Lori Askeland on Village Council

VC last Monday (delayed all around) and My Band Tomorrow Night!

2011-12-08T20:32:00.001-05:00

< -- a kitten in the wilderness. Well, our backyard.

Dear People: I know we are up against some heavy hitters over there in Clifton tomorrow night, but my band, Mack and the Rockets are playing tomorrow night at the Emporium (with possibly a surprising little extra women's trio that I'm part of for a little a capella song during the break....think Leadbelly, 3 part harmony...) 7-10 pm. (AND yes, we Mack and Rockets will be singing "Please, Daddy Don't Get Drunk this Christmas," for those of you who really like the traditional Christmas carols.)

Linda Fischer will be there collecting signatures against the hideous Republican-favoring redistricting that Kasich is proposing. So it would be great if a bunch of you would be willing to sign that.

MONDAY'S MEETING: (Here's the link to the packet). If you've seen this week's paper you know that last Monday we discussed the special revenues portion of the budget, including issues like the Green Space Fund, which has been serving a key goal of our village of protecting green space on our Western side, and which we had only recently decided to support with estate tax monies (which have just been taken away by Kasich and his awful, hideous cronies), and the overall bleak picture for the budget primarily due to the budget cuts at the State level (again, do blame Kasich and Co.).

We also really need your feedback about the water situation: Do read the article in this week's YS News. The bottom line: we have to decide whether to try to find grants, loans, etc. to upgrade our system OR we need to build a pipeline to the edge of Clark County, and let Springfield supply us. Springfield has water that is pre-softened with lime, not salt. The pertinent background info is on pp. 29-30 of the packet.

Here's my take: while it is at least initially probably cheaper to simply upgrade our current system (although there are significant unknowns there), doing so could be, will likely be?, more expensive over the long term. Additionally, the benefits of non-salt, softened water are, actually, somewhat significant, given that our water is so hard and when we soften it, all those salts go basically right into the Glen. I am leaning toward simply upgrading our plant and maintaining control, but I would like to hear from you.

POEM:

Chaplinesque
by Hart Crane

We make our meek adjustments, Contented with such random consolations As the wind deposits In slithered and too ample pockets. For we can still love the world, who find A famished kitten on the step, and know Recesses for it from the fury of the street, Or warm torn elbow coverts. We will sidestep, and to the final smirk Dally the doom of that inevitable thumb That slowly chafes its puckered index toward us, Facing the dull squint with what innocence And what surprise! And yet these fine collapses are not lies More than the pirouettes of any pliant cane; Our obsequies are, in a way, no enterprise. We can evade you, and all else but the heart: What blame to us if the heart live on. The game enforces smirks; but we have seen The moon in lonely alleys make A grail of laughter of an empty ash can, And through all sound of gaiety and quest Have heard a kitten in the wilderness.

PC tonight: ZONING IN, ZONING OUT!

2011-11-14T18:26:00.001-05:00

Hi, People! Thanks again for your confidence in me on election day. Tonight we're going to be mostly focused on hearing Tim Tobey's report on the Parks Master Plan that he's been discussing--we may even just get a slight update to the old, unapproved plan that would at least be good information to have available to us. Second, we'll (very likely) be recommending approval of the annexation of the right-of-way on Dayton-YS St. that will allow entrance to the CBE (the Antioch-Midwest complex and any additional buildings).

Finally, we'll be discussing the request by the contractor for our new zoning ordinance, LSL, to:

1) identify up to 8 individual people (concerned with zoning?) to be interviewed--I need to get a better sense of what this means.
2) identify "user groups and selected person to particpate in each group" they suggest groups like "downtown business owners, neighborhood association reps, major employers and land developers."

We're also going to try to schedule a start up meeting with LSL and the technical review committee for the zoning code update as well as a village tour.

Let me know if you would like to be more engaged in this zoning project--I should be able to facilitate your involvement.

Thanks.

2011-11-09T18:44:00.005-05:00

Dear People: Thanks to all of you for your warm words and support throughout my quiet campaign. I am proud to say that, other than the nominal, required registration fee ($30?), I spent $0. So this was a very efficient little campaign, and that's probably the most beautiful thing about it. Frank was supposed to be my treasurer, but we gave him NOTHING to do!

So, I especially want to especially thank Ona Harshaw who served as an unofficial campaign manager, and for recruiting Jen Reich to help with finding all the old signs and to both of them for getting them strategically placed around town. AND Ona had to fix a bunch of them, too, as they were old and falling apart. So, Ona: I know I owe you AT LEAST one six pack. Actually, I think the whole town owes Ona at least a six pack each. When you see her, buy her one! She also worked all day as a poll worker, and her human relations skills are second to none. Basically, I LOVE Ona, heart and soul. She's a rock in a hard place.

Thanks also to all those who wrote letters to the editor supporting me.

And, finally, I want to thank Jen and Barry for hosting a smashing little campaign party last night for me and Rick.

So, of course, a poem about thanks. And worms:

Worms by Carl Dennis

Aren't you glad at least that the earthworms

Under the grass are ignorant, as they eat the earth,

Of the good they confer on us, that their silence

Isn't a silent reproof for our bad manners,

Our never casting earthward a crumb of thanks

For their keeping the soil from packing so tight

That no root, however determined, could pierce it?

Imagine if they suspected how much we owe them,

How the weight of our debt would crush us

Even if they enjoyed keeping the grass alive,

The garden flowers and vegetables, the clover,

And wanted nothing that we could give them,

Not even the merest nod of acknowledgment.

A debt to angels would be easy in comparison,

Bright, weightless creatures of cloud, who serve

An even brighter and lighter master.

Lucky for us they don't know what they're doing,

These puny anonymous creatures of dark and damp

Who eat simply to live, with no more sense of mission

Than nature feels in providing for our survival.

Better save our gratitude for a friend

Who gives us more than we can give in return

And never hints she's waiting for reciprocity.

"If I had nickel, I'd give it to you,"

The lover says, who, having nothing available

In the solid, indicative world, scrapes up

A coin or two in the world of the subjunctive.

"A nickel with a hole drilled in the top

So you can fasten it to your bracelet, a charm

To protect you against your enemies."

For his sake, she'd wear it, not for her own,

So he might believe she's safe as she saunters

Home across the field at night, the moon above her,

Below her the loam, compressed by the soles of her loafers,

And the tunneling earthworms, tireless, silent,

As they persist, oblivious, in their service.

Source: Poetry (May 2003).

Lori

VC tomorrow night! Note the highlights...

2011-11-06T18:07:00.000-05:00

Dear People: Tomorrow night the main issues will be: Mark's position as a finalist for the manager job in Sidney, new solid waste rates, a tap-in request from Home, Inc., our endorsement of the MVRPC's regional strategic plan, the library building audit, the issue of the state's interest in collecting taxes, what to do about our water supply, and LJB making a request for a considerably greater funds for work associated with the WWTP. The packet can be viewed here.

COMMUNICATIONS:
In Paper Packet and On Line:
RITA re: State Control of Municipal Income Tax Collection Update (see item under "New Business")
Tom Clevenger re: Rescheduling of Energy Charrette for the BARR PROPERTY SENIOR HOUSING: on WED. NOV. 9th at 5:30 in the Bryan Ctr. Rooms A&B there will be a meeting with the developer lead, the project architect and the project consultant to the green enterprise community standards. If you are interested in the design of this building, particularly as it relates to energy efficiency, please attend this meeting.
Vickie Hennessey re: Fluoride Rinse Program
Mayor’s Monthly Report
Emily Seibel, YSHI re: Fee Waiver Request: (see resolution 2011-54 below)
Len Kramer re: Support for YSHI Fee Waiver
Fred Bartenstein re: YSHI Fee Waiver

E-Packet Only:
GCCOA re: Newsletter and Invitation
Greene County Environmental Services re: Free Nitrate Screening for Well-users: If you have a well, you might want this!
MVRCP re: PDAC Meeting
GCCOA re: Free Paper Shredding (in Beavercreek, NOV 15--RSVP required; also this is a "how to organize your papers" event, targeted at seniors. Look in the packet for more details--it's near the very end of the packet.)

ANNOUNCEMENTS: We just received news that Mark is a finalist for a City Manager position in Sidney. He will be reading a statement about his decision to apply for this job (and this job only) due to long term connections to the city.

PUBLIC HEARINGS/LEGISLATION
Ordinance 2011-27 Amending Chapter 1060 Solid Waste Rates: Since we signed the new contract with Rumpke, the following rates will now apply:

Tier 1 (Not more than 35 Gallons): $10.40 Per Unit/Month
Tier 2 (Not more than 65 Gallons): $11.40 Per Unit/Month
Tier 3 (Not more than 120 Gallons): $12.40 Per Unit/Month

[Commercial Services – Four Cubic-Yard Container: $55.00 Per Container/Month]

I will vote yes.

Resolution 2011-54 Home Inc. Tap-In Request: The amount requested is minimal--less than $20,000--which is less than the first year of taxes that will be brought in (about $25,000 per year), and the successful project will bring in $4.25 million dollars of tax credit equity. While they are continuing to look for other local support, they recently have become convinced that this support is vital for a successful proposal. It would have been better had this been a part of the original packet, and I am a little disappointed that it wasn't, but I will vote yes because I would have voted for this had it been a part of the original proposal, and I believe it is reasonable.

Resolution 2011-55 Supporting MVRCP’s Going Places Initiative: I will vote yes. The plan was strongly influenced by Yellow Springs and our Visioning process; the goal is to encourage smart growth and reduce suburban sprawl.

III. CITIZEN CONCERNS

IV. SPECIAL REPORTS
Library Evaluation Presentation: Ted Donnell was awarded a contract to do a building and energy audit. He's recommending a variety of upgrades that are either "high" "medium" and "low" priority. The most expensive high priority item is replacing the 1963 windows with energy-efficient ones (estimated at $150K.)

V. OLD BUSINESS
Water Supply Feasibility Study: Mark writes that likely will not have the information about likely rates from Xenia/Spfld by this meeting, in which case, we will discuss at 11/21 meeting.

VI. NEW BUSINESS
State Collection of Income Tax Discussion: RITA, our current tax collector, is concerned about the State's interest in taking over the function of all municipal tax collection. I could not understand this, and asked that we discuss the issue. We have a long email on the topic that was written by the manager of Albany Ohio: the good reasons to oppose this move include a loss of local control and an extensive list of historical problems with state collections. I will likely vote that we bring a resolution to Council opposig this State move.

Discussion of Resolution 2011-50 Authorizing Payment to LJB for Additional Services Rendered: This is a request of, I believe an additional $45,500 from the original contract, for work completed during the first 10 months of this year. While we recently authorized paying for a manual that was not included in the initial bid, that's only $5,840 (so far as I can tell, but I find the memo unclear on this point. If I am reading the bill correctly, the estimated additional costs are $33,373.54 so far, plus $5,840, which added together are substantially less than $45,500. So I don't completely understand this billing statement and I am surprised to be getting such a big additional bill at such a late date when the additional fees had apparently been adding up since January or even late 2010. So I will look forward to clarification at the meeting.

VC tonight! Water (very important!), campaign update, trees, budget

2011-10-17T10:53:00.005-04:00

To the left is a photo of the Yellow Spring by an artist named Tom Hock. When the leaves disappear and things become mostly grey, the orange of the spring and the last green moss can seem this intense.

Dear people--VC Meeting tonight and there's quite a bit going on. Our water treatment plant is especially on my mind, so I want to call your attention to that and ask for your response, see below.

Quick Campaign Update: I know many of you have asked for yard signs, but I think I'm plumb out. Still, check your garage? We've found a few that people pulled off their own property after the last campaign and tucked 'em away. So make sure you don't still have one--and if you find one and you already have a sign, let me or Ona Harshaw or Jen Reich know, and we'll find a place for it.

The best thing you can do for me right now is to write a letter for me to the YS News! Please consider getting one in TODAY if you have even 15 minutes, a half hour. Can be short! (Short is good!--Just think of the most important reason you support me, and say it in a sentence.)

Key issue tonight: The most important thing that I see on the agenda, and which I'd really love some feedback and thought on over the next few months, is the water feasibility study that we had LJB engineering do for us (John Eastman). It's included in its entirety in this week's packet (the first page of the study is on page 34) and I'd appreciate if a few of you took the time to read it and shared your thoughts--particularly if you have any engineering background.

The suprising finding: I've only read it quickly, but it looks like our cheapest option may be to update our current water treatment plant, cheaper than the status quo or getting water from Xenia / Springfield / Greene County or building a new plant.

COMMUNICATIONS:
YSAC re: Funding
YSAC re: BGSU Economic Impact Study
YSAC re: BGSU Arts Economic Study
Mayor’s Monthly Report
Jon Husted re: Information on Ballot Issues
Colin Altman re: 2010 Annual Report This is a really lovely report--take a look at it if you get a chance--it's at the very end of the electronic packet. The fire department is doing a great job of serving us--nice pictures and graphs that tell a very positive story.
Anne Whitaker re: Barr Project Support

E-Packet Only:
GCCOA re: Newsletter and Invitation
RITA re: State Control of Municipal Income Tax Collection Update: I actually read most of the documents about this (they begin on page 104), and I have a few questions. Kasich is apparently seeking to centralize muncipal tax collection at the state, which strikes me as bizarrely opposed to his normal mode of getting rid of decentralizing (i.e., offloading) state services onto municipalities; some say this is an attack on home rule for municipalities,...so I don't get it. If anyone does...I'm all ears.
Greene Co. Library re: November Programming
GCCHD re: Grant Obtained
MVRCP re: Going Places

PUBLIC HEARINGS/LEGISLATION
Second Reading and Public Hearing of Ordinance 2011-26 Supplemental Appropriation Securing Funds Necessary for the Third Quarter: Normal housecleaning, for the most part, some due to recent decisions that have altered the budget.
Reading of Resolution 2011-52 Contracting with LSL/KKG for Zoning Code Rewrite: I will vote yes--this group is very professional and down to earth and I believe we will have good results. Their presentation was very concrete--they had already found many nitty gritty places where our zoning code contains out of date rules and contradictions; I believe they'll get us a code we can live with for many years to come.
Reading of Resolution 2011-53 Contracting with Arbor Care for Annual Tree Trimming: I will vote yes--Arbor Care's bid is a little higher than last year, because we are having them trim more. However, I will take the moment ask staff about the pretty egregious trimming that occurred on Spillan Road (perhaps some other places also). I believe that was done, however NOT by Arbor Care, with whom we had a long talk about the kind of trimming we were hoping for, but by the AMP contractors, whom we did not have a careful discussion with. The topped and mutilated trees on my street make me, well, ill.

SPECIAL REPORTS
Water Feasibility Report and Discussion: See my plea above for help and input!

OLD BUSINESS
Discussion of Budget Process for 2011 / Discussion of Goals Process for 2011: We are hoping to hit the ground running with the new council, so we are urging the current candidates to come for this discussion where we are hoping to set up a tentative calendar. Judith has written everyone a quick email about this, but if you see Shane, Gerald, or Dan, tell them to come on down tonight if they can!

NEW BUSINESS
New Council Orientation: We're hoping that Council can have lunch with the new candidates on the orientation date, which is yet to be established. Again, it would be great to have the candidates attend tonight's meeting.

POEM
This poem is the favorite fall poem of one of my favorite bloggers, Ta-Nehisi Coates. He's a black guy who writes for the Atlantic and he's just a brilliant, wide-ranging reader and thinker. Ok, it's true that he loves a lot of my favorites, Frederick Douglass and Edith Wharton (!!!) for starters, and he was just totally into Jane Austen (of all people) last year, AND he also introduced me to great histories--James McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom and Daniel Walker Howe's What Hath God Wrought and the absolutely devastating Slavery by a Another Name--which is still haunting me--by a Wall Street Journal reporter--seriously!--Douglas Blackmon about the "re-enslavement of black Americans from the Civil War to WWII." I mean, did you know that slavery was not criminalized until 1944! For Real! Ok. So, you should read Ta-Nehisi's blog, linked above, and below, and read anything that Coates recommends.

(Mostly, I just wanted to recommend Coates; I think I'm not quite as enamoured of this poem as he is--it does feel like more of a guy poem maybe to me?--but it may also grow on me. I do love poets who can rhyme and not sound amateurish.)

October by Frederick Seidel

It is time to lose your life,
Even if it isn't over.
It is time to say goodbye and try to die.
It is October.

The mellow cello
Allee of trees is almost lost in sweetness and mist
When you take off your watch at sunrise
To lose your life.

You catch the plane.
You land again.
You arrive in the place.
You speak the language.

You will live in a new house,
Even if it is old.
You will live with a new wife,
Even if she is too young.

Your slender new husband will love you.
He will walk the dog in the cold.
He will cook a meal on the stove.
He will bring you your medication in bed.

Dawn at the city flower market downtown.
The vendors have just opened.
The flowers are so fresh.
The restaurants are there to decorate their tables.

Your husband rollerblades past, whizzing,
Making a whirring sound, winged like an angel--
But stops and spins around and skates back
To buy some cut flowers in the early morning frost.

I am buying them for you.
I am buying them for your blond hair at dawn.
I am buying them for your beautiful breasts.
I am buying them for your beautiful heart.

VC: Last night: Reorganization and Barr Property

2011-10-04T10:15:00.000-04:00

Last night we mostly discussed and voted on "old business"--specifically the Barr Property plans being developed by Home, Inc., and Buckeye Hope, as well as the re-organization of the village administration. Whereas our last vote on both was 4-1, this time, both passed unanimously, the former due to clarification of the process, and the latter due also to clarification of the responsibilities/roles of the position.

See last week's posting for more info about my stance.

VC: Reorganization and Barr Property

2011-09-19T15:53:00.002-04:00

Dear People: Mark will be out of town, so we're keeping the agenda relatively light, but still there are big issues that a great many of you care about, and as usual, you can always read more about everything on the agenda by examining our packet, here. I've highlighted a few things below:

PETITIONS/COMMUNICATIONS

In Paper Packet and On Line:
Housing Coalition of Greene Co. re: Support of Affordable Senior Housing
Chief Grote re: Beggars’ Night: SATURDAY, OCT. 29. Chief Grote also responds to various criticisms of the event, including the charge that too many people come from outside the village, saying that people come because it's family friendly and feels safe, and it's not unlike 4th of July or Street Fair: part of who we are is about being welcoming to visitors.
All Previously Received Letters Referencing Barr Property Proposal
Anna Bellisari re: Barr Property Trees
Alan Macbeth re: Barr Property Trees
Steven Bognar re: Support for Senior Housing
Suzanne Patterson re: Support for Senior Housing

Vicki Hennessey re: Forum on DEFEATING ISSUE 2 (SB 5): THURSDAY! (this week!) Sept 22, 7:30 pm, YS Senior Center (227 Xenia). Rudy Fichtenbaum (AAUP/Wright State), Aurelia Blake (YSHS); Ellis Jacobs (local attorney--will also address the opposition to HB 194--be sure to sign a petition opposing this bill.) Please attend! This is the first event sponsored by a new groups calling itself Progressive Yellow Springs.

YS Arts Council re: Seat on Economic Sustainability Commission: Requesting a seat for one of their Board of Trustee members.

E-Packet Only:
Greene Co. Library re: October Programming

PUBLIC HEARINGS/LEGISLATION
Reading of Resolution 2011-48 Authorizing $40,000 for Operations and Maintenance Manuals for WWTP: This should have been included in the original budget, it's necessary; I support it. The funds will come from the loan that we are taking out to cover the cost of building the new additions to the WWTP, required by the EPA. I will vote yes.
Reading of Resolution 2011-49 Adding Streets to the 2011 Paving Program: This is correcting a discrepency between documents, due to human error, rather than adding streets we did not initially intend. I will vote yes.

First Reading of Ordinance 2011-24 Approving Amendment to the Village Organizational Structure: I realize that this has been controversial in the village, and last week I shared Judith's thoughts on this. I believe strongly that this new structure is both the appropriate model for our work in the village, and that it will better serve business interests to have the point person on economic development (who, yes, will have other responsibilities) be a full time employee, rather than a part time employee who is only in the office 20 hours a week. I do not see this as a loss to the economic development interests of the village but as a plus. I will vote yes.

First Reading and Public Hearing of Ordinance 2011-25 Amending the Zoning Code to Permit a PUD-R for Barr Property: I will vote yes for this project, urging the developers to save as many old-growth trees as they can. But this is the right kind of project for our economic prosperity. If successful, this is a $6.25 million dollar grant that will come into our community from the outside. It fits with our goals of infill and re-development, and it serves the most frequently selected need arising from our recent visioning process: affordable housing. Many seniors in our community are eager to move into these apartments, which would allow a life that is integrated into the community, near important amenities like the pharmacy and the grocery store, and down town shops. Finally, let's be clear: this is not a shortened process, but a lengthened one. The developers have agreed to go through the whole, required process after we give our (initial) blessing for a project of this scale to be considered as they seek grant money, with the understanding that if there are significant problems with making the site work, based on engineering, they will have to re-plan. I hear the concerns, but I believe it will be a win for the village if we can help to facilitate it. I will vote yes.

CITIZEN CONCERNS

STANDING REPORTS

POEM

Day in Autumn

By Rainer Maria Rilke Translated By Mary Kinzie Read the translator's notes

After the summer's yield, Lord, it is time

to let your shadow lengthen on the sundials

and in the pastures let the rough winds fly.

As for the final fruits, coax them to roundness.

Direct on them two days of warmer light

to hale them golden toward their term, and harry

the last few drops of sweetness through the wine.

Whoever's homeless now, will build no shelter;

who lives alone will live indefinitely so,

waking up to read a little, draft long letters,

and, along the city's avenues,

fitfully wander, when the wild leaves loosen.

Source: Poetry (April 2008).

VC: 9/6 (late posting) Treasurer's Report, Reorganization, Arboretum Name?

2011-09-08T17:16:00.000-04:00

Apologies for the delayed posting. The fastest way to get these is to sign up for my email list--just drop me a note. I post these after I send the email, but sometimes time is very precious and it takes me awhile to get to the blog.
-----

Dear People: And suddenly it's fall. Our last meeting fell on the evening of my first day back to school, but the chill in the air since yesterday, following last week's blast of summer heat, and the encroachment of the dark on both ends of the days, says it's time for autumn rituals. Maybe we'll finally deal with all those stacks of empty plant pots on the back porch, pick up the sticks that have fallen in the yard, roast vegetables, make stew.

But, the meeting tonight. Here's the full packet if you're interested in any of the topics below.

PETITIONS/COMMUNICATIONS

AMP re: Standard Solar Project Update: The AMP solar project has been canceled (this is not the one that we are working with YSRE, Melink and SolarVision for here in town--see below). There's the possibility of AMP-owned, "behind the meter" solar installations.
Ohio EPA: Approval of WPCLF Application (plans for Sewer Lift Station approved at Waste Water Treatment Plants)
AMP re: AMP Hydro Update: new budget available for viewing.
Kathryn Van der Heiden re: Budget Concerns: Would like to hear more discussion of budget.
Suzanne Clauser re: Reorganization: Opposes the plan.
Jeremy Chapman re: Solar Update: they are hopeful that a final agreement can be made with a major financer of the project soon, so that the final engineering contract between Melink and SolarVision can be signed and that a majority of the construction can still be completed by the end of the year.
Mayor’s Monthly ReportDave Conley re: Milling/Paving Schedule: Happening this week. Affected streets include: North College, Herman, Randall, Stafford, Greene, Xenia Ave..

PUBLIC HEARINGS/LEGISLATION
Second Reading and Public Hearing of Ordinance 2011-22 Authorizing Village Manager to
Sign Addendum to the Trailside Museum Inter-Agency Agreement. See last week's note. I support.
Second Reading and Public Hearing of Ordinance 2011-23 Supplemental Appropriation for Flatter Hereford Farms (Glass Farm property--needed for Solar project). See last week's note. I support.
Resolution 2011-44 Accepting the Amounts and Rates as Determined by the Budget Commission and Authorizing the Necessary Tax Levies and Certifying Them to the County Auditor. (Pro-forma, basically)
Resolution 2011-45 Authorizing the Village Manager to Enter into a Contract with Pavement Management for 2011: $18K for street sealcoating. (Last year this was $50K--it is a way to make the new surfaces last longer). I support.
Resolution 2011-46 Authorizing the Village Manager to Enter into an Agreement for Property Casualty Insurance for 2012. $52K. Rates are increased by $2K next year, partly due to increased property value out at our waste water plant. For the last several years, our insurance has been through our membership in the Public Entities Pool of Ohio, which helps us to keep rates lower. I support.
Resolution 2011-47 Resolution to (re)Appoint John C. Chambers of Coolidge Wall as Village Solicitor: Rate: $165/hour. I am not sure what rate we paid last year--have submitted a query as to whether this is the same as last year. In principle, I support this resolution.

SPECIAL REPORTS
Treasurer’s Report: Our treasurer, Rachel MicKinley, has done a good job of getting our bank charges/interest earned back in order. Earnings from interest and investments are extremely low. The investments committee is looking at the possibility of retiring the bond debt on the Bryan Center, which is $650K and still costs us interest charges (although it's primarily principal payments at this time, so that makes it a closer call.)

OLD BUSINESS
Discussion of Reorganization of Village Operations: We have received a handful of letters expressing concern about this plan. I do hear the concerns expressed. I still support this plan for reorganization. Judith has written eloquently about this to a citizen expressing concerns, so I would like to share it with you:

"Thanks for your email regarding this important issue. I am writing to clarify my thinking, although I realize you may not be satisfied with my response. I have always supported policy and Village action based on what I believed was best for the village citizens, and at times they are difficult decisions. Also, I am very cognizant of the current economy.

Obviously, this is a very difficult situation and it is not a case of just needing to cover the Village Manager for his vacation. We are a very small community with limited resources and as I'm sure you are aware, the State has cut our funding in a way which will make meeting the needs of our citizens that much more difficult.

And we have a village manager who needs support. That support is not there at the present and something needs to be done if we wish to be fair to our village manager and be able retain a village manager over time. If money were not an issue, we could just enlarge our staff. The new assistant manager position would be given the responsibilities for planning and economic sustainability while being someone that the village manager can also rely on for backup.

Lori, the VP of Council, and I have reviewed with Mark, our options. In spite of the unpleasant realities of this proposal, we believe Mark’s proposal is the best option.

I believe we have been compassionate leaders of this community. That compassion did not suddenly disappear with the event of this proposal. It is an awkward situation, and I am sorry that to address the needs of our community, we will negatively impact, at least in the short run, two of our staff members. However, I have been on the Village Council for six years, and I believe Mark’s proposal is the way to solve this problem while being fiscally responsible.

Mark has done a very good job. He is a workhorse. On top of the areas he oversees, which he has enumerated in his report, he coordinates and provides much of the staff support for planning commission. He has recently been asked to meet monthly with Community Resources to keep the Center for Business and Education project moving forward in a timely way. He is coordinating the work on a new zoning code. He is coordinating the work on the Barr Party proposal.

I've been reviewing in my mind the major projects he has lead during this calendar year. Early in the year he presented and worked with the Village Council on our 2011 budget. We were then approached with a proposal for a solar farm, and he switched gears and put a huge amount of time into that proposal. He provided reams of information for the tax levy renewal. He made recommendations on sidewalk policy and any number of other smaller projects and decisions made and carried out by the Village. He is our HR department. He oversees our infrastructures, which include the water system, sewer system, electric system, and the streets and parks system. He is even the supervisor of our police chief making him the person Chief Grote turns to with problems and concerns. And he frequently is called upon to do much of the grunt work as well, to meet deadlines and needs of projects at hand.

He writes reports on every piece of legislation that comes in front of Council. He is our point person on all of the AMP legislation we have seen in the last many months. He oversees all the departments of the Village. He is the main person citizens want to talk with about the issues that they have.

This is way too much work for one person from day to day. It has been an ongoing problem well before Mark's arrival. It was also a recognized problem during the employment of Eric Swanson and the Interim Manager, John Weithofer.

Mark spends way more than 40 hours a week to barely keep his nose above water. He also needs to be able to get away from time to time to refresh himself and spend time with family and friends, without all of the work he is responsible for, stopping until he gets back to mountains of unanswered emails, and snail mail and phone calls etc.

We are friends and neighbors of two persons who will be negatively affected by this change. Loyalty and friendship are powerful energies that run deep, and I know that many of us are unhappy about the negative impact on them. However, if there were another way to solve this problem, it would have been proposed.

I trust Mark, and he knows more intimately then anyone else can, the full picture of our staff’s responsibilities and what it takes to meet those responsibilities. It can be a lonely and heavy responsibility and he has shouldered his responsibilities well. Therefore, I support his proposal.

Sincerely,
Judith

I hope you will also read Mark's memo in the packet. I will add that with no one able to back the Manager up and take on some responsibilities as needed, the potential for extremely costly errors or lost details goes way up, as does the potential for all-out burn out. When our last manager left, we were faced with a fine of $80,000 from the EPA because work simply wasn't moving forward to deal with our sewage plant violations, and raw sewage was flowing into the Glen. It is hard to find and keep a healthy manager, because right now there is too much pressure on this one position. This is not an easy decision, partly because it's way overdue.

NEW BUSINESS

Discussion of Purchase of Pole Setter for Electrical Distribution : Dave Conley will explain the benefits of a model that he recommends. Funds available in Electrical fund to pay for it.
Review of 2011 Work Plan: Judith has created an overview of what we've done, what's ongoing, and what's still to do--including work specific to the Clerk, Manager, and the committees and commissions of Council.
Discussion of Naming of Arboretum at Ellis Park: Plan to honor Lloyd Kennedy for his work on this committee since 1967 by naming the Arboretum at Ellis Park after him, using Tree Committee funds to create a new sign.

LABOR DAY POEM

In addition to a poem, I am going to link to a video of a commercial I remember from my youth--an old ILGWU (International Ladies' Garments Workers Union). Remember when there were commercials for Unions on television? I don't think I've seen one since the 1970s! Take one minute to watch this--I bet you'll remember the song, "Look for the Union label, when you are buying a coat, dress, or blouse. Remember somewhere our Union's sewing...")

