Village of Mantua
Regular Council Meeting
January 18, 2011

Mayor Hawkins called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. & led the pledge of Allegiance.

Roll Call: Donna Hawkins, Linda Clark, Linda Schilling, Marty Hura, Ben Prescott, Roger Hawkins, Giles Seith.

Others Present: Clerk-Treasurer Jenny August, Asst. Clerk Susan Skrovan, Village Solicitor Michele Stuck, Police Chief Harry Buchert, Brian Rogers with C.T. Consultants.

Public: Norm Erickson, Ellie Stamm, Dean Stebbins, Randy Weaver, Carl Zeleznik, Wesley Hawkins, Patsi & Bill Gast, Dick Krzys, Aaron Snopek, John Clark, Bill Zoller, Larry Kotkowski, Ralph Zoller, American Legion Post 193 members: John Hitti, Robert Gharky and Roy Mayfield, Diane Lottig, Laura Landreth, Heidi Benjamin, Todd Brugmann, Paul and Sandra Brannon and son Paul Jr., Tim Benner, Bill & Marjorie Cleary, Donald Schilling, Jeff Blunk, Mark Brugmann, Dean Olson, Eagle Scout Kyle Wright, Ross Kotkowski, Christine Pitsinger and many others.

Minutes: Motion to approve the regular meeting minutes of December 14, 2010 made by L. Clark with a second from B. Prescott. L. Schilling abstained, M. Hura abstained, all other ayes on vote.

Motion to approve the special meeting minutes of December 17, 2010 made by B. Prescott with a second from L. Clark. L. Schilling abstained, all other ayes on vote.

Mayors Report: Donna said she has heard or read about financial difficulties at our Federal, State and Local levels. However, as the Mayor of Mantua, she is encouraged. Per our Clerk-Treasurer, Jenny August, we ended our 2010-year with every fund in the black. Electrical aggregation has brought in $50,000 in grant money for the Village. The contract with Hiram for dispatch service, thanks in large part to our Police Chief, Harry Buchert, has brought in $30,000 annually. We made personnel changes to help streamline many of our departments along with a new Village Administrator, Anthony Fiorilli, III. Aurora Meadows will come online later this year and help to bring in much needed revenue to our Sewer Department. We welcomed some new businesses including Attorney Keith Barton and Rick Frato with Edward Jones Investments. Mantaline Corporation saw profit in 2010, has increased hiring and is now running three shifts.

Some events in 2010 included Art-on-the-Hill, the Portage Park’s Triathlon, Walk through Mantua’s Past, the Great Pumpkin Roll and the Downhill Regatta. We have also seen major improvements to our scenic trails thanks to Boy Scout Troop 575. At this time, the Mayor presented awards to those who made a difference in the Village in 2010.

1st Award went to Jeff Blunk who has given his own time, supplies and equipment to clear sidewalks around town.

2nd Award went to the Mantua Village Garden Club: Patsi Gast, Diane Lottig and Laura Landreth, who were present, for their beautification of the parks and areas around town.

3rd Award went to Eagle Scout Jason Sage, not present, for his work on our Civic Sign.

4th Award went to Dick Krzys, Eagle Advisor with Boy Scouts Troop 575 for all their volunteerism.

5th Award went to Eagle Scout, Kyle Wright for his Riverview observation deck project.

6th Award went to Ellie Stamm who has always stepped up to help the Village including the Mantua Civic Sign and helping put up the wreaths around town for Christmas.

7th Award went to the American Legion Post 193, John Hitti, Robert Gharky and Roy Mayfield, who were present, for always maintaining our American flags throughout our Village. They are a great group of men.

8th Award went to Dean Olson for spearheading events of the Mantua Rotary Club.

9th Award went to Bill Cleary & Bob Fathauer for their leadership with the scout projects.

10th Award went to Boy Scout Troop 570 for their outstanding effort with the Great Pumpkin Roll. Paul Brannon and his son Paul Jr. were present to accept the award.

11th Award went to Aaron Snopek who was responsible for the idea of the Pumpkin Roll.

