April 18, 2011 Council Meeting Minutes

Regular Council Meeting

April 18, 2011

The Council of the Village of Riverlea met on the above date at the Thomas Worthington High School, Worthington. The following Council members were present: Mayor Mary Jo Cusack, Jon L. Ankrom, Scott K. Gordon, Donald E. Griffith, Briggs W. Hamor, Eric A. MacGilvray and Kirk M. McHugh, President Pro-Tem. Also present were Pamela M. Colwell, Clerk-Treasurer, Steven W. Mershon, Solicitor, William P. Charles, Street Commissioner, Karen McElmurray, Marshal and Lois Yoakam, Newsletter Editor. Guests of Council were Keith Beachler, Bruce Paul and Scott Thompson. At 7:00 p.m. the Mayor called the meeting to order.

Minutes

1. The minutes of the regular Council meeting of March 21, 2011 were not read since each member had received a copy. The Clerk-Treasurer said the minutes needed to be amended to reflect that the Marshal was in attendance. Ankrom moved and McHugh seconded a motion that the minutes be approved as submitted and amended by the Clerk-Treasurer. The motion was approved unanimously (6-0).

Report of the Clerk-Treasurer

1. The Clerk-Treasurer reported that the CD from Park National Bank came due and was not renewed since the interest rate was very low. A new 12 month CD for $50,000 and savings account was opened at Columbus First Bank.
2. McHugh moved and Griffith seconded a motion to approve the payment of bills and to accept the financial report for March 2011, as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The motion was approved unanimously (6-0).

Report of the Mayor

1. The Mayor reported that the Annexation Commissioners had a meeting last week and she said they did a fantastic job. They will report on that meeting under new business.
2. She attended the Legislative Luncheon with McHugh, Griffith and Colwell.
3. AEP is seeking a rate increase. Approximately eight years ago the Village filed a complaint against AEP for all of the outages and it resulted in improved service and fewer outages. However, the outages have gotten worse again and she wants to know if Council wants to file another complaint. Hamor suggested waiting since service has improved and the last outages were due to a major storm. Council agreed.
4. The Mayor reported that Columbia Gas is also seeking a rate increase.
5. Gina Jacob contacted her and wants to have a Village yard sale on April 30th. She told Jacob that no approval was needed. Jacob wanted to know if the Village would pay the expenses such as signs and advertising, and the Mayor said she would have to ask Council. Council said they did not want to spend any money on advertising. However, this information was published in the March Newsletter and it will be put up on the web site.
6. The annual Worthington Memorial parade is coming up and she wants to know if Council is interested in being in the parade. Council said no.

Report of the Solicitor

1. The Solicitor reported on the status of the radio station FCC petition. They are going to file a pleading that will include a letter from the Mayor stating Council’s position.

Report of the Planning Commissioner

1. There was no report.

Report of the Marshal

1. The Marshal reported there were 292 checks with no citations or warnings.
2. She contacted a new resident regarding the sign being too close to the street and he removed it.

Report of the Street Commissioner

1. The Commissioner reported there was another water main break on Riverglen, which is the third time for that location. Hopefully Columbus has fixed the problem and he will ask for the details from them.
2. The former Street Commissioner suggested there may be a water leak under the bump on Southington near Pioneers. He is having Decker look at it to give us a quote for repair. He believes it will not be more than $5,000.
3. Slurry seal will need to be done again on the water leak repairs. American Pavement will give us a quote probably sometime in June. There is no need to rush on this.
4. The SSES work is under way with flow monitors and rain gauge in position now.
5. The lift station is in need of repairs and a clean out. One pump is not running properly and a spare is needed. He estimated the costs to be no more than $5,000 and he will have Radico give him a quote.

Report of the Newsletter Editor

1. The Editor said she would like copy for the Newsletter by May 5th.

Report of the Web Manager

1. There was no report.

Report of Parks and Recreation

1. The Mayor reported there is a new time for the Easter egg hunt this year. It will start at 10:00 am on April 23.

Comments from Residents on Agenda Items

1. There were no comments on agenda items.

Old Business

1. There was no old business.

New Business

1. Expenses
   McHugh moved and Hamor seconded the motion to authorize the expenditure of up to $60 for flowers at the two front entrances and $65 for the MORPC Luncheon that the Mayor will attend. The motion was approved unanimously (6-0).

   McHugh moved and MacGilvray seconded the motion to authorize the expenditure of up to $5,000 for the lift station repairs by Radico and up to $5,000 for Decker to repair the bump on Southington near Pioneers. The motion was approved unanimously (6-0).

Discussion on Worthington Annexation

On April 15, 2011 the six Annexation Commissioners met to discuss mostly administrative issues such as when and where to meet. Co-chairmen were selected – Kirk McHugh and Lou Goorey. MacGilvray wrote a memo that summarized five issues Riverlea Commissioners want to be addressed in the discussions. McHugh reviewed them for Council.

1. No additional taxation for Riverlea residents regarding street and infrastructure repairs since the same conditions exist in much of Worthington.
2. Maintain the entity status of Riverlea to preserve the character and identity of the Village.
3. No Architectural Review District zoning for non-High street properties. And to discuss the possibility of creating a separate review district for the Village. McHugh pointed out that our current zoning is not as stringent as Worthington’s, not including the ARD.
4. To protect Village residents and officials from legal exposure, Worthington should assume full responsibility for all Village assets and liabilities.
5. Worthington’s City Charter would not allow any Village residents to be candidates for elective office until 2015 election and residents would not be able to vote on municipal officials until 2013 election. They want to explore the possibility of creating an exception to the rules.

McHugh also said that these meetings would be open to the public but the public will not be able to speak at all of them.

There was some discussion about the border around Riverlea that is owned by the Village. This border was done years ago to keep some roads from coming through. It would be too expensive and unnecessary to deed it all back to the residents but the sections at the end of Melbourne and Beverly could be deeded back to the homeowners. Having the residents own it would require Worthington to use eminent domain in order to acquire that land. This may act as a deterrent.

Keith Beachler asked if the residents will get any of the details prior to voting. Council said definitely yes. They will have meetings for residents, mailings, postings etc. in order to make sure all residents had the information they needed before the election and to get resident input.

Gordon stated that the Commissioners want to do this in the best possible way so there will be no question at the time of the election that they did what was best for the residents. They will be getting feedback from residents and will make necessary changes due to that feedback. He would really like the residents to take an interest and participate.

Comments from Residents on Non-Agenda Items

Next Meeting Announcement

Adjournment

MARY JO CUSACK, MAYOR

M. COLWELL, CLERK OF COUNCIL