And here's a companion poem by Robert Pinsky:

Shirt

By Robert Pinsky

The back, the yoke, the yardage. Lapped seams,

The nearly invisible stitches along the collar

Turned in a sweatshop by Koreans or Malaysians

Gossiping over tea and noodles on their break

Or talking money or politics while one fitted

This armpiece with its overseam to the band

Of cuff I button at my wrist. The presser, the cutter,

The wringer, the mangle. The needle, the union,

The treadle, the bobbin. The code. The infamous blaze

At the Triangle Factory in nineteen-eleven.

One hundred and forty-six died in the flames

On the ninth floor, no hydrants, no fire escapes—

The witness in a building across the street

Who watched how a young man helped a girl to step

Up to the windowsill, then held her out

Away from the masonry wall and let her drop.

And then another. As if he were helping them up

To enter a streetcar, and not eternity.

A third before he dropped her put her arms

Around his neck and kissed him. Then he held

Her into space, and dropped her. Almost at once

He stepped to the sill himself, his jacket flared

And fluttered up from his shirt as he came down,

Air filling up the legs of his gray trousers—

Like Hart Crane’s Bedlamite, “shrill shirt ballooning.”

Wonderful how the pattern matches perfectly

Across the placket and over the twin bar-tacked

Corners of both pockets, like a strict rhyme

Or a major chord. Prints, plaids, checks,

Houndstooth, Tattersall, Madras. The clan tartans

Invented by mill-owners inspired by the hoax of Ossian,

To control their savage Scottish workers, tamed

By a fabricated heraldry: MacGregor,

Bailey, MacMartin. The kilt, devised for workers

To wear among the dusty clattering looms.

Weavers, carders, spinners. The loader,

The docker, the navvy. The planter, the picker, the sorter

Sweating at her machine in a litter of cotton

As slaves in calico headrags sweated in fields:

George Herbert, your descendant is a Black

Lady in South Carolina, her name is Irma

And she inspected my shirt. Its color and fit

And feel and its clean smell have satisfied

Both her and me. We have culled its cost and quality

Down to the buttons of simulated bone,

The buttonholes, the sizing, the facing, the characters

Printed in black on neckband and tail. The shape,

The label, the labor, the color, the shade. The shirt.

Robert Pinsky, “Shirt” from The Want Bone. Copyright © 1990 by Robert Pinsky. Reprinted with the permission of HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

Source: The Figured Wheel: New and Collected Poems 1966-1996 (HarperCollins, 1996)

Of rights-of-way, loans, raises, reorganization, and summer's end

2011-08-13T17:38:00.003-04:00

<--This is a Jafabrit picture of the sunflowers at Whitehall Farm. Soon they will be blooming again, with that painful joy of the refulgence of the end of summer.
Dear People: It's a lovely day! Hope you're out enjoying it as those on a semester schedule face "The End of Summer" (see poem below!). Ok, so there's a lot going on in this meeting, even though the agenda looks pretty light at first glance. I've highlighted the major items for discussion that I think people may have thoughts about. Do feel free to read the whole or parts of the packet by clicking the blue link above. So here goes:

PUBLIC HEARINGS/LEGISLATION

First Reading of Ordinance 2011-22 Authorizing Village Manager to Sign Addendum to the
Trailside Museum Inter-Agency Agreement: We entered into an agreement in 2009 with the Trailside/Glen Helen Ecology Inst. to help them get a grant from the Ohio DNR by serving as a "pass-through" for the money (money had to go through a governmental agency); the project is now complete but the ODNR wants to be sure that the museum and restrooms will be open to the public when the museum is open. I support this ordinance.

First Reading of Ordinance 2011-23 Supplemental Appropriation to Flatter Hereford Farms for Fertilizer applied to Farmland: This is a result of the solar farm proposal. That land had already been leased to a farmer who had already applied fertilizer for the upcoming season--which is standard practice in industrial farming. Per contract agreement, since we canceled the contract, we will pay them $2,951.39 in reimbursement costs for their receipted expenses.

Resolution 2011-39 Adopting a Statement of Services the Village Will Provide to Territory Proposed to be Annexed (Dayton-Yellow Springs Rd. ROW)
Resolution 2011-40 Consenting to the Annexation of Territory (Dayton-Yellow Springs Rd.ROW) These two resolutions are regarding the annexation of 1.77 acres of land which currently is the right of way for the Dayton-Yellow Springs Road west of the village, a peninsula of land that is surrounded by village property on three sides. This will allow for construction of a safe entrance to the CBE (Antioch Midwest, etc.) and allow us to extend the 35 mph speed limit to west. (If it stays at 55 mph there, a whole new and much more expensive and larger intersection would need to be designed.) I support these two resolutions.

Resolution 2011-41 Approving Annual Wage Increases for Certain Village Employees We directed the manager at our last meeting to bring forward a resolution raising the pay of all employees by 2% (except the village mgr., clerk of council, village treasurer, and law director), as their annual cost of living raise, retroactive to July 3. This is in keeping with (actually a hair less than) the average raises for public employees in Greene County. I support this resolution.

Resolution 2011-42 Approving a Loan to Antioch Company, LLC I am reluctantly in support of this loan. I do not think it was ideally constructed, I'm concerned that the terms could have been better, and the process was not good. It seems very important and valuable to keep the kinds of excellent jobs that eHDS provides, so I am voting yes. I have heard serious critiques of this from community members, and many of the critiques are valid. I will vote yes.

NEW BUSINESS

Discussion of Planning Commission Recommendation to Council to Approve a PUD-R for the Barr Property In his memo re: this discussion item, Mark explains the revised process that he and Brad Schwab (our planning consultant) proposed, and Planning Commission endorsed at our meeting on Monday, for the Barr Property PUD-R approval request. Staff is alerting us to the Planning Commission's recommendation that we "require that the preliminary plan be reviewed again once project financing is obtained," which is different from our ordinary process. Staff also asks Council to schedule a Public Hearing on the approval request for the Sept. 9th meeting. I support this process and this schedule.
Discussion of Purchase of Pole Setter for Electrical Distribution In our budget this year we approved $100,000 to buy a new pole setter. Kelley Fox, Electrical Distribution Supervisor, feels it's needed to access rear yards, where many power poles are located, without having to bring in trucks, which do much more damage. He found one that has a taller reach and better features, including a bucket attachment so that it can be used for maintenance as well as power pole setting. But it costs more--$124,441. There are adequate funds in the Electric Utility to pay this additional expense, so I tentatively support this, but I'm fairly ignorant about this kind of purchase so I will be interested to hear more.
Discussion of Possible Reorganization of Village Operations This is the most contentious item I suspect. Even before Mark's arrival, the structure of the village operations has been a concern--both of our previous managers during my tenure argued that the manager position has too many demands on it and this makes it likely that some work is done poorly or never attended to, and makes it virtually impossible for the manager to leave for more than a day or two. He has 8 direct reports, and has to back up most of them when they are gone, but there's no one to back up the manager when he's gone. If we could just hire more staff, the solution would be simple. We cannot afford that--and our budget is about to be reduced. The Manager proposes, and I strongly endorse, that we eliminate the full-time planning assistant position and the 24 hour per week economic sustainability coordinator position and combine them into one assistant manager position with a focus on both of those areas. The full package for this one position should cost less than the two positions combined (with all the attendant costs of two positions). The two people in the positions have been contacted and have offered to be of assistance in the transition.

MANAGER’S REPORT: Lots of information in his report about the CBE, the vandalism at Ellis Park, deduct meters (rules have been set, you should be able to get the rules and a list of approved devices, which a plumber needs to install, at the village offices), tree trimming, and the delays to street paving. Take a look!

POEM: Feeling melancholy as I enter this last week before classes begin, when the meetings really kick in. But the ABBA rhyming in this modern poem is lovely, refreshingly old-fashioned. I am glad there's a formalist movement in modern poetry, bringing back the old structures with some nice resistances, such as the 5th stanza below:

The End of Summer

by Rachel Hadas

Sweet smell of phlox drifting across the lawn—

an early warning of the end of summer.

August is fading fast, and by September

the little purple flowers will all be gone.

Season, project, and vacation done.

One more year in everybody’s life.

Add a notch to the old hunting knife

Time keeps testing with a horny thumb.

Over the summer months hung an unspoken

aura of urgency. In late July

galactic pulsings filled the midnight sky

like silent screaming, so that, strangely woken,

we looked at one another in the dark,

then at the milky magical debris

arcing across, dwarfing our meek mortality.

There were two ways to live: get on with work,

redeem the time, ignore the imminence

of cataclysm; or else take it slow,

be as tranquil as the neighbors’ cow

we love to tickle through the barbed wire fence

(she paces through her days in massive innocence,

or, seeing green pastures, we imagine so).

In fact, not being cows, we have no choice.

Summer or winter, country, city, we

are prisoners from the start and automatically,

hemmed in, harangued by the one clamorous voice.

Not light but language shocks us out of sleep

ideas of doom transformed to meteors

we translate back to portents of the wars

looming above the nervous watch we keep.

Source: Halfway Down the Hall: New and Selected Poems (Wesleyan University Press, 1998)

PC: Barr Property Plans

2011-08-08T12:28:00.001-04:00

<--Traditional Finnish sauna!

Dear People: This morning I turned in 80 signatures (I needed 35) for my Village Council nomination petition, two days ahead of the deadline (yahoo!). Thanks to all who signed and/or sent in good wishes. I find it's actually pretty heartening to speak to villagers. My experience is that even most people who have disagreed with me on a single issue or vote, or a few votes, are very appreciative of those of us who stick our necks out and try to fill this role to the best of our abilities and with integrity.

Thanks for recognizing our efforts, and don't be afraid to let me know your thoughts on any vote. I really do listen, and hearing your arguments--even if I ultimately disagree--is helpful as I try to have an awareness of the 'pulse' of the village. It may shape a future vote or project in future ways even if the immediate vote doesn't go your way.

Tonight the Planning Commission will be voting on the "Preliminary Plans" for the Barr Property being put forth by Home Inc and their partner for this project, Buckeye Community Hope Foundation, which we discussed conceptually at our last meeting. While I have some logistical concerns, I was impressed by the plans, in general, as was the rest of the Planning Commission, I believe. Home Inc and Buckeye would like to get initial approval for use, density, parking, and open space, and then be able to delay submitting more detailed preliminary plans until after they have secured the tax credits from the highly competitive process. Brad Schwab, our planning consultant, argues that this is a reasonable request due to the uncertainty of the tax credit process, and suggests we allow this. Additionally, as I see it, it allows for a little more time for us to fully digest the plans. I support a modified plan approval process.

Mr. Schwab also recommends that we suggest some design modifications to help make the building fit better with the neighborhood and to keep the units usable for seniors for at least 15 years. They seem reasonable, and I look forward to continued discussion tonight. If we decide on the modified process, we could focus on these kinds of details at a later date.

The only other item of significance on our agenda is Tim Tobey's work on examining the Parks and Rec Master Plan with local people who have a particular interest. I suspect that agenda item could be delayed if the Barr Property plans take a significant amount of time.

Watched a wonderful PBS film, "Steam of Life," about Finnish men in the sauna (available for free streaming until Nov. 1

) last night after our sauna. So I thought I'd end with a poem about women and sauna:

The Bodies

By Elizabeth Spires

Here, in the half-dark of the sauna,

the bodies of the women glisten ...

Naked, disproportionate, lush,

hung and burdened with flesh, they open slowly,

like orchids blooming out of season.

Sweat beads my forehead.

Heat rings my breasts, like circlets,

and I am my body, all shimmering flesh.

Secrets are whispered here. Stories told.

The bodies, alabaster, abalone,

relax, give up their pose, to ask,

How shall we be joined?

How shall we know each other?

By doors, by chains and linkages

through which we shall be

entered, touched, possessed.

I see them, row upon row, the rank and file

of generations moving without pause:

—the bodies of the young girls, the willows,

complete unto themselves, androgynous;

—the great bodies of the mothers,

circled by their little moons, adoring;

—the mothers of the mothers,

the old wise ones, ponderous and slow.

And in another room, not far from this one,

the restless bodies of men, searching

without knowing what it is they search for.

Body of the world! Body of flesh!

Leaving this room, I leave the orbit of women.

I dress and walk into the snowy night,

into the great body of the world,

cold, still, and expectant.

Bodying forth, I am taken by the dark.

What am I? Asked, shall I say:

Struck by a spark, I quickened

and was born to flashing

days and nights, a small significance

of one. I did not wish to change,

but changed, feeling desire and fear

and love, failing many times.

My meaning made, I died,

the windows darkening for the last time.

We move, we love, we cry out,

we hold or cannot hold to what we are

and finally wake to find ourselves

changed beyond all imagining.

Was it enough to have lived?

In that moment of still approach,

will it be given to us to know?

Elizabeth Spires, “The Bodies” from Worldling. Copyright © 1995 by Elizabeth Spires. Reprinted with the permission of W.W. Norton and Company, Inc. This selection may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher.

VC: Short Meeting, Exec Session, Funny Poem

2011-08-01T17:00:00.000-04:00

Hi, folks--Very short meeting tonight, so this will be a short email.

SHORT MEETING:

Resolution: We're discussing only the decision we basically made last meeting to again issue a contract for our trash collection/recycling with Rumpke.

New Business: Raises for our village staff. (We have a new system in place for determining raises, which we created last year on Mark's recommendation. He's recommending a 2% across the board, cost of living increase for all staff, which is in line (slightly less than) with salary increases for public and municipal employees in Greene County.

Executive Session: Evaluation of Mark's work and contract negotiation, litigation.

ONE OF THE FUNNIEST POEMS I'VE READ IN A LONG TIME:

Life Story

By Tennessee Williams

After you've been to bed together for the first time,

without the advantage or disadvantage of any prior acquaintance,

the other party very often says to you,

Tell me about yourself, I want to know all about you,

what's your story? And you think maybe they really and truly do

sincerely want to know your life story, and so you light up

a cigarette and begin to tell it to them, the two of you

lying together in completely relaxed positions

like a pair of rag dolls a bored child dropped on a bed.

You tell them your story, or as much of your story

as time or a fair degree of prudence allows, and they say,

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,

each time a little more faintly, until the oh

is just an audible breath, and then of course

there's some interruption. Slow room service comes up

with a bowl of melting ice cubes, or one of you rises to pee

and gaze at himself with the mild astonishment in the bathroom mirror.

And then, the first thing you know, before you've had time

to pick up where you left off with your enthralling life story,

they're telling you their life story, exactly as they'd intended to all along,

and you're saying, Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,

each time a little more faintly, the vowel at last becoming

no more than an audible sigh,

as the elevator, halfway down the corridor and a turn to the left,

draws one last, long, deep breath of exhaustion

and stops breathing forever. Then?

Well, one of you falls asleep

and the other one does likewise with a lighted cigarette in his mouth,

and that's how people burn to death in hotel rooms.

"Life Story" by Tennessee Williams, from THE COLLECTED POEMS OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS, copyright © 1937, 1956, 1964, 2002 by The University of the South. Used by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.

Source: THE COLLECTED POEMS OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS (New Directions Publishing Corporation, 2002)

VC tonight: Solid Waste and Creative Memories

2011-07-18T16:10:00.001-04:00

Dear People: We have a light agenda for tonight's Village Council meeting. The main issue I would like feedback on is the issue regarding our solid waste (trash collection) contract--see yellow below. I also give thoughts about the Creative Memories deal, which I will endorse with some reluctance, as I explain below.

Second Reading and Public Hearing of Ordinance 2011-18 Amending the Zoning Code to Permit Internet Gaming Cafes as Conditionally Permitted Uses in the General Business District--I will vote yest. See my last VC meeting note.

Emergency Reading and Public Hearing of Ordinance 2011-19 Supplemental Appropriations. This looks like the standard shifting of funds midyear--it does look like costs are running a little higher than expected in some areas, but it's a little hard to tell--I will ask about this. (General fund budget is up by $30K, e.g., but it looks like we have more funds coming in to our Special Revenue sources--up by $35K; and quite a bit of small shifts in the Enterprise funds--but I'm not 100% sure what it all adds up to.)

Second Reading and Public Hearing of Ordinance 2011-20 Approving Transfer and Sale of Land to Peaches--I will again vote yes; see last VC meeting note from me.

Emergency Reading and Public Hearing of Ordinance 2011-21 Transfer from Electric Fund to Bond Retirement Fund--This is a transfer of $215.01 from Electric Fund to the Bond Retirement Fund. I will likely vote yes, because this is likely a minor blip--I'm not sure why such a small amount is even coming before us, unless perhaps it was inadvertantly left off the original budget.

Resolution 2011-26 Awarding Solid Waste Contract: We have competing proposals from Rumpke and Waste Management. The contract offers are very similar, with Waste Management's offer (probably) being slightly lower, although there are some variables that we can't be 100% sure of. Mark Cundiff, our manager, reasonably argues that the "intangibles" are arguably pretty equal, so he would suggest simply going with the lower of the two bids. However, I am leaning toward Rumpke because I'm hearing some positive feedback, they have been our provider for about 20 years, and they are a more regionally based company I would like to hear from you if you have strong feelings!

Resolution 2011-30 Approving Planning Services Contract with Schwab Planning Group LLC. This looks like a cheaper and more local source for Planning consultation; we've been working with Mr. Schwab for a long time through Woolperts, a national group, and he's now breaking off and becoming his own independent consultant--charging half as much as Woolperts. He's been a good consultant; I will be voting yes.

Resolution 2011-36 Waiving Section 206.01(b) Requiring Formal Bidding for the Purchase of a Police Cruiser. One resident is raising concerns about possibly getting a more energy-efficient alternative to the Crown Victoria cruiser (likely with a higher initial cost), which I hope we will have answers to, but on the face of it, this seems to be a reasonable request as a way to get the car we need and at a lower cost than our normal procedures.

Resolution 2011-37 Approving a Loan to Creative Memories: Pros and Cons: Here's the issue as I see it:

Pros: We need the tax revenues that the excellent jobs provided by companies like eHDS represent. Even if those employees do not live in town, and some of the do and will, we will get their municipal tax dollars by housing their jobs here. We know that good, beyond-minimum wage jobs are key to our sustainability as a community, and we are short on "A-1 office space"--office space that is in good shape, fully furnished, and ready for modern electronics and e-communication networks--of useable dimensions. This wall would create two such "A-1" spaces of a more useable size for most companies, and thus help to promote our economic growth. The forgiveness in the loan is contingent on CM's getting and retaining excellent employers in our community. Thus, there's incentive to getting both sides rented out. So on those levels, this is a reasonable loan.

Cons: I am aware, however, of the sentiment out there that Creative Memories is a big corporation that many would argue has caused pain and even damage to many residents of our community when it closed YS operations awhile back, and it seemingly could use its own funds to make the building more leaseable. The loan has had to be pulled together at the last minute and with some pretty major changes each time I received any new communication about it. So I am a little uneasy about it. I am also uneasy about whether this is good practice for the future--I believe we need better advice on these issues and it's hard to come by clear answers in economic times that are difficult--there's a "bidding wars" context for companies like eDHS between communities that can start to feel a little like blackmail--leadership from the state and national level on this would be helpful but is unlikely to be forthcoming. Finally, it seems frustrating that this is our current capitalist context in which the richest get the easiest access to funds, on the best terms, and those who are poor or just getting started have to go begging and can be easily reviled for any need for government support.

I will, with some concern and ambivalence, likely support this loan, but I am interested to hear your feedback.

POEM(?)
I am going to go swimming now. In lieu of a poem, I give you a quotation from and link to the magnificent short story, "The Swimmer," by John Cheever, and urge you all to go read it now

, in some cool place:

"The sun was hot. Neddy Merrill sat by the green water, one hand in it, one around a glass of gin. He was a slender man—he seemed to have the especial slenderness of youth—and while he was far from young he had slid down his banister that morning and given the bronze backside of Aphrodite on the hall table a smack, as he jogged toward the smell of coffee in his dining room. He might have been compared to a summer's day, particularly the last hours of one, and while he lacked a tennis racket or a sail bag the impression was definitely one of youth, sport, and clement weather. He had been swimming and now he was breathing deeply, stertorously as if he could gulp into his lungs the components of that moment, the heat of the sun, the intenseness of his pleasure. It all seemed to flow into his chest. His own house stood in Bullet Park, eight miles to the south, where his four beautiful daughters would have had their lunch and might be playing tennis. Then it occurred to him that by taking a dogleg to the southwest he could reach his home by water. His life was not confining and the delight he took in this observation could not be explained by its suggestion of escape. He seemed to see, with a cartographer's eye, that string of swimming pools, that quasi-subterranean stream that curved across the county. He had made a discovery, a contribution to modern geography; he would name the stream Lucinda after his wife."

--"The Swimmer" by John Cheever

Peace!
Lori

PC meeting on Mon: Parks Master Plan and New Barr Property Plans?

2011-07-09T14:14:00.004-04:00

<--Image from the Ohio Historical Society
Dear People-- The weather is gorgeous and the summer has suddenly become lush and beautiful. The Iowa farm girl in me noticed that the corn in the field just south of us on Spillan has grown at least a foot in the past week; it's now well over my head, I judge. When I was a kid I swear we could literally hear it growing on very hot, humid, still July nights--there's a kind of popping sound that I think is corn growing. (Although I just tried to verify this fact by consulting Dr. Internet, but I found nothing authoritative, just lots of wonderful anecdata....)

So, looks like we're in for another round of exciting Yellow Springs debate. There's just two things on our PC agenda:

Tim Tobey is working on the old Parks Master Plan draft to see if it can be salvaged into a useable document for us, and,
more importantly, we're having our first discussion of a PUD proposal from Home, Inc. and Buckeye Community Hope Foundation. You can download the packet with all the details of this plan to this email.

In a nutshell: Home, Inc. and Buckeye propose to develop 37 units of "high quality energy efficient housing for independent seniors aged 55 and older in Yellow Springs" on the Barr property (321 Xenia, corner of Xenia and Limestone.)

This property has a long Planning Commission history, as many of you are aware. A couple of years ago PC and Council approved a plan by the Friends Care Community to build 30 units on that property (plus space for another building and with retail/community space and 4 more dwellings). This proposal has many similarities to that: it's affordable apartment housing for seniors located near the heart of town. It's a different size and shape--2 stories, not three, and the plan is less of a solid block so to me it is more appealing in several ways.

Assuming we can work out issues regarding storm water management on the property and some other problems, my initial inclination is to support this project. I suspect that some of you will disagree with this position, given the history of the last project proposal--hence my assertion that we're in for a debate.

Do let me know if there are specific questions you would like me to ask of the developers about this project.

POEM

Well, one of the three books I'm reading right now is John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. There's a whole lot of poetry and power in that book, with a verbal aesthetic that evokes the great graphic art of the 1930s, with noble, dignified workers standing larger-than-life in woodcut landscapes. Here's a few great, and timely, passages:

"Some of the owner men were kind because they hated what they had to do, and some of them were angry because they hated to be cruel, and some of them were cold because they had long ago found that one could not be an owner unless one were cold. And all of them were caught in something larger than themselves. Some of them hated the mathematics that drove them, and some were afraid, and some worshipped the mathematics because it provided a refuge from thought and from feeling. If a bank or a finance company owned the land, the owner man said, The Bank—or the Company—needs—wants—insists—must have—as though the Bank or the Company were a monster, with thought and feeling, which had ensnared them. These last would take no responsibility for the banks or the companies because they were men and slaves, while the banks were machines and masters all at the same time. Some of the owner men were a little proud to be slaves to such cold and powerful masters. ...
'We’re sorry. It’s not us. It’s the monster. The bank isn’t like a man.'
'Yes, but the bank is only made of men.'
'No, you’re wrong there—quite wrong there. The bank is something else than men. It happens that every man in a bank hates what the bank does, and yet the bank does it. The bank is something more than men, I tell you. It’s the monster. Men made it, but they can’t control it."
(from Chapter 5)

"For man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments. This you may say of man—when theories change and crash, when schools, philosophies, when narrow dark alleys of thought, national, religious, economic, grow and disintegrate, man reaches, stumbles forward, painfully, mistakenly sometimes. Having stepped forward, he may slip back, but only half a step, never the full step back. This you may say and know it and know it. This you may know when the bombs plummet out of the black planes on the market place, when prisoners are stuck like pigs, when the crushed bodies drain filthily in the dust. You may know it in this way. If the step were not being taken, if the stumbling-forward ache were not alive, the bombs would not fall, the throats would not be cut. Fear the time when the bombs stop falling while the bombers live—for every bomb is proof that the spirit has not died. And fear the time when the strikes stop while the great owners live—for every little beaten strike is proof that the step is being taken. And this you can know—fear the time when Manself will not suffer and die for a concept, for this one quality is the foundation of Manself, and this one quality is man, distinctive in the universe."
(from Chapter 14)

"And the great owners, who must lose their land in an upheaval, the great owners with access to history, with eyes to read history and to know the great fact: when property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away. And that companion fact: when a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need. And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed. The great owners ignored the three cries of history. The land fell into fewer hands, the number of dispossessed increased, and every effort of the great owners was directed at repression. The money was spent for arms, for gas to protect the great holdings, and spies were sent to catch the murmurings of revolt so that it might be stamped out. The changing economy was ignored, plans for the change ignored; and only means to destroy revolt were considered, while the causes for revolt went on."
(from Chapter 19)

Peace,
Lori

VC tonight: Internet Cafes, Land transfer (Peach's), Solid Waste, Affordable Housing, eHDS(?)/office space, Tree Trimming, Manager Eval.

2011-07-05T14:54:00.000-04:00

Dear People--I saw many of you as I marched for Planned Parenthood in yesterday's parade. Thanks for the shout-outs! It was a feel-good experience for an organization that needs some feel good support. (If you want to support them in any way--time, treasures, or talents--talk to me! or go to ppswo.org

!) And ended with an amazing show of fireworks as usual by the Township fire fighters and the Lion's club. Thanks!

Wow--a massively big schedule for tonight.

PUBLIC HEARINGS/LEGISLATION
First Reading of Ordinance 2011-18 Amending the Zoning Code to Allow Internet Cafes as
Conditionally Permitted Uses in the General Business District. I will vote yes.
First Reading of Ordinance 2011-20 Approving Transfer and Sale of Land to Peaches, Inc. I will vote yes. This is a tiny, narrow "bowtie" of land that is part of the Peach's lot (it's the part of their lot that basically abuts the bike path, running the whole length of their property), that is technically owned by the village, which makes it difficult for them to expand their business. Peach's have spent $1800 having this property surveyed and appraised, and its value is only $600. This ordinance sells it to them for $1. I support this Ordinance.
Resolution 2011-26 Awarding Solid Waste Contract to Waste Management. The manager suggests ending our 20-year relationship with Rumpke and awarding this contract to Waste Management. This will likely change your trash pick up date (so beware!) but it is a lower cost bid than Rumpke, so it would save you money. I support this resolution.
Resolution 2011-28 Approving the Selection of Home, Inc. as the Development Partner for the Cemetery St. Affordable Housing Project I co-sponsored this proposal, and support this resolution. Home Inc has a good, achievable small-scale plan that will create revenue, eventually, and cost very little in the short term, for a needed goal.
Resolution 2011-29 Approving a Farm Lease for Sutton Farm I support this lease agreement. It covers 43 acres of village-owned land.
Resolution 2011-31 OEPA Planning Loan Application for I &I Elimination Inflow and infiltration--I&I is a problem that unnecessarily taxes our waste water treatment plant (wwtp) and system, and can lead to overflows. Storm water goes through the sewer treatment that should not be treated. This was part of why we had to do major improvements to our sewer system. This loan, if successful, will help us do the testing that will help us eliminate this problem.
Resolution 2011-32 OEPA Planning Loan Application for Sanitary Sewer Lift Station
Improvements As part of our EPA required improvements to our WWTP, and resolution 31 above, we also need to evaluate our lift station. I support this.
Resolution 2011-33 2012 Tax Budget This is basically pro-forma. I will ask some questions, but I will vote yes.

Important: In addition, in our paper packet was initially included a resolution (2011-34) regarding a proferred loan to eHDS, a local business that provides many well-paying jobs but that may move from YS as a result of lack of space. (See this week's excellent YS News article on the challenges.) This offer was rejected, so the resolution and loan offer were removed from the online packets. From my very limited involvement in this negotation, I believe it is likely that we may consider a revised proposal or at least a report of some sort tonight, but negotiations are on-going.

Due to the confusion of the process, I asked our legal Counsel to weigh in on whether it was proper to remove that legislation, by Sunshine laws. He saw no violation of Sunshine, and provided helpful counsel for how to approach our negotiations with businesses in keeping with the law and the rights of business owners.

I suspect this issue, including the broader issue of the lack of "A-1 office space" in YS will be discussed under New Business.

SPECIAL REPORTS
Chamber Marketing Plan for 2011-2012. Report of activities and request for our support of $2400 for the Chamber's cooperative marketing of the village and local businesses.

OLD BUSINESS
AMP Tree Trimming Update We are under contract with AMP's forestry division to do some major line clearance work (this is on top of our regular, annual line clearance in another section of the village, which would be done by competitive bidding). The AMP foresters have looked at the area south of Allen Street, and estimate $179,000 to do so. This would come out of the electrical fund, which has money to cover it. I will vote yes, because prevention is the best cure: the electrical outage problems that overgrown trees are creating, cost a lot of money and time and sometimes are even dangerous for people's lives.
Solar Farm Update The solar partners visited the proposed site on Thursday with staff and Council people Hempfling and Walkey. We will have a report on what they saw.

EXECUTIVE SESSION: We will be doing our annual review of Village Manager Cundiff. Feel free to send in input, as well as discussing pending litigation.

POEM
An immigrant's decision to love this country, painfully. Happy day after Independence!

Learning to Love America

By Shirley Geok-Lin Lim

because it has no pure products

because the Pacific Ocean sweeps along the coastline

because the water of the ocean is cold

and because land is better than ocean

because I say we rather than they

because I live in California

I have eaten fresh artichokes

and jacaranda bloom in April and May

because my senses have caught up with my body

my breath with the air it swallows

my hunger with my mouth

because I walk barefoot in my house

because I have nursed my son at my breast

because he is a strong American boy

because I have seen his eyes redden when he is asked who he is

because he answers I don’t know

because to have a son is to have a country

because my son will bury me here

because countries are in our blood and we bleed them

because it is late and too late to change my mind

because it is time.

