Village of Mantua
Finance Committee Meeting
October 17th, 2009

CALL TO ORDER- 8:01 A.M.

ROLL CALL: Ben Prescott, Roger Hawkins, Jim Rogers

OTHERS: Clerk-Treasurer Jenny August, Resident Linda Clark.

MINUTES: Jenny said Kevin Poland approved a new mower for the Cemetery, and personally went to the mower store and paid for it and arranged delivery. Motion to approve the Minutes from the September meeting by Jim Rogers, seconded by Ben Prescott. All ayes on vote.

FINANCIAL REPORTS:

Jenny read the Financial reports. Jenny said she would like to sign up for a list from the Ohio Dept of Taxation for a list of all taxpayers who filed State Taxes this year. It will cost $180.00, but Jenny is confident that we will get enough new taxpayers to pay the cost and then some. The list gets e-mailed to the Village in December. Finance committee gave approval to go ahead with it. There was some discussion about the Financial Audit, and Jenny said there are still a few things being worked on. Motion to approve the Financial reports by Roger Hawkins, seconded by Ben. All ayes on vote.

LEGISLATION:

Ben reviewed the legislation that will be presented at the Council meeting Tuesday.

1. 2009-41- Splitting revenues earned from the Village of Hiram between Gen. Fund & Police Capital.
2. 2009-48- Granting the school permission to drill a water well.
3. 2009-52- Second reading of 2010 appropriations
4. 2009-55- Annual contract with the Public Defenders Office
5. 2009-56- Adjustments to the appropriations- Cemetery, Storm Sewer, Water & Sewer Operating
6. 2009-57- Cemetery Rules-
7. 2009-58- Amending section of 3406.1 of the Personnel Handbook. Roger asked about the Personnel handbook committee and if they plan to meet. Jenny said everyone is supposed to be reviewing their handbook before there is a meeting. Linda Clark said they plan to schedule a meeting next month.

BILLS OF RESOLUTION:

• Roger asked about line 160. Mantua Hardware supplies. Roger asked why we don’t get a company to come in and fill our inventory monthly, instead of running to the hardware so often. Ben said it sounded like a decent idea. Roger said when he works on his rentals, he buys in bulk. When Wesley’s water meter was installed, they guys left and came back four times for parts.
• Jenny said Love Insurance bill was reduced by almost $10,000 from two years ago.
• Jim asked if Ed has managed to store a decent amount of salt for this winter. He scored some extra that was supposed to be delivered to the Township.
• Jenny asked about the Jet truck. Does anyone know how much it would cost to fix it so we can maintain the storm drains? We paid Allen Drain $1,400 in the last two months, and it seems like we could fix the truck so we could maintain our drains now that we have established a fund. Jim said we need to ask Ed about this. Roger said it had to do with a box on the back of the truck. He thinks we should get a company that works on Jet trucks and get it fixed right. Ben said he knew we had a leaf truck, but not a jet truck.
• Linda Clark asked about line 42, Sam’s Club. She wondered why we have two memberships for Sam’s Club. Jenny said Harry is the only one that uses it. Ed told Jenny that he is not interested in a membership. She called the Credit Card service for Sam’s and was told it was an annual membership fee. Jenny said we used to have 8 cards, and now it is down to two, but we probably only need to have one. Jenny will cancel one.
• Linda Clark questioned line 83, the bill for McCoy Septic. Do we do this every month? Jenny said yes. Ben said to tie-in would be too expensive. Linda said if we didn’t have those offices down there, we wouldn’t have to worry about it.
• Linda Clark questioned line 132- C.T. Consultants bill. Jenny said it was for evaluating the waterline at the High School.
• Linda Clark asked about our AT&T bills. She wondered why the Street Department was the only one that has First Communications for long distance.

Motion to recommend the Bills of Resolution to Council by Jim Rogers, seconded by Roger Hawkins. All ayes on vote.

DISCUSSION:

Disconnection notices: Jenny said she thought there used to be an Ordinance saying we could pay certain bills such as Utilities and Medical bills as soon as we get them instead of waiting for Council approval. Waiting until after the Council meeting sometimes caused these bills to be paid after the due date, generating disconnection notices and/or late fees. Ben said we need to pass a new ordinance if we don’t find the original so we can get these types of bills paid as soon as they arrive. It could affect our credit.

Supplies and Diesel from Crestwood Schools: The School Board approved selling us supplies and fuel. It will be cheaper. We still need to get to the bottom of the fuel & gas issue. Jenny and Michele are working on it.

Personnel Manual: Ben is pleased that we now have a committee working on this. He said we need to really make sure we are in accordance with the ORC. We should not be hasty, we need to do it right. Roger asked if we would submit this to legal when it’s done. Ben said we would have Michele check it out.

Police reading computers at Water Lift Station & Water Plant: Ed asked the Police Department to read the meters at the Water Plant and lift station over the weekend to eliminate some of the overtime. It could be done once within a 24 hour period. Harry agreed, but said Police work would come first, and could not commit. Roger thought the Police could commit that if they were not able to read the meters, they could commit to calling either Tom or Ed in. Jim questioned if a member of Council or member of the Service Department could read it in order to save money. Further discussion is needed.

Citizens: No comments.

Motion to adjourn at 9:01 A.M. by Jim Rogers, seconded by Ben Prescott. All ayes on vote.

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Ben Prescott, Chair of Finance

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Jenny August, Clerk-Treasurer