By: Rebecca Miller
Gorham Township Trustees Trevor Hibbard and Eliott Richardson were present at the May 13, 2020 Fayette Village Council concerning the Pleasant View Union Cemetery. They were there because Ohio Revised Code dictates it,” Village Administrator Genna Biddix explained.
“Gorham Township and the Village of Fayette are the two political subdivisions having an interest in the Pleasant View Union Cemetery. The Township Trustees and members of the Village Council are required to have an annual joint meeting on the day of the first regular meeting of the legislative authority in the month of May of each year.”
“The annual meeting is to be held in the Village Council Chambers. At the annual meeting, one board member will be elected to start a new three year term which commences the following January 1st.” Council and the trustees voted to reappoint Abigail Bieber to fill another term that will start on January 1, 2021 and end December 31, 2023. The other two members of the board are Fayette Council member Chris Meeker (2020-2022) and Gorham Township Trustee Eliot Richardson (2019-2021).
Village Administrator reminded council that as the 2020 income tax filing deadline was extended to July 15, 2020, she and Mat Johnson are still ready to help anyone prepare their taxes for 2019, who need assistance. She also said that they are expecting a second wave over the next few months especially since the Village Office is OPEN again to foot traffic.
Another item in her report was that as Alex Tompkins has resigned his full-time General Labor position with the village and requested to transfer to part-time, there was a motion on the agenda to make that change retroactive to May 2, 2020 which was when the request was made. They have posted the vacancy for the full-time position on the Careers section of the Village website with an application deadline of May 22, 2020.
Archbold Recycling contacted the village and has verified that FAYETTE SPRING CLEAN-UP will be held on Saturday, June 6 as planned. Any resident interesting in participating in the Spring Clean Up must pay the $30 fee ahead of time at the village office. The $30 pays for one “roll of the truck” which is roughly the equivalent of a regular sized pickup truckload.
Residents are welcome to purchase more than one load. All items must be set out where trash is normally put out, no later than 7 a.m. on Saturday June 6. The deadline to pay/participate, getting your address on the list is Friday, June 5 by 5 p.m.
Biddix also received approval to get the trade-in process started for a Backhoe with which the village needs to part.
Karin Sauerlender, Village Fiscal Officer, then gave her report, informing council that Regional Income Tax Agency (RITA) has reported that they have experienced an average 30% drop in collections compared to this time last year. Fayette’s year-to-date drop for the first half of May is less than that, but the majority of April collections (reported in May) come in the second half of the month. “We are currently only about $8,000 behind last year at this time,” she said. “We will get the second half of the distribution on May 15 and I will update you at the next council meeting.”
Concerning Water/Sewer Collections Sauerlender reported that as of the end of April, the total year-to-date collections are approximately the same as last year, although they should have increased by about 5%. There has been a reduction in the billing for some of the major users such as the school and Kelsey-Hayes.
The interest rate for the village dropped again in April. The monthly interest is now about $785/per month less than it was in January. This will be approximately a $6,300 loss in revenue for the year, “if it doesn’t drop any farther.”
Good news was that the Bureau of Workers Compensation is rolling out a refund that is approximately the amount that the community paid in 2018. The refund is being applied first to the amounts owed for the remainder of this year and then a check will be sent for any remainder. Fayette’s monthly payment is $497.86 so $3982.88 is still owed for 2020. The total 2018 payment was approximately $5,425 so she expects that they should get a refund of about $1,400, in addition to not having to make the monthly payment.
In the last 2-week pay period, Fayette paid a total of 138 COVID-19 hours (hours paid but not worked) for the 3 street employees (average of 46 hours/employee) and 8 hours of overtime (for testing on weekends).
The police officers had a total of 5.5 hours of overtime (primarily related to call-outs and court testimony.) Sauerlender said she is continuing to pay the hazard pay to police officers until council makes a motion to stop.
In other business council voted to approve the minutes for April 22 meeting, pay the bills and the motion to let Alex Tompkins move to part time, with a pay rate change to $11 per hour, effective May 2, 2020.
Rebecca can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com