Shirley Geok-lin Lim, “Learning to love America” from What the Fortune Teller Didn’t Say. Copyright © 1998 by Shirley Geok-lin Lim. Reprinted with the permission of West End Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Source: What the Fortune Teller Didn’t Say (West End Press, 1998)

VC tonight: AMP, Water Deduct, Gambling, Library Evaluation, Affordable Housing, Tree Trimming, Solid Waste

2011-06-20T16:52:00.001-04:00

Dear People--I went to a wedding this weekend where for once I wasn't the cynical one in the corner, but was instead totally swept up by the whole ritual, romance, generosity, and intimacy of the event, and periodically made misty-eyed. It's quite possible I'm losing my edge.

Anyway, love is in the air and I hope that all the men out there who have loved and raised children, by playing an active and generous role in their lives, regardless of whether you were a biological father or not, had a great fathers' day. (Special shout out to adoptive and foster fathers.) So I'm ending with a poem for fathers (with a reference to John and Yoko...)

Here's the whole packet if you want to follow along at home!

PETITIONS/COMMUNICATIONS
The Clerk will receive and file:
Mayor’s Monthly Report
Christine Roberts re: Natural Gas Prices (concern that newly allowed exports of natural gas will cause the prices to skyrocket)
Christine Roberts re: Renewable Energy (against locking ourselves into natural gas, ideas about how renewables may become storeable)
Pat Murphy re: CO2 Estimates (gas lower than coal)
Pat Murphy re: Greenhouse Gas (excellent analysis from the National Energy Technology Lab--a federal agency. While there does need to be better reporting of fugitive gas emissions, etc., gas is better than coal on basically every measure)
Pat Murphy re: Fracking and Methane Contamination
Pat Murphy re: Policy Recommendations (scientific paper from Duke center on Global Change/Environmental policy noting that gas has more energy per pound than coal and producing almost none of the mercury, sulfur dioxide and particulates of burning coal; "bridge to a carbon constrained future"; urging study, regulation and caution, but not rejecting fracking outright.)
Fritz Leighty re: Support for Affordable Housing Project (Cemetery St. project for which Home, Inc., has turned in their Qualifications--sees it as a no-brainer and necessary)
OML re: Legislative Updates (The current budget is really a disaster for local jobs and budgets--please contact your state reps: Hackett--Ohio House of Reps; Widener--Ohio Senate)
Sharon Potter re: Investment Summaries (banks are providing little interest on our money but our investment possibilities are limited by statute. Treasurer and Finance director are working to do what they can.)
Greene Co. Public Library re: July Programming
Lori Askeland re: Thanking Marc Gerken (AMP CEO, for coming to speak to us last meeting)
Jerry Papania [for the ENERGY BOARD] re: Membership in Fremont Facility (the EB recommends that we participate at the .5 MW level)
Bob Moore re: Tree Trimming Practices (recommends that we develop good policies around tree planting and trimming, and use certified arborists.)

PUBLIC HEARINGS/LEGISLATION

Emergency Reading and Public Hearing of Ordinance 2011-15 Approving a Contract with AMP for the Fremont Natural Gas Facility: Having looked long and hard at this, and being assured that we can sell if we find a better, greener option, I support the lowered amount of investment in this facility at .5 MW. I hear loud and clearly the concerns about fracking and also about the future costs of gas which are not knowable; I still believe this small amount is our best bet, for now, giving us some control over the way power is being delivered into the grid. I believe it is now up to us to cut our usage if we really want to make selling this small amount back to AMP a realistic possibility, and to get ourselves as close to green and sustainable energy sourcing as possible.

Second Reading and Public Hearing of Ordinance 2011-16 Approving a Change in Sewer Fees to Permit Residential Installation of Deduct Meters I will vote no, because I believe in conservation above all else. However, of all the ways to allow people who garden to reduce their sewer costs, this is the best mechanism. Please don't water your grass, people. And use covers with pools, etc., to avoid water loss.

First Reading of Ordinance 2011-18 Amending Section 1242.09 General Provisions & Definitions, and Section 1258.02 Principally Permitted Uses, of Title Four – Zoning of Part Twelve – Planning and Zoning Code of the Codified Ordinances of the Village of Yellow Springs, Ohio This is to allow "sweepstakes" internet gambling in the "general business district"--i.e., NOT downtown but out here on south 68, basically, where places like KFC, etc., are. We apparently have little ability to regulate these businesses other than limiting where they may be located.

Resolution 2011-27 Awarding Library Building Evaluation Contract After going through a public bidding process, only one firm applied for the library building evaluation. Ted Donnell's firm has submitted a bid of $12,725 for this project; we originally budgeted $30,000 for it. This is part of what we promised we would spend the levy money on five years ago. Karen Wintrow will recuse herself from this discussion.

OLD BUSINESS
Affordable Housing RFQ Process Update: Home Inc has submitted their qualifications for this Cemetery street development--four affordable houses. We will be discussing the process and voting as to whether they should submit a proposal for the next step. I support this project.
Tree Trimming Discussion The most recent power outages that were not DP&L's fault, are not due to problems with our machinery, they are due to trees. Many branches were lost during the last big ice storm, but many were merely weakened, only to fall later. I believe we need to be much more aggressive than we have been in most places, generally cutting 10' from both sides from the ground all the way up, except when the trees are very mature or even historic. (This is the policy that Piqua uses and they had no outage during the last storm.) I also want to thank Bob Moore (a citizen and certified arborist) for his helpful input and will ask that the information he sent in be sent to the tree committee who can perhaps help us look at our current policies and develop better long-term goals.

NEW BUSINESS
Chamber Marketing Program: We have been paying $2,400 to the Chamber as a cost effective way to market the village's events to the region. This comes from Economic Development money, from the levy. I support it. (Karen Wintrow will recuse herself.)
Solid Waste Contract Discussion We have two bids, from Rumpke and Waste Management. They are very close. Waste Management's is the lower, on many counts, and overall, but there are slight differences in the many areas we need to consider. WM would not charge for any trash and recycling pick up in the downtown, but does basically charge more for the large containers you use when you're doing work on your house, and a little more for "spring clean up" service. Would love to hear your thoughts!
Sutton Farm Leases: Manager Cundiff proposes extending the lease to Flatter Herefords, same price, for 5 more years.
CR Update of Activities

Executive Session: For pending litigation, discussion of personnel issues, and the Manager's annual evaluation.

POEM

My Father Holds the Door for Yoko Ono

In New York City for a conference

on weed control, leaving the hotel

in a cluster of horticulturalists,

he alone stops, midwestern, crewcut,

narrow blue tie, cufflinks, wingtips,

holds the door for the Asian woman

in a miniskirt and thigh high

white leather boots. She nods

slightly, a sad and beautiful gesture.

Neither smile, as if performing

a timeless ritual, as if anticipating

the loss of a son or a lover.

Years later, Christmas, inexplicably

he dons my mother’s auburn wig,

my brother’s wire-rimmed glasses,

and strikes a pose clowning

with my second hand acoustic guitar.

He is transformed, a working class hero

and a door whispers shut,

like cherry blossoms falling.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org

), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Reprinted from “Folio,” Winter, 2004, by permission of the author. Copyright © 2004 by Christopher Chambers, who teaches creative writing at Loyola University New Orleans. Introduction copyright © 2009 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

Best,
Lori

PC tonight: Solar Farm Zoning, Internet "Sweepstakes", and Parks/Rec Plan

2011-06-13T17:40:00.001-04:00

Hi People--Just a quick note. There are 3 things on our planning commission agenda tonight:

1) The solar farm is to be sited on a part of the Glass Farm that is still only zoned according to Township Zoning--it has never been re-zoned by the village. The township zoning apparently does allow for a solar farm. Also, our current zoning code defines "essential facilities" but does not make them exempt from the provisions of the zoning code, which is unusual. We will discuss whether it would be worth our while to look at any other properties that have not had village zoning established. I am not sure how important this is when we're beginning the process of rewriting our zoning code.

2) We had hoped to make Internet "Sweepstakes"--i.e., gambling--facililties a conditional use in the general business district. Our solictor now tells us that we have no choice but to make them a permitted use. We'll discuss this further this evening.

3) Tim Tobey is taking a stab at working the old Parks and Rec Master Plan that was drafted in the late 90s and never finally endorsed by Council. Karen Wintrow had made some updates in the mid-2000s but those hadn't been attended to. He'll be letting us know what it looks like and whether it's doable to make small updates to it or if we should just drop it.

VC Monday: Power and possibilities.

2011-06-05T16:25:00.002-04:00

<-- Photo courtesy of jafagirls!

Dear people: Blog readers: I apologize. I don't know why I fail to take the simple step of posting these emails to my blog--I assure you it is more from rushing and getting out of the habit than any nefarious agenda on my part. I am, once again, committed to doing better. Do feel free to email me any thoughts or questions.

The agenda for Monday is heavy, and I'd really appreciate some feedback on several items which I have highlighted in yellow. Please consider downloading the whole packet from the village Council website

so you can be fully informed.

I. PETITIONS/COMMUNICATIONS
Dinsmore Report for Week of 5/23 : I don't know who this group is; they are lawyers and lobbyists who sometimes work for municipalities. We just started getting these weekly summaries/reports. I've looked at their website so I get the basics but am still not clear about what they are really like. This is a sort of newsletter/overview of the Statehouse legislation for the week. Seems designed to drum up business...I detect a slight right-leaning bias. If anyone knows more about the firm, feel free to share.
GCCHD Press Release re: Motorcycle Safety Month and Traffic Fatality Report
GCCHD re: Tractor Pull Benefitting Health Foundation
Lori Askeland re: Testimony Before Senate Finance Committee: This is what I presented to the Ohio Senate Finance committee on May 19th. But I was more blunt in my testimony: I said they should raise taxes and revenues from wealthy people as part of the plan to deal with the budget deficit.
Pat Murphy re: Fracking Information : I believe Pat simply provided some articles (there was no name on them in my packet indicating who had sent them.) We welcome information; it's most helpful, however, if each item has a clear cover note or email identifying who is responsible for bringing it to our attention.
Vickie Hennessey re: Letter and Information on Fracking: also opposed to AMP gas plant
Yellow Springs Home Assistance Program re: Services Available
Sharon Potter re: Monthly Financial Statement
Christine Roberts re: Opposing Fracking also opposed to AMP gas plant. Both Roberts and Hennessey suggest that we craft a request for proposals for renewable "intermediate" sources of power.
MORPC re: Newsletter

PUBLIC HEARINGS/LEGISLATION

Emergency Reading and Public Hearing of Ordinance 2011-15 Approving a Contract with AMP for the Fremont Natural Gas Facility I do not feel I have fully grasped this proposal, and I am still thinking carefully about it, and would like to hear from citizens. This Fremont Natural Gas plant would be a source of "intermediate" power: that means the energy we use during work-week days, from dawn until night. Since it's 5 days a week, 16 hrs per day it's sometimes called "5x16" power. We have received some confusing and contradictory advice; an external consultant to a group of AMP municipalities looked at this and said don't sign because they thought it was base power (24/7 power), which they say we have enough of. But, while this could be used as base power, AMP is going to use it as intermediate power--because it can be and will be shut off on weekends. Moreover, from looking at the colorful graphs of our likely future energy needs, it seems pretty clear that, without dramatic reductions, we will need new sources of "intermediate"/ 5x16 power in our near future.

So I am still trying to understand the projected future needs of our village and how this would play into those needs.

One thing I know for sure: THE BEST thing we can do now for our electrical-power portion of the environmental crisis is work to find ways to lower our home energy consumption and our consumption of all manufactured products. The 10% club is full of great ideas.

Some things that I'm pretty sure of:

1) Should we vote to reject this facility, we won't stop this facility from opening and operating;
2) and even if we that were not the case, it's pretty clear fracking will not stop immediately: the demand for natural gas is huge overseas as well as here, so if there is gas available to be fracked, it almost certainly still will be, and our current governments are heavily lobbied, and campaigns are heavily subsidized by these industries, so sensible regulation must be fought for tooth and nail and is looking very uncertain;
3) Also, while one recent study

that our Energy Board and some citizens are citing made what I believe to be a very interesting claim that emissions from natural gas are worse than from some coal emissions: That study is quite likely flawed--see this analysis by a NASA climate scientist--who is very critical of the gas/oil industries--whose research was used to help make the case

(even the comments on that link are amazingly excellent and thoughtful, btw--it's really worth a read). The bottom line: Coal mining--particularly mountain top removal coal mining--also produces fugitive methane emissions that are, at best (still wastefully) just burnt off: this study did not fully account for that--ironically in large part because the industry is so resistant to any reporting on these facts. Therefore...

4) ...I remain strongly persauded that on almost every conceivable level, coal is the worst possible form of energy for us to use--it is horrific at every step of the path and far too many old coal plants like our Gorsuch facility, which is thankfully closing, are the worst of the worst because they've been grandfathered in to avoid complying with the Clean Air act--and it remains a dominant form of energy in Ohio.

5) Many--probably most?--environmental scientists thus still regard natural gas as a "bridge" fuel to a more renewable future and preferable to coal. Although it remains true that we cannot be 100% sure what the total emissions are from any of these industries, please do NOT underestimate just how bad coal mining and burning is for the planet and the local environments around where coal plants are located. Yes, fracking is bad: but mountaintop removal and coal burning and the by products of mining and burning coal are horrific and horrifically damaging in virtually all of the same ways that fracking is bad as an extraction method. Coal mining today does almost everything that fracking does and more. Then, once gas is extracted it is considerably less productive of both greenhouse gases and of particulates, which create breathing problems, contribute to asthma, and lifelong lung damage--gas produces virtually none of these. Coal damages horrifically and often invisibly at every step of the path.

The risks of saying "no": There are currently no good, renewable alternatives on the market for this "intermediate"/5x16 energy. The main problem being the lack of ability to store energy from things like wind or solar. Wind and solar are not viable for us at this point, where we are, for this 5x16 usage. Thus we will likely still end up buying the same (or worse--coal) sources of energy, and this will likely come at higher cost, on the open market. Moreover, this is a new, state-of-the-art facility that is already nearly completely constructed (unlike the coal plants we turned down in 2007) and has been purchased for what seems to be a very good price, and it has been built to much better standards than most of Ohio's currently operating power (mostly coal) plants.

So while the energy from the 50 year contracts on coal plants that we turned down is reportedly costing more than expected, energy from this one would more likely be lower than market costs. The higher costs of buying on the open market hurt lower income and fixed-income people in our community harder than they hit higher income people. Although we are doing some things to support our rate payers in usage reduction, there's still inadequate infrastructural support for dramatic reductions of one's energy usage. So it takes a great deal of time, effort and often some initial investment to cut back. Thus, the attempt to lower our usage also often burdens lower income people, people who work long hours or have disabilities, more than able bodied people on comfortable incomes. Moreover, we're a small town: while our saying "no" has symbolic power and may have marketing power for us, it likely has little practical power against the massive energy companies that control all the fossil fuel mining.

The risks of saying "yes": We lock ourselves in for 30-years in a contract for natural gas energy that lawyers call a "hell or high water" contract (I'm not joking! two lawyers in our documentation used that exact phrase!): meaning we're on the stick even if it never comes to fruition. There seems to be some real possibility that storage for renewables and "smart grid" improvements could come on the market in, say, the next 5-10 years, which could make renewables more viable as a 5x16 fuel source. Because this contract may keep costs a little lower, there may be less incentive for people to make the effort to dramatically reduce their usage. We miss a chance to say no to a continuation of the status quo; to put our little bit more pressure, community pressure, on the suppliers to come up with viable alternatives to fossil fuels. We may hurt our ability to see ourselves, and market ourselves as a "green" town that cares about the environment. Right now, our state (especially) and even federal governments do not seem to many of us very serious about applying this pressure.

Final notes:

Some citizens have suggested we issue an RFP for a renewable source of intermediate/5x16 energy. One suggests that we do so in a very public way--making it a press release and using it as a way to announce ourselves as serious about our green commitments. This has merits, in the abstract, but I am concerned about the logistics of it, and I also know that our small staff is not in a position to take on another new task like that in the short term.

I am disturbed by the persuasive evidence that some citizens--Chris Roberts in particular--have brought forward that AMP so heavily loads these contracts in its favor, against its own member communities. While "hell or high water" contracts are apparently the industry standard, and are due in part to the practicalities of financing, it's also partly because the industries are so powerful and there is so little competition. Thus, even in a co-op like AMP, that creates standards that inevitably favor the industry over the needs of people / individual rate payers.

Conclusion: This is a close call for me--much closer a call than the coal decision was. (Especially with the benefit of hindsight; we now know that the Meigs plant never got built, but had expensive planning that we didn't have to pay for, and the other plant is charging above the market rate. So I am very happy with that position). But I am leaning toward saying "no."

I will be listening very carefully tomorrow night and very much still want to hear what people have to say. So please write, and/or bring your friendly face to the meeting tomorrow night!

First Reading of Ordinance 2011-16 Approving a Change in Sewer Fees to Permit Residential Installation of Deduct Meters This is the ordinance to allow "deduct" metering to sewers for garden watering, lawn watering, etc. While I understand the point, I was strongly persuaded by a letter from Nick Boutis and other community members who spoke to me privately, that we really need to be in the business of using whatever tools we have to encourage water saving, so I will likely vote no.

Emergency Reading and Public Hearing of Ordinance 2011-17 Amending Pool Fees This is the "swimming for all" fees, and it's an emergency because the pool is already open! I support swimming for all.

III. CITIZEN CONCERNS

IV. SPECIAL REPORTS
Tornado Siren Update Lack of clear internal rules and communication, and some difficulties with the vendors, led to some of the problems that caused malfunctioning. We believe that staff has made good steps toward solving these problems.
DP&L Power Outage The losses of power over the last few weeks were not Village problems but DP&L problems. We get all the power we distribute via DP&L's lines: if they don't get power to us, we have no power to distribute.

A final note: I understand that it's upsetting when the power goes out, but it is inappropriate and mean and counterproductive to make wild accusations and threats to our hard working staff, particularly when an emergency is ongoing. Of course residents should call the Village to report problems, but please remember that these are human beings who are doing challenging work for all of us. Be kind. (See poem below, particularly the final lines for more.)

V. OLD BUSINESS
Technical Review Committee Membership Discussion Snafu. Partly my fault--we have 4 members of the PC on here, and that's a quorum, which poses problems beyond those we initially considered when we discussed this at the last meeting. I am striving to resolve it.

VI. NEW BUSINESS
Discussion of Bryan Center Janitorial Service During the summer we need to hire internally to clean the Bryan Center.
Liquor Permits (Chief Grote) Having an interest in the Emporium, I will have to recuse myself. This is just the annual renewal of liquor licences for village businesses.
Discussion of Tree Pruning Parameters: We currently trim every line every 4 years, 10 feet around, but not usually above the lines. Part of the reason we had so many downed wires during the ice storm last year is that we don't tend to trim above the power lines. We could trim more aggressively and we have some good info in our packet advising us about this. I'd love your input! Do you want more cutting and likely more stable power? Or are you worried about too much cutting of trees?

POEM: I'm told by a New York reviewer that this poem was read at Jimmy Carter's inauguration in 1977. It's a fine one. I've had to read and re-read it. It speaks to me about the quiet power that is all around us--and particularly the ways we might sense that power in small towns. (When I think about the more banal power of this very computer and where it's coming from, I am aware of the disconnect between the direct and amazing power flowing in our universe and our power system of huffing and chugging plants and puny wires on poles...it seems so small and silly and small and wildly inefficient and kind of "missing the point" at some level.)

And the prayer at the end is so on point: calling us to our internal dignity, "tended strength...and kindness." Preach it, I say. May we all chant the final lines with him, "My life belongs to the world. I will do what I can."

The Strength of Fields

By James L. Dickey

... a separation from the world, a penetration to some source of power and a life-enhancing return ...

Van Gennep: Rites de Passage

Moth-force a small town always has,

Given the night.

What field-forms can be,

Outlying the small civic light-decisions over

A man walking near home?

Men are not where he is

Exactly now, but they are around him around him like the strength

Of fields. The solar system floats on

Above him in town-moths.

Tell me, train-sound,

With all your long-lost grief,

what I can give.

Dear Lord of all the fields

what am I going to do?

Street-lights, blue-force and frail

As the homes of men, tell me how to do it how

To withdraw how to penetrate and find the source

Of the power you always had

light as a moth, and rising

With the level and moonlit expansion

Of the fields around, and the sleep of hoping men.

You? I? What difference is there? We can all be saved

By a secret blooming. Now as I walk

The night and you walk with me we know simplicity

Is close to the source that sleeping men

Search for in their home-deep beds.

We know that the sun is away we know that the sun can be conquered

By moths, in blue home-town air.

The stars splinter, pointed and wild. The dead lie under

The pastures. They look on and help. Tell me, freight-train,

When there is no one else

To hear. Tell me in a voice the sea

Would have, if it had not a better one: as it lifts,

Hundreds of miles away, its fumbling, deep-structured roar

Like the profound, unstoppable craving

Of nations for their wish.

Hunger, time and the moon:

The moon lying on the brain

as on the excited sea as on

The strength of fields. Lord, let me shake

With purpose. Wild hope can always spring

From tended strength. Everything is in that.

That and nothing but kindness. More kindness, dear Lord

Of the renewing green. That is where it all has to start:

With the simplest things. More kindness will do nothing less

Than save every sleeping one

And night-walking one

Of us.

My life belongs to the world. I will do what I can.

James Dickey, “The Strength of Fields” from The Whole Motion: Collected Poems 1945-1992. Copyright © 1992 by James Dickey. Reprinted with the permission of Wesleyan University Press, www.wesleyan.edu/wespress

.
Source: James Dickey: The Selected Poems (Wesleyan University Press, 1998)

VC tonight! Solar park? Landfill Gas Power, Affordable housing project, Zoning update, Levy Renewal

2011-04-04T14:26:00.000-04:00

Dear People--Well, this day is about as dark and dreary as they come. I hope these April showers are going to bring us those promised May flowers, or we may have to write a sternly worded letter. So, tonight's agenda--is heavy and I'm under the gun as usual. Let's go--

PETITIONS / COMMUNICATIONS: I will mention the ones in yellow tonight; my comments in italics.

Rhonda Mullins re: Consumer Affairs, US Post Office
Cynthia Smith re: Customer Care, US Post Office

The above two are in response to a letter Karen wrote urging the USPO not to shut down the YS PO

Ronald Schmidt re: Complaint and Records Request
Judy Kintner re: Response to Schmidt Request

The above two are about Mr. Schmidt's concerns that the ESC minutes have not been posted to the website. Judy responded to his request in full.

Sharon Potter re: Monthly Financial Statement
Marlin Newell re: Use of Cemetery St. Parking Area @ Street Fair for Aftercare
OML Legislative Bulletin re: Recent Legislation and Committee Schedules
Greene Co. Combined Health District Media Alert re: Health Week
Yellow Springs Environmental Commission re: Fracking Resolution

The EC unanimously recommends that Council pass a resolution supporting a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing until the current USEPA study is complete and the practice is proven safe.

PUBLIC HEARINGS / LEGISLATION

Resolution 2011-21 Approving RFQ for Non-Profit Partner for Affordable Housing Development on Cemetery St. I have covered this in earlier emails. I hope that everyone heard Karen Wintrow's eloquent statement on this project, which she supports--it was one of the finest, clearest explanations I've heard from our desk. I will vote yes.
Resolution 2011-22 Approving an RFQ for Rewriting of the Zoning Code for the Village of Yellow Springs. At our joint meeting--VC, PC, BZA--last week, we decided to make this a two step process in order to be more likely to get the best bid for our village's needs.

SPECIAL REPORTS
Community Access Panel Report to Council

OLD BUSINESS
Skatepark Repair and Upgrades Discussion Our levy promised money for parks; we have spent very little of that promised money, and this park is a draw for young people, who are our future. I support modest upgrades and efforts to find private grant money.

Solar Farm Discussion: I support this project: I know it is last minute. But it is $400,000 up front and a $13 million investment in our village for a source of clean, green power.

Frankly, also, I am leaning towards the Glass Farm as the best site: $400,000 in our coffers would be a huge boon, instead of paying that money for more land on the Fogg Farm--although that's also not a horrible plan. And it's basically temporary: if after 20 years we decide we want housing or something else there, it can easily be put in.

Landfill Gas Contract with AMP (Not sure where this will come in our discussion): We also have information on a Landfill Gas contract: here's Mark's memo:

This would be a 10 year contract [with AMP] under which we would receive 700 KW of power. The breakdown of the costs is attached as Exhibit A [I can send you this, people--just let me know. --LJA]. As you can see, there are three time periods and there are different costs for each time period. The cheapest power will be available between 11 pm and 8 am for the entire year. The other two time periods are for 8 am to 11 pm, and are dependent on the day of the week, time of year, and whether it is a holiday.

AMP is also asking if we want to keep our share of the RECs or have AMP sell them for us.

Due to some extenuating circumstances, we will need to adopt the ordinance authorizing the signing of the agreements with emergency language in order to meet the deadline of April 30th.

Levy Renewal Update: Kate Levesconte, of the levy committee, has written a great letter on this, so I'm including it:

April 2, 2011

Dear friends,

On behalf of the Yellow Springs YES Committee I am writing to lobby you to participate in our effort to pass Issue 16, the renewal of the Yellow Springs 8.4 mill Property Tax Levy. I joined the committee to help insure that Yellow Springs would continue to have the resources we need to provide the services that are part of what I find distinguishing for our town.

Currently the Village gets about 25% of the General Fund from the property taxes, so this is a big part of the village's income. The General Fund pays for just about everything the village does, with the exception of our utilities which are managed out of the Enterprise Fund. The General Fund pays for our police force, parks and recreation, village council functions, the Bryan Center, maintenance of the library and a host of other smaller but important services.

To be candid, even if the levy passes, the village has been and will continue to need to find ways to reduce costs, both because of declining revenues from other sources and because of the increasing costs due to inflation. The village's situation, if it has to cut costs by an additional 25%, will indeed be dire.

There have been some who have suggested opposition to the levy as a referendum on one or another of the decisions that council has made. I strongly encourage you to consider these issues separately. Three of the five council members are elected every two years, so there is frequent opportunity to change leadership if one desires. Whether that leadership has minimally adequate resources with which to do their job is another question entirely, and that is the issue at hand. For my part, I am generally pleased with the job council is doing. But even if I wasn't, I would be in favor of the levy renewal (won't create any additional taxes).

There are two primary needs for which the committee is currently soliciting help. One is volunteer canvassers to go door to door to talk to residents about the levy and distribute literature. The other is fund-raising. The committee is raising funds to cover the costs of literature, signs and buttons. If you'd like to canvass, please call or email me (631-1092; klevesconte@oesterlen.org). Each Saturday in April we will be meeting at 12:30 in the Art Room at the Bryan Center to train canvassers and distribute materials and maps. Come one, come all! If you'd like to donate to the committee, checks can be made out to Yellow Springs YES and mailed to our treasurer, Ken Huber, 617 Fairfield Pike, YSO.

I hope you will consider participating in this community effort, but in any case, I will look forward to seeing you again at our gatherings.

Best regards,

Kate

P.S. For more information on the levy, you can go to yellowspringsyes.com or come to the public forum at the Senior Center, 2-4 p.m., Sunday April 17th.

NEW BUSINESS

Approval of Letter from Council to Governor Kasich: I wrote this letter (included in the attached packet) regarding the draconian cuts that the governor is proposing for the "local government fund" which provides

Clerk's report includes a public records policy that we will consider.

Tonight! Joint meeting

2011-03-28T17:31:00.000-04:00

Hi, all: Here's the packet for the joint meeting tonight of Village Council, Planning Commission, and the Board of Zoning Appeals. It includes an RFP for a consultant to help us write our new zoning code.

I hope you will read it and offer any thoughts you have. (Positive or negative.) We will also be discussing this at our 4/4 meeting, based on the ideas generated tonight.

Sorry this is late!

I will be better--somehow I just got out of the habit of posting here.

2011-03-21T16:55:00.002-04:00

Dear People: Well, it's be a depressing and pretty scary week or so, with the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear breakdowns in Japan, the attack on Libya, and the Kasich budget announcement which proposes to cut the funding for local governments by 25% this coming year and 49% next year. This is a very significant drop in revenue. (The schools are also facing smaller but still significant cuts--and privatization measures. Here's the Dayton Daily News' story

.) On top of that, YSI is being sold.

These are serious times. I am gravely concerned, because I think it's a lot easier to tear something complex and valuable down, than it is to build it up. And I'm worried that that's exactly what's happening in the state of Ohio right now. Things are being torn down and blown up by "market forces" and cries for no new taxes on the extremely rich and on businesses that have been making record profits.

We will need the levy we are asking you to pass this Spring: it will not raise your taxes; it will hold them steady. We will still have to make cuts--probably serious ones--no matter what happens with this current budget proposal; without the levy they may need to be catastrophic. I can only urge you to talk to your friends and neighbors about this current situation.

LEGISLATION:

1) ORDINANCE (1st reading): SIDEWALKS: I have been supporting the plan for the village to take over sidewalk repairs, but in light of these most recent threats to our budget, I am considering delaying this decision, very, very reluctantly. It's not a huge expense, and not doing it ourselves is an expense, too, because we then need to track down owners. But I admit that the new budget pressures are deeply concerning to me. I am still pondering this at this time. $30,000 / year isn't a huge percentage of our total budget, but we may need to take a vacuum cleaner to the whole thing in order to weather this crisis.

2) ORDINANCE (2nd reading) ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION: Changing (lowering) the requirements for a quorum.

3) ORDINANCE (2nd reading) REVISING ECONOMIC REVOLVING LOAN FUND GUIDELINES: I was not at the last meeting, but have read the minutes, and I have heard from several constituents on both sides of this issue. No one I know has anything bad to say about YSKP as an entity, but some have grave concerns about opening up the application pool for this loan fund to non-profit organizations. I have thought about those positions. As I read the information, our primary concern with this fund is to try to create and retain jobs, particularly for low-income people. While some of the loans may be capital loans, for things that could be sold by us, the lender, should the entity default, they are not required to be capital loans that have this kind of collateral behind them. Indeed, one of the requirements of this loan is that the organization seeking the loan is supposed to prove that they have tried and been rejected for a loan from a traditional lending agency. They do, however, need to "secure the proceeds used for operating costs with business or personal liens."