12th Award went to Tim Benner for work he did to save and refurbish the siren tower. Tim Benner wanted to thank Bill Zoller, Jeff Blunk and Giles Seith for helping him with the project. They still plan to put a flag up on the top of the tower. Linda Schilling told Tim that the Potato Festival has the flag.

13th Award went to Ross Kotkowski of the Mantua Yacht Club for the Downhill Regatta.

14th Award went to Christine Pitsinger, owner of the Community Journal for all her “positive” articles about Mantua Village especially “Choice makes a richer community”.

Mayor Donna Hawkins also wanted to recognize those individuals who could not be here tonight but who made significant contributions to the Village including, Melanie Miracle and Linda Ehlert for their efforts with Walk through Mantua’s Past. Dan Denzinger, owner of Mantua NAPA for his generous donation of a brand-new set of tires for our Police squad car. Frank Magni, the “Signtist” for his work on the new civic sign. Donna thanked all those who have helped through the year.

Finance Report: Jenny gave her financial report as of December 31, 2010. During the year 2010, we earned about $45,000 more than we spent. Careful scheduling and reduced spending in the Police Department gave us a savings of about $26,000. Great job, Harry.

In May, voters passed the electric aggregation, which resulted in the Village receiving $50,000. We owe the voters a big thank you. Without this, we might have ended the year in the negative. We still have work to do; we will not be getting this kind of pot of gold every year and still need to look for ways to cut back.

Our checkbook balance at the end of December: $ 219,666.00
Revenues for December: $ 73,358.00
Expenses for December including the semi-annual debt payment on our water & wastewater plants and payroll: $ 374,095.00

The Cash Summary report shows that there were no adjustments. Reconciliation of the Water-Sewer department receipts and the UAN receipts matched. Reconciliation of the Municipal Income Tax receipts and the UAN receipts also matched. The December bank reconciliation went well with no adjusting factors.

Jenny also prepared a schedule of outstanding debt. Council will see we still have over 5.7 million dollars in debt. Hopefully, we will not need to take on any more debt for a while. In 2017, our annual debt payments will drop $100,000 per year. If we can hang in there until then, we might even be able to start saving for a rainy day.

Motion to approve the financial reports: bank statements, fund status, reconciliation, revenue & expenses reports, cash summary report, made by L. Schilling with a second from B. Prescott. All ayes on vote.

Bills of Resolution:

Motion to approve the Bills of Resolution with addendum for December omitting C.T. made by L. Schilling with a second from L. Clark. Linda Clark wanted to discuss some concerns she had with paying some of the bills. Some of them do not have any purchase requisitions such as with lines 94, 95 and 96. Line 86, Linda would like to remove from the list until clarification can be made on which vehicle this work was performed.

Line 19, the security section is authorized but Service has not yet authorized Line 105, which is part of the same bill. Also Line no’s 90, 105, 120, 121, 136, 148 and 158 have not been signed off on and lines 20, 29 and 34 on the addendum list. These bills do have purchase requisitions; they just have not been signed off on by anyone. Can we authorize the Mayor to sign off on these so that Jenny can pay the bills or do we have to wait for Anthony to get back in town? Jenny said the auditors want to see a signature on them. Michele said any that came up when the Mayor was acting as Village Administrator, it would be appropriate for her to sign them. Donna said she would be glad to sign off on the ones she is aware. There is one she would not be comfortable signing off on, which is line #86 for Butch’s Welding. She knows that our Village Administrator, Anthony, had considerable conversation with Butch regarding that one. Motion to approve the Bills of Resolution with addendum for December omitting C.T. and removing #86 made by L. Clark with a second from L. Schilling. All ayes on vote.

Motion to approve Bills of Resolution with addendum as amended including C.T. made by L. Schilling with a second from M. Hura. B. Prescott abstained, all other ayes on vote.

Legislation:
ORDINANCE 2010-40: AN ORDINANCE AMENDING VILLAGE OF MANTUA CODIFIED ORDINANCE CHAPTER 145 IN ORDER TO ESTABLISH THE COMPOSITION, POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE VILLAGE OF MANTUA BOARD OF CEMETERY TRUSTEES, AND REPEALING ALL PRIOR INCONSISTENT ORDINANCES. TABLED AT 3rd READING.

