Vob Committee & Council - Regular Meeting

here. Thank you. Yeah, I say we approve. Yes.

Yes.

Couple visitors. Okay. Okay.

That was That was for the that was for the special counsel of the the executive session issue that we discussed with Southtown and annexation. for the sludge removal.

We've been uh having a local farmer come and pick that up,

but the scheduling of it this time just did not work out. So they went ahead and printed this Anybody else have a question?

No. Also new business

had a policy of not I believe And the request is

right. Correct. But the service department has to That's what we're reest I believe

I I feel that's fair time and a Yeah.

And there's nothing in our in our employee handbook that addresses that particular issue. Yes, because it was a weekday. If it had been a Saturday or a Sunday, it would have been an issue, right? They would have been I I move to pay the crews that came in to repair the streets during the winter storm.

At time and a half It's like Christmas. Why is this I mean why is this different

but it was a leveler to get paid more because They were out. That's how I feel as well. Does this need to then go to council or

book? We have to go verbage. So, yes. Yes.

I'll make a motion that we approve of reports. seconds. Yes. Yes.

I make a motion we Are we doing rules next? Okie dokie. Calling the rules committee to order. 6:14 p.m.

Yes. Present. Also in attendance, we have physical officer Brian Bler, VA Matt Nheiser, police chief Brett Rogers, village solicitor Jeff, and committee members Phillips and

McCra. It's okay. Um, can we have a motion to approve the January 12th meeting minutes? I move to approve the minutes. I'll second it. Roll call. Yes.

Yes. Uh any visitors want to talk to the rules committee tonight? And so um all business is certification of ordinances overlapping with code section. Did you guys have a I'm gonna be honest. I have been sick and I did not have a chance to look at this at all. I don't know if you guys did or not. Did you? Okay. I would just like to move on to the next meeting.

He has a he has a separate proposal. Yeah. New business. New business. Under new business.

I I have reviewed them. I mean the recommendations look reasonable. Okay. And in a lot of cases it looks like it's kind of like what we did with home occupations where we things are found in several locations and we're just bringing it underneath one heading. Yeah. And it and it does bring some I think some necessary clarifications. I did review them. Do you want to talk about them now? Um, well, I'm in agreement with uh the village administrator that they they seem very reasonable and um I would I would like to withhold until I see what Mr. Fo Okay. comes up with. Okay, that's fair. That's fair. All right,

what's that? Do we have to have a goal? follow the rules. Um, not to break the rules. I'm sure we'll come up with one before. So, that's really that's that's about it. Does anybody have any other new business or old business regarding rules? Anybody

under uh new business? Um, I'd like to bring to the committee's attention, uh, regarding chapter 804 of our, um, code of ordinances. Um, I was looking through it. Um, I guess I was actually I was looking through the Facebook page and someone made a comment about solicitors in the village and um, you know, I think there's a and I think that uh, you guys addressed it fine on the website. Um, but I think there needs to be a distinction made between commercial speech and private speech. So, um, when I looked at it, I think there's some legal vulnerabilities that need to be addressed, uh, to ensure we're in compliance with case law.

Okay.

Um, so currently, uh, section 804.03 requires a license for canvasers and, uh, our code defines canvasers kind of broadly. Um, I'm sorry. I'm going to try to speak more into the microphone. Um, so there was a US Supreme Court case that actually came out of Ohio. It was Watchtower versus Stratton and it ruled that uh requiring a permit for for this kind of non-commercial political or religious speech is unconstitutional. So because our code doesn't specifically exempt that um we we could be you know essentially maintaining a prior restraint on people who who may not know about it. So uh could open us up for potential litigation things like that. And so I just wanted to um I guess madam chair if I can address it through the solicitor or can

