Belpre City Council Minutes
Mr. Neff called the Regular Meeting of the Council of the City of Belpre, Ohio, to order at 7:30p.m. The roll was called with the following members present: Ms. Abdella, Mr. Campbell, Mrs. Drake, Mr. Gant, Mrs. Miller, Ms. Riffle and Mr. Shutts present. Also present was Mayor Lorentz, Safety-Service Director Mr. Cross, City Law Director Mr. Webster, Treasurer Mr. Smith and Clerk of Council Mrs. Meredith. Absent from the November 12, 2018 meeting was City Auditor Miss Pittenger.
Mr. Neff asked that everyone please rise for the Prayer and remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. Mayor Lorentz gave the invocation.
Mrs. Miller made a motion to accept the minutes of October 22, 2018 as presented and to by-pass the reading. A vote was taken with all members of council present voting aye.
Reports of City Officials:
Mayor Lorentz reported that on October 24th Karen Waller and I attended the ribbon cutting ceremony at the Mid-Ohio-Valley airport. Hopefully the return of jet service will assist the business community with travel expenses. Contour Air is the new company serving this region.
October 25th I reported to the Sr. Center a report of happenings in our community. They were keenly interested in the future of Burger King and the natural gas issues. As of now it looks like the Burger King is going ahead with the building and preparing to use propane until natural gas becomes available
The Annual Chamber of Commerce Dinner went very well with over 260 in attendance. Numerous awards were presented and as Mayor I presented a key to the city to Pat Minnite and Karen Waller. The PM Company has been very kind to our community with including Belpre in the Spirit of Giving as well as their part in the hospital. Karen Waller, our Chamber Director, Civil Service Member, Right Path Volunteer etc. is probably our best friend.
November 1st I attended the Business after Hours at Citizens Bank. We are blessed with the new businesses and employees stepping up and drawing attention to our city as well as their employer.
November 2nd I attended the yearly mandatory training session for Mayor’s Court in Columbus. Thanks to Ms. Pittenger and Tim Gant for stepping in to run our meeting with Dominion.
Our American Legion Post 495 announced on November 3rd their intention to close the post. As I understand the building is sold or at least under contract. This is a sad day for our city.
With the upcoming retirement of Mr. Betz the 1st of the year we are beginning the process of advertising the opening. The water license requirement will be an issue for us. The test results have been returned to my office so that we can find a replacement at the waste water plant.
ORC 124.41 states that an original appointment to our police department is persons under the age of 35. Council, I am asking for an amendment to this in our ordinances to raise the appointment age to 40. Hopefully this will help us in obtaining more quality candidates in the future.
On Wednesday one of our dispatchers turned in a notice and has accepted employment elsewhere. Chief Williams and I have already started the process of interviews. We have interviews set for this week to fill the opening at the wastewater.
On November 10th I attended the pageant for the Miss Christmas Lights. Thankfully I was the M.C. and not a judge. Well over a 100 people attended this event sponsored by the Belpre Woman’s Club.
Safety-Service Director Mr. Cross had no report.
City Auditor Miss Pittenger was absent. No report was given in her absence.
City Law Director Mr. Webster reported that we had read the legislation on the Supplemental Appropriations at the last meeting. I have since changed the title of that to read A RESOLUTION SUPPLEMENTING YEAR 2018 APPROPRIATIONS and you should have received that in an email this afternoon.
Also in the response to the soft billing legislation I have added a 4th whereas paragraph trying to explain the soft billing process. The ordinance reads the City Council of Belpre, Ohio, intends to create a “soft billing” process to bill landowners’ hazard insurance company for amounts due under the landowners’ hazard insurance policy to compensate local fire and emergency services providers for expenses incurred for emergency incidents.
Also everyone should have received the ordinance regarding traffic lights that was supplied by ODOT that can also go on the agenda tonight if council so desires.
City Treasurer Mr. Smith had no report.
Communications and Petitions:
Mr. Neff stated that he had received an email from Mr. Webster’s secretary regarding the soft billing legislation and the revised supplemental appropriations with the most recent attachments. I received an email from Mr. Cross regarding the Cell Tower request from AT&T.
Mr. Neff assigned Signal Improvements to Streets, Sidewalk and Storm Sewer Committee.
Report of Standing Committee:
Ms. Abdella Finance/Audit reported that her committee met this past Wednesday for the purpose of discussing the Supplemental and Temporary Appropriations. Ms. Abdella called a committee meeting for Monday November 19th, 2018 for the purpose of furthering the discussion on the Temporary Appropriations.
Mrs. Miller, Police and Fire Committee reported that legislation regarding soft billing appears on the agenda for this evening. We will proceed with the second reading.