ORDINANCE 2010-53: AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 410.05, CONCERNING OUTDOOR SALES AND DISPLAY, OF THE ZONING ORDINANCES OF THE VILLAGE OF MANTUA. 3rd READING. Motion to approve made by L. Schilling with a second from L. Clark. R. Hawkins voted yes, all other nays on vote. Legislation failed.

ORDINANCE 2010-60: AN ORDINANCE SETTING FORTH CONDITIONS FOR THE USE OF THE OLD WATER PLANT AT BUCHERT PARK. 2nd READING. Giles felt this needs to be set up similar to our other contracts. Marty agreed and said he was hoping to get together with our Solicitor about this since he spent time with her on the Legion contract and get this one written up the same way. Ben said we need to table this ordinance until we can work it out. Giles felt this has been going on too long. Roger asked if this ordinance was a contract with only one organization or is it a permit that any organization can use this building. Marty said it is an agreement with one organization. Michele said Council could table this and refer it back to committee for further discussion and/or revision. Donald Schilling, a member of the Mantua Potato Festival, asked Council to consider giving them the same option as the Legion. He read in past Finance Committee minutes where Councilman Hawkins felt the Village could get rent from $300 - $500 for this building. Mr. Schilling passed out pictures of improvements made to the building by the Mantua Potato Festival since 2003 when the building was slated to be torn down. This work was all done at no cost to the Village including a new roof, repaired windows, tuck-pointing and being painted. Representing the Festival Committee, Mr. Schilling felt it is the best-looking building down at the park. Ben and Giles agreed they need something similar to the Legion. Ben felt it should be run through the Finance Committee again. The Mayor said it is only on 2nd reading. Michele said Council could wait and see if it can be done between now and third reading, if it cannot, then Council can table it next month. Council will move on for now.

ORDINANCE 2011-01: AN ORDINANCE ENACTING CODIFIED ORDINANCE SECTION 305.11, ESTABLISHING TRUCK ROUTES WITHIN THE VILLAGE OF MANTUA. 1st READING. Linda Clark stated that when she heard the Mayor went around to local businesses in the Township advising them the Village was going to start enforcing our Codified Ordinance about no truck traffic within the Village limits, she started thinking about the potential financial impact that would have on the Village.

She spearheaded with other Council members to make some changes on this ordinance to provide “truck routes” within the Village. What Linda is proposing would be High Street from the east to west Village limits; Franklin Street between Main and Maple; Maple Street between Franklin and High and Mill Street, the west side of S.R. 44 to the McDonald’s parking lot. Roger asked Jenny how we document financial income from trucks going through Mantua. Jenny said the Village receives approximately $52,000 per year from commercial trucks through permissive license tax and vehicle registration. Roger asked if that was for the State highway only, not for side roads. Jenny said no, it is to be used on any roads in the Village. Roger asked if we would get that whether we would have through trucking or not. Jenny said that is correct, but then we would be asking them to pay that and then not allow them on our streets. Roger asked how much money we have in our funds, our roads are getting very damaged and it is clear that the trucks cause more damage to our roads. There are a lot of trucks going through the area that could very easily go around Mantua, that do not bring any business to Mantua. Linda Schilling asked if there has ever been a study done to see how many trucks go through High Street. If we already have a truck ordinance in place, why do we have “no engine brake” signs along High Street? If we have an ordinance, then we should not have that sign up. Linda also could not see how, if we are getting the taxes from these trucks, we can stop them from coming through. Roger said these roads are not built for the truck traffic we have. He can see trucks every fifteen minutes on a Saturday going through that do not have their businesses in Mantua. Linda Schilling said Roger cannot blame the trucks for the way the roads are because Mantua never fixed the roads that were damaged already. Roger said if we do not have the money to repair our roads, we need to stop the continual damage. Linda Schilling said we had money at one point in the fund to fix the roads; the trucks cannot be blamed because the roads were never repaired. Roger felt our community is concerned about the roads and property values, which are greatly influenced by truck traffic. Linda Schilling said the trucks do go to Barky Mart and they do go to other businesses in town, which helps to keep our businesses open. Linda Clark stated that Roger said our roads are in the condition they are in because of truck traffic. Roger said that was said by an engineer. Linda Clark said Roger just said it and she felt that just like the turning lane on S.R. 44 in front of her home that has been falling apart since day one; the project was not done right to begin with. Maybe that same thing has been happening to our streets and that is part of the reason they are in such poor condition. Roger asked Linda Clark if she was saying we have more than one reason we have damage to our roads along with truck traffic. Linda said yes. Giles said the truck traffic is a big part of our whole community. Sand and gravel has been a part of Mantua for a long time. They have a financial impact for our Village; they come into town for fuel, sandwiches and parts for their operations. Giles felt there is no reasonable truck driver who wants to pull a loaded semi over that hill on High Street. Roger said he has seen a number of trucks that have tried and have broken down or slid back down the hill. Roger also witnessed a cement truck that spilled materials as he shifted up the hill; they had to clean that off the road themselves.

