Council Meeting Minutes

March 10, 2008

The Village of Chippewa Lake Council met in regular session on Monday, March 10, 2008 at 7:30 pm in the community room of the National City Bank, Lake Office Branch.

All in attendance stood for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Present:  Mayor Joanne Dodaro, Clerk-Treasurer Cathy Osborn, Law Director Allan M. Michelson, Council President Keith Riedel,  Members of Council Debbie Bican, Terry Gray, Ray Olexa and Barb Hunter.

Absent:  Katrina Sommers

Motion made by Bican to accept the minutes from the February 11, 2008 council meeting.   Gray seconded. 

5 Ayes.  Motion approved.

The Clerk-Treasurer reported the following bills to council:

Medina County Engineer                                          1,647.84

Joanne Dodaro                                                          218.45

Cathy Osborn                                                            863.78

Allan M. Michelson                                                     410.93

Robert Locher, Jr.                                                     332.52    

Keith Riedel                                                                 60.55

Ohio Edison                                                             1,392.28

Peters Professional Landscaping                                7,012.50

Ohio Public Employees Retirement System                   565.19

Medina County Sheriff’s Office                               3,723.95

Illes Architects, Inc.                                                  900.00

Postmaster                                                                  41.00

Bill Zweifel                                                                350.00

Verizon North                                                             57.65

Columbia Gas                                                               194.72

John A. Burke, County Treasurer                               2,287.24

Total Of All Bills                                     $20,058.60

Motion made by Bican that the bills be paid from their proper funds.  Olexa seconded.  5 Ayes.  Motion approved.

Committee Reports

Safety:  Deputy Harhay read the patrol report for the month of February as follows:  3 calls assigned by dispatch, 4.25 hours at calls and working on reports, 1 self-initiated call, 1 written report taken, 70 vacation watches, 202 citizen contacts, 3 traffic stops, 3 warnings issued, 1 suspicious vehicle and 12 calls to assist other departments.  The deputies worked a total of 130 hours.  They logged 871 miles on the cruiser using 86.50 gallons of gasoline.

  Deputy Harhay said that the security  cameras have been adjusted that now license plates can be read clearly.   Gray confirms this work was completed on Friday, March 7, 2008. Deputy Harhay said that every time he is on duty he checks the cameras for activity.  Mayor Dodaro gave her thanks to Gray and Deputy Harhay for completing this request.

     Gray said a Safety Committee meeting will be scheduled for some time in April.  (See attached patrol report)

Zoning:  Olexa said that there is nothing to report in Zoning as everything is nice and quiet.   (See attached March zoning minutes)   Olexa said he spoke with the village Law Director Allan Michelson last week regarding the FEMA Flood Plain regulations.  Allan said that he would complete the recent paperwork received and get it to the lady in Columbus.  Allan said he has the language of the amendment that the village needs to make in order to be in compliance with the current flood plain regulation.  Allan said that FEMA changed the map so the village needs to adopt the changes.  Cathy gives the booklet she received to Allan.  Allan will have this ready in ordinance form for the April council meeting. 

     Allan said that a trial was held on March 3, 2008 in which Bob Locher testified in Moats case.  The magistrate said she wanted to look at everything then make a decision at a later date. 

     Olexa said that the next Zoning Board meeting will be held on Thursday, April 10^th at 7:30 pm at the village hall.   Gray asked if it was still necessary to have a deputy at zoning meetings.  Mayor Dodaro said she would like a deputy present at zoning meetings until further notice.  

   Olexa asked about the extra police hours charged for fire station breakfasts, council and zoning meetings.  Deputy Harhay said that he was just showing a breakdown.  He said an officer was not present at the breakfasts or the meetings for the entire time shown as they were also on patrol.

     Mayor Dodaro said that Cyndy Naragon was at the Lafayette Zoning meeting this evening.   Mayor Dodaro said that an email was received stating that they would be discussing the Chippewa Lake Park at the zoning meeting tonight.   Mayor Dodaro asked  Cyndy to attend on the village’s behalf.

Finance:  Cathy is not feeling well so she will make her report brief this evening.  She reports that after calling the Attorney General’s office she has received the HB9 public records certification for Mayor Dodaro, Katrina Sommers on behalf of the entire council and for the Clerk-Treasurer’s position.  She distributes copies for council and mayor.  She states that the originals are on file.  She said that she will need those certificates to show proof that the village and its officers are in compliance. 