Mr. Campbell, Streets, Sidewalk and Storm Sewer reported that he has had numerous conversations with individuals in the city regarding our sidewalks. Sometime at the beginning of next year we are going to talk more about sidewalk programs. Mr. Campbell made a motion to add to tonight’s agenda for first reading A RESOLUTION REGARDING SIGNAL IMPROVEMENTS AT STATE RT. 7 AND FARSON STREET; STATE RT. 7 AND BRAUN ROAD; AND STATE ROUTE 618 AND LEE STREET. A vote was taken with all members of council present voting aye.
Mr. Neff stated that he needed to back up a minute. He needed to assign to Mr. Gant’s committee Pickering Energy Solutions, LLC.
Mr. Gant Utilities Committee reported that the test run on the generator has been scheduled. Also Mr. Gant reported on the meeting that was held with Dominion Energy. They talked about all the problems. Started talking about how much money $50 million? (All that had been said in other meetings. Finally they started talking about solutions. They are going to set a meter for the new Streaker Cancer building. They did stay after the meeting and talked to the owner of the new Burger King. He seemed pleased with their answer.
Dominion Energy has looked at every possible situation and came up with a new line that will come off their sister company Dominion Hope in West Virginia. Across the river they will put an 8” line that will come over to the station on State Route 7. From there it will come to Belpre and feed all the City of Belpre. It is proposed that it will be done by the 3rd quarter of 2019. The project cost will be around $8 million.
They are more focused on bigger users, but as I said, if you take in all the homes and small businesses in Belpre we are a big user.
They did say there are no plans at this time to put a cracker plant near this area.
Mr. Shutts, Parks and Recreation Committee had no report. Mr. Shutts called a Parks and Recreation Committee meeting for Wednesday November 14th, 2018 at 6PM for the purpose of discussing land at the park/park improvements.
Mrs. Drake Planning and Zoning Committee had no report.
Mrs. Drake, Economic Development Committee had no report. Mrs. Drake stated that the Economic Development Committee will meet this Thursday at 6PM at the Chamber Office.
Ms. Riffle had no report for the Rules Committee.
Persons Appearing Before Council – Agenda items only. None
Unfinished Business: –
Mrs. Miller brought before council for second reading AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING AND IMPLEMENTING A PROGRAM TO CHARGE MITIGATION RATES FOR THE DEPLOYMENT OF EMERGENCY AND NON-EMERGENCY SERVICES BY THE BELPRE CITY VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT FOR SERVICES PROVIDED/RENDERED FOR THE CITY OF BELPRE OHIO as amended. Discussion followed. A vote was taken with all members of council present voting aye. This will lie over until the next meeting of council.
Ms. Abdella brought before council for second reading A RESOLUTION SUPPLEMENTING YEAR 2018 SPECIAL APPROPRIATIONS. Discussion regarding the title change to the legislation. The title now reads A RESOLUTION SUPPLEMENTING YEAR 2018 APPROPRIATIONS as amended and also the change to the amount of Exhibit A. The change went from $91,000 to $76,200. A vote was taken with all members of council present voting aye. Ms. Abdella moved to suspend the rule of council on three different days to allow for the third reading of A RESOLUTION SUPPLEMENTING YEAR 2018 APPROPRIATIONS. A vote was taken with all members of council present voting aye.
Ms. Abdella brought before council for third reading A RESOLUTION SUPPLEMENTING YEAR 2018 APPROPRIATIONS. A vote was taken with all members of council present voting aye.
Ms. Abdella moved this be Resolution 16, 2018-2019 and duly passed. A vote was taken with all members of council present voting aye.
New Business:
Mr. Campbell brought before council for first reading A RESOLUTION REGARDING SIGNAL IMPROVEMENTS AT STATE RT. 7 AND FARSON STREET, STATE RT. 7 AND BRAUN ROAD, AND STATE ROUTE 618 AND LEE STREET. A vote was taken with all members of council present voting aye. This will lie over until the next meeting of council.
PERSONS APPEARING BEFORE COUNCIL:
Bill Locke 726 Tuttle Street directed his question to Mr. Gant. His question was when would Burger King receive natural gas? According to Mr. Gant it would be 3rd Quarter 2019. Mr. Webster stated that this was contingent upon whether or not they get their money for gas projects. If they have bigger jobs they might have to prioritize. There is no guarantee. We will know when it happens.
Ms. Abdella asked that the request by the Mayor be added to the Police and Fire Committee regarding Ohio Revised Code 124.41 regarding age of our police officers for the police department. Mr. Neff assigned to the Police and Fire Committee.
Mr. Neff went over committee assignments.
ADJOURN:
Ms. Abdella made a motion to adjourn at 8:10PM. A vote was taken with all members of council present voting aye.