(PHOTO BY JESSIE DAVIS / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
A Q&A QUEUE … Many residents attended Monday’s meeting of the Delta Village Council, several of whom had questions and hard words for the council.
By: Jesse Davis
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jesse@thevillagereporter.com
A trio of residents addressed the Delta Village Council at its meeting Monday, raising issues from a massive bill due to a water leak to concerns about the still unfilled police chief and village administrator positions.
First to speak was a woman who reported to the council that she had suffered a water leak on her side of the water meter that, due to readings only occurring monthly, had led to her receiving a bill for $737.14.
She produced documentation showing her average usage was roughly $70, and said she was on a fixed income.
Further, she said the incident came on the heels of a sewer line break in a village line that saturated her entire yard and left her crawlspace full of water for some time.
She indicated that the person from the village who came to look at that issue initially told her to “prove it” when she said it was the village’s pipe.
Because the water that leaked from her line poured directly into the ground and did not go into the sewer (which was eventually repaired by the village), council member Robert Shirer recommended they waive the sewer fees related to the water usage, which accounted for roughly half the amount.
The utilities office is also going to put the remainder on a 12-month payment plan. A resolution to approve the waiver will be brought to the council at a future meeting.
The second person who spoke questioned several actions of the council and alleged behaviors of the council, but in particular questioned council member Daphne Demaline regarding potential conflicts of interest regarding her husband Matt Demaline, who is the village’s assistant street superintendent.
Demaline stated that if anything came up for a vote which impacted her husband’s job, she would recuse herself from the vote, and that it had always been her intention to do so.
The man also questioned council member Chad Johnson regarding his work on the park board and his allegedly pursuing multimillion-dollar plans.
Johnson stated that village residents had been surveyed three times in some form or another regarding the parks, and that the repeated result had been that ongoing development was desired.
He said the park board was pursuing development of some kind of long-term plan, whether it be a five-year plan or a 25-year plan.
He said requesting quotes for the work did not cost anything but did report that they had received an estimate of just over $6,000 for surveys and drawings, an amount that included a 50 percent discount.
Johnson added that such work had to be completed in order to apply for other funding, such as grants. The council ended up approving the estimate, provided by DGL Consulting Engineers.
The cost will be paid through the park capital improvements fund, which includes $15,000 budgeted for work in 2024.
A third resident asked for an update on the open police chief and village administrator positions.
She was told that the deadline had passed for resumes to be submitted for police chief and that one would hopefully be hired shortly, and that the village administrator position had been posted with a deadline of September 6 for resumes to be submitted.
OTHER BUSINESS
Interim Village Administrator Edward Ciecka reported two applications had been filed and were still pending for cleanup work at the Bunting Bearing property, and that the County Road 9 lift station was again functional.
Council approved on an emergency basis a consulting agreement with the Northwest Ohio Aggregation Committee to negotiate with national utilities.
The council authorized the village administrator to pay Delta’s share of the Fulton County engineer’s County Road H reconstruction project, an amount of roughly $55,000, or approximately 8 percent of the project total. The funds had already been encumbered, only requiring authorization to be spent.
The council ended the meeting by going into executive session “for the purpose of a conference with law director concerning disputes involving the public body that are the subject of pending or imminent court action.” No action was expected as a result of the session.
The next regular meeting of the Delta Village Council will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, August 19 at 401 Main Street in Delta.