
Council approved the minutes of previous meeting, approved bills as presented for 2021 & 2022 and approved the receipts since the last meeting for 2021 & 2022. Management Reports presented for 2021 & 2022 except for the bank reconciliation, which will be posted when the year is closed, approved by signature.
Then & Now Purchase Order approved for 2021 for Sidney Electric $3,320 for repairs to high service pump & Grove St. lift station and Bojhun Environmental for wastewater testing.
OLD BUSINESS
Clearwell Report – the inspection report was received and submitted to the EPA. The clearwell is in decent shape with some minor maintenance needed.
Greensand Filter – Filter two is offline now for maintenance. The manway door is completed and waiting for the contractor for the sandblasting and painting to be completed.
Water Tower – Mayor Miller, Mr. Horstman from Poggemeyer and Mr. Russell from Caldwell Tank had a meeting on December 30th to go over the last few items prior to filling the tower. At that time the mixer had not been installed nor the heater. Now the mixer is in and the heater install is in progress. Mike Leis wants to wait until the heater is installed prior to filling the tower with the cold temperatures forecast for the coming weeks. There was some confusion on the contractor’s part on who was to fill the tank, since the Village has not taken possession of the tank at this time, it is the contractor who must fill it and make sure everything is operational. Hopefully, by the end of the month. Then the demolition of the old tower will be done after everything checks out on the new one.
Fire Contract – Fiscal Officer Darby & Mayor Miller attended the Perry Township Trustee meeting on Dec. 29th and went over the contract for fire protection with them. They were agreeable with the changes and the contract was signed.
NEW BUSINESS
Building Permits: A building permit from a business owner was presented for 200 N. Main St. to install new tanks. Streicher moved to approve and Sullivan seconded. Five yeas, motion carried.
Committees – Mayor Miller asked council if they wanted to retain the same Council Committee seats as last year. Council agreed to stay on the named committees. Armey made a motion to accept the committees and Sullivan seconded the motion, five yeas, motion carried.
AEP Supplemental Easement – AEP will be doing some work around the area of the substation to upgrade the poles and lines running North through the alley. The Village received a request to increase the easement. Solicitor Welch had reviewed the easement language and recommended accepting the easement. After map was reviewed, council suspended the rules and approved the resolution in emergency so the easement can be filed.
Putnam Soil & Water Meeting – Thursday, January 13th there will be a meeting at the American Legion in Continental about the Powell Creek Watershed. Soil & Water is looking for input on slowing the drainage of the water to improve the water quality in the watershed. The water from this area ultimately reaches Lake Erie and falls under recent legislation to limit the nitrates that flow into the lake. While the agent was in town, Mayor Miller took him to the well field to see what can be done with the flooding in that area. The area was rumored to be a wetland which severely limits the actions that can be done. The agent informed him that this is not a wetland, the ponds are where clay was dug out for a tile mill. This means the area could have outlets installed to limit the flooding potential around the wells. A survey will be done to come up with a plan.
Maintenance Update – The new snowplow for the dump truck should be completed by next week and delivery by the end of the month. The maintenance department has purchased salt for the new truck and it has been delivered. Sunday, there was a water leak at a commercial business. The repairs included two new valves being installed which separated the business line from a neighboring home. Then Monday, a new leak was discovered next to a meter at another Main Street business and this resulted in a new meter and two new valves.
Transfer – Council moved to allow an inter-fund transfer $68,000 from the General Fund to the Debt Service Fund to make the fire station & truck loan payments.
Amend Appropriations – Darby requested to increase the temporary appropriations for the following funds as equipment ordered in 2021 has not arrived yet, so she closed the 2021 Purchase Orders and would like to reopen them in 2022 when the money will actually be spent. General Fund increase $21,000 (Fire Hoses); Street Fund increase $11,700 (Snowplow); Street Levy Fund increase $38,100 (paving that could not be scheduled, company agreed to hold the quote for 2022) and Enterprise Improvement increase $298,563.96 remaining balance on work to be completed on the water tower. Council approved.
Water/Sewer Billing – The recent billing cycle shows that the leaks have stabilized and found there are some meters that will need to be changed out.
Possible Park Upgrades – Miller is looking into some possible improvements at Buckeye Park with a possible paved walking path around the top of the big pond and ADA accessibility to the shelter house and the new walkway. He would also like to look into replacing the valves in the smaller ponds so the water levels can be regulated without using a trash pump to move the water from the small ponds to the large one. Streicher asked if he is including any projects for the Sparling Park area and the Mayor stated he would like to get some drawings and then meet with the Park Committee members. The Village has purchased more benches like the ones already installed in the downtown area and as soon as the weather breaks they will be installed along with a bicycle rack that was donated to the Village by the school.
Dilapidated Buildings on Main Street – There will be some grant money available to help pay for demolition of commercial building available this year. Sullivan would like to push harder to get things through the Review Board process in a timely manner. In regards to the two buildings that have been condemned, Miller stated we will now only be dealing with one owner as the owner of the collapsed building sold to the owner of the building to the south. Miller stated he slowed the proceedings on forcing the demolition of the two buildings after the death of both of the previous owners out of respect for the widows and families.
Darby asked if the cement had been removed from the property on Grove Street that had a fire and was demolished. The time given the property owner to remove it expired at the end of December and with all the on-going work our two employees have been doing they have not removed it yet. Hopefully, this week it can be removed by our employees and the cost will be charged against the Fire damage fund which is holding a percentage of the owner’s insurance in escrow for just this type of situation.
The next council meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 25 at 7 p.m. With no other business the meeting adjourned.
INFRASTRUCTURE
(STREET, STREET LIGHTS AND WATER & SEWER)
Jordan Streicher & Dan Sullivan
ZONING & REVIEW
(ZONING, REVIEW BOARD, CRA REP, SUBDIVISION & INDUSTRIAL PARK)
Tom Armey & Mike Varner
FINANCE & TECHNOLOGY
(FINANCE, AUDIT, PERSONNEL, WEBSITE &
TAX INCENTIVE REVIEW COUNCIL)
Todd Bartley & Roxie Knipp
RECREATION & RESPONSE
(Parks, Police & Fire)
Tom Armey & Dan Sullivan
INCOME TAX REVIEW BOARD
Kathy Prowant, Scott Welch – Counsel,
Roxie Knipp & Todd Bartley
