Council - Regular Meeting

in order that the residents of West Milton uh can best enjoy a life of peace and safety, an environment that is conducive to abundant life that you offer. to prayer and to the enjoyment of our family and our neighbors. So God, we pray that you would bless this time, give wisdom, give peace, give understanding, and guide those uh who leave this place safely to their homes when this meeting ends. All of this we pray and ask in the name of your son and our lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Amen. All right. Next, we will open the floor for any motions for the empty council seat. Oh, I motion that we appoint Mr. Doctor Fred Francis to council. I second. All in favor or roll call, please. Mr. Feb, Mr. Todd, yes. Miss Gregory, yes. Miss Mets, yes. Miss Richardson, yes. Yes. All right. So, if you could join us up here.

I I state your name. I Frederick Francis being dy sworn according to the law. being duly sworn according to law. Say that I will support the Constitution of the United States. say I will support the Constitution of the United States. the Constitution of the State of Ohio. the Constitution of the State of Ohio. The charter and codified ordinances of the municipality of West Ohio. The charter codified ordinances of the mun municipality of West, Ohio. And that I will faithfully, honestly, and impartially And that I will faithfully, honestly, and impartially discharge the duties as council member discharge the duties of councilman of the municipality of West Milton of the municipality of West M. in Miami County, Ohio. in Miami County, Ohio during my continuence and set office.

During my continuence in set office. Thanks.

All right. Next, we have excuse any members absent, but I don't believe we had any. All motion to excuse Scott Fogle from the April 14th regular council meeting. I was wrong. Any second? Roll call. Mr. Fogle. Mr. Todd? Yes. Mr. Gregory? Yes. Mr. Francis? Yes. Miss Max? Yes. M. Richardson? Yes. Mayor Saturn? Yes.

All right. Next, we have approval of the minutes. April 7th special council meeting. April 14th regular council meeting, April 18th special council meeting, April 28th council workshop. Do I have any motions? I motion we approve the minutes from the April 7th special council meeting, the April 14th regular council meeting, the April 18th special council meeting, the April 28th council workshop. Second. Roll call. Mr. Fogle. Mr. Todd. Yes. Miss Gregory. Yes. Mr. Francis. Yes. Miss Mets, yes. Miss Richardson, yes. Mayor Saturn, yes. Next is correspondence to council. Do we have any? Yes, we have one. All right.

Uh, correspondence from council. This is from Mr. Scott Mesler. I do not have his address, although he uh indicates he's a resident of West Milton. Uh, good morning, Mr. Harren. I am a resident of West Milton and have been since 2018. While driving north on 48 into town, I noticed the flock camera located near the uh aces on 48. I had not noticed it before, but according to deflock.org, it was intended to their tracked network. It was I'm sorry, it was added to their track network of flock cameras approximately 5 months ago. I would like to express to council my dissatisfaction with the implementation of equipment that allows law enforcement and government agencies to bypass every citizen's right to be secure in their persons and possessions. Data collected by flock and other ALRPs is not subject to the fourth amendment protections and has been used in unethical and illegal ways in other municipalities. I am not implying that it is being used for that same in this instance. I would like for council to address the use of these cameras in a public manner. I am curious if any public notification slash discussion was made prior to the installation of these devices. Was this decision made by council or did a different agency enter into an agreement with flock? I appreciate your attention to this matter as it is of great importance regarding the preservations of our civil civil liberties. Um, and then at that point, uh, I had, uh, Chief Wright craft a response because he's very fluent in the flock system and, um, if you want to go ahead and just visit your response.

I I sent uh, Mr. Messer a response yesterday morning. Um, uh, he was appreciative of my response. Uh, he still thinks it's a violation of the Fourth Amendment. However, we don't use it in any fashion of that nature. We use it for only vehicles that are entered, stolen, people who are wanted vehicles driven without owner's consent, uh, stolen license plates. We have used it to determine hit skip vehicles in the past. We had a hit skip downtown a few months ago, put the parameters in the system and it was able to show us who the vehicle was and we were able to clear that that itself, but that's the only parameters we use it for. What's brought so much attention to the flock cameras is the recent uh uh news with Dayton, the city of Dayton being upset over it. That's an internal policy. It's not a policy with Flock that Flock has done anything wrong. But Dayton had as an internal policy that does not allow them to share data and they were sharing data with other agencies. um and that caused them some issues internally uh and someone lost their job because they violated their city policy. We have two flock cameras. We have one on 48 at Baker Road as you come into town. We have one at 571. Uh the sheriff's office has numerous throughout the county. Tip city has about 10. City of Troy has them as well. and uh all the agencies around us and surrounding counties has them as well. City of Union has one as soon as you go into Union on 48 going south.

