Village Council - Regular Meeting

probably say an extra prayer.

[clears throat] and it come down to the end. Three of my picks were one, two, three. So my second third place. Now just for he had to pick that was if he picked one the winner was like400 bucks is a lot more um they don't want free money. We've all been

Yeah. [snorts]

Why are they here? Before we get started, thank you for coming tonight. uh March 16th village council meeting. We will start with a prayer from Pastor Steve at Blind Connect Church and pledge of allegiance. Well, again, we just uh thank you as we can gather as a community or give us all wisdom and guidance as we move forward with our community. Give us wisdom and guidance as we move forward in our lives that is connected to you. Continue to help us to see you in the right manner as Lord of Lord and King. Lord, I thank you for the leaders that we have here. Uh Lord just light the way and light the path uh so that we can be servants of you in Jesus name. Amen.

I pledge allegiance 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 uh we don't have Tony here this evening and also Avery will not be here. So we'll start roll call please. Cheryl Donwick here. Basset here. Zike here. Vena here. Miller here.

All right. Uh next on the agenda we have a special guest. Aaron Stball. She is running for the Defiance County Probate and Juvenile Court. Aaron, you want to step up to the podium? Good evening. Thank you for uh having me tonight. My name is Aaron Strawb and I am running for the uh judge of the juvenile and probate court in Defiance County. So, I'll be on the ballot in May. I'm sorry, not May. There is no ballot in May. In March, I'm sorry, May.

It is May. Sorry. May 5th. [laughter] I thought I thought I said March and then I [clears throat] May 5th I'll be on the primary ballot. Um, and I just wanted to take an opportunity to introduce myself. Um, so you could put a face with the with the name. Uh, I've been practicing law for 23 years in the Defiance area, the surrounding smaller counties. Um, I've done a general civil practice and done lots of uh work in the poop court and the juvenile court over the years. Presently, I am the magistrate in Williams County and I'm already uh in the probate and juvenile divisions. So, I'm already hearing cases and issuing decisions in the probate and juvenile areas. So, I think that experience will help me make a smooth transition to the the bench um after the election. So, I would be happy to answer any questions for you. I um live in Defiance. I've been a Defiance County resident my my whole life, I guess, with the exception of my schooling. I went to Ohio State for undergrad and um for uh uh law school. I went to the University of Toledo and I have two children. They're both teenagers, so extra prayer for me there. A 15year-old and an 18year-old. Uh and one will be graduating this year and then uh my daughter will be a sophomore starting next year. So, um I'm passionate about the juvenile and probate work. Uh working with kids, working with the elderly that come to the point in their life where they, you know, might need some assistance with

maybe a guardianship or or otherwise. So, um, I hope that the village entities in Hitsville have a good relationship presently with the probate and juvenile court and and if elected, I hope to to continue that good relationship. Um, my my father is the current probate and juvenile judge, so you might recognize uh the name, but he's going to be retiring. He's probably doesn't want me to tell you this, but he's aging out

and and so he can't run for the next term. So there is an open seat and that's why I'm running. I I work in Williams County because he's the sitting judge here and there of interest for me to for me to practice. So again, just wanted to um introduce myself. I appreciate you having me. I'll answer any questions that you might have and otherwise I'll let you get to your business. So thank you.

Does anybody have any questions for Aaron? Well, Erin, thank you for coming tonight. Good luck on your campaign. We wish you well and I'm sure you have a good night. You, too.

All right. Uh, next on the agenda, we have represent representatives from the Xville Boys Association, uh, baseball association, uh, wanting to, um, talk to us about contractual services and some plans that they have. Um, I'm Taylor, part of the HBA. Uh, three of the seven members here tonight. Um, I think did everybody get a chance sent out part of it? Basically, so the our goal right now is basically just to formalize the vote that uh we had discussed last fall. Frankly, we were all into the understanding that it had been approved, but and obviously hadn't. So, um we had put put a little bit more detail to some of our proposals as part of last fall. Um does everybody have a copy of it at least?

Yeah. Yeah. the the copy of the plans for the Yeah. Yeah. I told you tonight that I o'clock today. Yeah. But you have a copy. I've got a couple copies up here that I could on my phone. It should be on your Yeah, I had Cheryl copy them off real quick. So,

that's probably in here. Um just kind of hitting on some of the high level stuff um that we had talked about last fall. uh biggest well I should say the most pressing component is batting cages um covered batting cages kind of what we're what we're hoping to get built sooner than later um and then some of the other the other uh items on that list are adding a fourth field and um modifying one of the fields up and kind of the up on our hill area to accommodate junior high um I'm not not sure who's I guess if you all are aware but we as the HBA NBA, manage the baseball association from T-ball, which is 5 year olds all the way through junior high baseball. Now, um right now, I think this year we'll have just over 200 kids. Um our goal is obviously to build a cohesive program from start to finish and basically deliver solid results for a baseball program as well as develop youth and give uh our youth opportunities to develop as people. and um obviously good ball players volunteers and donations. So obviously this is a big undertaking. Um so we're just kind of looking for obviously your approval on the plan and then as part of that um looking for that uh 10-year lease so or lease approval rather. Well, I will comment that uh just being a I don't know the history or everything, but just being a grandfather or grandfather has taken his grandson to different fields in different communities. Um I think we have something to be proud of out here because you guys, not just you guys, but also the village has done a great job of uh keeping our fields looking great and

just everything there is just awesome. So, I thank you for that. appreciate that a lot of hard work goes into it.