     Cathy said she has received a two page letter from Varney, Fink & Associates listing what documents need to be gathered for the audit.   When Cathy has the required documents together then they will come and pick them up and the auditing begins.

     Cathy said that council and mayor have a copy of the accounting reconciliation and the bank statement ending 

February 29, 2008 for their review. 

  Cathy asks that council sign her copy of the bank reconciliation.

     Cathy presents the Cash Summary by Fund report that she reviews with council every month.   These figures are from February 1^st through March 10^th.   (See attached report)    She said she is not reading all the numbers tonight, but said she would be glad to answer any questions about the report.   With no questions, she said she will be back in form next month with quarterly reports.

Parks:  Bican said she doesn’t have a report of what she has done, but she does a have a report of what she will be doing.  Bican said she plans to have a Parks Committee meeting sometime in April.    How to distribute and the rules involved with the new parking tags that hang from the vehicle’s rear view mirror will be discussed.   The hiring of new beach attendants for 2008 will also be discussed.    Bican knows she needs to order lake access passes and the beach parking permits. 

     Mayor Dodaro asked the Law Director if the village has received its use permit from the Parks District.   The Law Director said he did talk with Tom James and said that the village is requesting a permit for as long a period of time that they would give us.  Tom James said he would bring that up at a meeting of the trustees of the Parks District and get back to Allan. 

     Bican asked if anyone has heard when the construction on Bungalow Bay will begin.   No one has heard a word yet.   Bican said it is hard to schedule events not knowing when the construction will begin.  

Mayor Dodaro said that Memorial Day might be a good time to schedule Tony Fortunato and the Emperors of Swing to play for our residents.  

     Mayor Dodaro said that when the snow melts it may be necessary to contact Bill Zweifel for some clean up work in the Point Park and the beach.   Private property is to be cleaned up by the owners.  

Streets:   Riedel said that Circle Crest is a mess, but he is continuing to have gravel added to enable the residents to gain access to their homes.   The village thanks each resident on that street for their patience through this construction.   The village expects the construction to resume as soon as the weather breaks and this project can finally be completed.  Cathy continues to forward all invoices and proof of payment to Allan who is sending them to Columbia Gas.

     Mayor Dodaro asked Cathy if we are out of road salt yet.   Cathy said yes and that she had just received a letter from the county engineer.  They were advising the village that they have exceeded their allotment of 125 tons for the season.   They did say that they would continue to supply salt as long as they could.  The county requested a letter be sent to them with a specific amount of road salt that the village believed they would need for the rest of the winter season.   Cathy asks Keith for a specific amount and he said 50 more tons.  Cathy will forward a letter to the county engineer requesting that amount.

  Keith said that Chris Peters of Peters Landscaping called to inquire if there was anything further that needed attention in the village concerning plowing.  Keith asked him to drive along the village roads and swoop in on some mailboxes that are buried.   Mayor Dodaro had calls about where were the snow plows.   She said that the sheriff’s department confiscated all the plows in the county.  The residents were unprepared for her answer they didn’t know what to say.

Community Relations:   Hunter said she did her best to send all the snow  plowing complaints to Mayor Dodaro.  Mayor Dodaro said that alright as she handled the calls. 

     Mayor Dodaro said that one of our residents, Cyndy Naragon is attending a Lafayette Zoning meeting this evening on the village’s behalf.

     Mayor Dodaro said that the Parks District was going to make their recommendations for rules and regulations for the lake to their board.  Their recommendations were to closely follow what was agreed in prior committee meetings.   Mayor Dodaro said she her particular favorite recommendation would be NO Hunting. (See attached recommendations for rules and regulations)

Buildings:  Cathy said she would do the buildings report as she spoke with Sommers who is sick this evening.  Cathy mailed a copy of Illes Architect’s proposal to Mayor Dodaro and Sommers for their review before tonight’s meeting.   Sommers expressed her being upset with Kerry Illes as she has not gotten responses to her many emails to him. 