Thank you. Thanks. All right. Do we have any comments from citizens regarding tonight's legislation? Right. I see none. So, next we have the community pride awards for May 26th. Hi. I'm going to come down here. I can talk louder.

Okay. So, years ago there was a community pride awards and we are doing all the things all the things to revitalize our downtown. And one of the things that was really important is, you know, we talk about like the carrot stick is bringing the carrot um and riding the horse. People have worked really, really hard at making our village even better. So, one of these is 334 South Main Street, and they took a house that had been lived in and closed up for 30 probably years or more. And they went in and they gutted it and they redid it and it was absolutely stunning and beautiful. And that's at 334 South Main Street. And unfortunately, they couldn't be here today. Right.

You're here. Yes. Hi, neighbor. I thought you weren't going to be here, so I'm going to give you an award. Okay. You can come up here and we'll get a picture. Doy. Hey Doyle. Sorry. Good. Although this the credit goes to my dad. My dad's the one that fully renovated the house. I have not any of the work, but I live there. He did a wonderful job. So, I love it. It's so great. So, congratulations. Welld deserves

and thank you for making your community better. Okay. Now, the next two go to the same pe the same people, but I want to include another person. So, Robin and Amanda came into West Milton and there were a lot of like these old buildings for sale and Robin and Amanda came in and they just scooped a bunch up and they absolutely did a phenomenal job. They participated. They made a business in a space that was empty for a long time. and they put an amazing business in there. Um, they then sold the business to Megan Bryan who's also here and I want to recognize her as well for investing so much into our community. I remember one time I was talking about getting murals done which we are so hard working on murals. Um, and Robin and Amanda just went and painted a mural in the back of the building. So, if you don't know, there's a beautiful mural behind the Sugarland social now where you can go and get selfies taken and there's ice cream and it's so much fun. Um, so I would like to present this award to Rob and Amanda and Megan. Um, and we can get two credits. You guys can be happy if you like. Um, if you guys want to come up here and we'll get pictures. This is the right address there. So these two there was this house and Bill can probably tell us how long that it was a code enforcement disaster.

Oh yeah. and they went in and they bought this house and they got a dumpster and they cleaned it up and they did a phenomenal job at making that house absolutely beautiful which just adds it just improves our whole community. So, the house at 131 Hamilton, which was once the just a thorn in our sides, is now a beautiful, wonderful home. And we just really appreciate all you do and appreciate all that you give to West. We did all the work.

Thank you. And can I just add on you guys own the Airbnb across the street. If you want to say anything about it, go for it because that's amazing. Also, give it a plug. Yes, you.

We really love the town. It's so small, so everybody is so friendly. And we we were thinking, oh, we should do something to add more charm to the town. So, we got this house is so big, huge house and it's so has a lot of taste and historical um uh story to it. So, we were thinking what could we do it and then we thought, well, we should probably put a Airbnb uh in the unit. So, he again he did all the work. Uh I did all the like decorations and we did each different room a different scene room. So we have a game room, movie room. Each bedroom has a a different theme like Paris room, Chinese room and the kids room. So everybody can find a piece of joy in in in one particular room. So so far we have been running for about um two years and so far we have uh have really good feedback. Everybody loves it and they all have a good comments on on the platform. So, we are so glad to to be part of the community to to contribute what we can to the West Newton uh community. We are so glad to be here.

Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. And I want to say if anybody has any buildings or homes they would like to nominate for a beautifification award, feel free to send me or Ben an email and we will add them to the list because this is the fun part. This is the good stuff, right? All right. Now, we're going to move on to ordinances. First, we have CN-26-26. Then when I go

yeah an ordinance this was the second reading amending section 53.03 C and D storage of garbage refues and recyclables of the code of ordinances of for the municipality of West Milton Ohio. Do we have any discussion or motions? On a motion we approve ordinance CM-26-26 as written. Second uh roll call. M Mr. Fogle. Yes. Mr. Todd? Yes. Miss Gregory? Yes. Mr. Francis? Yes. Miss Mets? Yes. Miss Richardson? Yes. Mayor Saturn? Yes. Next.

