Lapel Town Council

March 17, 2022 @ 7:00pm

Lapel Eagles

Attending tonight’s meeting in person was Teresa Retherford, Chad Blake, Noah Bozell, Paula Lee, Kourtney Krabbe, & Town Attorney Jeff Graham. Attending virtually was Lindsay Washmuth & Jason Kleinbub. The public could attend the meeting either in person at the Lapel Eagles, or online using the GoTo Meeting link posted on the Town of Lapel’s Facebook page.

President Retherford opened the meeting to public comment for anything that was not currently on the agenda. No public comment was made either in person or online.

A motion to suspend the Town Council meeting & open a public hearing for the ARPA fund additional appropriation was made by Blake, 2^nd by Washmuth; all were in favor.

This public hearing was advertised in the Herald Bulletin on March 7, 2022. The Town Council voted on 2/25/22 to pay for the $33,560 in Kimley Horn bills from the ARPA fund. Resolution 7-2022 allows the additional appropriation in the ARPA funding to be made. There was no public comment made regarding Resolution 7-2022.

A motion to close the public hearing for the ARPA fund additional appropriation was made by Bozell, 2^nd by Retherford; all were in favor.

A motion to reopen the Lapel Town Council meeting was made by Blake, 2^nd by Bozell; all were in favor.

A motion to approve Resolution 7-2022 was made by Retherford, 2^nd by Blake; all were in favor.

A motion to suspend the Town Council meeting & open a public hearing for the LIT Public Safety fund additional appropriation was made by Blake, 2^nd by Bozell; all voted yes.

This public hearing was advertised in the Herald Bulletin on March 7, 2022. Due to the Public Safety Local Income Tax raise that took place January 2022, the Town of Lapel was able to budget a portion of the police department raises for 2022 out of the Public Safety LIT fund. This was not able to be submitted with the original 2022 budget because the Public Safety LIT raise did not get approved until after the budget was submitted. There was no public comment regarding Resolution 6-2022.

A motion to close the public hearing for the Public Safety LIT additional appropriation was made by Retherford, 2^nd by Blake; all were in favor.

A motion to reopen the Lapel Town Council meeting was made by Bozell, 2^nd by Blake; all were in favor

A motion to approve Resolution 6-2022 was made by Blake, 2^nd by Bozell; all were in favor.

Resolution 5-2022 authorizes the use of Town vehicles for on-duty town utility workers. This resolution allows the Town of Lapel Utility workers to drive a town-owned vehicle home during which times the employee is not on duty, but is on-call. A motion to approve Resolution 5-2022 was made by Blake, 2^nd by Bozell; all were in favor.

A motion to approve February 17, 2022 meeting minutes was made by Bozell, 2^nd by Blake; all were in favor.

A motion to approve February 25, 2022 meeting minutes was made by Bozell, 2^nd by Blake; all were in favor except Kleinbub & Washmuth who abstained due to being absent at the 2/25/22 meeting.

A motion to approve the March 2022 Docket Claims as presented was made by Blake, 2^nd by Bozell; all were in favor.

LRC: David Starkey with Reedy Financial presented the Lapel Redevelopment Committee annual report to the Lapel Town Council. This report will be submitted into Gateway by Reedy Financial.

Rob Steele: Mr. Steele would like to vacate the alley that runs between his property & the Bozell empty lot. Attorney Jeff Graham stated this would be a Council decision, and Graham will provide a proposed ordinance for the April meeting.

Pax Beer Fest: Jason Watson with Pax Verum would like to close part of Main Street & part of 9^th street for their BeerFest in August. Main Street would be closed from 9^th Street to 10^th Street. 9^th Street will be closed from the alley behind Lapel Town Hall to the alley behind The Lodge on Main. Parking for attendees is expected to be at Daybreak Church like last year, & the Evelo’s have allowed the BeerFest to extend into The Lodge on Main. Councilman Kleinbub would like Watson to reach out to Chief Naselroad with the Lapel Police Department, and Chief Marvel with the Stony Creek Township Fire Department to get their input. A motion to allow Pax to close Main Street & 9^th Street according to the diagram that was presented at tonight’s meeting was made by Blake, 2^nd by Bozell; all were in favor.

