VILLAGE OF RUSHVILLE COUNCIL MEETING MONTH: January Meeting Date: January 9, 2025 Start Time: 6:00 PM End Time: 7:15 PM CALL TO ORDER: The Village of Rushville Council was called into Regular Session by Mayor John Burge at the Municipal Building Council Members Present Employees: Present John Burge, Mayor Yes Cindy Lewis Yes Jennifer Henery Yes Jon Browning Yes Kate Poston Yes Dave Traub No Matt Schweitzer Yes Melanie Baker Yes Ken Dean Yes Steve June Yes Steve Lewis Yes WELCOME VISITORS- No visitors present. John was expecting Kyle Peters regarding the addition to his home. Kate has the drawings that Kyle gave her. It is 20 feet wide by 20 feet deep. John said that if he doesn’t go past his garage, he will be fine. Dave is having a problem finding the curb stop. John says that needs to be found before it gets further buried. John said he was also expecting the Englands who are behind the church. They want to talk about building on part of their lot, and wanted information about water & sewer. MINUTES- December Special Meeting- Ken moved, and Matt seconded, to approve the minutes. Motion passed December Regular Meeting- Jennifer moved, and Ken seconded, to approve the minutes. Motion passed. COMMITTEE REPORTS PUBLIC AFFAIRS- In Dave’s absence, John reported that the Level 3 on Monday delayed the guys getting here early. Residents assisted with the snow removal. Our salt spreader isn’t working well and needs to be replaced. Fire Chief Vandermark has a snow plowing and salting business, and he does West Rushville. Kate said we should get a quote from him for doing our streets. Less than buying expensive salt, a new spreader, and the guys labor. John will do that. John said that he has talked to the township about salting Main St. Jon said that if he were the township, he would require a hold harmless agreement. FINANCE- Steve L- Nothing to report HISTORICAL COMMITTEE- Matt said that 2 of the 3 new village limit signs are up. The other one will go at the north end of Market St. where the current sign is. COMMUNICATIONS- Matt said that 64 emails went out regarding the snow emergency. He will post the committee list for residents once approved. He asked Cindy if she can cut and past the minutes into an email for the Town Crier. Steve said we can. Kate said that she will get the information for donations for Hometown Heroes banners. PUBLIC RECORDS- John- Nothing new EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS- Steve J reported nothing new. GRANTS- Kate said that there will be some things coming in February. Steve L asked her to look for grants for new water meters. John asked if we need to do anything regarding Strand Associates. Kate said she would check. She also said that she likes Jamie, but Bremen and Pleasantville share the same engineer. He does attend meetings with Holly. Jamie works in Columbus and lives up there. It may be of interest to the Council to see what the other engineer charges and if he would be willing to cooperate with Bremen and Pleasantville which lowers the cost. Steve L said that it sounds like a better idea than what we have now. PLANNING COMMISSION- Jennifer said that there is a bigger map for land use. We need to adopt it and the Zoning Code at the same time. The land use map is for what we want to be looking at Rushville for the future. She wants to get Holly and her team down here so that she can explain what we need to do. And we need to pass the zoning code as a whole. Part of this is to preserve and protect what we already have. Anything coming into the village, we would be able to regulate it better. Jon asked if the land use map part and parcel of the zoning. Jennifer said it is separate, but they would like to have them passed at the same time. John said that as he understands it the zoning code defines residential, commercial, agricultural. It is two separate things, but they come together. Once they come together that’s when we do the third reading and have an informational meeting. Jon asked where we are on coming up with something final for the land use map. Jennifer said we haven’t started that. Kate said that she would like to have planning commission meetings before we officially adopt. Matt asked what is the next step. John said that we do the first readings of the ordinances in February. Between now and then we have our first meeting for the land use map. Kate said that we aren’t going to adopt the entire code. Steve said that there are things that don’t apply now, but could in the future. The people who put this together have degrees in community planning. Kate said that this applies to much larger communities than us. Steve L said that we may be just this little piece right now, but if we stay this little piece, we will disappear. We need to grow. John said we are going to adopt it right now, and if we find we need to adapt, we can. Jennifer said that we don’t have a crystal ball. We don’t know what’s coming in the future, but with the zoning code, we have a way to deal with it. Matt asked if we could do a planning meeting and go through it line by line. John said come up with a meeting date. OLD BUSINESS An Ordinance Authorizing the Mayor to Enter Into Negotiations with the Village of Bremen Regarding a New Contract for the Provision of Water to the Village of Rushville. Third Reading. Steve L moved, and Jennifer seconded, to pass the Ordinance. Motion passed. Resolution Approving the Disposition of Village Personal Property and Equipment for 2025. Second Reading. 2025 Committees- John said they will stand as presented in December. Matt asked about a new committee- Rushville Festival. He would like to figure out something. Cindy mentioned liability issues. Steve L said just come up with what you want to do and then we present it for costs. Matt said that he understands there were some festivals in the past, and he would like to see something in the future. He said he will take it as part of the Historical Committee, and whoever is interested can join the committee. Town Hall- Steve, Jennifer, and John had a meeting with the Masons. We had some changes to the contract, as did they. John says we need another vote on whether we want to continue or not. Steve called for Executive Session. John asked if we wanted the keep it public so that the public knows what we did, or just the vote on the other side. Motion for Executive Session, seconded by Ken. Motion passed. Voting yes: Jennifer Henery, Kate Poston, Ken Dean, Steve June, Steve Lewis. Matt abstained. Session started at 7:39 PM. Purpose of session is the contract with the Masons. Motion to exit Executive Session Steve Lewis, seconded Ken Dean. Voting yes Jennifer, Kate, Ken, Steve June, Steve Lewis. Matt abstaining. Session ended at 7:09 PM. Jon said that at this point we have been in negotiations regarding a lease agreement for months. At this point, negotiations have broken down. The options are to continue negotiations for quit claim deed or to find a way to sell the building as provided by Ohio Revised Code. NEW BUSINESS Meeting Day and time- John asked if anyone wanted to change. Everyone is happy with second Thursday at 6:00. Renewal of Water Debt CD with Vinton Co National Bank. Cindy said that we did a 12 month last year because of a 5% interest rate. It won’t renew so we have to pick a new term. She recommended the 17 months at 3.5%. She said the interest is only about $2 a month, so it isn’t worth dealing with it every six months. Steve J moved, and Steve L seconded, to do the 17 months. Motion passed. PAY BILLS- Jennifer moved, and Ken seconded, to pay any and all bills. Motion passed. ADJOURN- Jennifer moved, and Ken seconded, to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. Signed by: _______________________________ ---------------------------------------- John Burge, Mayor Cindy Lewis, Clerk/Treasurer