By: Bill O’Connell
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
Immediately following a meeting of the Delta Property Committee, Mayor Dan Miller called to order the meeting of the Delta Village Council on Monday, 4/4/16 at 7:00 PM. Council members in attendance were Lynn Frank, Art Thomas, Ashley Todd, Tony Dawson and Bob Gilbert. Also present were Law Director Cara Wall, Clerk of Council Stephanie Mossing, Village Administrator Brad Peebles and Chief of Police Nathan Hartstock.
Kevin Heban, Attorney at Law from the firm of Heban, Sommer and Murphree was in the audience as a visitor. After accepting the minutes from the previous meeting the Mayor Miller passed out copies of a letter he recently received from U.S. Representative Robert Latta.
It read in part, “Thank you for taking the time to meet with me on Thursday, March 31, 2016. It is important for me as your federal representative to learn first-hand the issues facing local government. I enjoyed my time in Delta with you, Village Administrator Brad Peebles and Police Chief Nathan Hartstock. As always, please let me know if I may ever be of assistance to you or the Village of Delta with any federal government matter.”
“We sat down with him for about forty-five minutes,” related Mayor Miller. “We discussed some issues from the federal side of things and I think it was well worth it.”
The council moved on to Safety Committee Report where Chief Hartstock reported the resignation of a part-time police officer who had taken a full-time position with the Village of Whitehouse. The position will be refilled.
Clerk Stephanie Mossing reported that liquor renewal permits are due on 6/1/16 and will need to get council’s approval contingent on any issues reported by Chief Hartstock. No issues have been reported as of this time.
Administrator Peebles reported that an offer has been extended to Bradley Smith for the Class I Operator position that had recently become vacant for the Water Treatment Plant. Contingent on the results of the standard drug testing requirement, Mr. Smith is expected to begin his duties the week of 4/11/16.
Sidewalk repairs were next on the agenda. Eight Village sidewalks are currently scheduled to be repaired and Administrator Peebles said there is some monies available to possibly repair more or be applied to other projects.
In old business, Mayor Miller called for a motion on the third reading of Ordinance #16-08, which provides the Village with a Director of Law, a Special Assistant Director of Law and sets the rate of compensation. At this time Councilman Gilbert called for an executive session to discuss the contract for the attorney.
After an approximately thirty-minute session the council reconvened and Councilman Gilbert made a motion to exclude or eliminate Section #5 of the ordinance. Section #5 stated “That Michelle Kranz, of the law firm of Zoll & Kranz, LLC shall be authorized as Assistant Village Law Director, and shall be the first attorney retained when the Village Law Director, or a member of his firm, requires outside counsel, subject to Ms. Kranz’s discretion.” The motion was seconded and passed unanimously. A motion to then accept the third reading of the ordinance was put forth and passed unanimously as well.
Another motion to accept the third reading of Ordinance #16-05 which called for the razing of an old bus garage generated some discussion. “Are we sure this is the best thing to do is to demolish that building?” said Councilwoman Frank. “Is it totally not usable?” Administrator Peebles responded. “By the time we go through the permitting process to get power and gas reconnected, have it inspected, and design work. At a minimum it’s going to cost us $30,000,” he cautioned. “That’s no roof repairs. If we’re going to make it usable at all, $50,000 is your starting point. The sky is the limit.”
“And if we were to reconstruct something?” Ms. Frank replied. “Well, that’s kind of what we talked about. Trying to move forward with a plan to construct something that is usable for multi-purposes,” said Mr. Peebles. There was no further discussion and the motion was passed 5-0.
Resolution #16-07, a Loan Resolution that also includes Ordinance #16-15 was also discussed. The ordinance involves the funding of improvements to the combined sewer overflow collection and treatment system by way of a loan of $4,301,000 from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Closing the loan by 6/1/16 will reduce the interest charged from 1.875% to 1.750% and result in substantial savings. A motion to accept the resolution passed unanimously.
Several other minor ordinances were accepted by the council without dissent and the meeting was adjourned at 8:30 PM.
Bill O’Connell may be reached at
publisher@thevillagereporter.com