[0:02] Sometimes we still have seconds before start.

[0:17] So I guess I didn't get >> you know how much

[0:20] » or maple syrup >> because we bor we I was literally from

[0:26] here to the Trump house over there away if low tide I could walk across the to

[0:32] the bar >> to Nova Scotia

[0:34] » that was the cool thing >> but

[0:39] » the uh hotel that's we drove 600 miles a day

[0:44] cheapest hotel $800 a night. Oh my god. Wow. I got it for $300. I asked the

[0:50] girls if I can make you laugh a joke. [laughter]

[0:55] » $300.

[0:59] » I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic

[1:06] for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[1:12] justice for all. Our father in heaven, we thank you for granting us the

[1:16] privilege to meet tonight. We ask for your blessing, wisdom, and guidance as

[1:20] we conduct the business of the village. Amen. Amen.

[1:27] » All right. Roll call. Fisher is absent. Percy

[1:33] » here. >> Co

[1:34] » here. >> Maple.

[1:36] » Mau. >> Yes.

[1:37] » Yoh. You must be for a motion to excuse your

[1:42] absent member. >> Make a motion to excuse Fisher from this

[1:46] meeting. >> Mau.

[1:50] » Yes. >> Yoho.

[1:51] » Yes. >> Co.

[1:52] » Yes. >> Maple.

[1:53] » Yes. >> Percy.

[1:55] » Yes. >> Okay. I'm looking for a motion to

[1:58] approve the minutes of the June 2020 20 22nd, 2026 regular meeting. Motion to

[2:05] approve the minutes of the June 22nd regular council meeting.

[2:10] » Second co.

[2:13] » Yes. >> Maple?

[2:14] » Yes. >> Percy?

[2:15] » Yes. >> Yoh.

[2:18] » Mer. >> Yes.

[2:22] » Okay. For correspondence. I did receive an email from Sher Jones regarding uh

[2:27] the sewer uh rates. We discussed that in the committee meeting and we'll let

[2:32] » I'll discuss that a little bit later. >> Okay,

[2:36] we have no citizens here to comment unless chief do you want to talk on

[2:40] behalf of the city? Okay. Okay. Moving on to the committee reports,

[2:45] building and property. He's not here but we didn't have any

[2:49] discussion on that one. Community business and development.

[2:54] » I have no new business. want to apologize that we couldn't get anything

[2:57] going on that thunder in the village at that time. The rain didn't allow to have

[3:02] the electronics set up for the bands and for the sound stage and systems and all

[3:08] that. Um looking for possibly another one before the end of the summer.

[3:14] » Call it sunshine in the village and maybe you'll summon the right weather.

[3:18] » Yeah, sunshine in the village. But yeah, that's that's all we're doing.

[3:22] » Uh community relations. Um, [clears throat] this Saturday, I believe

[3:28] it's Saturday 18th. Is that Saturday? >> 5:00 pm at Richwood

[3:33] » Softball Field will be the Guns versus Hoses um softball game. Um, homecoming

[3:41] sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce will be the 23rd, 24th, and 25th. The

[3:46] parade is on Friday night. Um, there's still time to sign up. Queen contest is

[3:52] Thursday evening in Burke Park. Uh fireworks will be Saturday night um 10

[3:57] p.m. around that time, isn't it? >> 10 p.m.

[4:00] » Okay. Um with viewing from the football practice field, right? And vendors are

[4:08] still welcome to sign up. Contact anybody in the chamber. That's all.

[4:13] » Okay. Uh nothing for revitalization tonight.

[4:16] » No. >> Finance.

[4:20] » Oh, that's me again. >> That's you again.

[4:21] » Okay. Um, budget hearing was tonight at 6:45.

[4:26] Um, the Lions Club donated $250 to our food pantry. Thank you very much.

[4:43] Anybody wants? Well, that's just budget hearing.

[4:48] » Yeah, that's anybody here in council that might want to go.

[4:51] » Yeah. And um we need approval for the end of the month on of June.

[5:00] So, do we have a motion? >> I'll make a motion for approval of the

[5:05] end of month June end of month financial report. Second

[5:11] vote.

[5:18] Yes. >> Maple.

[5:21] » Yes. >> Co.

[5:22] » Yes. >> Percy.

[5:24] » Yes. >> That's it. Okay. Moving on to ordinance.

