PHOTO BY JOHN FRYMAN / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
HEALTH INSURANCE INCREASE … Montpelier Village Council members Heather Freese (left) and Don Schlosser (right) discuss the health insurance plan for village employees at the council meeting on Monday, October 27.
By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
The Village of Montpelier will be seeing an increase in health insurance costs for the upcoming year, as discussed at its council meeting on Monday, October 27.
Council members in attendance were Don Schlosser, Melissa Ewers, Kevin Motter, Nathan Thompson, and Heather Freese, with Chris Kannel being absent. Also in attendance were Mayor Steve Yagelski, Clerk of Council Molly Collert, Law Director Robert Bohmer, Finance Director Nikki Uribes, and Village Manager Jason Rockey.
After the roll call, Pastor Janice Desterhaft of First Presbyterian Church of Montpelier gave the prayer, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Council approved the meeting agenda for October 27 as well as the minutes from the October 13 council meeting and the October 20 budget meeting.
Health care insurance will be going up beginning in 2026, as the village saw an increase of 39 percent of its own share of the cost.
Currently, the village is paying a total of $623,808 in health insurance, but it will go up to $868,968, which is an increase of $245,159 from 2025 to 2026. The estimated monthly premium cost will be $71,324.
The village will continue with Anthem as its primary health insurance carrier. It also features a PPO/HSA Opt E9 plan with a Blue Access Network.
“We did have two other proposals, but they were not competitive,” said Uribes. “This enabled us to stay with Anthem and take the 39 percent increase. We tried that last year when our Paramount increase was 37 percent.”
“Then we chose to switch with Anthem for an 18 percent increase last year. We’re getting one year’s worth of savings on it. Hopefully, this won’t be this high, but we don’t know.”
Council approved a list of items that are going into the village auction to be held in November. Local auctioneer John Dye will be in charge of conducting the auction.
Among the items to be auctioned off are bicycles, various motor vehicles, tables, chairs, tools, and wall-mounted air conditioning systems.
Council heard a presentation from Rockey regarding the purchase of a new street roller for the street department, which is a 2025 budgeted expense.
“The vehicle is very old, but does have a little bit of value,” said Rockey. “We’d like to trade it back in, but we also have a 1970s road grader that’s been occupying the stall at the street department in the shop for a long, long time.
“We thought we would put it in the auction, so we drove it from the street department down to the impound. Then the company said they would take it on trade on the new roller.
“And the quote was higher than what we figured we could get at auction. We did some research on what these go for. The $6,000 they were offering us was higher than any public auction.”
Rockey then made a motion to the council to suspend the rules and pass the resolution to purchase the new street roller with the trade-ins of both the old street roller and grader. It will be applied to the total cost. The council then approved the motion by a 5-0 vote.
The new street roller will be purchased from Southeastern Equipment Company at a cost of $38,436. It will be a part of the $3,000 trade-in for the old street roller and $6,000 trade-in for the grader, which will be applied to the total cost.
A first reading was held for the 2026 appropriations, which totaled $20,570,827.00 and was approved following discussion at the October 20 council budget meeting.
Uribes noted that the 2026 appropriations amount is very overstated because of the Main Street water line project ($2,561,000).
Council approved the second reading of the Competitive Bidding Threshold, making it consistent with the Ohio Revised Code Section 9.17.
Approval of a first reading was made for the allocation of income taxes effective January 1, 2026. Sixty percent of the income tax will go towards operating expenses, and forty percent will go towards capital improvements.
Council passes a first reading regarding food truck regulations in the village. This will include temporary stores and transient dealers.
Rockey informed the council that he was contacted by an Ohio EPA contractor who will be assisting the village with the identification of water service materials.
An executive session was held for the acquisition of property, with no action being taken.