A not-for-profit entity is as capable of repaying a loan as is a for-profit entity. Yes, there are many not-for-profits that might conceivably try to apply for this loan, but they would need to go through the process, and there would need to be loan funds available. They need to prove that they meet the guidelines: that the entity actually provides jobs for low-income people. Although I know that some of you will disagree with this policy stance, I support changing the guidelines to include non-profit organizations that can otherwise satisfy the requirements of the loan.

4) ORDINANCE (1st Reading): ANNUAL TRANSFER OF FUNDS: This is a boilerplate ordinance that gets our approved budget in operation. This ordinance needs to passed as an emergency to meet the state guidelines of having it in effect by March 31. This "emergency" language puts it in effect immediately, rather than one month from today.

5) ORDINANCE (1st Reading): ICE / WINDSTORM DAMAGE: This allows us to use unencumbered funds from the electrical funds, which is in good shape, to help pay for all the overtime, etc., caused by the ice/windstorm in February. The governor did not declare an emergency, so we will not get funding from federal sources.

6) RESOLUTION: RENEWING LEASE WITH FLATTER HEREFORD FARMS ON HAY FIELD, SUTTON FARM. The last 5-year lease expired in November 2010; this would renew until 2015.

7) RESOLUTION: SOLID WASTE RFP: Ed Amrhein worked with Dana Storrs of Greene County Solid Waste Mgmt and the Environmental Commission on this proposed RFP. A very small number of customers may have to reduce the tier of service to where the rest of us are--does anyone really produce more than 120 gallons of waste per week? (most businesses have their own contracts with providers)--which I think would be good.

8) RESOLUTION: AFFORDABLE HOUSING ON CEMETERY STREET: I support this resolution. It will create low income housing with minimal investment, and some construction jobs to boot, which are few and far between in our region right now.

SPECIAL REPORTS: Annual reports from Environmental Comm. and Planning Comm.

OLD BUSINESS: Neighborhood gardens and Solar Farm. I generally support trying to build this, probably on the Fogg Farm, although I'd probably prefer the Glass Farm since we own that already, but we're on a short time frame. Again, it's a few new jobs and it would increase our renewable energy portfolio. Mark suggests we need some help evaluating this proposal because we lack expertise. It may be that the timeline is just too short for us to adequately deal with it.

We may also discuss briefly a natural gas plant that AMP, our energy co-op, is building.

Margaret Atwood is good for the soul--and funny, too. (Hey, my birthday is this Thursday and you can still give money to our local Planned Parenthood!

Even just a little bit means a lot!)

POEM

Backdrop addresses cowboy

by Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood

Starspangled cowboy

sauntering out of the almost-

silly West, on your face

a porcelain grin,

tugging a papier-mâché cactus

on wheels behind you with a string,

you are innocent as a bathtub

full of bullets.

Your righteous eyes, your laconic

trigger-fingers

people the streets with villains:

as you move, the air in front of you

blossoms with targets

and you leave behind you a heroic

trail of desolation:

beer bottles

slaughtered by the side

of the road, bird-

skulls bleaching in the sunset.

I ought to be watching

from behind a cliff or a cardboard storefront

when the shooting starts, hands clasped

in admiration,

but I am elsewhere.

Then what about me

what about the I

confronting you on that border,

you are always trying to cross?

I am the horizon

you ride towards, the thing you can never lasso

I am also what surrounds you:

my brain

scattered with your

tincans, bones, empty shells,

the litter of your invasions.

I am the space you desecrate

as you pass through.

Margaret Atwood, “Backdrop addresses cowboy” from Selected Poems 1965-1975. Copyright © 1974, 1976 by Margaret Atwood. Used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Source: Selected Poems (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1976)

VC: 11/1 Sidewalks, Solar, Widows!, Green Space, Affordable Housing, Water, Ancestors,

2010-10-30T19:12:00.003-04:00

{--A local widow who receives John Gaunt's flour and sugar bequest for her Christmas cookies, from an American Profile magazine article last year

Dear People: Ok, this is a pretty big agenda, and the packet is attached to this document.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: 1) DAVID SCOTT, new Director of Senior Center, will introduce himself, offer brief explanation of his vision for the Senior Center's future. He has submitted a proposal for village funding of the Senior Center, but this proposal will not be discussed on Monday.

2 ) FLUORIDE FORUM November 13th, 2-4:30 pm, Bryan Center Gym. Kathleen Theissen (SENES labs, Oak Ridge TN, National Research Council scientist), Kevin Schlueter (YSI Labs, biochemist), Mary White (Director, Division of Medical Humanities). Moderator: Meg Carver (Village Mediation). This is a panel of scientists and a public health professor: these are not activists arguing for a cause, so much as scientists explaining their understanding of the water fluoridation issue. This is a forum for learning; come prepared to ask questions politely and respectfully.

COMMUNICATIONS: Since I post this email to my blog, I am only here identifying residents who have current or recent positions connected to Village government, and leaving anonymous those who do not. Their names will be mentioned at the meeting and their signed letters are in the attached packet:

Resident: SIDEWALKS against new sidewalk policy;
Steve Conn (former EC): HOUSING use the Sustainable YS report, possibly avoid need for Housing Needs Assessment;
Tom Clevenger (EC): RECYCLING offers a power-point plan for real recycling options (and encouragement thereof) downtown, including clearly marked containers and ideas for placement and other signage
MTFR Annual Report (passed levy, bought a new engine, trained many EMTs/fire fighters, lessons from first life-threatening on-the-job injury).
2 Residents (1 household): AFFORDABLE HOUSING against Cemetary St. development

LEGISLATION:

ORDINANCE: SIDEWALKS Amending sidewalk policy (2nd reading/public hearing). DIscussed earlier; this ordinance would make the village, rather than individual property owners, responsible for sidewalks.
ORDINANCE: SOLAR Approving the Form, Authorizing Execution of Solar Energy Schedule with AMP (1st Reading). The agreement with AMP last month has been approved; this is just the next step in the process.
RESOLUTION: COMP PLAN This would be the final adoption of the Comp Plan by this Council. Just in time to start revising again...
RESOLUTION: FLOUR/ SUGAR for WIDOWS. Everybody's favorite, annual, heart warming resolution, in honor of the bequest of our revered ancestor, John Gaunt, survivor of slavery, entrepreneur, public benefactor.
RESOLUTION: SIDEWALK REPAIR RFP This is a request for proposals from contractors who would repair village sidewalks next year.

SPECIAL REPORTS
Community Resources Presentation: Lisa Abel, president of CR, will present the report CR gave some months ago to the community at large on their current activities and plans.
Water Testing Report: Resident Ellis Jacobs and Water Treatment Plant Manager Joe Bates will discuss the testing of YS water for commonly used herbicides, etc., conducted earlier this year. This test is not required by the EPA or other federal agencies, but probably should be (see this New York Times series on water quality in the US). (Agricultural chemical tends to be more of problem on water from surface sources rather than groundwater, as YS water is.) Our water passed with flying colors.

OLD BUSINESS
Housing Needs Assessment Discussion: I believe we will here discuss what next steps we ought to take with regards to the Housing Needs Assessment, including the suggestion made by Steve Conn, above.
Affordable Housing Initiative: This is the plan that Judith and I are introducing to enter into a memorandum of understanding with Home, Inc., to develop a plan for a few permanently affordable houses on Cemetary Street.
Green Space Funding: We will be discussing a possible resolution to place $50,000 into the Green Space fund each year from the Estate Taxes (when such funds are available), to a cap of $250,000.
2011 Council Goals: We will discuss all 6 principals and the goals related to all six.

AGENDA PLANNING:
The next agenda will be very full, as we are starting to discuss the budget, levy renewal, public safety, etc.

EXECUTIVE SESSION:
Personnel--Clerk position and progress

POEM FOR THE ANCESTORS: I love singing this hard song, with its crazy key changes, and I love the words of this, the "Negro National Anthem," particularly the second verse.

Lift Every Voice and Sing
by James Weldon Johnson

Lift ev'ry voice and sing, Till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty; Let our rejoicing rise High as the list'ning skies, Let it resound loud as the rolling sea. Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us; Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, Let us march on till victory is won. Stony the road we trod, Bitter the chast'ning rod, Felt in the days when hope unborn had died; Yet with a steady beat, Have not our weary feet Come to the place for which our fathers sighed? We have come over a way that with tears has been watered. We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered, Out from the gloomy past, Till now we stand at last Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast. God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way; Thou who hast by Thy might, Led us into the light, Keep us forever in the path, we pray. Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee, Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee; Shadowed beneath Thy hand, May we forever stand, True to our God, True to our native land.

--
Lori Askeland (lori.askeland@gmail....)
Yellow Springs Village Council
1640 Spillan Road // Yellow Springs OH 45387
http://www.askelandforcouncil.blogspot.com (updated regularly with council news)
http://www.yso.com
937.767.8116

* TO UNSUBSCRIBE: If you wish to cease receiving regular Council updates from me, just send me a quick email; I won't be offended! *

"You may be certain that the world is heading for destruction, but it's a good thing, a moral thing, to behave as though there's still hope. Hope is as contagious as despair: your hope, or show of hope, is a gift you can give to your neighbour, and may even help to prevent or delay the destruction of his world,"- Primo Levi, 1985

VOTE! VC Mon: Sidewalks, Affordable Housing, 2011 Goals, Comprehensive Plan

2010-10-02T20:10:00.000-04:00

Dear People: I am so happy for the cool weather and the rain. I actually love a cold rainy fall day--although I'm kicking myself a little for not being more productive today; I was supposed to grade all day. Didn't. Ah well, I guess that's what Sundays are for.

But I did look through the Council packet (which I've attached the electronic version of) as I was downtown this afternoon, sans computer. Here's the agenda:

1. ANNOUNCEMENTS Greene County Combined Health District will make an announcement urging us to support the upcoming Levy, Issue 5.

Speaking of which: I want to urge you all to vote. You can still register as of this Monday (10/4), and you can start voting absentee as of last week, so get out and vote. I'll send you my choices, but basically I have to tell you I'm feeling more yellow-dog Democrat than ever this fall, perhaps grimly so--the behavior of the Republican party is simply not responsible government by any stretch of the imagination at this moment: it's demagoguery and we cannot afford it: they want to give still more useless tax breaks to the wealthiest of US citizens, who are richer than ever before, and they want to pay for it by cutting education. You may not be feeling "thrilled" or "enthusiastic" but you need to exercise this right.

I am enthusiastic, by the way, about Maryellen O'Shaunessy who is running for Secretary of State. I have two words for you: Ken Blackwell. Remember him and the fouled up election of 2004? The Republicans are running a young man who is a perpetual candidate with no experience; Maryellen O'Shaunessy has long experience in municipal government and small business doing work that has well prepared her for this job. I heard her speak, and I was impressed. Support Maryellen! http://www.maryellenforohio.com/

2. PUBLIC HEARINGS / LEGISLATION:

ORDINANCE 2nd Reading and Public Hearing: Amending, very slightly, the economic sustainability committee ordinance.

3. OLD BUSINESS:

Sidewalks: Mark has prepared a really good report about sidewalk repair, especially focused on how much it would likely cost if we were to decide to simply take on the costs of repair and replacement of sidewalks as a community, rather than having property owners in charge of this process--which does, actually, itself cost the village some considerable staff time and energy to try to enforce, and is, at this point, haphazard at best.

Over the course of wrestling with this for the past three years, I actually have come to believe that it's time for the Village, which aspires to being a walkable and bikeable town, that welcomes people of differing abilities, to take on this cost and treat it much as we do our streets, alleys, and the bike trail, which we pay to maintain. We are at a place in our street-repair plans that we are no longer needing to spend as much money doing complete street replacements, so I plan to support a plan to budget $50,000/year, which is a fraction of what we've annually spent on streets in the past several years, to begin repairing and replacing the sidewalks in town. (I would support reimbursement to property owners who have, at village behest, replaced faulty sidewalks in the past year, upon their provision of reasonable receipts for their costs.)

I understand the arguments on the other side of this issue, and I believe I have carefully considered them. I am open, of course, to hearing arguments on the other side of the issue.

4. NEW BUSINESS

Affordable Housing Initiative: Our visioning process revealed that affordable housing was the top concern of those who participated. Judith and I propose to enter into a Memorandum of Agreement with Home, Inc., to develop approximately one acre of land on Cemetary Street for affordable housing units.

2011 Council Goals: 1, 2, 3: We're going to look at our old goals and plans from 2010, as well as the Visioning Results, and try to determine what we hope to accomplish for next year. Overarching goals 1, 2, 3 were:

Deepen decision-making processes with active citizen participation and effective representative governance
Be an excellent employer and provider of services within a responsible fiscal framework
Be a welcoming community of opportunity for people of diverse races, ages, sexual orientations, cultures, and incomes.

Comprehensive Plan: At long last, the revisions and edits we made to the Comprehensive Plan last year, before the loss of our Council Clerk Deborah Benning's untimely death, have been completed. Before she died, Deborah had begun work on the final edits, which have now been completed by Village Manager Mark Cundiff and our new Clerk, Judy Kintner. Thanks go to both of them for their efforts.

5. Manager's Report: Mark will be reporting on the completion of the Bryan Center's roof repairs, the most recent works on the design of the CBE (the center for business and educaiton, where Antioch University Midwest is located), work to improve the drainage on the Ellis Park parking lot, and some water and sewer planning studies to help us think about how to best move forward to keep up our aging systems.

6. A FALL POEM

A Sunset of the City

by Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Brooks

Kathleen Eileen

Already I am no longer looked at with lechery or love.

My daughters and sons have put me away with marbles and dolls,

Are gone from the house.

My husband and lovers are pleasant or somewhat polite

And night is night.

It is a real chill out,

The genuine thing.

I am not deceived, I do not think it is still summer

Because sun stays and birds continue to sing.

It is summer-gone that I see, it is summer-gone.

The sweet flowers indrying and dying down,

The grasses forgetting their blaze and consenting to brown.

It is a real chill out. The fall crisp comes.

I am aware there is winter to heed.

There is no warm house

That is fitted with my need.

I am cold in this cold house this house

Whose washed echoes are tremulous down lost halls.

I am a woman, and dusty, standing among new affairs.

I am a woman who hurries through her prayers.

Tin intimations of a quiet core to be my

Desert and my dear relief

Come: there shall be such islanding from grief,

And small communion with the master shore.

Twang they. And I incline this ear to tin,

Consult a dual dilemma. Whether to dry

In humming pallor or to leap and die.

Somebody muffed it? Somebody wanted to joke.

--
Lori Askeland (lori.askeland AT gmail....)
Yellow Springs Village Council
1640 Spillan Road // Yellow Springs OH 45387
http://www.askelandforcouncil.blogspot.com (updated regularly with council news)
http://www.yso.com
937.767.8116

* TO UNSUBSCRIBE: If you wish to cease receiving regular Council updates from me, just send me a quick email; I won't be offended! *

"You may be certain that the world is heading for destruction, but it's a good thing, a moral thing, to behave as though there's still hope. Hope is as contagious as despair: your hope, or show of hope, is a gift you can give to your neighbour, and may even help to prevent or delay the destruction of his world,"- Primo Levi, 1985

VC 9/7: Meeting and a Labor Day Meditation

2010-09-06T22:10:00.003-04:00

This is an image of walking beans, from an organic farm in Iowa!

Dear People: Tomorrow night we'll be meeting at 7 pm in the Bryan Center. I have attached the agenda and the entire packet if you're interested in knowing more about any of these points. I am feeling a bit rushed right now--but I'll try to give at least a quick overview here of the meeting.

LEGISLATION:

Ordinance: Demolition Permit: This will ensure that no buildings are demolished without turning off village utilities and ensuring for the village that the regional air pollution authority (RAPCA) has been notified and signed off on the demolition, etc. I support this legislation.

Resoulution: Accepting the rates as determined by the Budget Commission and Authorizing the Necessary Tax Levies and Certifying Them to the County Auditor. This is a pro forma thing we have to do every year.

Resolution: Appointing John Chambers of Coolidge Law as Village Solicitor. He's doing a fine job; we are very satisfied, across the boards.

First Reading of Ordinance: Solar Project with AMP

Resolution: Authorizing Application for the Ohio Public Works Commission Round 25 Issue One Grant for Construction of the CBE-Dayton Yellow Springs Street Intersection. This is a grant application for the construction of an entrance to the Center for Business and education, and the creation of a safe intersection with Dayton Street.

Resolution: Approving Train Station Lease with the Chamber of Commerce.

Ordinance: Revising the Economic Sustainability Board: This is a minor revision, having to do with clarifying the membership, I believe.

SPECIAL REPORT

Update on Safe Routes to School--Ed Amrhein

OLD BUSINESS

Plan Fluoridation Meeting: I have worked on this with several villagers over the summer--Vickie Hennessy, Carl Hyde, Angela Brintlinger, and Steve Conn all provided helpful input. It's tentatively scheduled for Saturday, November 13th (or the 6th, as an alternative). An afternoon meeting, to begin at 1:30 pm and last no more than 2 hours. 3 speakers--one pro, one con, and one on ethics.

Review 2010 Goals. We will examine these to see what more needs to be completed.

NEW BUSINESS

Mental Health and Recovery Board Presentation (Greta Mayer)
Report on Annual Audit
Visioning Discussion
2011 Council Goals Initial Discussion: We hope that we can complete our goals discussion early so that we can have a Budget in place much earlier than in the past several years.

REPORTS from Manager and Clerk

----

FOR LABOR DAY, my own meditation on my first job, walking beans. I wrote this for my English 101 class this week (in response to my own assignment):

Scarred for Life

On my left leg is an old scar—a slash at about a forty-five degree angle to the ground. It marks the place where my oldest sister, Karla, sliced through a shock of volunteer corn in our father’s bean field with her trusty machete—and also through my six-year-old calf.

I will never forget that moment. The sky was blue, the dirt was black, the sun was hot, and the green of the fields stretched on and on between gravel roads. I think I was deliberately standing in the shade of the corn plants, avoiding the rising ripples of Iowa heat for a June moment. We were at the end of a round, drinking from a dusty, insulated plastic water jug and reapplying the pathetic 1970s suntan lotions that we used to try to avoid becoming burnt to a freckled, blistered crisp—even as we walked in cut offs, bikini tops, and seed-corn hats with our pony tails popping out the back.

I remember feeling just a strange jolt, not pain. I looked down to see the blood lips of skin and flesh splitting open. I was strongly aware of the odd lack of pain—it was a huge gash, but it didn’t hurt. This numbed sensation convinced me that I must be dying. For sure. How else could a huge wound not be painful, unless I already had one foot, maybe one whole leg, in the grave?

My sister tells me I looked at her with a doleful, reproachful gaze that only a wounded child can muster and said, “Oh, for Pete’s sake, Karla!” She was just thirteen years old, and I now know that she felt horrible. She’d just sliced through the leg of her little sister! But she didn’t realize that I believed I was mortally wounded, and those were possibly my last words on earth. Oh, for Pete’s sake. Karla.

The thing is, I hated “walking beans,” which is what we called the act of walking up and down the rows of beans, in the days before Round-Up Herbicide, TM, and Round-Up Ready, TM, beans, pulling and hoeing weeds or, if there was almost more volunteer corn from last year’s crop than there were beans, stalking the rows of green pimpled beans with machetes, slashing away below the growth line of the new shoots of corn, sprung up where whole ears had fallen off last year, before the John Deere combine had passed through the rows.

Now, I had started walking beans when I was four years old—it was how farm families avoided child care expenses. I got paid $.25 an hour, to get out to the fields with my family by 7 AM, and then walk up and down the half-mile rows, supposedly weeding the row on my left and my right, until 12 noon, when we’d break for lunch and then mom would let us go swimming up town at the local pool. (I suspect my mom and my sister, on either side, did most of the work when I was four.) My sisters and my mom would work 4 or 6 or even 8 rows at a time, if the field was pretty clean. I just had to take care of my two rows. Other families hired teams of Mexican workers, or high school student teams raising money for a church trip. But our family mostly just did the work ourselves, and my parents paid us for our efforts.

Admittedly, walking the beans was better than “picking rocks,” which is what we called going out in the back of the pick-up, in the early spring, driving catty-wampus across the empty fields, watching for the larger stones that had worked themselves up through the winter—gifts from the glaciers that had scraped across this land thousands of years before. We’d yell, “ROCK!” when we’d see one. The pick-up would stop, and we’d jump off, run over to the rock, dig it up with hands, a hoe, or a small shovel, and toss it in the back of the truck, readying ourselves for another bumpy ride across the blank field.

Of course, I didn’t die from my sister’s machete slice—my mother ran over, tied one of my white socks around my bleeding leg, and carried me to the pickup truck. She rushed me into the emergency room at the local hospital (which no longer exists), and they stitched me up then and there—ten stitches, under the hot white lights of a small operating room. In fact, only when they started to anesthetize my leg—a process that kind of fascinated me—did my mom quietly begin to faint. A nurse ran over, scrambling to find some smelling salts to revive her.

I carry that scar with me today, and I have come to value it, in a strange way. When I was a kid, it was a tool I could use to make my sister feel really bad, and it gave me this very story of an exciting event that mobilized our whole world around me and my well being. The third of four children, and one of dozens of grandchildren on both sides, I was a child who needed tangible proofs of my value: I was deeply impressed that my mother would drop everything, pay any price the hospital asked, to have me healthy and whole.

As I grew older, it became the sign that I was not a soft, city kid: I had worked hard all my life, and I had the scar to prove it. But I was, I knew, absolutely not about to stay in that life. It was also a sign that I had a “better” life to lead—away from the dust and grime of hot mornings in the field. Away from blowing my nose and having it come out black with dirt; or walking in muck so thick and deep that it sucked off our shoes, leaving us stranded in our socks.

Apparently, kids in my home county don’t really walk beans any more. There’s really no need, now that round-up can be sprayed on the crops, killing all the weeds whose names and leaves I learned to recognize on sight—cocklebur, thistle, ironweed, sunflower, choke cherry, deadly nightshade, and buttonweed. The crop lines are smooth, and the horizon is dotted by wind turbines, their massive blades spinning swiftly in the constant wind that has blown across those fields since the dawn of time, slicing it into fragments.

It would be weird to say that I’m glad that my sister slashed my leg open with her machete that day when I was just six years old. But, in a strange way, it’s true. Some how that wound opened up the world for me. It seems both to keep me grounded in my past and also striving toward a new and different life—suitably haunted by the loss of the old farm life that has been plowed over and sprayed down with chemicals that I don’t fully understand, or trust.

But mostly it assures me of my family’s love, faith, and integrity—the invisible ground that I’m still walking on and supported by; the garden I need to tend and guard, with sharpened hoe and machete.

--------

Peace!
Lori

VC: Demolition permits; Solar Power & Efficiency Smart; Skate Park Improvements; School Board mtg.; MVRPC Sustainable Communities

2010-08-15T23:40:00.003-04:00

Dear People! The agenda for this week looks fairly light. Monday, 8/16, 7 pm, Bryan Center.

LEGISLATION

Ordinance: 2nd Reading: Approving Efficiency Smart Power Plant with AMP. I discussed this a couple of meetings back; it seems like a good deal for us.
Ordinance: 2nd Reading: Supplemental Appropriations. This, too, I have discussed two meetings back, and was covered in the YS News recently
Ordinance: First reading: Demolition permit. Currently the village has no way to ensure that all the utilities are turned off on a property that is scheduled to be torn down. This permit process allows us to do so, and to ensure that the property is returned to acceptable conditions after demolition, and penalties for non-compliance.
Resolution: Property Insurance: This is our annual renewal with the public entity pool of Ohio (PEP). They propose a descrease from last year's rates by $2,371.93.
Resolution: Endorsing the Multi-County Advantage Sharing Program using state and federal funds, the ASP provides additional dollars to economic and workforce development projects that meet the needs of businesses that are locating, expanding or sustaining operations.

SPECIAL REPORTS

Solar Power Project Subscription with AMP Representative: AMP entered into a purchase poser agreement with Standard Energy for the purchase of up to 300 MW of solar energy. This is a 30 year agreement; the cost will be $85 /MWh; ($0.085/ KWh). It will increase 2% per year beginning in 2012. AMP suggests we buy 810 KWh. Manager Cundiff suggests this will diversify our power portfolio and poses no financial risk if the power output is less than the planned 300 MWh. While not dependable for base power needs, solar is an excelent peak power provider, esp. in summer.

Treasurer's Report Rachel McKinney, our new treasurer, will give a report on our investments.

NEW BUSINESS

Village Station Lease Update Since our lease with the Chamber had expired, we are taking the opportunity of renewing the lease and also re-writing it; the old lease was very short (1 page long) and informally written and our insurance provider strongly suggested we needed a more standard commercial lease. So our solicitor has provided a new lease for our consideration.
Skate Park Improvements We have budgeted $10,000 in this year's budget for the skate park, so John Booth, John Grote, Matt Housh and Mark did a visual inspection of the park, and they found things in ok shape, for now. Skaters in the park said they would like a concrete dish. They also met with Sam Young, an owner of Millworks about graffiti problems. And finally, Booth, Grote and Cundiff visted regional parks to compare and contrast. The main thing they learned is that input from skaters before making improvements/changes. There was a meeting with skaters scheduled for this past Fri, the 13th.
School Board Joint Meeting Agenda We're holding a joint meeting with the School Board on August 26th. Tentatively, we are scheduled to discuss:

Goals of Village Council / Visioning;
Class of 2020 Initiative Presentation by School Board;
Current shared activities: HRC "courageous conversations", Safe Routes to School, Economic Sustainability Commission; Energy Task Force; STEM grant.
Discussion of attracting young families to YS and Jobs
Conclusion: how to leverage current and future activities

MVRPC Sustainable Communities Application: MVRPC is impressed with our thinking about planned development with our urban service boundary map, and our thinking about sustainability. They are hoping to apply for a federal grant for sustainable communities, and Karen Wintrow, our rep, is hoping we will support this effort (not financially but with meeting space and limited staff involvement).

I believe we will meet with our solicitor in executive session about ongoing litigation and possibly real estate matters, but I could be mistaken as it's not specified on our current agenda.

POEM: I heard this poem on Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac the other day, and it kind of haunts me:

Throwing Away the Alarm Clock

by Charles Bukowski

my father always said, "early to bed and
early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy
and wise."

it was lights out at 8 p.m. in our house
and we were up at dawn to the smell of
coffee, frying bacon and scrambled
eggs.

my father followed this general routine
for a lifetime and died young, broke,
and, I think, not too
wise.

taking note, I rejected his advice and it
became, for me, late to bed and late
to rise.

now, I'm not saying that I've conquered
the world but I've avoided
numberless early traffic jams, bypassed some
common pitfalls
and have met some strange, wonderful
people

one of whom
was
myself—someone my father
never
knew.

"Throwing Away the Alarm Clock" by Charles Bukowski, from The Flash of Lighting Behind the Mountain. © Harper Collins, 2004. Reprinted with permission. (buy now)

More vindication on coal

2010-08-04T17:14:00.001-04:00

Dear People: A quick note to everyone regarding two of the most difficult but perhaps most important decisions we have made since I have been on Council: we rejected the proposed coal plant in Meigs County, Ohio, and we also rejected the "Prairie State" plant in Illinois, early in 2008--which would have meant signing a 50-year contract for the plants.

You are likely aware that AMP's Meigs plant was canceled last fall because construction costs were ballooning; the communities who signed on, however, are left paying very expensive bills for the significant development costs that have already been incurred, for a plant that will never exist. Yellow Springs has been spared those costs.

While the Prairie State plant has not been canceled as of this time, the Chicago Tribune is now reporting that the construction costs of the Prairie State plant are going to be so high that the costs of the power from that plant will likely be higher than the costs of power on the open market. They also note that "Though the company and its partners promote the plant as a national model for environmentally-friendly 'clean coal' technology, Prairie State will be the largest source of carbon dioxide built in the United Sates in a quarter century."

The Council at Martinsville, Ohio, is now consulting with Ohio Citizens Action Network and professional environmental consultants from New York on the decision they made to buy into the Prairie State plant, and I myself have been in conversation with a council person from another AMP municipality who was concerned about the ramifications of their decision to invest in coal.

Yellow Springs Council consulted with OCAN and local and regional environmental experts, and our own consciences, before making our decision, which was a difficult one, and I believe that helped us to make what has turned out to be a prudent decision.

Frankly, I do not believe that AMP deliberately misled us about the decision, as the second article seems to imply, but I do think that politically "conservative" positions, often advocated by corporate interests and smart people with great technical skills, are, actually, routinely more costly and less practical, and not actually "conservative" in the truest sense of that term, especially in the long run, than "liberal" ones. That definitely seems to be true in this case.

Peace,
Lori

VC tonight (8/2): Budgets and Sidewalks

2010-08-02T12:55:00.002-04:00

< -- YS sidewalk art, courtesy of Yellow Springs Arts blog

Dear People: The summer is winding down and I'm staring down the barrel of a new school year. I'll include a favorite poem about teaching poetry, at the end of the email, for those of you who read to the end. Village Council meets tonight (Mon, 8/2, 7pm, second floor Bryan Ctr.) Lots of hot button issues! Budgets and sidewalks; truly, it doesn't get any better than in village governance.

Petitions and Communications:

Community Resources will be having a meeting open to the public on August 11 on the progress being made at the CBE (the Antioch Midwest property). Lisa Abels will present a state-of-the-project report and there will be time for Q&A.
Detailed and helpful rejection letter from the Dept of Energy for the grant applied for (with village approval) by Community Service, Inc. The letter notes many strengths of the project but also specifies exactly what weaknesses the reviewers detected in the impact and methods of the project. This was the grant application that led to the emergency meetings (and clarificaiton of our sunshine law policies) of last December.
A citizen with a goal of enhancing our 'bike-friendliness' copied us in a note to Ed Amrhein regarding the MVRPC's (the regional planning board of the Miami Valley) "Complete Streets" draft policies. He is concerned that it does not follow evidence-based best safety practices that have been established for incorporating bike traffic in city streets.
A citizen and business owner writing with concern about cutting the public safety budget.
Email from Fire chief Colin Altman: additional asbestos tests found no asbestos on Rabbit Run farm: MTFR will burn the house and barn on August 7th.
New bus route through YS on TUESDAYS, starting tomorrow! Greene CATS route 49 will go from Xenia to Springfield and will stop in YS at both Friends Care and the John Bryan Ctr. It will come through in the morning and the afternoon. There should be more information at the Chamber and Village Offices now.
Sample "Biobased Product" resolution language was sent to us from Ohio state senator Karen Gillmor (R-Tiffin), who authored Senate Bill 131, which "requires the state of ohio to give purchasing preference to biobased products when they are readily available at a reasonable price." Gillmor urges us to pass a similar municipal resolution as a boost to local, Ohio-based industries. Here's a press release about the state bill--if any environmentally minded folks have thoughts, let me know!

