Garrettsville – Village officials present at the January 10th village council meeting, were Mayor Rick Patrick, Village Solicitor Michele Stuck, Nancy Baldwin, and Council people Tom Hardesty; Deb (Glass) Wordell; Jeff Kaiser; Chris Knop; Tom Collins; John Chambers. The meeting was called to order around 7:30pm by Mayor Rick Patrick.
Following the pledge of allegiance, Mayor Patrick opened the floor for nominations for the position of council president. Kaiser’s nomination of Hardesty was the only one made. All council people, apart from Hardesty who abstained, voted to approve the nomination. Patrick then went on to read his list of mayoral appointments for the council to vote on. The appointments, as approved, were presented as follows:
• Streets, Parks, Utilities, Village Properties & Sidewalks: Tom Hardesty, Tom Collins, Deb Glass-Wordell
• CRA Housing Officer: Chris Knop
• Fire District Rep: John Chambers
• EMS District Rep: Jeff Kaiser
• Mayor’s Alternate for Regional Planning: Tom Collins
• Board of Zoning Appeals: John Porter
• Planning Commission: Tom Hardesty, Chris Knop
• Income Tax Review Board: Chris Perme, Tracy Brunner
• Records Commission: Gwen Mayer
Before the council voted to approve the minutes of December’s meeting, Stuck explained some changes to Robert’s Rules of Order. According to the latest version, “A member’s absence from the meeting in which the minutes are being approved does not prevent the member from participating in their amendment or approval.” In previous times the new members of council would abstain from voting on the minutes, this is no longer the case. Stuck requested one minor change before voting of the minutes commenced – changing “Betty Boop” to “Debbie Boop”. Council approved the minutes with Stuck’s revision in place.
Bills and wages were approved and paid as presented without comment. Revenue and Tax reports were also reviewed. Hardesty reported that they have had luck finding delinquent tax payers by looking for records of people who filed with the state, but not the village. Their search turned up a handful of people living in the village who have never paid their taxes.
Dan Ellenberger from University Hospitals gave a brief presentation over the lifesaving equipment they have donated to the Garrettsville Police Department (GPD). University Hospital’s “Building Lifesaving Communities” program encompasses a number of community outreach partnerships. For example, University Hospitals and Community EMS teach CPE at the area high schools. Recently they have worked with the Garrettsville Police Department and Community EMS to put together emergency kits for all of the officers. Each kit contains multiple tourniquets, bleeding control products, military-grade combat gauze, a chest seal, and a “big needle” – which the officers are not allowed to open (it’s there for the EMS crew when they arrive on the scene). All of the training for the officers will be done by Community EMS. They will be covering CPR, AED, and bleeding-control.
Resolution 2018-01, a resolution honoring Bob Matson for his many years of service to the village and the community as a whole and Resolution 2018-02 a resolution honoring Pam Collins for her many years of service to the village and the community as a whole were both passed.
Runout payments for insurance were discussed. Only two sizable payments and account maintenance fees are required. Around $55,000 is due for the first of the payments, while the second is estimated to come in around $38,619 will be due around June. Runout payments cover outstanding medical expenses that were incurred in 2017 but have not yet shown up through Medical Mutual. The total payment amounts could end up being less.
After careful discussion, the council voted to approve the purchase of the fourth Chevy Tahoe police cruiser.
Knop asked if there was a prioritized infrastructure plan for 2018. Hardesty wants to pave at least one road, and chip and seal another. Zupancic and Industrial Drive are on the radar but not confirmed projects at this time. Baldwin hopes to have the budget ready for February’s meeting. Knop also asked Collins and Chambers if they’d like to attend a training workshop with him. All three plan on attending.
Patrick made council aware that an officer is resigning after not making probation. This opens a full-time position, to which the Safety Committee would like to appoint Chris Dennis, effective the 1st day of the next pay period (January 24th). A motion to appoint the officer pending passing his physical was approved. Police Chief Tony Milicia also informed Safety Committee that his last day will be April 24th. He requested that Safety Committee start looking for a new chief before he retires. Patrick would like resolutions recognizing Hadzinsky, Johnson, and Harrington for their service on Council. He also took a moment to remind business owners and residents that they are responsible for keeping sidewalks clear. While the village does do a “courtesy-clearing”, the sidewalks are done when they can get to them. Patrick commended Buzz and Judy at Waterfall Antiques for always keeping their sidewalk clear in front of their business. Overall council is happy with the job being done by the street department.
After the round table portion of the meeting, council entered executive session. The meeting adjourned afterwards.
Curious or motivated to see how your village works? Village Council meets at 7:30 PM on the second Wednesday of the month.