I don't know. I'm sorry I don't know all the procedures yet and I'm on the rules committee so

let me interject this um for some background information village updated this chapter a number of years ago back in 2002 organiz the did a clean updance. quite a while, not approximately 2007. Lancaster, however, adopted an update several years ago in 2024. I've printed those off. I have not yet had a chance to take a close look at those and compare those updates to what we currently have, but that's what I intend to do. and I'll I'll gladly share those um ordinances from the other communities and any others that I may find as I'm doing my research and and and then I'll I'll provide an update um if it's necessary I'll provide an updated cleanup ordinance to

is the question whether or not I mean it sounds like the question is whether or not political knocking is different selling soliciting probably religiously fall under the same. I thought that was covered in our ordinances that said that um political door knocking was not the same it makes a distinction. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean we we certainly have the right to you know restrict commercial speech um as the village u we can do that uh personal you know religious speech so like even you know people knocking on your door about religion I mean that's protected under the first amendment and uh I I don't want us to get into a situation where we get dragged in for litigation for trying to you know limit that speech. and um you know but at the same time I know chief we have a balance with the safety and um we've never said anything it was only people that are selling the only people

okay we recognize the difference I guess is what I'm saying we never would go up or charitable although that's not to say that we wouldn't if we got a call that we wouldn't go and talk to the person to see what exactly they're doing. Yes, absolutely. To see if they are a canvaser versus a solicitor. So, but yeah, we if they're doing that, we Okay. Yeah. And and in that court case, the Supreme Court case, it was actually like a Bible sales. So, it was it was somewhat commercial selling. Okay. So, there's some nuance, I'm sure. But

but I I like the clarification too that people can put the signage so that people site can essentially see it. So, and I think that was I think there was a comment on the the we love our town Baltimore um page about that. I know there definitely was one made about canvasing, but I don't I just think it's a good clarification, I think. So, I'll memo.

Do we need to make a motion to send that to you? Okay. I wouldn't do that to you. No, that's fine. Anything else? Uh, next meeting will be on the second comm. Oh, I'm sorry. Did Did we need to bring that up about the finance stuff with the Yeah, the they're changing the rule the handbook regarding the overtime paying for employees during e that was really just for storm emergencies pretty much. Everything else is already dealt with in my in my estimate just level three.

E, yep. Everything else is covered. Basically, everybody in the village stays home during a level three because it's illegal to drive and they're not essential. But the people who clear the streets are essential so we can get back to work. And so paying them the same as we pay the people who got to stay home and do nothing isn't really fair to the people who came to clear the streets. Yeah. So I guess we're looking for a motion out of rules to amend the employee handbook for that specific instance. Yes. I'll make a motion. I second that.

We're getting I don't think we really said what the motion was from the person that made the motion to pay them the overtime if the village is closed. Yes. To pay time and a half during a level three emergency. Level three emergency. And I still second it. I withdraw my second. Yeah, specifically level two would not apply or any disastrous emergency. I mean that's a Phil. Can I end that

any disastrous emergency that we get a flood or we get a I mean just right do it right now and be done with it. Declared emergency.

It ought to be declared declared emergency. Of course, an emergency for the village could be the water tower is empty and right we have no water and there's no one declaring it but us. Yeah. So, who declares the emergency? We do. The mayor. The mayor. The mayor. Can I ask Can I just ask a question about because I really was wondering about this during the whole snow. Um what is the like what is the policy of the village like I know that we were the office was closed during that period of time. Did you I mean did you come in that and if and if not like how did you communicate with Yeah.

the people? Yeah. So I I did not come in I spoke to chief about that and I could do what I needed to do from home primarily. So I took my laptop home. I had it available. Uh I was on, you know, my phone, both personal and um work phone. And so I was in contact with the departments during the day for that. Okay.

Uh water and wastewater did come in, but they only came in on their required amount of time. So they're required to come in two hours each day. And so they did not stay the whole eight. They just came in, did what they were required by the Ohio EPA to do, and then they they also went home just to get keep them off the street. Yeah, good question. Um, we have a roll call on that motion, yes. Yes.

Anything else? New business, old business again. All right. Next meeting will be on the second Monday in March. March 9th at 6:30 p.m.

swallow it.

