NEW HOUSES COMING TO STRYKER … Nathan Heller and his sister Rachel Kerr presented their hopes to Stryker Village Council for the landbank properties they (Heller Creations and Modifications) have purchased, during the February 21, 2022 council meeting. (PHOTO BY REBECCA MILLER, STAFF)
By: Rebecca Miller
Village Hall was quite full at the beginning of the February 21, 2022 Stryker Village Council meeting. Present besides the regular staff and council members were Megan Hausch of WEDCO, Attorney Kevin Whitlock, Stryker Police officer Austin Batt and his wife, as well as Bridging the Gap Ministries pastor Ryan Carter, Air Force Veteran Rick Wityk, and four family members of Heller Creations and Modifications.
The meeting began at 6 p.m. with Pastor Carter leading in prayer and Wityk leading the Pledge of Allegiance. Mayor Joe Beck adjusted the agenda to begin by instating the two who were there to be placed in new positions, Whitlock and Batt.
Council voted to approve Kevin J. Whitlock of Barber, Kaper, Stamm, McWatters, Whitlock and Maloney, LLP, as the new Village Solicitor.
Stryker Police Chief Steve Schlosser invited Officer Kevin Batt to join him up front and introduced him to council as the one person that he and Lt. Jordan Williams wanted to place in a Full-time position.
Batt has been full-time with a couple other departments and has been a great fit during his part time work with Stryker for the past two years.
“This is going to be beneficial for Stryker and our residents,” Schlosser said.“He is familiar with what we do here and is going to do great things here.”
Mayor Beck administered the oath of office to Batt and then Schlosser stated that he also wanted to give him a promotion, along with the expectations that go with being a Sergeant. Lt. Williams pinned Sergeant Austin Batt and Batt’s wife, Eliza, was invited to join the group for pictures.
Mayor Beck welcomed Heller Creations & Modifications to the meeting, which included Emmet and Vicki Heller, their son Nathan Heller and daughter Rachel Heller Kerr.
Rachel spoke first, introducing herself and the family, sharing that she is normally in the background for the business, which is a locally owned Construction Company.
“Though this entity is fairly new to our family, construction and the trades industry is not,” Rachel said.
“My dad has been pioneering this adventure with us since the early 80’s and this is what we know.” She thanked Megan Hausch (WEDCO director) for setting up this meeting with Stryker Council for them.
She and Nathan, who owns the business, explained that they have purchased some landbank properties in Stryker and are excited to bring some new home building to the village.
They recognize the need for “affordable residential housing” in Williams County and they hope to partner with Stryker to bring that to the community, to support the local workforce, the economy and school district.
Nathan Heller said they are working on bringing in new ideas with better products and better prices, with one of those being the use of ITF, insulated concrete form blocks to give better structure.
He said that with the cost of material prices right now, they feel they can bring those costs down. “We want to help your community,” he said.
“One of the biggest things that I strive for since I started the business is that I always pray that my business is blessed so that I can bless others.”
“It’s a blessing to us that we have been able to come in and work in and outside of Stryker and found availability on these lots.”
“We would like to take this blessing that we have gotten and return it back to your community.”
“We believe we can bless the people who own the homes by having something that is built with integrity by people that will back up what they do.”
“We also believe we can help all your local businesses as we purchase from them instead of the big box stores.”
Blueprints will be posted on his FB page at Heller CM when they get to the point when he can do that. They want to build to the specs of buyers, but will also consider building one and selling it after it is built.
In discussion, it became clear they have four lots on Elm St. and one lot on Curtis. They are open to building whatever size houses that buyers desire.
Nathan said they hope to get at least one house up this year. Council member Dusty Potter asked about the type of build and Nathan said they will be new builds.
Council member Dave Benner gave them high praise as someone who had done some work for him, saying they are have integrity and honesty.
It was mentioned that there has not been a new house built in Stryker since 2005. The thought that new houses will also encourage other home owners to upgrade their homes, was brought up.
Council woman Vicki Cameron said that she hopes the banks will be open to giving the loans needed. They all thanked the Hellers for coming and welcomed them to working in Stryker.
In legislative business, council voted to approve the minutes for January 17, 2022 regular meeting, for January 24, 2022 special meeting and the Finance Report for February 18, 2022.
