PHOTO BY JESSE DAVIS / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
DOUBLE DUTY … Police Chief Samuel Chappell attends the most recent meeting of the Delta Village Council, his first since being selected to serve a dual role as the village’s interim village administrator.
By: Jesse Davis
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jesse@thevillagereporter.com
Police Chief Samuel Chappell has hit the ground running in his added responsibilities as Delta’s interim village administrator. Chappell appeared in both roles at the most recent meeting of the Delta Village Council, filling the role recently vacated after former Administrator Chris Frazer and the village mutually parted ways in recent weeks.
During the meeting, Chappell was able to provide new information regarding several pieces of business that appear to have been either left unclear or overlooked entirely by Frazer.
Top among continuing business was a change order for the Bunting Bearings property demolition which increased the cost of work by Advanced Excavating and Demolition from the original $78,000 quote to $237,000.
Chappell and Finance Director Joanne Clapp reported the change order was anticipated from the very beginning and would have affected the project regardless of which contractor was chosen.
The reason for the anticipated change order was a lack of clarity at the time quotes were submitted as to how much concrete was actually on site.
The selected contractor was chosen because its quote per ton of concrete was the lowest. Chappell and Clapp were unable to determine why the information had not been previously explained to council members.
The pair also confirmed the costs to the village are capped at the $240,000 amount of grant funding secured for the project, with $2.4 million covered by a brownfield grant obtained by the Fulton County land bank and $229,000 being covered by Bunting Bearings.
Once the village’s grant funding is expended, they said, the village will have no responsibility or liability for the property until all demolition and soil remediation is completed and the property returned to village ownership.
Based on the clarification, council members voted to remove the change order from the table and approve it on an emergency basis.
Chappell reported that he and other staff recently became aware that Frazer had not pursued cheaper alternatives for the customer supply electric generation aggregation program.
Due to the late timing of their own outreach, the only option was to move forward with renewal of the agreement with the Northwest Ohio Aggregation Coalition (NOAC) in the short term. The program offers residents who opt in a fixed electric utility rate of 9.6 cents per kilowatt hour of usage.
Without approving the agreement, residents who would rather use the program would be forced to use a variable rate option beginning in May when the current agreement expires.
Clapp said she spoke with another provider who told her it was too late to pursue using their program and recommended the village renew the NOAC agreement and contact them again before it expired again.
Chappell said he could at a minimum try to negotiate the renewal down from a 25-month contract to something closer to a year, allowing the village to pursue potentially cheaper options in the fall.
“This one kind of unfortunately … fell by the wayside a little bit,” Chappell said, later adding “it’s kind of our goal after this contract we’ll make sure that we’re getting the best deal possible whether it’s through them or somebody else.” Council members voted to authorize, on an emergency basis, Mayor Allen Naiber and Clapp to enter into the agreement.
Chappell also reported there were problems with a recent vote by the council to abandon an alley that was not being maintained by the village. According to Chappell, the properties were not correctly identified in the ordinance, and the county auditor’s office refused to accept the village’s filing.
The council will now have to pass a corrected ordinance at a future meeting. Clapp said Frazer provided the information to the village’s legal representation for the drafting of the original ordinance.
Chappell gave an update on the results of a speed study completed as part of an effort to add a speed buffer zone between the 50- and 25-mile-per-hour zones on the village’s west side.
He said completion of the study and the support of its results by the Ohio Department of Transportation have resulted in several changes. Included is the adjustment of overlapping 50- and 55-mile-per-hour zones split between eastbound and westbound traffic in that area to match at 50, adjusting the section from County Road 10 to the viaduct to 50 miles per hour, and adjusting the section from County Road F/G to Adrian Street to 45 miles per hour. The study also resulted in the sign warning eastbound traffic of the speed changing to 25 being moved closer to the actual speed change.
Chappell got the go-ahead from council to pursue a grant to cover 90 percent of the $280,000 cost of adding a second crosswalk with a pedestrian hybrid beacon at the intersection of Main Street and Monroe Street.
He said they would find out whether the village would be awarded the grant this year and could reapply if they were not successful with the initial application.
Chappell also reported on several efforts he, other village staff, council members, and volunteers have undertaken to improve the general operations of the village.
He said staff are working on a zero- to 10-year plan for rolling village equipment upgrades and replacement so they can be budgeted for in advance and so council members will know about upcoming expenses ahead of time. He expects that plan to be completed within the next two months.
Chappell created a pair of new committees including a grant committee to ensure no grant opportunities are missed that could defray costs throughout village operations and to support work to maintain compliance for any grants that are obtained.
The second is a records committee to update the records retention policies of the village, including adding policies related to media records retention covering things like emails. Chappell also said he has tasked the Planning Commission with updating a now 19-year-old growth plan for the village.
After receiving clarification on pricing from Public Utilities Superintendent Jammie Flores, council members voted to authorize the purchase of a new jet vacuum truck at a cost of $579,000.
Flores reported the cost to rent a truck would be $15,500 a month, adding up to $186,000 per year for as long as the village rented the equipment.
She estimated the cost to outsource the work to another business with their own truck would be approximately $94,311, or $660,000 by the time a new truck purchased by the village would already be paid off.
That amount only included regularly scheduled work and not any unexpected work, which occurs on a semi-regular basis. The cost to outsource would also continue for as long as the work was contracted out.
Flores said the current truck is nearing complete failure, having been purchased new by the county in 1999 before being bought from the county by the village roughly seven years ago.
She said that, despite being kept in a heated garage, the truck had failed to start that morning. The truck is used by multiple departments, and among its many purposes, it is used to reach water lines to check if they contain lead.
Flores said the village currently has three identified lead lines, with a further 658 lines still unchecked. Council members had previously requested the truck cost details from Frazer, who had not yet provided them.
Council members approved on an emergency basis a resolution establishing pro-housing policies as part of the requirements for a Residential Economic Development District Program grant for which the village already applied.
The required policy statement includes, among other positions, increasing total housing, preserving affordable housing, and reducing residential permitting timelines.
Councilman Kyle Comers cast the sole dissenting vote on each of the votes to remove the measure from the table, to suspend the rules to pass it as an emergency, and on passage of the resolution.
Council members approved on second reading transfers from the general fund of $1.1 million to the Fulton County water operating fund and $600,000 to the police fund. The transfers are being made for clarity in financial statements, to separate expenses for those purposes from the general fund. Both amounts were included in the 2026 village budget.
Council members approved on second reading an ordinance allowing the sale of a surplus 2009 Chrysler Town and Country minivan.
Council members approved on first reading an exemption authorizing the renewal of farmland in the agricultural district.
Council members voted to authorize Chappell to obtain a quote from the Rural Community Assistance Program to complete a water rate study.
Council members voted to authorize a payment of $7,425 to The Mannik and Smith Group for a previously completed traffic study.
Council members voted to authorize a payment of $23,601.68 from the wastewater fund for a blower assembly to replace one that failed in December. Flores said the timing of the failure made it impossible for her to include the expense in her budget for 2026, necessitating the vote on the expense.
Council members voted to authorize the installation of new doors in one of the park bathrooms that currently has none, at a total cost of $7,620 for materials and labor.
The next regular meeting of the Delta Village Council will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, March 2, at 401 Main Street in Delta.