The Council of the Village of Riverlea met on the above date at the Sharon Township Meeting Hall. The following Council members were present: Mayor Dan Schlichting, Jeffrey L. Amick, Charles T. Bell, Janet R. Heidkamp, Leah M. Pyter, Emily J. Saving, and Suzanne K. Surface. Also present were Joshua C. Mehling, Clerk-Treasurer, Leah Reibel, Solicitor, Bryce Jacob, Planning Commissioner, William Charles, Street Commissioner, and Greg Bonk, Web Manager. Guest of Council was resident Jeff Mussman. At 6:36 p.m., the Mayor called the meeting to order.

Council Meeting Minutes

The minutes of the Council meeting of April 21, 2025 were not read since each member had received a copy. Bell moved and Heidkamp seconded the motion that the minutes be approved as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The following vote was recorded on the motion: Yea: 5, Amick, Bell, Heidkamp, Saving, Surface; Nay: None; Abstain: 1, Pyter. The motion carried (5-0-1).

Report of the Clerk-Treasurer

Heidkamp moved and Amick seconded the motion to approve the payment of bills and to accept the financial reports for April 2025 as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The following vote was recorded on the motion: Yea: 6, Amick, Bell, Heidkamp, Pyter, Saving, Surface; Nay: None; Abstain: None. The motion carried (6-0).

Report of the Mayor

  1. The Mayor thanked Sarah Mehling for her work in organizing and creating the banners for graduating seniors in the Village.
  2. The Mayor stated that Council member Bell had replaced the flag poles at the entrances to the Village along High St.
  3. The Mayor reported that the fallen branch on the tree in the Circle Park had been removed. He noted that most of the tree appeared to be dead and would need to be removed.
  4. The Mayor updated Council on the progress on the Selby Rd bridge.
  5. Worthington expects to replace the culvert under the bridge the week after Memorial Day. This will require all bridge traffic to be rerouted through the Village and the Melbourne connector during work times.
  6. The Mayor stated that he had received calls from residents complaining about residential traffic using the Melbourne connector. The City of Worthington has a camera on this area and will monitor the activity.
  7. The project is on pace to be completed by the end of September.
  8. The Mayor stated that he had received a year to date catch up report on Worthington Fire Department activity within the Village through the end of April. There were nine fire runs and six EMS runs to the Village in this period.
  9. The Mayor stated that he had received the April report on Worthington Police activity within the Village. There were 145 runs and five calls from residents to the department during the month.
  10. The Mayor updated Council on the email he had received from a resident about issues with their downspout. The resident discovered that during the Village infrastructure work, crews had failed to connect the downspout from the house to the drain in the curb, causing water to fail to drain properly. The resident stated that she is willing to accept reimbursement from the Village in the amount of $875 to cover the prior work that was performed and half of the cost of installing a second line to connect to the street.

Saving moved to authorize the reimbursement of these costs in an amount not to exceed $875 to Carolyn Benton at 5795 Westchester Ct and Heidkamp seconded the motion. The following vote was recorded on the motion: Yea: 6, Amick, Bell, Heidkamp, Pyter, Saving, Surface; Nay: None; Abstain: None. The motion carried (6-0).

11. The Mayor reported that he had met with John Moorehead, the Director/City Engineer for the City of Worthington, regarding the relining of the 15-inch sewer line that runs through both Riverlea and Worthington. Roughly 60% of this line serves the City of Worthington and 40% covers the Village of Riverlea. The relining of this line had been the subject of previous discussion, and the municipalities agreed to work together to split costs on this as a condition in the agreement for the Village to grant Worthington the easement at the end of Melbourne to construct the temporary connector during the Selby bridge project. As part of the agreement, this relining is to be completed before the end of 2027.

Moorehead stated that Worthington performs sewer relining work every two years and is currently underway for 2025 and will have their next work cycle budgeted in 2027. Riverlea expects to be in a better infrastructure budget position to cooperate on this work in 2027 and the parties will work toward an agreement with that time frame as a goal. The Riverlea portion of the project is expected to be between $80k and $100K, though negotiations on the allocations of costs are in progress. Amick recommended that this allocation negotiation be complete by the end of the year so that planning can take place on both sides. The Mayor stated that the Infrastructure Committee will discuss this and Amick recommended that they review sections 725 and 727 of the Ohio Revised Code that discusses how cities assess costs.

12. Bell asked if there were any plans for the Village to notify residents of the plans to remove the trees in the Circle Park and stated that he would create a notification for this to be distributed to residents via the website and email.

Report of the Solicitor

  1. The Solicitor reported that she continues to work with the Planning Commission on revisions to the fence ordinances. The current discussions use the Dublin fence ordinances as a basis for these changes.
  2. The Solicitor stated that she had followed up with the Ohio State University Anthropology Department on the skeleton that had been uncovered during construction on Olentangy. The department estimates that carbon dating these bones would cost several thousand dollars if anyone wants to cover this. The bones are estimated to be pre-historic in age.  The Ohio Historical Society had also contacted every Native American tribe that had lived in, or passed through, this area, but had yet to receive a response.

Report of the Street Commissioner

The Street Commissioner reported that he is working to get the Village up to date on EPA reporting, which includes the stormwater report. The Mayor recommended that the Commissioner spread this work around to the Infrastructure Committee as much as possible to lighten his workload.

