NEW BREMEN — During its meeting, Monday, Jan. 28, the New Bremen Village Council considered conditional use of a building across from the post office and assigned the village solicitor the task of overcoming restrictive covenants on a village property.
Hiring a new assistant village administrator was also discussed. Tabled were discussions concerning assessments for the recently completed Front Street/Eastmoor Drive project, as well as pay raises for the fire chief and assistant fire chief.
Council approved a first reading of an ordinance to allow conditional use of a building at 112 N. Main St. so that the contractor renovating the building can have office space on the first floor and apartments on the second floor and the back of the building.
Following an executive session, the council agreed to have village solicitor Jason This investigate how to bypass the covenants on the 1.8-acre, village-owned property on Cherry Street that was a parking lot for the old elementary school. The covenants currently prohibit any use of the land other than use by the school or the public. This was allotted up to $5,000 for the investigation expenses. The current elementary is slated for demolition once the new K-8 building is completed.
In her report to council, Village Administrator Chris Dicke said she is preparing paperwork to create a new position of utility operations manager/assistant village administrator. A selection committee was named, including councilmen Dennis Burnell and Jacob Larger and Fiscal Officer Amy Speelman and Dicke.
The discussion of how to deal with Eastmoor Drive/Front Street sidewalk assessments was tabled. According to Dicke, the overall cost for the $1.8 million project came $40,000 under projected cost but the sidewalk cost had increased from $5 per square foot to $7.60, which will increase homeowner assessments.
Dicke complimented the village crews for dealing with the heavy snow two weekends ago. Mayor Jeff Pape also said he was happy with the staff for their handling of electrical service in the village, with no outages reported.
Dicke said that a project to clean out the Wohrmeyer Ditch may involve a few village residents and the YMCA. Auglaize County maintains the ditch, and the village may have to pay $4,000 to $5,000 of the $8,000 project.
Tabled was a second reading to increase the annual pay of the village fire chief to $6,000 and the assistant fire chief to $2,000. Also tabled was a decision to accept the donation of a fire ring by Theiman Quality Metals. It was thought the fire ring could be placed at Bremenfest Park east of the west shelterhouse. However, the decision was delayed until council could look into EPA regulations, as well as have discussions with the fire department.
In his report to council, Pape said on Wednesday and Thursday of this week that AMP Ohio would be testing during peak hours in order to determine bi-annual electric rates for the village. He asked village residents to try to keep their electrical use down during that time period.
Councilman Jacob Larger, financial committee chairman, reported that the village receipts totaled $1,115,286.24 and expenses were $1,101,370.77.
John Freytag, of Freytag Architects, showed council a diagram of the NEO 360 equipment to be installed at Komminsk Park. The 18-foot-wide playground piece contains hundreds of interactive electronic activities, he said.
Council approved a second reading of an ordinance to name the new village sledding hill, White Mountain. Third readings approved an ordinance to hire Thomas Guillozet as magistrate for a term covering 2019/2020 and an ordinance prohibiting parking on a portion of Plum Street near the Crown Equipment driveway.
