Council Meeting Minutes
December 10, 2007
The
All in attendance stood for
the Pledge of Allegiance.
Present: Mayor Joanne Dodaro, Clerk-Treasurer Cathy
Osborn, Law Director Allan M. Michelson, Council Members: Keith Riedel, Katrina
Sommers, Debbie Bican, Terry Gray, Ray Olexa and Barbara Hunter.
Motion made by Olexa to accept the minutes from the November 12,
2007 council meeting. Sommers
seconded.
6 Ayes. Motion approved.
The Clerk-Treasurer reported the following bills to Council:
Staples 325.72
Keith Riedel 146.73
Cathy Osborn 1,742.22
Joanne Dodaro 219.62
Robert Locher, Jr. 334.38
Allan M. Michelson 595.38
Mary Leahy 45.58
Hank Smitley 22.80
Raymond Olexa 91.15
Debbie Bican 136.73
Terry Gray 136.73
Katrina Sommers 131.78
Barbara Hunter 65.91
Shelly Wharton 380.00
Brent Osborn 210.00
Don Bican 165.00
Paul Vereb 230.00
Verizon North 57.99
Pro Touch Lawn Care 620.00
Engineering Associates 272.84
Elite Excavating 3,782.62
Bill Zweifel 1,700.00
Treasurer of State 112.78
SecuriTech 3,496.48
Medina County Sheriff’s
Office 3,434.74
Dale Zickefoose 125.91
Postmaster 41.00
Total Of All Bills
$22,544.96
Motion made by Bican to pay the bills from their proper
funds. Olexa seconded. 6 Ayes. Motion approved.
Mayor Dodaro said that when
Ray’s daughter was missing the sheriff’s department used the reverse 9-1-1
system to contact all village residents to advise them of this situation which
worked very well. Mayor Dodaro sent a
letter to Sheriff Hassinger and the
Mayor Dodaro also thanked Engineering
Associates for their gift of mixed nuts.
She has sent them a thank you note.
Committee Reports
Safety: Deputy Harhay read the patrol report for the
month of November as follows: 4 hours
working on calls and reports, 1 call assigned by dispatch, 3 self-initiated
calls, 1 written report taken, 60 vacation watches, 135 citizen contacts, 5
traffic stops, 3 warnings issued, 2 suspicious persons, 2 suspicious vehicles,
5 assists to other departments and 2 fire-rescue calls. The deputies worked a total of 121 hours for
the month. There were 774.70 miles
logged on the cruiser using 78.90 gallons of gasoline.
Gray reported that a Safety Meeting was held a few weeks ago.
The discussion was how to distribute the hours where needed for the
village patrol to be effective. Gray
and Mayor Dodaro will work together to schedule a meeting with Sheriff
Hassinger to discuss this issue after January 1, 2008.
Zoning: Olexa reports that a Zoning Board meeting was
held last Tuesday, December 4th with all
members present. He said that
everything seems to be going alright with the Kissling
garage addition.
The Moat’s driveway is still in violation
of zoning. The village is going to court
to enforce this violation. This is an
unfortunate situation because the owners are liked. This has been a hard issue for the Board, but this has been
going on entirely too long. Mayor
Dodaro said, “What is the use of having zoning if it’s not enforced.”
Olexa said that Wendy James of
Hank Smitley who owns a home on Northvale
applied for a variance to build a covered porch on the front of the home. That variance was approved
at the November 19, 2007 special meeting.
Hugo Byers who resides on
Olexa said that the vacant
property located at 119 Clover Cliff (it is not clear whether the address is
119-117-or 115 Clover Cliff) has become a serious safety issue in the
village. This property is in bank
foreclosure. The windows are broken out
and the front door is off of this house. It is apparent that someone has been getting
into this house. Mayor Dodaro asked the
Law Director to make tracking down the bank that owns this house a
priority.
Doug Schmotzer
who owns a vacant lot on Lee Lore was present at the Zoning Board meeting on December
4th.
