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 Eric A. MacGilvray, Marc Benevento, Kathy McClintock, Ted Miller, and Leah Pyter. Also present were Joshua C. Mehling, Clerk-Treasurer, William P. Charles, Street Commissioner, L. Leah Reibel, Solicitor, and Greg Bonk, Web Manager. Guests of Council were Joel Lodge and Worthington Police Chief Jerry Strait. At 7:00 p.m., the Mayor called the meeting to order.

Worthington Police Chief

Worthington Chief of Police Jerry Strait addressed the Council as to the proposed contract for 2019 police services for the Village. The contract contains a 3% increase in the fee, due to a bi-ennial increase in the collective bargaining contract.

Chief Strait also mentioned the concerns that Council members have expressed in the past with incidents in Rush Run Park. Chief Strait stated that officers are now walking the trails of the park on a regular basis. The Columbus Parks Department will also be putting up new signage in and around the park and addressing concerns with trash in the park. He asked residents to report any signs of people hunting in the park.

Benevento asked Chief Strait about several car break-ins that had occurred in the Village. Chief Strait said that officers are following up on all break-in reports and that residents should report all break-ins, regardless of the amount of loss. He also asked residents not to leave valuables in their cars and not to leave garage door openers in cars either, as these may be used by thieves to access houses.

Minutes

The minutes of the regular Council meeting of November 19, 2018 were not read since each member had received a copy. McClintock moved and Pyter seconded the motion that the minutes be approved as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The motion carried (4-0).

Report of the Clerk-Treasurer

Miller moved and Benevento seconded the motion to approve the payment of bills and to accept the financial reports for November 2018 as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The motion carried (4-0).

Report of the Mayor

  1. The Mayor thanked Councilmember McClintock and the Social Committee for their work in putting on the luminaria event for the Village.
  2. The Mayor stated that construction work is complete in the Village for the winter. Elite Excavating will be back in the spring for the final work, including the regrading and seeding of lawns and final layer of asphalt on the roads, as well as other work. The Mayor, Street Commissioner, and Chair of the Infrastructure Committee have a meeting scheduled with Burgess & Niple to review the punch list of items still to be performed. Work is expected to be complete by the end of June 2019.
  3. The Mayor stated that there are concerns with potential damage from snowplows over the winter, given that the final layer of asphalt is not complete on the Village roads. This potential damage includes damage to the gutter pan and exposed water access points. Sharon Township, which handles the plowing for the Village, proposes to have trucks clear 2 lanes on Riverglen, Southington, and Olentangy, and 1 lane on the other streets, to limit exposure to the gutter pans. The Village will discuss liability for potential damage with Burgess & Niple.
  4. The Mayor mentioned that another concern with the streets is with drainage in certain areas, notably at the intersection of Olentangy & Southington. Crews have drilled holes in the pavement there so that water can drain to the sub-drain, but these have not been able to keep up with the amount of water. Burgess and Niple will look into this.
  5. The Mayor reported that he and the Clerk-Treasurer spoke with representatives of the Franklin County Auditor’s office regarding the setting of bond rates for 2019. All parties agreed on a rate of 11.00 mills.
  6. The Mayor mentioned that in discussions concerning remediation for tree damage from construction in the Village, the parties decided that the Village would pay Kevin Masters Arborist Services directly and then invoice Elite Excavating to reimburse this expense. Elite also would like to be released from liability for any future issues involving the health of the trees. The Solicitor will investigate whether only trees in the Village right of way need to be covered by this waiver.
  7. The Mayor stated that he had heard from a resident at 93 W Riverglen, who would like their walkway to be regraded due to changes to the curb elevation. There does not appear to be a safety issue with the current grading and Elite Excavating has stated that any work on this would be at the Village’s expense. Benevento stated concerns with setting precedent with the Village approving this work at the Village’s expense. The Mayor stated that he would discuss this issue during the upcoming meeting with Burgess & Niple.
  8. The Mayor mentioned that with the infrastructure project nearing an end, the Village should revisit the idea of implementing a tree-planting program, and replacing the flags that were stolen from the Village Green. Council will discuss these items further at future meetings.
  9. The Mayor announced that longtime Riverlea resident Violette Croley had recently passed away. Her daughter Jody Croley Jones continues to reside in the Village.

Report of the Solicitor

  1. The Solicitor stated that she had spoken with American Legal Publishing and discussed an update to the codification of the Village ordinances. The last time this was performed was in August of 2015. The Solicitor and Clerk-Treasurer will work to compile the appropriate ordinances that have been passed since then.

Report of the Street Commissioner

There was no report from the Street Commissioner

Report of the Planning Commissioner

The Planning Commissioner was not in attendance. The Planning Commission approved a Certificate of Appropriateness for the addition of a permeable gravel walkway at 5809 Olentangy, under the stipulation that it is not to be used as a driveway.

Comments from Residents on Agenda Items

  There were no comments from residents.

Old Business

  1. Committee on Infrastructure
  1. Benevento, the Chair of the Committee, encouraged residents to continue to report any construction related issues with their property before construction resumes in the spring.
  • Committee on Communications

There was no report from the Chair of the Committee

  • Web Manager
  1. The Web Manager stated that he had upgraded the version of WordPress being used by the Village website. He is working on making sure that all the plugins related to the site are updated as well.
  2. The Web Manager reported that there had been 100% uptime on the website in November. He is working on updating the website for 2019, including updating the meeting dates.

New Business

  1.                 Ordinance 02-2018

Ordinance 02-2018, 2019 Appropriations (Village) had its third reading. McClintock moved and Benevento seconded the motion to approve of the ordinance. The motion passed (4-0).

  •                 Resolution 2018-12

Resolution 2018-12, A Resolution Authorizing the Mayor of the Village of Riverlea, Ohio to Contract with the City of Worthington, Ohio and the Worthington Police Department to Provide Police Services in the Village, and to Declare an Emergency was introduced by McClintock. McClintock moved and Benevento seconded the motion to waive the three readings of the resolution in order to sign the contract in a timely manner. The motion passed (4-0). McClintock moved and Benevento seconded the motion to approve of the resolution. The motion passed (4-0).

  •                 Crime Policy

The Clerk-Treasurer stated that he had been contacted by the representative for Assured Partners concerning the renewal of the crime policy for the Village. The representative stated that the Village could choose a 2 or 3-year renewal if desired. The Clerk-Treasurer stated that there was no discount for selecting either one of the longer terms. Council decided to authorize a 3-year renewal of this policy.

Expenses

McClintock moved and Miller seconded the motion to authorize the following expenditures:

– $165.00 – Gudenkauf Corp – Water & gas line locating

– $10,464.00 – Sharon Township – 2017-18 Snow removal

The motion was approved unanimously (4-0).

Comments from Residents on Non-Agenda Items

There were no comments from residents.

Next Meeting Announcement

The next regular meeting will be Tuesday, January 22 at 7:00 p.m. at the Thomas Worthington High School.

Adjournment

There being no further business, McClintock moved and Miller seconded the motion to adjourn.  The motion was approved unanimously (4-0).  The meeting was adjourned at 7:58 [p.m.

Joshua C. Mehling, Clerk-Treasurer                                         Eric A. MacGilvray, Mayor