Meeting Minutes: July 7, 2015
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS:
Council called to order by Mayor Amy Joseph on
Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 7:30 pm at the Rockford Village Hall.
Invocation was given by Jeff Long.
Pledge of Allegiance
Those present: Gehle, Fox, Dooley, Heitkamp
Rutledge and Pontsler absent.
Also attending: Jeff Long, Chief May, Glenn Keeling, Peggy Kimmel, Kathy Thompson of the Daily Standard, Marc Hollinger of Aspen Energy.
Motion Gehle. Second Fox to accept the agenda as orders of the day. Dooley called for the question. Gehle = y, Fox = y, Dooley = y, Heitkamp = y. Passed 4 yes.
Motion Fox. Second Dooley to accept the minutes from the
June 16, 2015 council meetings as presented. Gehle called for the question. Fox = y, Dooley = y, Gehle = y, Heitkamp = y. Passed 4 yes.
Visitors to Address Council:
Glenn Keeling addressed council regarding information for the 1st Annual Autumn Fest Musical Benefit to be held at the Grand Lake Motorcycle Club in Mendon on August 14,15 & 16. He presented at the last meeting and is wondering if the village would be willing to help with a donation and/or press.
Glenn has given the information to the radio station for a public service announcement but hasn’t heard anything on the station yet.
Responses included – The Village does not donate to any organizations. The Facebook page is for activities that are occurring in the Village. We don’t control how and when public service announcements get aired on the radio station.
The information can be shared on Facebook and people can share on their personal pages.
Glenn also questioned council regarding a booth that was set up at community days. There was some mis communications about the booth –The NORML – booth (National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws. The booth was politely taken down.
There was much discussion about freedom and speech and constitutional rights. The discussion was tabled and referred to the Rules committee to discuss with Judy at a later time.
Marc Hollinger from Aspen Energy then gave a presentation on governmental energy aggregation program. This issue will be on the November ballot. There has been much success in passage in other communities. The cost savings average about $200 per year – some more some less. There would be no termination charges. There would no longer be door to door energy people trying to get business in the village. Discussed having a couple of town meetings. If passed there would 2 ads and 2 public hearings to keep people informed about how to go about changing to the aggregation program. If residents are already in a contract they may need to wait until their current contract expires if they don’t want to pay a termination fee. If passes and once we are in a program, there is a potential of some capital improvement grants that would amount to $3-$5,000 per year.
Marc will send a sample ordinance that will include the gas portion of the aggregation.
Mayor’s Report and Correspondence:
July 16 – “Starting Right” workshop ~~ Wright State Lake Campus partnering with Van Wert Economic Development for a seminar designed to help entrepreneurs begin their journey to open a business in Ohio. Will be held at the Rockford Community Building at 6 pm. If you are beginning a business or just thinking about it, this workshop will have information you need.
The Rockford Carry out is announcing a new business venture. Rockford Equipment Rental will open for business near the end of this month. Initially the business will begin with a “U-Haul” rentals and expanding in the spring with other rental products to follow.
Village Administrator’s Report – Jeff Long
Committee Reports
Finance Committee – Gary Fox
Motion Gehle. Second Dooley to pay the bills in the amount of $9,929.38 Heitkamp called for the question. Gehle = y, Dooley = y, Heitkamp = y, Fox = y. Passed 4 yes.
Budget Commission Hearing scheduled for August 5th at 10:30 am
Service Committee: Greg Pontsler – report by Mayor Joseph
Greg reports that there are still people mowing grass clippings into the street. We will begin to talk to individuals personally. Paul has Judy working on an ordinance so that we have some legal grounds to cite people that continue to mow grass clippings into the street. This causes several problems but mainly the clogging up of storm drains and then streets flood when there are heavy rains.
Safety Committee: Chris Heitkamp
Safety Committee meeting schedule for July 14th at 7 pm to discuss the policy and procedure of the Mutual Aid Agreement.
There are pot hole issues that need attention when the weather breaks.
Thank you to the Rockford Community for coming together last month when we needed sandbaggers ! Good to see the community working together. If home owners want the sand bags they can keep them. If unwanted, please call the village and we will deliver a pallet that the home owner can pile the sand bags on and the village will come back to pick up the pallet. Other discussion was if possible to get home owners to build a retaining wall to prevent flooding issues. There has been some talk about creating some wet lands and digging some sallow ponds. Jeff to check to see what possibilities that might create in keep the flood waters outside of the village.
Economic Development Committee: Rob Rutledge – absent
Public Utilities Committee: Steve Gehle
ORDINANCE 06-15
AN ORDINANCE LEVYING ASSESSMENTS FOR DELINQUENT WATER BILLS, AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
1st reading – 06/02/15
2nd reading – 06/16/15
3rd reading – 07/07/15
Motion Fox, Second Dooley. Heitkamp called for the question. Fox = y, Dooley = y, Heitkamp = y, Gehle = y. Passed 4 yes.
ORDINANCE 07-15
AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING ALL ACTIONS NECESSARY TO EFFECTUATE AN OPT-OUT ELECTRIC SERVICE AGGREGATION PROGRAM PURSUANT TO THE OHIO REVISED CODE 4928.20; AND DIRECTING THE MERCER COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS TO
SUBMIT THE BALLOT QUESTION TO THE ELECTORS; AND AUTHORIZING AN AGREEMENT WITH AN AGENT FOR SUCH PURPOSES.
1st reading – 06/16/15
2nd reading – 07/07/15
Rules Committee: John Dooley
* Mayor / 2 Council seats to be on the ballot in November. The deadline for
information to be turned in to the Board of Elections is August 5th.
Old Business
New Business
The Fox Family Ride was able to raise $12,000 for the Itaalk program at Parkway. This program helps students with autism. The money raised was enough to purchase ipads for 10 students along with apps and training. There will be a fund raiser at Buffalo Wild Wings on July 27th that will raise funds to help with expenses of training. The Fox Family appreciates all the support that was received to help this program. The ipads will be given to the children on August 4th . There were 35 bikes on the ride. They hope to increase that number next year.
Community Days numbers were down, but the rain stayed away and the weekend was very nice.
Meeting adjourned 8:26
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Mayor Fiscal Officer