Kind of if I can refresh um some of the newer council people's uh last year you were charged the fees uh I think 700 or whatever it was in the beginning of the season. They came back in July with some plans uh contractual for a 10-year lease uh with no fees, but they wanted to move forward with like improvements to the park like this uh building uh different things like that. So, um kind of what they're asking. We didn't vote on anything. We all had discussion back in July. I think the 21st that was an email we sent everybody. Um it was never voted on or anything to accept that lease. Uh but now since season started they've asked to take another look at it council [clears throat] and everything else. So that's kind of where we're at now with the proposal. So and some of the big drivers on that um obviously we're looking at investing I think the numbers were right around 250,000 for the improvements that we've got listed um that were part of that. Um and frankly it's just we don't want to have to come back up and renegotiate the lease every single year. be great to just be able to have everybody on the same page um and kind of rehash instead of rehashing everything every year. Yeah. So, we were looking to invest about that 250,000 in addition to the 250 to 300 that's already been invested. from last year for I guess some of the votes were no was because of the dollar amount $700 and some of us didn't think it was actually enough because of what the [clears throat] what the electric bill what we paid the electric bill in the concession building while you guys were running it and you know Cory buys a kit of fuel conditioner and gives it to you guys and that's that was total probably 1,700 to $2,000 between the two of them. Um, and so that was some of the concern was I don't know where the $700 ever came from in the first place other than it used to be

$500 and they bumped it up $200 for what it's been for many many years was 500 bucks and [clears throat] softball pays $500 bucks now a year they used to pay 250 or 300 and metropolitan pay so much a year to maintain theirs and the school pays so much to maintain the park property for baseball softball. It was just if you don't charge HBA, do you charge anyone to use any of it? That was Well, we're not I mean, well, we've dumped the school has done not me, but the school has dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into stuff, too. So, I and they have plans, too, in the future. So, Mhm. And that's the big I mean, the thing is that Well, but we still pay every a yearly fee.

Yeah. And our our thing is we're volunteers. We're raising everything for I mean, donation funds, you know, we don't have anybody on staff. We don't have any of that stuff. So that's our thing is we're you know I think it's a great thing that the village is you know taking care of the park and um you know things like mowing weed eating that sort of stuff that happens regardless of whether there's a baseball program out there or not. um electrics. Sure. Yeah. I mean there there is some uh if there was some usage there and as well as uh obviously additional work for maintenance.

Yeah. The Lion and Dragon fields taking water off of there's there's time for the park director down there spends a lot of time getting the fields ready for all of them. Softball, baseball, little kids, everything. Was there any discussion before and did weren't you trying to make the one field field four into a junior high field now? You guys are field three. Yeah. You guys just put $6,000 of dirt on it and redoing all sorts of fencing for junior high field. All the fencing was delivered like a week ago. And this is showing a different junior high field located somewhere completely different. Okay. How much was the fencing? Uh about 16,000 on it. So we'll have is that total fencing and dirt? $6,000 of dirt. That's

just the fencing. So $22,000 into a field that they want to have on the other side of the road, right? It makes a lot of sense. We we had presented the plan [laughter] last year. I've never seen this. We presented the plan that moving junior high up to the field last up to our area with us taking it on. Keeping everything centralized is a goal. Um and then softball. So it's not money for not because softball could use that the field three that back stops are way back too far for Yeah. So that was going to be my all have to be reconfigured for this. This field five here,

this shows where your your fence I guess proposed location is your 270 and the corners and 290 in the center field. So for a junior high field, that's not a 50 even a 5480 field. So it's not technically a a junior high field. Well, neither's field three. Field 3's got the 230 in the right field, but right, that's what the tall fence is for. So what's what would be the plans for like the back stop for field five? Are you dropping that back farther? Is it going to stay in the same location? These are the preliminary. We haven't gone down and like nailed everything down. [clears throat] Field five is the only one that's possible to make that happen. Sure. I get that.

What's your timeline on like the fields here? I mean, you're are you still three, four years out with with fundraising or assuming that assuming that we can come to terms on the lease piece, um, our goal is to do the batting cage, start that within the month. Um, and then the fields, I mean, frankly, we've all got kids that are going to be moving up into junior high real soon. So, frankly, we don't want to wait five year, five years to start that. Our goal would be to make that fourth field happen within the next two years, probably. thing. How soon do you say about building this? If we're really close to having the funds to do that immediately communication with you when it comes to sewer, water. No,

our goal is not to have plumbing on any of that. No, but that's why we're here to discuss this electrical.

Electric. Yeah, we want electric there. So, with field 4, which I don't know how many people know this, but uh Pastor AJ is looking at reutilizing that area, which was originally designated for a soccer field. He's looking at bringing a soccer program to Xville. And if a field goes there, then that would take away the area for the soccer field in the future. That's that's my one big concern. And I know he's had discussions with the the mayor. AJ's discussed that with the mayor where if he brings a soccer program to town, they can still utilize the concession stand and the restrooms there. You know, thought about the art of the pavilion, but you don't have your concessions there either. Or this would be like an all-inclusive and they could use that in the fall when you guys are done with baseball. That's that's kind of my reservations on the on the new field up there. Yeah. pastor. He came to me last week and um had talked about trying to start a soccer program. They do in town, but I think they play.

Yeah. Yeah. But he was trying to look at feasibilities to practice here, play here, but it's all after little season's over. Well, we we do currently play here, but we currently play in the yard. So, he's trying to expand some of the But I'm not sure if he's able to do it this year. He's just talking. And so he had talked to our season doesn't even start for another like month and a half. Yeah. And that's just for indoor soccer and that's at the Menite Church. Right. Right. But he had

Yeah. I wasn't sure. I know you were talking about that field, but we weren't sure how far that was in the works or anything else. I mean, we have a huge park, a lot of assets to the park. But he had talked about maybe if he could utilize that that's kind of where our soccer program had been in the past, you know, on that area, but But as the volunteer boards go, the other concern was a 10-year contract being almost too long. I know a lot of us saw 10 years was a long time. A lot of faces changed on volunteer boards. And your your vision and goal three years from now, maybe not you, but some of the other guys, I don't know how old their kids are, but in 3 to four years, their kids could be off that and not around anymore. So visions and goals change. 10 years is a long time a contract. And you'll see in the the language on the tenative for the the initial lease that I believe Brad had sent over was a three-year revisitation where basically we're held because our our investment commitments. But at the same time, this is a lot of money for us to invest. Um so for us to not have long-term security is pretty not have long-term security. I mean that's been used by the baseball association for this has been forever. I mean the what what you're doing is great but it benefits the baseball kids.

