PRE-MEETING PREP … Before the meeting begins, as others are arriving, members are often seen going through the packet of business for the evening. Montpelier Council Member Dan Willis was doing so on Monday evening, March 8, 2021. (PHOTO BY REBECCA MILLER, STAFF)
By: Rebecca Miller
Following prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, Mayor Steve Yagelski led council in the approval of the agenda for the March 8, 2021 meeting, the minutes of the February 22 meeting with two small corrections, and the February 2021 Financial Reports. With no audience comments, Council members were invited to speak.
Council member Chris Kannel shared that the Economic Development and Strategy Committee met on March 5th and they want to hold a Public Hearing on March 25th.
The Media Class from the high school will be there to record it and put it out online. He asked on behalf of the Committee that it be held at Drop Tine as it would provide a good backdrop for the video, and for posterity.
A motion was passed to approve holding a Public Meeting on March 25, 2021, at 7 p.m. at DropTine. The agenda will be to highlight the things the village has done in the last twelve months, what is being done currently, and what is in the future.
Kannel said the agenda for the public hearing will be in print for the March 22 Village Council meeting.
In response to a question from Council member Kevin Motter, Kannel said that it would be good to invite someone from the Black Swamp Conservancy to attend either in person or via zoom, if the village chooses to go that route.
Motter pointed out that they have an excellent description online of what the BSC is about.
Council member Melissa Ewers reported that she and two others attended a virtual meeting of the Wabash Cannonball meeting on Thursday, March 4, 2021. They were sharing some of the things happening in our area.
A great deal of time was spent cleaning the trails as COVID didn’t allow a whole lot more. The Ice Cream Shop and the Bicycle shop on the stretch in Whitehouse have been a big draw and did well this year.
They spoke of Williams County and Montpelier specifically, saying that they hope we will bring a report next year as a partner. They are looking for a celebration on Bean Days so they can be a part of that.
The plan is also to make better signage for all of the trails so people know they are still on the trail and to add some more trail counters to see how many people are using them.
Next year they plan to have the meeting in the Delta 109 Restaurant again. People wanting to get involved can contact Randy Miller who is very involved for Williams County. NORDA can also be seen online.
Jason Rockey, Village Manager, reported that the bids were done for concrete crushing and he recommended that council approve Fenson Contracting in the amount of $25,000 for concrete and asphalt crushing.
The budget for it was $50,000. Council voted to approve. Also approved were a “Then and Now Certificate for Fry Brothers Steel in the Amount of $1075 for steel”; the “Donation of Low pressure SCBA bottles to Brady Township Fire Department”; and “May 8, 2021 as Large Trash Drop off Day”.
Rockey explained about the SCBA bottles, saying that they had some extra ones that had some pressure left in them and the Brady Township Fire Department needed some to buy some time till their new ones arrive, so he recommended they help them out.
Nathan Stoltzfus from Ohio State University Department of Agriculture has requested the use of some land in Montpelier for a Field Nutrient Study. Stoltzfus grew up in Fulton County and is working all over northwest Ohio to do this study.
He wants to put equipment on the land that will monitor nutrient runoff, and how it gets to the river. Rockey explained in detail to the council how it would work for the village, not costing them anything, or causing any problems as the land he wants to use is a wetland and is of no use to the village.
The study would last for 15-20 years and would benefit the county with the knowledge they gather. County Ditch engineer Brian Fritsch is excited that they may be able to fix some drainage issues due to the information gathered.
Stoltzfus has agreements with a number of different farmers in the area and wants to use a very low area on County Road 10, which belongs to the village.
The council voted to permit Stoltzfus in moving ahead with the beginning steps to see if he can get some grants for the project. Later it would come back to council for further approval if he does get the grants.
Also approved by council was Resolution 1305 to Authorize the Village Manager and/or Mayor to enter into an LPA agreement with ODOT pertaining to grant funding for the Iron Horse River Trail (suspend and pass).
