(PHOTO BY AMY WENDT / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
PAY-TO-PLAY … At the August 5 Archbold Village Council meeting, legislation was passed requiring pay-to-play and travel teams not affiliated with the village or Archbold Area Schools to obtain a permit and pay a rental fee to use village-owned ballparks.
By: Amy Wendt
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
amy@thevillagereporter.com
On Monday, August 5, Archbold Village Council convened at its temporary meeting location, the Scout Cabin in Ruihley Park.
The council table was full with Gary Dominique, Chad Kern, Kevin Eicher, Karla Ball, Vaughn Bentz, and Aaron Babcock present. Also in attendance were Mayor Brad Grime, Village Administrator Donna Dettling, and Assistant Village Administrator Aaron Alt.
At the beginning of the meeting, Mayor Brad Grime opened the floor for public participation. During this time, Archbold resident Greg Beck addressed the council to express his concern about the growing number of stray cats in the village.
Beck mentioned that in his neighborhood, which consists of five houses, none of the residents own cats. However, they have had issues with cats leaving waste and urinating on their properties and throughout the area.
After consulting with the police chief, Beck researched possible places to take cats caught in live traps but discovered that the Humane Society no longer accepts them due to resource constraints.
Beck asked council, “So, what do we do with these cats? I mean, you require people to license their dogs, to leash their dogs, keep the dogs on their property, and if they don’t, they can get a ticket. These cats are everywhere.”
Councilor Kern added, “I think we really need to look at this and change the ordinance a little bit to make it so there’s procedures. You know – about three or four years ago we had a major cat problem in our neighborhood.”
“I trapped them, I took them to a farmer north out by Fayette and he took them all. And they’re starting to come back again. So, it’s an ongoing issue. But I think we need to get some resolution.”
Both Village Administrator Dettling and Assistant Administrator Alt agreed that the issue needed to be looked into. They plan to research existing laws addressing the problem and determine what further actions to take.
Beck then shifted to another issue he wanted to discuss with the Council: recent talks about modifying legislation governing golf carts and other slow-moving and utility vehicles. The potential modification includes changing the law to permit carts to cross the Brush Creek bridge.
In previous council meetings, there was also discussion of exploring the option to construct a designated bridge for slow-moving vehicles to cross Brush Creek. “Do we really want to spend a lot of money on a bridge for a golf cart?” Beck inquired.
Mayor Grime responded that there are not currently any plans to build a bridge. However, if the bridge option was pursued, the village could look into obtaining a grant to fund the construction.
Grime also added that such a bridge could potentially accommodate both slow-moving vehicles and pedestrians.
Councilor Eicher, member of the Streets and Sidewalks Committee, explained to Beck that residents have been requesting changes to permit slow-moving vehicles to cross Brush Creek for nearly 10 years.
He clarified that the village must adhere to Ohio’s speed limits, which in some areas are too high for safe slow-moving vehicles to travel southward on State Route 66.
The village is kicking around possible solutions and is currently waiting on decisions from the State of Ohio regarding relevant laws which has put a hold on their progress.
After addressing public comments, Mayor Grime opened the floor to Parks and Recreation director Jen Kidder who introduced the newest employee joining her department. Brian Grime has been named as the new Parks Recreation Program Specialist for the village.
Council then moved on to legislation concerning Kidder’s department and following a declaration of emergency approved Ordinance 2024-39 to amend Archbold Codified Ordinance Chapter 93 that establishes regulations for the use of ball fields.
The newly adopted measure requires a rental fee for pay-to-play or travel teams to use village-owned ballparks for tournaments.
Upon payment, the organization will receive a permit, which must be kept on hand while using the field. Programs affiliated with the village or Archbold Area Schools will be exempt from this new requirement.
Kidder clarified that the move is not to discourage the use of the ball fields by the public, but merely serves to offset the additional maintenance costs incurred by the village when pay-to-play or travel teams use the facilities.
“We are seeing a lot more wear and tear. We are seeing games being hosted at our facility without us having any prior knowledge of that and people making money off of our facilities in turn causing us additional work. So, we’re just trying to put an end to that. We did put a policy in place last year, late last year.”
“And we are not trying to discourage use of the fields at all. We want people to come. We want families to go out and play ball with their kids.”
“We want kids to go up and, you know, get a pickup game together. But it isn’t realistic for us to be expected to maintain these fields for a private organization to come in and charge money to families and that money be kept by that organization and not be put into our fields at all,” Kidder explained.
Councilor Dominique asked Kidder if the new changes would also apply to church groups using the ball fields and Kidder clarified that if it is for a tournament and the fields must be prepared, then they would also be required to obtain a permit.
Council adopted minutes from its July 15, 2024 meeting and also approved the July 2024 financial reports and the payment of $487,269.71 in bills and payroll.
Moving through the remainder of the agenda, council reviewed the committee and board minutes of the July 15 Street & Sidewalk Committee meeting and the Finance Committee meeting of July 26.
Tackling a long list of reports, Council then reviewed the HR Report regarding the promotion of Luke Grime to Assistant Water Superintendent, the HR Report for hiring Brian Grime as Parks Recreation Program Specialist, the Income Tax Receipts for July 2024 showing a 14% overall increase, the Investment Report for July 2024, the Water Department’s TTHM 3rd Quarter 2024 Report, Fire & EMS Call Response July 2024, Police Department Call for Service July 2024, and Street Department Labor & Fleet Report July 2024.
Zoning Inspector Grant Schaffner was on hand to briefly discuss his Zoning Report Semi-annual 2024. “We’re ahead of pace from last year. We’re at 65 total permits this year. Last year we finished with 87.”
“The vacant property registry is coming along. We’ve got three with four properties registered. The fourth one is pending right now, and we have an exemption that we’re working on.”
He also noted that ConAgra and Blank Swamp will be adding to their respective operations this year.
Schaffner continued, “We just recently started the implementation phase of a new online permitting process.”
“So, the hope is, within the next month and a half to get that fully up and running, put on the website, and go online for everything, for all the permit needs.”
Speaking on his Engineering Project Status Report July 2024, Village Engineer Dexter Krueger was on hand to offer status updates on outstanding 2023 projects including the Municipal Building Renovation and Splash Pad.
Moving on to 2024 projects, Krueger noted that the West Mechanic and Sidewalk Project is about 60% complete.
He anticipates that work on the Wetlands on Lutz Road may begin as soon as the first week of August. The West Barr Road Waterline Project is slated to begin in September of this year.
The next Archbold Village Council Meeting will be held on Monday, August 19, 2024, at 5:30 p.m.