Minutes: Mayor Louis Sanders called the April 23, 2026, Village of Attica Council regular meeting to order at 7:30PM.
Roll Call: Steve Tanner, Nicole Lenhart, Jim Gray, Keith Hopple, Kirk Stanfield, Ed Beamer
Others Present: None
Absent: Village Admin Shock, Law Director Niedermeier
Approval of Warrants: Motion by Councilwoman Lenhart to approve the warrants for payment, seconded by Councilman Gray. Vote: 6-0, motion carried.
Approval of Minutes: Councilwoman Lenhart moved to approve 4/9/2026 meeting minutes, Councilman Gray seconded the motion, vote 4-0, Councilman Stanfield & Councilman Beamer abstained, motion carried.
Written & Oral Communication: Village residents, Cheryl Thompson, Roxie Bates, and Chris Armitage attended the meeting and noted their concerns with the Village’s pause of the weekly brush route, and the handling of the news where the Village announced the brush route to begin and a week later canceled after residents had prepared yard waste for pickup. Councilwoman Lenhart noted emergency circumstances led to the situation, noting an employee leaving employment with the Village, the Village dump truck breaking down, and the recent storm that left the Village without power damaged the water plant that caused increased staff support needed to operate the plant while repairs were being addressed. Councilwoman Lenhart noted Council and staff are working on ideas to bring the brush route back as soon as possible, whether that be purchasing a dump trailer that would be less costly to purchase, operate, and maintain than a dump truck or contracting the service out. Councilwoman Lenhart also noted staff and council would look into grant opportunities to help with funding.
Ms. Thompson inquired on the future plans of the old pool location. Councilwoman Lenhart noted no established plans have been made, for now the lot will be turned to greenspace while staff and council focus on finishing the improvements to the Legion Park (old Seneca East Attica School lot). Councilwoman Lenhart noted the improvements to the Legion Park include baseball / softball / T-ball fields. Ms. Thompson encouraged council to consider park space for amenities more enjoyed by seniors such as a pickle ball court at the previous pool location. Councilwoman Lenhart noted she would look into that when attention is returned to Myers Park and when funding would be available to address park updates. Councilwoman Lenhart did note the Village submitted for grant and budget assistance through the State to construct a paved walking path around the water reservoir.
Ms. Thompson noted that if the Village constructed a detailed plan of income tax usage such as dedicated funding to street repairs and brush pickup that residents may be more receptive to it, in contrast to previously when she felt as though council did not have a set plan for the money.
Public Safety: None
Streets & Properties: None
Parks: None
Trees: None
Fire: Councilwoman Lenhart relayed the importance from Fire Chief Jaynes to address the fire hydrants in town that are not working. Councilwoman Lenhart noted there are 5 that need replaced and that Maintenance Supervisor Scott has the hydrants to replace them, but they need rebuilt and re-installed. Maintenance Supervisor Scott is also in the process of testing a valve exerciser that would allow the fire hydrants to be properly maintained in the future.
EMS: None
Cemetery: None
Personnel: Councilman Gray noted one applicant for the part time positions, he noted the individual would be used to mow which would free up the full-time maintenance staff to focus on projects throughout town. Councilman Gray moved for the Village to hire Steve Davis at $15 per hour. Councilman Hopple seconded the motion, vote 6-0, motion carried.
Zoning Commission: None
Finance and rule: Ord 2026-4 Village Property Access - was held for its second reading.
Water & Sewer: Councilman Beamer provided updates on the NORW project, noting the easements needed have been obtained.
Councilman Beamer also noted a water leak at 23 S. Main St. that led to a bill of $2,404.65 and recommended a 6 month payment plan to get caught up, with the understanding that if payments aren’t made then water will be shutoff until the bill is paid in full, council presented no opposition to the recommended payment plan.
Councilman Beamer noted on sewer a new draft agreement prepared by our attorney for the Village of Bloomville to review. Councilman Beamer noted discussions with engineers and operators to make sure the Village understands any risks with adding sewage usage and any capacity challenges or increased costs.
Councilman Gray provided a water plan update on behalf of Water Superintend Rosemark in regards to the recent storm that caused power outages throughout town. “On March 31, 2026 the village lost electric power for approximately 25 hours when the storm that night hit the community. The water plant backup generator kicked in as designed. Unfortunately, a power surge caused the battery backup on our main control panel to fail, and we lost our SCADA (supervisor control and data acquisition system) or automatic Operations Control System. This left us with no choice but to operate the plant, manually opening and closing every valve in the plant, turning pumps off and on, monitoring data at every measuring point with no recording capabilities. This situation lasted for three weeks, until this past Tuesday, 4/21, I had to ship the damage control modules to Minnesota, where Tonka, the manufacturer the treatment plant, was able to finally restore the system, processor and program. We received the repaired units on Thursday, 4/16, the automatic controls reinstalled in plant by end of Day this past Monday, we've been operating through the SCADA system since then with no operational issues. Most important facet of this experience is that thanks to the remarkable work of our plant operators, there was absolutely no deterioration of the treated water quality throughout these weeks since the storm. I want to thank our weekend operators, Orin McMonigle and Dan bond, for devoting extra time and learning the manual ops as quickly as they did, and keeping the plant operating efficiently through the several weekends in April, I especially need to mention the critically important contributions of Mike Heacock, Gary Weis and Will Gates for stepping up on that first day after the storm and helping me to transition the plant to manual operations without any water quality problems. The Village is lucky to have their expertise and dedication in running this facility, I can assure you that I could not have accomplished any of this on my own without their help. Thanks also to Tom Scott for his help and making Will available as needed.”
Village Website & IT: None
Train Derailment: None
Unfinished, Old Business and New Business: None
Executive Session: None
Next meeting: Regular meeting on Thursday, May 14th at 7:30 PM.
Motion by Councilwoman Lenhart, seconded by Councilman Gray to adjourn the meeting. Time: 8:42 PM. Vote: 6-0, Motion carried.
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Mayor Louis Sanders - Fiscal Officer Isaac Phillips
