By JP Miklovic, reporting
North Baltimore village council met Tuesday January 7th in council chambers for the first meeting of 2020.
The first order of business was giving the oath of office to elected incumbent Mayor Janet Goldner. Re-elected City Council member Lisa Zeigler and newly elected council member Mike Julian (former Mayor) were give the oath of office by Mayor Goldner. Elected incumbent Kathy Bucher was sworn in as clerk. Mike Julian was elected President of Council for 2020.
The mayor made the chairperson assignments of various village council committees:
Economic and community development is Lisa Ziegler
Public safety is Mike Soltis
Personnel policy and ordinance review is Mike Julian
Public works Matt Beagle
Public Utilities Aaron Patterson
Finance and technology chair is Tim Engard.
Next was the drawing of seating assignments for council members. The mayor brought up appointments to commissions and other committees saying that there are still many additions and vacancies that need to be filled. Mayor Goldner said the list would be complete in the near future.
During the public participation portion of the meeting former councilmember Ty Carles wished the new council good luck and offered to volunteer to serve on any committees or commissions that have openings.
During the letters and communications portion Aaron Patterson said that he had been approached by a resident with concerns about cats running loose in the community. Mayor Goldner told Patterson that there appear to be a feral cat problem And that she will be looking to form a Commission to address the issue. Patterson seem to be surprised that there was a cat problem in NB. Several of the council members nodded in agreement that there is a problem with feral cats.
During the administrative reports Tony Swartz reported that with the year end and Holidays that the report will be submitted at the January 21st meeting.Swartz also reported that the water bill online paying system should be operational in February, they have had successful testing and are having a soft opening. Look for details on the village website at www.north baltimore.org.
Council reviewed the EMS report noting that there were 707 runs for the year 2019. Council also reviewed the fire report which showed 7 calls for December and 141 total calls for 2019. The police report show that NBPD responded to 239 calls for service in December with a total of 2,787 calls for the year.
Council also approved the hiring of two new volunteer firefighters Mitchell Gerdeman and Clinton Ebright. In addition council approved part-time patrol officer Matthew Gent being hired by Chief Lafferty.
During the village administrator report Michael Brillhart reported that site design survey work for the 200 block of North Main Street project has been completed. Village representatives and representatives from the North Baltimore Public Library will meet to discuss the project on their portion of North Main Street.
Brillhart also reported on the 100 block of North Main project saying that an on site assessment of repairs and finish work will be completed. The new traffic signal poles and mast arms are in fabrication with an anticipated install date before the end of March 2020.
The village administrator also reported that the neighborhood revitalization grant that includes 6 projects are now in the design phase. There will be a report that the January 14 committee of the whole .
Some outstanding CSX issues were addressed with CSX concerning the Main Street crossing, brilhart set said that a CSX Roadmaster II has requested the real estate division to conduct a boundary survey at the North Main Street crossing to determine land ownership for maintenance and repair projects. In addition Poe Rd and the Tarr Street crossings have been inspected by CSX and identified for minor repairs.
Additional administrative activities shared include hearing that Wood County Park District has approved the villages grant request for pickleball court equipment. Discussions with ODOT regarding the Ohio Bridge Partnership Program in regards to the repairs of the East Water St bridge over the Rocky Ford Creek. Also being considered is a housing market assessment with Reville consultants, getting a cost estimate.
Mayor Goldner said that she would be presenting her State of the Village address at the January 21 village council meeting.
In legislative action council gave the second reading to amend the penalty provisions for the codified ordinances pertaining to penalties for parking violations in North Baltimore.
3rd readings and approval were given to 2 ordinances regarding establishment of banking agreements with the Huntington bank.
There was a motion to convene an executive session to consider appointment employment dismissal discipline promotion demotion or compensation of a public employee they did not anticipate any further action, other than paying the bills.