[5:30] » Uh good evening. So, as we talked about, we had an email and uh the question was

[5:36] raised uh regarding our personnel and rates talking about the sewer rate

[5:40] ordinance that is on our agenda for legislation this evening. So

[5:47] we are going with studies from ARCAP, a professional engineering firm that has

[5:54] compared us to similar communities to our size, population, all that kind of

[6:01] stuff. And they recommended the 4% increase, which

[6:07] is actually less from previous years. previous years, we're looking at 10%

[6:12] increases for the sewer rates. Uh grand total in that is it's an 80 cent raise

[6:21] if you live within the city, $120 if you live outside of the limits. I said city

[6:28] and village. Uh but that's a$120 if you live outside the village corporation

[6:34] limits. >> That's for minimum use.

[6:36] » Yeah, that's minimum use. hadn't gotten there yet.

[6:42] Uh, regarding our personnel, we currently

[6:47] have two licensed sewer employees and one on the street department. Uh, that's

[6:53] just about half of what we had two, three years ago as far as our village

[6:58] employees. Am I correct on that one? Well, it's a little

[7:04] we used to have four street department sewer and a water. So,

[7:08] » so roughly we have half of that from years past. However,

[7:16] you know, when we talk about our sewer treatment employees,

[7:21] they do split time with the street department now. Uh they don't

[7:24] » they always have >> they always have. It's always been

[7:28] » it's always been kind of a dull role. Even though they're both licensed, it's

[7:32] nice having them both licensed so one can show up and the other one can

[7:35] actually have a vacation or a day off or vice versa. But they have been splitting

[7:41] time with the street department and have been for well since I've been on council

[7:45] as well. Uh that's pretty much did I miss anything

[7:51] that we talked about with the sewer ordinance rate? I did miss speak. I

[7:56] apologize to anyone who was confused with the

[8:01] the 15 minute prior to this meeting meeting for the yearly tax budget.

[8:09] I kind of had that mixed up with the >> thinking that it was going to be a sewer

[8:13] meeting >> the sewer meeting. So, I apologize for

[8:16] that. That was my error. Uh we did discuss the pay and benefits ordinance.

[8:21] Uh we're looking at a dollar raise across the board for all of our

[8:25] employees, which is 14 >> roughly 14

[8:29] » roughly. Uh this includes uh the police department as well. Uh,

[8:37] one of the main reasons we're looking at the solid rais is

[8:41] if we continue to carry over 100% of our budget each year that Amy has worked so

[8:48] diligently at making sure that we are minding our P's and Q's and carrying

[8:52] over what we need. We could face the possibility of the county looking at the

[8:58] property taxes that we pay and say, "Well, the village isn't doesn't need as

[9:03] much as they have in the past." So, if we can do something to kind of benefit

[9:07] and retain and keep our employees are doing the best they can for us by giving

[9:13] them a little bit more in their pocket, that dollar raise, then I think that's

[9:18] kind of a fair trade-off to where we won't be gigged as hard if the county so

[9:22] chooses. Uh

[9:30] yeah, that's what I have on that one. Okay.

[9:33] » Anything else? Did I miss anything?

[9:37] » All right, moving on to park.

[9:43] » So, we met tonight. We got the headquarters being reordered. over

[9:49] threatening

[9:52] east side for now that should be done this weekend correct

[9:57] » by we are WL and then we also discuss nature works grand

[10:06] allocation of 13,000 funds for the porch room to the stage to provide sun

[10:12] protection uh also help sound equipment we want It is 1,500,600

[10:19] and then we also suggest the land and water grant to apply for the rest of the

[10:24] other items needed for the water birds part of the hiking dugout paths and

[10:29] session. So for nature work city 1500 or 15,000

[10:35] 15,000.

[10:39] » Okay. Moving on to planning commission local.

[10:44] » We did have a little discussion tonight. Not the actual planning commission

[10:48] group, but we've been discussing some of the alley issues that we have. the

[10:53] there's been some requests for vacating alleys and trying to find a good

[10:57] compromise for all parties involved with that. Uh but it's a lot of whatifs. So,

[11:04] it's kind of up to the property owner at this point, I believe. So, that's it for

[11:09] tonight. >> Okay. Planning Commission County.

[11:14] » Oh, not >> public works.

[11:18] » Uh we just met earlier as usual. Uh, >> sorry I skipped public safety.

[11:24] » Skipping back to public safety. Sorry. [laughter]

[11:32] » Uh, we discussed emergency operations plan.

[11:37] So recommendation 1120

[11:41] 25 to grade one. If scheduling work meetings, notify eborn to notify the

[11:48] public of the meeting date and time. And we talked about cyber security

[11:53] program documents sent uh for review and will be a continual work in progress.

[12:02] Uh ebikes, e scooter, safety. Uh helmets must be worn by anyone under the age of

[12:09] 18. Only one rider per bike or scooter. No

[12:15] riding on sidewalks. Obey all traffic laws.

