The West Liberty Village Council started and ended their only December meeting with celebration—a fitting way to conclude the business of 2022.
Mayor Jill McKelvey got the evening rolling by announcing the recognition of the village’s current firefighters. She then asked Councilwoman Jayne Griffith, whose father, James Hostetler, was a West Liberty fire chief for over 50 years, to call the names for each man to receive a certificate and handshakes from the council, thanking him for his service.
“This is part of the 100th anniversary of the fire department,” McKelvey said. “We’ve recognized the former chiefs throughout the year and wanted to do the same for the firefighters. We have one of the largest departments in the area with 25 men.”
Later, Griffith spoke again about the firefighters who serve the village. “It reminds me they’re volunteers,” she said, “and makes me appreciate them even more.”
A second celebration came after the meeting adjourned for the night as the council and members of McKelvey’s family surprised her with cheesecake for her birthday.
In other council action Monday:
• A resident’s concern that the police department’s firing range violates ordinance 549.08 was resolved with a letter from Chris Moell, village solicitor, which will be sent to the resident. Noting the ordinance does not apply to the use of firearms in the discharge of official duty, Moell concluded, “The department’s use of the range for training and qualification purposes, under the guidelines set forth in the policy, clearly fits within this exception.”
Though the ordinance could be revised to clarify this, Moell concluded it’s not necessary. The council agreed and considered the matter resolved.
• Another resident raised concerns regarding concealed carry issues, which the council decided are addressed in the update to their codified ordinances.
• Griffith apprised the council regarding the west Columbus Street bridge project, stating they had raised about $1,500 over two weeks thanks to several silent auction items. The dinner with the McKelveys raffle brought in another $1,400, partly thanks to the winner, Donna Papp of Anna, who bought the first six tickets … then later purchased $300 more. “She was determined to win,” Griffith added.
• Land Bank will open bids for demolition projects Jan. 3, but will wait to see if there’s enough funding to include the old elementary school destruction. The mayor says she will attend to “make sure they don’t forget us.”
• McKelvey announced their T-Mobile grant didn’t clear the first round. In preparation to try again, the council approved hiring a grant writer to tweak what they have in order to make it meet ADA compliance. She sees this as an opportunity to help local businesses stay open.
“If we lose another storefront … I don’t know,” McKelvey said. “But we’re on a positive trend.” She also stated she and town clerk Cindee Boyd will participate in a webinar on grant writing in the hope they won’t have to hire someone in the future.
• The planning commission will meet with the Logan-Union-Champaign Regional Planning Commission (LUC) and Scott Woodruff, the village code enforcement officer (CEO), to update zoning ordinance language as it pertains to EV charging stations, solar energy and manufactured homes.
A resident’s EV charging station, which is in a right-away and violates zoning laws, as well as approximately two dozen calls regarding a property under development near Quest Community Church convinced the council their ordinance needs to sync better with current laws.
• Council passed the first reading of ordinance 2022-18, which replaces all previous ordinances and resolves problems the auditor had with them. It also changed sections to reflect 5, 10 and 15 years of service.
Due to issues with the previous ordinance, Boyd said, “This audit will be a nightmare for me because we didn’t follow the ordinance. That’s why we rescinded it.” Her comment led Councilwoman Jeanette Zerkle to ask if that meant writing a new ordinance for each individual employee every year. Yes, Boyd responded. Griffith added that the old ordinance was “extremely binding and caused us a lot of stress. We couldn’t follow it and couldn’t catch up and are still trying to catch up.”
Once everyone was onboard, the council approved the first reading.
• A resolution regarding a $50,000 six-month CD that was earmarked for the West Columbus Street bridge project was passed. The CD, which has a 3.25 percent interest rate, had been put aside but not used.
• CEO Woodruff has requested all resident zoning questions be directed to him. This would allow him to investigate issues more thoroughly and follow-up as needed.
• Performance evaluations of the fire chief, the deputy chief and the assistant chief, which should be done annually, have fallen behind. McKelvey recommended taking care of that in the spring.
• Lions Club will now pay $1,165 toward trash pickup for Labor Day weekend. The council will pay $1,800 for security detail out of the police department budget.
• The council agreed to reappoint the same individuals to the Parks Advisory Board for 2023.
• Two resolutions were passed to retain Moell as solicitor for the village as well as for the board of public affairs.
• In response to an employee request, the council chose to keep ordinance 141.05 as is. This ordinance does not allow village employees to rollover vacation days to the next year. “You know how things snowball,” Zerkle said. “Do we really want to get into that? I think it would be another nightmare for Cindee.”
• With the imminent retirement of Bob Harrison, who serves on the Logan County Board of Health, the council will start looking for someone to fill that position.
• Contractor registrations are due Jan. 1.
• Veterans Service is helping to organize a “Women Who Served” group, which will begin in January.
• Village offices will be closed on Monday, Dec. 26, and Monday, Jan. 2, for the holidays.
• Country Friends has been named the January Business of the Month and will receive their commendation at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 4.
The West Liberty Village Council won’t meet again until 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 9.