Oh absolutely. I mean it's creates more work more electric bill more work for the cleaning maintenance upkeep of the building. I mean it's kind of when we talked about Ben Justa was here and at one time it was going to turn over all the responsibility of taking care of the ball fields by the HBA and I don't think that lasted a month. found out people don't have the time or the equipment to mow and drag and line all the fields all the time. I mean, and I know you reached out to some of the local towns and what what they do. Some charge, some don't charge, but they don't charge. Then the other entities are responsible for doing everything for the fields, prepping them, get them ready.

Different towns have different programs on how they handle their associations. I know Eden, I think the the association does all that. they prep the fields and take care of them and there's no fees but then Sherwood you know they work in collaboration with the parks department and you know they charge a fee for that kind of thing. So

anybody have any questions? I mean kind of there your goal is to kind of get an answer tonight, right? I mean, you're Well, we need to get a lease in place because the season's starting, but yeah, we would also like I mean, we would like the approval of kind of the plan of um lease. So, would the batting facility be able to be used by softball, too, or just HBA?

Um, I mean, to me it seems like it would be a that's kind of why we put it where it is. So, it's it'll be accessible year round for uh for the public. Yeah, I don't see any issues with letting with softball use and our big thing I mean the the this is what's driving the size and all of that. Um so I mean it is a 40 by 80 building 20 by 40 of that would be enclosed. Um, part of that gives us a meeting space. Um, batting that storage for offseasons and then the other area, I mean, we're tripping over basically the concession stand could be three times bigger. Um, that shed that's up there. Um, typically in the season, you can't, you know, you can't navigate in and out very well. So, we could use a lot of additional storage. I'm going to say this. I mean, this batting cage is awesome. I mean, I thought it was going to be kind of similar to what we had and maybe just upgraded somewhat. So, but yeah, this is nice. I mean,

yeah, our goal, I mean, is would be to have four lanes, four batting C, four lanes that are roughly 15 by um 15 by 40 and then um when the batting cages aren't in use, it'd be up, they'd be all be on a cable system. You'd be able to push them out and then you'd have a 40x60 turf area that's covered. So then, um, you know, junior high could pitch in there. Um, you guys should practice. The weather's not great. Um, fielding practice. I mean, you can do a lot of things with it being covered.

Say three things. Well, first of all, I hate to see the park just turn into baseball fields. I'd love to have a soccer field. And if you guys put field four there, the old batting cage nets, that was a bright idea by a board however many years ago. They're just sitting down there falling apart. What happened there? I thought that got put in so the kids would have batting cages and everything forever and ever. Well, those have been used. I mean, those have been used. Well, um, can they still be used?

They're the holes. I mean, the nets are falling apart. Um, so we've got to make an investment in nets and structure uh and for the batting cage one way or the other. Um, so we haven't made that investment in the last two years because we've put 12,000 in dirt work, regrading everything. Um, obviously they spent a lot of money on concrete and everything else previously. Um, and then last year we're basically saving for to be able to build this new structure. Well, so if you build this new one, is the old stuff going to get taken away? Yes.

Okay. And I guess on on the pay, if we're not if we're not charging you, I don't think it's fair to the ones that are paying. So I think we need to come up with a number. I'm not anti- baseball. It's just I don't think it's fair to the different ones that pay to pay. But are they I guess I would ask that question. Are they making the investments that we would be making? Softball put they put all new fencing on field two. No, one three one had a lot of new fencing.

Well, new [clears throat] fencing, but the varsity girls that was done part third by the park, third by the Metropolitan, third by softball. Then HGSA put all sorts of money into concession improvements on the inside a little bit. And then they did all the I don't know what they call it, some type of coat surface over top of it, durge over the whole thing. And they're able to play on their field quite a bit. And they're looking at raise enough money where they could put a new concession building in. So, they're looking too to raise. I know we donate money to all of them from the Eagles and we don't care where that donation goes. If it goes to the $700 or whatever that fee is or if it goes to, you know, the entrance for kids to get in to play for free and we don't care where the money goes, but I know it's I know you guys do a great job fundraising and everything. But I guess my only thing on that and I'm not here to start fight but the other entities aren't wanting to do all this stuff. They're satisfied with what they've got. you guys want to add this this this

I don't think they're satisfied with that what they got. They don't have motivated people on their boards that want to do this either, but softball just put in a brand new scoreboard out there and put in new file poles and uh then [clears throat] they had varsity baseball put in all new fence. Uh they haven't done their scoreboard or sound system, but they put all new bleachers, all new concrete on the bleachers. I know that was about $100,000 between all that for varsity baseball alone. That was three years ago maybe. So I think how much money do we collect from all the fees? Do we know between softball plays $100 school pays? What's that between softball association the baseball association? I don't know. I I asked that in email week and a half ago.

Is is it is it really I got a response yet. Do we really even need to charge this? This it seems ridiculous. We've been talking 20 minutes over $700. I don't I I don't see why the village is I mean we turn the lights on for basketball courts. We turn the lights on for volleyball uh pickle ball. We run the pumps over the splash pad. I I I think we just need to move on and I'm okay with that if we refund everybody else's money. Like I said, what do we charge the school? 1,200 for total for that baseball and soft each for the park

and softball's 500 and there were 700 count 6,000 the metropolitan board 6,000 6,000 6,000's for annual maintenance correct that's for mowing their yard yeah that's different metropolitan they own everything when you enter the park on Brian Street pass the school football fields everything on the left side [clears throat] past the football field. So, right, the practice football fields. Yeah.