That's what That's what I That's what I was telling I think we could call this public hearing to order. Uh 6:45 February 9th, 2026. Uh Brian, can get can I get a roll call? Carol, Foreman, yes. McCreary, yes. McClean, yes. Phillips, here. Schoffner, yes. Okay. Um the agenda. I don't see the agenda. It's right there. It's not on. That is the whole agenda. The agenda is not attached to the documents that were on your

Oh, he has a public hearing agenda. I do not. They were on the email. January 12th. I'm so sorry. Oh. Oh, okay. Okay. So, um, this is really just to review the application request for a zoning amendment from R1 to R2 for at Baltimore at five Baltimore Somerset Road parcel 024-02577-00 and at zero Baltimore Somerset Road partial 024-2576-2. Um, can I get an approval of the agenda for this public meeting? Approve the agenda. Can I get a second? I'll second. And can I get a roll call? Mccuri?

Yes. Carol? Yes. Phillips? Yes. McClean? Yes. Foreman? Yes. Shuffer? Yes. Okay. Okay. The primary purpose of this meeting is to give the public an opportunity to weigh in on their thoughts on this change in zoning. So, I will basically turn it over to visitors and see if any visitors have anything to say with regard to this matter. What was is this the original one that was a month or so ago or just as part of this partial? Right.

Yeah. So this was in front of planning and zoning I think in December and and planning and zoning approved. Mr. Woods was asking from to go from an R1 to an R3 which is 50 foot road frontage. They rejected the R3 but did approve the R2 which in the document that he distributed at the time he had 100 foot road frontage which is R2. So they did approve an R2 reason it's only the it's only this Y

so the application that's with this package does still say R3 but what got approved to planning and zoning is an R2 not an R3. Exactly. I wanted to give you guys the full view, the original application. Yes. Okay. So, that was Mr. Kenny. Does anyone else from the public have anything to say on this matter? Questions right across the room. Sounds like you're affected. And that's what this meeting is for is to give you an opportunity to understand what's going on so you can ask all the questions you want. This is your time. Come up to the mic though, please, so we'll have it on public record. C can we just talk about what an R2 is versus an R3?

The size of the lots and the square footage requirements for the houses that are built on those lots and that is in our zoning code. So it's hard to recite the whole thing right here of meeting but maybe Matt could give us the cliff notes on the differences between an R3 and an R2. It it's and an R1. It it is largely road frontage. It is lot depth setbacks. um how much of the property can be built up uh percentages. It basically boils down to those three things.

Most the houses on holder road for instance are like R1 lots. They're fairly large lots, fairly large houses. When you come into town and you see these 60 foot wide lots with thousand square foot houses on them, those are generally R3 and R2 is just kind of sandwiched in the middle. Does R2 going to be something similar like just to the east of me across the street? R2. This is R3. This was Mr. Woods's project out on Holder Road. Okay. That's what he was wanting. Okay. Sorry. This is I believe R1 like to Mr. Foreman's. Um they did not approve this. So the lots would be larger, larger than that. Wait a minute.

They No, I'm sorry. This is an R1. So they would be a little bit smaller than that. But that is what he's wanting to build. would be something to this and there is a little site plan in our paperwork that you're welcome to have a copy of to give you an indication of what you want to do. I can I can make you a copy of this if you don't mind. I just get an idea. I mean my major concern is I know you know the area of the storm water is always his development is not going to help that at all. However, the larger developments that are coming are definitely going to make a difference in that and to the good. Y because they have to deal with the storm water that falls on their property, which is going to dramatically impact the other people out there in a positive way. They're not allowed to just let it run wherever, right? They have to contain it and discharge.

They can't force it on to you to get rid of their problem. Does the village have any plans of any kind of storm water system out there any at some point or Well, the village did do some repairs on the aer's ditch just last year and it made an improvement. Okay. But with this new development coming, we're kind of putting the burden of that more on the developers and less on the village. Okay. And much of that out there that was having the flooding problems was kind of not even in the village yet. I know this.

So that was a lot of the problem too was the flood areas. The problem that was causing the flooding was in the township. The repair was in the township and the problem was in the village. And so until more property got annexed, it was really not within our purview to spend Baltimore taxpayer money to fix a problem that actually existed in the in the township. There have been annexations out there and we did go ahead an and fix what was in the village so that it did improve the circumstances. So I know my lot's in a weird spot like we're in city limits but we're not annexed. Right. You can't be if you're in city limits, you're annexed. So you're not you're either in or you're not the the village.

