Main Building Water Damage Updates (rec'd 2/10)

Both these letters are on http://www.antiochians.org/

----

February 9, 2009

To:       The Antioch College Alumni Board
Fr:       The Board Pro Tempore
Re:       Antioch Hall

The Board Pro Tempore of the Antioch College Continuation Corporation
shares the concerns expressed by all Antiochians regarding the
condition of Antioch Hall and will be carefully following actions to
address the damage that occurred over the weekend.

Matthew Derr, Chief Transition Officer requested and was granted a tour
of the building and also earlier discussed the situation directly with
Art Zucker, Chairman of the Antioch University Board of Trustees, Toni
Murdock, Chancellor and Tom Faecke, Vice Chancellor. The Board Pro
Tempore also met last evening and had an extensive conversation on this
topic.

The Board Pro Tempore feels that stewardship of the entire campus is a
critical responsibility of the Antioch University Board. In particular,
"Main Building" represents both our symbolic home and as well as a
national historic treasure. In the spirit of our collaborative work
with the development of the Letter of Intent, it is the Board's
expectation that the campus be carefully safeguarded prior to its
intended transfer.

Following this statement you will find a link to a document from the
Chancellor's office shared with the Antioch University Board. We
anticipate that more information will be forthcoming.

------

Letter From Antioch University:

Monday February 9, 2009

To the Community of Yellow Springs,

Over this past weekend, a water leak was discovered in the Main
Building that has, understandably, caused much concern among alumni and
Yellow Springs residents. The break was discovered around 5pm on
Saturday, February 7. Even though public outcry runs counter, cold
weather, lack of heat in the facilities, neglect on the part of the
university, and quick rebound in outside temperature is not the cause
of the current flooding in Main Building. It is early in the
investigation and the University is unable to say definitively what
caused the break.

The source of the water appears to be from a broken pipe in the very
peak of the attic of Main Building, with water contained mostly to the
center of the building. The fire system currently in use is a dry
system, which means that it is not triggered into activation until heat
is detected and, subsequently, pipes become filled with water. This
system, according to Miami Twp. Fire Chief, is perfectly designed for
the attic area of Main Building. Working with sprinkler system experts,
a complete investigation has begun to help determine the cause.

Tom Faecke is overseeing this issue and reports that all water has been
turned off in Main Building. Any remaining standing water in the
building will be addressed beginning Tuesday morning. In addition, a
professional service will begin to dry the building immediately. The
University is also working with insurance carriers to cover the cost of
remediation. It must be noted that even when the power plant was in
operation, the attic space in Main Building remained unheated. When the
break was detected, it was over 50 degrees in the attic so ice is not
suspected. However, that is speculation and a definitive answer will be
determined on further investigation.

The sprinkler system in use in Main Building is legal and has passed
all required yearly inspections according to Miami Township Fire Chief,
Colin Altman.

The pipes in the sprinkler system are 50 plus years old and corroded so
that may very well be the cause but the University will not know all of
the facts until the investigation is farther along. Water may have
pumped for several hours, but not days as has been speculated. Campus
routine inspection schedule had someone walking through, inspecting
Main Building late in the workweek and no damage was detected at that
time.

Initial inspection detects no structural damage to Main Building so the damage
appears to be superficial water damage only.

NEXT STEPS:

• the University assessed and documented the damage and is talking
with the insurance company to cover the costs

• a crew will begin Tuesday morning, working from the top floor down,
to remove any remaining standing water from Main Building

• all water will be extracted from Main Building and it will be dried
using fans and heat by a professional company who specializes in this
work

• The plan is to use 150 fans PER FLOOR to dry the facility

• Auxiliary heat will be used to warm the building during this process

• The remediation process will also remove all wet ceiling tiles and
wet carpet and replace with new once the facility is judged to be
completely dry

• Great care will be taken to dry and preserve the wood paneling
prevalent in Main Building

• During the closure of the College, all equipment was removed from Main
Building so no equipment remained to be damage

• All student records were previously removed and secured in a different
location--no student records remain in Main Building

It is regrettable that this has happened. Please look for updates from
the University as the investigation moves forward and we have more
substantive information to share.

Toni Murdock, Chancellor

--
Chelsea Martens
co-Community Manager

Nonstop Liberal Arts Institute
305 N. Walnut St.
Yellow Springs, Ohio  45387
cell: 440-840-8376
www.nonstopinstitute.org

Addition to PC post (below): Situation at Antioch College--Main Hall Water Leak

Dear People: Late last night I received word about the serious water leakage in Main Hall that a villager discovered late yesterday. This morning, after speaking with Judith Hempfling, I sent the following letter (below) to the Council and the Planning Commission, as well as to our village manager, Mark Cundiff, Ed Amrhein, and our Solicitor John Chambers.

I have asked, below, that this issue be addressed at our Planning Commission meeting tomorrow night (7 pm, Bryan Center, second floor), at least briefly.