So, it sounds like we have a lot of different opinions. I mean, it's up to you guys to make a motion if [clears throat] you want to move it forward with their contract or stick with the one we have or make any changes. It's it's your guys' call. So, I'll make a motion that we move forward with the contract. I'll second. as as written, right? As written. Yes. As written with the changes of the no fee. Correct. Yes. Yeah. And just to clarify in there, if the HBA doesn't hold up their end of the bargain, I think I think it says three years. It is, but there there's some gray area in there too. I want to make sure just for your guys is because some of it would be out of your control

like phase, you know, three years 2025 to 2028. that says construction of fourth junior high field of lights and up lighting upgrades. If they review this in three years and say these four items weren't done, you know, some of these might not even get approved. So, it's not your fault.

Yeah. But even with that mix right now, I mean, if if the council decides to allow that to stay as a soccer field, I mean, you see what I'm saying? If I know you have plans for that area, but if we want we would like a soccer program to be utilized and play that field, that that whole phase is [clears throat] super kind of thing. Um, I just thought that the $700 either we shouldn't collect it or if we're looking to break even off the electric and the cost of materials. That was my biggest thing. Is that what the money that they do pay? That's what it goes to pay for is the electric and the water down there. It doesn't even touch. It's sort of an [laughter] it's an arbitrary number

that doesn't cover anything. It just or it does I shouldn't say it doesn't cover anything. It doesn't cover the the cost the total cost. Not even half. So the village would just eat that cost then every year for all of the softball, baseball, all that stuff. Softball, baseball, and school. So you're looking at 12 and 12,400 bucks. So where would we get that money to general fund? Okay.

That's where the remaining 2400 is sort of a drop in the bucket compared to everything else. So yeah, that's where that come from an additional. So if we approve this, are we just automatically going to null and void the other associations as well? I don't know if they pay that say you should reimburse their money back to them. Well, that's not part of the motion. Motion is accept their

they can come and speak to us if they'd like. I will I will say I'm a little I was a little surprised to see the proposed junior high field there after the last conversation I had with the board member. If I would have known that you guys are proposing to do that, we wouldn't have went down the road to improve field three. I guess I'm not sure who you talked with because field five field five is what we presented last fall when we were discussing this. Okay. um that seems to be the only logistical [clears throat] location to do that.

I I personally after being around a ton of baseball, a ton of towns, villages, cities, I don't think it's wise to put junior high up there with your 10U and 12U kids. I don't I just don't think it's a it's a wise decision to put that there. From our standpoint, um we're obviously trying to develop a cohesive program. Um, junior high is a huge expense um for us. So to be able to utilize concession stands um and utilize the facilities that we have Sure.

Uh that's what's driving that decision. Obviously Field 3 needs the outfield needs a lot of work too. Sure. Um so yeah that's our plan. I mean that was our plan. That has been our plan I guess. So, I guess I can't speak for the conversation that you have with Brad. Do the vote now? Yep. Everybody's discussion. So, we have a motion. [cough] [clears throat] Second and roll call. Donwick. No. Basset.

Since I don't believe the 700 number means anything, I'm going to say yes. Miller. There's still confusion. I vote no. Sed. Yes. Elena. Yes. Say yes. Yes. Okay. Say yes.

Say yes. Um well, it passed. So, um I I think we still need discussion about some of the logistics of the field when that comes and we got some years to discuss it. I know right now with what you're doing, it's going to be the field three will be bled for the program, you know, and utilized. That's what we put the money in for so on, you know, as soon as [clears throat] soon as possible, right?

And that's the junior high this year. junior high that'll be time that's until is in the park. Um and obviously, yeah, there is more uh communication that needs to happen with the with the long-term plan. Um this is the first time hearing about soccer up there. So, like I said, just popped up a week ago. So, yeah. Is there a um the village owns the area to the side of the Presbyterian church or the cornerstone? not military church, but that that little Yeah, those empty lots. Yeah. Is that I mean, is that a possibility?

Yeah. Well, if they start what what their goal was and and correct me if I'm wrong, but um because you're part of the soccer, right? Soccer mom. you got your kids in when AJ was talking about this uh especially if it's a full-blown playing in town here and all the kids are coming and right now they said we're around 90 and they think this is a year of what the big played in the United States right world tour they said it usually ramps up with kids that participate

um they would maybe utilize as much as they could fieldwise they even talked about putting in some outfields right um if there was enough space in an outfield area where they could utilize a a soccer program. Um, and that might be feasible, you know, kind of thing. So, um, but we said, you know, with that many kids and you got parents and, you know, you've got a couple, you know, three, four hours of soccer, five hours of soccer going on, a concession stand would be nice to have refreshments for the for the people and the kids. So, that's why they were kind of looking down at that side to to utilize the concession stand. if it was somewhere near the girls softball, if that could be utilized in any way, you know, that would maybe maybe work for them. But they wanted to do it outside of the time frame that the the softball and the baseball were working on. That way there's not a conflict of space and stuff. So

yeah, they didn't want to interfere with that time. But yeah, it all makes sense. I mean, different programs for the park. Um, in terms of moving forward on the batting cage, um, assuming we can get the funds raised here, kind of get it across the finish line in the next couple like next week or two, um, we'd like to get started on that as soon as possible. Um, I guess what do you want? How do you want us to proceed? Uh just just stay in contact with me when you you guys have a the uh water ain't so muddy. Just let me know and um we can go down and kind of it's mainly really with Christina just and to show us where like your footprint is actually.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And our goal is to so part of that I mean our goal would be to hopefully maintain that access year round. Sure. Um and obviously you guys would have access to it. Um, but we would want to get a power drop for that as well, which we would gladly cover that expense as well. I don't know if it'd be best to do a drop in its own meter or something the building next to it. Yeah, that's looking price all that out. Yeah, that [clears throat] all good. Thank you.