You like me to I know it's a second. Did you want me to say anything about it?

Sure. It's basically this refuge ordinance the the only changes it is making is we were having a a pretty big problem with uh people setting refu outside of their containers and um we don't like our driver to get in and out for safety reasons and it seemed to be getting a little bit worse. Um so this ordinance will basically say that all of the refu has to be stored inside the inside the container. Um, basically containers shouldn't be stored uh in frontage or front yards. Um, exemptions can be made to that for safety reasons or uh storage areas if you don't have the proper space anywhere else. Um, so we can make exceptions if need be. And that was that was that one. Yeah. All

right. Next we have CM-26-27, an ordinance amending section 53.06 06 joint use of containers prohibited of the code of ordinances for the municipality of West Milton, Ohio. This was a second reading. Yeah. Do you want to discuss that one too? Um, this is a it's in a little bit different section of the code of ordinances, so it couldn't be put with the first ordinance. Um, basically, uh, if you're it says that if you don't own the refuge container, if it goes with another property or business, you can't use someone else's container. Thank you. You have any motions for that one? Motion we pass CM-26-27 as written.

Second. Roll call, please. Mr. Fogle? Yes. Mr. Todd? Yes. Miss Gregory? Yes. Mr. Francis? Yes. Miss Mets? Yes. Miss Richardson? Yes. Mayor Sers? Yes.

All right. Next, we have CM-26-30. Uh, an ordinance adding vacant property and building registration to chapter 98, exterior property maintenance code section 98.20, 98.201, 98.202, 98.203, 98.204, 98.205, 98.206, and 98.207 207 to the code of ordinances for the municipality of West Milton, Ohio. That was a second reading. You want to discuss that anymore?

I just think um this is a long time in the making. We have been talking about this for probably um two plus years since I was appointed u two years ago. So, I think it's I I think we done our due diligence really um getting this written the correct way. Um we also talked about that this is going to be a gradual type of u ordinance that uh we're going to get the education out to the public. Uh and not just roll this out from day one. Uh we're going to take our baby steps with it. So, um I I think it's I think it's great for the community. I know we had uh uh what's the u

retail strategies. Retail strategies. Yes. Uh I was having a senior moment. Sorry. Um retail strategies um you know was had some input in this as well and I think that's big. So uh um I I think this is going to be great for the community. So I agree. Good. Anybody else? Any motions? I motion we approve ordinance CM26-30 is written. Second. Roll call. Mr. Cole. Yes. Mr. Todd? Yes. Miss Gregory? Yes. Mr. Francis? Yes. Miss Mets? Yes. Miss Richardson? Yes. Mayor Saters? Yes.

Next we have CM-26-31. a resolution authorizing the municipality to prepare sections of curb and driveway approach and assess taxes. Whereas North and South J Streets are on the 2026 paving list. And whereas the director of service sent out first and second letters to property owners asking that damage and or sunken curb be replaced prior to paving. And whereas one property owner has not responded, and whereas it is essential that these curb sections are replaced prior to resurfacing. Now therefore, be it resolved by the council of the mun municipality of West Milton, Ohio, that section one, per West Milton code section 33.26, the director of service is hereby authorized and directed to approve repairs or replacement of the curb sections in driveway approach located at 402 North J Street, wherein all costs will be forwarded to the director of finance for either invoicing or assessment. Section two. This resolution shall take effect and be in full full force from and after its passage.

Want to talk about it or uh I don't think so. I know the director service. So I'll talk No, it's pretty self-explanatory. Um we are getting a decent price um on it. So, I think I expressed that that the cost will be around 3,200 unless the entire approach does not um stay while we remove the rest of the concrete. Then it could be closer to six. But we will do everything we can to keep the price as low as we can. All right. Do you have any motions? I'll make a motion to approve CM26-31 as written in red. Second. Roll call. Mr. Fogle? Yes. Mr. Todd? Yes. Miss Gregory, yes. Mr. Francis,

yes. Miss Mets, yes. Miss Richardson, yes. Mayor Sat, yes. Next, we have CM-26-32. An ordinance to amend the official zoning map of West Milton as adopted by chapter 150.6 of the West Milton Code of Ordinances. This is the second reading. Yeah. Any discussion or any motions? I'll motion we pass CM-26-32 as written. Second. Roll call. Mr. Febel? Yes. Mr. Todd? Yes. Miss Gregory? Yes. Mr. Francis? Yes. Miss Mets? Yes. Miss Richardson? Yes. Mayor Sers?

