Meeting Minutes: March 20, 2012
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS:
Council called to order by Mayor Amy Joseph on
Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 7:30 pm at the Rockford Village Hall.
Invocation was given by Gene Steiner
Pledge of Allegiance
Those present: Gehle, Steiner, Hodge, Pontsler, Searight, Heitkamp
Also attending: Jeff Long, Amy Kronenberger of the Daily Standard, Marti Lentz, Nancy Leighner and Chief May.
Motion Steiner. Second Gehle to accept Agenda as orders of the day. Pontsler called for the question. Steiner = y, Gehle= y, Pontsler= y, Hodge = y, Searight = y, Heitkamp = y. Passed 6 yes.
Motion: Searight. Second Hodge to accept the minutes from the
March 6, 2012 council meeting as presented. Gehle called for the question. Searight = y, Hodge = y, Gehle = y, Steiner = y, Pontsler = y, Heitkamp = y. Passed 6 yes.
Visitors to Address Council:
Nancy Leighner family reunion on June 30th. The family would like to do some community service that morning from 9 am – noon.
Nancy mentioned that an area pool was vandalized and those responsible for the damage were caught on surveillance cameras. Gehle stated that we are in the process of getting some cameras for the park and they will be installed before summer.
Mayor’s Report and Correspondence:
Mayor introduced our new auxiliary Patrolman Garmin. Congratulations. Each council member was introduced. Patrolman Garmin is in training for the next several weeks. Thank you for coming to Rockford.
Greenhands USA is asking communities to participate on April 21st with planting trees, etc. This is similar to Earth Day.
Invitation to the Northwest Ohio Tree City Awards Event on May 9th to be held here in Rockford at the Community Building. This is an honor for Rockford. This is hosted by Coldwater, Fort Recovery, and Rockford Tree Commissions.
Registration begins at 9 am. Please contact the Village Office if you need additional information at 419-363-3032.
Village Administrator’s Report – Jeff Long
Waterline project going good. Need to finish Columbia St. then
Franklin down to J & B and down route 33 to West St then to Holly Lane. Columbia St not on new water line yet. Since new waterlines have been installed we have reduced water production by 30-40,000 gallons per day.
A meeting regarding patching the trenches will be next week. Bids will be taken the first of May for street paving. Streets include First, Second, Franklin, 1st block of Columbia and intersection of northwest route 33.
Committee Reports:
Finance Committee – Steve Gehle
Motion Steiner. Second Searight to pay bills in the amount of $18,712.85. Pontsler called for the question. Steiner = y, Searight = y, Pontsler = y, Gehle = y, Hodge = y, Heitkamp = y. Passed 6 yes.
RESOLUTION #03-12
ANNUAL APPROPRIATION RESOLUTION FOR YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 2012.
Motion Steiner. Second Pontsler . Searight called for the question. Steiner = y, Pontsler = y, Searight = y, Gehle = y, Hodge = y, Heitkamp = y. Passed 6 yes.
Service Committee: Gary Hodge
Service committee was held on March 19th at 6:30 pm. We will begin our sidewalk program for the Village beginning with a sidewalk from the Village Hall to Main street.
Mike Maharg attended the meeting as we discussed clean up ideas. We will NOT be having clean up day this year. There is a tag program available at the Village Hall. Example – purchase a $5.00 tag to get rid of a piece of furniture. This program goes on throughout the year. There is also recycle days the 3rd Saturday each month at Parkway High School. We will be doing a mailer to all residents.
Chief May proposed a program that was discussed in getting the village cleaned up – junk vehicles, rubbish, etc. The police department will be putting stickers on junk that needs to be cleaned up as a warning. After 5 days the owner will be issued a citation and in the case of vehicles they will be towed at the owner’s expense.
This program will be paid through Mayors Court. Program will begin April 1st and will be reviewed in August. 3 Sons towing has been contracted to tow away the vehicles. We may be a small village, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be a clean village too ! Patrolman Saunders will be implementing the program using the golf cart to save money on fuel.
Motion Hodge. Second Searight. Pontsler called for the question. Hodge = y, Searight = y, Pontsler = y, Gehle = y, Steiner = y, Heitkamp = y Passed 6 yes.
Need to get information out to public – Facebook, news releases
Safety Committee: Ron Searight
Jeff working on final draft of the emergency plan. There has been some new information from FEMA that needs added.
Tornado Awareness Week is next week. We will be putting some information on our web site / facebook page regarding getting prepared before, after and during a tornado.
Several police incidents in the village were handled. Thank you to the police department.
Economic Development Committee: Eugene Steiner
There will be a RADC Meeting on March 26th at the library basement – 7:30 pm.
Public Utilities Committee: Greg Pontsler
Nothing at this time.
Rules Committee: Chris Heitkamp
Apology for missing meetings this week. The next Rules committee meeting will be April 3rd at 6:30 pm.
Committee discussed time limits to disciplinary actions and decided that a 6 month time limit is fair on each step. This means after 6 months the disciplinary action will no longer count against someone.
Old Business
CATS!
The dog catcher will not handle cats. According to the ORC there is no ownership of a cat. Residents have every right to take care of a problem in a humanly way. There is something you can purchase called ‘rope’ that is supposed to keep cats away from the property. The Rules committee will address this in the meeting and come up with some suggestions and/or ordinance.
The downtown buildings have been inspected. We will be meeting with Rob Belna to see what works for his schedule to have the buildings taken down. We will need to pay for the tear down and then we will get reimbursed through a grant. Tear down should be taking place soon.
There are several street signs and stop signs that will be replaced.
New Business
Need to have ‘no firearms’ poster visible when people walk in the Village Hall. Street light markers in place on Holly Lane. This project will begin soon.
Meeting adjourned 8:08 pm
