Garrettsville – Village officials present at the July village council meeting, were Village Solicitor Michele Stuck, Nancy Baldwin, Mayor Rick Patrick, and Council people Tom Hardesty; Deb (Glass) Wordell; Jeff Kaiser; John Chambers; Chris Knop; and Tom Collins. The meeting was called to order at 7:30pm by Mayor Rick Patrick.
A public hearing was held for the purpose of rehiring an OPERS retiree, Frank Nedelka of the Village Street Department. Knop wanted to know the benefits offered to part-time employees. By law the village must offer benefits to all employees, but as a part- timer, working 30-39 hours, he’d need to pay for benefits. If he were to be scheduled 39 or more hours a week he’d fall under the full-time designation and the village would be required to pay for them. The village is pursuing this so that Frank would be available to work during the busy summer season.
A second public hearing was held to discuss the village budget. The budget reviewed by the council will be passed along to the county and will determine what is received from the county and state.
Following the two public hearings, Mayor Patrick called the meeting to order at 7:34 pm. Following the pledge of allegiance, minutes from the prior meeting were approved in a unanimous vote, as was a motion to pay the bills. Fiscal reports for the village were also reviewed without much discussion.
After the general housekeeping duties were completed, Keith Whan was sworn in as sergeant of the Garrettsville Police Department by Mayor Patrick.
Ted Lysiak, superintendent of the James A. Garfield Local School District, was present to talk about the upcoming Earned Income Tax levy that will appear on the ballot this November. Lysiak started off his presentation by first thanking the council for approving a partnership for the School Resource Officer. SRO Ahrens is scheduled to begin her training in the coming weeks. Moving on to the levy, the council was briefed on the basics. [see JAG Seeking Levy In November]
Following his presentation Lysiak provided a sample resolution for the Village to consider that expresses support for the levy. He reminded everyone that the best ways to support the levy efforts are to put a sign in their yard in support of the G-Men Unite campaign, ensure that they are registered to vote, help “get out the vote”, and participate in fundraisers. Financial donations to the G-Men Unite campaign are also being accepted. Lysiak also explained that currently 33% of districts in the state operate on Earned Income tax levies. He also reiterated that the school funding system in the state has been ruled unconstitutional four times, but that the schools cannot afford to wait for state to fix their broken system.
Councilman Knop knows that our school system is an important value to people moving to town and our community as a whole. Allowing the emergency levy to roll off in 2019 lowers property taxes in the district even more, and will aid in making the area even more attractive to homebuyers.
Hardesty asked Lysiak about enrollment within the schools. Lysiak informed the council that while other districts continue to see stagnation or a decrease in enrollment, JAG and Streetsboro have both seen increases in enrollment. Knop asked about open enrollment and how that factors into the budget. Lysiak shared that an auditor had reviewed the district’s open enrollment policies and found that about $ 135,000 per year is brought in through open enrollment. When determining how many open enrollment students are accepted, the district looks at where it can bring in open enrollment students without needing to add additional teacher(s). The district can deny open enrollment based on space availability though Lysiak credits part of the low cost per pupil at JAG to open enrollment policies.
Wordell thanked Lysiak for his presentation and the amount of information provided at the council meeting. Collins recommended letting people know that property tax would roll off and would save retired residents money. Lysiak also shared that the bond issue for the elementary and middle school projects from 2000 is due to come off taxes in 2023 which will provide yet another savings on taxes.
Following Lysiak’s presentation on the school levy the council got down to business, passing two resolutions. Resolution 2018-32 enacts the Tax Levy Budget that was discussed at the public hearing preceding the meeting. Resolution 2018-33 accepts a bid from Ronyak Brothers for the Freedom Street paving project. Ronyak’s bid came in at $111,000 and has been around a long time; they previously did the parking lot job on Center Street. Knop and Hardesty discussed the price and who would inspect job site. Hardesty feels comfortable with their bid, and the work they do. There is even enough left over in the budget to feather up into the approaches of the industrial park and the Village Drive development. Drains and catch basins may also be taken care of with the money saved on the project.
A motion to hire Frank Nedelka on a strictly part-time basis was approved.
Council also heard a question from the audience regarding boardwalk lighting and repairing of the pedestrian bridge. Patrick shared that work on replacing parts of the decking will start soon, and will be followed by bleaching and staining.
Roundtable Wrapup
Knop recommended getting a quote for a fire alarm detection system in village hall. Since we don’t have 24/7 dispatch Patrick suggested looking at adding one to the police station too. Knop will look into it.
The Ohio Public Works Commission is looking for a nominee. Knop would like to represent the district with Hardesty as his 2nd. This would allow the village to better understand how funds are allocated and who gets grants. The last person to serve was the Mayor of Sugar Bush Knolls.
Hardesty shared that at the last meeting Kathie Lutz asked for the zoning inspector’s hours to be increased so that meeting with her was easier and more convenient. Planning talked about it and talked to Jan to get her thoughts. Prior to the meeting, her office hours were 8:30-9:30 AM on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Her office hours have been adjusted to 8:30-10:30 AM on those days.
Wordell provided an update on the village’s website design project. Council had authorized a contract with AtNetPlus. Wordell shared that she had met with a local business owner to get background information with what info to get from the contractor. A kickoff meeting with AtNet plus was held, but Wordell learned that the village did not get a contract from them to create content for the village. AtNetPlus will accept existing site content but will also take content created by council. The new site is anticipated to launch in early September. Patrick and Wordell will discuss colors, logo, etc. and Sgt. Whan suggested tying in to the school colors black and gold.
Patrick shared that the Garrettsville Farmers Market started a few weeks ago and is well-received. He also announced that the make-up Car Cruise that was postponed during Summerfest will be held on Thursday, August 23rd to coincide with the farmers market. Patrick also thanked Tom for the plants in the new parking lot and reiterated congratulations to Keith Whan on being promoted to police sergeant.
Kaiser and Baldwin discussed the boardwalk money that the village is working on getting released. Kaiser suggested using some of the funds for repairs and improvements at the Park Avenue Park property. The idea was floated to use money from boardwalk revolving loan fund to pay for a portion of the lighting project.
Collins said it may be October before we see the park grant funded. He also shared that the Headwater trail signs were installed, and that some landscaping will be added. Knop asked Collins about the energy savings grant. Discussion about grant monies and theoretical projects were had. Knop recommend putting higher priority on lighting at the service garage.
The meeting was adjourned after the roundtable session.