Village Clerk, Beth Rediger, informed council that they were over in expenses but the property taxes coming in next month will move that back to the other side. Also approved were the Finance Committee minutes from January 24, 2022.
Communications discussed included:
-an EPA letter in their packets concerning the cleaning up around DoorWorks.
-Rotary meets on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month and over the years the village has had someone in attendance. It was agreed that council members would be happy to rotate that and Potter said he would attend on the 22nd, the next night.
-The updated Council/Village roster was included in the packet
-BIG TRASH PICK UP is scheduled for May 7, 2022. Village Administrator Al Riegsecker said that the list of what is and what is not allowed will be posted at the village hall. A reminder was given that it should not be put out any earlier than a week ahead of that date.
(Riegsecker pointed out that the village pays for it by the pound so it is acceptable for people to gather scrap metal or “treasures” as that makes it cheaper for the village and is better for the environment.” No One from out of town is allowed to bring it into town.
-Clarification on One Large Item pickup was given – Every 3rd Friday of the month, residents are welcome to put one item out by the street and it will get taken later in the day, by a different truck than the one that takes the trash. If not taken, call the village office.
A Proclamation designating February 2022 as Career and Technical Education month, was announced by Mayor Beck. He commented on the benefits that the workforce has due to all that the students are learning at Four County.
Rediger reminded the public that paperless billing is available and that it seems to be well accepted. She was happy to announce that there were No Shut offs last month.
Chief Schlosser, in his report, informed council that he had accepted a letter of resignation from Steve Graziani who will start his full-time position in Bray on March 7, 2022. He wished him well and said he was a great officer.
He restated how excited he is to have Austin Batt as full-time officer. They have also hired Tom Ehman as a part-time officer who has full time experience elsewhere. Since the last meeting there were 54 complaints, two traffic warnings, no citations and one adult arrest.
Riegsecker reported that the Wastewater permit checklist went well. The Water checklist is being done now.
They have a dead tree on the water tower property at the school. They will be having that removed during Spring Break which is March 14-18. The Firewood will be available.
Rediger added that they are filing for a safety grant to be reimbursed $1000 from their liability insurance, as their once-a-year reimbursement.
The broken pole hanging off the telephone line by Dollar General was brought up and Riegsecker said the village can’t do anything about it except to keep calling the telephone company.
It was agreed during discussion that it is a Safety issue and newly appointed Solicitor Kevin Whitlock said he can send a letter to the company, to push the issue.
Megan Hausch said she will be back in a few weeks with some exciting news but was happy to be there with the Hellers as they brought their good news for Stryker to the council.
She said she was there to support them. She also announced that the WEDCO annual meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 29 with a guest speaker and a Civic Pride Workshop.
Potter asked if there is a potential for a tax abatement for new builds. Hausch said that she does not think Stryker does, but they can get the info they have from the Village of Montpelier, as they do have an abatement. Potter said it would entice people to build in Stryker. He also brought up the need for multi-family housing units.
Cameron brought up a few items for consideration: She encouraged everyone to attend the birthday party for Joan Ruffer who is turning 90 and has been a big part of the life of Stryker; two designs have been turned in for the water tower; there is a need to get the junk cars and broken down cars cleaned up around town; and the need to add something for the children in town.
That discussion continued with Mayor Beck asking Potter to share his thoughts about another boat landing.
Potter said that it is great to have Knights Landing to enter the water but there is nowhere to get out farther down the river.
The idea that they could bring back more fun on the river for residents if they had another landing and if the river was cleaned out of all the log jams, were also discussed.
Potter said that Community Involvement should be encouraged for this. It was pointed out that the Springfield Park Board would need to be involved.
Council member Nick Wlasiuk said that residents have been asking him if the village employees are given evaluations.
Beck, Rediger and Schlosser all pointed out that over the years they have been done continually, as things come up, so that employees are always aware of what is required of them.
Schlosser stated, “The six council members are legislative. The mayor is the administrator. Council has no administrative authority so any complaints, on village employees, should be directed to the mayor.”
Riegsecker said that any public entity is not like a manufacturing business. They just get their job done and the department heads keep on top of how each one is doing their job. Mayor Beck said he will check into the policy and get back with them.
With no further business, council adjourned at 7:10.
Rebecca can be reached at rebecca@thevillagereporter.com
