ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT

August, 2016

 

SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL:

No preconstruction meeting has been scheduled as of 8/10/16.  ODOT will inform me when it is and what the project time frame for this fall will be.

UTILITY COMMITTEE MET ON BRUSH PILE AT THE SEWER PLANT:

The Utility Committee members, Rudie Reeb, Steve Derck and Ken Reinhart met with the undersigned on July 21, 2016 at town hall.  The meeting was called to develop some guidelines for opening the compost drop off site at the sanitary sewer plant.   The compost facility must be registered with Ohio EPA before the village can continue to take yard waste at the plant.

 

The committee reviewed and agreed that the compost site needed to be gated and hours of operation needed to be set.  The gate for the site should be located right after you turn onto the Sanitary Plant road off of CR 43.  It was felt that this way anyway coming out to the plant to drop off litter or yard waste when the site was closed might be less apt to leave the waste at the gate due to it being more visible to the public.  Signage should also be located at the gate noting dates and times the site would be open for drop off, what yard waste was acceptable, cost, if any, and penalties for violating the site guidelines.  A camera and light should also be mounted at the gate.  I will start looking at estimates on these needed improvements at the entrance.

 

The compost itself would be moved from the south side of the sanitary plant building to the north side in order to alleviate the change of any run off from the decomposing yard waste entering a catch basin near the existing yard waste piles.

 

The Committee is recommending the following days and hours for the compost site to be open to the public:

 

Mondays                3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Thursdays              3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Saturdays               9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

 

Also it was discussed that the site could be closed on this dates due to inclement weather and when the dropped off material is to be chipped in the fall.  Notice to the public will be made.

 

Yard waste to be taken will be:

*Leaves                                 *Grass Clippings (No plastic bags)

*Brush                                                   *Holiday Trees

*Tree Limbs                                          *Garden Waste

*Prunings from trees or shrubs

*Straw                                                    *Wood Chips

According to EPA, clean untreated wood (including wood pallets and dimensional lumber) minus nails and screws is allowable.  Council needs to decide if we are going to list this as an allowable drop off.  Also discussion was held on limiting the size of tree trunks/limbs that would be taken if they required log splitting in order to be chipped.  The undersigned will contact commercial chipping companies to see up to what size they can chip and cost.  EPA will require that the compost is chipped at least once annually and that we offer to the public the compost and eliminate at least ¼ of what we take in the preceding year.

 

Committee discussed charging a flat fee for residents dropping off material.  Committee didn’t decide what that amount should be, and wanted to have discussion with all of council.  A flat fee would be easiest to charge since we can’t weigh each load.  A fee of $5.00 was discussed, but conversation on the difference on one bag of grass clippings versus a trailer load of leaves and/or branches resulted in no decision.  Council can further the discussion.

 

The hiring of a part-time person was discussed as whatever is brought out has to be estimated and documented and weekly logs are required.  With the proposed hours it would require someone to be on site 10 hours a week.  Possibly a retired person could be hired for this part time position at a wage around $8.00.  Committee wanted to at least establish a fee that could possibly pay for the part time help.  It would not be cost effective to have one of our full time personnel work these extra hours at their current wage rate.

 

*Since this meeting, the undersigned has been contacted by Louis Beregszazi about the possibility of relocating the compost pile off of the sewer plant land and being a joint effort between the Village and himself.  He is proposing that he would take care of the chipping and composting of the yard waste and in turn would sell the material if the Village could provide the manpower when the site was open.  This would relieve the village of the cost of annual chipping/mulching.  It is in the beginning stages and he is talking with Kirk Hopkins about using the former Dana plant lot for the compost site since it is completely fenced in and large enough to contain the mulch operation.  It would all be housed outside.  I have had conversation with Kirk and he is contemplating the proposal.  If this does not come about, we will go forward with the site at the sewer plant.

 

RESPONSE LETTER TO EPA ON WATER PLANT VIOLATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS SENT ON 8/4/16:

 

The response to EPA was developed by Poggemeyer Design Group and this writer and sent by mail and e-mail on August 4, 2016.  I have enclosed a copy of the letter which outlines what the Village has managed to repair to-date and what we need to do to meet all of EPA’s expectations.  I didn’t attach the photos, etc., to my administrator’s report, but will have them with me on Monday night if you want to see them.  Our next step is to develop a General Plan for the improvements to the Water Plant, which will be developed by Poggemeyer Design Group and is due to EPA by October 14, 2016.  It is anticipated that we will submit a OPWC application for funding and will be determining what our water rate increase will need to be in the next 30 to 60 days.