Continental Village Council met in regular session on February 27, 2024 with Mayor Miller presiding. Members present were Smith, Williamson, Armey, Streicher and Sullivan. Also, present were Mayor Miller, Administrator Prowant and Fiscal Officer Darby. Councilman Varner was absent and Solicitor Welch entered late. Visitors: Michael Lammers, Toby Smith, Toby Sullivan and Jennifer Momenee. The meeting opened with the pledge of allegiance.
Armey made a motion and Streicher seconded to approve minutes of previous meeting, five yeas, motion carried. Armey made a motion to pay all the bills and Smith seconded, five yeas, motion carried. Smith made a motion and Streicher seconded to approve the receipts since the last meeting, five yeas, motion carried. Then & Now Purchase Orders over $3,000: None.
Old Business
Street & Traffic Light Update: The bulbs on the 4-way flasher have been changed and bulbs for the decorative street lights on Main Street are on order. The Infrastructure Committee is getting quotes to replace the poles of the fiberglass decorative lights as they are deteriorating from County Electric. Mayor Miller is also getting a quote to replace the bulbs on the tall light poles on Main Street from Ash to Forrest Streets with LED bulbs.
New Business:
Building Permits: Two permits were received. 210 N. Sixth Street requested a permit for new siding that they thought their contractor was going to get approved and a permit for 502 W. SR 613 for a new framed addition. Armey moved to approve both permits and Sullivan seconded. Five yeas, motion carried.
County Commissioner Update: Mr. Lammers greeted the Council and thanked them for helping to get the word out about the Building Demolition and Site Revitalization program. Fifty-two applicants have applied across the County for the grant money and the Committee hopes to fund at least half of the applicants. Lammers also explained that a Seven Rural County Regional Committee has formed to try and get some Federal ODOT grant money for the area for infrastructure upgrades. He is asking the Village to make a wish list of items that are needed, such as streets, storm sewer, catch basins, street lighting, and etc. He has been told that if the Committee may be able to find unused grant money to try and meet some safety needs in the rural seven county area. Council should forward their list to him by May 1st.
WSRLA Nomination: Kleinfelder Design Group sent the forms for the Village to sign to receive principle forgiveness on a loan as a backup to the Grant for the Main Street Waterline project. The paperwork is due in March and Mayor Miller asked for permission to sign any and all paperwork pertaining to this. Streicher made a motion to suspend the rules requiring three readings to pass a resolution and Armey seconded. Roll Call Vote: Armey – Yea, Sullivan – Yea, Streicher – Yea, Varner – Absent, Smith – Yea, and Williamson – Yea. Five yeas, motion carried. Streicher moved to approve a Resolution allowing the Mayor to sign any and all paperwork pertaining to the WSRLA program and Smith seconded. Roll Call Vote: Armey – Yea, Sullivan – Yea, Streicher – Yea, Varner – Absent, Smith – Yea, and Williamson – Yea. Five yeas, motion carried.
Maintenance Department Update: The Village had a sewer break on West Rice Street and Ohio Sanitary Service was called in to camera and jet the area to break up the roots in the line. The maintenance department has been busy getting information entered into the GIS program. EPA is requiring the waterline information to be documented by this summer. Once water is completed, then they will get the sanitary and storm sewer information entered. This will eventually be entered into the village website for the residents to use as guidance when calling 811 prior to digging on their property.
Permissive License Tax money: Darby called the Engineer’s office to see how much money was being held for the Village. The current balance is $10,287.22. This money can be used for paving on throughway streets. The Engineer’s Office will not approve dead end streets or cul-de-sacs.
County TIRC meeting: The Village received notice that our annual TIRC (Tax Incentive Review Council) meeting with the interested parties and Winkle Reality is scheduled for March 13 at 10:40 am.
Sixth Street Storm Sewer upgrades: Armey asked if the Mayor had contacted Ohio Sanitary Services about the tile and catch basins at Sixth Street & East Rice Street. Mayor Miller has spoken to the owners of the landscape storage lot and the contractor about a possible project in that area to alleviate the standing water after a heavy rain. They are also looking to start a scheduled cleaning of catch basins.
Firewall Update: The contractor was in today and has the new firewall installed at the plant and will be here tomorrow to complete the work there and then will work at the Village hall and fire station. They would like to start a six-month scheduled hard drive back up of all of the Village’s data once this is completed.
Aggregation Update: The Village has not received any pricing yet for the electricity.
Trailer Court Update: The trailer court has changed ownership and the previous owner left an unpaid balance. When the trailer court was originally put in, there was a master meter that the Village owned, maintained and read and then a master bill was summitted to the owner of the trailer court for payment. Then it was changed and the owner of the Court put in meters for each trailer that they purchased and maintained and the village read and billed the residents in the trailers. Through the recent ownership changes, the owners have not maintained their meters and it has resulted in a difference between what the master meter says and what the individual meters total. That difference gets billed to the owner, who as stated above, has not paid. The Village is going to revert to the original way of billing. The Mayor, Administrator and Solicitor will try and get a meeting with the new owners to discuss this.
With no other business for the good of the village, Williamson made a motion to adjourn and Sullivan seconded. Five yeas, motion carried.