LEGISLATION:

ORDINANCE (2nd reading/Public Hearing): AMP's Efficiency Smart Program, discussed in my last note. A way to pay our EPA fine for the old AMP Gorsuch plant that is being shut down, and, we hope, get some help improving our efficiency, including possibly coupons for discounts on energy smart appliances.
ORDINANCE (1st reading): Supplemental Appropriations. This is a fairly minor adjustment--expenses are slightly up from expected in our General Fund (by $15,635 in a more than $3.6million budget) and special revenue funds (Bryan Center especially, total up by $47,201 in our $1.5 million budget). The wastewater treatment plant upgrade costs, however, are running lower at this point than expected, DOWN by $1.24million dollars, which puts the overall budget DOWN by $1.15 million from the projected budget. See the State of the Budget discussion below for more info.
RESOLUTION of NECESSITY: SIDEWALKS: Notice being given to property owners along the east side of Xenia Ave. (from Corry to Herman) to repair the sidewalks on their property within 90 days, or the village will repair and bill the owners. (The sidewalks had been marked with paint earlier this summer and some property owners have already acted). The list of affected properties will also be posted with the Village Clerk and published in the local paper.
RESOLUTION: Extension of Agreement with Little Miami River Partnership: The cleaned "effluent" of our sewer system runs into the Little Miami River; as such, we have an agreement with the Little Miami River Partnership that basically gets grants to help preserve the river, such as the federal Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). To use the funds remaining in their accounts, the LMRP needs us to renew our agreement with them. This extension will have no financial cost to the village.

SPECIAL REPORTS:

Tax Budget Discussion/ State of the Budget Presentation: Sharon Potter will report that we are seeing slight decreases of about 10% in our total income (real estate taxes are down by about 2%, Income Taxes are down by 5%, and shared revenues are down). Potter says we are looking at a reduction in our General Fund cash balance, which has been consistently growing for the past 4 years, from about $1.8 million last year to $1.13 million projected for this year. We do not believe this is a reason to panic, but that we are probably going to have to adjust our capital projects goals for the next several years.
Economic Development Revolving Loan Fund: We'll receive a report on our EDRLF, which currently has $377,327 in loans distributed to various entities (including interest owed), but most of which is comprised by an open-ended, 0% interest, $300,000 loan to Community Resources for the Center for Business and Education (CBE, the Antioch Midwest site). Most of the other businesses have small, relatively low interest loans (the biggest amount of prinicipal owed is about $20K), on which they are making regular payments. According to the worksheet, we have $28,022.08 available in this fund, but I'd like clarification on some of the numbers.

NEW BUSINESS:

Sidewalk Policy Discussion: In some ways, this is very old business, but it's new to this current Council. We are looking to see if there is any way that sidewalk costs could be partially or wholly paid by the village--either through "caps" on costs or simply changing the ordinance so that sidewalks become publicly funded just like streets. Right now, we do not charge corner-lot residents with sidewalks on two sides for both sidewalks, by resolution. We also pay for the curb-cuts on corners. However, there are real complexities to making a change. I would appreciate citizens' input.

MANAGER'S REPORT: I've attached it--lots of good info. about Visioning, the water tower cleaning, AMP's solar projects, etc.

Executive Session: Personnel (Village Manager's Evaluation) and Real Estate (Train Station lease)
Poem: This is probably my favorite Billie Collins poem--I think it was the first poem of his that I ever encountered, and I've taken it from the wonderful Poetry 180 website that he created, while serving as poet laureate of the US. (It's also a book you can check out from the public library):

Introduction to Poetry

Billy Collins

I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.

from The Apple that Astonished Paris, 1996
University of Arkansas Press, Fayetteville, Ark.
Permissions information.

Peace!
Lori

VC: Budgets, Levy renewal, Energy Board & new AMP contract

2010-07-19T15:23:00.001-04:00

Dear People: Well, it's summer time and I'm being slow! My apologies. Tonight's Village Council agenda is important as it will mainly focus on budget issues: the tax budget, the state of the current budget, and the planned vote on the levy renewal, that we've currently scheduled for May, 2011.

We are currently facing a decrease in our village income (the general fund), which is likely to mainly affect the capital projects we have been hoping to complete. We will also likely need to increase rates for garbage collection, as our costs are now exceeding our income.

LEGISLATION will include:

1. Resolution: Approving a Tax Budget. This is a form that we send to the county budget commission to make sure that our tax levies are properly collected by the county tax commissioner. It indicates what our tax levy is and how much we expect to collect from it.

2. Ordinance: Second reading/ Public Hearing: Establishing an Energy Board As I mentioned last month, this is renamining and slightly re-purposing the Energy Task Force into an on-going board that focuses on helping reduce our electricity consumption and to make decisions about power sources.

3. Ordinanc: First Reading: Approving an "Efficiency Smart Power Plant Schedule" with AMP: American Municipal Power (AMP) is a non-profit co-op of municipalities that own their own electrical systems; YS is a member of this co-op and a representative from AMP, Eric Lloyd, will be on hand . Through AMP, we've been an investor in the Gorsuch plant since 1988, from which we have drawn a significant poriton of our power needs over the past several years--and as such we are also responsible for the liabilities due to any pollution. AMP communities invested in Gorsuch are required to pay a portion of an EPA fine levied against Gorsuch plant: AMP was allowed to make $15 million of its fine be dedicated to improved energy efficiency for all investor communities. AMP has partnered with the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation (VEIC) to accomplish this task. This program will launch in 2011 and is expected to save more than the $15 million dollar cost. There are a few services that could be offered to residents, including possibly financial incentives for improving lighting and energy efficient appliances.

NEW BUSINESS:

1. State of the Budget Discussion. We have asked Sharon Potter to report as to the current state of our village budget. Her report, dated June 30 of this year, suggests that our income is coming in at about 10% less than we expected, which is a concern ($129,429 less than where we were in 2009 at this time). Looking at the current income/expenses sheet, the biggest number--accounting for about 3/4 of that loss--is an $87,677 lower than expected contribution from "State Shared Taxes and Permits" (which is essentially due to reduced income from estate taxes this year). Additionally, local income and real estate taxes are down by about $21K from 2009 levels. This means we will need to defer some capital expenditures planned for this year in order to avoid eating further into our reserve funds. We are focused on this and planning to be pro-active in our response to this issue.

We are also watching the "enterprise funds"--electric, water, sewer, solid waste. We will likely need to raise our solid waste rates in order to keep up with rising costs.

2. Levy Discussion: Last May we decided to hold a vote for the renewal of our current levy in May 2011. Here is Mark Cundiff's discussion of the numbers and what they mean, which I found helpful and succinct:

" REVENUE, OPERATING EXPENSES, AND CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT COST PROJECTIONS: The Village will be receiving revenue from the current levy through 2011, so we are looking at those years beyond 2011. Assuming that revenues will remain flat over this time period, here are projections for the years 2012-2016:

Year Revenue w/Levy Revenue w/out Levy

2012 $3,055,179 $2,178,806

2013 $3,055,179 $2,178,806

2014 $3,055,179 $2,178,806

2015 $3,055,179 $2,178,806

2016 $3,055,179 $2,178,806

Expenses vs. Revenues Without Levy Proceeds: If you compare the projected non-enterprise fund operating expenses (those non-capital or variable expenses associated with the general operation of the Village projected with a 3% growth rate) to the projected revenue without levy proceeds you get the following:

Year Revenue Operating Difference

Without Levy Expenses

2012 $2,178,806 $2,774,873 -$596,067

2013 $2,178,806 $2,858,119 -$679,313

2014 $2,178,806 $2,943,863 -$765,057

2015 $2,178,806 $3,032,178 -$853,372

2016 $2,178,806 $3,123,144 -$944,338

This indicates that without the levy revenue there would not be adequate revenue to cover the operating expenses. The loss of over $876,000 of revenue would make it very difficult to maintain services at their current level. Ability to finance non-enterprise fund capital improvements would also be negatively impacted, as indicated in the following table:

Year Revenue Op & Cap Difference

Without Levy Expenses

2012 $2,178,806 $3,097,873 -$ 919,067

2013 $2,178,806 $3,046,119 -$ 867,313

2014 $2,178,806 $3,126,863 -$ 948,057

2015 $2,178,806 $3,215,178 -$1,036,372

2016 Outside of 5-year CIP Timeframe (2011-2015)

Expenses vs. Revenues With Levy Proceeds: If you compare the projected non-enterprise fund operating expenses (those non-capital or variable expenses associated with the general operation of the Village projected with a 3% growth rate) to the projected revenue with levy proceeds you get the following:

Year Revenue Operating Difference

With Levy Expenses

2012 $3,055,179 $2,774,873 +$280,306

2013 $3,055,179 $2,858,119 +$197,060

2014 $3,055,179 $2,943,863 +$111,316

2015 $3,055,179 $3,032,178 +$ 23,001

2016 $3,055,179 $3,123,144 - $ 67,965

This indicates that even with the levy revenue there would not be adequate revenue to cover the operating expenses in 2016, resulting in having to use fund balances to cover all of the operational costs. Ability to finance non-enterprise fund capital improvements without using fund balances would also be negatively impacted, as indicated in the following table:

Year Revenue Op & Cap Difference

With Levy Expenses

2012 $3,055,179 $3,097,873 - $ 42,694

2013 $3,055,179 $3,046,119 +$ 9,060

2014 $3,055,179 $3,126,863 - $ 71,684

2015 $3,055,179 $3,215,178 - $ 159,999

2016 Outside of 5-year CIP Timeframe (2011-2015)

This table indicates that even with the levy proceeds, there will be years in which fund balances will need to be used in order to complete the Capital Items in the CIP. Council and Staff should reexamine the 5-Year CIP and determine if a less aggressive approach might make more sense fiscally in order to not have to use fund balances.

All of these tables indicate that the Village needs the levy revenues to continue to provide the current level of services and capital improvements. To help supplement these revenues, we also need to continue to seek out grants and other outside funding sources, look at ways to deliver these services in the most cost efficient manner, and increase revenue from other sources such as income tax through business expansion, start-up, and attraction.

NEXT STEPS:

Some members of Council and citizens have expressed an interest in examining the Public Safety budget since it is the largest “slice” of the General Fund “pie”. Staff has begun some preliminary data collection and would like to have this discussion scheduled sometime in August. Other non-enterprise fund operational areas mentioned to be examined included the Sidewalk Program. If there are other operational areas Council would like to discuss at this meeting (or I forgot one), please let me know.

Finally, Council needs to determine what millage they wish to ask the voters to approve. A table showing you the revenue generated at each millage should be included in your packet. Please note that this table was generated last year and levy proceeds have increased since that time."

Please come and join in this important discussion!

After that, I need a funny poem, so I give you this one by Dorothy Parker, which I just discovered (and have already posted to facebook). I've been told by outsiders that they're convinced that everyone in YS is a psychotherapist or a massage therapist--this poem is at least good for a laugh from the psychotherapists and English majors who had to read at least a little Freud, or any of us who have read some pop psychology. The rhymes are fun, and it's worth reading all the way to the (pun-laden, groan-inducing) punchline at the end!

POEM

The Passionate Freudian to His Love

By Dorothy Parker

Only name the day, and we'll fly away
In the face of old traditions,
To a sheltered spot, by the world forgot,
Where we'll park our inhibitions.
Come and gaze in eyes where the lovelight lies
As it psychoanalyzes,
And when once you glean what your fantasies mean
Life will hold no more surprises.
When you've told your love what you're thinking of
Things will be much more informal;
Through a sunlit land we'll go hand-in-hand,
Drifting gently back to normal.

While the pale moon gleams, we will dream sweet dreams,
And I'll win your admiration,
For it's only fair to admit I'm there
With a mean interpretation.
In the sunrise glow we will whisper low
Of the scenes our dreams have painted,
And when you're advised what they symbolized
We'll begin to feel acquainted.
So we'll gaily float in a slumber boat
Where subconscious waves dash wildly;
In the stars' soft light, we will say good-night—
And "good-night!" will put it mildly.

Our desires shall be from repressions free—
As it's only right to treat them.
To your ego's whims I will sing sweet hymns,
And ad libido repeat them.
With your hand in mine, idly we'll recline
Amid bowers of neuroses,
While the sun seeks rest in the great red west
We will sit and match psychoses.
So come dwell a while on that distant isle
In the brilliant tropic weather;
Where a Freud in need is a Freud indeed,
We'll always be Jung together.

Peace!
L.

--

VC! Water Quality / System Assessment and Housing Needs

2010-06-21T18:16:00.000-04:00

Dear People: I had a house guest this weekend and I left right after she did to see my daughter perform in A Midsummer Night's Dream, in the woods in Ann Arbor last night (the audience hiked through the woods to see the new scenes--9 different locations--it was wonderful). So I'm just now back in the loop--and late with my note. Please accept my apology.

The agenda tonight is fairly light, comparatively speaking but there are a few important things on it:

LEGISLATION:

1) ORDINANCE: Parking: After consultation with some villagers and representatives of Antioch College, Chief Grote proposes that we amend our parking ordinances: 1) getting rid of angled parking on E. North College from Xenia to Livermore and 2) getting rid of the specific limitation on parking for more than 12 hours on Livermore Street around Antioch campus, and 3) changing our current parking limitation from 24 hours to 72 hours, so that if you have a weekend guest, they won't be penalized for not moving their cars at least once a day.

OLD BUSINESS:

Streetlight Replacement: Mostly this will just be an announcement from Mark and the Energy Task Force, that, having researched the options, we need to re-bid the street light replacement project, but we are now ready to move forward without delay.

NEW BUSINESS:

Water Quality and System Update: This is a report from Kelley Fox and Joe Bates about our current water distribution system (i.e., all the pipes in town) as well as our water treatment system, and the problems we face, particularly as regards "brown water," and what our options may be, based on what other communities in the region do, particularly as regards the treatment for manganese, which is the cause of the brown water (not old pipes, as some have speculated.)

Housing Needs Assessment: Affordable housing was the top concern arising out of our recent Visioning process, and we had a presentation by affordable housing consultant John Davis of Burlington, VT, on the issue at our last meeting (June 5). We have regularly discussed funding an assessment of our housing stocks in order to determine what changes are needed to fit our vision and goals. Marianne MacQueen, of Home Inc, has written a brief plan of action for Council and we have an email from the Center for Urban and Public Affairs (CUPA) from Wright State that the likely cost will be $8,840 for a survey of our housing and an assessment of needs. (Staff and student wages, mileage, telecom services to conduct data analysis, literature/document review, and a windshield survey of the village.

Council Rules/Procedures: Review and Revision: At our recent retreat (June 7) Council reviewed our current published rules and procedures (last updated in 2007, and agreed that some slight alterations are needed, primarily to make them fit with the newly revised rules for publication of meetings and a few other small changes. We will formally review these suggestions tonight.

Then we will have our standing reports from the Manager, our Clerk, all the committee reps and do our agenda planning. I believe there is no executive session planned.

No time for poetry this week! Maybe step outside and really look closely at one tree, top to bottom.

Peace--
Lori

PC tonight! /VC Last week AMP solar power, Historic Pres., Demolition, PUD ordinance/affordable housing, Friends Care expansion

2010-06-14T13:24:00.002-04:00

Argh! Once again, I'm realizing that I'm slipping on posting after I email. My apologies. I have put both last week's Village Council email and this week's PC email in this posting.

Dear People--Rain! Everything is fecund and growing, and my CSA bundles are bulging, but I have gotten caught with my dogs twice in the past few weeks in some booming thunderstorms and sheeting rain. Ah, Ohio in the summer!

Good SUNNY news from AMP, our municipal energy co-op: AMP has signed a 30-year agreement with Standard Energy LLC (an afiliate of Standard Solar) to purchase up to 300 Megawatts of new solar energy generation capacity--making it one of the largest groups of solar electric facility development in the country. Construction will begin this year and be completed within 5 years. (You can read more about the plans here.) I am hopeful that we'll be able to purchase some of this energy, but I expect we may briefly discuss this at Planning Comm and at Village Council.

Planning Commission meets on Monday, 7 pm, Bryan Center. We'll discuss:

OLD BUSINESS:

1) Historic Preservation: Mark has revised our earlier proposal which we hope is now simply saying that 1) we will create an inventory of historic properties and neighborhoods in Yellow Springs, and 2) any building within the historic area of Yellow Springs cannot be demolished without notification of the Planning Commission that no other course of action is feasible. BUT...see next item (which I've marked as item 3, because it comes after the PUD discussion on our

3) Demolition Forms: During our earlier discussions of historic preservation we realized/were made aware by Mark that currently there are no demolition forms that property owners have needed to fill out in Yellow Springs notifying the village of their plans, getting a demolition permit, AND, most importantly, ensuring that all utilities--water, sewer, electricity and natural gas--have been turned off prior to demolition. The permit form also asks the owner whether the building is within a historic district.

I am going to propose that we discuss this item prior to returning to the discussion of historic preservation, because our goals with historic preservation seem to be contingent on the existence of a demolition form, which we have not had, and because the issue of not being notified of someone's intention to demolish a building, as a utility provider, seems most pressing to me.

2) PUD Ordinance Review / Affordable Housing: Planning Commission has been working with Wolpert's for some time on revising our Planned Unit Development Ordinance. This is the one we use when any major new building project (with multiple housing units) is being proposed. The current draft has density bonuses for 1) increasing the open space over the required 20%, 2) for the inclusion of affordable housing, and 3) a comprehensive storm water management plan.

Given the discussion of affordable housing by John Davis last week, I have asked a few people who are focused on affordable housing to review this plan and give me their input. My understanding from some discussions with people interested in "smart growth" principals is that having a requirement for a variety of housing options, rather than a bonus for including them, is generally a good thing.

The ordinance will, of course, go to Council for approval and possible editing at that time, once approved by Planning Commission.

NEW BUSINESS:

4) Friends Care Community (FCC) Expansion: Mark informs planning comm. that the FCC is planning to renovate and build an addition which would create 16 private rooms and an attached rehabilitation center. However, while this change will increase the footprint of the FCC, it will not actually increase the number of beds, because other existing rooms are being combined and remodeled to make them private and include bathrooms, which will reduce the number of existing rooms. Additionally, the proposed location of the new unit does not pose any setback or other zoning concern issues.

It's not clear from our current zoning code if an expansion of an existing approved conditional use triggers the need for conditional use approval again, so we are being asked to decide if we need a new Conditional Use approval or if staff can simply administratively review and approve plans if they are in compliance with Village ordinances.

AGENDA PLANNING:

July: 5-year Capital Improvement Plan presentation by Mark--this is basically the same plan presented last Spring to Council, on the plans to regularly improve our infrastructure--water, sewer, streets, etc.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! 3 events!

Community Blood Drive: Bryan Center . Thursday, June 17 3-6:30 pm. Must be 17 or older (or 16 with CBC parental consent form), weigh at least 110 lbs. and be in generally good health. Bring a photo ID and donor ID card if you have one. Appointments can be made in advance! www.donor.com or 1800-388-4483. Free golf towel and register to win one of two $500 Dick's Sporting Goods gift cards.

----------------

Live Teleconference with Michael Hardt . Thursday, June 17 - 7:00 p.m. Nonstop Institute — 305 N. Walnut St, Yellow Springs Free admission - Donations Welcome

Internationally acclaimed political philosopher Michael Hardt (Professor of Literature at Duke and author, with Antonio Negri, of Empire, Multitude, Commonwealth and other books) joins Nonstop for a live teleconference discussion drawing upon key insights from his work concerning the contemporary social, cultural and political fields of possibility.

http://nonstopinstitute.org/nonstop-reading/michael-hardt/

-------------------

The Morgan Fellows Present: The Gegner Barbershop Incident: Fighting for Civil Rights in Yellow Springs Friday, June 18 . 12:00-1:00 Herndon Gallery . One Morgan Place, Antioch College

Stories From Activists Who Fought to Desegregate Yellow Springs

In 1961 Yellow Springs residents filed a lawsuit against local barber Lewis Gegner for his refusal to cut the hair of black townspeople and students. Gegner's continued intransigence, and the consistent lack of action on the part of the Greene County Court of Appeals, led to years of litigation, protests, and sit-ins, culminating in the dramatic civil rights demonstration of 1964 that resulted in over 100 arrests and national media coverage. While Lewis Gegner ultimately closed his barbershop rather than desegregate his business, the demonstration and its aftermath marked the end of de facto segregation in Yellow Springs.

Panelists:

Prexy Nesbitt, Antioch College Class of 1967; Board of Trustees, Antioch College

Paul Graham, Antioch College Class of 1952; Former Chemist, Vernay Laboratories

Hardy Trolander, Antioch College Class of 1947; Co-Founder and Former President, Yellow Springs Instruments; Former Trustee, Antioch College

Joni Rabinowitz, Antioch College Class of 1964; Founder and Former Director, Just Harvest

For more information, contact anne bohlen (937) 286-8455 or abohlen@antiochcollege.org

---------------------------------------------------------

***LAST WEEK'S VC MEETINGS!****

Dear People: Thanks to all who came out for my band's relatively impromptu concert and burrito giveaway last night! The Village Manager tells us that the pool is opening today, so, enjoy, and hope for some sun this afternoon. As the subject says, the village Council is meeting on Monday and then retreating on Tuesday.

Tuesday's retreating will mostly be about process, managing our/ our staff's workloads, and issues with moving to an electronic packet.

Monday's meeting will focus on these major issues:
* Streets Sealing,
* Affordable Housing,
* Economic Development Committee, and
* RFP for the Village property, North Hwy 68 (formerly Stutzman's)
* Fireworks in Gaunt Park

LEGISLATION: 2 resolutions
1) approving the contract for this summer's street seal coating, which will be awarded to Pavement Technology, Inc. (of Westlake, Ohio) if this resolution is successful. They propose to seal sections of 8 village streets for $50,625. The sealant should help preserve the newly re-done streets, and the particular product they propose using, Reclamite (trademark) is available for purchase from the state of Ohio's cooperative purchasing program, which makes it less expensive than it would be at market rates.

2) approving the release for sale of surplus property (mostly equipment) and using Internet auction to do so. I did not find the list of items for sale, but I will ask for it--it's possible mine was misplaced in my packet and I just couldn't find it in all the paperwork.

SPECIAL REPORT:

John Davis is coming to our meeting to present on Affordable Housing. Davis is a national expert in permanently affordable housing and community land stewardship. At the forum, he will discuss the history of the Community Land Trust model and its historic connections with the Village of Yellow Springs. He will also discuss his new book, The Community Land Trust Reader, which was published on May 17. For more information about The Community Land Trust Reader, visit: http://www.yshome.org/CLT%20Reader%20Press%20Release.pdf

"

OLD BUSINESS

Economic Sustainability Committee. I am very excited by the names that have come forward for the new Economic Sustainability Committee. They are all excellent people from a variety of backgrounds:

Ex-officio: from Council, Judith H. & Karen W., and Sarah Wildman, our econ. sustainability coordinator.

Ellen Hoover
Roy Qualls (Comm Resources Board)
Jacki Mayer (pres. of Chamber of Commerce)
Cynthia Sanford (YSCU manager)
Tom Brookey (CFO Antioch College)
Megan Bachman
Susan Stiles (Greene Met Housing)
Enshane Nomoto
Lisa Hunt (arts community)

Plan for Stutzman's property: We're hoping to issue a "request for proposals" to use the former Stutzman property on north highway 68. We have a draft proposal that we'll be discussing, with our village solicitor present (as he drafted the document).

We will need to discuss / decide:
--A proposed committee/task force to review proposals (including 2 residents--you?)
--The exact amount of land we plan to rent and the deadline for responses
--What to do with all the "stuff" left on the property (possibly encourage a "walk through" for prospective buyers, some of whom may want some of that stuff.)

Villagers will be glad to know that all the feral animals have been removed to sanctuaries, with the exception of two pigs, with health problems that precluded moving them (i.e., they were dangerously obese), and some impossible to catch feral cats.

NEW BUSINESS:

Authorizing the use of the Gaunt Park for July 4th (July 5th as rain date) fireworks by Lion's Club

MANAGER'S REPORT: includes a CBE update, info about gypsy moth traps that are up around town (the green cartons you see on trees), senior staff evaluations having been completed, looking into a housing needs assessment by Wright State, AMP hydro plant groundbreaking on 29th June to which Council / Staff are invited as investors, temporary community garden fencing, and

Community Blood Drive! June 17th, 3-6:30 pm. Bryan Center. Appointments strongly encouraged!

Also, Mark will be out of office on 6/11, 6/25 (morning), afternoon 7/1, 7/2, afternoon 7/9.

Peace!
Lori

P.S. ok A poem about swimming...from The Poetry Foundation website, a treasure trove...

Learning to swim

by Bob Hicok

At forty-eight, to be given water,

which is most of the world, given life

in water, which is most of me, given ease,

which is most of what I lack, here, where walls

don’t part to my hands, is to be born

as of three weeks ago. Taking nothing

from you, mother, or you, sky, or you,

mountain, that you wouldn’t take

if offered by the sea, any sea, or river,

any river, or the pool, beside which

a woman sits who would save me

if I needed saving, in a red suit, as if flame

is the color of emergency, as I do,

need saving, from solid things,

most of all, their dissolve.

---

Peace,
Lori

Joint Meeting: Visioning, on Wednesday, and roundup of May emails, with apologies...

2010-05-29T12:13:00.003-04:00

Dear People: On Wednesday June 2, at 7 pm in Council Chambers (second floor John Bryan) Village Council and the Miami Township Trustees will be hearing a presentation by the steering committee and consultants on the Visioning Process:

status of the overall project,
results of the third public meeting on May 19-20, and
review of the next steps: implementation and the final report.

Please come! And now a poem about visions, of politicians and poets.

As I Walk These Broad Majestic Days
by Walt Whitman

As I walk these broad majestic days of peace, (For the war, the struggle of blood finish'd, wherein, O terrific Ideal, Against vast odds erewhile having gloriously won, Now thou stridest on, yet perhaps in time toward denser wars, Perhaps to engage in time in still more dreadful contests, dangers, Longer campaigns and crises, labors beyond all others,) Around me I hear that eclat of the world, politics, produce, The announcements of recognized things, science, The approved growth of cities and the spread of inventions. I see the ships, (they will last a few years,) The vast factories with their foremen and workmen, And hear the indorsement of all, and do not object to it. But I too announce solid things, Science, ships, politics, cities, factories, are not nothing, Like a grand procession to music of distant bugles pouring, triumphantly moving, and grander heaving in sight, They stand for realities—all is as it should be. Then my realities; What else is so real as mine? Libertad and the divine average, freedom to every slave on the face of the earth, The rapt promises and luminé of seers, the spiritual world, these centuries-lasting songs, And our visions, the visions of poets, the most solid announcements of any.

Lori

PS: I just noticed that I neglected to post a few recent emails to constituents--negligence, not malicious intent. I will post them now:

VC from Monday May 24 (5 minutes before the meeting!):

Dear People, I'm really getting slow, but the biggest things tonight are going to be

1) Roof replacement on the Bryan Center
2) Energy purchasing agreement with AMP (our electricity co-op)
3) Franklin Foundation (a non-profit organization from I believe Columbus) on affordable senior housing construction
4) Council Retreat plans (for June 8th): discussing process for difficult community issues, manager/clerk reviews and workloads, technology issues (electronic packet--next steps?)
5) Levy Timeline: we need to renew the levy, probably at this fall's election
6) Housing needs assesment: discussion with
7) ICMA Performance Measurement program: a practical way to determine if we are keeping our basic costs/performance in line with other municipalities and ideas for improvement

Lori is out the door...

-----

PC from Monday May 17:
Dear People: On Monday at 7 pm the Planning Commission will meet. The agenda includes:

1) Discussion of the historic preservation ordinance we've been looking at. Our goal is to give us a mechanism to intervene in instances of neglect or demolition of a historic building; we don't want to make life much harder for responsible property owners who are making creative use of historic buildings.

2) We're continuing examining the PUD (planned unit development) rules--trying to make the process useful and fair for the community, and to include some density perks for affordability, useable open space, and best management practices for storm water.

3) Mark will be presenting an overview of his 5-year capital improvement plan, which he presented to Council during our Budget process in February. This is an important step for us as a village--when Mark came, we really had no plan in place for maintaining and replacing the infrastructure of our Village.

That's the main plan--let me know if you have questions.

Ok, someone complained that I haven't included a poem since my inclusion of Whitman somehow created an EXPLOSION of poetry at the end of one of my last emails. (I blame my malfunctioning work PC--I don't seem to have these problems on my trusty Mac.)

Here's a poem for busy, passionate people. (I feel a little mocked by its lovely decadence, which is good):

First Fig by Edna St. Vincent Millay

My candle burns at both ends;

It will not last the night;

But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—

It gives a lovely light!

------

VC on May 3:

Dear People: I should have mentioned in my last email that I would also urge everyone to support our schools in tomorrow's election, which includes a vote on a levy request from the schools. We'll be voting as Council on a resolution of support tonight.

It's our last week of school and I'm swamped, so I'm just going to give a quick update and include, below, our agenda (all documents from the packet can be found at yso.com).