Ralph Zoller, who owns Barky Mart, asked Roger where he lives in the community. Roger said he lives at the top of the hill on High Street and has for 24 years. Ralph Zoller said he has lived here his whole life; there were more trucks in the past than there are now. These trucks and businesses are what support us. Look at Elm & Regan Streets, which have no trucks on them; they are junk. So do not blame it all on the trucks. Roger said the Portage County Engineer who said one truck represents 100 cars on the road.

Carl Zeleznik said the school buses would be too heavy based on a 10,000 pound weight limit, is the Village going to keep them off High Street as well? Roger said the school buses have stops along the roads; any vehicle that has business in town is fine. Carl has a trucking company in the Village, property in the Village and supports it with payroll taxes. He has been to three Council meetings, two recently and does not understand why these ordinances have been coming up, the sign ordinance and now this. Carl asked Council if they realize what he pays in highway use tax and license plates. Carl asked Roger how much he contributes to the roads in Mantua. Roger said he pays $100 a year for his license plates. Carl said he has one tractor sitting at his business that is $1,500.

Carl said the County person is wrong; his truck per square inch of tire surface to the road is comparable to a car tire. Carl honestly thinks, from what he heard that the speed limit was going to be reduced because Roger’s wife did not like the trucks speeding up that hill. He heard that from her prior to her becoming Mayor, he was standing behind her. He thinks they want to stop the trucks because they are coming past their house. Roger said there are other residents who would like the trucks off the street and there is a safety issue in keeping our children safe. Carl asked Roger how many incidents have happened on that street. Roger said there have been approximately ten since they have lived there. Roger asked what it would take to keep our children safe; there are no sidewalks on that section of road. Jeff Blunk said he has lived here for 55 years, there used to be a sidewalk on the north side of the street. Marty lives on the east side of High Street and he probably gets more truck traffic by his house in one day than anyone else because of Mantaline. He does not have a problem with them other than when they drive over his lawn. Marty thanked God for Mantaline being down there; ninety-eight employees on three shifts. Without them, we would be down the tubes. Marty wanted to say if he does have a problem with someone running over his lawn, he goes to Mantaline and they fix it.

John Clark said trucks that drop part of their load, axles broken, that happens everywhere, he has seen it on Interstate 76 and S.R. 44. These companies outside of the Village that come into our Village for fuel and sandwiches; it seems that the Village is not afraid to go to them with their hand out. When the bank is getting flooded, we ask for sand or when we have to take our wreaths down, we ask for their help. John felt Council needs to re-evaluate what their priorities are around here.

Dean Stebbins, owner of F & S Automotive, said 50 percent of his business is trucks; he relies on that industry. The same problems occur everywhere; he picks up trucks on I480 and I271 even without a hill! He pays a lot of highway use tax himself on eleven trucks.

Larry Kotkowski, his family runs Lakeside Sand & Gravel in Shalersville, said between Brugmanns and the old Solon Sand; they have hauled gravel to every single house in Mantua, Mantua Township and Hiram. Every road and everything that gets built. They did some calculations; 6.8 miles per trip would be added if they had to go Mantua Center Road to S.R. 82 and over to Vaughn. To go down to S.R. 303 adds almost 9 miles to the trip. It almost doubles the mileage, which would increase the cost to the homeowners. The part of High Street that Marty referred to, Lakeside provided all the aggregate to have that section paved by Ronyak Bros. for the Soap Box Derby race at no cost to the Village.

