Mayor Nathan Frisch called the October 8, 2020 Village of Attica Council special question/answer
session to order at 7:00 PM.

Roll Call: Lynn Love, George Yakoubian, Ed Treft, Louie Sanders, Tim Bulger, Kirk Stanfield
Others Present: Village Administrator Greg Martin

The Village has invited residents to take part in discussions regarding a 1% income tax. The meeting started with Mayor Frisch advising that at the last regular meeting of Council, it was voted to table the income tax until the budget for 2021 is passed. Several attended. Questions/comments/answers are recapped below: Deb Briggs: What will the money be used for? Is there an imminent need? Streets, parks, public safety, and the other items listed previously. You don’t need law enforcement to enforce ordinances. //We can deliver or hang notices, but we cannot enforce. How long will the tax go on for? It’s by ordinance, not a levy. It would be there until stopped by another ordinance. Dave Daniel: Now that the tax is tabled, how long will it be? Until the budget is passed, which is by the end of the year. Pam Dunson: You should have an idea of financials now. I do feel the tax is needed. We have more of a drug problem here than is realized, and we do need law enforcement. //We have been reactive rather than proactive for so long, that it is needed in many areas. Larry Dunson: In addition to local government funding being cut, the EPA has upped requirements. I worked in a village with a tax and they were able to keep up with things like abandoned properties. What is the process now? The land bank will work with you, but you also need funds to be able to do that sort of thing. Rick Gillett: If you are expecting up to $200K a year when the tax is fully recognized, then how long would it take you to complete your list of needs like paving roads, etc? We would need to know the entire cost of all of the paving that needs done for things like streets. It’s estimated to be about $90K per mile. We priced Venice Street repairs and grading, and it was about $80K for our half. I feel like you should be able to do a projection of what needs done and how long it would take to accomplish it. Plan it out and show how long it would be needed and where. Maybe do a 5-year plan. You’ve demonstrated there is a need, but show a timeline and reconsider reciprocity. Steve Swander: I would like to see something that shows where the money will be going. Tony Wurm: A referendum of the residents can be done to get it stopped. Greenwich has a speed camera, and we used to. Why didn’t we continue to use it? Those are not always enforceable. Some places have received injunctions making it impossible to use for six months at a time. There are other laws around it and whether it’s enforceable. It’s not a viable option anymore. At the last meeting, we talked about a park levy. Now there would be a levy and the tax? The park levy needed to be put on the ballot before we began taking steps for the income tax. It would be ideal if the income tax could replace the levy and we wouldn’t need to renew that in the future. Can’t we sell the police cars and use that money for things like the park and streets? Money from police cars would likely have to go to a police capital fund. Tony Gorrell: The employees at Sutton Bank are concerned about the tax and not offering reciprocity. I get the fact that the tax is needed, but it needs to be better planned. Consider other options like getting a sponsor for pool operations and voting a levy for things like capital improvements. Also, consider that many employees at the bank are now working remote and would not be working in the Village. Steve Steinmetz: Last month you talked about a police department, now you’re talking about a contract with the sheriff? We’re looking at all options and need a minimum of being able to enforce our ordinances. It would take a contract with the Sheriff for them to enforce the ordinances. If we had our own department, we could enforce them. We have to find the best option. Doug Kelley: There should be a plan. Maybe you partner with Tiffin to cover the pool operations. Kids don’t use it, and there’s the library. It’s an underutilized property. Some discussion on reciprocity was had. Not all municipalities offer it, including some that others pay into already. It was asked if residents would be notified when the budget was passed. It was encouraged to keep up with the minutes in the Hub and our website.

Question/answer session adjourned at 8:09 PM to start regular meeting. ____________________________________ ______________________________

Mayor Nathan Frisch Fiscal Officer Michelle Gullett