Village Manager's Report

For the November 7th, 2005 Council Meeting

The following report is intended to supplement the information related to the upcoming Village Council meeting. If you have questions or comments about these or other issues, please feel free to give me a call at (937) 767-1279 , or e-mail me at phawkey(at)yso.com - Phil Hawkey, Interim Village Manager

Council Items:

Second Reading & Public Hearing of Ordinance to Approve a Conservation Easement on Glass Farm
This ordinance will approve the specific wording of the easements for drainage and conservation that were the topics of Ordinances 2005-18 & 2005-22. Minor edits of the text were made at the request of Greene Soil & Water. I will review those at the meeting.

Emergency Ordinances, Transfer of Funds and Supplemental Appropriations: Wages comprise the largest proportion of the requested increases, more than $33,000. The shortfall occurred for 4 different reasons:
1. Unanticipated activity that was balanced by revenue - Increased activity in law enforcement resulted in more hours for the clerk of mayor's court. The $5,000 needed for wages is offset additional fines collected (+10,000 to date).
2. Overtime budgets were depleted during the summer storms. The $7,000 spread among various public works departments will be available as the threat of winter storms approach.
3. Corrections - Several funds require additional money to meet the wage requirements that were in place at the start of the year. These amount to approximately $3,000.
4. Retire/Hire - Our Supervisor of Water and Waste Water Treatment will retire next month. Additional funds are needed for the payout of unused benefits to the retiree and to provide one month's wages for the new Supervisor ($18,000 total).
Other increases ar needed to purchase additional material and supplies needed in the water and electric departments, and to shore up depleted maintenance accounts.
Finance Director Potter has provided supplementary financial information in your packet. She and I will be happy to answer any questions before or during the meeting.

Resolution Approving Purchase of the eGov2Web Software: Finance Director Potter and a company representative from SSI will be on hand to answer your questions.

Resolution Awarding Storm Water Project Bid: Laura Construction submitted a bid at 77% of the Engineer's Estimate. This firm is well recommended. They constructed our Cemetery Street Sewer years ago, and currently have the contract with the county park district for the Ellis Spur Bikeway. Material from the Glass Farm project will be used for the embankment needed for the bikeway.

Resolution Donating Surplus Equipment to Katrina Relief: Planning Assistant Amrhein and a representative from KORR will be on hand to answer your questions.

Agenda Planning:

Policy re: Surplus Items under $1,000: I have collaborated with the solicitor on a draft that I will share with Finance Director Potter and other department heads before presentation to Council at the next meeting.

Western Area Service Group (WASG) Legislation: WASG has updated their Master Service Agreement at the advice of the legal team at AMP-Ohio. The Pool Agreement was also modified to include Piqua and Celina. The new agreement has provisions that protect the power purchasing advantages that the current members enjoy. This legislation will be presented at the next meeting.

Updates:

Traffic Signals - Since we are a village, the operational plan of any signals on state or federal highways are subject to approval through an ODOT permit process. The current operations are a deviation from those specified on the construction plans for the project. ODOT staff are working with us to assure that the operation of these signals serve the needs of our community. I will delay the submission of the permit application for now so we can observe their effectiveness before we commit to a specific plan. Please provide Mike Applin or me with any comments or suggestions that come your way.

Street Reclamation Project - Work on Corry, West Limestone. South High, East Herman, Spillan and Allen has been rescheduled to begin on the 7th of this month and be completed in three weeks. Our crew has completed the preparation for the contracted project.

Library Entrance Improvements - The concrete work at the southeast entrance is completed and foundations are in at the northeast entrance.

Supervisor of Water and Wastewater Treatment Plants - Applications are due November 7th. We hope to begin interviews by the end of the week. We have several well-qualified applicants. One of our plant operators is out on medical leave, so we hope to have the new supervisor on the job as soon as possible.