Yep. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right. Here. Um, Billy will not be Billy Lane has to be here. He will not be here tonight. Um, approval of the regular council meeting minutes for March 2nd. Make motion to approve as written. I second. Roll call. Miller. Yes. Helena, yes. Zed, yes. Conway. Yes. Ambassador. Yes. Then we have approval of the special meeting on March 5th. That's in your packet.

Second. Roll call. Yes. Zite. Yes. Wick. Yes. Miller. Yes. Elena. Yes. Uh bills list in your packet. Any questions, concerns? spills that 55 gallons per hour. It's those platforms or

No, it's down the street department. All of our antifreeze, oil, death, and all that sits on these platforms. So, spill it. It contains it. And then they have a a drain plug in the I don't remember if the park ever got one. They talked about it one time um two years ago. They don't all they have down there is fuel. It's in a explosion proof cabinet and then they have that big tarp area that equipment's parked on. Make a motion to approve the bills. Second roll call. Ske. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Great. Thank you. Uh boards and commissions. We didn't have any meetings on that. Council committee reports. There were no meetings on that. So I don't believe so. Next is uh Cory's administrator's report.

Uh on the table you guys would have seen a uh letter for income survey resident. What this is for? This is from Mommy Valley. Um, this would be sent out to approximately 100, well, exactly 116 residential properties and nothing commercial, no businesses, uh, residential only. The streets that it would cover is West Hicks, South Brian, Dixon Avenue, West Edertton, South Maine, East Edertton, Wendell Avenue, and South Maple. And what this is for, this is for those two uh, grant applications I had submitted. one was for that uh storm sewer separation project and then the beach street uh water main replacement. Uh they cannot use the um income survey that we did for Colombian Hatterie since since it was job specific or project specific. Uh so they're wanting to do another income survey. Um, in order for us to obtain that grant, we have to we have to um be higher than 51% LMI, low to moderate income, I think it would I think it'll be okay. You know, unfortunately in that area, I think it will come back higher than 51%. Um, but the reason why it's on here is a lot of towns when they do these income surveys, they give an incentive for the people to fill them out. Um, Mommy Valley said some towns, you know, they might give $10, $20 off a water bill. Some towns give a $50 gift card for every person that does it. Um, but I wanted to kind of just put it out there to you guys and see if you had any ideas what type of incentive we could give to people for taking the time to fill out the income survey because they are tough to to get back. So, we have to get a

It's really important to get them back too otherwise you can't get the grant money, right? Now the 116 how what's the percentage you got to get back? I mean I don't know the percentage to be honest with you but we can you guys can think about that and maybe next meeting or just get with me in between and I'll let mommy valley know where those funds come out of.

Water. Yeah, because we'll pay for all the postage and all that stuff. And then the other uh fund, the state capital improvement grant that was wrote for um playground wrote for the playground equipment for Froggy Park. Um Mr. Cloffenstein and I had spoke a couple times. They accepted our application, but they will not award any money from this cycle uh to the park because we still had that 750,000 two years prior and that money is still, I guess, being held hostage by the village of Hicksville. Uh Senator McCaulay reached out and the best they will give us now is whatever project we find to put it towards which I have the playground they'll pay 50% of it and the village will have to pay the other 50%. And then the remaining funds will be scattered throughout the rest of Defiance County to other communities that did not get any funding during that cycle. Um, so far we have met with one company who's been here, um, EWA, which is the game time rep. They will be here tomorrow at 1:30 and we're going to show them the renderings that, um, Midwest Recreation put together. Uh, two different numbers, uh, 775,000 and the other one is 732,000 through Midwest. And that would take up about 10,000 square ft. So, it would be pretty much the entire area there of Froggy Park where all the playground is. And it would be a an all-inclusive. So, it'd be it would be it' have the same type of surface as the [snorts] school has the softer rubber. Uh it'll have stuff for kids with sensory disorders. It'll have um different pieces of equipment for, you know, handicapped

children, kids of all disabilities. So, it's it'll be uh a lot more useful than what we currently have down there. Like I said, what we have down there is getting in pretty rough shape, but I'll know more once we we get numbers from DWA. Do you have a time frame for you're looking? It wouldn't be till next year. Next year. Yeah. Cuz I would I would have to set aside funding from the general fund in order to cover our cost of it. [clears throat] That's all I got. questions for Corey.

Thanks for all your crew. I'm sure they were busy with all the storm damage and trees and yeah, we had four lift stations down on Saturday. Can imagine what that was all about. But the guys will be out all week uh picking up any wind damage. So they're out to the curb and pick it up. You said no word on that, did you? I believe so. Yeah.

All right. Um, no other questions for Corey. Um, we'll start with the solicitor's report. I mean, Cheryl's report. First reading of ordinance 2026-01, an ordinance amending section 505.13 of the Hicksville codified ordinances pertaining to keeping animals near dwellings. You say first final final reading. I had sent some I had a person from the Xville reach out on some concerns on being some of the items being legal or not legal and I forwarded them on to our solicitor and I still haven't got a response back yet. I haven't seen anything either.