[12:22] Current problems with ebikes and e scooters, dirt bikes, damaging property,

[12:29] water works, park making tracks and the ground onto private property running

[12:36] over the parking blocks. We wheelies and the streets, mosquito spray the week of

[12:44] the 20th before homecoming. Oh, hang

[12:54] » back to me. County Brown 41 page.

[13:01] [laughter] >> Uh, so we have

[13:07] we are looking to submit for paving projects on Fifth, 6th, Indian Circle,

[13:12] West 7th, and Rear 7th. Uh we have the match funds currently in the 203 fund

[13:19] which is the income tax fund that is designated for that. Uh we'd be working

[13:25] through the county to get these done. Um >> it'll be in 2017.

[13:31] » Yeah, that paving would didn't write that down. That paving would actually be

[13:35] happening in 2027, which is actually a good thing because

[13:39] if timing is right, we can have some of our storm basins placed on those roads

[13:44] and be getting the safe route to school sidewalks in the same areas as planned.

[13:50] So everything would be kind of like fresh and new.

[13:54] So the big topic tonight with public's works is uh petition ditch. As we've

[14:00] discussed in the past, we've had a lot of issues mainly stemming from the Kirk

[14:05] Green issues that's have collapsed since the

[14:09] 40s. Uh this is what's leading to a lot of

[14:13] our more recent flooding is the water has nowhere to go, so it's just finding

[14:18] its way into our village. The main fix to this would be to do a

[14:25] petition ditch. Uh there's a lot of information out

[14:29] there with those, but with this,

[14:34] everybody that's affected by the ditch would be signing a petition. And

[14:38] currently, it's affecting 985 households along the ditch route and some of the

[14:48] shootoffs of the main ditch. Uh this could be combination of open

[14:54] ditch culverts, maybe expanding some retaining ponds, moving some dishes

[15:00] around. Uh we're hoping to get the county on board to kind of alleviate

[15:06] some of our personal hindrances or however you want to say

[15:12] it. >> The project itself will be a county

[15:14] project. We're just hoping they take some financial burden off of us. that

[15:18] that was the way I was want to say without saying wish the county would

[15:23] handle this but the county would be handling the project

[15:27] uh they would be taking over all operations maintain maintenance etc.

[15:36] If the county doesn't take on the financial burden, we'd be looking at

[15:40] posting a bond of $8,140.

[15:46] Uh that would be coming out of the sewer fund.

[15:52] And we'll probably have some more

[15:55] discussions on this before we finalize anything. But it's kind of a big deal.

[16:00] This is something that we have been focused on. And I know Jesse has taken a

[16:05] lot of personal interest in this and has been working very diligently with this

[16:09] and anything report doesn't show what she's been dealing with for the past two

[16:14] years to get some kind of resolution here to

[16:21] keep the rain from all the surrounding hills

[16:24] playing in our little valley here. >> And this is the one to the south of the

[16:29] village. This does not include the Lafayette,

[16:32] » correct? >> Just

[16:33] » Yeah. to the south of the village. And as she said, that's from County or

[16:37] County Road or Township Road. >> County Road 151

[16:40] » down to uh Shoemaker Farm. So, it's a massive

[16:46] long ditch that was maintained years ago by each farmer and it's been kind of

[16:52] forgotten over the years and here we are with it now trying to fix it.

[16:58] And I think that's it. Unless I miss something else.

[17:03] » Okay. Records retention.

[17:07] » We have a meeting this Wednesday, July 15th at 2 o'clock here at Chambers

[17:14] next time. >> All right. That would be so exciting.

[17:17] » Yeah.

[17:20] » Department reports fired.

[17:25] Good evening.

[17:36] uh London June the total of 20 calls building fire grass fire outside rubbish

[17:43] fire two medical two wrecks with injuries three without

[17:49] injuries search three aircraft standbys

[17:55] all what's This year today 125 posts a $500 loss. Last month the old trailer

[18:03] was getting scrapped puts us at 94,550 for the year down about 10 rounds from

[18:11] last year.

[18:15] Uh four calls of village three in Lafayette Township, seven in Oxford

[18:19] Township, two in Lenu and three.

[18:25] Thank you. >> Let's talk about the fireworks.

[18:30] [clears throat and laughter]

[18:32] So on Saturday evening, I haven't talked to the police chief yet, but we will be

[18:38] blocking off the entire road side.

[18:44] There will be nowhere to park where you can see

[18:49] they're all going to try to get in there at parking set up. That's within the 800

[18:55] foot river. They will not be allowed in there.

[18:58] » I personally would like to just close Waterworks Park.

