By: Amy Wendt
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
amy@thevillagereporter.com
On January 15 Archbold Village Council met for its second regular meeting of the month with councilors Chad Kern, Kevin Eicher, Karla Ball, Vaughn Bentz, and Aaron Babcock at the table. Councilor Gary Dominique was absent. Also, present were Mayor Brad Grime, Village Administrator Donna Dettling, and Assistant VA Aaron Alt.
Upon opening the meeting, and after a moment of silence, council approved minutes from the January 2 meeting as well as bills and payroll in the amount of $709,948.49 and the financial reports for December 2023.
Before addressing any legislative items on the agenda, council heard details from a recent safety study concerning the intersection of State Route 2 (Stryker Street) and Township Road 24 (Frey Road).
In September 2023, the village contracted with DGL Consulting Engineers (DLG) to assess the busy intersection.
Village Engineer Dexter Krueger provided council with background information that led up to the safety study.
“It (the intersection) has seen its fair share of accidents. In the past couple of years, they seem to be increasing, and also traffic on that corridor also seems to be increasing.”
“With the new Dollar General, and a business or two popping up on Frey Road, we felt that we should take a look at this intersection.”
“Which, I’ll also remind council, we did take a look at this intersection back in 2020. At that time, DGL concluded that there was not enough safety concern as far as ODOT (Ohio Department of Transportation) stood – from their standpoint – to address the situation any further.”
“So, the safety study just kind of ceased after an initial review. However, with those – with the new recent changes to that intersection – that area, we contracted with DGL again to take a look at that intersection.”
Corrinne Lochtefeld of DGL then presented the draft Safety Study noting that since the firm’s initial 2020 assessment, there has been an increase in crashes at that location. According to their research, there were three crashes in 2018, six crashes in 2019, one crash in 2020, six crashes in 2021, and four crashes in 2022.
Due to an increase in the occurrence of injury crashes since the 2020 study, the village is now eligible to apply for ODOT funding to make certain improvements to that area of the roadway.
After considering crash data, traffic patterns, and speed limits in the area, the engineering firm explored various solutions to address the issue.
Their findings indicate that maintaining the intersection as it is, with no cost to the village, could lead to an expected 2.9 crashes per year. A second option explored involves maintaining the current two-way stop configuration but adding a turn lane to westbound Stryker Street, with an estimated cost of around $780,000.
This modification has the potential to reduce the expected crashes to 1.6 per year. The third and most expensive solution, priced at approximately $1,200,000, involves installing a roundabout at the location, which would significantly decrease the crash expectation to 0.7 per year.
Lochtefeld noted that changing the intersection to a four-way stop or installing a traffic signal is not warranted according to ODOT standards and would not be eligible to receive state funding.
Present in the seating area were Police Chief Leo Wixom, Fire & EMS Chief Dave Davis, and representatives from the German Township Trustees. Mayor Grime sought the opinions of both chiefs.
Chief Wixom shared he would support a roundabout in that location. Chief Davis agreed it is a problem intersection and “people are in a hurry.”
Councilor Eicher inquired about the trustees’ thoughts on the intersection, prompting one of them to respond, “We need something…as long as it’s built big enough for trucks and farm equipment.”
Lochtefeld addressed the trustee’s comments, “As roundabouts have been popping up in more rural locations, they’ve (ODOT) been setting better standards or guidelines on how to handle combines coming through and things like that so it’s definitely not an unusual situation to deal with the farm equipment.”
She further added that DGL will need to finalize its recommendations to District 2 by the beginning of March so the ODOT central office can have it by its March 31 deadline for 2027 construction funds. No action was taken by council.
After declaring an emergency, council adopted Resolution 2024-06 concerning the Fire and Emergency Protection Service Agreement for Term February 1, 2024 through January 31, 2029, between the Village of Archbold and German Township.
Council then adopted Resolution 2024-07 to accept a proposal for a 2024 Ford 250 4×4 regular cab for the Water Department after declaring an emergency.
Dettling noted that the purchase was included in the department’s 2024 budget and the total of the proposal is $51,051.59 which included a government discount of $1,600. She added that the total amount is “on par” with the state bid however they were able to purchase the vehicle locally.
A proposal for two 2024 Ford Police Inter Utility AWD Base Vehicles for the police department was also accepted with Resolution 2024-08.
The measure was passed as an emergency to accommodate the short window of time the order can be placed. The purchase of two vehicles was reflected in the 2024 budget and will bring the APD’s fleet to 11 vehicles.
In other law enforcement matters, council also accepted Resolution 2024-09 requesting that the department receive authorization to make an expenditure from the Law Enforcement Trust Fund.
Dettling pointed out that there is a policy regulating expenditures from that specific fund, emphasizing the necessity for a resolution as the expected expense is not explicitly detailed in the that policy.
Council reviewed the Park Board Packet and minutes from January 3 as well as minutes from the joint council and park board work session that took place on January 8, 2024.
Many reports were before council including the 2023 Zoning Report, the Final 2024 Appointment Worksheet, the December 2023 Fire & EMS Call Response, the Fire Chief’s Year in Review for 2023, December 2023 Police Department Calls for Service, the APD 2023 Annual Report, and the Street Department’s Labor and fleet reports for December 2023.
The next Archbold Village Council Meeting is slated for Monday, February 4, 2024, at 5:30 p.m.