CommonWealth: Sean Wolfe with CommonWealth Engineers provided the Lapel Town Council an update regarding the town’s $4 million water project. Wolfe also presented two pay applications for approval. Division A pay application #1 is for $81,642.00 & Division B pay application #2 is for $1,900.00. A motion to approve both pay applications was made by Blake, 2^nd by Bozell; all were in favor.

Police Update: Chief Naselroad was on vacation this week so Councilman Blake provided the rest of the Council with a brief update. Interviews for the open full time Police Officer position will begin when Chief Naselroad returns from vacation.

Park Update: Park Board President Katie Hutchison stated they are making a lot of progress at their monthly meetings & will provide an update when decisions have officially been made.

Planning Update: The Planning Commission voted last Thursday March 10^th to rezone the Bozell property from residential to commercial & to send the rezone to the Lapel Town Council with a favorable recommendation. A motion to approve the Bozell rezone from residential to commercial per the conditions recommended by the Planning Commission was made by Blake, 2^nd by Retherford; all were in favor except Bozell who abstained.

The need to advertise & hire a Code Enforcement Officer was brought to the Council’s attention.

There is still a vacant seat on the Board of Zoning Appeals. Attorney Jeff Graham stated that the Planning Commission needs to first appoint a member from the Planning Commission to join the BZA, & then the Town Council can appoint another member from the Planning Commission to join the BZA also.

Utility Update: Brandon Hutchison presented the Council with a quote from Clark Truck Equipment for a truck topper for the maroon utility truck which is about to become the waste water plant vehicle. The quote is for $3,434.00, and this topper can be transferred to a new waste water plant vehicle in the future. A motion to approve the quote from Clark Truck Equipment for $3.434.00 was made by Bozell, 2^nd by Blake; all were in favor.

A motion to hire Joseph Hormell as a full time utility laborer at $15.50/hour was made by Blake, 2^nd by Bozell; all were in favor except Retherford who abstained.

A motion to approve the advertising in the Herald Bulletin of utility laborer positions & the code enforcement position was made by Retherford, 2^nd by Bozell; all were in favor.

The Fishersburg lift station is the last town owned lift station to receive a cutter pump. Utility Director Mary Armacost presented the Council with a quote from BBC Pump & Equipment for a total of $18,272.00. This was tabled until the special meeting on 3/24/2022 so Lee & Krabbe could review the sewer finances.

Councilman Kleinbub left the meeting at 7:53pm due to work.

Armacost provided the Council with an on-call stipend & holiday bonus proposal. This was also tabled until the special meeting on 3/24/2022.

Trees in the junior high school easement need to be removed & trimmed. Armacost reached out to three different companies, but only one returned her call. Sutton’s provided Armacost with a quote of $7,000.  Krabbe informed the Council that we are only budgeted for $4,000 in tree maintenance for the entire year. A motion to approve the quote from Sutton’s & to be paid out of the ARPA fund was made by Blake, 2^nd by Washmuth; all were in favor.

Office Update: Continued discussion from the February 17^th meeting regarding remote computer maintenance & ransomware defense provided by Regal Computer Services. A motion to provide protection through Regal Computer Services to the five computers in Lapel Town Hall & one future computer at the water treatment plant was made by Blake, 2^nd by Bozell; all were in favor.

Lee & Krabbe asked the Council for permission to purchase Key Assets through Keystone. This software will integrate with our other programs & help track all governmental assets over $5,000. The initial cost of the program is $4,125 with an annual fee of $920. A motion to purchase Key Assets was made by Retherford, 2^nd by Blake; all were in favor.

New Business: South Madison County Foundation is providing an “Open Heart Open Purses” grant for $10,000. Councilman Bozell would like to apply for this grant, & Lee would like to use the money to pave Central Park to ADA compliance. Lee & Bozell to work on getting the grant application turned in.

Being nothing further to discuss, meeting was adjourned.

 

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