Belpre City Council Minutes
Council President Mr. Neff called the Regular Meeting of the Council of the City of Belpre, Ohio, to order at 7:30 p.m. The roll was called with the following members present: Ms. Abdella, Mr. Gilbert, Mrs. Marshall, Mr. Martin, Mrs. Miller, Mr. Newberry and Mr. Robinson present. Also present were Mayor Lorentz, Safety Service Director Mr. Ferguson, City Auditor Miss Pittenger, City Law Director Mr. Webster and Treasurer Miss Martin.
At this time, Mr. Neff asked that everyone please stand for the prayer and remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.
Mrs. Marshall made a motion to accept the minutes of December 08, 2014, as presented and by-pass the reading. A vote was taken with all members of council present voting aye.
Reports of City Officials
Mayor Lorentz presented his report:
Since we last met a lot of things have taken place you may be interested in. Bill Harpold retired after 29 years of employment with the city. Matt Bremar is now working as the Water Supervisor and his replacement will be named after Matt’s 75 day trial period per contract. Testing for this position and the police department will be in March tentatively.
Mr. Ferguson and I assisted Darien Lorentz and the Holiday Lights volunteers with replacing two electrical boxes and hi-voltage switches at Civitan Park. With Darien’s expertise and the cooperation of AEP this saved Belpre many dollars.
The paperwork for the Route 7 Sewer Project is due this week. Thanks to Mr. Webster, Mr. Ferguson and Janet Nelson at the Port Authority it is complete and hopefully we can move into the next step, construction.
On December 31st the Port Authority held its regular meeting in our council chambers to start the process of advertising for approximately 60 million dollars for Marietta Memorial some of which will be the next phase in Belpre.
Over the past week I have received complaints about cars parked on the city streets. Complaints have also came to me about people parking along the streets in the right-of-way area but not in front of their dwellings. In my opinion residents have a valid complaint if neighbors park in front of their homes due to too much junk or too many cars at their residence. Mr. President I would like the committee to review this and help us come to a correction for this problem. During snow events as well as our sweeper being used also adds to the problem.
Council, I have received complaints about our street crew using salt and cinders during the snow and ice events of winter. Some neighborhoods have asked that we even stop clearing their streets as the cinders are then tracked into the homes. After consulting with Mr. McCauley it is clear that we are legally responsible for clearing the streets and if we do not try, liability for accidents could fall on the City. With the huge increase in salt we have to cut it with either sand or cinders and cinders do work the best for traction and also works best in our spreaders.
The Wood County Economic Development committee, Mayor Newell, Mayor Rapp, and Mayor Matthews have asked that I travel with them to North Dakota to observe the impact of the Shale play in this region. Minot North Dakota and surrounding area is as close population wise as we can find to this area. Plans are to leave the 25th and return January 29th. Council, I am asking that you fund this trip so that we can have firsthand knowledge as to what is going on and better be prepared if and when the Cracker Plant becomes fact. Parkersburg is taking care of arrangements and the only thing I know for sure is plane tickets are around the $650.00 range. My guess is the entire trip will be under $2,500.00 total.
Safety Service Director Mr. Ferguson: On your desk this evening is a fax about re-cycling. There are some very interesting facts in the article. Within the next four weeks we will be putting a legal notice in the paper asking for bids for a five-year contract for our solid waste both residential and commercial. Also within the next couple of weeks I would like to put the Pool Contract out for bids for the upcoming summer. There will be a slight increase in water taps this year. Once we get into the budget I would like to have the opportunity to have the Department Heads present when discussing the budget for this year so that we can find out the needs of each department. Also, I appreciate the responses I received on the 5 and 10 year Plan.
Ms. Abdella asked when the budget would be prepared and then I can let you know when we will be ready to begin with our discussions.
Mr. Neff asked if the bid specs for waste had been prepared. Mr. Ferguson stated that they were in the hands of Mr. McCauley. Mr. Neff asked if they could be scanned and placed on the cities website. He was informed that yes they could be.