That's been a week and a half for supposed to longer than that. Two, three weeks table. I just want to make sure we vote on something that's legal. He had three different things on there

because there's still a lot of argument back and forth on different parts of the law. And I mean, I personally have called um not you Brian, that Brian um and I couldn't get a hold of him a couple times. I know a lot of stuff's going on with Avery and prayers for her that that's all solved soon. But um because there's so much questions about what's going on and I know there's a lot of people who have reached out to me asking you know what I wrote up and what is being read now and a lot of people have a lot of questions still. Would it be possible to make a request for it to go back to the committee the excuse me the ordinance committee to maybe rehash some of those details a little bit because some of the stuff that was requested to be a little different some haven't changed some has changed and the big thing that I think uh is really getting a lot of heat from people in the village is the distance portion of the ordinance the 100 foot rule

there's a variance in there on that one Yes. Well, with approval of Yeah, that's a little grayer. Yeah. Yes. Well, so I don't know how much numbers breaking down anyone has had time to do, but um on board and so I did approve of it. Um with the new proposal of the 100 foot, it would bar 92% of Hicksville residents from actually It's not a new proposal. Well, I know it's not a new proposal, but what I'm saying is the the new numbers that were written since I had seen the last numbers.

Okay. since I don't know if you Corey had known I worked with Brian he came up to my coupe and saw that uh to kind of make some different adjustments to make it a little bit more feasible for people in town and the 100 foot rule if you look at the size of lots within the the village um our standard core lots come in two sizes 66 foot wide and 128 foot wide that means if a 100 foot from any surrounding residence has to be maintained for a coupe it means None of these single core or double core lots for business to the Ethicsville would be permitted to have any chickens. Now, if you break that down, if you look at the double lots that have no sides on one side and maybe no backing on that, then you get 22 out of the 260 lots that are double lots that could maybe have chickens. But with the 100 foot the way it stands, it's it's very exclusy to many many residents. Many of which have chickens already, like myself. I was grandfathered in. I purchased my home and it came with livestock, which I know is not the norm, but most people wouldn't be able to house chicken. Now, I like the approval of the Ford thing, but I was thinking since 66 and 128 foot lots are completely barred under the current. If we changed that down to 50, it would allow double lots chickens, but it would still require approval for some double lots and all of the single core lots while opening inclusivity of for a lot of the Hicksville residents who a don't have backdoor neighbors or don't have a second side door neighbor such as myself who is right next to the greenery. That would one alleviate a lot of time wasted on the zoning approval board of everyone having come because that's just wasted someone else's [clears throat] time and budget and you know that's not the goal. Having chickens is perceived to be about I want

to have birds and I want to have a bunch of meat and eggs and it's really about food sustainability and land sovereignty. You know, you buy a little chunk of land, you save up for 10 years, you get what you can get. And everyone knows this is late stage capitalism. This stuff is expensive. We could use a capital E on that word. Getting a little piece and maybe getting six hens and getting a little bit of eggs each morning, just enough so that when you wake up and the kids go, "Hey mom, I want French toast today." You can say, "No problem. Run out and grab the eggs and and I can make you some before breakfast or before or school or whatever." It's not about big hatcheries. It's not about having tons and tons of birds in town. The 12 limit that was put out was fine. I kept that in mind. But because of the distance, could we look at putting this back to the ordinance committee just to review that a little bit further to see if we can make it more feasible for both people in the community and the council to come to a better agreement? I really think we can do better than what's on the floor now. Um, but since it's a final reading, I mean, they can motion to table it or they can motion to pass it, right? So,

can it be reconsidered? Well, that's up to council. I mean, that's all up to them. I mean, I see your they see your points. We appreciate your opinion and output on that and your uh looking into the situation, but uh make a motion to table it. Not because of anything with the feet, how many feeted way it is. There are some legal things on inspections and everything else. I've never got any answers back from our village solicitor. I mean, I can happily inform you on what I have proposed. Well, that's okay. We got to go. Are you legally [laughter] Are you a legal expert? Are you licensed? Okay. No, we got to we have to rely on our solicitor. Um,

but I'd be I'd be more than happy, Eric, to sit down with you sometime. And I'd like to learn more about where you guys are coming from so we can work doing this cohesively. There's no need for the chicken owners in the city to fight. If we can come together peacefully and annitably, I think it could be a better solution. I'm not speaking for all the council, but I don't think there's anybody on the council that says we don't want people to have some chickens on their property. We just have to come to a foundation of what's too many, what can be done to protect the neighbors and and that kind of thing. So, it's not even a forcibility. It's most of us don't mind having them, right? I don't I'm good with it myself, but uh with some of these situations when people get more and more and more, it's what's too many, what's not enough. Yeah.

You know, distance and all that. So we have a motion to table. Second. Any other discussion? Roll call. Miller. Yes. Valena. Yes. Zite. Yes. Yes. You put a lot of time in. I know you [laughter] I thought I stable. So uh we will look into the legality of how the ordinance was written and then uh have the ordinance committee to get back together and look at this again.

I'd be happy to make a properation of all the data I've actually gathered and you know, you might as well use it. I took the time to to dig it all up. You might as well have it. I can make something formal if you guys like to see it. If you want to type something up, you can, you know, pass it on. So, the order committee meeting is open. So, yeah, you're more than welcome to attend that. All right. Thank you. Um, next, Cheryl.

Second reading of ordinance 2026-02, an ordinance approving the reszoning of parcel EO6000282000 0 from [clears throat] agricultural to heavy industrial and acknowledging the approved split of said parcel into three parcels as previously approved by the zoning board. Make a motion to suspend the rules. Second. Roll call. Miller, yes. Gonwick, yes. Basset, yes. Zike, yes. Valena,

yes. Ordinance 2026-2, an ordinance approving the reszoning of parcel [snorts] EO600028 2000 0 from agricultural to heavy industrial and acknowledging the approved split of said parcel into three parcels as previously approved by the zoning board. Motion to approve. I'll second roll call. Basset, yes. Gonewick, yes. Miller, yes. Balena, yes. Zed, yes.

Final reading of ordinance 2026-03, an ordinance authorizing the mayor to approve the letter of intent between the village and Jefferson South Holdings LLC. Okay. Second. Roll call. Balena. Yes. Sedai. Yes. Basset. Yes. Miller. Yes. Down.