He wanted a copy of the Flood Plain Regulation and Locher gave him a
copy. Cathy forwarded the Flood Plain
Regulation to all members of the Zoning Board.
She also asked Sommers to add this to the Zoning link of the village website which she has done.
Brent Osborn wants to
resign from the Zoning Board, but has agreed to stay until Mayor Dodaro can
find a suitable replacement. Motion made by Olexa to reappoint the
members of the Zoning Board who are: Paul Vereb, Shelly Wharton, Brent Osborn,
Don Bican and Zoning Inspector Robert Locher, Jr. for the year 2008. Gray seconded. 6 Ayes. Motion approved.
Due to the holiday, the next Zoning Board meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 2, 2008 at 7:30 pm in the
village hall.
Mayor Dodaro would like to thank the members of the Zoning Board and the
Zoning Inspector Bob Locher at tonight’s meeting, but
she states that she did thank them at their December 4th zoning
meeting.
She said that zoning was a
tough place to be this year. Mayor
Dodaro said that there were a lot of big and complicated issues that the Board
needed to address this year. Our Zoning
Board handled these issues very well.
Our new members: Brent Osborn, Don Bican and Ray Olexa made it their
business to go out and investigate a lot of the issues
that were brought before the board. They
were thorough and followed the zoning book which is
what they are supposed to do. Mayor
Dodaro said that Ray Olexa feel right into the job of Zoning Board Chairman and
has done a nice job. Mayor Dodaro said
there are good things happening on zoning.
Bican said that a resident has complained
to her about the intense smoke that is coming from a wood burner stove. Bican will double check the address and give
that information to Mayor Dodaro.
Mayor Dodaro will contact Fire Chief Sheppard. Council is unclear as to if she should
contact the State Fire Marshall or if Lafayette Fire Department can handle this
complaint. Mayor Dodaro will report back with her findings.
Zoning Administrator Dale Zickefoose and
Zoning Inspector Bob Locher have been working on the proposed zoning
updates. The Law Director has been in
contact them about questions they have had so he knows they have been working
on updates. Cathy has not received any
bills from Dale Zickefoose to date.
Finance: Cathy reviews the bank statement and
accounting reconciliation ending November 30th
with council. They have copies of both
and she asks if they have any questions.
No questions were heard so she asked them to sign her copy of the
reconciliation.
The next report she reviews is the monthly
cash summary by fund. Cathy said that
this report reflects figures from November 1st
through today’s date. The starting balance in all funds were $351,883.41. The revenue collected was $12,742.81 and the
expenditures were $23,987.80. The Star
Ohio account presently was a balance of $11,894.47. The checking account has a balance of
$328,743.95 before the approved bills are paid.
Cathy reminds council that she has called
for a Financial Planning meeting on
January 14, 2008 at 6:30 pm which will be one hour prior to the January council meeting to be held in
the community room of National City Bank.
Cathy will have the suggested 2008 Village Appropriations ready
for their review and adjustments. Cathy
will put the ad in the Gazette for the Financial Planning meeting and she will
have all kinds of reports for council’s review at this meeting.
Cathy reports that she has received the final lodging tax from The Hunt Club
who has ceased operation as a bed & breakfast on October 1, 2007.
Cathy said that the process to choose a
firm to do village audits is time consuming as she had to complete evaluation
forms, review audit proposals, then cost proposals and finally make several
phone calls for other municipalities experience with the accounting firms that
submitted bids. Cathy said that the
three bids varied in cost from $15,860.00 to $8,108.00.
Cathy said she has done a lot of studying
and she is ready to make her recommendation to council for a company to do the
village audit for 2006-2007. She
asks council to approve Varney, Fink & Associates from
Ordinance
#655-07 “An ordinance adopting an open records policy for the village with
respect to public records.” had its second reading. Motion made by Sommers to waive the 3 reading requirement for Ordinance #655-07. Gray seconded. 6 Ayes. Motion made by Riedel to adopt Ordinance
#655-07. Olexa seconded. 6 Ayes. Motion approved. Ordinance #655-07 will take effect in 30
days.