City Auditor Miss Pittenger: Miss Pittenger announced that we had another successful year with R.I.T.A. Our revenues continue to grow every year since they took over. We signed up with PSN so that citizens can make on-line payments. We already have citizens doing so. We are down 2 ½ employees in the Administration Office. We are continuing to do cross training so that everyone knows how to do each other’s job. We are updating and remodeling the Cities Web-page. The Budgetary Report, Revenue versus Expenses is on line for your viewing. The report has been broken down into the 6 major categories. This has been compared over the last 5 years. The Adjustment Report is also on line for your review and I would like approval on this tonight along with a voice vote on the TAP Fee’s.
Ms. Abdella made a motion to accept the Adjustment Report as presented. A vote was taken with all members of council present voting aye.
Ms. Abdella made a motion to accept the rates of the new tap fees. A vote was taken with all members of council present voting aye.
City Law Director Mr. Webster: Mr. Webster reported that before you this evening is the City of Belpre Summary of 2014 Criminal Case files opened by his office. They haven broken the criminal files down by charge totaling 185 files. In addition, we have listed the files by the different law enforcement agencies. Within the 185 files opened, there are numerous separate charges that require prosecution. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to discuss with me. Mr. McCauley and myself have gone over the specs for the solid waste with some corrections that we will go over with Mr. Ferguson. Mr. Webster thanked everyone for all his or her efforts with the Route 7 Sewer Project.
Treasurer Miss Martin: No report was given.
Communications and Petitions:
Mr. Neff announced that we received an invoice from Walter Drane in the amount of $390.00 for Hosting Code on the Internet from 1-1-15 to 12-31-15.
We also received a Thank-you note from John Newberry that Mr. Neff passed along to council.
The following pieces of legislation was assigned to council:
A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE SSD TO EXECUTE A CONTRACT WITH THE WASHINGTON SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT – MR. MARTIN – STREETS, SIDEWALKS, AND STORM SEWER.
AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING AUTHORIZED MANPOWER FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2015. MS. ABDELLA – FINANCE/AUDIT
A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE SSD TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT FOR MANAGEMENT OF THE BELPRE SENIOR CENTER. –MS. ABDELLA – FINANCE/AUDIT
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE SIZE OF DEVELOPMENTS SUBJECT TO THE CITY’S CONSTRUCTION SITE AND POST CONSTRUCTION SOIL EROSION, SEDIMENT, AND OTHER WASTE AND STORM WATER RUN-OFF REGULATIONS.
- NEWBERRY – PLANNING AND ZONING
PART-TIME HEALTH SANTARIAN – MS. ABDELLA- FINANCE/AUDIT
CARS PARKED ON CITY STREETS – MR. MARTIN – STREETS, SIDEWALKS AND STORM SEWER
Report of Standing Committee:
Ms. Abdella, Finance Audit Committee had no report. Ms. Abdella called a committee meeting for January 26, 2015 at 6:45 PM for the purpose of discussing the Senior Center Mgmt., Manpower, Part-Time Sanitarian, and the Budget.
Mr. Gilbert, Police and Fire Committee had no report.
Mr. Martin, Streets, Sidewalk and Storm Sewer Committee had no report. Mr. Martin asked about the time-frame on A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE SSD TO EXECUTE A CONTRACT WITH THE WASHINGTON SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT. Mr. Martin was informed that this was housekeeping. Mr. Martin requested that the clerk place on the agenda for January 26, 2015.
Mr. Robinson, Utilities Committee had no report.
Mrs. Marshall, Parks and Recreation Committee had no report.
Mr. Newberry had no report for Planning and Zoning Committee.
Mr. Newberry had no report for Economic Development Committee.
Mrs. Miller had no report for the Rules Committee. Mrs. Miller spoke briefly about removing scrap junk from properties.
Persons Appearing Before Council – Agenda items only.
Matt Bremar, 979 Braun Road introduced himself to council and those present as the new Water Department Supervisor for the City of Belpre.
Mr. Neff approved the bank reconciliation.
Unfinished Business: none
New Business: none
Persons Appearing Before Council- none
Adjourn
Mr. Robinson made a motion to adjourn at 7:55PM. A vote was taken with all members of council present voting aye.
_______________________________ _______________________________
Will Neff, President of Council Kimberly S. Meredith, Clerk of Council