Resolution 1306 to “Authorize the Village Manager to enter into an agreement for the Demolition of the Village’s Former Water Treatment Plant (suspend and pass)” caused a little disagreement as four of the council members were excited to get this done and two felt it should go slower, getting bids in a regular fashion.
“It has been discussed at least for a decade,” Rockey said, “ as it has been a problem ever since the new one went in.” Council members Dan Willis and Don Schlosser voted no on the suspension and on the passage, but with four in favor it passed.
Previous to the vote, Mr. Willis said he felt they should open the bidding, but Rockey said that as the contractor he wants to use has said he could do it for less than $50,000 and that is all that is in the budget for it, he really would like to proceed.
(The $50,000 is money that had been set aside for asphalt improvement and as it was not needed for that, it is available to pay for this.) The contractor also did the downtown demolition recently and other council members commented on what a good job he did and how he worked well with them.
Mayor Yagelski also mentioned that as it seems that the cost of everything is going up, it might be wise to just go ahead and do it now with this contractor. Ewers agreed that getting it “locked in” would be a good idea.
Later in the meeting, council member Nathan Thompson brought it up again and asked if the contractor who was not able to bid on the downtown project should get an opportunity to bid on this project. Rockey said that a few years ago that contractor had said it would probably run about $100,000.
(The bid they approved does not cover the disposal of the concrete, and Rockey said they can have it hauled out to the spots where they get the concrete crushed each year.)
In her Tax Report, Nikki Uribes, Director of Finance said that the tax income was up 11.64% over February last year. Rockey further reported that County Engineer Todd Roth is getting some answers from ODNR concerning the Wabash Cannonball Project.
The bid pack was supposed to be turned in during January but the engineers office has been very busy. Roth is working on getting to this project.
Secondly he spoke at great length about a problem with clothing being flushed down the toilets that ends up in the Menard’s Lift Station.
He has reached out to Menard’s to ask them to do something, last October, to do something to stop that from happening.
He has proposed a commuter which is a grinder that goes ahead of the pumps so that anything that should not go in the pumps gets ground up.
It is roughly a $25,000 project and with the contract they have, they can ask Menard’s to pay for that. The gentleman at Menard’s is “very reasonable and willing to help,” Rockey said, “ so he thought maybe new trash cans and signage on the bathrooms would help.”
It did not and the, mostly underwear, has shown up again, so Rockey informed council they have figured out how much it costs them every time they have to pull the pump and clean it out.
Another option would be for Menard’s to put a screen in the stream to catch anything on their own property and they would be responsible for cleaning and clearing that.
It would stop the items from getting to the pump most likely. Following some discussion it was agreed that Rockey should speak with Mr. Rider again and let him know that Menard’s needs to pay for the commuter, or be billed every time they have to pull the pump.
Rockey wants Menard’s to set the timeline and if they are moving ahead to get the commuter put in, he would not charge them extra, but if they don’t make a decision, he will have to bill them around $7000 a year for the work that has to be done every time. Rockey said he is hoping they will work toward a permanent solution.
Other items on which he reported were that Chief McGee is back in the office full-time; the new fire truck had to get the transmission repaired, and the two COVID cars have arrived and are in service.
Some discussion was held concerning the possibility of more “COVID funds” coming in and Council member Motter asked if they could figure out a way to use it, if it does come, to help residents with their utility bills.
Rockey explained that the money helping residents in Edgerton is not “COVID money from the government” but rather donations from other residents.
They are passing it on to NOCAC to do the accounting, and it was wondered if maybe that type of agreement could be easily amended so that if the village wanted to donate, they could.
Rockey also said, “we have already had the discussion about putting money in NOCAC for residents’ assistance,” so they are open to doing something in that direction.
Council member Willis asked if something could be done about all the roll out trash cans that are being left out very close or in the roads.
Following some discussion it was agreed that a note could be put on the utility bill and on the village Facebook page to remind people to take their trash cans in within 24 hours. If it continues then they can refer it to the police department.
The meeting adjourned at 7:28.
Rebecca can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com