By: Jesse Davis
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jesse@thevillagereporter.com
Confusion surrounding the status of a resolution amending the rules governing Delta’s park board ended in a vote to pass it during Monday evening’s meeting of the Delta Village Council.
At the end of business before adjourning the meeting, councilman Chad Johnson requested the council have a second hearing for Resolution 12-2024, making changes to the park board’s establishing resolution in order to give it final approval prior to the board’s next meeting.
Johnson said he believed it had only been given a first reading, while Law Director Kevin Heban said it had been adopted as amended and passed on an emergency basis at the prior meeting, which several council members agreed with.
However, the resolution appears to have never been heard in the first place, not appearing on the agenda for the prior hearing nor anywhere in the recording of the meeting.
The prior resolution (Resolution 11-2024) had been heard at the meeting in question, and earlier in the Monday evening meeting the council heard the subsequent resolution (Resolution 13-2024).
Based on Heban’s comments and the supporting comments by council, it is likely they confused the resolution with Ordinance 22-2024, which made changes to the Delta Municipal Code regarding the planning commission, which was amended and passed on an emergency basis at the prior meeting.
The council waited while Assistant Finance Director Marlena Allwood left to check whether it had been given final approval. She returned and said it had not.
In the confusion to get it passed, the council first voted to amend the agenda to add the hearing, then to amend the resolution to include the clause allowing it to be passed on an emergency basis, then to approve final passage.
This process skipped the necessary vote to suspend the rules allowing for it to be passed on an emergency basis, which they did not hold, instead choosing to consider the final passage vote to actually be a vote on suspending the rules despite not including any of that verbiage when they voted, before voting again for final approval.
A copy of the resolution provided to The Village Reporter by Allwood (who forwarded it from Law Director Kevin Heban) did not yet have a resolution number attached, and she did not respond to the question of whether the council had in fact ever heard the resolution previously as of the time of publication.
The lack of a prior hearing would not affect its passage on an emergency basis Monday. The resolution amended Resolution 23-02 – originally passed on final reading at the council’s Feb. 20, 2023 meeting – which established the park board, its membership structure, and operating guidelines. It is unclear what part of the new resolution differs from the original, but it stipulates the following:
-The park board shall consist of at least five voting members recommended by the mayor and ratified by council for five-year terms staggered in such a way that one would expire each year.
-A quorum consisting of a simple majority must be present to conduct business.
-On the third Wednesday of every February, the board shall meet to elect a chair, vice chair, and secretary.
-All records kept by the secretary are open to the public and subject to executive session statutes of the Ohio Revised Code.
-Regular monthly meetings shall be held from March through October totaling at least nine meetings per year.
-Additional meetings must have the time, date, and location advertised at least 24 hours in advance
LOAN TO BE DEOBLIGATED
Council members voted to allow a $3.2 million USDA loan to be deobligated after agreeing it could not afford the payments nor complete the project within the required timeline.
Interim Village Administrator Edward Ciecka told the council he didn’t see room in the budget for the Fernwood Project – for which the loan was approved – and that he didn’t feel comfortable recommending it be pursued.
Ciecka said he was told by a USDA representative that refusing the funds would not hurt future funding applications from the village, and that similar situations were a regular occurrence.
POLICE STAFFING SHORTAGE
The Delta Police Department is facing another officer shortage after one of its four full-time officers is going back on sick leave indefinitely. The department will again contract a Fulton County Sheriff’s Office deputy to provide needed shift coverage.
The council also approved Interim Police Chief Sgt. Drew Walker’s request to switch part-time officer Robert Lehman to full-time after part-time officer Nathan Hartsock, the former Delta chief of police and one of three part-time officers, resigned from the department effective October 30.
Walker reported the filling of the now-empty part-time officer position will be left up to the future chief. He said he was unsure whether the position should be filled.
Full staffing would be seven full-time and two part-time officers. Contract negotiations are currently ongoing with Columbus Police Department officer Samuel Chappel to be the department’s new police chief.
OTHER BUSINESS
After voting to hire Neil Tedrow as the new street department superintendent at its last meeting, the council voted to set his pay at $31 per hour. Tedrow was previously employed as the superintendent of public service operations for the Village of Swanton.
Ciecka reported bids on village refuse service will be received by November 8, with at least two bidders expected and a recommendation for awarding a contract brought at the next council meeting.
The council authorized an expenditure of up to $300 for a retirement open house for longtime employee Bob Cass at the Delta Eagles #2597 on Thursday, November 14 from 3 to 6 p.m.
The council approved on second reading an annual agreement with Fulton County to provide court representation to indigent defendants.
The next regular meeting of the Delta Village Council will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, November 18, at 401 Main Street in Delta.