I think we're in Liberty Township. Yes. So you're you're still in Liberty Township because you have not annexed yet. It would be in Walnut Township. Walnut Township's where the where the uh street numbers change out there. So I don't know what your address is. Where's your house on the signs? It's the one just with the solar panels on the roof. Okay. here in Liberty Township. Yes. Jamie lives right across. We're I mean we've annexed property clear out to 37 at this point. Y So are you on Thirstston Water or Baltimore Water? Baltimore. You're on Baltimore Water. I'm pretty sure he's annexed

Myers. There's only one house there that's on Thirstston Water and that's Norris. It's kind of Yeah. So I guess our our concern is just basic infrastructure stuff. Where does that fall? you know, water, sewer, and obviously that little area gets kind of messy in the rains. When houses get built off in a built in a one-off situation, the burden of dealing with that whole broader problem isn't that one person. But when they come out there to do a housing development, that burden is put on the developer. Okay.

So, so it's been difficult for us to manage up to now because it's been one little house here and one little house there. But now there's going to be a couple of a few fairly large developments out there and they are all going to have to deal with that and so you should see remarkable improvements once those happen. Okay. So that so that'll be the developer has to deal with that. Yeah. All the sewer I mean we run water and sewer to them or or actually it's already there.

All of the building of all of that sanitary and storm and water system is all their responsibility. They have to build it to our specs and then it's turned over to us to maintain moving forward, which is why it has to be built to our specs. We don't want it built haphazardly and then we're stuck having to fix a bunch of problems. So, we tell them how to install it. We check their work along the way to make sure they install it right. And then once it's all done and been checked to make sure it built to spec, it becomes our responsibility at that point. Okay. That's just my major concerns. So, it sounds like the R2 lots are a little larger than an R3, correct? Yes. R1 being the biggest. Yes. Yes. Okay, cool. That's just all the questions I have for now.

Okay. Uh, depends on which development you're talking about. Rogers is what is it? Five. Uh, so he has it divided into five residents. And what's the other one? So this will have an effect on the drainage in right. Oh, Rogers will or these other developments will Rogers. Yeah, some because that's going into a bad spot and I know some it's like I ran into before. You got basement and all that kind of stuff.

I don't need no more. Yeah. Yeah. We're down now. I mean, it's it's working better, but man, we don't need It's still swamp out there. There's no doubt about it. Jamie is pretty much next door. A drainage issue, huh? Did you want to see the diagram? Yeah. His his development is going to make it worse, but we're sort of limited as to what we're able to require him to do. But it's in But it's in the village. It's in the reach into the village. So wouldn't you guys Is he going to Is he going to do anything to mitigate his storm water? Well, he would have to. He hasn't up to now. He's I was just going to say he's been a contributor to the problem all this time up to now.

And not just there. You can say he has to, but he's not. I mean, he might Well, with with the with the processing u anything any like the site plan stuff he would submit to our our engineering firm. They would have to off on all that. That's what I was. It would have to be consistent with our specs. So, are we going to require him to run his downspout drains to a real storm structure if we can if we could? Well, he owns all the land to get to s structure, but he doesn't ever want to spend the money to do it. Well, maybe we can maybe maybe we can talk about what that looks like because I don't know. I don't have any history with

he doesn't maybe he should know he could be responsible because of previous conversations that have taken place. I mean is it I'm not against people building houses. Right. Right. Right. Nobody really I lost my Cauv. Yeah. My tax shot up. I did a development four more year three or four more years to get it back. I did a development with five houses here in town and I was required to take my downspout drains and my sump pump drains to a proven storm structure. Then I then if if that is where's the storm structure in our area there? That's the problem. We don't have one. There isn't one. So how can we force him to put it somewhere?

