READING THE BILLS … Pioneer Village Council members Connie Salisbury and Bill Turner took time prior to the January 11, 2021 meeting, to look over the bills and sign them in preparation to approve the payment of the bills. (PHOTO BY REBECCA MILLER, STAFF)
By: Rebecca Miller
For many years, the Pioneer Village Council has been able to pass on savings to the electric users, with it slowly rising from $100, to $150 and for the past few years, $200.
Mayor Ed Kidston stated at the January 11, 2021 Council meeting, that even though they did help out at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, he would recommend doing the yearly rebate as well. Council voted to approve Resolution 100-2021 A resolution granting a one time electric rate credit (of $200) to qualifying residents of the Village of Pioneer, Ohio and declaring it an emergency.
Kidston said that even though they have “the lowest rates in the county due to good fiscal management, we want to give it back.”
Council voted to:
•Re-elect Joel Burt for 2021 President of council
•Approve minutes of last meeting, Financial Report, payment of bills, and payment of Pioneer Hometown Hardware
•Ordinance 01-2021 an ordinance repealing Ordinance 19-2020 and enacting Ordinance 01-2021 requesting Permanent Appropriations for 2021 and declaring an emergency (Clerk April McMillan apologized for a mistake in Ord. 19-2020 which made it necessary to repeal and replace.)
Fire Chief Denny Fackler was not present, but Mayor Kidston shared his report, being that there were eight runs responded to between December 14, 2020 and January 11, 2021; they followed up on two controlled burns; there were no calls in Madison Township.
Fackler stated in the report, “The department is excited that we were awarded the MARCS radio grant. This was a county wide effort and Pioneer was granted $50,000. I also applied for the state equipment this past week and hopefully we will be awarded $14,700 for turnout gear.”
A Safety Committee meeting was scheduled for 7 pm at the Firehall on January 25, 2021 to go over the trucks and see the equipment.
Police Chief Tim Livengood was not present either, so the Mayor shared his report as well. Between December 1 and 31, 2020 there were 59 calls for service, with nine traffic warnings, two traffic citations both for speeding, and twenty one incident reports.
Village Administrator Al Fiser reported that in 2020 the overtime paid out to eight full time village staff, which includes police, was less than it costs to hire one full time person.
Mayor Kidston commented that in order to do the miscellaneous jobs accomplished on overtime, they would need to hire more than one person, so this was a good report to hear. Fiser ended his report by saying, “Things are going excellently.”
Fiscal Officer April McMillan reported that the village finances balanced out for 2020 and she is working on getting all the reports turned in. “The town held up very well in 2020 and I am excited as we go into 2021,” she said.
Council member Will Cable informed the council that he has been approached by citizens asking if there is “something that can be done about the cats in town and wondering if they could look into licensing as other towns are doing.”
Fiser and Kidston both assured him that the village is doing the best they can with it and that they do action if someone calls the office with a specific report. Fiser said that they have live traps that they have used to catch in the past and will probably continue to do so.
In his report to council, Mayor Kidston said that he is preparing to apply for a major grant, the Natures Grant, for the parks in April. He feels that all the fields and parks need to be re-vamped and the Park Committee has stated they have some funds to put together with funds from the village to accomplish this.
He shared his future wishlist for the parks which included a number of large projects. Fiser said that up until about three years ago the village used to donate $5000 a year to Parks and Rec, so that money that was saved could possibly be used for specific projects.
Kidston also shared that House Bill 264 was passed in Ohio legislation and will allow one time payments so that the village can refinance their OWDA loans with lower interest. He informed council that Fiser would be “first in line for the village to negotiate with OWDA to get it lowered.”
The meeting was adjourned in time for members to get home and watch the Ohio State football game against Alabama.
Rebecca can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com