FINANCE, ADMINISTRATION, SERVICE,
ENGINEERING and GORMAN FARM
COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
The Finance, Administration, Service, Engineering and Gorman Farm Committee met at 3:00 pm on June 2, 2015. Present were Councilmembers Hartman, Finan and Schaefer. Also in attendance during portions of the meeting were Mayor Apking, Barb Rohs, Cynthia Caracci, David Elmers, James Jeffers, Chris Patterson, Jim Bothe, Carolyn Duffy, Carolyn Smiley-Robertson and Randan Shaw.
The Finance and Engineering reports were submitted in writing and are attached.
Finance
Cynthia Caracci presented the May Financial Reports. The May earnings tax was $1,048,679.99. That is $89.424.51 more than May, 2014. Year to date earnings tax receipts through May, 2015 are $6,283,135.26. That is $521,957.06 more than 2014 receipts through May. The net surplus, excluding the Evendale Commons TIF, through May 2015 is $972,910.12. Excluding the Evendale Commons TIF, the unencumbered balance is $16,947,401.49. The cash balance including all funds is $20,947,661.21.
Because the year to date net is quite high and income tax receipts are up, Cynthia was asked to perform a mid-year review of the Village financial condition. The Cooper Creek wall and Road project are not yet started and payments of both together will total $854,000. Those, alone will reduce the net surplus to $118,910.12. Additionally, Cynthia projected the remaining months of 2015 Income Tax receipts along with approved spending. Using three year averaging method, the projected yearend surplus will be in the $39,000. If the rate of increase in the first 5 months of the year continue, the yearend net surplus would be $377,000.
Administration
1. David Elmers advised that a survey for making all floors of the Cultural Arts Center Handicapped Accessible is completed. Options for doing so are expected in July.
2. A second meeting for Council with IBI will be scheduled for July, 2015.
3. Jim Bothe reported that the Historical Commission’s area in the Cultural Arts Building should be completed by the end of the month.
4. David Elmers informed the committee that the Electric Aggregation Program for Evendale is progressing.
5. David reported also that the Millcreek project grant will not be finalized until June, but an Amendment to the original ordinance is necessary to identify the correct contracting party.
6. David is preparing a memorandum concerning the property maintenance code to send to council.
7. Barb Rohs, Randan Shaw, and David Elmers presented a proposal for council to use electronic medium, rather than paper for council meetings. After discussing three options, the committee unanimously recommended using Option 3, using Microsoft Surface Pro 3. Also options for using social media (Facebook and Twitter) were presented. David had just completed recommended guidelines for Social media usage. While the majority of the committee was enthusiastic about using social media for the Village, no recommendation was made because the proposed regulations were not complete until the meeting and had not been read by the committee. Some concerns were voiced about archiving and whether it should be interactive.
Service/Engineering
The Engineers report is attached. James Jeffers noted the following concerning both ongoing and 2015 projects:
1. James reported that the new picnic shelter was completed before Memorial Day.
2. The demolition work on the three recently purchased properties will begin in June, after the Fire Department completes training in them. Once started, each will take a day to be demolished.
3. The Cooper Creek wall project has not yet started. The steel has been delivered. Work is expected to start shortly. James is keeping Wayne Mosely apprised of the issue.
4. The Duke street light project is completed. James has checked various lights with a light meter and reports that, despite the complaints that some lights are not properly aimed, the lights are aimed correctly.
5. The 2015 Street project should begin in June. The Right of Way for the right turn lane at Glendale Milford and Plainfield will be acquired for $1.00. There will be an Ordinance accepting the right of way on the June Agenda.
The status of the remaining projects is in the written report from the engineer.
Carolyn Duffy indicated that several grants are available to the Village through the State, but the State is now requiring municipalities to have a fulltime contract administrator. David Elmers will fulfil that function. Carolyn raised the concern about an additional street light on plateau and concerns about a repair that is needed. The Service Department will do the survey, and James will look into the repair. James reported that Plateau is scheduled for resurfacing in the next few years.
Jim Bothe reported that the new dump truck chassis is completed and he will travel to Bucyrus Ohio where the plow and dump body will be installed to make certain the modifications are correct.
Gorman Farm
Chris Patterson represented the following concerning the Gorman Farm:
1. The Savor the Season event was attended by approximately 100 more people than last year.
2. The next Farm events at Row by Row on September 6th , the 5K run September 19th, and the Sun Flower Festival is October 3rd and 4th.
3. The mini horses have been delivered to the farm and are a big attraction.
4. The bio-char kiln is still being cured.
5. The farm is still evaluating proposals to repair the north east corner of the Alfalfa Barn.
6. The farm is going to begin selecting the location of the new equipment storage building. Three sites have been discussed, but none have yet been selected. The sites are the Cincinnati Bell donated property, next to the Maintenance Building, or in the northeast corner of the lower fields.
7. The auction of excess equipment was still on-going at the time of the meeting.
8. Al Schutte will meet with the contractor used by the service department for perimeter dead tree removal.
9. The construction of the Winnebago farm entrance has begun.
The meeting adjourned at 4:35 pm.
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Christian J. Schaefer
Committee Chairman
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