Michele Stuck clarified that this ordinance before Council tonight is proposing to establish truck routes within the Village where none currently exist. As it stands now, there is a blanket prohibition for trucks over 5-tons if they do not have a destination in the Village. This ordinance, which is on first reading, would actually establish truck routes. We do not have any truck routes at this time, this ordinance would actually permit things that are not currently permitted. This recommendation came from the Finance Committee to establish these truck routes. Linda Schilling clarified that there is an ordinance in effect right now stating that trucks are not supposed to come through, it just has never been enforced. Barky Zoller asked if members were trying to go with the old ordinance and stop truck traffic. Linda Clark said yes, there were members trying to enforce the current ordinance. Council is trying to amend the current ordinance to allow trucks to come through on certain “routes”. Michele clarified that a truck route is a route on which trucks in excess of 10,000 pounds would be permitted. Linda Clark said a 38,000-pound school bus would be allowed if they were “thru traffic”. Michele said school buses are exempted from this. Linda Clark said if Carl was driving his truck down High Street he would be allowed if this passes. Michele said if this passes exactly as it reads, a vehicle over 10,000 pounds could use High Street. Roger said if they do not have business on the road, right. Linda Schilling said whether they do or not. Linda Clark said this is establishing truck routes. Roger said he understood but was asking if they had a delivery on High Street, they would be allowed. Linda Schilling stated with this ordinance, it does not matter whether they have deliveries or not, if they want to drive through, this would be in effect. Roger said no, we are talking about driving through with no business whatsoever.

Linda Clark said this does nothing to people who are already doing deliveries. Roger said because they have a specific purpose for being there. Linda Clark said that as long as they are supplying a service, this does not affect them at all. For all others, there would be established truck routes.

Mark Brugmann with O.K Brugmann, said they buy all their fuel from Barky Mart, what would be the designated truck routes. Linda Clark said, High Street from the east to west limits, Franklin Street between Main and Maple, Maple Street between Franklin and High and Mill Street west of S.R. 44 next to McDonalds.

Roger felt it would make it easier and safer for the trucks to avoid the hill by going down Prospect Street where there would be no hill. Many others disagreed with this theory. Linda Schilling said Prospect Street is so narrow now; two trucks passing each other could cause a major accident. Giles said after the fire they had several years ago when there used to be a restaurant at the corner of Main and Prospect Streets, trucks were pretty well out. In addition, there is no traffic light there, could you imagine trying to pull out a semi with no traffic light onto Main. Roger said a fire could happen anywhere, even I480. Giles said a truck running through a building caused this fire. Giles said Prospect Street is not a good option, ask anyone who drives a truck.

Heidi Benjamin from Benjamin Trucking said they come through town every day but not intentionally. They do not make High Street their only route, whenever possible they use Center or Diagonal Roads, they do not abuse it at all. There are times when they have to come out on High Street and into town to go north or south. Heidi felt if the Village just talks with some of these businesses and ask them if they do access town a lot, try to limit their use of High Street when they can, everyone would cooperate. Donna thanked Heidi for what she said. That was exactly what Donna and our Police Chief did, they went and talked with them and were warmly received. Brugmanns and Lakeside were terrific as well. It was never the Mayor’s intention to enforce the ordinance, it was actually the opposite. They went to the businesses asking them to help curtail this; they were very helpful and supportive. Donna knows there are times when they will have to use the roads and the last thing she would want to see happen, was for them not to be able to when they need to. She believes there are businesses outside of this area that use this road but have never explored other ways to come in. This was just an effort to have them consider other options; it was never an object of enforcement. More general discussion regarding Mantaline and the best route for their trucks between Prospect and High Streets. The Mayor commented that she came from a trucking background. She saw most of the United States from the cab of a tractor-trailer and she enjoyed it and saw a lot doing it. Her father ran a convoy in Colorado and she remembered that you would be paid for the amount of trips you could make and just as fast as you could make them. She sees that happening here in our community but they are not “local” trucking firms doing it.

