The Council of the Village of Riverlea met on the above date at the Sharon Township Hall. The following Council members were present: Mayor Dan E. Schlichting, Jeffrey Amick, Nicholas B. Bartels, Janet Heidkamp, Emily J. Saving, and Suzanne Surface. Also present were William Charles, Street Commissioner and Leah Reibel, Solicitor. At 6:35 p.m., the Mayor called the meeting to order.

Swearing In of New President Pro Tempore

The Solicitor swore Emily Saving in as President Pro Tempore of the Village.

MORPC Presentation

Representatives of the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Committee (MORPC) were due to address Council concerning their upcoming transportation plan, for which they are seeking Riverlea’s approval. They could not make the February meeting due to the need to reschedule and will attend a future meeting.

Minutes

The minutes of the Council meeting of January 16, 2024 were not read since each member had received a copy. Bartels moved and Heidkamp seconded the motion that the minutes be approved as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The following vote was held on the motion: Yes: 4, Amick, Bartels, Heidkamp, Surface; No: 0; Abstain: 1, Saving. The motion carried (4-0-1).

Report of the Clerk-Treasurer

Heidkamp moved and Bartels seconded the motion to approve the payment of bills and to accept the financial reports for January 2024 as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The motion carried (5-0).

Report of the Mayor

  1. The Mayor stated that he and Councilmember Amick are slated to attend the Ohio Municipal League training for new Council members on March 2. The Mayor questioned whether the Village would cover the costs for this training.
  2. The Mayor stated that Burgess & Niple had received the last testing results of the sewer relining project, and everything looks good. As a result, Burgess & Niple has authorized the final payment for this project to the contractors.
  3. The Mayor reported that the City of Worthington will be beginning preparation work for the upcoming Melbourne extension project in the next few weeks. This will include surveying properties, the removal of some trees, and temporary connecting/reconnecting of some gas lines in the affected areas. Current plans call for the temporary road to be in place by the end of May.
  4. The Mayor noted that he had noticed that there is $1.4 million in infrastructure bond proceeds in savings accounts for the Village. He stated that he was researching the State and Local Government Securities Series, which are issued by the US Treasury and could provide a higher return than the current investments. The Clerk-Treasurer will investigate this further and will discuss with the Financial Committee before bringing this back to Council.

Report of the Solicitor

  1. The Solicitor reported that she had prepared two pieces of legislation for the Council to review at the meeting:
  2. A Resolution of Commendation for retiring Councilmember Scott Gordon and his 12 years of service to the Village
  3. An Ordinance to Prohibit the Feeding of Deer, modeled after the recent ordinance passed by the City of Worthington. She noted that the City of Worthington is also working on establishing a deer committee and the Village may want to wait for this committee to make some recommendations before passing legislation of its own. There was some discussion on whether it makes sense for the Village to adopt this legislation and how it would be enforced. Amick questioned whether or not the proposed ordinance has exceptions to allow for bird feeders that deer may eat out of, and the Mayor clarified that the ordinance would prohibit the intentional feeding of deer only. Heidkamp will attend a meeting of the Worthington deer committee and the Clerk-Treasurer will distribute the proposed ordinance in advance of the March meeting.
  4. The Solicitor stated that the second reading of the SWACO Solid Waste Management Plan is on the agenda for the meeting. The Mayor explained that this needs to be adopted by 60% of the municipalities served by SWACO before implementation.

Report of the Street Commissioner

The Street Commissioner reported that he is getting some parts to make repairs at the lift station, including the ground rod. These repairs are not expected to be expensive.

Report of the Planning Commissioner

There was no report from the Planning Commissioner.

Comments from Residents on Agenda Items

There were no comments from residents on agenda items.

Old Business

  1. Committee on Infrastructure

 

  1. Schlichting, the Chair of the Committee, reported that he and his son had pulled the roof off the lift station and replaced ¾ of the underlayment due to various forms of damage. They also replaced the roofing felt and shingles, as well as the soffit and fascia.
  2. The Chair reported that the Limes, who are building the new house at the end of Olentangy near the lift station, asked that the lift station vent pipe be relocated from the north side of the building to the south side, so as to be further from the house. He felt that relocating this would be a nice gesture and plans to run the pipe to the other side as part of these repairs to the lift station.
  3. The Chair reported that he will be picking up the new parking signs for the east end of Riverglen and will install them in the spring.
  4. The Chair stated that as he is also the new Mayor, he is a part of all committees within the Village and as Emily Saving is the other Council member on the committee, asked her if she would like to serve as the new Chair. She stated that she felt that she needed another year of experience before taking over this role and asked Schlichting to stay in the role until then.
  5. The Chair stated that the Infrastructure Committee should begin reviewing the recommended infrastructure maintenance plan from Burgess & Niple for what work will be coming up now that the Village is several years past the installation of this infrastructure.
  6. Heidkamp mentioned that there is a drain along Southington that has a lot of leaves piled up around it and asked whose responsibility it is to maintain this. The Mayor stated that typically, residents maintain the leaves in the gutters along their homes. Heidkamp stated that she would take care of these leaves.

 

  1. Web Manager

There was no report from the Web Manager.

  1. Communications Committee

There was no report from the Chair of the Committee.

  1. Resolution 2024-02

Resolution 2024-02, A Resolution to Confirm the Appointment of William Charles as Street Commissioner had its second reading.

  1. Resolution 2024-06

Resolution 2024-06 – A Resolution to Adopt the Solid Waste Management Plan for the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio had its second reading.

New Business

  1. Resolution 2024-07

Resolution 2024-07 – A Resolution of Appreciation to Scott Gordon for His Service to the Residents of the Village of Riverlea, Ohio was introduced by Bartels. Bartels moved to waive the three readings of this resolution in order to express this appreciation in a timely manner and Heidkamp seconded this motion. This motion was approved (5-0). Heidkamp moved and Bartels seconded the motion to pass this resolution. The motion was approved (5-0).

Expenses

Saving moved and Bartels seconded the motion to authorize the following expenditures:

  • $27.50 – Gudenkauf Corp – Water & gas line locating
  • $878.18 – Franklin County Emergency Management & Homeland Security – 2024 share

The motion was approved (5-0).

Comments from Residents on Non-Agenda Items

There were no comments from residents on non-agenda items.

Next Meeting Announcement

The next regular meeting will be Monday, March 18, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. at the Old Worthington Library.

Adjournment

There being no further business, Saving moved and Heidkamp seconded the motion to adjourn.  The motion was approved unanimously (5-0). The meeting was adjourned at 7:52 p.m.

 

Joshua C. Mehling, Clerk-Treasurer

Daniel E. Schlichting, Mayor