Yes.

All right. Next, we have CM-26-33. A resolution authorizing the interim municipal manager to apply for, accept, and enter into a water pollution control loan fund, WPCF, agreement on behalf of the village of West Milton, Ohio, for design of wastewater facilities and designing a dedicated repayment source for the loan. Whereas the village of West Milton seeks to upgrade its existing wastewater facilities. And whereas the village of West Milton intends to apply for a water pollution control loan fund uh WPCLF for the design of the wastewater facilities. And whereas the Ohio Water Pollution Control Loan Fund requires the government authority to pass legislation for application of a loan and the execution of an agreement as well as designing in a dedicated repayment source. Now therefore, be it resolved by the council of the village of West Milton, Ohio, that section one, council authorizes the inter municipal manager to apply for a WP CLF loan, sign all documents for and enter into a WP enter into a WPLF with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the Ohio Water Development Authority for design of wastewater facilities for the village of West Milton, Ohio. Section two, that the dedicated source of repayment will be the sewer fund and/or capital sewer capital improvement fund. Section three, this resolution shall take effect and be in full force upon its passage.

All right. You want to discuss this one? Sure. So, this is a monumental project. It is a lot of work. Um Jill has done the majority of the finance work on this by far and it's there's several different ways we can go about this. So um what Jill's been doing is making sure that we're going about it the best way possible, the uh most money saving way possible. I would like her to speak a little bit about this prior to

Yes. So this is for the design of the wastewater treatment plant. We have to get a loan for it. So this is through the Ohio EPA OWDA and it's a 0% loan that will roll into the construction loan once construction starts. Okay. So that's essentially we have to pass this to get the ball rolling to get the design done. So you guys have already passed the contract with Wesler. So this is just checking that box to make sure we have the funding for it. Sounds great. Do you have a question? Thanks for all the work with that. Yeah, of course. Yep. All right. Do we have any motions? I'll make a motion to approve CM26-33 is what written and read. Second.

Roll call. Let him have Mr. Fel. Yes. Mr. Todd? Yes. Miss Gregory? Yes. Mr. Francis? Yes. Miss Mets? Yes. Miss Richardson? Yes. Mayor Sats? Yes.

All right. Next up is CM-26-34. a resolution to participate in the water resource restoration sponsor program WRRSP and partner with the Miami Conservancy District. Whereas council and staff are currently entering the planning and design phase to construct a new wastewater treatment plant. And whereas council and staff intend to apply intend to apply for water pollution control loan fund WP CLF funding for the construction of a new wastewater treatment plant. And whereas council recognizes the importance of and supports the conservation and enhancement of natural resources including the great Miami River and its riverbank. And whereas the Miami Conservancy District has proposed protecting and restoring valuable water resources through the Great Miami River Restoration Project located in the city of Middletown, Ohio for a sponsor sponsorship amount not to exceed $4 million. And whereas council intends to participate in the WRRSP in association with the WPCLF to assist the Miami Conservancy District in the acquisition, restoration, and protection of the Great Miami River and its river banks through this WRRSP project up to the affformentioned sponsorship amount. Now therefore, be it resolved by the council of the m of the municipality of West Milton, Ohio, that section one, council authorizes participation in the WRRSP in association with the water pollution control loan fund. Section two, that the proposed WRSP project identified above is hereby included in said authorization. Section three. Council hereby finds and determines that all formal actions relative to the passage of this resolution were taken in an open meeting of council and that all deliberations of council and affiliated

committees, if any, which resulted in formal action, were taken in meetings open to the public in full compliance with the applicable legal requirement, including section 21 121.22 of the revised code. Section four, the municipal manager is hereby authorized to execute all proper documents and contracts required to complete said project. This resolution shall take effect and be in full force from and after its passage. All right. Any discussion or motions? Motion we pass CM-26-34 as written. Second. Roll call, please. Mr. Fogle. Yes. Mr. Todd? Yes. Miss Gregory, yes.

