Main St. angle parking project going as projected

By C. Dials

On October 5, 2009 Village Council welcomed Dave Osborn and Al Royster from Allied Waste. They were there to discuss the price increase that will go into effect November 1, 2009. In the recently passed state budget was an increase to every landfill of $1.25 per ton effective August 1, 2009. The new language allows these fees to be passed onto municipal contracts. The bills will go up $.15 per month or $1.80 a year per residence.

Adam Snider updated council on the status of his claim from the August 6th electrical surge. Snider questioned who the village insurance consultant was. Solicitor Ruffing stated that Druckenmiller Insurance is the consultant and gave a brief overview of the services provided.

Ms. Busche explained that the 10% of the fleet, property and liability premium and that the village does not pay a consultant for medical insurance.

Mr. Wilkins added that council is charged with being responsible and feel that the village is responsible by hiring someone who is qualified to guide them through the process of bidding out the insurance.

Mayor Fred Conely read a letter from the Portage Fire District Chief, John Humphrey. The letter thanked the village for the use of one of the buildings while theirs was being renovated. Another letter was read from the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) commending Officer Eric Parker and Dispatcher Jessica Weis for providing information which allowed the TSC screeners to positively match an individual to a known or suspected terrorist on the watch list.

Chief Weirich distributed the monthly report and announced that Thomas Reinhart is the new part-time officer for the village and is going through orientation.

Fiscal Officer Ms. Busche reported that the September financial reports had been distributed and reminded council that the Tier II Fund must be paid back the $100,000 advance and that the $115,000 would be reimbursed from the Tier II Grant upon completion of the Main Street Angle Parking Project.

Village Administrator Mr. Pauley recently attended the AMP project briefing new headquarters dedication and the Ohio Municipal League conference. He also updated council on the 2009 Street Program, Main Street angle parking project and the last four Tier II grant projects. He mentioned that voluntary inspections and evaluations are underway by the Bureau of Workers Compensation and Public Employers Risk Reduction Program for all of the village departments.

Poggemeyer Design Group along with geotechnical specialists investigated the sloughing and slumping within the CSO basin. The annual inspection of the flood mitigation dike at the wastewater treatment plant has been done.

John Fickert gave a brief overview of the Summit of Council s meeting that he and Mayor Conely attended. He requested that the information from the meeting that they received to be duplicated and passed out to everyone in council.

Fred Conely talked about the possibilities of a Portage River walk project that would go from Community Markets to the lumber yard and asked council members to ponder the thought about doing another downtown revitalization grant.