Yes. Resolution 2026-10, a resolution of the village of Hicksville, Ohio, authorizing the sale of unneeded, obsolete, and unfit village personal property, including internet auction for calendar year 2026. Resolution 2026-11, a resolution authorizing the purchase of the Sutfin SL100 Quint aerial ladder fire truck for the Village Fire Department and declaring an emergency.

Make a motion to suspend the rules. Alison, roll call. Miller, yes. Valena, yes. Gwick, yes. Basset, yes. Sed. Yes. Second and final reading of resolution 2026-11. Resolution authorizing purchase of a setfin SL100 Quinn area ladder fire truck for the village fire department and declaring an emergency. Move. I'll second. Roll call. Conw. Yes. Basset. Yes. Miller. Yes. Valena. Yes. Sed. Yes.

Resolution 2026-12, a resolution approving and ratifying a community reinvestment area CRA tax exemption agreement between the village of Hicksville and BADG Limited and declaring an emergency. If we have any questions, we have Bruce and Erica here tonight about I didn't even hear what you [laughter] say. That's about you. Yeah, Erica. [clears throat] There should be a correction on there because it still is listed in on the auditor's website. It should be listed as Bruce and Deborah Guilford.

I'd sent those updated documents out instead of VAG. [laughter] [clears throat and cough] We have any questions for them? Is the completion date still March 26? Is it my contract today? March 15th. Is it March 15? [laughter] Hopefully we'll be done by weather. Oh yeah. So we're getting I'll make a motion to suspend the rules. Second. Roll call. Basset. Yes. Zed. Yes. Gonewick. Yes. Miller.

Yes. Balena. Yes. Second and final reading of resolution 2026-12. A resolution approving and ratifying a community reinvestment area CRA tax exemption agreement between the village of Hicksville and Bruce and Deborah Guilford Limited and declaring an emergency. So move. Second. Roll call. Miller. I think about this one. Yes. Valena. Yes. Seduct. Yes. Gonwick. Yes. Basset. Yes.

All right. Thanks, Gerald. That was all of the ordinances. Appreciate that. Um, department heads. Keep getting

so all I've got is a uh I'm going to meet with the personnel committee as soon as I wait on another number, but I had a new proposal made to me this morning from um Josh Meyers on the hiring and the academy stuff. So, um so get I need to get some [clears throat] other information to how we want to do this. Okay. Uh the contract was sent out to Avery and Right. And then Avery told me I don't know. Did you guys see any?

I didn't see any Cheryl had one thing to take a look at. Right. I believe that looks proposal was made this morning. So, we'll look at that one. Thank you. Uh, Bruce here tonight. Bruce Silk. Bruce in the building. Yep. Yes, sir.

Chief Bruce, chair. So, after we uh I sent you an email last week explaining or a couple weeks ago explaining uh the issue with the ambulance 510. Um I got to go ahead to go ahead and get it fixed. Uh we were able to get it fixed through Defiance Transmission and we actually used it uh today. We got it back last Friday. So, it was uh after we got it approved, it was a two-day turnaround. So, um, a lot of, um, grateful for that and thank God we got it back today because we needed both ambulances about noon today. So, um, what's the cost? Uh, cost was like 8,700 uh, somewhere in there. So, I I gave Cheryl the the actual invoice. So, um, but, uh, we had I [clears throat] had gotten two quotes and I think I referenced both of those quotes for you guys. So, um, other than that, I would like to say a big thank you going out to Sherwood for for helping us uh, with what they did.

Is that Is that one gone now? That is gone. That is gone. When did it go? Friday. Sorry. Should have told me. Yeah. got the insurance on it.

Yeah. Yeah. That I was I was uh I needed to get it I needed to get the bill over to Cheryl so that way it could be, you know, taken care of. So, um that was not on my forgot list. So, oh well. Uh other than that, uh our class is going to be our new basic class is going to be over with and uh the first couple of weeks in April and uh we'll see how everybody tests out from there. So other than that, that's all I got. Question for Bruce. Thank you, Bruce. Thank you. Thanks,

Chief Derek. Just want to update. We um 504 is also back in the station. I was checking out the Browns towing um out of bounds Brown's trucking because we thought it was some engine issues. Um he didn't defibly say everything that was wrong with it, but he did assure us that the initial thought issues wasn't really the issues. We also thought it end up being a transmission issue. He said it wasn't a transmission issue. So he said he sent the invoice to Cheryl. Uh but he said that the damage is not as bad as we thought it would have been. Um considering when we talked before, we thought a brand new engine. Now we're looking at transmission. A whole lot of money. Enough to give you a headache I guess. But he said that they checked all the fluids and changed a different few things. But I don't know the details, but he did say that the the truck was ready. We've had it out a couple times. Since then, we picked it up, I think two days ago. We've been on a few runs. fees to send thanks to the village Corey and his crew. Um the police, local police and uh sheriff's people for responding during that windstorm. Uh we had some big trees that fell, power lines, electricity. So I do want to thank everybody for their response to that. Um they did a great job. Um the police did, you know, HRO did a great job doing traffic control for us. A uh it came sooner than what they said. So we were

kind of glad for that. Um so in a nutshell, that's good. Outside that I don't have anything report. I do have three guys that are in fire started. Uh the goal with that is to uh should be a grant coming up in case the grant don't go through um for these individuals to apply for a grant, but it won't apply to the next uh year. So the invoice for these three uh guys that class won't come out until March or April of next year to get its the grant uh period season. So, I'm going to be looking for that. You drift farther for that to cover the cost for that even though I budgeted I guess with uh some for education, you know. So, I guess if we could get grants to more the marrier to help with costs. Other than that, um he said 510's back there. We have 504 of us back there. So now I think we're moving again in the right direction. Both pieces of equipment seem to be working fine. Uh right now they all been out home runs since they've been back. So I'm grateful for that and hopefully all remain well with those. So other having move forward.

