LOAD MANAGEMENT DEVICE … Edgerton Village Administrator Dawn Fitzcharles brought a Load Management device to show to Council members so they would know exactly what will be getting removed all over town for the next few years. Back in 1999 Edgerton entered into an agreement for these electric load management devices. The contract went through 2005, when it expired, but most of the devices were not removed from each of the homes or buildings. Some have been removed because they stopped working, and now they have a plan to have at least 50 per year removed at a cost of no more than $7500 per year. She recommended and Council approved a professional company to do the job as it is very detailed work. Some of the devices are wired inside and some outside, but all need specific un wiring done to remove them. Once they are removed, the Village will need to dispose of them, but how to do that will be decided at a later date. Fitzcharles explained that the technology is obsolete so there is no way to make them work once they stop working. She also said that she feels it is the village’s responsibility to get them removed as it was the village that had them installed. The number they will be able to get removed each year will be determined by how much it costs for each one to be taken out. Fitzcharles said she was assured it would not cost more than $150 each. (PHOTO BY REBECCA MILLER, STAFF)
By: Rebecca Miller
With five council members present for the Tuesday night, March 2, 2021 meeting of the Edgerton Village Council, Village Administrator Dawn Fitzcharles covered a large number of topics.
Mayor Bob Day shared that in February, Stephen Smith came from Frost Brown and Todd and did a live training for the Council that he normally does for new council members.
It was a Power Point presentation to help the council members have a better understanding of some specific areas.
Following the approval of the minutes for the February 18 regular meeting and the February 25 Special meeting, Fitzcharles took time to explain each of the legislative items in the agenda before council approved each one. Council voted to approve:
•Motion to approve agreement for Design, Technical Specifications, Contractual documents, Project Administration and Weld observations with Dixon Engineering and Inspection, out of Lafayette, Indiana. (This has to do with the Water Tower Rehabilitation. Both towers underwent inspection and Fitzchales listed all that needs to be done to the towers.
•Motion to approve agreement with AMP (American Municipal Power) for Key Account Services ( Since 2000 the village has participated in a program to gain cost savings for the larger businesses in town. This continues that, in a new program with AMP for the top eleven businesses.)
•Motion to approve updates to Electric and Water Exhibit A ( adding meter pans to be kept in stock for a flat rate of $200)
•Motion to approve agreement for Load Management device removal
•Motion to approve Agreement with Siemens. (The Fire alarm system was installed in 2012 with Siemens. Some of the care has been done by the village crew. Presently the sensor in the boiler room needs to be repaired. Their nearest technician is out of Cleveland. She wants to set up a contract for yearly maintenance as it costs less than emergency calls to them. It will cost $1824 per year.)
•Village of Edgerton Resolution #2021-001 A Resolution to implement a program to assist Low Income Edgerton Utilities Customers with their basic needs through NOCAC (Northwest Ohio Community Action Coalition) and declaring it an emergency.
(Fitzcharles explained that as there have been people stopping by the office to give utility donations to assist those in need, they checked into NOCAC opportunities.
A Preliminary Agreement with NOCAC called the Edgerton Cares Fund, with the name chosen through Social media, has been set up. It will be administered through NOCAC for households that are up to 225% of federal poverty guidelines.
The maximum yearly assistance amount is $500 per household for electric, water, sewer, storm, bills, penalties, reconnection charges and may even be used for Rent or Mortgage assistance.
She is assembling a Fund Raising Campaign and there are some donors who have already signed on. There are donation forms for donors to send the money straight to NOCAC.
Mayor Day mentioned that when people want to pay for a specific household’s bill, they can still do that at the village office. Otherwise all donations should go to NOCAC with the form that designates it for the Edgerton Cares Fund.
It was clarified that if changes need to be made, the council can make those and send the new guidelines to NOCAC. They will be sending a monthly report to council.)
•Authorization to hire a part time probationary general laborer. (At the Jan. 19 council meeting council gave authority to advertise to hire for a new part time general laborer for streets, parks, water, sewer, and electric, with the pay not to exceed $29 an hour.
Council voted to approve hiring Stacy Pelland, II at $13 per hour. Pelland has six years military experience, an engineering degree at NSCC, is certified, and moved to Edgerton within the past year.)
In her Administrator’s report Fitzcharles informed council that many projects are under way and will soon have items on agenda. The first one was the water tower.
She has started the first round of interviews for the open street position and hopes to present a candidate at the next meeting. She is still looking for Safe Route volunteers. Right now there are 16 but she would like to have more village residents sign up.
Fitzcharles commended fiscal officer Denice Knecht for all her hard work getting the Hinkel Statement, or financial report, completed. When they do the audit they will audit that report.
It is a public document so is available for inspection. Also, shout out to electric crew for quick response on Sunday when there was a power outage.
An Update on one of the Capital appropriations, was next, being the truck replacement purchase which has been made. It is a 2020 Dodge Ram truck and chassis for $33,962 through a dealer in Archbold. They will get a service bed installed when they find one.
Seven of the nine lift stations are operational, with the SCADA program (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition). They are trying to see if they can get the last two up and running.
On March 11 the village is holding a webinar with large customers who might have the capacity to curtail 100 KW or more during an electric grid emergency.
The regional transmission organization will pay them for being part of the program and it is an additional revenue resource with relatively low risk.
The LMI study (Low to Middle Income) is not complete. There are a number of people who have not returned their studies. It has two questions and they are going to try to get everyone to respond over the next three to four weeks.
It is extremely important “so we can find out if the village has LMI areas. It is really helpful to know for a number of reasons,” she said. With the issues going on with the USPS, they are planning to go door to door and get them done, as it is due in May. Mayor wants to get it done by the end of this month.
Knecht informed council that the monthly financials are done. She thanked Fitzcharles for assistance with the Audit, which she said will be soon. Council voted to pay the bills.
During Council Discussion, Councilman Tom Karnes asked if Fitzcharles had met with Metallink and she said they are scheduled to meet on March 12, 2021.
When asked if they have “revisited CRA (Community Reinvestment Area), she explained that council did pass a CRA for the village.
They are now looking at one to cover everything, a CRA #4. Tom said their were “holes” in the one the Council had approved. Fitzecharles replied,
“We met with Mr. Walker (Village Attorney Chris Walker) and he is going to draft legislation and get a map. This will be a whole new amendment for a new geographic area.”
Karnes asked Walker, “Did you like the terms or the info in line for CRA? Was it straight forward?”
Walker said it looked good to him and that he will be bringing it to Council for discussion for the parameters. “The existing ones are fine but we can look at it, with limits,” he explained.
Before Adjourning, Council went into an Executive Session to discuss the employment and compensation of a Public Employee.
Rebecca can be reached at publisher@villagereporter.com