MINSTER – Minster Council agreed at its meeting Tuesday, April 6, to the potential location of the new water tower destined to replace the aging one on Ohio Street. They also cleared the way for Bud’s Pizza to be able to obtain a liquor license.
The new water tower location is slated to be off of West Seventh Street next to the village composting site. Estimated cost for the new tower will be $2 million. Village Administrator Don Harrod said the next step is to do soil test borings at the site to make certain it is suitable for the new structure.
Council also agreed to pay Worldwide Industries $39,400 to put an epoxy coating on the standpipe of the aging Ohio Street Water Tower. Harrod said it is anticipated that this coating will stop the leaks in the pipe for 3 or 4 years.
Harrod reported the Ohio Liquor Department had received a request from Bud’s Pizza to transfer of a D2 permit from a business in Avon, Ohio. Council declined to hold a public meeting on the transfer.
Council also agreed to pay a $43,575 invoice from Duncan and Allen for legal services for the solar lawsuit. The village is being sued by a former contracted solar provider — EnPower — for $10.5 million over what the company considered a breech of contract by the village. The village had canceled the contract with EnPower when the company did not meet deadlines for construction of an additional solar field.
Council agreed to a $53,000 contract with Lake County Sewer to begin cleaning and re-lining the 8-inch sanitary sewers on two locations; one between Hanover Street and Lincoln Street and the second between Third Street and Fifth Streets. Harrod said little traffic disruption is expected as the work is done through the manholes.
They also agreed to purchase a new $51,207.32 truck for the water department through State Purchasing.
In other action, council approved the final reading of an ordinance establishing a small power production rate schedule as well as establishing the rates to be charged electric consumers for services supplied by the electric system of the Village of Minster.
In his report to council, Harrod said the electric department is working with both Nidec Minster and E.A. Lawton (Foundry) to get both entities switched from the old substation to the new one. He said once both of these entities are transferred, the transformers and switch house at the old substation can be removed. The switch is expected sometime in mid-April.
Also, the Electric department employees will begin the rehanging of the military appreciation banners on state Route 66 prior to the upcoming Memorial Day holiday.
Now that the village’s new RecDesk program is online, Harrod said village employees Ryan Geise and Amy Siegel have been working with coaches to get everyone switched over to the village’s new recreation department scheduling program. He said RecDesk will allow all games and practices to be scheduled on line. In addition, the program can be used at the pool to allow season passes to be purchased on line.
Harrod said that the village crews will be evaluating the condition of various streets in the community to determine which streets could be resurfaced as part of the 2021 minor street resurfacing project. Once a list is completed, they will meet with the street committee to review it before presenting the program to the full council.
Once again, he said, the parks department and the Minster Tree Commission will be celebrating Arbor Day on April 30, 2021. Details of the event are still be worked out, but the program will once again involve the distribution of tree seedlings to students at the Minster Schools.
Crews have checked and repaired the lights for the ball diamonds at the Four Seasons park. There are two lights on diamond number six that will remain out at this time. He explained that since the lights are too high to reach with the village’s bucket truck, they will wait until additional lights go out before renting a larger bucket truck to replace all of them.
The city of St. Marys will continue to pick up village of Minster Income Tax returns from the village offices. Residents can drop off their returns to the village offices and they will be delivered to the city of St. Marys’ Income Tax Department.
He said Hamilton Street between Fifth Street and Seventh Street will remain closed to traffic while crews begin to lower the hill there that was creating a sight-clearance hazard.
Nicole Clune, chair of the Safety Committee, reported that the village rescue squad had 53 runs in the first quarter of this year.
Village resident Tony Oldiges asked council to remove a stone dam built by children under the First Street bridge. Harrod said his crews would check it out and take appropriate action.
Receipts last month were $2,223,334.49 and invoices of $ 1,004,253.18