Any questions for Derek? Thank you Derek. Thanks. Appreciate it. Thank you. I just want I just want to say one thing. It was a non-elect electrical issue, but I did appreciate Josh and Officer Frans responding to my son's disaster. Had nothing to do with the electricity, but came very handy having them help out. So, appreciate that.

Problem still not fixed. Part of it is the damage isn't. And since we're talking about police, fire, am you want to talk about the mark system that we got a letter on real quick, chief? Uh something we have the budget for coming up. So I sit on a 911 board and we approved uh for by the end of 12:31 of 2028, I think it is. I don't have the letter in front.

28. Yeah. So all fire EMS uh has we have to become compliant with uh the mark system or fire and EMS. So their paging system would be on marks. They would have to purchase you know pagers that are compatible with the marks radio system. I believe you guys are already with that.

Yes. Right. You guys are already compatible with marks. So they wouldn't have to worry about that. Um but uh the biggest thing is the sirens uh the weather alerts you know the sirens and stuff those have to be upgraded um the analog system because the analog systems are going to be null void. So they would be put on the mark system. based about $4,000 assignment um to upgrade those and we have two to one here.

Yeah. So, we would have two and at this time it looks like the villages, the townships and the cities would be responsible for those upgrades. Um so it be given until the like I said end of uh 2020 2031 2020 to be in compliance otherwise those will no longer be won't work. Anybody's got the analog systems for pagers or the sirens won't work.

They're telling us now to be prepared if we can fix them. Go ahead and change them out now or look for grants for these so you can find some grants to get these moved over. We talked about that a while back and for some reason I kept thinking the one maybe I'm not thinking the wrong one. There's a tile where set up the siren about making sure they're going to be compatible for you away from analog. Yeah. Wasn't there one? Yeah, this one and well both of them actually. We got the new repeater. Yeah, right. So you guys already upgrade to those are upgrade to because one of the one in the park would not would not tone out from it. I think I I think I think when they upgraded us I think they upgraded us to to the March. I think so too

because that was one of the things that we talked about when we did it was because we felt like this was going to be coming down the pike again and we kind of had a discussion about if we're going to do this why not just do it now. So let me get a hold of Dave from PNR. Yeah. But I think we won't have anything to worry about. We didn't want both. I thought, but got to be both. This one for sure. This one for sure. I don't know about the one down in the park. Well, yeah, I'm pretty sure one in the park is I think we're ready to go. Perfect. We sunk a bunch of money into it. And maybe check with them and PNR and see. I thought we'd upgraded that, right?

We spent uh like $15,000 on that on that uh on doing all that. I knew we were ahead of the game in the fire and EMS. I knew they were getting pagers that were marks compatibles, but I didn't know the sirens. So, perfect. I kept thinking the 911 levy years ago was supposed to give new radios. I thought, well, that was that just for police only? So, that covered the law enforcement side of it. Okay. Okay. The fire departments were able to get the fire marshal grants. All right. That covered their side for the purchase of the radios. Okay.

All right. And then we as of this year uh we are now responsible for repay uh paying our radio user fees. So there should be an invoice coming sometime. We just discussed this at the last meeting. So there should be an invoice. So it's $5 per radio I believe is what we have to pay. Fire departments and EMS are already paying that. um 911 levy was covering all law enforcement side of it, but now because of the talk about abolishing the property taxes and things like that, we want to get ahead of the game a little bit and so that was part of it to the police departments to take on the user fees of the radios. So uh probably five years our life cycle with the radios that we probably currently have the mobiles and the portables they're probably coming to an end uh either end of this year or in the very near future they'll be guaranteed to work for five years after that end date. So when I go to do tightening for 2027 year um I would be looking on a continuing plan for the for the future rates in case you know property taxes go away or the levy won't cover that cost. So thanks for the update. Yeah.

Yeah. So we should be ahead of the game then. It's a good thing. Thank you, Chief. Uh, Cheryl,

besides the fund status report, you also have the police department collections and mayor's court for the month of February. And tonight on the desk, I put um a letter from the liquor control again. Um, all the licenses in Hicksville renew June 1st and they have to actually apply for the renewals, but we have the option if any are problems and we want to object to them being renewed, we have to do it right away. [laughter]

Thank you, Cheryl. Hey, question for Cheryl. Really? I didn't realize magpie still had one. I thought they lost. Yeah. So, that's why I was kind of surprised on the list. The township. No, it does say. No, but they don't sell. They don't sell I heard from cheese general sell sell it there. Uh they had that. Don't you guys sell wine of some sort? They haven't heard any since we approved it. Yeah. No, you guys shot it down. First time we did. We did.

Oh, the first time we did, we shot it down. You did it last time, but they haven't set anything up yet, so I don't know if they ever. And then Hburgers.

He used to play last year. The only thing I want to say, I want to thank everybody for their patience with this power outage. Some people were out for a long, long time. Some people were out for a short time. But I know the village staff, the police departments, fire, everybody was out doing what they could to help people and get the roads back open. Uh those things happen in every community. So, uh thank you for all that and their time and work in getting all that cleared up and um hopefully people didn't lose too much food. Um but you know, I would always say like watch out for your neighbors. if you can help any neighbors uh during those situations, especially elderly. Uh hard for them to get around, especially if they're on a walk or anything like that. And uh your houses turn dark, you know, it's hard to have see get around, but uh help your neighbors if you can. And uh that's all I have. So I do have a personnel that I'd like to run by if we can do executive session for personnel real quick. It shouldn't take long, but make a motion to go to the executive session.

Second roll call. [clears throat] Basset. Yes. Gonewick. Yes. Valena, yes. Miller, yes. Sedite, yes. Two guys in here.