Mr. Francis, yes. Miss Mets, yes. Miss Richardson, yes. Mr. Mayor Saturn, yes. Next up, we have CM-26-35.

A resolution to approve the construction for the service center main building addition and improvement project. Whereas it is necessary to make improvements at the municipal service complex, specifically the main service building. And whereas this project has been properly bid according to chapter 33 of the code of ordinances. And whereas the project will be funded out of the 2026 operating budget, street, park, refuge, water, and sewer capital improvement funds. Now therefore, be it resolved by the council of the municipality of West Milton, Ohio. That section one, the council authorizes the director of service to contract with Bruns General Contracting for an amount not to exceed $325,000. Section two, the director of service is hereby authorized to execute all proper documents and contracts required to complete said program. Section three, this resolution shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

All right. Any discussion? Any motions? A motion we accept resolution CM-26-35. Second. Roll call. Mr. Fogle. Yes. Mr. Todd? Yes. Miss Gregory? Yes. Mr. Francis, yes. Miss Mets, yes. Miss Richardson, yes. Mayor Sers, yes. Next up is CM-26-36,

a resolution amending resolution CM-26-16 approving emergency repairs at the wastewater treatment plant. Whereas on March 10th, 2026, council passed resolution CM-26-16 finding it necessary to replace a 20HP VFD pump that services nope serves at the wastewater treatment plant and wave the formal bidding process. And whereas council approved the purchase of 120 HP Modi,

correct? submersible pump uh from the process pump and seal of Cincinnati, Ohio uh for a purchase amount of $26,350. And whereas upon receiving the final bill from process pump and seal of Cincinnati, Ohio, the freight charge for delivery of set item is $997.74 more than anticipated. Now therefore, be it resolved by the council of the municipality of West Milton, Ohio, that section one, council hereby amends resolution CM26-16 to approve the p purchase of 120HP Modi submersible pump from process pump and seal of Cincinnati, Ohio for a purchase amount of $26,350 plus an additional amount of $997.74 for added freight charges for a total cost of $27,347.74. Section two, the council authorizes the municipal manager to execute all proper documents required and to complete said purchase. Section three, this resolution shall take effect and be enforced from and after its passage.

All right, that's pretty self-explanatory. Any motions? I'll make a motion to approve CM. Is it 16 or 36? 36. 36. for amending 16. Second. Sorry. Great. Roll call. Mr. Fogle? Yes. Mr. Todd? Yes. Miss Gregory? Yes. Mr. Francis? Yes. Miss Mets? Yes. Miss Richardson? Yes. Mayor Sers? Yes. All right. Up next CM-26-37.

This is the first reading. An ordinance amending chapter 32 personnel rules of the code of ordinances for the for the municipality of West Milton, Ohio. Whereas the municipality's personnel rules found in chapter 32 of the West Milton codified ordinances were last updated on December 15th, 2015. And whereas a committee consisting of municipal employees was formed by the municipal manager to thoroughly review the current personnel rules and provide a recommendation of modifications to the municipal manager and the personnel board. And whereas council having received a recommendation from the municipal manager and the personnel board to adopt the changes to the personnel rules requested by the committee believes it to be in the best interest of the municipality to update chapter 32 of the codified ordinances to reflect current practices and state laws. Now therefore, be it ordained by the council of the municipality of West Milton, Ohio, that section one, chapter 32 of the West Milton codified ordinances is hereby amended and in it in its entirety as set forth in attached exhibit A incorporated herein as if fully rewritten. Section two, this ordinance shall be effective from and after the earliest period allowed by law.

You want to expand any um

Sure. Um, as council knows, this has been a ma it was started out as a major undertaking and um, Miss Broch isn't here, but uh, Miss Broch and uh, finance director Bryce and Chief Wright and myself and um, our administrative assistant Megan Hall spent hours and hours on on the uh, new personnel rules. Um, and we took um, information from up to 10 different communities and made what we thought the best personnel rules to fit our community would be. Um, and I think council I I supplied a copy to council just so you guys could review. Um, I know it was a large document. Um, then we met with the personnel review board. Um, they had some minor notes. I think one of the members, Mr. Dughes, is here tonight. Um I believe that uh the personnel uh committee felt that they were well written and served the community pretty well. So um that's why we are recommending to get these in in process.

