ANNUAL REPORT … Montpelier Police Chief Dan McGee, pictured, gave the annual police report. McGee said that the police’s volunteer reserve unit completed more than 734 hours of volunteer service to the community.
By: Daniel Cooley
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
The Montpelier Village Council meeting, held on June 12, began with roll call. Four council members, Nathan Thompson, Melissa Ewers, Don Schlosser and Chris Kannel, were in attendance.
Next, Mary Beth McCandless started the meeting off with a prayer. That was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
In the first order of business, council approved both the meeting agenda for June 12 and the previous meeting minutes from May 22. Next, council approved the May 2023 financial report.
That was followed by Montpelier Police Chief Dan McGee’s annual police report. Including McGee, there are nine full-time officers and two part-time officers, along with 16 reserve officer volunteers.
The department chaplain is Adam Fox and Darrin Repp is the administrative specialist.
K-9 Knox has a new handler, Christopher Suydam and both successfully passed their OPTA certification.
McGee, seven other full-time officers, plus one part timer and one reserve officer completed 26.5 hours of training. Also, three reservists completed seven hours of training.
“In 2022, our officers engaged in various trainings to ensure compliancy with the Ohio Continued Professional Training,” McGee said.
“These trainings included important topics such as legal updates, Use of Force, Responding to Sexual Assaults, and Domestic Violence.”
“Community building efforts continued, and our officers engaged in an additional 114 plus hours of community service,” McGee continued.
“We participated in various parades within the county, National Night Out in Montpelier, Trick or Treat and the Cops N Kids Event. Additionally, we delivered gifts to kids with Tactical Santa.
Our reserve unit would have likely been seen at various events like high school sports or at our community events. They have given more than 734 hours of volunteer service to the community.”
“(The year) 2022 had some high-profile cases come to fruition, including various pursuits and arrests of suspects,” McGee said.
“Because of the hard work of our officers, they earned various ribbons and awards at our annual banquet. I am very proud of our officers and the things they do for our community.”
Next, Tim Bok gave an update on the re-bidding process for the Ironhorse River Trail. In the latest, there were two contractors who were interested, but for various reasons, both dropped out.
Bok stated that he has put together a packet that was reviewed by the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT), with an amount of $1.243 million. ODOT has agreed to pay $1.2 million, leaving the village to potentially come up with the rest.
Bok said that the village will be looking for contractors to rebid the Ironhorse River Trail, by June 27. Bok said that one potential contractor that he has talked to likes the idea of doing the boardwalk in the winter. The completion date for the project is November 30, 2024.
Council then approved the rebidding of the Ironhorse River Trail project.
In council comments, Ewers thanked Lieutenant Darrell Higbie for being there and for all his help when her father was recently in an accident.
Also, there was a cruise-in scheduled within the village for Tuesday, June 13.
Next, council approved Resolution 1374, approving the tax rates and amounts, to be sent to the county auditor.
Director of Finance Nikki Uribes then gave the income tax report. This year’s accumulated amount is $1,018,887.83. The amount is down 18.96% from last year.
Village Administrator Jason Rockey then gave a report. Rockey stated that the village has submitted a grant for Neighborhood Revitalization and is waiting for a response.
Rockey also said that he expects the sewer project to be completed enough to have State Route 576 reopened today (Tuesday). Sewer replacement work on Main Street is expected to continue.
Rockey also stated that there are 16 pipes left to be repaired. After all the pipe work is done, they will wait on asphalt.
With no other business to conduct, council then voted to adjourn the meeting.
Dan can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com