Attended Health & Rec/Pub Works Mtgs on 7/10/10

I attended a simultaneous H&R and PW Committee meeting on Saturday morning 7/10. We discussed in no particular order:

-playground equip for the pool. We were presented with $10K $15K $20K options. $10 is pretty basic, so we talked about Village funds paying the 1st 10, and fundraising potentially adding to this. I like a quasi "match" idea. I would also like to see a modular type like we're installing at ABB Park, so to invest over mult years

-dog park at Ann Buntin Becker Park. I like the idea and support it. Concern is the location. I would explore ABB personally, but am fine to consider other alternative locations.

-Trash Contract. We decided to increase both annual fee (lesser amt) and sticker fees (greater amt). This is hard to swallow I know, but we need to raise revenue where we can. And more on the consumption side of the equation means we're 1)giving choice so not actually a tax and 2)paying to play; more trash = more cost. I'd like to see us offer classes in both Composting and Recyling to offset need for same number of stickers per residence. I also like the 2 tiered annual fee structure based on "Attached" and "Detached" residences. Detached means no hauler efficiency and a higher cost. I also want to see NO resident exceptions to the annual fee. All should pay.

Cortney

will be absent for 6/12 council

I will miss my first council meeting due to a trip to New Orleans, building with Habitat and Crossroads church. I'll be sure to watch the meeting on ICRC!

Cortney

Rules and Law Committee Minutes 6/28

Rules and Law met at 9:00 PM on Monday 6/28 to discuss Ice Cream Truck Vendors in the Village. In attendance were Joe Miller, Dan Policastro, Rick Hines, Jeff Miller and Dennis Wolter. The meeting adjourned at 9:30 PM.

We talked about requirements for being allowed to sell in the Village. We brainstormed and came up with these
-$50 annual fee good for the Calendar Year
-Proof of Commercial Drivers License
-Background check done by Police Chief
-Proof of Hamilton County Board of Health Certificate
-Rules, operate 9AM-9PM, don't tie up traffic, no stopping in intersections, have certificate at the ready at all times

Rick will take ownership of what level of criminal activity would be allowed. For instance, a misdemeanor 5 years ago would be allowed.

We decided to have a 2 1/2 page docs. One for Village File, one for the Driver. New drivers need their own certification.

We decided to limit this effort to Mobile Ice Cream Vendors only.

I will work back with Sue to lock down the doc and process.


Cortney

Council 6/28

I attended Council on 6/28. Here's what I saw

Economic Development
I like Jeff's thoughts on this. Council + Community engaging our current and future businesses, industrial as well as retail. This may be worth an financial investment on our end to prop up our sagging store fronts

Roundabout
A citizen brought forth the Roundabout idea, having experienced personally in WI and IN. It got the ball rolling again and we're on for Committee of Whole! This is a great advancement. I am excited to learn more about this and what it could mean for the Village. COW should meet in August.

Duke Exclusivity
I am comfortable "Selling Out" if it doesn't appear as a blight to the Village aesthetic and if there is real money to be saved by the Village. A +3% savings for Residents is very nice, but we need to take care of the Village's bottom line first and foremost. I'm looking fwd to learning more, but I'm ok with the exclusivity idea as of today.

To be continued....

Cortney

Attended Budget Committee 6/28

I attended the Budget Meeting where we discussed preliminary 2011 + Future years. I am disappointed that all the cuts have resulted in only 1/2 of the deficit addressed. We still have $165K to go before any other cuts. We are not taking this deficit reduction seriously enough. And I can't in good faith ask the Trash fees to cover all of the pain. We'll look at other muni and see how out of sorts we are relatively speaking.

I fear we'll need to take another run per department and wring out additional waste.

Jeff brought up a good point - need for economic development. We're squeezing out savings without driving more development into the Village. More tax base fixes many problems.

Cortney

Village Composting Program?

I met with a citizen regarding village compost program.  We agreed it’s a great idea for homeowners and was still worth looking at the municipal scale.  He agreed to create a “power page” of links with everything you’d want to know about Muni composting, and he’d call Center for Local Government on behalf of the Village to reapply what’s working in other Communities.  Goal is a recommendation to Council.

 

The key is to figure out logistics.  Is it transported by Residents?  Transported by Village Employees?  Transported by 3^rd Party?

 

I’m looking fwd to figuring out what makes sense for the Village.

 

Cortney