[19:01] » That's my opinion. >> That way you don't have any traffic in

[19:05] and out. >> And my farm is not an option either.

[19:08] » Then you'll be done by them. >> And my farm is not an option either. The

[19:11] farm's fine. >> No, it's that's private property. That's

[19:15] all >> I'm not

[19:20] [laughter] actually.

[19:25] » So the other thing on fireworks, just as a reminder, we do have an ordinance

[19:30] preventing fireworks inside the village limits.

[19:34] Anybody outside village limits needs to read and understand they are hired fire.

[19:40] There's certain times the nation who are allowed fire consumer grandf. fireworks.

[19:48] We're having a lot of trouble with people trying to go outside the states

[19:56] question.

[20:03] I can tell you the biggest one. It was the weekend before July 4th, the July

[20:07] 4th weekend and the weekend after the New Year's Eve,

[20:13] June 19th. That's way more than I would come up

[20:17] with. >> Yeah.

[20:19] » Memorial Day,

[20:22] » Labor Day.

[20:32] » Thank you. >> Thank you.

[20:34] » You too. >> This officer.

[20:39] » Okay. As Christie Christy mentioned in her report, uh we did have our tax

[20:43] budget public hearing at 6:45 this evening. Nobody attending to review the

[20:48] tax budget for 2027. Um but I do need to ask for a roll call vote to have that

[20:55] budget approved so that I can submit it to the county auditor's office later

[20:59] this week. >> Motion to approve the 2027 tax budget.

[21:05] » Second. >> Co.

[21:08] » Yes. Maple, >> yes.

[21:10] » Percy, >> yes.

[21:11] » Mau, >> yes.

[21:12] » Yoho, >> thank you. Um, and the county budget

[21:18] commission will be having their meeting on Monday, August 3rd at 5:30 at the

[21:23] community room in Koshakton. And I will be attending that, and I believe, yes,

[21:28] Jesse will be attending that with me. >> Um, the single audit should be resuming

[21:34] later this month. I haven't heard on an exact date yet, but they should be back

[21:38] later this month to finish wrapping things up with that. Hopefully that'll

[21:42] be done soon. And that's all I have for this evening. A bill for approval.

[21:48] » All right. Please. >> Good evening.

[21:51] » Good evening. >> Of course. My name is Patrolman King.

[21:55] I'm this evening to read the monthly report for June 2026.

[22:00] Uh, cost for service 565, business checks 373, reports taken 22, felony

[22:07] arrest zero. Uh, misdemeanor arrest 12, juvenile arrest three, traffic stops 31,

[22:13] citations issued, nine, traffic crashes, two, ov two, warrants, warrant arrest,

[22:20] zero, civil paper services, uh, zero, and fuel use $900.

[22:27] Any question? Is that a new mustache? >> I'm working.

[22:33] » I mean, you know. [laughter]

[22:41] » All right. Solisser,

[22:46] » I don't have anything. Tammy, I sent you a text earlier though. Um, we're going

[22:52] to have a a hearing coming up this week. So, uh, if you could just stick with me

[22:56] and, uh, let me know what the current status is,

[23:00] uh, for that case, I'd appreciate it. >> I will.

[23:04] » Thank you. >> You're welcome.

[23:05] » Thank you. >> Village administrator, you're up.

[23:09] » Good evening. >> Good evening.

[23:10] » I have uh just a couple things. The first is some items from the police

[23:17] department to declare surplus. They're up on the screen if you wanted to see

[23:22] pictures. It's old cruiser, the back seats of cruisers and

[23:28] tool boxes, old refrigerator,

[23:33] old printer, mailboxes, things like that. And some of

[23:38] the items are definitely

[23:43] not usable, not sellable. So those will be disposed of and then the other items

[23:48] we'll try to sell on gov deals. So, if we could have a roll call vote for those

[23:53] items, that would be good to approve me to to declare them surplus

[24:00] and approve selling or disposing. >> Make a motion to uh declare the police

[24:06] items as surplus or disposal. Thank you. >> Mau,

[24:13] » yes. >> Yoh,

[24:14] » yes. >> Co,

[24:16] » yes. >> Percy,

[24:17] » yes. >> Maple,

[24:18] » yes. Thank you. Then I don't have a picture

[24:22] of this one regrettably, but we have our old street sweeper

[24:26] uh that we sold and thought we could try it out

[24:33] again and tried to repair it. Uh we exhausted the repair efforts on that and

[24:39] it's still not um

[24:44] in functioning. It won't function. So, we're going to have to get rid of it

[24:48] again. I could try to sell it for parts on gov deals. I'd like that declared

