Mayor Nathan Frisch called the December 14th, 2023 Village of Attica Council regular meeting to order at 7:31 PM.
Roll Call: Ed Beamer, Owen Best, Keith Hopple, Nicole Lenhart, Louis Sanders, Kirk Stanfield
Others Present: Solicitor Heather Heyman Niedermeier & Billing Clerk Alyssa Mason
Approval of Warrants: Motion by Councilman Beamer, seconded by Councilman Best to approve the warrants for payment. Vote: 6-0. Motion carried
Approval of Minutes: Motion by Councilman Best, seconded by Councilwoman Lenhart to approve the minutes. Vote: 5-1 with Councilman Beamer voting no. Motion carried.
Written & Oral Communication: None.
Public Safety: None.
Streets & Properties: None.
Parks: None.
Trees: None.
Fire: Councilman Sanders reported there will be a meeting next week.
EMS: Councilwoman Lenhart shared there will be a meeting on Thursday. She also shared that she had drone pictures from the new joint ambulance location if anyone wanted to see them.
Cemetery: Councilman Sanders reported the Cemetery Board is looking at a matching grant for repairing the mausoleum. They hope to know something next week.
Personnel: Councilman Best moved to add ordinance 2023-15 to the agenda, Councilwoman Lenhart seconded. Vote: 6-0. Motion carried.
Fiscal Officer Hatfield shared with Council that there was a health insurance renewal spreadsheet in their packet of information. She was hoping for a motion to move forward. Council had questions regarding the various selections provided by our agent. The renewal option as suggested by the Village’s Insurance agent appeared more expensive with higher deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums, although it was the plan most comparable to our current plan. FO Hatfield offered to request further information from the insurance agent. Councilman Best asked when we had to decide. FO Hatfield replied soon. Mayor Frisch suggested finding out what local providers would be in-network if the village decided to switch to Medical Mutual option. Council decided to hold off on deciding until they have further information.
ORD 2023-15 ORDINANCE HIRING JAKE PIECHOCKI AT A RATE OF $37 AN HOUR AS OPERATOR OF RECORD AND OPERATIONS SUPERINTENDENT. Councilman Sanders moved to suspend the three-read rule, Councilman Beamer seconded. Vote: 6-0. Motion carried.
Councilman Sanders moved to declare an emergency, Councilman Beamer seconded. Vote: 6-0. Motion carried.
Councilman Sanders moved to adopt Ordinance 2023-15, Councilman Beamer seconded. Vote:
6-0 Motion carried.
The Solicitor shared that it was added to the ordinance to allow Jake to have insurance day one, the personnel handbook states employees must complete their 90-Day probationary period before being eligible for health insurance. She reported she would be amending the handbook to allow all employees health insurance eligibility on day one.
Zoning Commission: None.
Finance and rule: Cash balance: $1,455,144.82 All funds include CDs and reserved or restricted funds, and debt reserve funds. November bank reconciliation was presented for approval.
3rd read of RES/ORD 2023-12 2024 Temporary Appropriations Councilman Best moved to adopt, Councilman Hopple seconded. Vote: 4-2. With Councilman Beamer and Councilman Stanfield voting no.
FO Hatfield reported the Billing Clerk requested mileage reimbursement for trips to the Post Office in New Washington while the Post Office was closed in town. Councilwoman Lenhart moved to reimburse Billing Clerk Alyssa Mason the federal/irs mileage rate of 65.5 cents per mile for trips made to the Post Office in New Washington. Councilman Sanders seconded the motion. Vote: 6-0.
Water & Sewer:
Councilman Beamer reported he talked to Dylan of Makeever’s Office about the pressure connection valves. He said it turns out we will need 8 of them. Councilman Beamer reported he is going to reach out to Willard and Rural Water for the cost to purchase water and where we would need to go to get it to continue exploring our options. Councilman Beamer also reported Dakota is scheduled to take his Class 1 water test on December 29th. Mayor Frisch reported he received the report on Diego Sandino’s meter and it came back perfect. Nothing was wrong with the meter. Councilman Beamer stated that he thought Council should charge Diego the “intown” rate for the usage with no penalties with the payment being due in full by January 22nd or it is shut off. Councilman Best suggested making the bill due in two parts since it is the holidays, Councilman Beamer replied it is $400. Councilman Beamer moved to charge the usage at the “intown” rate with no penalties due in full on January 22nd in reference to Diego Sandino’s high bill, Councilman Lenhart seconded. Vote: 5-1 with Councilman Stanfield voting no. Councilman Stanfield asked, where is the due process. The Solicitor spoke up and said this isn’t a court of law, Diego could have been here.