Report of the Planning Commissioner

  1. The Planning Commissioner reported that the Commission approved an application pending lot coverage calculations at 311 W Riverglen Dr for a shed addition and porch replacement with expansion. This application had been tabled at the April meeting pending more information. The applicant had revised the project so that a variance was no longer needed.
  2. The Planning Commissioner reported that the Commission had also discussed fence applications at 276 W Southington. The Commission approved a small fence around the air conditioner but denied an application to replace shrubbery at the rear of the yard with a six-foot fence. This application contained written approval from the adjoining neighbor and was denied by a vote of 1-2. The “No” votes were from two Commission members concerned that the planned new fence ordinance that the Commission is drafting will likely prohibit fences of this height regardless of approval. The applicant stated that the Commission was to vote on the existing ordinances and not the planned ordinances in the future. The Planning Commissioner notified Council that the applicant would likely be filing an appeal to them based on this statement. The Commissioner stated that he felt that this was the first time the Commission had failed in their decision on a case. He stated that he had discussed the situation and options to avoid this appeal with the Solicitor and Clerk-Treasurer, including the holding of a special meeting to reconsider the decision. Amick stated that he felt the Commission should reconvene for this purpose. The Planning Commissioner and Clerk-Treasurer will work to schedule a special meeting for the members to discuss this case.

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 the Committee met briefly in May and discussed the sewer line relining mentioned previously in the meeting, as well as the issues with the lift station in April. Members felt that it would be beneficial to have some lift station parts on hand and will discuss which parts to purchase.
  2. The Chair stated that Burgess & Niple proposed that the Village use GIS software to assist in the locating of sewer and water/gas lines. The Chair of the Committee stated that he used GIS software to map the sewer and water lines. This mapping would supplement, not replace the use of information from Ohio Utilities Protection Service.

 

  1. Web Manager
  1. The Web Manager stated that he had performed standard web, plugin, and security updates.

 

  1. Communications Committee

Pyter, the Chair of the Committee, stated that she had submitted a PDF of the proposed onboarding guide for new Council members to the Mayor for review.

  1. Record Retention

The Clerk-Treasurer stated that the Records Retention Committee had met in April and were working on getting information on who has the records that may be disposed of in the Village. The Street Commissioner inquired as to whether he should retain the information used in the preparation of EPA reports. The Mayor recommended that he hold on to information used in recent reports and dispose of old information. The Planning Commissioner proposed to offer any plans submitted as part of applications back to residents before the records are disposed of. He also recommended that the Village switch to electronic vs paper records in these applications and may include language in the new zoning code to this effect.

  1. Zoning Code Revisions

The Solicitor stated that she would work on a draft of the fence ordinance using Dublin’s ordinances as a template.   Members have until May 21 to submit their proposed edits to be incorporated into the final draft. Pyter inquired as to whether residents would be notified of the readings of this ordinance and the Mayor stated that these are included in the meeting notice to residents.

New Business

  1. Resolution 2025-05

Resolution 2025 – 05 – A Resolution Requesting the County Auditor to Certify to the Village Information Needed to Enable the Village to Levy a Tax in Excess of the Ten Mill Limitation had its second reading. Saving moved and Bell seconded the motion to waive the three readings of the resolution to submit the resolution to the Franklin County Auditor in a timely manner. The motion carried (6-0). Amick moved and Pyter seconded the motion to approve the resolution. The motion carried (6-0).

  1. Resolution 2025-06

Resolution 2025 – 06 – A Resolution Requesting the County Auditor to Certify to the Village Information Needed to Enable the Village to Levy a Tax in Excess of the Ten Mill Limitation for the Purpose of the Construction, Reconstruction, Resurfacing, or Repair of Streets, Roads, and Bridges, and General Infrastructure Projects in the Village of Riverlea, Ohio had its second reading. Pyter moved and Heidkamp seconded the motion to waive the three readings of the resolution to submit the resolution to the Franklin County Auditor in a timely manner. The motion carried (6-0). Pyter moved and Bell seconded the motion to approve the resolution. The motion carried (6-0).

  1. Ordinance 01-2025

Ordinance 01 – 2025 – An Ordinance Determining to Levy a Replacement and Decreased Tax in Excess of the Ten Mill Limitation had its second reading.

  1. Ordinance 02-2025

Ordinance 02 – 2025 – An Ordinance Determining to Levy a Replacement and Decreased Tax in Excess of the Ten Mill Limitation for the Purpose of the Construction, Reconstruction, Resurfacing, or Repair of Streets, Roads, and Bridges, and General Infrastructure Projects in the Village of Riverlea, Ohio had its second reading.

Expenses

Pyter moved and Heidkamp seconded the motion to authorize the following expenditures:

$   243.00 – Josh Mehling – Graduation banner reimbursement

$   227.11 – Josh Mehling – Supplies & Postage

$     13.95 – Thomas Bell – Flagpole replacement reimbursement

$1,992.50 – American Legal Publishing – 2025 Codification

$   206.70 – American Legal Publishing – 2025 Code additions.

The motion was approved (6-0).

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 June 16, 2025, at 6:30 p.m. at Old Worthington Library.

Adjournment

There being no further business, Pyter moved and Heidkamp seconded the motion to adjourn.  The motion was approved unanimously (6-0). The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m.

 

Joshua C. Mehling, Clerk-Treasurer

Daniel E. Schlichting, Mayor