[24:52] surplus. We're We are I have rented a uh attachment that fits on this uh skid

[25:00] steer that will sweep and pick up debris from the streets and it's working out

[25:06] very well for them. It's 1,400 or something a month to rent that. And um

[25:14] finally for the first time in a long time we're

[25:18] getting things cleaned up and don't have to rely on somebody else to come up and

[25:22] do it. So, and the sewer and street guys have been working on that for the last

[25:28] couple weeks and they're very happy with the the results it's getting them. So, I

[25:34] think we can go this route for the next few years. It's pretty inexpensive

[25:40] than buying a whole new piece of equipment. So, or a new used piece of

[25:44] equipment. Say you need a motion to declare the street sweeper surplus.

[25:49] » Motion to declare the street sweeper surplus again.

[25:54] » Thank you. >> Thank you.

[25:57] » Co, >> yes.

[25:59] » Percy, >> yes.

[26:00] » Maple, >> yes.

[26:01] » Yoho, >> yes.

[26:02] » Mau, >> yes.

[26:04] » Thank you. Uh, the last thing I had was um the sidewalks for this year are

[26:10] coming along very well. the we do have one last section to complete. It's the

[26:16] 100 block of South Kirk Street and we're actually

[26:22] um going to take out the curve lawn in that section and it will allow us to

[26:28] widen the street a little bit. It's that section we're talking about right now.

[26:32] We're waiting on utility poles to be moved and that should happen hopefully

[26:38] very soon and they'll get back in there and finish

[26:43] that section of sidewalk. Yeah. Um the if

[26:49] if you have cones around your homes, if you had sidewalk done, cones with in

[26:54] front of your driveway approach or something, you can move those cones and

[27:00] use your sidewalk or your driveway approach. The crew just left town and

[27:04] didn't take those up because there were still things drying when they did leave

[27:08] town. So, they can just be moved out of your way

[27:12] for now for anybody that would have those.

[27:15] And the um when they're done pouring the concrete in that last section is when

[27:22] they will come back and back fill along the edges of this new sidewalk. And then

[27:27] they will seed it and put straw down to regrow the grass. So the back fill will

[27:32] be a little bit yet, but total project they have until actually the end of

[27:36] July. So it should be finishing up pretty quick. That's it. Thank you.

[27:44] Okay, moving on to the introduction of ordinances and resolutions. 2026-34,

[27:51] an ordinance establishing 2026 pay and benefits scheduled for the village of

[27:55] West Lafayette and repealing ordinances and resolutions in conflict here with

[27:59] this is the first reading. 2026-35, an ordinance establishing sewer rates

[28:04] and sewer regulations for the village of West Lafayette, amending ordinances and

[28:08] resolutions in conflict here with this is the first reading. 2026-38,

[28:14] a resolution authorizing the mayor of the village of West Lafayette to prepare

[28:17] and submit an application to participate in the Ohio works public works

[28:21] commission OPWC small government fund program and to execute contracts as

[28:26] required. This is the second reading at an emergency. Um,

[28:31] no other business bills have been around.

[28:36] » Yes. Motion

[28:40] second. Maple,

[28:44] » yes. >> Mau,

[28:45] » yes. >> Co,

[28:46] » yes. >> Yoho,

[28:48] » yes. >> Percy,

[28:49] » yes. >> And with no other business, just looking

[28:52] for a motion to >> I'd like to say something real quick.

[28:55] Just want to say thank you to that um village member that wrote the email with

[29:01] her concerns about the uh tax thing. That's the kind of thing I was talking

[29:05] about the last meeting we had, but it was occurring people to get involved. So

[29:09] um it was a very polite letter um just asking questions. So just encourage

[29:15] everybody else if they have questions do the same thing

[29:17] » and very valid questions. >> Very valid question. Yes. And so I just

[29:20] want to say thank you for doing that. That's the only way we can know what

[29:24] your concerns are. And it also helps us become better too. We sit here and we

[29:29] sometimes can't see the forest through the trees because we're we're talking

[29:32] but without your input. We really don't know what sometimes you really wander to

[29:36] look look at. So feel free to get a hold of us and we'll look a little deeper and

[29:43] approve ourselves as well. >> And I do hope that I answer the

[29:45] questions that they had. >> No, [snorts]

[29:51] no other business. >> Make a motion to second.

[29:56] » Second

[29:59] fight over it. [laughter] Percy, >> yes.

[30:03] » Co. >> Yes.

[30:04] » Maple. >> Yes.

[30:05] » Mau. >> Yes. vote.

[30:07] » We are adjourned.

July 13th Regular Meeting

Transcript