But he owns the land that could get you to one like he would go be going across his own property to get to it. Let me know because I like to put mine there too. So I just I just don't know the answers to it. So this is really just approving the zoning. It's not approving the development. This is not approving the development, just the So there's going to be engineering on the development and it's going to have to include some addressing of the storm water. Are these going to be on municipal sewer or are they going to be on septic systems? I don't know the answer to that. He's not gone that far. Well, the health department should certainly not approve private septics out there in that water in that swamp. So if it's in the village,

I'd say approving the zoning is just the first step in what he needs to do. Baltimore water and sewer because the property he owns now is one of our customers, right? Place you talking about Cold Place. Yeah. So,

okay. Anything else from uh visitors? It sounds like uh this is just a zoning request. So the his his uh development proposal hasn't been put on the table yet. And the village administrator saying that he is going to require engineering to deal with storm water. Thank you. Because it has I mean 256 floods over at times, right? Can't make it worse, right? So the problem out there is very well documented and we're all very aware of it.

So anything else from visitors uh regarding this reszoning request? Okay, hearing nothing. Um can I get a motion to adjurnn? Make a motion we adjourn. Curry seconds. Roll discussion. Roll call. All in favor? I I Well, we're gonna go right into council. What do we have these for? That was the zoning. That was the original zoning application where he wanted to go from R1 to R3. Okay. And that is not what got approved. No, we just to take a look at it or whatever. Okay.

Who who do we give it back to? That guy right there or the can. So what's the next step on this? I'm just uh he has to put together an engine. We don't our job is pretty much done. Okay.

Do you want to stay for the council meeting or are you head over here? Feel free

start this meeting with the Lord's Prayer. Our Father in heaven, be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen. Pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I know. Okay. Brian, can I get a roll call? Carol. Foreman here. McCreary present. McClean present. Phillips here. Schaer. Chauffner present. Okay. Can I get it? Approval of the minutes for the January 12th, 2026 meeting. No, we're This is for the reorganization first. 26. Oh yeah. Can I get an approval for the minutes of the 20 the January 12th, 2026 reorganizational meeting? Who first did it? Oh, whatever.

I'm asking for a motion. You be first. Yeah. Can I get a second? McCreary second. Uh, discussion or we don't do discussion on that, do we? Roll call. Carol, yes. McCreary, yes. Phillips, yes. Foreman, yes. Mlean, yes. Chaer, yes. Then we can public hearing January 12th. Can I get a approval for the minutes of the regular January 12th meeting? No, the public hearing 12th. Oh jeez. We had three meetings or we had I guess we did, didn't we? Can I get approval for the uh minutes of the public hearing from January 12th?

McCreary moves to move to approve the minutes from the January 12th public hearing. I'll second. Okay. McCree, yes. Carol Phillips, yes. Foreman, yes. McClean, yes. Schoffner, yes. Okay. Now, can I get an approval of the minutes from the January 12th regular council meeting? Move to approve the minutes. January 12th regular council meeting. Okay. Second. Second. Okay. Uh, McClean, yes. Phillips, yes. Schoffner,

yes. Foreman, yes. Carol, yes. Mccra, yes. Okay. Okay. Are there any amendments to tonight's agenda? Can I get an approval of the agenda for the February 9th meeting as presented? I'll move to approve the agenda as written. Can I get a sec? A second. I'm sorry, I was reading roll call. Uh, Schoffner, yes. McClean, yes. Foreman, yes. Phillips, yes. Mccuri, yes. Carol, yes.

Okay. So, um, the prior meeting was the public meeting for the annexation. This is the the actual council meeting. And again, the visitors are given an opportunity if they have anything they would like to bring before council. Else I know. Okay. So, we can move right into administration reports. Uh, the mayor is absent today. He has been in the hospital for about a week. Uh, he's on the mend, so hopefully he'll be able to make the next meeting, but uh, he didn't feel like he should try to get here tonight. So, we'll move right on to the village administrator report.