Yep. All right. Next up we have your manager report. I've been really hard on you guys the last month and a half, so I'm going to take it easy on you tonight. I have just a I have one item. Oh, we have I know, right? A post-it note. Uh we have student government days this week.

Um and also Mr. Graphlin who's uh been doing this for 30 plus years. This is his last year. So, um we've got it'll be Thursday and Friday. Um we have lots of uh things set up for students to do. Um good groups. We usually get a lot done um in the community. So, um you know, during school hours, just keep an eye out. Um we'll be out all around doing um you know, projects on the roadways, projects in the park, um some tours at all of our um facilities as far as water, sewer. Um so, just keep an eye out for them. And that is all that I have.

Do we have any old business? Not really old business, but this is good a time to put it back out there. Uh, West Milton night at the Dayton Dragons, May 28th, last night to last day to buy your tickets. Um, there's a special URL or a code we can you can scan. Got flyers up around town and if you ask any of us, I'm sure we can get it to you. But, uh, the game is June 28th. That's a Sunday at 1:00. So, as many people as we can get out there, that'd be good. It's to benefit Project Revival, which is always a good thing. I appreciate that.

Um, we have more events coming. Um, June 6th is our veterans appreciation event, and it's going to be down at the park from 12 to 4. Our newest council member, Dr. Fred Francis, will be one of our speakers, and we're going to have pulled pork, which I think I've almost got the situation solved of how the pulled pork is happening. Um, and we have another guest speaker that's coming that's really exciting. We're gonna have a DJ and the Air Force Museum is coming with STEM activities for the kids. The sheriff's office is going to come with one of the dogs that you can pet and play with. Um, there is going to be all kinds of like resource like vendors resources. Tri County Board of Mental Health is going to be there. The BFW is going to be there with a booth. Um it was sponsored by the VFW. So we're really grateful for them. Um it's going to be a really good event. And then June 13th, we have another stories on the Still Water. It's the Quaker stories because it's a Marriage 250 and we're an official America 250 community which is so exciting. and our own Chief Wright, his band is going to be playing and in there's going to be stories about the Quakers and how they founded West Milton and the whole, you know, the history of that. I'm I'm not researching the history. Somebody else is doing that, so I can't tell you about it. Um, and then we have the Fourth of July obviously coming. We're having a concert on se Friday, July 3rd, and then our normal Fourth of July festivities. And then also on Memorial Day there's a parade.

Yes, Memorial Day parade. There's a Memorial Day parade. And then down after the parade, if you go down into the cemetery, is that Riverside Cemetery? I should know these things. Um, the blonde got to my head, I guess. But there is a beautiful ceremony down in the cemetery that I would encourage everyone to go to. It is absolutely wonderful and just a really good way to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Um, and I think that's all I've got for right now, but there are more events. Stay tuned. There are so many events this year. It's going to be amazing. The concert on July the 3rd, is that in the park or is that It's going to be on Washington. We're closing the road. Yes.

Okay. The band is a surprise, Chief. No, still a surprise. All right. Any more old business? Any new business?

I'll take a moment here just to introduce myself. Um, you guys probably saw a fresh face up here. I'm obviously not Len. Um, but I'm the new one of the newest attorneys. Um, or the newest attorney at Len's office. I started at Shipman Dixon and Livingston at the end of March. Um, prior to that, I was at a firm up in Piqua where I assisted with um, pretty much the same stuff that with NAS here and with all the other uh, municipalities in the area, but primarily with um, my previous experiences with PUA and Cuffington. Um, I've been practicing as an attorney for going on four years now. So, even though I look young, I'm somewhat experienced. I tell people I know enough to be dangerous. Um, and so every once in a while when Len's not here, um, tapping in for coverage, I'll be here. Um, but I'm not sure if I said my name. My name's Kyler Palmer. Um, it's like Kyle with an R at the end. Uh, Arnold Palmer. Uh, just not as good as him at golf, obviously. So,

thanks for being here. Thanks. Thank you for being here. Right. Any more new business? All right. Any comments by citizens?

