Village of Thurston

Council Meeting Minutes

July 11, 2002

Meeting called to order at 7:00 pm by Mayor Hite. Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

Roll call: Robert Ortman – Present; Nona Buskirk – Present; Mary Barber – Present; Roger Aubery – Present; Warren Simpson – Absent; JT Hilliard – Present; Jo-Ann Hite – Present; Aaron Reedy – Present.

No guests were present.

Mary made a motion to approve the June 2002 minutes. Roger second. All yea.

Nona made a motion to approve the June 2002 financial statement with corrections. JT second. All yea.

Council reviewed the Budget for 2003. Roger made a motion to adopt the Fiscal Year 2003 budget. JT second. All yea.

Chief Mike Jackson was present representing the Fire Department. Mike announced that we got a grant from the State of Ohio Department of EMS. We applied for $55,000, but only got $9,200 for training and $1,025 for patient care equipment. They haven’t heard anything from the FEMA grant yet.

Mike said Aaron brought to his attention a problem with the phone bills. There have been some long distance charges that shouldn’t have been made. He tracked them down to two people on the department who will be reimbursing for the calls. Mike said they know they are not supposed to use the station phone for personal business. There is a phone log there that nobody uses.

Mike said they had a meeting with Millersport Fire Department. They discussed joint training and purchasing, and driver safety courses. Mike said they were going to start doing training together on Wednesday nights. He said 95% of our runs are with Millersport, but they’ve never trained together.

Mike asked about joint purchasing and how Aaron felt about it. Aaron is not sure of the liability and will check with the Village Solicitor about it.

JT asked about the tornado siren. Mike said they decided it would be best left where it is because there is a generator there. The County is going to pay to have the siren connected to the countywide system. Mike said it will cost about $500 to get the current siren wired. JT asked about getting a louder siren. Mike said it would cost between $15,000-$16,000. He also said it’s not meant to be heard inside the house, just to alert those outside to get to shelter.

Nona made a motion to help pay for the wiring – up to $500. Roger second. All yea.

Mike said he suspended one of the Jr. Firefighters due to some bad activity. He had been part of a group who let the brakes off a railroad car that caused some damage. Mike said he’s a good kid, but we need to help guide him. He’s suspended for 30 days.

Mike said they will be doing some station cleaning over the next few weeks. He also said the department has a softball game coming up with the Basil department.

JoAnn said we got the June payment of $35,000 from the Township Trustees.

Aaron read the second reading of Ordinance 2002-06-13-2, An Ordinance Amending the Traffic Control Map (No Parking On a Portion of the Parking Lot Located at the Municipal Building). JoAnn wanted a vote. Aaron said you don’t vote until the final reading. Lowell said the rules state you have to vote each time. Aaron said we didn’t have rules yet. Aaron asked which vote counts? Do you average all three? JoAnn said she wanted a vote so Aaron took one. Nona made a motion to adopt Ordinance 2002-06-13-2. Robert second. All yea.

Roger moved to adopt Resolution # 2002-07-11-1, a Resolution Authorizing the Transfer of Funds and the Declaration of an Emergency. Mary second. All yea.

JoAnn announced that the municipal building was broken into on June 24^th and several items were taken. Fortunately, the offender was captured quickly and the items returned. She asked if we wanted to get steel doors. Nona said the Heritage Association should help pay for them. Council discussed getting steel doors and what to do with the windows. Lowell said the Sheriff suggested putting a motion detector in the hall that just turns a light on. That way, an intruder would be scared off thinking it was a camera or an alarm. Roger made a motion to get 2 motion sensing lights. JT second. All yea.

JoAnn said they just got the new sump pump today and they did not have to get the two bags of blacktop.

JoAnn said that on June 25^th, the Walnut Township Trustees office called her. Lisa wanted to know if we discussed the fire district at our June council meeting. JoAnn said yes, but that it was her understanding that it was a dead issue for a while. They weren’t happy with JoAnn because she wouldn’t go into detail.

JoAnn said that copies of sample Council Rules were given to all Council members. She wants them reviewed and we will go over them at the next committee meeting. Aaron asked them to seriously read the samples and make notes so that we can discuss.

JoAnn asked if there was any New Business. Roger said that at the next meeting, he would like to discuss hiring a street person. JoAnn said we have one; Charlie Miller. JT said we need to have a part-time person with assigned duties. Council discussed the issues; no supervision, people claiming things aren’t getting done.

Council discussed residents not coming to meetings. Most felt they should come to the meeting if they want to get their issues addressed.

JoAnn said that ODOT is on us because of a sinkhole by the railroad track on SR 256 by the railroad tracks. They are filling it in, but they won’t fix it. It’s located where the sewer was put in for Moline Drive.

Since there was no other business to address, Nona made a motion to pay bills and adjourn. Roger second. All yea.

Respectfully Submitted,

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Aaron L. Reedy, Clerk