Yeah, just a few things I want to highlight from my uh, my report uh, that was sent out. Uh just wanted to emphasize that uh since last Friday, we've had 14 water mane breaks in 18 days. 13 of those um have been the 4-in pipes that we've known have been a problem and are a problem. Uh if you want to on the report that um that was on your space when he came in from uh Tim, there's a few pictures of one that they had this past week. It was three three water mane breaks in the same vicinity. and uh just to kind of give you an idea that when they're opening the ground what they're seeing and what's going on. They had two more today. So, just wanted to report that to you. Uh kind of going along with that, our water modeling project is finishing up. We're going to have our final uh report from V3 this Friday and it's looking to do what we were hoping uh that it would do and that is that it would create for us a list of priority water manes that we can begin to look at as far as um when we start tackling replacement of these 4inch lines which 4inch lines do we replace first? And that's going to take into account too of the history of the brakes that Tim has uh provided for us. Um, as far as our uh the study, the Raftella study, that's the company that provides uh it helps us with financial structures for um uh for mun uh for municipalities. We have finished the information gathering stage with them. Everything they've requested from us, we've submitted and they're going to begin doing the bulk of the heavy lifting of their study. Uh we had an onboarding meeting with Jacobs who's doing the study of our wastewater treatment plant and looking at options uh from either adding more membranes to converting it to a traditional sludge

processing plant. I know that's not the term but to a more conventional plan. Um Eli has been providing with the with providing them a ton of information and we're probably in the middle to the end of that information gathering stage with them before they um begin the real heavy lifting of their study. I did want to let you know that our building department of course we're have a contract with Safeuilt to provide building permit processing as well as inspections. We did uh work with municip and safe built to get an online payment option for builders through our through community core. So they can call in and pay by credit card, they can bring cash check or pay by credit card in person or now they can go online. Uh we also started the process this week of looking at online payment uh option for mayor's court and not only is that a customer service op opportunity both for the building department and mayor's court but it also can help limit the number of phone calls that we get into the office which is a tremendous amount for Connie and and particularly Missy she's doing those things so just wanted you to be aware of that. Uh, also as I mentioned earlier, interface videos here with us tonight just to do some live troubleshooting. Look at the mics, look at the live streaming. I think unless there's any questions, uh, I think that's all I wanted to emphasize.

Okay. Does anybody have any questions for Matt?

Okay, moving on. Uh, we had finance meeting tonight, so I think it's pretty well all been covered, but Brian, uh, can you give fiscal officer report? I just want to bring something up that I Matt didn't I I fielded a phone call from the county engineer last week. He was at the OPWC meeting deciding on projects for for this year. Um he informed me and wanted to know and hope you're okay with this, but it looks like the Washington Jefferson was not going to get funded unless we restructure something. and he asked me if the village was willing to go entirely with a loan for this project and I told him the village wants this project done. We will do whatever it takes to get this project, you know, funded. So, um I just wanted to give you a heads up on that.

Which which project? The Elwood Jefferson. Okay. The one we put in last year, the one we put in two years ago. Okay. it was on the chopping block again unless we mod modified it to an entire loan situation. Okay. Now, he didn't call me back if he needed Jeremiah. Jeremiah didn't call me back, but it looks like we could get it, but I'm they we on that he was on that committee. Yes. Okay. Okay. I told him we would do any whatever they wanted us to do to get that project funded. Okay. Okay. Anybody have any additional questions for Brian Bibler? Okay, moving on. Jeff, could we get the report from the Swisser?

Sure. Um, three pieces of legislation on the agenda for consideration this evening. Um, uh, the first one is ordinance-2, which gives the village administrator and fiscal officer the authority to apply for a loan for the purchase of a pickup truck for the water department. That does carry emergency language. is um asking council to consider suspending the three reading rule and passing that tonight because it's much needed. Um ordinance 2026-03 to approve a final flat for Liberty Bridge that has emergency language that does not need to be considered for passage this evening. It's on for a first reading only and then one ordinance on for a second reading. should have been a third, but with the cancellation of the previous council meeting, it's on just for a second reading. And that's to approve um the vacating of the final plat for the Sleepy Hollow subdivision. That can go on for a second reading only. Um that's not ready to be considered for adoption. Nothing on for a third reading. I would ask for a motion to go into a brief executive session after regular business to discuss a litigation matter and that's all

I'm sorry to discuss what matter a litigation matter. Okay. Does somebody want to take care of that for Jeff? Yes. I move that we do an executive session following the council meeting to include just the people at this table and no visitors. Second. And can any discussion and can I get a roll call? SH second. Um, McClean, yes. Schoffner, yes. McCree, yes. Foreman, yes. Phillips, yes. Carol, yes.