You know, I've talked to Ben about this earlier today. A summer kid come in and walk all the sidewalks and marked them down for them that need to be repaired. Mr. Green actually, he um he was just uh more or less figuring out where where we had sidewalk, where we didn't. He didn't make a notation like much notations on repair areas, just areas we didn't we had and didn't have them and put them on our GIS. So I know he talked to us and said he walked them all and how many you know he brought up how was really bad and you know can't keep getting people hurt off the sidewalks and then they're walking in a road. So

get a kid hurt on a road on a little bicycle or something. M well I know we talked at the last meeting it might have been the workshop about kind of holding off with the sidewalk program because we have the new ordinance that we put into place. Uh but if we've already had two instances here where people have fallen and be been injured, uh maybe we need to revisit that and

take a closer look at uh what we can do, what we can look into for uh the the spring and summer. I don't know what's your thought, Ben. And I know it's u it's the property owner's responsibility uh for the sidewalk in the village uh for the repairs and so forth, but we do have a certain bit of money that was set aside from last year and this year uh for I believe it's like a grant program that we have. So, um maybe we revisit that and we talk about it more at the workshop uh to see what we can what what we can possibly do. Does that sound like a good idea?

Sure. Yeah. I kind of explained to Mr. Green it's I think we all uh think that safe sidewalks is extremely important. Right now we run our the challenge right now is just manpower. Um because as I explained to Mr. green. First, you have to identify them, then letter them, then letter them again, then follow up. If they don't do it, then you have to schedule the work. It's not that it can't be done, it's just we're a little bit late right now. Understand? We'll we'll talk about it the next workshop, sir. Okay.

Thank you. Thanks. I did ask this a while ago um about how we the citizens can see the ordinances that you guys are voting on prior to you voting on it cuz you asked for comments before you guys vote on it. How can we have comments if we don't know exactly and I don't know if something has been done with that where we can see draft copies. I understand, you know, we can't see the the official the final copies, but you know, how am I going to know what this ordinance said? How am I going to have comments on an ordinance unless I see it? You know, we hear that, you know, you give a very good synopsis of it, but there are some out there who are diligent and would read it all. And, you know, so I put that back in front of the council again. Please figure out a way where we the citizens can see those ahead of time so we can be informed and then if we have issues then we can bring them forward. I can hop in here real quick. So all of our now resolution is a little bit different. Now all our ordinances require two readings in order to be passed. Um so that in between space from our first reading to our second um those will always be available upon request from the village office. Um, now I am with you to a certain degree about maybe formulating some sort of mechanism to have them more easily available. I don't know if they do they do they make it onto the app. Is that something that goes on there?

So, we had talked about Megan putting it like on the website. I don't know if she can put the packet on the website. I don't know. There's it's not because we don't want to provide information. I just want to be clear about that. Like it's not Nobody's trying to hide anything. I am full I fully believe in very being very transparent. I just don't know if it was something um that kind of slipped through the cracks and I'm sorry that things happen that that just that just kind of happens sometimes. I mean I I let things in my life slip through the cracks all the time. But um I think that we could put just like our packet on the website like when it comes gets emailed out if we can put it on the website. If you put it on on a PDF, you could put draft across it. So it's watermark draft,

right? Yeah. You know, that way it's but you know, you read these resolutions, you guys vote on it. I'm okay. What was that resolution really about? You know, no, I think that's fair. And I I think it's we talked about it was Megan was going to say, I like to be able to read it ahead of time, too. But I think if we just Oh, I'm sorry. I was just going to say I'll get with Megan. I'm not sure what the how the protocol was left to be honest with you, but I'll either we'll follow up on that tomorrow for sure. Yeah. Good question. Thank you. Any more comments? Can Can we get your name for the record, sir? Dan Garner. Dan Garner. Thank you, sir.

