By: Rebecca Miller
The December 14, 2020 Montpelier Village Council meeting was held by Teleconference, but Council discussed the benefits of holding the meetings via Zoom while they are unable to meet in person. Mayor Steve Yagelski mentioned the importance of being able to see faces and of the public being able to join in more easily.
Councilman Chris Kannel said that of the number of different formats used in meetings which he has attended, Zoom tends to be the most user friendly. Village Manager Jason Rockey said that he will try to get that set up for the village by the January meeting, if not before.
In regular business, the council voted to approve:
- Agenda for the meeting
- Minutes from November 23, 2020 meeting
- Re-appointment of Angela Hillard to another Five years on the Park Board
- 2021 Representation agreement with Chris Walker, Village Solicitor
- Resolution 1300 A transfer of Police Pension (suspended rules and passed)
- Resolution 1301 Amended appropriations (suspended and passed)
- Ordinance 2252 Note renewal for Splash Pad (suspended and passed)
The Income Tax Report was accepted as was the Village Manager’s report, which included the following information:
- Tony Hoeffel is retiring and last day is December 15, 2020, but he might come back for some specific projects. The village will be without the services of an in house engineer, Kurt Roan Is staying on to help us with project management. Both men are retired/rehired part timers. Rockey said they are going to miss Tony.
- The building Demolition in 400 Block of Main is going well. The contractor told Rockey that had it not been for the concrete floor in the second floor of the corner building, the front of the building would have collapsed. If anyone had tried to repair it they would have run into some major structural issues.
- Stage One of Iron Horse River trail is moving on
- Design work for County Road 13 connector trail design work is being done and we expect that to be done soon. Might be able to bid out in January.
- A Bryan St. home owner came in to discuss progress on clean up of the property and the village is pleased with the progress.
- Land Bank meeting was held in which 710 East Main property was discussed. Dennis Miller of MVPO was there and he assured that it will be taken care of asap. Taking out asbestos by end of January.
- He shared that there is a local contractor who has expressed an interest in restoring and stablizing the pillar from the Demolished building, to make it a part of the park that will be placed there. Rockey said they are also looking into incorporating some of the blocks/stones into a small wall design.
Montpelier resident Heather Freese asked if, since ODOT did not approve the blue line down Main St., is there a way it could still be done on a side street. Mayor Yagelski replied that he and Rockey had spoken about that possibility and if council approves they thought it would be a good idea to put a blue one in front of the Police Station and a red line in front of the Fire Station. Following a short discussion, council approved the painting of the two lines as soon as the weather allows.
Freese also mentioned that there is quite a bit of glass and debris in the parking lot behind Rowes and Rings that needs to be cleaned up. She was thanked for letting them know and assured that it would be cleaned up.
Resident Al Word spoke with council concerning the section of the Trail that runs behind his home and was informed by Mr. Rockey that it is in early stages and it might be a few years before they take bids on the work needed there. He did say also that they are on schedule with the timeline set forth by ODOT.
Just before council went into Executive session (with no action planned to be taken) to discuss acquisition of property, Mayor Yagelski said he wanted to wish everyone “a Merry Christmas and Happy New year! Let’s put 2020 behind us and move into a better 2021.”
Rebecca can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com