Okay, moving on uh to the committee reports. The first one is finance, and I guess I'm the finance chairman, so I guess I'll go ahead. Uh, we did have a finance meeting tonight. everyone was in attendance, so I don't feel like there's a need to rehash all that in uh this meeting. Um the next meeting for the finance committee will be on March 9th at 6 PM. Can I get uh this report from the service committee? That's we did not meet. Um next meeting is the 23rd. February.

Okay. Moving on from the safety committee. Can I get a report from the chairman of the safety committee? Yes. Safety committee did not meet tonight. Uh we will meet. What was the date? Sorry. 23rd. Uh on the 23rd of February. Okay. Moving on. Can I get a report from the chairman of the rules committee? Um we did meet tonight. Um and we pretty much um set the um the uh what do you call the the stuff for from uh the um the time and a hands

what the declared emergency pay no no the um my god I can't even the codified ordinances the conflicts and the conflicts in And we have we we will discuss that again at the next meeting. Okay. And then I did did did they Jeff is drafting? Yeah. Well, we have to come up with a policy and then we'll and then that'll be referred to council for approval. And our next meeting will be uh March 9th at 6.

Okay. Public safety reports. Uh police chief. Uh nothing really exciting. Just the weather's been keeping us busy with stuff. Other than that, rolling along. Nothing to speak of. I guess kind of made the news with a guy that got arrested for a threat to a business. What is that originated in Baltimore, Ohio? Police. A threat to a Baltimore business. Okay. Okay. Moving on. Jamie, can we get a report from the Basel Joint Fire District?

Um, it was really just an organizational meeting. Uh, Casey and Chief Kohley put together nice little pamphlet here. Some things you guys want to look at, I'll pass it around. Run totals, things they're planning on doing, stuff for the first year. The I guess there'll be some more stuff at the next meeting that I'll bring back to the following. When is the next meeting? Um, third Thursday at the third Thursday. Okay. I think it's the third Thursday. Yeah. Okay. Maybe. Okay. Okay. So, he's passing that around so everybody can take a look at what uh the fire department at their organizational meeting. Uh Matt, do we have an update on planning and zoning commission?

Uh just just uh our last meeting uh they approved uh the final plat section one of uh Liberty Ridge and uh sent that to council. Um the meeting on this Thursday is going to be cancelled for lack of agenda items. So, the next meeting will be Thursday, March 12th at 7 o'clock. Okay. Might as well parlay you right into the tree commission. Has there been any uh changes in the status of the tree commission?

Uh there hasn't been any change in the status of the tree commission other than the extending of membership from 3 to 5 to 5 to 7, but also they've been um uh they've identifi through our inventory and through the commission. They've identified tree uh tree removals for uh for the second round of the OD uh OD&R grant that we received. Uh we're receiving quotes from several companies. Uh currently uh Mr. Cthwell is putting together a pruning list for the spring and then um then we'll start looking at planting. Okay. Brian, can we get updates from the records commission? No, we will have Last time we met was in what October I believe and I think we 2024 or 2025.

2025. Oh, okay. It seemed later than that. Let's confirm. I was gonna say I think it was like and I I think we decided not to meet till April. I know. I I get it. That's fine. That's fine. That's fine. If you don't need to be, you don't need to meet. Well, okay. So, moving forward. Um, do we have any motions from anyone on council? Okay. Did you already make We don't have to make the motion. We did the motion for the executive already. I handled it right then. So, we got that out of the way. I was going to say just making sure

we can do it anytime. So, okay. We have up for first reading and I guess I'm the sponsor of this an ordinance authorizing the village administrator fiscal officer to apply for a loan to finance the purchase of a pickup truck for the water department and the declaration of a marri emergency. Am I able to go ahead and make a motion to suspend the three readings since I'm acting as mayor also? You are. Okay. So, for makes a motion that we suspend the three reading rule. Can I get a second? I'll second. Any discussion? Do we actually need a new pickup truck?