Hi, my name is Cheryl. I don't want to give my last name or my address. I'll explain later. Um, last fall, um, we put a $10,000 privacy fence up around our property and it's a wood fence and it's totally on our property and we were told by the fence company wood needs to cure before you stain it. So, we were told spring would be the soonest we could have it stained. In March, our neighbors put their own fence up, which they are allowed to do on their property, but it's 5 in from ours. So, we have no way to stain or maintain the other side of the fence. The reason I'm here tonight is because we don't have any codes in West Mountain specifying any distance or the number of fences between properties. And Ben and I talked about this, but what we do have is codes that require you to do that. So, we've got um code 93.30, weeds and grass maintenance. I've got a 5 in gap. I'm not going to be able to do that. The exterior of the property 98.08 must be painted or stained. 98.15 um you have to show compliance doing this. 98.07 07 says it's the owner's responsibility. 98.06 says the enforcement of compliance. Um 98.02 talks about the weather uh weathering that happens faster because it's not stained. And then the problem is you have ordinances that also say that you're in violation if you don't follow these codes. You can be fined. You can be charged. And so I we're kind of in a pickle here. Um I don't know if council

would consider for the future for someone else uh doing something in the code that would allow for like we we almost need a waiver from the city so that we won't be fined because we would love to do that but we're not able to do that. and he had a right to put his fence up where he did. And my daughter was helping me look up all these codes and we were laughing because as small as the villages, we even have a chapter 111 for taxi cabs. So, we thought asking for something along the fences wouldn't be out of line. But to prevent someone else from running into this, because I really don't know where to go on this now, we can stain the inside of our fence. we can stain the other two fences, but that in the middle, it's impossible. So, I don't know if it's something you guys would consider looking into or I mean, Ben, you know more about it than that. And the reason I don't want to give any more information on me is because we're we're in a dispute over other things. So, I don't want to bring that out, but if anybody would take it into consideration, we'd really appreciate it. And if there is such a thing as we could get a waiver, um we really appreciate that. Also,

I think with all of the code enforcement, it's never the um intention to to punish someone for efforts that they're making without their control. And so, Chief Wright can speak on that, too. And but the way it's written, it does it's very straightforward. And that's what we were concerned with that it's very straightforward. Doesn't say it allows. It says actually that there is no defense for not doing it. So, and if you want these copies, I'll be happy to give them to you. But, so, all right. Thank you for your time. Thank you. And we are working on one of the the long list of projects is

re rewriting the zoning code. So, that's something that is in process. So, that will be we didn't realize that that even happened. So, I get that. There were there were several of us on the planning board that looked at that and I'm going to go back and look at those chapters to see what was updated and then I think it would be maybe a good thing to bring up again at the workshop. That's something a place where we talk about things like this to see what our options are and maybe Ben or the chief will have some recommendations and

well some like Tor has like a set a lot of different areas have a setback rule. If there's one bench and you want to put another one, there's a setback. Or if you want to put your stuff not on the boundary, you have to set back and we don't have any of that where we would have known ahead of time what we would have need to do to prevent this situation. Understand? Understand. Thank you, Mayor. I uh one thing I haven't done a lot of is zoning. So I have to do a lot of research to find out

and uh Miss Jurgens is correct. Our setback is zero. If you put the fence on the line, it's a shared fence. You put it an inch either way. It's their fence. And but we could find that you're supposed to maintain your fence. So it's just a it's a bad situation, you know, for for everyone involved there. And I mean a set a sent back would fix the problem immediately. So maybe talk about that at the agenda. Yeah. I mean at the workshop. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any more comments by citizens? All right. Are we still wanting to do an executive? Executive. Did you get anything back?

Yeah. He said we don't have any more updates. Then we're good.

I'd just like to make one last comment. Uh I attended last night the open house here uh at the uh village offices with the fire department and uh the Union Township Life Squad, the police department. Uh 911 uh dispatch folks were here. Uh it was it was great. It was uh pretty well attended, I thought. Uh and uh quite a number of folks out here. I I used to be in law enforcement for uh 13 years and I had never seen someone uh tased with the demonstration. Uh so that was uh very eye opening. I'm glad it was not me. Uh the chief was trying to talk me into being the first council member to be tased, but I was not having that. I've already lost my hair. I don't need to lose more. Uh so but it was it was uh very well attended and uh uh just in future years if you can come out they do a lot of uh work putting it together with the vehicles out for people to look at and uh explain what they do on a daily basis and uh we have awesome services here uh in the village of West Milton. So, uh, and that was evident, uh, with the, uh, half percent, uh, police and fire levy, uh, passed by a considerable amount, um, earlier this month. So, uh, so that's great news for the next five years. So, thank you everyone that, uh, voted and passed that. So, thanks.

Thanks. So, no executive. Okay. All right. Any motions for adjournment? I make a motion we adjourn. Second. All in favor? Hi. Hi.