The Metamora Village Council held their meeting on Monday, November 7th. The meeting began at 7:00 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Council first moved to approve the minutes from the previous meeting held on October 17th along with the reading of bills.
Moving to old business, quotes have been looked into regarding insurance for new employees. It was stated that joining a Chamber of Commerce that has insurance would be the cheapest way of getting insurance.
Council moved to pass Ordinance 2022-19 establishing a health insurance program for the village employees through The Wauseon Chamber of Commerce, with a health insurance premium of $508.00 a month for both employees.
The village will pay 75% of the cost and the employee will pay 25% of the cost. Dental and vision is offered with 100% of the fees paid by the employee.
A bio of the village, with a picture of council members and village workers was created. It was given to the Metamora Chamber of Commerce for them to feature on Facebook in the future.
A discission took place regarding work being done to get an infrastructure grant for repairs to Mill Street. In new business, work has been getting done with Shannon Shulters to redesign the village website.
A quote was received at $100 an hour for 8 hours for the redesign and $100 for 2 hours to work with the office staff in order to make the updates in house.
There is an invoice for the current designer/manager at a cost of $420.00. It was decided to pay the current invoice of $420.00 and to enter into contract with Shannon Shulters of S2 Branding and Marketing for $1,000.00.
The organization and clean-up of old office records was then discussed. It was decided to budget $4,500.00 for someone to perform records retention at $15.00 an hour.
Cheryl Mann was selected to start working on retention for 1 to 2 days a week at 6 hours a day. Council also discussed purchasing new furniture for the village office.
It was suggested a purchase be made for a desk, bookcase and 2 filing cabinets. A motion was made to spend $1,335.00 on new office furniture as soon as possible.
Council then moved to suspend the rules and approve Ordinance 2022-17 authorizing the mayor and fiscal officer to execute an amendment to a contract between the Fulton County Board of Commissioners and the Village of Metamora and declaring an emergency.
Council also moved to approve Ordinance 2022-18 for a technical services contract between the Fulton County Commissioners and the Village of Metamora to do sewer billing retroactive from 2009.
Discussions then took place regarding the purchase of a new fuel gas tank for the small engine equipment. Planning has also started for the Christmas parade.
Mr. Torrence from Evergreen will have their 3rd, 4th and 5th grade choir sing before the parade. Refreshments will be served after the parade at the fire hall.
Decorations will be put up during the week of the 21st and the Christmas tree will be put up that week or the following week.
Glow necklaces have been purchased for the kids and candy has been approved for the parade, along with candy canes for the fire department where Santa will be.
Moving to the fiscal officers report, two employees are interested in getting their pesticide license. Testing will take place in February, March and April of 2023 in Wauseon.
The price of testing is set at $35.00 each. Council moved to allow each of them to test for the license.
Repairs have been made to some sidewalks in town. Most of the repairs have been done to fix issues with sidewalks that stem from the sewer.
It was decided that funds to pay for the repairs will come from the sewer fund. Meetings have been attended with the Fulton County Planning Commission.
The recommendation was made to work with the chamber in order to help improve the appearance of the town for outside businesses to help the village grow.
Discussions then followed regarding the fall event next year. It was decided to hold the event on October 14th and that a catchy name needs to be decided on.
It was then stated that Solicitor Kevin Whitlock needs to draft an ordinance in reference to the 2nd meter sewer credits.
A letter will be posted on resident’s doors when the meters are read stating they can contact the office for their credit information.
A topic of a wish list was then brought up with council being asked to have the list submitted by December 5th.
Council then entered into executive session at 8:18 p.m. in regard to real estate.
Council returned from session at 8:23 p.m. with no action taken before moving to adjourn at 8:25 p.m.