Well, uh they've been driving around in a gangster mobile that's black with black tinted glass windows and it uh isn't very uh and it's rather old. It was donated to us from a other municipality. So, um, it seemed like it was a better option to put them in a work truck rather than a SUV. Um, we plan on selling those. We're selling We're We're We are getting rid of some of the older vehicles. Three of them. Three of them. We'll have to do it. We'll have to do it on gov deals.

Yeah. We can't really get anything much out of them because they have to be done on gov deals. So, you don't really get much out of them. But that said, these newer vehicles are less expensive to own because you got less rate repair and maintenance on them. Um, so we have a motion in a second. Is there any further discussion? I also want to point out that they mentioned that there have been residents that have questioned the vehicle because they can't see who's in the vehicle as you kind of mentioned when they approach a residence and they do have to approach residences for a very a lot of different reasons to replace meters to for safety also. Yeah. To

turn water turn off water and to post lack of payment tags. So um so we have a motion in a second. Can and discussion. Can I get a roll call on the suspending of the three readings? Uh Foreman, yes. Carol, yes. Mccuri, yes. McClean, yes. Phillips, no. And Schoffner, yes. Okay. For makes a motion to adopt. Can I get a second? Second. Any discussion? And can I get a roll call? Carol? Yes. Foreman, yes. Sorry, supposed to be the other way around, but Mccuri, yes. Mane, yes. Phillips,

no. Schaer, uh, yes. Okay, motion is is passed. Moving on to the second ordinance that's up for a first reading, an ordinance to approve the final plat for Liberty Ridge section one and the declaration of an emergency. My understanding is that this has emergency language in it, but that it does not need to be passed by emergency. It'll just be so it takes effect when it does pass after the require required three readings and we need to sponsor and it's got to go through committee yet. So, right. So, would would anybody like to sponsor this ordinance? No. Zoning. What committee does it need? service.

Anybody at this point? McCur. So, this is really just on here for a reading and now we have McCreary as a sponsor and we can move on to second readings. Ordinance 2026-01, an ordinance approving vacation final plat for Sleepy Hollow subdivision 55.44 44 acre parcel currently known as parcel number 024251400. Sponsor McCreary. I believe this just stays on. Correct.

And moving on to third readings, we have none. Tabled ordinances, we have none. Anybody have any old business to bring before council? Hearing none. Does anyone have any? It looks like we have something regarding the tree commission under new business. What's that?

I'm gonna ask if we can table this to the next meeting. Uh the tree commission is asking for two things. Uh they they've not kept the best of records and so they're not sure when the terms started or are ending. So they're asking just for a blanket overhaul of that as uh or approval. And then they're also going to be re be requesting the addition uh of a new member. Uh the mayor was going to make that tonight. We forgot to include that in the council packet. It was included in the last council packet for the 26, but with the snow stuff, it was not included here. I spoke to Steve Cawthor today. He said tableabling that to the next meeting doesn't create any organizational issues. So, if we could table that, that'd be best. Okay. So, there's going to be seven members now. Yeah.

And it's a four-year term. Three. I believe it's a three-year term. Three year term. So, wouldn't that would that go to rules then? The question about Well, so what they're they're just at it'd be an appointment. No, I was meaning the first part which was the question about the we we know we it's already in the code what their term is. They just haven't kept records to know who's started when and who's coming off. So they've put together u a table and they're asking um just basically for a redo on the So we'll have a table at the next meeting and we can approve the table if we're in agreement with it. Sounds like we need to do it anyway.

Okay. So um we're going to let the tree commission uh request carry over to the next uh meeting. Um before we go into executive session, do we need have anything from any of the visitors? One last call for the visitors. Okay, we need to go in executive session. So, if you guys could all go enjoy your evening, thank you for attending. I think Brian, yeah, you you can shut this off, right?

You shut these off, right? Don't send it.