Linda Schilling called to question. The Mayor said this is on first reading. Giles asked how this could go into effect immediately. Roger would like to see it go three readings. Michele said the rules could be suspended tonight if three-quarters or five members of Council agree to do that, however, it was not crafted as emergency legislation so it would take thirty days to be in effect.

Motion to suspend the rules made by L. Schilling with a second from G. Seith. Roger would like to give more citizens a chance to comment on this. R. Hawkins voted no, all other ayes on vote. Motion to approve made by L. Schilling with a second from M. Hura. R. Hawkins voted no, all other ayes on vote.

RESOLUTION 2011-02: A RESOLUTION REPEALING RESOLUTION 2010-51, AND RESCINDING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SPECIAL EVENT FUND FOR THE VILLAGE OF MANTUA. 1st READING. Linda Clark said the reason for this legislation is that the committee wants to go private as long as profits from their event could go back to the committee to buy plaques for the scouts. Jenny said they have approximately $170.00 and Council could make a motion to donate that back to them. The funds are in the General Fund right now.

RESOLUTION 2011-03: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING CERTAIN ADJUSTMENTS TO THE 2011 APPROPRIATIONS AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. Motion to suspend the rules made by B. Prescott with a second from L. Schilling. All ayes on vote. Motion to approve made by L. Schilling with a second from M. Hura. Jenny said there was no money appropriated in this fund; we need to appropriate the money in order to move it back to the General Fund. All ayes on vote.

RESOLUTION 2011-04: A RESOLUTION ADVANCING BACK MONEY FROM THE FRANKLIN REGAN STORM SEWER FUND TO THE GENERAL FUND AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. Motion to suspend the rules made by L. Schilling with a second from L. Clark. All ayes on vote. Motion to approve made by L. Schilling with a second from L. Clark. All ayes on vote.

Committee Reports:

Police Chief, Harry Buchert reported recent vandalism on the park trails and have issued a small reward for any information leading to an arrest. His department is working on their year-end report; it should be complete in March. The next Safety meeting is Thursday, January 27 at 6:30 a.m.

Mayor Hawkins said there would be no report from the Service Department, Village Administrator, Anthony Fiorilli III is not present this evening.

Brian Rogers with C.T. Consultants said he was saddened to hear of the vandalism. He did receive invoices from Jenny and man-hours to send to ODNR. He expects reimbursement of $9,600, which means the grant paid for 100 percent of the project.

The Franklin project will be closed with OPWC; however, OPWC still needs to get the status of the Northeast Quadrant water project.

C.T. Consultants have worked with the Village for 23 years. They understand the financial situation the Village has been in and have decided to reduce their monthly retainer from $250 to $150 per month for 2011.

Brian said they heard the Village had received an EPA letter regarding the pressures in the system; C.T. has not seen that letter yet and would like to review it. There is more testing needed at the plant and C.T. figures it will cost $500.00. They have a hydraulic pump expert on staff that would do the testing. They have submitted a request to the Mayor.

Motion to accept C.T. Engineers reduction in fees by G. Seith with a second from M. Hura. B. Prescott abstained, all other ayes on vote. Motion to pay C.T. Engineers $500 to perform an analysis made by G. Seith with a second from L. Clark. All ayes on vote.

Shade Tree: Linda Clark had nothing to report.

Service: Linda Clark reported on the Service meeting in Linda Schilling’s absence. The salt shed roof has been replaced. Regarding the benches from Euclid Beach to be placed around town. Two are finished, 3-4 of them are not finished but on Village property. The Service Department is considering turning in their pagers and getting cell phones. They are getting estimates on the ice guard needed for the enclosure at Village Hall. Anthony would like to get prices on a new 1-ton truck.

Parks: Marty said regarding the damage to our new observation decks; he was glad the Boy Scouts left before they were discussed. Cameras are now at the park, it is discouraging. Harry has met with the high school and middle school principals. The Mayor said she did contact our insurance company. It would be $1,000 deductible, however, they would consider it one occurrence and they will cover it. Bill Zoller asked Council to consider using deer cams along the trails, which would be a lot cheaper. Marty said Diane needs articles for Mantua Matters.

