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, Scott K. Gordon, Chad A. Lowe, Ted C. Miller, and Leah M. Pyter. Also present were Joshua C. Mehling, Clerk-Treasurer, William P. Charles, Street Commissioner, L. Leah Reibel, Solicitor, and Gregory Bonk, Web Manager. Guests of Council were Daniel Noonan and Mark Boyd, representing the US Census Bureau. At 7:03 p.m., the Mayor called the meeting to order.

Social Media Policy and Public Records

Village resident Daniel Noonan was in attendance to discuss the social media policy and public records retention for the Village. Noonan created the public record policy for the Village nine years ago while serving on Council. Noonan mentioned that the Village should have a public records committee consisting of the Clerk-Treasurer, Mayor, and Solicitor, and can contain Village residents as well. This committee should meet every six months to discuss the retention and disposal of the Village’s public records. The Village will reinstate this committee going forward. The Solicitor brought up the social media policy that was adopted by the Village in June of 2018. This policy concerns the various social media platforms in which the Village and its residents are involved and the Village’s role in the maintenance thereof. The Council discussed potential issues that might arise if the Village were to pursue a more active presence on these platforms, including the monitoring of comments and maintenance and disposal of posts. Council agreed that the best course of action at this time is for any social media communication by Village officials to take place via unofficial channels organized by residents, as is currently done on the “Friends of Riverlea” Facebook page, rather than to have social media sites that are maintained by the Village.  If the Village wanted to have an official Facebook, Instagram or Twitter account, a Village official, presumably the Web Manager, would need to review all the posts. Council also discussed the resident directory that is being created and determined that this would constitute a public record, and that the Village should therefore offer residents the ability to opt out of having their contact information included. The Communications committee will factor this into their plans to create the directory.

Minutes

The minutes of the regular Council meeting of April 15, 2019 were not read since each member had received a copy. Benevento moved and Lowe seconded the motion that the minutes be approved as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The motion carried (5-0).

Report of the Clerk-Treasurer

Pyter moved and Benevento seconded the motion to approve the payment of bills and to accept the financial reports for April 2019 as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The motion carried (5-0).

Report of the Mayor

  1. The Mayor mentioned that construction on the infrastructure project was substantially complete, except for some remaining punch list items. In addition, crosswalks will be added on Riverglen & Southington and stop bars will be painted where needed throughout the Village.
  2. The Mayor reported that parts were on order to retrofit the fire hydrants throughout the Village to match Worthington Fire Department specifications. Burgess & Niple will cover this cost.
  3. The Mayor stated that Columbia Gas will be working on extending the new gas lines that they installed last year up High Street. This will require some additional work at High & Riverglen.
  4. The Mayor reminded Council members that there is an election coming up in November in which two Council seats plus the Mayor and Clerk-Treasurer positions will be filled. He reiterated that it is his wish that Council members be elected by the public, not appointed by Council, and urged anyone who plans to run to submit the appropriate paperwork to get their names placed on the ballot.
  5. The Mayor reminded Council that the flags that were stolen from the Circle last year need to be replaced, and it was brought up that the trees need to be trimmed in the Circle as well, especially around the flag pole. Lowe stated that he will contact someone about the tree trimming, and the Clerk-Treasurer stated that he will contact The Flag Lady about replacing the flags.
  6. The Mayor stated that he had been contacted by Village residents who would like to use the Circle Park to film a segment on food safety for Channel 10 news. They would park a trailer next to the park as part of this segment. Council authorized the use of the park for this filming.

Report of the Solicitor

The Solicitor stated that she had received a public records request from the Public Healthcare Initiative on health insurance coverage offered by the Village to its employees. She responded back that the Village does not offer health insurance, as it does not have any full-time employees.

Report of the Street Commissioner

  1. The Street Commissioner stated there was a clean out of the lift station on May 3. As a result of this cleanout, there were issues with some of the control floats. He contacted Radico, who came out and took care of the issue. As a precaution, he purchased a spare set of control floats.
  2. The Street Commissioner reported that he had put in a request for quotes on street sweeping within the Village. He would like to see this done on a regular basis.

Report of the Planning Commissioner

The Clerk Treasurer reported that there had been a meeting in May at which the Planning Commission approved a fence permit for the completion of a fence at 5830 Pioneers Ct.

Comments from Residents on Agenda Items

There were no comments from residents on agenda items.

Old Business

  1. Committee on Infrastructure

Benevento, the Chair of the Committee, mentioned that meetings in April & May had been cancelled due to lack of a quorum. He stated that there was an informational meeting in May to discuss infrastructure asset management. Lowe questioned whether the Village should approve a management/maintenance plan before November so that any potential increase in taxes for street maintenance could be offset by anticipated decreases now that construction is complete and final costs have been determined. This may be preferable to residents seeing their taxes decrease and then rise again. Council will discuss this.

  1. Committee on Communications

Gordon, the Chair of the Committee, stated that the committee would have directory information submitted for approval at the June meeting. He stated that the committee would need to decide on how to offer the ability to opt out of this directory to residents.

  1. Web Manager

The Web Manager stated that he had added plugins to the web site. He also added that the GoDaddy renewal for the site would be coming up soon.

  1. US Census

Mark Boyd of the US Census Bureau was in attendance to discuss planning for the 2020 US Census. The Census Bureau recommends that the Village establish a Complete Count Committee in preparation for this. This committee would serve to increase awareness and response rates to the 2020 census within the Village.

New Business

There was no new business to discuss.

Expenses

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

– $201.65 – USA Bluebook – Control Float Switches

– $ 74.50 – Clarke Mosquito Services – 1st quarter spraying

– $330.00 – Gudenkauf Corp – Water & gas line locating

The motion was approved unanimously (5-0).

Comments from Residents on Non-Agenda Items

There were no comments from residents.

Next Meeting Announcement

The next regular meeting will be Monday, June 17 at 7:00 p.m. at the Thomas Worthington High School.

Adjournment

There being no further business, Lowe moved and Pyter seconded the motion to adjourn.  The motion was approved unanimously (5-0).  The meeting was adjourned at 8:58 p.m.

 

Joshua C. Mehling, Clerk-Treasurer

Eric A. MacGilvray, Mayor