Garrettsville – Village officials present at the village council meeting on June 10th were Village Solicitor Michele Stuck, Mayor Rick Patrick, Fiscal Officer Deb Wordell, and Councilpersons Tom Hardesty, Chris Knop, Jeff Kaiser, Larry Beatty, John Chambers and Tom Collins. Due to COVID-19 social distancing requirements, the meeting was held in person with no audience; however, the meeting was streamed to Facebook for the public.
After the meeting was called to order by Mayor Patrick, the minutes of the May meeting were reviewed. Following the approval of the minutes, council reviewed the financial reports and income tax receipts.
Ordinance 2020-08 was tabled again. The ordinance relates to water retention basins in the village and their maintenance. Hardesty stated that Planning needed more time to research the ordinance as it was originally intended to focus on the Fox Hollow development; however, there are multiple basins in the village.
Ordinance 2020-13, an ordinance to adopt the tax budget for the fiscal year, had a first reading at the meeting; however, the budget was still being adjusted and will not be ready for council’s approval until the July meeting. No action was taken on the ordinance.
Resolution 2020-14 which requests Garrettsville’s share of the Portage County coronavirus relief distribution fund. Wordell shared that the funds were approved by the State Senate and are to be distributed by the county. Garrettsville is eligible to receive up to $62,000 for COVID-19 related expenses. The resolution was passed and enacted.
Police Chief Tim Christopher submitted a request that Jeremiah Poole be moved off probationary status. Council approved the request.
Roundtable Wrap-up
- Knop and Hardesty discussed the village hall lighting project. Two test lights were installed to make sure council liked the way they look. The new energy-efficient LED lighting will be paid for with grant money from NOPEC.
- Beatty thanked Patrick and Ben Coll for their work putting together the Memorial Day video broadcast. He also shared that the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing, but it was nice to meet in person with extra spacing between all councilpersons.
- Patrick shared that he had talked to Brett Pesicek about getting started on sidewalk projects. Hardesty said that he would like to have him start on the Liberty Street project. Patrick also reported that there have been complaints about an entrance culvert collapsing. The street department has contacted some excavators to look and give an idea on what needs to happen. In all likelihood, the problem section will be covered with a steel plate until repairs can be made, but the village is still waiting on pricing for that. Council authorized up to $20,000 for repair of the North Gate entrance.
- Patrick made council aware of a collapsed culvert on the Dollar General property. A letter was sent directing the company to repair their culvert, as it is causing flooding issues when runoff backs up.Discussion on the ‘Black Lives Matter’ protest was had. Patrick and Beatty mentioned that the protestors and the police both agree they are happy with how things are going. Patrick acknowledged that there have been some instigators trying to rile the protestors up and he recommended the protestors ignore them. Patrick shared that the protestors are keeping their demonstrations limited to local residents and are collecting contact information in case there are any issues.
- Patrick shared that Restaurant Impossible is returning to Garrettsville to film a follow-up episode at Garrett’s Mill. He also encouraged council to take a walk along the boardwalk and look at all the plantings along the embankment.
- Wordell sought and obtained permission to make use of a unpaid high school intern.
The meeting was moved to executive session for about 90 minutes to discuss personnel issues and was adjourned immediately after exiting executive session at 8:59pm.