Planning: Mayor Hawkins had nothing to report.

Finance: Ben said they have been over everything. The next Finance meeting is the Thursday before Council, February 10 at 6:00 p.m.

BZA: Roger had nothing to report.

Safety: Giles said he felt the cameras would be a good investment at the park.

Linda Clark said she has not seen minutes for the last two months for Planning, November and December. Donna said December’s minutes had corrections to be made to them; November’s minutes should be in the clerk’s office. Jenny said she has not received them.

New or Other Business:

The Mayor said at this time we need a nomination for Council President. Motion to nominate Ben Prescott for Council President for 2011 made by L. Schilling with a second from G. Seith. Donna asked if there were any other nominations. Donna closed nominations. B. Prescott abstained, all other ayes on vote. Ben said the committees will stay the same for 2011. Motion to move the Rules of Council to Finance to make changes made by B. Prescott with a second from L. Schilling. All ayes on vote.

Council discussed any way to help Jeff Blunk defray some of his costs when he clears the sidewalks around town. He does this on his own, with his own time and equipment. Patsi Gast said she would be happy to collect any donations for him. Bill Zoller has offered to supply his gasoline for his snow blower.

Mayor Hawkins accepted the committees for 2011. Donna also accepted the resignations of Lisa Zamecnik and John Hall from the Cemetery Board as of December 31, 2010.

The Mayor informed Council and citizens that we have received our Tree City status.

Public:

Wesley Hawkins, on behalf of the Planning Commission, they keep forwarding what they think to be good legislation and they may as well be home playing tidily winks. He felt it has been a waste of their time. Should Council have any suggestions or would like them to pursue something, by all means, recommend it or come to the meetings. For them to pass these ordinances to Council to have them kicked back down to them is pathetic.

John Clark asked if there is an agenda posted for the Planning Commission. The Mayor said there is an agenda at the meetings. The committees may want to consider posting their agenda’s on the channel. That way, if there is something that may affect someone; they can come and voice their opinions. Donna agreed with John and added that it is also important for people to get the facts. She felt some things have been misrepresented such as the vehicle signage and even with this last one on vending machines/outside sales. Comparing ourselves with Garrettsville legislation, they are much more restrictive where we are business friendly.

Giles Seith wanted to address the recent “anonymous” letter that was circulated throughout the Village. He hates to comment on anything anonymous, however, this thing needs to be commented on. The picture is from 1950, well they could have used a picture from 1900 and it would be the same. One hundred years from now, he expects the picture would be the same less a building or two. Catch phrases were used such as preserving the past, working together. The Village census was down 13 percent, the highest the census was in the Village was in the 1930’s and has been in decline for a while. Fewer people, fewer businesses. The Village was compared to Garrettsville. Garrettsville is about three times larger than Mantua. The way people shop is changing. The claims that we are not taking advantage of the turnpike and S.R. 44. The turnpike is out of our control. Look at Streetsboro, how long was there nothing in Streetsboro.

Marty added that most of these places have something that Downtown Mantua does not have and that is parking. We are desperate for parking; people want to park where they shop.

Mayor Hawkins informed Council that an Operator of Record for our water treatment facility has been hired, his name is Dan Mounts.

Motion to go into executive session at 8:54 p.m. for imminent litigation and personnel employment made by L. Schilling with a second from L. Clark. All ayes on vote.

Motion to reconvene into regular session at 9:19 p.m. made by L. Schilling with a second from M. Hura. All ayes on vote.

Motion to approve an agreement with Ralph Gregory for work to be performed at 4516 W. Prospect Street made by L. Schilling with a second from B. Prescott. All ayes on vote.

Motion to approve the estimate of $5610.00 from Zuver Excavating for work at 4516 W. Prospect Street made by L. Schilling with a second from L. Clark. All ayes on vote.

Motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:20 p.m. made by B. Prescott with a second from L. Schilling. All ayes on vote.

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Mayor Donna Hawkins

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Clerk-Treasurer Jenny August