  She did not know about his proposal until I mailed it to her.  She thinks that his proposal of $14,400.00 is a lot of money, but does not know what the going rate is.   Cathy reads his proposal which will include: any and all meetings with village committees, prepare working drawings based on preliminary design, drawings will include plumbing, architectural, mechanical and electrical.  He will provide the bidding documents as required for public bidding.  Kerry would submit the drawings to county and the village pays any and all fees.  Kerry will also attend bi-weekly job meetings of construction phases and will approve the monthly payment applications.  Cathy states that she thinks the village will need his expertise in order to complete this correctly.   It sounds like Kerry Illes will be the project manager.   Cathy said there are two copies that will need signed and Kerry has included his payment schedule.   Cathy said that Kerry realizes that we have limited funds to put this building up and the village will be subject to prevailing wages.   Cathy said she thought council had decided to put up the building as designed and finish as much as we can now.  Council members agree that is what they decided to do.   Kerry is going to have contractors bid in phases so the village can decide how much they can afford to complete at this time.   Council wants Allan to be in on everything concerning this addition.   Allan will contact and work with Kerry, but would like to draw up a long form contract.   Council agrees to have Allan contact Kerry Illes and return next month to council with his update.

Motion made by Riedel to approve the $14,400.00 proposal to Illes Architects, Inc. pending preparation of contract documents by the Law Director.  Olexa seconded.  5 Ayes.  Motion approved.  A passage of an ordinance will approve the final contract. 

     Olexa asked Cathy exactly how much the village has to spend on this addition.   Olexa said what if the bids come back at $230,000.00 to do the whole project.  Cathy said then we do not have enough to do the whole project.  If council wants to complete the whole project now then they may have to look at fund raising, taking out a loan or asking the voters to approve a levy for this building ONLY.   Cathy said it is important to get the bids out and then decide to complete as much as possible.   Cathy said that she knows council is tired of hearing her say that we CANNOT use up everything we have.   We have to keep something in reserve in order to maintain and furnish the building.  We also have to keep in mind that insurance cost will increase along with utilities. 

Law Director:  Allan said he has three cases to report on this month.  The first case is pending for driving under suspension with no operator’s license set for trial on April 4^th. 

     The second case was the Moats case and a trial was held on March 3^rd.    Allan said he is waiting on a decision from the magistrate.  Allan said that Bob Locher does a very good job as a witness.  He knows how to testify and Allan is confident the decision in the Moats case will be in favor of the village.

The third case he just found out about today.  There is no date yet for trial, but there will be an arraignment in ten days.   This is a threatening domestic violence case. 

     Keith is curious how the Village of Gloria Glens pays someone to operate their snow plow truck.  Allan said that they do have an employee that operates that truck along with a back up employee if needed.  Keith asks Allan to find out what kind of cost they have operating their own truck.   Allan said that he knows that just about every fall they do have a major repair bill on the truck.  Allan said that he does know that when they had a chance to go to contract for snow plowing they bought another truck.

Old Business:  Cathy said that she did get the tax bill for the Twilight Trail property.  The taxes are only $86.98 per year.   Mayor Dodaro asks Allan to find out what restrictions are on that property as it is part of the Pochedley Trust Fund.   He will report back to council in April. 

     The Gildersleeve property is in the process of being surveyed.  This is the parcel of land that is going to be donated to the village. 

     Keith asks where is the property that the village owns on Chippewa Road.   Allan said it is near Garman Road, but he will find out for sure and report back. 

New Business:   Mayor Dodaro said she has three meetings that she would like to have volunteers to attend.

The first meeting is the Medina County Health Department is having their annual meeting of their advisory council.  The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 pm on Thursday, March 20^th.   Barb Hunter said she would try to attend on behalf of council.

     The second meeting is put on by the Medina County Convention and Business Bureau.  They are hosting the Ohio Film Commission at Williams-on-the-Lake on Thursday, March 13^th at 2 pm.  Terry Gray will try to attend.

     The Medina County Auditor’s office will hold a meeting on Wednesday, March 26^th from 8:30-11:30 am and from 1:00-4:00 pm.  Mayor Dodaro will have Cathy forward this information to Katrina Sommers  to see if she is able to attend this training.

Motion made by Olexa that the meeting be adjourned.  Gray seconded.  5 Ayes.  Motion approved.

Next Meeting:  Monday, April 14, 2008 at 7:30 pm in the community room of the National City Bank, Lake Office Branch. 

                        ________________________________

                        Joanne Dodaro, Mayor

                        ________________________________

                        Cathy Osborn, Clerk-Treasurer