Parks: Bican said she has nothing to report. Mayor Dodaro said that leaf pick up went very
well. Our thanks to Bill Zweifel for
all he does for the village.
Streets: Riedel said at the present
time we are maintaining Circle Crest and laying down gravel as
needed. Phase Three
construction will resume in the spring.
Mayor Dodaro asked if the Law Director has
heard anything from Columbia Gas. The
Law Director answered not yet, but it is time to follow up with them.
Cathy said she has received all needed
documents from Peters Professional before any plowing began.
Community Relations: Hunter reports that if anyone wants a visit
from Santa they can contact the Lafayette Fire Department for more
information.
Mayor Dodaro said that Lafayette Township
Zoning will hold another meeting on Wednesday,
December 12, 2007. Mayor Dodaro said
that Dr. Cynthia Naragon was in attendance at the last
meeting. These meetings are concerning
the rezoning of parcels in
Riedel said that about two weeks ago the
metal clip that held up the flag and the assembly broke which caused the flag
to fall to the ground. This is the flag,
which flew near the tennis courts on
Buildings: Sommers said she had no report. Mayor Dodaro reports that the gas lines at
the village hall have been replaced and the heat is
on. Cathy said that all gas lines under
the building were replaced, a valve on the gas meter
was installed and a control switch on the furnace was replaced. Davis Construction also sealed the window
under the building which should help with the heating
cost.
Law Director: The Law Director he said he reported that he
has not heard back from Columbia Gas, but he did write to them concerning the
delay problem they caused with Phase Three. He will follow up on that.
The Law Director has two cases to report
on this month. The first
case was disposed of by the defendant pleading to persistent disorderly conduct
with fine and costs totaling $1,305.00.
The second case was a
trial today for a zoning violation for repeatedly not bring their trash
cans in from the road. The Law Director
said that Zoning Inspector Bob Locher did a good job testifying and brought
pictures regarding this case. The
defendant was convicted and charged a fifty dollar fine and cost. If the trashcans are out again other than
for trash pick up (a 48-hour window), please call Bob Locher to report
this. They will be
cited again and the Law Director believes a point was made.
The Lee Lore driveway case is in the works
with nothing more to report on right now.
Mayor Dodaro asks if he has heard anything
from the Gildersleeve’s and their donation of the
“interurban property” to the village. He
has not heard back from them yet.
The Law Director has reviewed the
agreement between the state and the village to approve Varney, Fink &
Associates to perform the state audit for 2006 and 2007. He said this agreement looks pretty straightforward.
Motion made by Riedel to waive the 3-reading
requirement for Ordinance #658-07. Olexa
seconded. 6
Ayes. Motion approved. Ordinance #658-07 “An ordinance approving an
agreement for the audit of the village for the period of January 1, 2006 to
December 31, 2007 by Varney, Fink & Associates.” was read
by title only. Motion made by Sommers to adopt Ordinance #658-07 as an emergency. Gray seconded.
6 Ayes. Motion
approved. Cathy thanked council for the passage of this
agreement she will mail it out tomorrow.
Old Business: None
New Business: Sommers asks if she can have or buy the old
computer that is in the village garage.
Sommers used to have this computer in her home for village website work. This computer was struck
by lightning and Sommers decided to buy one of her own to continue the website
work. The Law Director said that if
this computer is worth less than a thousand dollars then the village can dispose of it.
Motion made by Riedel to allow Sommers to dispose of the old
computer that is presently stored in the village garage. Olexa seconded. 6 Ayes. Motion approved.
Mayor Dodaro wishes everyone a Merry Christmas!
At 8:45 pm, Riedel motioned that the meeting be
adjourned. Olexa seconded. 6 Ayes. Motion approved.
NEXT MEETING: Monday, January 14, 2008
at 7:30 pm in the community room of the National City Bank,
________________________
Joanne
Dodaro, Mayor
________________________
Cathy
Osborn, Clerk-Treasurer