(PHOTO BY AMY WENDT / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
MAKING PROGRESS … After more than a year, Archbold Municipal Building renovations are nearly complete with inspectors scheduled to conduct a walk-through by the end of the month. If approved, council may soon hold meetings in the newly renovated chambers.
By: Amy Wendt
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
amy@thevillagreporter.com
Archbold Village Council met on Monday, September 16, 2024, at the Ruihley Park Scout Cabin for its second regular meeting of the month with Gary Dominique, Kevin Eicher, Karla Ball, Vaughn Bentz, and Aaron Babcock at the table while Councilor Chad Kern was absent. Mayor Brad Grime and Village Administrator Aaron Alt sat in on behalf of the village’s admin team.
Upon recommendation of the Finance Committee, council adopted Resolution 2024-45 approving a 3% base rate wage for village employees in 2025. The village administrator also noted that the health insurance renewal premium for 2025 at 8.4% had also been accepted.
In housekeeping matters, a motion was made to approve council’s meeting schedule for 2025. Meetings are scheduled for the first and third Monday of each month at 5:30 p.m. unless the date falls on a holiday.
On another motion, Trick-or-Treat in the village was set for Thursday, October 31, 2024, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Council heard the first of three readings on Ordinance 2024-43. If passed, the legislation would eliminate the village’s current Board of Zoning Appeals and Planning Commission consolidating them into a new planning commission with expanded authority.
On behalf of Zoning Inspector Grant Schaffner, Alt offered some background on the proposed change. “Grant’s not here, but this has been something that he started undertaking after discussion about the topic over the years.”
“We’ve drafted the legislation to – it would basically dismember the two separate boards and create one Planning Commission which has the dual authority to grant the variances for the zoning side of it, but then also to do with what the planning commission side of it does, which is site plans, conditional use approvals, recommendations to council.”
“So, it really will be a nice transition to have. One stop. Somebody can come – if they’ve got a site plan that they need approved with some conditions of a variance, they can have all that done on the same night, as opposed to ‘come back next month for your variances because we’ve identified this.’ So, it will streamline just that whole process for people.”
Alt added that the consolidation makes sense, especially in the village’s situation, where there may only be one or two variances a year, unlike larger communities that see multiple variances each month. The merging of the two entities would also make finding and training volunteers to serve on the board much easier.
Mayor Brad Grime noted that initially, five members will be appointed to the newly formed commission and they “will see how it goes” before adding additional members.
“In my opinion eliminating the one (board) and consolidating – it’s less government, a little more efficient. It makes sense,” Mayor Grime added.
Addressing another legislative item, council approved Resolution 2024-44 authorizing the transfer of money from the General Fund to the Cemetery and Paramedic/EMS funds. Alt added that the resolution is a housekeeping matter that council approves annually.
Bills and payroll in the amount of $921,492.53 and the August 2024 financial reports were also approved.
Additional items before council to review included the September 12 Finance Committee minutes and the HR report regarding the promotion of Steve Mignin to Parks Maintenance Manager. Department heads submitted August 2024 reports to council, which included the Police Department’s Calls for Service, the Fire & EMS Call Report, and the Street Department’s Labor & Fleet Report.
Before adjourning, Mayor Grime shared that he hopes to have the next Council meeting at the newly renovated chambers in the Municipal Building.
Alt shared that he has been in contact with the contractors and inspectors are expected to perform a walk-through to issue occupancy on the building on September 30.
The next Archbold Village Council Meeting is slated for Monday, October 7, 2024.