Billing Clerk Alyssa Mason was in attendance to share with Council a letter she received from a customer at 106 E. Tiffin St. Billing Clerk Mason found an increase in usage on 11/20 through the customers meter reading. The Billing Clerk then put in a work order which didn’t come back to her for 8 days, which typically takes roughly 24 hours. This resulted in an additional usage of 16 more units. The customer was frustrated that the turn around time resulted in additional high usage. Councilman Beamer asked how could we prevent the customers leak. Councilman Hopple shared Councilman Beamers thought. The billing clerk reported the additional 16 units of usage could have been avoided if the work order would have been turned around in a timely manner. Her bill is $781.86, it could have been $452.70 had the turn around time been the typical 24 hours. The Solicitor asked at what point would the resident have been notified otherwise by the bill. The Billing Clerk reported her usage would have been higher had she not reported the high read and waited for the customer to receive the bill. Councilwoman Lenhart asked if the leak is fixed. The Billing Clerk reported yes, it was a running toilet. Councilman Beamer asked the Billing Clerk when she alerted the customer to the high usage. BC Mason reported she called the customer on the 28th when she received the work order. Councilman Beamer asked if BC Mason considered making the courtesy call prior to receive the work order. She reported she typically waits to get to the work order back so she knows what she is dealing with. Councilman Beamer stated Council really needs to treat everyone equally. He recalled being forced to pay a bill for a leaky toilet. He wants the treatment to be fair across the board. Councilman Beamer said, don’t take this wrong, but your leaks are not our responsibility. Councilman Best indicated he agreed with Councilman Beamer about having a structure in place to deal with these situations, although it is not easy to make that decision right now. The Solicitor asked what will happen when you go to Rural Water. Councilman Beamer replied, it won’t matter, the bill will have to be paid. He followed up with we are paying to make the water. Councilman Best said what if we cut the 8 days in half and give her a little bit of grace, but develop a system for the future. Councilman Beamer agreed with Councilman Best, but went on to say we need to develop an ordinance or something that says if you have a leak, it is your responsibility, unless it is something that isn’t going through the sewer and we could offer a sewer credit. Councilman Best suggested charging her for the original 20 units and half of the 16 units. Councilman Stanfield suggested charging for just the production cost of the water. Councilman Best moved to lower the bill to $617.78 as figure by the Billing Clerk after halving the 16 units used in the 8 days while waiting for the work order, Councilwoman Lenhart seconded. Vote: 4-2 with Councilman Beamer and Stanfield voting no. Motion carried.
Councilman Stanfield suggested again charging the rate of production for situations like this, much of what is collected is charged to overhead and debt. He further shared in regards to sewer there are no costs to speak of, that plant processes about 250,000 gallons a day, so why not make a compassionate kind of rule that we reduce for the additional water used down to the cost of the actual water. Councilman Stanfield went on to say there is a law that says there is to be a committee or a designee in place to handle these types of utility disputes in a compassionate way. Mayor Frisch stated the sewer plant processes about 120,000 gallons a day. Councilman Stanfield asked since when. Mayor Frisch said for a long time, it only jumps up when we get a huge rain.
1st read of Ord 2023-14 Amending the Water Bill Payment Schedule, Penalties, and Shut Off Conditions
The Solicitor shared she prepared an amendment to the billing payment schedule, as requested by Council after discussions concerning customers being shut off after they are month behind with a new bill due, and accumulating a third month of usage. She reported modeling it after Willard’s payment schedule. She said the dates could be changed if Council wished with a motion to amend. The bill would be due on the 18th, the penalty of 10% would be assessed on the 19th, with shut off on the 24th. Councilman Beamer said it would be best to have the shut off date displayed on the original bill to avoid having to allow additional time for payment while sending shut off notices. The Solicitor reported she didn’t change the fees for restoration of service, at least from the ordinance she had. The Billing Clerk reported there is another ordinance that states there is a $25 fee for shut off and a $25 fee to restore service. Councilman Beamer said he doesn’t think we need to charge to shut off the service because the customer owes us money, it would be in our best interests to shut off, but charge them $50 to turn it back on. Councilman Stanfield asked how are you going to handle a duplex situation. Mayor Frisch reported the landlord should have a way to handle those situations. Councilwoman Lenhart moved to amend 2023-14 to read a $50 restoration fee, Councilman Beamer seconded. 6-0
Mayor Frisch reported RA Bores should be in town soon to address some lead lines, one on S. Main and one on N. Main, and also fix Ms. Thompson’s meter horn. He shared Dakota called OUPS to have the public utilities marked and he didn’t believe RA Bores would need to be in road.
Village Website & IT: None.
Unfinished, Old Business and New Business: None.
Executive Session:
Next meeting: Thursday, December 28, 2023 at 7:30 PM.
Motion by Councilman Beamer, seconded by Councilman Best to adjourn the meeting. Time: 8:50 PM. Vote: 6-0. Motion carried.