1. We're voting tonight on:

Ordinance for Pool rates--including a small increase for seniors and students daily rates and a $5 across-the-boards increase for season passes, to cover picture id's. (Please be aware that help is available for low income residents, so don't be afraid to ask for assistance from the village office. We want all residents to have use of this valuable recreation resource!)
Ordinance for AMP energy purchases 2012-13: Most of you are probably aware that we are a part of an energy co-op called "AMP" (formerly AMP-Ohio). We co-own many production facilities with other cities and towns, and we are a collective purchaser of energy through AMP. Tonight we'll be considering, to quote from Mark, "Ordinance #2010-09, which would authorize the Village Manager to execute a non-pool power sales schedule with American Municipal Power (AMP) for calendar years 2012 and 2013. ....
The 2012 and 2013 needs are necessitated by the expiration of other power agreements (Cinergy and landfill gas) and the closing of the Gorsuch plant. We have new sources coming on line in 2013, but this will allow us to avoid purchasing of power on the open market. AMP has made a recommendation as to the amount of power we need to purchase in 2012 and 2013 and this is reflected in the ordinance and the sales schedule."
A resolution Supporting the school levy. I will be voting to support the levy, as I mentioned

2. We'll be hearing special reports on the neighborhood gardens and the library.

3. And then we'll be discussing:

The great fluoridation debate. We will not be voting on this issue this evening; we're planning next steps and thinking about a panel discussion.
Northern Gateway: this time with clearer pictures, we hope.
Council Retreat: currently scheduled for June 8.
Street closings for bike races May 21 & 22.

Peace!

Lori

PC: Village Station permit; Historic Pres; CBE & North'n Gateway Updates

2010-04-12T11:54:00.002-04:00

Dear People: First, I want to say that Village Council was not at our best last week in our meeting. I was tired and went home with a splitting headache, and our interactions between ourselves and the citizens was not always ideal. I still stand by the decisions we reached, but our processes are not, by any means, perfect. We will try to do better.

Tonight we have Planning Commission--7 pm, Council Chambers, 2nd floor, Bryan Center.

PUBLIC HEARING: Conditional Use Permit: 102 Dayton Street / 150 Railroad St., also known as "Village Station." Ted Donnell is asking us to renew a conditional use permit for this site, originally approved Oct. 8, 2007, which has expired. The plan currently submitted is identical to that approved in 2007, with the exception of minor re-routing of utilities.

OLD BUSINESS: A continued discussion of our Historic Preservation plans--which we have received a lot of good, helpful input on in our last discussion. My focus is always on public education--making sure people know what their property is and has been--and on anything we might be able to do to discourage or slow down "demolition by neglect." This is typically the biggest issue we face.

NEW BUSINESS:

* Election of Officers
* Center for Business and Education Project Update: Should be similar to the update Council received last month.
* Northern Gateway Project Update: Should be similar to the update Council received at our last meeting, but hopefully with better visual aids and a working projector.

AGENDA PLANNING:

* PUD chapter review: scheduled for our May 10th meeting.
* 5-year Capital Improvement Project (CIP) Presentation: should be similar to the CIP presentation Mark gave to Council in February, in preparation for the new budget.

....& A POEM (not quite a sonnet) ABOUT "INVOLUNTARY" PLANNING, ALMOST DREAMING, JUST SURVIVING:

kitchenette building by Gwendolyn Brooks

We are things of dry hours and the involuntary plan,
Grayed in, and gray. “Dream” makes a giddy sound, not strong
Like “rent,” “feeding a wife,” “satisfying a man.”

But could a dream send up through onion fumes
Its white and violet, fight with fried potatoes
And yesterday’s garbage ripening in the hall,
Flutter, or sing an aria down these rooms

Even if we were willing to let it in,
Had time to warm it, keep it very clean,
Anticipate a message, let it begin?

We wonder. But not well! not for a minute!
Since Number Five is out of the bathroom now,
We think of lukewarm water, hope to get in it.

Gwendolyn Brooks, “kitchenette building” from Selected Poems. Copyright © 1963 by Gwendolyn Brooks. Reprinted with the permission of the Estate of Gwendolyn Brooks.

Peace,
Lori

Fluoridation, My Thoughts (Follow up to the weekly agenda posting)

2010-04-05T09:38:00.001-04:00

(My html tags disappeared--so no links--sorry!)

I have studied this issue in some depth as a lay person, starting from when I was first elected to Council more than two years ago, and more extensively while on the EC, and now this week, as I have been preparing for this meeting. I have re-looked at all the information, particularly as I have received a couple more emails, on both sides of the issues, even today, and they continue to pour in.

ABOUT THIS ISSUE:

1. It is complex.

2. It goes to the heart of our provision of something we need for our daily life and health: water.

3. It addresses the only instance of mass medication of the US population using our water supply, something that is almost impossible to avoid contact with.

4. It also engages issues of children's health and economic disparities.

ABOUT THE DEBATE:

FIRST, I have read information and evidence from all sides of this debate—both pro-fluoride and anti-fluoride, and people with a more nuanced or cautious stance. I believe that all sides actually want what is best for public health. I believe that all sides actually do care deeply about children’s health and are concerned about health care inequities in our community and our country due to income.

SECOND, some writers and speakers on both sides of the debate seem, to me, to regularly overstate their case and even engage in scare tactics that make it even harder to sort out the issues.

The people who are arguing against the current status quo are always particularly vulnerable to doing this, because when you're in the minority or arguing a “new” point, it's easy to feel one must "scream" to make the new concerns heard. And this tendency gets worse when those on the other side simply dismiss these folks as crazed, anti-science conspiracy theorists without considering the evidence. People are not crazy to be concerned with this substance.

On the other hand, the people arguing for the status quo also can feel threatened by the opposition, and sometimes engage in these tactics, also, and, in this case, most have not consulted the most recent evidence that has gathered in the past decade or so.

And both sides often ignore or downplay evidence that does not support their conclusions.

THIRD, I'm not a scientist. I regularly read scholarly materials from a variety of disciplines. I also know that science is complex, and that the process of drawing firm, broad-based policy conclusions from research is actually amazingly complex. I am still educating myself on this issue. And I’m pretty humble about it. I have wrestled with my current stance, which has evolved over the course of this past week.

SO: The most useful, recent document I have found is this one, a massive, 2006 National Research Council (NRC) review of the scientific literature, entitled "Fluoride in Drinking Water," The NRC is a scientific group appointed by the federal government to advise on science-related policy. Their job was narrow: to simply address whether the EPA's "maximum contaminant level" for fluoride, which is still set at 4 milligrams per liter, should be lowered. These scientists spent 3 years working through all the research done on fluoride since the last major study of fluoride and EPA standards, in 1993. The committee of twelve scientists did not address any other issue (including whether water should or should not be fluoridated), but they did ultimately agree that the current level of 4 is too high, and should be lowered, because there are concerns about elevated fluoride levels, predominantly from food and drink sources, that most of the scientists agreed could not simply be dismissed.

SOME FACTS:

* Our water's fluoridated levels fall within the .7-1.2 mg/liters recommended by the EPA and the CDC for preventing cavities (which dentists now typically call “caries”).
* It is not expensive--it's around a couple thousand dollars/ year for the whole community.
* It is cheaper than any other means of transmitting fluoride to the community would be, and it is continuous, which, given the way fluoride works, it needs to be readily available, ideally about every 90 minutes.
* BUT cost has not really the central issue: community health is.
* Without adding fluoride to our water, our water would still have fluoride levels, I believe of about .4 mg/liters.
* And virtually all of us would be exposed to significant fluoride content from other foods and beverages.

Here's what I have gathered from the materials I've read, esp. the NRC:

* Fluoride occurs naturally in our environment, and is also a by-product of industrial processes.
* Fluoride does probably work to retard the growth of dental caries—i.e., it doesn't technically prevent cavities, but it likely slows the growth of caries if they are regularly exposed to fluoride, especially when they first appear at the molecular level. (This pro-fluoride leaning article from Wikipedia--yes, I know, Wikipedia, but it's well documented and serves my purposes here--explains the action of fluoride pretty clearly. AND The CDC’s webpage is a one stop shop for all things pro-fluoride.)
o NOTE: The Wikipedia article just cited DOES NOT pay adequate attention, in my opinion, to the legitimate concerns raised by the studies reviewed by the NRC panel in 2006, cited above and explained below. (Nor the York University panel cited below.)
o Here’s how the York University summarizes their findings: The best available evidence suggests that fluoridation of drinking water supplies does reduce caries prevalence, both as measured by the proportion of children who are caries free and by the the mean change in dmh/DMFT score. The studies were of moderate quality (level B) but of limited quantity. The degree to which caries is reduced, however, is not clear from the data available. The range of the mean difference in the proportion (%) of caries-free children is -5.0 to 64%, with a median of 14.6% (interquartile range 5.05, 22.1%). The range of mean change in dmft/DMFT score was from 0.5-4.4, median 2.25 teeth, (interquartile range 1.28, 3.63 teeth). It is estimated that a median of six people need to receive fluoridated water for one extra person to be caries-free (interquartile range of study NNTS 4, 9). The best available evidence from studies following withdrawal of water fluoridation indicates that caries prevalence increases, approaching the level of the low fluoride group. Again, however, the studies were of moderate quality (level B), and limited quantity. The estimates of effect could be biased due to poor adjustment for the effects of potential confounding factors.
* The CDC and the ADA accept that fluoride works NOT by being swallowed (even in infants), but by being present in the saliva which then washes around the teeth--the fluoride in your saliva is residue from the fluoride in drinking water, toothpaste, fluoride rinses, food, and other beverages that have been in your mouth--especially tea. It does NOT need to be swallowed, ingested to have its intended effect. It does NOT work significantly on pre-erupted teeth.
* Due to the potential problem of fluorosis (stains on permanent teeth and on the skeleton due to too much fluoride build up in the body), the CDC cautiously recommends infant formula should probably NOT be mixed using fluoridated water.
* (Tea, even made from distilled water, is naturally very high in fluoride, by the way--A March 2008 tea and fluoride study published in Food and Chemical Toxicology found up to 4.5, 1.8, and 0.5 mg/L fluoride in black, green and white teas, respectively, when brewed for 5 minutes--and there are even significant amounts in herbal teas. That means that a cup of strong black tea has higher than EPA MCL standard levels for tested water! So people who don't trust fluoride at all, should probably not drink tea.)
* This is why having fluoride in food and water seems to be such an inexpensive and effective way to retard the growth of cavities: because it's constantly available and can start to work when cavities are at their most miniscule. (This does mean that most of the fluoride we put in the water is kind of useless: most of it is flushed down our toilets and put on lawns and in pools.)

* HOWEVER, it should be noted that poverty and lack of access to timely and regular dental care, not fluoridation, is the best predictor of serious dental problems. This is true worldwide. Fluoride may offer some small help, but studies conducted in cities like Detroit that do fluoridate their water reveal that the problems for poor populations are not ever able to be addressed by fluoride alone. To have good teeth, people need good food, good dental care access, good dental hygiene, more than they need fluoride. So, it’s true that Xenia and Springfield do not fluoridate AND that both cities share in the serious poverty problem faced by our state and country. Both cities have populations with serious dental issues. Yet so do many cities that fluoridate and have significant poor populations. (The article by Dr. Connett, cited below the next bullet, includes more references to cities that fluoridate experiencing a “dental crisis,” the words used to describe Boston’s problems—where they have fluoridated for decades.)

o It's important that people not view fluoride in the water as a silver bullet or an "easy" way to get a substitute for real dental care to poorer people. It is not any kind of silver-bullet nor is it likely to serve as a social leveler in our unequal society.
o If there's a chance that poor children especially are even marginally benefited by a little extra fluoride in the water, at low cost, isn't that enough of a reason to keep fluoridating? That's the most serious question we need to address. Dr. Paul Connett, who came to speak in YS, at the request of the Environmental Commission argues that it doesn't and may leave them even more vulnerable to negative health impacts of fluoride. (I find his use of the word "toxic," however, to be loaded--it's one of my reservations about the work of his group.)

* It's also true that, so far as we currently know, there's no evidence that we need fluoride for any bodily functions. Excess is stored in the bones, and places like the pineal gland. It appears that for most people, at the levels we ingest in our water, fluoride does not seem to be harmful, but the studies are actually quite limited and the data is not very reliable in either direction. (See especially the York University review of the scientific literature, below).
* However, people with sensitivity to fluoride--people with renal (kidney) problems, for example, may be absorbing much more fluoride over a lifetime, and we do not adequately understand the effects of that exposure—both the NRC report and the York University report conclude.
* The fluoride in our water is probably not “a poison” at the levels we fluoridate, any more than tea made from distilled water, or raisins (which naturally have high levels of fluoride in them) are poisons, but at very high levels it would be toxic--like many things in our environment.

· HOWEVER, There are concerns about the sourcing of fluoride for municipal water, which is not subjected to ‘food grade’ processing (although it is subject to federal regulations), and is a by-product of industrial processes. The kind of fluoride that is typically used is fluorosilicic acid (or Hydrofluorosilicic acid), which is a by-product of super-phosphate manufacturing, industrial fertilizer. This is what we use. It does sound scary. It’s important to remember that these chemicals do have to be tested before they can be used in the drinking supply and must meet federal standards, and then our water is tested after it’s added. The fluorociliac acid does contain trace amounts of some impurities (silver and phosphorous, for example), but there is no lead or mercury. Critics charge that the studies done on fluoride are typically done on sodium fluoride, rather than these industrial acids and that these are not the same and may cause greater damage than the naturally occurring forms of fluoride.

o The most serious claim about this difference that I have seen is in this article from the International Journal of Environmental Science, which argues that when they ingest fluoride in this form children absorb lead more easily. I will quote from the abstract: “The two chemicals in question — fluosilicic acid and sodium silicofluoride — are toxins that, despite claims to the contrary, do not dissociate completely and change water chemistry when used under normal water treatment practices. As a result, water treatment with siliconfluorides apparently functions to increase the cellular uptake of lead. Data from lead screening of over 280,000 children in Massachusetts indicates that silicofluoride usage is associated with significant increases in average lead in children's blood as well as percentage of children with blood lead in excess of 10μg/dL. Consistent with the hypothesized role of silicofluorides as enhancing uptake of lead whatever the source of exposure, children are especially at risk for higher blood lead in those communities with more old housing or lead in excess of 15 ppb in first draw water samples where silicofluorides are also in use.Preliminary findings from county-level data in Georgia confirm that silicofluoride usage is associated with higher levels of lead in children's blood. In both Massachusetts and Georgia, moreover, behaviors associated with lead neurotoxicity are more frequent in communities using silicofluorides than in comparable localities that do not use these chemicals. Because there has been insufficient animal or human testing of silicofluoride treated water, further study of the effect of silicofluorides is needed to clarify the extent to which these chemicals are risk co-factors for lead uptake and the hazardous effects it produces.”

· Our water is regularly and carefully tested for some heavy metals, after the inclusion of fluoride, and it always falls well within EPA standards on those measures. (However, this very recent article from the New York Times suggests that we should be testing for a lot more substances and metals in our water than we currently are and that the testing requirements are far too lax, given what is in our environment today.)

* The NRC report cited above makes clear that while most people are not exposed to extremely high levels of fluoride, there is need for more research on the effects of high (and lower) levels of fluoride, exposure over time, on:
o Increased risk of bone breakage: "The best available study, from Finland, suggested an increased rate of hip fracture in populations exposed to fluoride at concentrations above 1.5 mg/L. However, this study alone is not sufficient to judge fracture risk for people exposed to fluoride at 2 mg/L. Thus, no conclusions could be drawn about fracture risk or safety at 2 mg/L."
o Alterations in the reproductive system: "A few human studies suggested that high concentrations of fluoride exposure might be associated with alterations in reproductive hormones, effects on fertility, and developmental outcomes, but design limitations make those studies insufficient for risk evaluation."
o Neurotoxcitiy / intelligence: "Animal and human studies of fluoride have been published reporting adverse cognitive and behavioral effects. A few epidemiologic studies of Chinese populations have reported IQ deficits in children exposed to fluoride at 2.5 to 4 mg/L in drinking water. Although the studies lacked sufficient detail for the committee to fully assess their quality and relevance to U.S. populations, the consistency of the results appears significant enough to warrant additional research on the effects of fluoride on intelligence. ... A few animal studies have reported alterations in the behavior of rodents after treatment with fluoride, but the committee did not find the changes to be substantial in magnitude. More compelling were studies on molecular, cellular, and anatomical changes in the nervous system found after fluoride exposure, suggesting that functional changes could occur. These changes might be subtle or seen only under certain physiological or environmental conditions. More research is needed to clarify the effect of fluoride on brain chemistry and function."
o Failures in the endocrine system / thyroid: "The chief endocrine effects of fluoride exposures in experimental animals and in humans include decreased thyroid function, increased calcitonin activity, increased parathyroid hormone activity, secondary hyperparathyroidism, impaired glucose tolerance, and possible effects on timing of sexual maturity. Some of these effects are associated with fluoride intake that is achievable at fluoride concentrations in drinking water of 4 mg/L or less, especially for young children or for individuals with high water intake. Many of the effects could be considered subclinical effects, meaning that they are not adverse health effects. However, recent work on borderline hormonal imbalances and endocrine-disrupting chemicals indicated that adverse health effects, or increased risks for developing adverse effects, might be associated with seemingly mild imbalances or perturbations in hormone concentrations. Further research is needed to explore these possibilities."
* Western European countries mostly do not fluoridate.

· A respected Canadian research group, similar to the NRC, that advises national and international governments and organizations on public policy, The Research and Discussion Group at York University, did an extensive review of all the scientific literature worldwide in 2000, and they found that the evidence for fluoridation was at best mixed, and that there was reason for concern, because the evidence at all levels was of a poor quality (there are no A-level studies). As they explained in 2003, urging people to read the whole report (I’ve read the executive summary):

“We were unable to discover any reliable good-quality evidence in the fluoridation literature world-wide. What evidence we found suggested that water fluoridation was likely to have a beneficial effect, but that the range could be anywhere from a substantial benefit to a slight disbenefit to children's teeth. This beneficial effect comes at the expense of an increase in the prevalence of fluorosis (mottled teeth). The quality of this evidence was poor. An association with water fluoride and other adverse effects such as cancer, bone fracture and Down's syndrome was not found. However, we felt that not enough was known because the quality of the evidence was poor. The evidence about reducing inequalities in dental health was of poor quality, contradictory and unreliable. Since the report was published in October 2000 there has been no other scientifically defensible review that would alter the findings of the York review. As emphasised in the report, only high-quality studies can fill in the gaps in knowledge about these and other aspects of fluoridation. Recourse to other evidence of a similar or lower level than that included in the York review, no matter how copious, cannot do this.”

* Worldwide, the rates of dental decay have fallen, regardless of fluoridation. This fact was particularly persuasive to the Environmental Commission, particularly when combined with concerns about health risks. When all this is further combined with the fact that poverty is the best predictor of tooth decay, it does appear that fluoride’s role in dental health has often been overstated, even by respected authorities.
* Dr. Katherine Theissen, one of the 12 scientists on the NRC panel, argues, here, that the NRC findings can and should be considered when communities are looking at fluoridating water, and she summarizes her concerns. She concludes that fluoridation is not necessary and may be a matter of concern, especially related to the thyroid and pineal gland.
* NOTE: Dr. Theissen was already a fluoride skeptic before participating in the report, as she is quoted in earlier documents on the Fluroide Action Network webpages, but her tone is always careful and scientific. Indeed, she has a powerpoint presentation, which is linked to this interview with her on the FAN pages, about the potential link between elevated levels of fluoride—even mildly elevated—on the linked modern ailments such as hypothyroidism, obesity, depression, children’s lower ages of puberty, and reduced levels of calcium and iodine in American systems, that makes a very strong case that we should be concerned about the levels of fluoride that we are ingesting.)
* Here is a redaction of an article from Scientific American, entitled "Second Thoughts on Fluoridation" which quotes others from the committee, particularly by Dr. John Doull, professor emeritus of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Kansas Medical Center, who chaired the NRC committee: “The thyroid changes do worry me. There are some things there that need to be explored"....."What the committee found is that we’ve gone with the status quo regarding fluoride for many years—for too long, really—and now we need to take a fresh look,” Doull says. “In the scientific community, people tend to think this is settled. I mean, when the U.S. surgeon general comes out and says this is one of the 10 greatest achievements of the 20th century, that’s a hard hurdle to get over. But when we looked at the studies that have been done, we found that many of these questions are unsettled and we have much less information than we should, considering how long this [fluoridation] has been going on. I think that’s why fluoridation is still being challenged so many years after it began. In the face of ignorance, controversy is rampant.” [NOTE: The redaction was made by the Fluoride Action Network, which is opposed to fluoridation. You can, however, read the beginning of the article, and purchase the entire article here--and it does seem to correspond in tone to the redaction provided by the FAN.]

I have been on all sides of this issue:

* I began assuming that only crazy John-Birchers were opposed to fluoridation. I had seen Stanley Kubrick’s film, Dr. Strangelove, and I thought concerns were on the level of the flat-earth society or the people who think the moon landing was faked.
* When I started researching, I came to be sympathetic to concerns raised by those opposed to fluoridation, particularly the issue of mass medication and concerns for people who may have elevated sensitivity to fluoride.
* Even this week, however, I was ready to reverse my stance, simply because of that basic fact that the studies I have read do indicate that fluoride works to reduce cavities.
* Truth in advertising: I have hypothyroidism, which is one of the conditions that may be connected to high levels of fluoride. (But I love tea and have a hard time not drinking tea!) Moreover, it’s likely that an even stronger case could be made that the chlorides in the water may have the same or worse effect on my thyroid, displacing iodines, and we cannot get rid of chlorides at this time, and have our water be cost effective.
* I understand, but was put off BOTH by the lack of knowledge of our local health department when they discussed this issue in a public forum last fall, AND by the lack of nuance in the arguments of those opposed to fluoridation, which often exaggerate the certainty of any links between fluoride and ill-health effects.
* However, many serious, well-trained scientists have examined the evidence closely and have seriously begun to reconsider the massive use of fluoridation in the United States and other English speaking countries. I agree with these scientists.

SO NOW:

* The CDC and majority of health-care officials conclude that fluoride is, as a TOPICAL agent, beneficial for developing children’s teeth and probably adult teeth, but we do not need to ingest it.
* We need to be especially concerned about the hours that most village children are in school, especially following lunch, which are critical times for caries to develop; fluoride from the water fountains is likely preventing the growth of cavities on some of their teeth. This may be preventing cavities for village children each year, and I am concerned about that.
* The difference between the “naturally” occurring fluoride in our water and the amount we add is fairly small—from .4 to .7-1 mg/l (we have typically been at about 1 mg/l). People should not exaggerate this amount or the difference it will have on overall health, in either direction. Moreover, the awareness that fluoride is so widely found in our environment, is naturally found in water, and is a part of foods and beverages like tea that have been drunk in significant quantities for thousands of years, makes me very skeptical of the claim that fluoride itself is the toxin that some strive to paint it as being.
* I do not believe fluoride in the water is as important a source of fluoride today as it has sometimes been represented—both due to fluoride’s prevalence in normal foods and beverages and due to toothpastes, rinses, dental treatments, etc. The most important things for good dental health seem to be: a good diet, good oral hygiene, regular access to dental care.
* While fluoridated drinking water has been an inexpensive way of helping village teeth, it is a very inefficient mode of delivery. Most of it goes down the toilet, through our washing machines and dishwashers, or into our gardens and lawns.
* We do not medicate people using the water supply for any other purpose. Many countries—97% of Western Europe—have rejected fluoridation for that reason, because people cannot consent to it when it is in their water supply.
* There is some significant evidence that infants should not ingest fluoridated water, and that ingestion of the form of the fluoride we are adding may be harmful to any children who are exposed to lead, and that there is also an under-researched possibility that higher levels of ingested fluoride are affecting their maturity rates and metabolism.
* These concerns about the industrial sourcing and type of the fluoride and the difference that may make on poor children’s health—along with the other potential risk issues—makes me concerned about this mode of delivering the probably good benefits of fluoride to our village children’s teeth.

MY POLICY STANCE:

* That we should practice the stop adding fluoride to the water.
* We should have a dialogue about this issue with the school. If we make this change, we may need to urge additional dental hygiene in schools so that children whose parents want fluoride can easily, for example, use a fluoridated mouth rinse after lunch.
o Perhaps we could budget the money we currently spend on fluoride for fluoridated rinses in all the schools—in many locations within each building—and dental hygiene education programs.
* Persons with significant health problems, especially serious renal problems and others who believe they are sensitive to fluorides, chlorides and other elements in small quantities should probably still drink filtered or distilled waters.
* If my colleagues on Council disagree, and we decide to keep with the standard guidelines of the CDC, we should use the lowest amount possible, or .7mg/l.

VC: Fluoridation, Cell Tower, Econ Sustainability, Cable Advisory Name, Dog Park again?, Winter St. sewer, Swimming Pool fees

2010-04-05T09:36:00.001-04:00

Dear People: Happy Spring! Village Council will be meeting on Monday night at 7 pm in Council Chambers, 2nd floor of Bryan Center.

CENSUS! WE NEED YOU! Only 58% of Villagers had returned their census forms as of last Thursday, the deadline. To get the aid and resources we deserve from the federal and state governments, we need you to be counted--and it's 10 easy questions that take only a few minutes to fill out. Census workers will visit your home if you have not yet returned it.

I. PETITIONS / COMMUNICATIONS / LETTERS RECEIVED:

Fluoridation: Against) I have received two letters from citizens asking us to stop fluoridating; one is in the packet. For) I have received one letter from a local physician asking us to retain fluoridation--who additionally has a letter with 11 signatures from local health professionals. One other citizen who supports continued fluoridation has spoken to me personally. (Additionally, there are several letters in recent issues of the YS News on both sides of the issue.)

My thoughts on this issue are complex and have been evolving. I will be sending them in a separate email.

Jet Noise: A citizen has continued in correspondence with the Springfield-Beckley Airport about the jet noise concerns, and emphasizes that the real noise producers are the Dutch planes.
Parking for Disabled Persons: A citizen wrote expressing concerns about the parking spots in Corry/Dayton St.
Census: A citizen wrote urging people to participate in the Census.
Notice of Conditional Permit Public Hearing: regarding the properties at 102 Dayton Street and 150 Railroad Street, also known as Village Station. A different site plan for this property was previously approved in November of 2006. The plan as currently submitted is identical to that approved in 2006 with the exception of some minor re-routing of utilities. (Electronically, we also received notice of a zoning appeal hearing on a variance allowing for a second story porch at 141 Winter St.)
Dog Park: We received a letter from two citizens and a petition signed by many residents against locating the dog park at Ellis Pond, and I spoke to a citizen concerned about the dog park location, asking that a different spot be considered.
Winter Street Stormwater Problems: 2 letters. See discussion under special presentation.
Legal Opinions: We received two letters from our village solicitor regarding conflicts of interests for Village Council members and Planning Commission members.

II. LEGISLATION

Economic Sustainability Commission ORDINANCE: Second Reading and Public Hearing. With some reservations, I support establishing this commission, but ask that we revisit it in a year to see if the group is helping meet community needs. (This should be standard practice with all boards/commissions.)

Cell Tower Lease with Verizon ORDINANCE: Second Reading and Public Hearing: I support locating this cell tower on the Village property (Bryan Center grounds) and collecting fees from Verizon.

Name Change: from "Cable Advisory Panel" to "Community Access Panel" ORDINANCE: First Reading. I support this name change as more accurately reflective of the current role and function of the panel. For one thing, our cable access channel is in danger of being taken from us in the next years, despite our best efforts at resisting this change (allowed by Ohio state law). We hope that by that time we will have the ability to stream and archive our meetings online.

Approving the Cessation of Fluoride Supplementation in YS Water: RESOLUTION. I suspect that Council may need more time to hear from the community about this change, so I do not expect this to be the last hearing on this issue. I have written my thoughts about this issue in a separate email, forthcoming, because they are long and complex. I would appreciate your careful thoughts and thoughtful feedback.

III. CITIZENS CONCERNS: I suspect some citizens will come to speak to the Dog Park issue which is not on our agenda. If you have any concerns not on the agenda, remember you can always come and speak to them during this portion of our meeting.

IV. SPECIAL REPORTS:

Council Goals 4,5,6
Winter Street Repair project: We have budgeted $135K to repair the storm sewer system on Winter St. Our planner, Ed Amrhein will explain the project. Ed argues that we can repair this, but suggests it was not a problem created by the Village but by the residents. One Winter St. resident disagrees with Ed, arguing that it's the Village's approach to street repair, etc. that led to the problem, another Winter St. resident agrees with Ed, but thinks that we shouldn't be spending this money: water in the basement is an unavoidable reality in some parts of YS due to geography.
Northern Gateway Project: We've talked about this for so long, and many of us have never actually had the plan formally explained to us, so Ed Amrhein will do so, now that funding may come through.
Revolving Loan Fund Report: Sharon Potter will explain where this fund is currently so we can decide what to do with it in the future.

V. OLD BUSINESS

VI. NEW BUSINESS

Liquor License Renewal: John Grote will present this issue. All the liquor licenses in town are up for their annual renewal. Due to my connection to the Emporium, I will recuse myself from the discussion.
Swimming Pool Fees and Operations: Last year the pool's revenues were very low, primarily due to cold weather. Mark Cundiff recommends a $5 across the boards increase for all season passes, and photo IDs, a $0.50 increase for teens and seniors single passes (to $3.50, leaving 19-50 yo's at $5.00), and increases for the pool rental.
John Davis Affordable Housing Presentation: Judith Hempfling has been working with Marianne MacQueen, director of Home, Inc., on affordable housing. They would like us to pay for the travel expenses--only--of Mr. John Davis, partner and co-founder of Burlington Associates in Community Development, "a national consulting cooperative specializing in the development of ...permanently affordable, owner-occupied housing." ($600 is the total amount being asked). Mr. Davis would present to Council and engage community leaders in a discussion of policy approaches to affordable housing.

So far as I can tell, we don't have an executive session planned.

IT'S APRIL, NATIONAL POETRY MONTH: So, my favorite April poem:

Spring, by Edna St. Vincent Millay

To what purpose, April, do you return again?

Beauty is not enough.

You can no longer quiet me with the redness

Of little leaves opening stickily.

I know what I know.

The sun is hot on my neck as I observe

The spikes of the crocus.

The smell of the earth is good.

It is apparent that there is no death.

But what does that signify?

Not only under ground are the brains of men

Eaten by maggots.

Life in itself

Is nothing,

An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.

