JACKSON CENTER — Jackson Center Village Council declared an emergency, suspended the three reading rule and passed a resolution awarding the contract to construct a new electrical substation to Vaughn Industries LLC of Carey, Ohio, during its meeting Monday night.
Vaughn was recommended by GPD Group of Akron, Ohio. GPD Group is a professional services firm that specializes in engineering, planning and architectural design for public works.
“Bid submission packets were sent out to a dozen potential contractors but only two submitted bids and Vaugh was the lowest bidder at $2,120,725.24,” said Village Administrator Bruce Metz. “Both bids came in over $240,000 above the cost projected by the engineering firm but I am extremely pleased it was that close and not a lot more.”
Construction is expected to begin before the end of the month.
In other new business council again suspended the three reading rule and passed an ordinance establishing job classifications and pay rates for all employees of the village of Jackson Center and Fire Chief Jerry Davis.
“Passing this ordinance will result in a 2 percent cost of living wage increase for all employees,” said Metz.
Metz discussed authorizing proposed changes in the 2018 annual appropriations budget for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2018.
“We had to add a few things to the budget including $4,000 to cover the cost of repairing the village police car, $40,000 for materials to finish furnishing the new soccer complex with the goal posts, trash cans, dog waste containers; $5,000 to finish up the work on Hamer Street; and $11,000 to furnish the new lab and storage building at the wastewater treatment plant. We are also asking for $750,000 for installing the utilities necessary on the recent village annexation to prepare for building the new Airstream facility and $117,000 to get the ball rolling on the electrical substation project; the money for the substation will be reimbursed as soon as bonds are issued for the project,” said Metz.
Council agreed with the figures Metz submitted and passed the ordinance.
Next, council heard the first reading of the resolution to accept the amounts and rates as determined by the budget commission of the county auditor authorizing the necessary tax levies and certifying them.
In a safety report, Councilwoman Leisha Elchert reported that two members of the fire department attended a mutual aid training in Anna, Ohio, and the recent National Night Out hosted by the Village Police Department was a success and very well attended.
“We had a really nice crowd despite some light rain and the threat of storms and everyone seemed to have a very good time,” said Elchert.
Dave Overman, village electrical superintendent, reported there will be a planned power outage Saturday morning, Aug. 18, at 5 a.m.
“We will be shutting down the main feed and running the emergency generator to supply power to the village while we attend to some regularly scheduled planned maintenance. It should be a smooth transition with most only noticing a momentary loss of power but some residents may not have power for 15 or 20 minutes while we are checking equipment,” Overman said.
In his administrator’s report Metz said the village received their annual payment for water and sewage from Plastipak Inc.
“Mark Lingenfelter with Plastipak Packaging dropped off a check for $63,537.21,” said Metz. “This is an annual payment based on an agreement signed in 2001. The payments will continue annually until 2020.”
Mayor Scott Klopfenstein noted that 51 percent of the payment will go to the water plant and 49 percent to the sewage plant.
Metz reported village employees are tearing down the storage building on Jerry Drive in preparation for construction of the new electrical substation.
“We have the siding all off and the roof removed and will be disassembling the rest of the building in the next couple of days. After completion, the building will be stored until a decision is made on where to reconstruct it,” said Metz.
Metz also reported the normal operations of the village are going well, and said the swimming pool season went very well and due to good leadership by the manager and cooperation from the staff, things went much better than last year.
“I’m very proud of everyone that worked so hard to make this another great year for the pool. Things turned out a lot better than we thought they were going to and I really appreciate everyone going the extra mile,” said Metz.
“Lastly, the Main Street Lighting Project is going well. The bases for the poles are in and the electrical wiring is ready; as soon as the new poles arrive they will be installed. We are waiting on the poles but all things considered the lights should be up by the end of October,” said Metz.
After the regularly scheduled meeting the mayor, councilmembers, and a few others took a short tour of the solar field and detention/retention basin on Jerry Drive. Though the group did not enter the solar field Metz did field questions about the facility and shared facts about the retention basin.
“This basin is one of the best projects we’ve ever done here in the village. The basin is approximately 5 acres and holds about 4.5 million gallons of water coming from a 132-acre watershed. It has ended most of the problems we once had associated with high water and works like a charm,” Metz said.
