The Fayette Village Council held their meeting on August 14th. The meeting began at 6:15 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer.
Council first moved to approve the current agenda, with the addition of an executive session. Minutes were then approved from the prior meeting held on July 24th.
The mayor’s report then followed, with the following items being discussed. Mayor Borer discussed current and upcoming local events in and around the village including the last Saturday for the farmer’s market which runs through September 28th.
Additional local events were also discussed before moving on to hear a report from the village administrator.
Bryan Excavating has been prepping the remainder of the sidewalks for the subcontractor, Smith Paving. The pouring of these remaining sidewalks and driveway approaches began Monday, August 19th.
The concrete work on the north side of town is complete. Another sub-contractor, Ebony Construction, began milling the stone base from the road trenches to the north side of the village, followed by an intermediate course in the asphalt.
Administrator Bryan Stambaugh then offered a special thank you to Mary Borer for all the hard work she put in at the park ahead of the Bullthistle Festival.
From painting the shelter house, concession stand, and even the scorer’s tower behind Diamond One.
Along with thanking Borer, he also thanked Brittany Theis, the Bullthistle committee, park directors Scott and Jared Wagner, and anyone else who played a role in making this year’s festival one of the best.
Council then moved to approve the administrator report before moving on to hear a report from the VFO.
Village Fiscal Officer Jessica Swander first thanked everyone for being patient as Karin transitioned out of the office she took over, for retirement. Swander is getting more familiar with each fund account during the month of August and will be preparing for the budget in September and getting with each department for their estimated 2025 expenditures and meeting with the County in early September.
Next, the police levy is slated to be on the ballot in November and VFO Swander looks forward to seeing this pass for the village and for the success of the police department.
Continuing, office hours have now changed. No comments or concerns have been voiced and the office seems to be running great with the new hours.
It was then stated that a lot of vendor accounts and credit accounts have previous employee names including credit cards. Without authorization, the village is not able to remove them or add current employees. This issue may be run into within the next few months so, a blanket authorization form may be used for that.
Signatories have been updated with Sherwood Bank, however, Premier Bank has not been updated yet. With the passage of the authorization and the blanket authorization form, work will be done to get those updated.
Lastly, RITA has sent out approximately 339 non-filer letters to taxpayers who failed to file their municipal income tax returns for the Village of Fayette. Taxpayers can do their return or exemption online, by mail, or by fax to RITA.
Council then moved to pay the bills in the amount of $166,160.84, before then moving to approve the VFO’s report, before moving on to hear from the police chief.
Police Chief Richard Bingham discussed local activity and the need for pay discussion for Jordan Wehrly.
Legislative actions came next, with the following items being approved by council. A motion made to remove Karin Sauerlender and add Jessica Swander to all Premier Bank Accounts, effective August 14th, 2024.
A motion made to remove Karin Sauerlender and add Jessica Swander and Bryan Stambaugh to all services including Elan Financial Credit Card and authorization to remove previous employees and issue new cards to current authorized employees effective August 14th, 2024.
A motion to approve the blanket authorization form for vendors, current credit accounts, utilities, etc. A motion to approve the 2024-2025 school resource contract with Fayette Schools.
Council then entered into executive session. Upon the council’s return, a motion was made, and approved, to increase the pay for Officer Jordan Wehrly’s pay to $25.50 per hour starting August 19th, 2024.
With no other items to attend to, the meeting was adjourned at 7:32 p.m.