It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,

April

Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.

---

Peace!
Lori

VC: Tonight! Cell Tower, Budget, Dog Park, Waiver of Tap Fees, Fluoride, CBE, old Stutzman's property

2010-03-15T16:42:00.001-04:00

Dear People: I am back from a long weekend in North Carolina (Asheville and Charlotte), playing music and going to a couple of small concerts and spending time with a good friend. And it's back to work! Tonight there's a Village Council meeting, with a lot of stuff on the agenda.

SWEARING IN of the new Clerk of Council, Judith O. Kintner. Welcome Judy!

COMMUNICATIONS:

DOG PARK: THOUGHTS ON LANGUAGE AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE: As you can guess if you've been following the debate in the YS News opinion page, we have received many letters regarding the dog park issue: many expressing concerns about safety, including a petition signed by a number of residents (73, I believe), some of whom also sent letters. A few wrote powerful positive letters. Some residents support the park, just not at Gaunt--some support the park, but not at Ellis, others suggest other locations. Some are concerned about the speed of the process.

While these communications are for the most part thoughtful and politely worded, I agree with the concerns of students (in this week's YS News) that characterizing people involved as manipulative or ascribing base motivations to Council or the young people who brought the petition are both false and counterproductive. Let me be clear: I read all letters and emails, and I strive to ignore any attacks on me or people I have some afiliation with to get at the worthwhile critique that may be hidden in there. That's my job, and it's what I signed up for. But I admit it's tiresome for me, and, when young people or other villagers are involved it's really deadly. So this is a plea for continued communication, but let's all make an effort to consider our words carefully, and their potential effect on the whole potential audience of Villagers, before we hit "send" or step up to the mic.

ARTS COMMITTEE/ PERFORMANCE SPACE: Writes that it is no longer considering the Dayton St/Railroad St. space for a new facility, and is planning to discuss plans with the Antioch College campus.

ZONING / BUILDING CODES: A resident and volunteer fire fighter wrote to urge us to consider fire safety in all of our codes--density, floor/truss construction, residential sprinklers.

GREEN SPACE: One additional letter supporting the use of green space funds for the properties being considered.

LEGISLATION:

ORDINANCES: "First Reading" means we'll vote tonight AND again at our next meeting. We generally allow public comment at both readings, but an official public hearing must happen at the second reading.

First Reading: Verizon Cell Tower Lease: The plan is to put an additional tower on the Bryan Center grounds, to better serve the downtown area. The village will receive rent for this facility/space. I support this plan, tentatively--I need to see the full plans, which will be available/explained in detail tonight.
First Reading: VYS Budget Approval. Judith Hempfling has an excellent letter about the Budget that will go in this week's paper. I have attached it to this letter. She walks us through all the controversial areas of the budget and her thoughts on each topic, which I largely share. I would welcome your input on this vision of our budget and our approach to fiscal health.

RESOLUTIONS:

Dog Park Project: Currently states "Gaunt Park." However, manager Cundiff has gone through the advantages and disadvantages of all the sites, and suggests in his memo that Ellis is still the site he'd recommend. If that is not possible, he'd say Stutzman's or Glass Farm are the next logical sites. I do not have strong feelings on this topic.
Waiver of Tap Fees for Home, Inc. for permanently affordable homes

SPECIAL REPORTS:

Environmental Commission: 1) Proposal to stop adding fluoride to our water; 2) Annual Report. After the public forum last fall and having reviewed the available scientific data from around the world, the EC proposes that we cease adding fluoride to our water supply.
CBE (Center for Business and Education: Antioch-McGregor Site): Council asked to have a presentation made on the current plans for this site so that we can better understand and address community concerns about this "gateway" to the village on W. Dayton St./ Enon Road.
Cable Advisory Panel: Annual Report

OLD BUSINESS:

Review Council Goals (4-6)
Council Committee/Board/Commissions update

MANAGER'S REPORT
1) Snow and ice control costs so far this winter: $19,909.33. (Overtime hours and holiday hours accounted for a great deal of that cost, due to the timing and intensity of the storms). Mark suggests an Oct/Nov presentation this year on the Village's snow removal policies for public education purposes.

2) AMP (American Municipal Power) Meetings: Mark's is attending meetings regarding Gorsuch (the old coal plant we're part owner of, through our energy co-op, AMP); potential geo-thermal generation project; the hydro projects; and Business development. He's agreed to serve on an Environmental Stewardship subcommittee for AMP municipalities.

3) Pool Fees: slight increase proposed for this summer

EXECUTIVE SESSION: Topic: Real Estate: Former Stutzman Property. With Village Solicitor, via teleconference.

VC: 2009 Review, Dog Park, Economic Sustainability, Green Space, New Clerk

2010-02-28T17:34:00.003-05:00

<-- That's Marina Abramovic, a New York artist and self-described "grandmother of performance art," eating an onion in a short Dutch film called, "The Onion" (1996)

Dear People: The meeting tomorrow night (3/1, 7 pm, Council Chambers) should be fairly straightforward. We'll begin, however, with a quick reminder that our major budget workshop for the year is next Saturday, March 6, from 9:30 to 12:30 in Council Chambers.

As of this writing, the Council Packet is not online (it arrived later than usual so I suspect time simply ran out for our limited staff); however, I am hopeful that it will be put online before the meeting Monday evening, on the "Council Packet" page of the Village website.

SELECTED COMMUNICATIONS

To the Springfield City Mgr thanking him for his time at the last VC mtg, raising further questions re: jet noise
To VC, re: green space fund expenditures, supporting VC's use of the funds for the two projects on tonight's agenda.

(This is in addition to perhaps a dozen supportive letters received before the last meeting. Another citizen and former council person expressed general support for green space but caution about too much Green Space funding in a letter just prior to the last meeting.)

To VC: the Environmental Commission submits a report, recommending that we cease adding fluoride to the drinking water.

I will ask that this document be posted online and made publicly available. I believe that the EC has also written asking us to add this to our next Council agenda.

To V. Mgr: Thanks from a senior citizen who appreciated the help of three village employees who took the time to help push her car

out of a snow bank on Rice Rd.

NewsRelease: AMP is starting construction on the 2nd Hydroelectric Project, in which we are an investor,

at Smithland Locks and Dam in Kentucky.

PUBLIC HEARINGS / LEGISLATION

Ordinance: First reading: Economic Sustainability Commission. As a result of the last meeting's discussion, and in consultation with our village solicitor, this ordinance has been simplified and clarified in some ways from the most recent version of the proposal drafted by Judith Hempfling. The ordinance establishes a body of seven persons, including a designated rep from both the School Board and the Planning Commission, as well as ex-oficio representatives (one or two) from Council and the Economic Sustainability Coordinator (i.e., Sarah Wildman). Their first main task would be to serve as a sounding and development board for the Economic Development Plan that Sarah is tasked with creating. I support this board, with some reservations. I have asked that we carefully review its efforts, particularly after the first year, to see if this approach to our goal of improving the Village's economic health seem to be working.

Resolution: Authorizing the Village Manager to release Green Space Funds for the Purchase of Conservation Easements on the Semler and Fulton (aka Fogg) Farms. I support this release of funds.

Resolution: Appointing a new Clerk of Council. I am pleased to announce that Judith O. Kintner has accepted our offer of this position, and will begin work immediately upon the passage of this resolution. It was a very strong, competitive pool of candidates. We are very fortunate to have someone as capable, on so many levels, as Judy is, to take on this role, and with such a deep knowledge of the village as a whole.

THANKS, DENISE: Let me also take this moment to publicly thank Denise Swinger for her extraordinary efforts on our behalf in her service as acting Clerk during Deborah Benning's final illness and upon her passing. Denise had been helping out at the Village Clerk's office for quite some time, first as an unpaid volunteer and then as a part-time, minimally paid file clerk assisting Deborah; she stepped into this position at our request in our time of deepest need. It was not easy for her family to have her working so many hours, particularly so many evening hours. (And this past month alone has been a doozy--with a total of six Council meetings, a few extremely long ones, plus a Planning Commission meeting, in its four short weeks!) Additionally, she has generously agreed to help train our new Clerk, Judy; I know that her efforts will help ease the transition in a multitude of ways. Please extend your thanks to Denise (and her family) for her exceptional service to our Village.

2009 ANNUAL REPORT: Mark Cundiff

OLD BUSINESS

Dog Park Location Decision: The proposal is now to put a dog park in on the western part of the Gaunt Park water tower site. There will be a small dog area and a large dog area, separated by rail fence and chicken wire. There's no water fountain in this area, and it's somewhat distant from existing parking. Mgr. Cundiff proposes that a future senior project might be fundraising for this purpose. I support this location for this park.
Home, Inc. Hook-Up Fee Waiver Request: Marianne MacQueen asks that we consider waiving "utility tap and zoning permit fees on all permanently affordable homes" that are built in the village. (MacQueen's memo only address's permanently affordable homes that Home, Inc., builds, but I believe any resolution to this effect would need to be applied to all organizations or individuals who create permanently affordable homes.)
Energy Task Force: Review and Revise ETF's Charge, Membership, & Duties: Mark Cundiff submits the following suggestions based on an ETF discussion dated Feb. 8: 1) Make the V. Mgr. a non-voting member; 2) Establish a membership limit of 5 but not more than 9. (Legally, however, we may have to choose a specific number); 3) 2 Council Members as voting members (currently 1); 4) Change the designation from "Task Force" to "Board" or "Commission." Because we own our electrical utility and energy concerns seem to be perpetual, the work is greater than a "task force." To avoid acronym confusion with the EC, Environmental Commission, they suggest "Board."
Appointments to Council's Commisisons/Committees/Boards & Task Forces: We have persons willing to fill six of the current openings on our supporting committees; there are still openings on the HRC (1), EC (1), ETF (the number depends on the decision, above); Library (1).
Council Goals 1-3: Review: We're doing a final honing of these goals, which I believe look pretty good.

NEW BUSINESS

2010 Employee Wage Increase: Our current formula for determining staff wage increases calculates inflation in such a way that, in the current climate, it underestimates the increased cost of living and results in very small cost of living increases--this year's would be 0.675% (last year's would have been 0.25%). Mark Cundiff has submitted a report on a survey of Greene County public employers' and municipalities' employee wages, union and non-union, to determine what would be a more fair cost of living increase. He suggests that we raise it to the average of all those employee wage increases, i.e., 2.15%. This would follow our practice from last year, so I support this change. We are planning to update our employee manual and compensation system this year, and are very fortunate to have Mark's experience in Human Resources to guide and inform this task.

MANAGER'S REPORT & AGENDA PLANNING

POEM

In honor of Women's History Month, I give you a poem by Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate of England, the first open lesbian to hold the post. The poem is perhaps a couple weeks late, but it's so awesome, and the sentiment so ...unsentimental!

Valentine  by Carol Ann Duffy

Not a red rose or a satin heart.

I give you an onion.
It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.

It promises light
like the careful undressing of love.

Here.
It will blind you with tears
like a lover.
It will make your reflection
a wobbling photo of grief.

I am trying to be truthful.


Not a cute card or a kissogram.

I give you an onion.
Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips,
possessive and faithful
as we are,
for as long as we are.

Take it.
Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding-ring,

if you like.

Lethal.
Its scent will cling to your fingers,
cling to your knife.

VC: Mon Visioning, Tuesday Budgeting, Jets and Snow Removal

2010-02-20T14:11:00.002-05:00

Dear People: On Monday (2/22) there will be a joint meeting of the Council and the Miami Township Trustees about the Visioning process so far. On Tuesday (2/23)there will be a second special meeting focused on the budget.

Monday: Together with the Miami Township Trustees, we'll be getting a presentation on the Visioning process so far, and hearing their recommendations for draft goals, organizing themes and principals. So far I like what I am seeing, although I know that the process has not been easy or perfect.

This Tuesday's meeting is the second of three Budget meetings:

the first, which was earlier this month, was focused on projected capital expenses (estimated for the next five years),
the second, this Tuesday, focusing on Enterprise funds (all the rate-paying funds, etc.), and the
third focused will be focused on the General Fund (3/6) and any revisions to the first two that may have been made as a result of our earlier two meetings.

Follow up on Jet-Noise and Snow Removal

At our meeting last Tuesday (2/16) we had a presentation by the officers at the Springfield-Beckley Airfield. I believe they were quite responsive to villagers' concerns, and I'm glad they came. They showed us the flight patterns that all pilots are supposed to follow, which do go well outside the villages of Yellow Springs and Clifton, and are designed to avoid direct overflight.

However, if that pattern is not followed...How to make a complaint about planes flying outside of the required pattern:

"Noise Information Line: 937-525-2780

To learn more about Flight Operation & Noise at the 178th Fighter Wing please visit our website at: http://www.178fw.ang.af.mil/ . On the right side near the bottom of the page you will see the section ‘Noise Complaint’. Click on the tab ‘Flight Operations & Noise’.

If people feel their calls are not being handled properly, please have them email Col Mike Roberts at mike.roberts@ang.af.mil"

Snow removal: We are a small village, and our crews are small. There are only so many workers who are qualified to drive the snowplows, and they can only work so long before they are required to take breaks, for safety. And there are only so many places that we can pile up snow, and then, if necessary, it takes another step to remove the piles that are obstructive. So we ask your patience when we experience repeated and unusually heavy snows as we have so far this month.

HOWEVER, you may be able to help village staff and your fellow villagers:

1) Scoop your sidewalks, regularly and as soon as possible after a storm.
2) Most important: Scoop out any fire hydrants on or near your property! This is critical for your own household's safety as well as the safety of your neighbors.

I was saddened to hear of the death of Lucille Clifton on February 13th. Here's a poem of hers about the passage of time on this tired earth:

the mississippi river empties into the gulf

and the gulf enters the sea and so forth,
none of them emptying anything,
all of them carrying yesterday
forever on their white tipped backs,
all of them dragging forward tomorrow.
it is the great circulation
of the earth's body, like the blood
of the gods, this river in which the past
is always flowing. every water
is the same water coming round.
everyday someone is standing on the edge
of this river, staring into time,
whispering mistakenly:
only here. only now.

Peace,
L.

VC on TUES: EPA fine, Jet Noise, Dog Park, TLT request Green Space $, Econ. Sustainability, Goals

2010-02-15T13:56:00.003-05:00

Dear People: Thanks to so many of you who came out for my band's official debut on Friday at the Emporium. It was nice to see so many friendly faces and gratifying that we managed to "bring out the boogie" in many of you!

Council Meeting is on TUESDAY (2/16) this week; heavy agenda! I strongly encourage you to look at the packet as posted online, but here are the highlights.

LEGISLATION:

Two annual, housekeeping Resolutions regarding a) our bank account (and who is eligible to sign documents, etc.) and b) our membership in the Regional Planning & Coordinating Commission of Green County
A Resolution Approving findings/orders from the Ohio EPA regarding the Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP). Our attorney, Tim Hoffman, negotiated the original fine of $79K (announced last year) down to $22.5K. We are allowed to donate $10K to the Glen Helen Ecology Institute to restore a wetland and $2.5K to the OEPA's clean diesel school bus fund. So only $10K will be actual penalty dollars paid to the OEPA.

SPECIAL REPORT: Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport Presentation the goal is to address concerns regarding jet noise. I have received an additional communication from one township resident about this concern. Please let me know your thoughts!

OLD BUSINESS:

Dog Park Discussion: Mark has laid out the pros and cons of a variety of sites, including Ellis Park (as proposed by the students); Stutzman property; Glass Farm; Gaunt Park; Old WWTP site (Corner of Allen and Corry).
TLT Request for Green Space Funds: There are two farms just to the NW of the village, one containing the headwaters of the Jacoby, that are good candidates for our green space funds, according to the Tecumseh Land Trust (TLT). The two farm projects would amount to $211,950 in local matching funds, taken from our Green Space Funds, which currently stand at $275K. Protecting the Jacoby green space is a long-term goal of Council and the Village. I support this request. (But of course always remain open to hearing from villagers on all sides of the question).

Krista Magaw, Exec. Director of the TLT will present on this topic and answer questions. Krista also has written a letter asking us to consider putting into place a standard policy regarding the Green Space Fund, as the Miami Township has. She suggests allocating a set amount from our estate taxes (e.g., the first $50,000 or $100,000 of these funds, each year; the funds have typically been yielding from $250K-$300K/ year for the past several years).

Economic Sustainability Task Force: Judith has revised her plan, and I am hoping that we will vote on it.
Commission Openings! Denise Swinger has done a very thorough review of the Commissions and Boards, looking back to the Charter in some cases, to get a very clear picture of what terms have expired when--some of these were off, according to the terms of the Charter (e.g., Planning Commission). We appreciate her work!

Many of these boards/commissions don't actually require a huge commitment of time but do important work--consider putting your name in? Here's the story:

Planning Commission: 2 Expired Terms. Bill Bebko and John Streuwing would like to be reappointed.
Board of Zoning Appeals: 1 expired term. Ted Donnell would like to be reappointed
Board of Tax Appeals: 3 expired terms. Richard Zopf would like to be reappointed; the other two members have not been in contact with the Clerk.
Human Relations: 2 expired terms. Joan Chappelle would like to be reappointed, but not Don Wallis. We need another person!
Environmental Commission: 1 opening for a village resident, 1 for a township resident. One person has indicated interest in serving. We need another!
Library Commission: 1 term expiring soon.
Cable Advisory Panel: We have a request that Michael Cannon be appointed.

Goals! We have a new draft of our goals for this year--they are clearer and more streamlined, I believe, than in years past.

NO New Business.

FYI: Citizen Communications:
Paul A commented on a proto version of the HRC website.
Three citizens thanked the street dept for their efforts to clear snow from the streets and asked if the curbs and gutters could be cleared too.
Rick D expressed concerns about the CBE design
Lloyd K expressed concerns about a dog park at Ellis Park
Lisa A wrote on behalf of Community Resources about our meeting in January and future steps. And we received a DVD of Gudge's comments to the McKee Group in January.

Another poem? Why not!

When You Are Old

by William Butler Yeats

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Source: The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats (1989)

Tonight: "Local Government: The Musical"?

2010-02-12T11:04:00.000-05:00

Dear People--Miami Township Trustee Mark Crockett and I are in a band together with other fine people--Ona Harshaw, a drum repairman and design professor named LB, and a fabulous guitarist named Ed from Springfield, and other special guests. We call ourselves "Revolving Door" and we'll be playing blues, folk, country, old time rock and roll, and other assorted covers tonight at the Emporium, from about 7-10. See you there, maybe?

Tonight Special budget meeting: still on, despite the snow!

2010-02-09T18:01:00.001-05:00

The title of this post says it all.

PC tonight, VC (Budget!) tomorrow night

2010-02-08T10:15:00.003-05:00

Dear People: What a week, already! We met yesterday with five candidates for the Village Clerk position from 12 noon- 5 pm. We will be calling references this week and meeting in executive session after our next regular meeting, next Monday, to discuss the candidates and, we hope, make a decision. The remaining candidates are all very strong, so our decision will not be easy. (The current economy is so hurtful to good people...it's frustrating to see that first hand.)

Two meetings this week:

1) Planning Commission, tonight (Mon 2/8) 7 pm: We will be continuing our discussion of Historic Preservation Legislation and have our goals review. We will review the PUD Chapter at our March 8th meeting.

2) Village Council, special budget meeting (1st of 3), tomorrow night (Tue 2/9) 7 pm: We will discussing the overall budget plan. Attached are some documents from Mark, that will be relevant to our discussion. Please read Mark's cover letter, the list of out year projects, and the (incomplete) budget worksheet for capital projects. (This will almost certainly be updated for our meeting tomorrow night).

I'd very much welcome your feedback.

Peace,
Lori

VC: Water, Goals, and life...

2010-01-30T14:19:00.003-05:00

Dear People: After the thaw, the cold returns again. I included a February poem by one of my favorite writers, Margaret Atwood at the end of this email. I've been enjoying long walks with my dogs, all bundled up, feeling the blessing of this healthy body that I too often take for granted, and thinking of Judith Hempfling, who has had hip surgery this week and is working on walking again. She is doing well, but she could use your good thoughts and support.

I will, therefore, be leading the meeting on Monday (Exec. session is at 6:30; regular meeting is 7:00, in the Bryan Center), as Vice President; Judith will try to be present for the Goals discussion.

The Council Packet is online so do feel free to consult it in relation to any of the information below.

1) 6:30 Executive Session to discuss Village Manager evaluation and contract renewal.

2) 7:00 General Session

ANNOUNCEMENT: We have two special meetings before our next regular meeting (15th)

SUNDAY February 7th: Executive Session: Personnel: Clerk of Council Interviews: 12-5 pm

(Yes, we're interviewing folks on Super Bowl Sunday. Ironically, none of us noticed this until our Village Manager, Mark, pointed this out to us!)

TUESDAY February 9th: Special Meeting: First Budget Session 7 pm

3) Minutes like crazy!--we're running a bit behind.

4) PETITIONS/ COMMUNICATIONS: We received petitions from local citizens:

Paul Abendroth, regarding downtown parking concerns--simple solutions for working with our current parking;
Dan Carrigan (2) re: putting an RSS feed on the website and asking for clearer maps of the CBE;
Harvey Paige re: airport noise (responses from federal government offiicials)

Financial Director Sharon Potter provided handouts for Council to use to better inform our Commissions about expenditure requests and procedures

5) PUBLIC HEARINGS / LEGISLATION

2nd reading/ public hearing on Ordinance 2010-01 Water Rate Increase For the last several years our Water rates have not kept pace with our expenses, and have not been raised since 2001, so we are raising those rates by 10%, 5% the next year, and then a constant increase of 3% per year for 2013, 2014, to be revisited at that time.
Resolution: Business First Dues: $1500. This regional organization helps to retain and support expansion of businesses in the Dayton region.
Resolution: Northern Gateway: Supporting a Grant Application to the ODNR (Ohio Dept Natural Resources)
Resolution: New Village Treasurer: Rachel McKinley, an excellent and highly qualified candidate with excellent background in non-profit finance, has been interviewed and will be named our new village treasurer! Please congratulate, and thank her, for this public service.

6) CITIZENS' CONCERNS: If you have something on your mind, and it is not being covered by our current agenda, this is your time to speak your mind.

7) SPECIAL REPORT:

Our Water System Concerns: Potassium Permanganate Project Report by Joe Bates, Superintendent, Water and Waste Water Treatment Plants. Oh, dear, folks--48 years of manganese buildup in the pipes down at the plant and in other places like the water towers needs to be dealt with. Joe is going to help us understand our situation and decide what to do.

8) OLD BUSINESS:

Update on the Clerk of Council position. We're interviewing 5 candidates on the 7th. We had an excellent pool.

Dog Park Proposal at Ellis Park: two YSHS seniors have approached Mark about a "free range" fenced-in, dog park, north of the parking area--divided into an area for small dogs (40' x 134') and a separate one for large dogs (260' x 150'). Most of the park would be outside this area. I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Continuation of 2010 Goals Discussion We have 6 overarching goals that we polished at our last meeting. Now we are working on determining a few, concrete things that we want to accomplish this year. But we have about 100 ideas! The compilation of all brainstormed ideas is in the packet (linked above), but Mark is hoping to have removed all the repetition so we can start from a more specific, place.

9) NEW BUSINESS: None! So why not a poem...

POEM

February

by Margaret Atwood

Winter. Time to eat fat

and watch hockey. In the pewter mornings, the cat,

a black fur sausage with yellow

Houdini eyes, jumps up on the bed and tries

to get onto my head. It’s his

way of telling whether or not I’m dead.

If I’m not, he wants to be scratched; if I am

He’ll think of something. He settles

on my chest, breathing his breath

of burped-up meat and musty sofas,

purring like a washboard. Some other tomcat,

not yet a capon, has been spraying our front door,

declaring war. It’s all about sex and territory,

which are what will finish us off

in the long run. Some cat owners around here

should snip a few testicles. If we wise

hominids were sensible, we’d do that too,

or eat our young, like sharks.

But it’s love that does us in. Over and over

again, He shoots, he scores! and famine

crouches in the bedsheets, ambushing the pulsing

eiderdown, and the windchill factor hits

thirty below, and pollution pours

out of our chimneys to keep us warm.

February, month of despair,

with a skewered heart in the centre.

I think dire thoughts, and lust for French fries

with a splash of vinegar.

Cat, enough of your greedy whining

and your small pink bumhole.

Off my face! You’re the life principle,

more or less, so get going

on a little optimism around here.

Get rid of death. Celebrate increase. Make it be spring.

Peace!
Lori

--
Lori Askeland (lori.askeland@gmail....)
Yellow Springs Village Council
1640 Spillan Road
Yellow Springs OH 45387
http://www.askelandforcouncil.blogspot.com (updated regularly with council news)
http://www.yso.com
937.767.8116

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VC 1/19: Water Rates; Procedures for Calling Mtgs; Goals

2010-01-18T22:33:00.005-05:00

Dear People: It's a busy night for Council tomorrow (Tues. 1/19) night, although the agenda of the public meeting is fairly focused--just two issues to be discussed.

First off, an update: Council met in executive session on Sunday to discuss our hiring of a new Clerk of Council. We had a short list of 22 applicants to work from (narrowed from about 150 by John Weithofer and me), and we further narrowed that list to several we hope to interview and some alternates. I will be speaking to John Weithofer this week about helping us contact them for interviews, collect references from those we don't have, etc.

TUESDAY NIGHT MEETING

1) Special Meeting of Village Council: Executive Session 5 pm

Treasurer Interview
Evaluation of Village Manager

2) Regular meeting: 7 pm

LEGISLATION: Drafts of these legislation documents are posted online!

1) ORDINANCE: Second reading/ public hearing: Establishing procedures for calling meetings: Our village lawyer, John Chambers, will be present to answer questions about the draft of this ordinance, which provides clear guidance about publishing all meetings properly, as well as special meetings and emergency meetings. Emergency meetings are and have been very rare: we have only called one since Judith/Karen have been on Council. Some citizens felt that we should specify the kinds of reasons we should have for calling meetings, in order to ensure that they are rarely called. I will be asking Mr. Chambers about that idea.

On this note, it should be noted that Mr. Chambers has issued a legal opinion about a conference call by members of the Visioning Task Force Steering Committee. His note does indicate that the conference call did constitute an illegal meeting. There are some fairly straightforward means by which the Steering Committee can respond to this problem. I suspect we will be discussing this issue at the meeting.

Let me be clear with all of you that 1) I support the Visioning effort and very much want it to succeed, and 2) Transparency in government is bedrock, in my opinion. You can't have democracy without transparency. My goal since being on Council has been to make the government's actions accessible to citizens to the widest degree possible, and to open myself to interactions with people so that I can seek to make the best possible decisions for the community. That's why I write these notes just about every week! So, although I was not a part of that committee or conference--I deeply regret that it happened.

However, at the same time, I do not believe that there was any nefarious intent: people felt an urgency to complete that stage of the Visioning in order to stay on the proposed schedule. The Committee reps were trying to do their best, and most of them clearly did not fully understand the rules under which we must operate. We must do a better job of educating each new committee that is created. While I do not know all the facts, it would seem, however, that our ACP representative, who has worked with many communities in the past, really should have known better, and I would like to hear more from him on this question.

2) ORDINANCE: First reading, public hearing: Water/Sewer Rates: Increases At our request, Woolpert's did an analysis of our water and sewer rates, which have not been increased for eight years (since 2001). The biggest problem right now is that our water system is losing money and we are eating into the surplus that had been built up over the years. So the plan is to increase the consumption rate charge by 10% this year and next (2010, 2011); 5% in 2012, and 3%, 2013, 2014. That means that while since 2001, we've all been paying $3.45 for a thousand gallons of water, as of April we will pay $3.80/ 1,000 gallons, and next year that will be $4.20/1,000 gal. For those living OUTSIDE The village limits, the surcharge will be increased from 10% to 50%. The memo by Mark Cundiff explains this and other issues in more detail.

OLD BUSINESS:

2010 Council Goals: Please consider downloading/looking at the draft goals of Council members that have been posted online.

MANAGER'S REPORT:

Mark's report is also included online. He reports that:

the village offices have been remodeled (this should help his ability to do the work we need him to do, without needless interruptions),
the CBE has 3 alternative roadway constructions;
the ETF needs more time for the street light replacement bids;
a proposal for a dog park by two YSHS seniors at Ellis Park;
his plan to attend a meeting sponsored by MVCC to help us improve our efficiency of service delivery;
he needs to clarify the meaning of "load factor," which doesn't mean the loss in power over long power lines but the average amount of energy production over a given period; a proposed buy out of a cell tower lease on the Sutton Farm.

EXECUTIVE SESSION:

Pending Litigation, with Village Solicitor

For the good of the order, I'd also like to pass along this note from Sean Creighton, newly elected school board president, asking for our help in locating an excellent school administrator:

Hi!

The Yellow Springs School District is conducting searches for the following administrative positions: Superintendent, Treasurer, Elementary School Principal, and Middle School/High School Principal. We are looking for exceptional administrators that will be part of the leadership team that enables the district to mature from a nationally recognized School of Excellence into an exemplary 21st century model of public education.

Because you are a “connector,” I thought you could help our search by sharing this info with your networks (colleagues, friends, family, etc). Please help us search out highly qualified candidates that will succeed in our unique, highly educated, diverse, small Ohio community (2009 best hometown by Ohio Magazine and 2008 third coolest small town in America by Budget Travel).

Here is the link to the job postings: http://www.yellow-springs.k12.oh.us/employment.htm

[I can give Sean's contact info via email or phone]

Thanks much for all your help!

Cheers, Sean

Sean Creighton, Ph.D.
Executive Director, SOCHE

www.soche.org
www.daytonCREATE.org

No PC on Monday, Email?

2010-01-07T09:17:00.004-05:00

Dear People: The Planning Commission meeting scheduled for this Monday has been canceled due to lack of a quorum. We will be publishing this cancellation in all the necessary venues, but please spread the word.

BTW: Any regular readers of this blog who would prefer to receive email postings instead or in addition to reading the blog should feel free to email me and ask to be added to my email list. (The content is essentially the same, although I sometimes edit the blog postings for clarity and correctness; the emails are typically the "first draft" of these postings).

Peace,
L.

