Sunday, February 15, 2009

Goals, Visioning, Cell Tower, Household Hazardous Waste Disposal

Dear People: Happy Valentine's Day weekend, villagers. At the end of this note is a little green valentine.

Another busy week ahead for Village Council, starting with our meeting on Tuesday evening (2/16), 7 pm. (Note changed night due to the Presidents' Day holiday). I must apologize that I wasn't in my office hours last week. (I had to meet with students and help with an interview at Wittenberg.) But I will be in the Emporium on Monday from 12-1.

Big things on this agenda!

LEGISLATION:
  • RESOLUTIONS: Nature Works Grant, Glen Helen. There are two resolutions related to an exciting project of the Glen Helen Ecology Institute designed to increase wheelchair access, and improve indoor air quality and energy efficiency at the Trailside Museum in Glen Helen. GHEI is applying for a grant from the State of Ohio Nature Works program (part of the Ohio Dept of Natural Resources), but the grant application needs to be officially made by a municipality.
SPECIAL REPORT:

The YS Chamber of Commerce files its annual report with us.

OLD BUSINESS:
  • 2009 Council Goals: I have attached what should be regarded as a tentative draft of the goals for the council (document entitled CouncilGOALS09Redux.doc). Kathryn Van der Heiden and I compiled them, and, of my own accord, I have tentatively labeled the items as "broadly shared" goals and ones that will require discussion to even get started. Other Council members need to weigh in on whether they agree that these are all the ideas we've thrown out there, and with my designation of the goals as either shared or to be discussed. I welcome your reactions, thoughts.
  • Verizon Cell Tower Site: We were contacted well over a year ago about locating another cell phone tower on village property to better serve the downtown area and the Glen. Mark has communicated at length with Verizon about village needs and concerns. They have four possible sites for us to discuss.
  • Budget/Levy/General Fund "Reserve" Balance: Mark has also provided us with a copy of the original flyer created for the last levy that designated how the monies would be spent, and also information from neighboring municipalities as to their policies regarding how much "cushion" they strive to keep in their general fund.
NEW BUSINESS:
  • Visioning/Planning: The Visioning Task Force has selected 4 proposals of the 27 firms that originally submitted responses to our RFP. We will be hearing from the task force and discussing these final proposals, possibly moving toward interviews. The four finalists are:
    • ACP visioning + planning (Columbus, OH)
    • Bird Houk Collaborative: Architecture, Planning, Urban Design, Economics (Gahanna, OH) with marketing firm 42 Fish (Columbus OH)
    • Regenesis Group (Santa Fe, NM) with Kinzelman Kline Gossman (Columbus OH)
    • Studio Three LLC (Muncie IN) with JEO Consulting Group (Wahoo NE)
  • There will probably be an HRC appointment made and we'll have a motion to approve Council meeting dates for the year.
  • Then the Manager's report will include an Annual Report for the last year (presumeably this will cover the work of the office over the last year); there will be an update from Antioch University; and a petition from Time Warner claiming that there's effective competition (from satellite dishes, etc.) so that they should no longer have to pay a franchise fee to the village--this could mean the end of Channel 5!
Finally, A citizen asked in a letter to Council about how to dispose of hazardous household wastes. Vicki Hennessey, the newest member of our Environmental Commission, immediately passed on the attached information from Greene County Environmental Services in Xenia. (Thanks, Vicki!) Some things, like batteries and cell phones, are accepted every day during normal business hours; other things like appliances and pesticides are accepted one Saturday a month, and some restrictions apply.

This month's collection is NEXT SAT. FEBRUARY 21, from 9 am-1 pm, so it's a timely notice if you're doing some early spring cleaning. (And it's free to all Greene Co. residents!)

If you have questions about what's acceptable and what's not, you might also check out their website's Frequently Asked Questions. (Click on "Environmental Services")

And that's a little green valentine for all of us!

Thinking Spring--
Lori

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