Tonight: Village Mgr Evaluation, Open Meetings, Morris Bean Sewer, Econ Sustainability

2010-01-04T14:58:00.000-05:00

Dear people: Keeping busy in this post-holiday season working for our meeting tonight. I and John Weithofer are going through the 150+ applications for Clerk of Council, and I'm in charge of our evaluation of Mark, so I will be chairing our executive session at 6 pm tonight focusing on that topic.

The general session will begin at 7 pm, and, after the preliminaries (call to order, roll call, announcements, minutes, etc.) we'll address several pieces of legislation:

1. ORDINANCE--2nd reading, public hearing: Establishing procedures for Calling Meetings in the Village of Yellow Springs. After the litigation last month, we realized that our current procedures for calling meetings--especially for special and emergency meetings--were not really clear or adequate. The new policies require more notification locations (not fewer as one letter from a resident seemed to imply): in addition to notifying the editor and (if possible) publishing in the YS News, we will also still use physical postings in the library and Bryan Center, and also, now, the Village website.

Additionally, if citizens would like notification, the new policy allows anyone to request individual notification of any any special meetings of any body of government. The draft of this ordinance stipulates a $5.00 annual fee in order to cover Village expenses. A resident has asked us about the origin of that number and how it was calculated. That's a good question, and I hope that our Solicitor will be able to answer that question for us this evening.

Again, I would like to reiterate that this Council is committed to open meetings. We are striving to honor the spirit and not just the letter of the law. I think I can speak for the whole Council when I say that we're glad that citizens here are engaged and want to be informed--and we're also glad that a few citizens are helping us think through what the best policy would be for helping to notify everyone if we have to occasionally add more meetings to our schedule or, very rarely, call emergency meetings where advance notification is more challenging.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions or thoughts about the best means of notification.

"You got to pay your dues if you want to sing the blues..." Ringo Starr, "It Don't Come Easy," 1978

2. RESOLUTION Authorizing the Village Mgr. to Sign a Sanitary Sewer Agreement with Morris Bean (this process began in 2005 due to environmental concerns in relation to the aging sewage system at Morris Bean, which is technically outside the village limits.)
3. RESOLUTION Membership dues for Ohio Municipal League (they help keep us informed about activities in Ohio State government affecting municipalities)
4. RESOLUTION Membership dues for Northern Miami Valley Local Government Association. This organization facilitates collaboration with other local municipalities.
5. RESOLUTION Membership dues for Yellow Springs Chamber of Commerce. This organization promotes the economic interests of Yellow Springs, as you all probably know, and organizes major events such as the Street Fairs which require a great deal of village cooperation, while providing valuable connection to local businesses.
6. RESOLUTION Membership dues for Greene County Emergency Management Association (for non-police matters). This organization helps during natural and man-made disasters.

OLD BUSINESS

1. Economic Sustainability Commission: Judith Hempfling is bringing back to Council her earlier proposal for an "Economic Sustainability Commission" that would "advise Council in creating an Economic Sustainability Plan which will guide Village Government economic development work. The Commission will provide a venue for incubating ideas and networking between economic development groups, businesses, non-profits, entrepreneurs, workforce development resources and citizens. This discourse will also promote an increased community understanding of a sustainable economy. It will also help identify regional, state and federal economic development resources and funding opportunities."

The goal would be to work with and complement existing organizations--the Chamber and Community Resources. Quoting again from Hempfling's proposal, "The first work item will be to advise Council on development of an Economic Sustainability Plan which will guide Village Government work on economic development. The Plan will promote Village goals of addressing global warming and being a place of opportunity for diverse people. It is hoped that the Plan will be developed over the first 6 months of the life of the Commission.

"The Plan will identify the primary opportunities for economic sustainability in the village and ways to support those efforts. It will recommend steps to further strengthen meeting local needs locally, opportunities such as a business incubator to support entrepreneurs, strengthening of the local workforce by promoting regional resources for skills training, mentoring and apprenticeships for village youth and adults and the possible creation of a local jobs directory. Recommendations should be made regarding the Village Economic Development Revolving Fund, and economic development grant opportunities. The Economic Sustainability Commission will also be a forum for sharing ongoing economic activities."

I look forward to this discussion and to hearing from citizens about the plan.

2. Commissions, committees and boards update: terms of office, roster, schedule of meetings for 2010: There are openings on many committees and commissions--let me know if you're interested. Particularly in Environmental Commission and Human Resources.

3. Update on Clerk of Council Search: John Weithofer and I are sorting the 150+ applicants and will meet this week. I am hopeful that we will be able to have an executive session to discuss the top candidates after our next meeting.

NEW BUSINESS

First discussion of 2010 Council Goals

MANAGER'S REPORT: Highlights include 1. Village Manager's office is being remodeled; the manager is now in Dave Conley's old office (still on the 2nd floor of the Bryan Center); 2. ongoing work on the Center for Business and Education--the Antioch McGregor site on the west side of town--we have some concerns that the Ohio Dept of Transportation grant money will be pushed back to 2012; we're trying to avoid that; 3. Street Light Replacement Bids will go to the Energy Task Force at their Jan 5 meeting and they will try to have a recommendation for Council on Jan 19th; 4. The Little Miami River Partnership seeking an extension of the grant/agreement we have had for riparian conservation work along the river since 2008.

EXECUTIVE SESSION: Village Treasurer Position.

I'm listening to Hawaiian music while I type (I'm a fan of pandora radio--pandora.com). Who doesn't love Israel 'IZ' Kamakawiwo'ole's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow / Wonderful World" medley?

Peace, y'all (I just came back from the South...)--

Lori

VC: Hydro projects, Open Meetings, ACLU, Commissions--you?

2009-12-21T17:41:00.000-05:00

Dear People: I went for a long walk with my dogs down the bike path Sat & Sun, enjoying the lovely snow... before I tire of the earth's iron hardness, and start longing for spring. There's a poem by Christina Rossetti at the end of this memo which provides the gorgeous words to my favorite Christmas carol. (If you want to hear/view the song, sung by the King's College Cambridge Choir, click here. You can listen while you read, if you wish!)

The wrong agenda was placed in our packets by mistake, so I've attached the electronic one that Karen Wintrow kindly made, just as an FYI, and used it to structure my typed comments in italics, below.

IN COUNCIL CHAMBERS December 21, 2009

Comments from the Public are welcomed at two different times during the course of the meeting: (1) Comments on items not on the Agenda will be heard under Citizens Concerns, and (2) Comments on all items listed on the Agenda will be heard during Council’s consideration of said item. A Sign-In sheet will be made available on the small table at the rear of the Council Chambers.

SPECIAL MEETING OF VILLAGE COUNCIL – 6:00 P.M.

EXECUTIVE SESSION
Personnel/Evaluation of Village Manager

This portion of the meeting is a "special meeting" because, in order to accommodate the schedules of the current Council and of former Council member Kathryn Van der Heiden, who will be participating in the Village Manager review, we decided on Thursday to schedule this prior to the meeting rather than afterwards, as would be our usual practice. We notified the YS News office of this change of schedule, and placed notices in the Bryan Center and the Library, and also posted information about the change on our Village website.

I would like to assure everyone that we do endeavor to avoid last minute schedule changes, and special emergency meetings, whenever possible. (And, to clarify: no public legislation will result from this special executive session, as it is strictly a personnel matter).

I would also like to remind all citizens that they may still comment on the performance of Mark Cundiff during this first year; if you send your comments to me as soon as possible, but by this afternoon, at the latest, I will endeavor to forward them to our acting Clerk and all Council members prior to the meeting.

REGULAR MEETING OF VILLAGE COUNCIL – 7:00 P.M.

I. PETITIONS/COMMUNICATIONS
The Clerk will receive and file:
AMP Newsletter(s) re: December 7, 2009
Cities & Villages OML Magazine re: November/December Issue
Greene County Clerk of Courts re: Injunction Notice

[This is the official injunction regarding the improperly noticed meeting from last week. We are working to clarify our notification procedures for ourselves and for villagers so that these problems do not arise again.]

Time Warner re: Notice of Contract Expirations with Programmers & Broadcasters

Tecumseh Land Trust re: Fall 2009 Newsletter
OML re: Legislative Committees – Week of December 13
Greene County Public Library re: December Holiday Closings/January Programs
AMP OSHA re: Safety Training Schedule for 2010

Regional Planning & Coordinating Commission of Greene County (RPCCGC), re: request for representative designation for 2010

The new Council rep to RPCCGC for 2010 will be yours truly.

II. PUBLIC HEARINGS/LEGISLATION

Second Reading and Public Hearing on Ordinance #2009-16 Participation in AMP Hydro Project : As I mentioned in my notes from the past couple of meetings, we have voted in our first round to support these two new AMP hydroelectric projects. We wanted clarification about the exact amount of megawatts that these two hydro projects will provide; Mark explains that at 1.7 MW total from these two new projects, they should provide up to 42.5% of our current baseload power needs.

When we add in the wattage from the other AMP hydro project we signed onto last year, that makes for a total of 2.120 MW of hydro powered energy total, or 53% of our total baseload needs. As Mark notes, "If through energy conservation we reduce our base load needs, we can achieve an even higher percentage of baseload energy from renewable resources."

While no energy investment is without risk, I believe this is a good way for us to serve our baseload power needs and seek to reduce our carbon footprint.

Second Reading and Public Hearing on Ordinance #2009-18 Two-Way Metering.

Staff suggests tabling this so we can get the needed feedback from the ETF on the questions we raised about the possible effects of increasing the allowable wattage on our current electric grid.

First Reading and Public Hearing on Ordinance #2009-19 2010 Temporary Budget as an Emergency

This looks like a normal minor budget reallocation, but I expect we'll have a brief presentation from Sharon Potter

First Reading on Ordinance #2009-20 Policy on Notification of Public Meetings

We're trying to establish clear rules for all bodies of Council--Committees, etc.--and to incorporate notification through our website, which probably didn't exist when these rules were last revised.

Resolution #2009-48 Recognition of a Local Endeavour to Implement a YS Community Time Bank

I thought we were approving John Booth's writing of a letter, with the help of the HRC. So I think we will not focus on this Resolution, but on the letter he has composed.

Resolution #2009-49 Awarding Street Light Replacement Contract

Resolution #2009-50 Awarding Library Building Evaluation Contract

Both of these resolutions, for differing reasons, are being withdrawn. The Street Light contract because Mark feels he needs the ETF to review them, and the library conflict because of a conflict of interest concern, which Mark's memo does not go into great detail about. I imagine we will discuss both of these in a bit more detail at the meeting tonight.

III. CITIZENS CONCERNS (Clerk will collect Sign-Up Sheets)

IV. SPECIAL REPORTS
Surveillance Cameras – Presentation by ACLU

WSU’s CUPA Retention & Expansion Study

We don't have any further information in our packets about these two items; we are asked to bring our copies of the CUPA Retention & Expansion survey which we received last October.

V. OLD BUSINESS
Greene Metropolitan Housing Assn. Continued Discussion re: Tax Exemption

The 'good' news, in a way, is that this isn't really our decision to make at some level: the GMHA was coming to us as an act of good will and good faith. The real story, to me, is that for over 30 years they have paid taxes to us that they were not required by law to pay, by not filing their tax-exemption papers. They cannot afford this any longer, to best serve their clients. They would like our understanding and support as they file for their tax-exempt status, allowed them by federal/state laws.

They offer in a letter to "make a payment in lieu of taxes" to the Village, "based on 10 per cent of rents collected from the tenants." It's my understanding that this is a fairly standard practice that they use in other places. (I will ask about whether that could be shared with the schools). At any rate, I support this move, and thank them for their generosity over the years.

Economic Sustainability Board

Judith is still working on this; I believe it will be tabled until our next meeting.

Update on Clerk of Council and Treasurer Positions

I am working on the Clerk applications with John Weithofer; the Treasurer application deadline is today!

VI. NEW BUSINESS
Commissions, Committees and Boards - Terms of Office Discussion

There are terms ending, new possibilities. John Streuwing's term as head of the Planning Commission is up as of the end of this month (12/31/09); Ted Donnell's on the Board of Zoning Appeals also ends that date; And all three members of the board of Tax Appeals are actually on expired terms! (John Hart, Tony Bent, and Richard Zopf, terms expired on 7/31/09. We will obviously be speaking to each of these men about their interest in continuing--and it seems to me we need a better system of alerting us to the expiration of position. However, if you are interested in any of these positions, please let me know. Democracy requires that all positions be considered open to any qualified resident.

Codified Ordinances Update

This is one of those places where we miss Deborah's knowledge and long history--we missed a deadline a few weeks ago during her illness for American Legal, which is the publisher of our Codified Ordinances. We can work around this, using supplements. I believe Denise will explain the issues at our meeting.

VII. MANAGER’S REPORT

VIII. STANDING REPORTS
No Rep. Community Council
Lori Askeland Environmental Commission
Lori Askeland Planning/Bike Com/N Gateway
Rick Walkey Village Mediation Program
John Booth Human Relations Commission
Judith Hempfling Energy Task Force
Judith Hempfling Community Resources
Rick Walkey Library Commission
Lori Askeland Reg. Planning Commission-Greene County
Karen Wintrow Cable Advisory Panel
Karen Wintrow Chamber of Commerce
Karen Wintrow Miami Valley Regional Planning
Karen Wintrow Visioning Steering Committee

IX. AGENDA PLANNING
The next meeting of the Council of the Village of Yellow Springs will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, January 4, 2009 in Council Chambers, John Bryan Community Center - 100 Dayton Street.

Items for discussion on Monday, January 4, 2009:
Bryan Center Guidelines

X. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS: Let me know if you see anything you'd like more info on, or that you'd like to comment on, or whatever!
Village’s Investment Summary/EDRLF Report
Verizon Wireless Update
MVRPC/Going Places/Resolution
Electric /capacity, contracts, capital projects, equipment
Green Space Legislation
Personnel Policy Manual Update
Annexation
Guidelines for Utility Resolution Dispute Commission
Marking State Route 68 Bikeway
Conservation Easement-Well Fields
Parks and Recreation Master Plan
Calamityville Presentation
Short Street – Park/Gathering Space
Update on Safe Routes to Schools
Budget Sessions
Council’s Goals Session
Council Retreat
Northern Gateway Decision to MVRPC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the Bleak Mid-Winter, by Christina Rossetti

In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him
Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign:
In the bleak mid-winter
A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty,
Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim
Worship night and day,
A breastful of milk
And a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels
Fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel
Which adore.

Angels and archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air,
But only His mother
In her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.

What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
I would do my part,
Yet what I can I give Him,
Give my heart.

With my skeptical faith and all my heart, I do wish you all a wonderful holiday season, whatever your faith may be--

Peace,
Lori

VC Update & PC Tonight: 2 Conditional Use Requests, PUD process; historic preservation

2009-12-14T10:03:00.001-05:00

Dear People: Thanks to all those who turned out for the Visioning workshop on Saturday. I don't know the statistics, but there was a good sized crowd in the gym, and the smaller group I was in was actually fairly large--I didn't count, but I'd say 12-14?--and lively. Tonight (Mon 12/14) is the Planning Commission meeting, 7 pm in the Bryan Center. I'll discuss that in the majority of this note.

COUNCIL UPDATE: I have to provide a Council Update at every Planning Comm. meeting, and we've had so many meetings, I'll write it out here:

I. Last Friday afternoon (12/11) Village Council held a special meeting from 4:30-6:30, that was well attended by villagers, focused on the request to allow Community Solutions to partner with two regional, private firms in a bid for a federal "stimulus" grant for energy efficiency retrofitting. The grant had an extremely short turn-around time. While it was short notice, and I have many questions still, the opportunity seemed very good, and, if the group is selected for the grant, we will read it at that time and have been assured by our attorney that we will be able to say "this isn't what we thought we were signing up for" and decline to be a part of it. So I voted for it, and it passed on a 4-1 vote, with most Council members agreeing with my reasoning.

II. At last Monday's (12/7) Village Council meeting we:
1. passed an ORDINANCE: 2nd reading on AMP Hydroelectric projects--these look really good and will help supply our base load needs.
2. tabled ORDINANCE: 1st reading on 2-Way Metering: this would allow people who are generating power (e.g., via solar panels) to sell excess energy back to the grid. We want more information from the ETF about some of the details regarding the maximum wattage that could be produced under this revision to our ordinance.
3./4. passed RESOLUTIONS (2) renewing Staff health insurance & health savings accounts and Dental insurance
5. Discussed the hiring for Clerk of Council, Treasurer, and filing clerk. I will be working with John Weithofer to pre-sort and "tier" the over 150 applications for Clerk of Council; Treasurer applications are still being accepted!

We continue to mourn the passing of Deborah Benning, our beloved Clerk of Council, who served in that role for 17 years.

6. Discussed Stutzman's Property: We're planning to write up a request for proposals for renting the property; Chris Roberts volunteered to help us get good maps for prospective renters.
7. Rejected Time Banking financial request, on the advice of our lawyer but most of us support the concept and the work of the creators
8. We have clarified (since our meeting) that the Greene County Metropolitan Housing exemption is available for them to take without our action. We have notified the school board, which will lose some tax revenues, some of which can be regained through applying for federal support. While it seems to now be a moot point, I support them in this action because the money they save will be reinvested in this property, rather than going to Washington DC for a second mortgage.
9. Approved Village Manager Evaluation Forms for staff and Council. Please feel free to give feedback (as a resident) about your experiences with and impressions of Mark Cundiff's work in the next week or so.
10. Discussed the Water/Sewer Rates: The bad news: our water rates are not keeping up with costs; The good news: our sewer rates are solidly in the black. We need to raise our water rates, which have not been raised for many years. We are contemplating raising water rates by 10% each of the next two years; 5% each of the following two, and then a simple 3% annually thereafter.

III. We also held a special meeting with the Township Trustees and ACP, on Nov. 30th, receiving an update of their "Visioning" work with us.
That information is summarized in the documents on our website. In short: strong turnout, reasonably equitable representation, and excellent feedback from participants.

IV. We also held our first meeting of the new Council since the last election on Nov. 16th, where new members were inaugurated and new committee assignments were made. I am continuing my work on Planning Commission and will now serve on the Greene County Planning Commission. (Karen Wintrow will continue on MVRPC). Rick Walkey will be serving on Environmental Commission and Library Commission.

V. Future: We will be holding a special meeting with Community Resources on January 13th.

PLANNING COMMISSION AGENDA:

1. REPORTS from Council, Bike Enhancement, Village Staff and Miami Township Zoning Commission. Speaking of Bike Enhancement, have you noticed the new street markings for the "sweet spot" that marks a sensor that allows bikes to trip the traffic signals? Look for them, and please do use them when you're biking around town!

2. CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT REQUESTS:

111 N. Winter Street (old Jail House). The owner of this property received a conditional use request for creating a low-impact, alternative veterinary practice for small animals on the first floor of this property earlier this year. In his new application letter, the owner notes that he did not realize that renting out the apartment on the second floor on a short term basis required a second permit. The second permit is not for bed and breakfast or hotel but "short term rental." One neighbor is concerned about the plan to create a parking lot behind the current garage and the effects on their adjacent property; a second neighbor is concerned about increased on-street parking and the general affect on the neighborhood as a whole of having two businesses there. I will listen carefully to this presentation. I support mixed use neighborhoods, and there seems to be a demonstrated need for this sort of housing, but need to have a better picture of overall neighborhood impact of this added business to the neighborhood.
234 Grinnell Road (Waste-Water Treatment Plant--WWTP): The upgrades to the WWTP in order to bring it into compliance with EPA regulations requires that 3 small buildings be constructed as part of the project: a "screen building"; a "phosphorus treatment building" and a covered "sludge storage building." The WWTP is located in a conservation zoning district, and requires conditional use permit for any new construction. Staff recommends we approve this request.

3. OLD BUSINESS

PUD Subdivision regulations review: Woolpert's looked at our process; we are working through their recommendations, which I believe I have described in an earlier note. They were to be at our last meeting, but were not. They will be there tonight for this discussion.
Historic Preservation: We are working through Mark's suggested revision. We may not get to this tonight, if the earlier business takes too much time, but we are not in a rush.

I hope this is useful!

Peace,
Lori

Special Meeting Tomorrow Afternoon (4:30 pm), Visioning Saturday

2009-12-10T08:48:00.001-05:00

Dear People: Tomorrow night (Friday, the 11th), Council will be holding a special meeting at 4:30 pm, in the Bryan Center, in order to discuss a proposal, from a local and a regional group, requiring the Village's participation, that might 1) bring in stimulus dollars and 2) help reduce our energy usage. We welcome your thoughts, input, and attendance at the meeting.

I would also remind everyone that the next round of Yellow Springs / Miami Township Vision is Saturday morning:

Goals and Values Workshop

Saturday, December 12 / 10:00am to 12:30pm / Yellow Springs High School Gym

Dreams were shared in the Round 1 Idea Gathering Workshops. Now Let’s build the ideas into goals for the future in Round 2.

(Obviously, I will be at this meeting, not in my normal office hours on Saturday!)

Here's Mark Cundiff's memo about the energy efficiency grant proposal, and below that is the agenda of the special meeting:

"One of the funding programs under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (AARA or “Stimulus Program”) is a grant program called the Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant (EECBG). The EECBG program’s goal is to develop and implement projects to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy use and fossil fuel emissions. An ETF member, Pat Murphy, who also is the Executive Director of Community Solutions, brought up the idea of the Village, in a partnership with Community Solutions and a private firm out of Miami County, submitting a grant application to the EECBG program at the ETF’s regular meeting on November 24^th. At that meeting, several questions were raised about the program. Subsequently, it was arranged for a representative of the private firm to come to Yellow Springs to meet with the ETF at their next regular meeting that was held on December 7^th.

The grant proposal, which is still being developed, calls for the development of a pilot program to make energy efficiency through retro-fits more affordable. The grant money would be used in the development of a replicable energy audit and retrofitting process that would efficiently evaluate a structure for energy inefficiencies and make the necessary retrofits in a very cost effective manner, and for some “on the ground” testing of the model. This system could then be transferred to communities all over the United States for implementation, providing opportunities for the start-up of new businesses to do the energy retrofits while reducing energy usage.

The grant application needs to be submitted by a unit of local government or by a non-for-profit organization authorized by and on behalf of the unit of local government. I made it clear in the meeting that the Village did not have the administrative capacity at this time to submit the grant application, let alone administer the program should the project get funded. Pat Murphy indicated that Community Solutions could provide this administrative capacity and would be willing to do so.

The deadline for submitting applications to the EECBG Program is December 14, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. There is $63.68 million available under this grant program, which is open to all Formula ineligible local units of government (municipalities under 35,000 in population and counties under 200,000 in population) in the United States. The maximum grant award is $5.0 million, and the minimum grant award is $1.0 million. The program is being administered through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and they anticipate awarding 15-60 grants. Communities receiving EECBG grants will be notified around March 15, 2010, with the grants being awarded around May 15, 2010. The performance period for these grants will be 36 months, but funds will need to be obligated within 18 months of the effective date of the award.

After hearing about the grant proposal and having the opportunity to have questions answered and have a dialogue about the proposal, the ETF passed a motion to recommend that Village Council authorize Community Solutions to submit on behalf of the Village an EECBG application.

The Village’s participation is needed since a unit of local government is needed to apply for the grant. This authorization is only for the submittal of a grant application. Future authorizations from Village Council will be required to enter into any grant agreements. It is anticipated that any in-kind Village contributions of staff time will be minimal and there will be no expenditure of Village funds on the development and submittal of this grant application."

Stay warm!
Lori

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Clerk of Council <clerk@yso.com>
Date: Wed, Dec 9, 2009 at 11:42 AM
Subject: FW: Special Council Meeting Materials

COUNCIL OF THE VILLAGE OF YELLOW SPRINGS

SPECIAL MEETING AGENDA

IN COUNCIL CHAMBERS @ 4:30 pm December 11, 2009

CALL TO ORDER

ROLL CALL

PUBLIC HEARINGS/LEGISLATION

Resolution #2009-47 Authorizing Community Solutions to Submit an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Application

EXECUTIVE SESSION

Personnel

ADJOURNMENT

“The Village of Yellow Springs is committed providing reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities. The Council meeting is wheelchair accessible. Any person requiring a disability accommodation should contact the City Clerk’s Office at 767-9126 or via e-mail at clerk@yso.com for more information.”

Dec. 7 Meeting Agenda Posting

2009-12-10T08:46:00.002-05:00

(Delayed--my apologies; I was scrambling between work and dinner and the meeting when I wrote this, and neglected to take the next step and post it. )

Dear People! Well, another big meeting, and I'm just scrambling to get a note out to everyone. It's going to have to be quick!

LEGISLATION includes:
1. ORDINANCE: 2nd reading on AMP Hydroelectric projects--these look really good and will help supply our base load needs. By the way, you may have noticed in the YS News that by not participating in the failed AMP-Generating Station in Meigs County we saved the Village a bundle.
2. ORDINANCE: 1st reading on 2-Way Metering: this would allow people who are generating power (e.g., via solar panels) to sell excess energy back to the grid
3./4. RESOLUTIONS (2) renewing Staff health insurance & health savings accounts and Dental insurance
5. We were going to discuss a resolution regarding a request by Community Solutions to submit an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Application, but that has been put on hold due to a litigation regarding Open Meetings.

OLD BUSINESS will include:
Updates on our open positions (Clerk of Council, Treasurer, Filing Clerk). Deadlines have passed (for Clerk) or are about to pass for applications to these positions, and we are hoping to work with John Weithofer to deal with the onslaught of applications.
Stutzman's Property Discussion: What to do with the property?
Time Banking Discussion: Request for $1500 to start a time-banking program, $500 would go to an annual fee for a program that creates an online system of exchange for work. Our solicitor argues against this, due to potential legal issues.
Greene County Metropolitan Housing Request: I mentioned this earlier, but Greene Met is requesting that we waive their taxes on a property in town, which allies with what most communities have done; the exception made for this property in the early 1980s (I believe) makes it very difficult for them to maintain and improve the properties.
Village Manager Evaluation Forms Discussion: We're planning to do "360" evaluation this time, with staff participation.

NEW BUSINESS will include:
Calendar discussion for Budget meetings and Council Goals review
Water/Sewer Rates

Manager's Report & Agenda Planning

That's all I can manage tonight--I'll be speedier (and more interesting maybe?) next week, when classes will be done!

Stay warm!
Lori

Lori Askeland on Village Council

VC last Monday (delayed all around) and My Band Tomorrow Night!

PC tonight: ZONING IN, ZONING OUT!

Thanks.

Worms by Carl Dennis

VC tomorrow night! Note the highlights...

VC tonight! Water (very important!), campaign update, trees, budget

VC: Last night: Reorganization and Barr Property

VC: Reorganization and Barr Property

Day in Autumn

VC: 9/6 (late posting) Treasurer's Report, Reorganization, Arboretum Name?

Of rights-of-way, loans, raises, reorganization, and summer's end

The End of Summer by Rachel Hadas

PC: Barr Property Plans

The Bodies

VC: Short Meeting, Exec Session, Funny Poem

Life Story

VC tonight: Solid Waste and Creative Memories

PC meeting on Mon: Parks Master Plan and New Barr Property Plans?

VC tonight: Internet Cafes, Land transfer (Peach's), Solid Waste, Affordable Housing, eHDS(?)/office space, Tree Trimming, Manager Eval.

Learning to Love America

VC tonight: AMP, Water Deduct, Gambling, Library Evaluation, Affordable Housing, Tree Trimming, Solid Waste

PC tonight: Solar Farm Zoning, Internet "Sweepstakes", and Parks/Rec Plan

VC Monday: Power and possibilities.

The Strength of Fields

VC tonight! Solar park? Landfill Gas Power, Affordable housing project, Zoning update, Levy Renewal

Tonight! Joint meeting

I will be better--somehow I just got out of the habit of posting here.

Backdrop addresses cowboy

VC: 11/1 Sidewalks, Solar, Widows!, Green Space, Affordable Housing, Water, Ancestors,

VOTE! VC Mon: Sidewalks, Affordable Housing, 2011 Goals, Comprehensive Plan

A Sunset of the City

VC 9/7: Meeting and a Labor Day Meditation

VC: Demolition permits; Solar Power & Efficiency Smart; Skate Park Improvements; School Board mtg.; MVRPC Sustainable Communities

Throwing Away the Alarm Clock

by Charles Bukowski

More vindication on coal

VC tonight (8/2): Budgets and Sidewalks

Introduction to Poetry

Billy Collins

VC: Budgets, Levy renewal, Energy Board & new AMP contract

VC! Water Quality / System Assessment and Housing Needs

PC tonight! /VC Last week AMP solar power, Historic Pres., Demolition, PUD ordinance/affordable housing, Friends Care expansion

Learning to swim

Joint Meeting: Visioning, on Wednesday, and roundup of May emails, with apologies...

PC: Village Station permit; Historic Pres; CBE & North'n Gateway Updates

Fluoridation, My Thoughts (Follow up to the weekly agenda posting)

VC: Fluoridation, Cell Tower, Econ Sustainability, Cable Advisory Name, Dog Park again?, Winter St. sewer, Swimming Pool fees

VC: Tonight! Cell Tower, Budget, Dog Park, Waiver of Tap Fees, Fluoride, CBE, old Stutzman's property

VC: 2009 Review, Dog Park, Economic Sustainability, Green Space, New Clerk

VC: Mon Visioning, Tuesday Budgeting, Jets and Snow Removal

VC on TUES: EPA fine, Jet Noise, Dog Park, TLT request Green Space $, Econ. Sustainability, Goals

When You Are Old

Tonight: "Local Government: The Musical"?

Tonight Special budget meeting: still on, despite the snow!

PC tonight, VC (Budget!) tomorrow night

VC: Water, Goals, and life...

February

VC 1/19: Water Rates; Procedures for Calling Mtgs; Goals

No PC on Monday, Email?

Tonight: Village Mgr Evaluation, Open Meetings, Morris Bean Sewer, Econ Sustainability

VC: Hydro projects, Open Meetings, ACLU, Commissions--you?

VC Update & PC Tonight: 2 Conditional Use Requests, PUD process; historic preservation

Special Meeting Tomorrow Afternoon (4:30 pm), Visioning Saturday

Dec. 7 Meeting Agenda Posting

The End of Summer

by Rachel Hadas