A villager also asked me to share with everyone that a group of concerned citizens are calling for people to meet at noon, tomorrow (2/9) at the "horseshoe" on campus in front of the Main Building. They are demanding that the university take action to deal with the damage and preserve the building. The press has been alerted.

Please let me know if you have any thoughts, questions, or concerns regarding this developing situation.

Best,
Lori

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: lori
Date: Sun, Feb 8, 2009 at 11:16 AM
Subject: Situation at Antioch College campus--Main Building

Dear Council, Planning Commission, Mark, Ed, & John: I am writing on behalf of both Judith, who is off on call this weekend, and myself. We wanted to be sure that Council and the Planning Commission are aware of the major water leak that has occurred in the historic Main Building on the Antioch College campus, apparently from the sprinkler system, over the weekend.

A village resident was walking his dog across campus late yesterday when he noticed water seemingly seeping out of the walls of the Main Building in ways that did not seem quite consistent with normal roof melt, etc. He approached the windows of the President's office on the eastern/traditional "front" of the building, and saw water essentially raining indoors, into several inches of water all over the floor throughout the former President's office. He called the MTFR. Looking in through other windows, the resident could see [water] was streaming into the hallways of the first floor, raining in from the upper floors in many places. A video showing the damage as it was happening has been posted on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjjUNF7Dx7E

Judith and another concerned resident who spoke to the MTFR last night were told that the MTFR were called to the campus by a resident and had shut off a main connector that was supplying the sprinkler system in the building. Hours later, water, apparently from the upper floors, was still raining down to the lower floors.

Several weeks ago, in fact, a similar problem apparently arose with the sprinkler system in South Hall around Christmas time. At the Miami Township Trustees meeting of January 5, 2009, MTFR chief Colin Altman described being dispatched to the campus at several points for a few problems, in particular when a sprinkler systems had frozen in South Hall--on the fourth floor and flowed down the building and 'did a lot of damage.' Dry wall collapsed, etc. In South Hall, an alarm went off, and water was actually shooting out the building on the fourth floor, he said. Main Building, he said, at around that time had also had a valve leaking from its "dry" system. In the theatre, also, however, a tremendous amount of water damage occurred when a sprinkler froze--apparently one they believed was a "dry" system, but which was not. (It was erroneously reported in a letter to the YS News that this leak was from the roof, but it was not.) There was no alarm to alert officials to this problem, so it was probably on-going for some time. Someone at the meeting commented that 150,000 gallons of water / day was being lost on the campus during that time, but I am not certain who said that or where they were getting their information from. Finally, Mr. Altman mentioned that the Union building also has experienced a lot of temperature fluxuation and condensation which has caused alarms to go off. He said that in those cases the University has been responsive and "has addressed things as best they can." [This is based on my viewing of the DVD of the Jan. 5th meeting of the MTT]

Citizens are expressing several concerns to both Judith and me about the damage to Main Hall:

1) The bricks through to the outside of the building have apparently soaked up a lot of water. When this water re-freezes and thaws again in the coming weeks, this will inevitably weaken the bricks, which provide the structural support for the building. Can they be dried out before this freeze/thaw cycle occurs? Could heating the building in the meantime possibly help?

2) If the building is not thoroughly dried--with more than a mop--mold will be a serious problem inside the building this spring.

3) Have the floors of the building been so thoroughly soaked as to be unsafe?

4) Most importantly, this is an historic building, decidedly the most prominent historic building on the campus, and in our community. Its cultural and historic significance is impossible to overstate. Villagers feel a collective responsibility to the preservation of this structure and its beautiful, landmark spires. They want to be assured that everything is being done that can be done, on our part--whatever that might be--to deal with this situation and protect this tremendous asset.

As a member of the Planning Commission, I request that this issue to be at least briefly addressed at the Planning Commission meeting tomorrow night. A report from Mr. Altman would be helpful, if it can be arranged. I also request that village staff report any further information that they might receive from any sources regarding this developing situation to the PC at that time.

Sincerely,
Lori Askeland

Budget Thoughts and PC: Barr Property, new bench, etc.

Dear People: Well, it's been a busy week for Council, focused especially on the budget, and there's an important Planning Commission meeting coming up on Monday evening in which we'll be looking at the revised plans for the Friends Care Senior Housing unit on the Barr property and considering plans for a new, ceramic memorial bench along the bike path (contrary to a Design Advisory Committee report/recommendations from 2003 that suggest that no further such memorials be built along the path)

VC: BUDGET: If you get a chance to look at the budget documents released so far (they are not online yet, but copies are in the library or Bryan Center), or to watch the meeting we had Tuesday which was a kind of walk-through of the tentative plan for capital expenditures from the General Fund--purchases of bigger-ticket items for the village government--I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts.

BUDGET OVERVIEW FROM WHERE I SIT: There are a lot of complexities involved, but I'd say this initial look at the General Fund (GF) looks pretty solid. (The General Fund is the core of our budget, but does not include the budgets for revenue generating areas like water, sewer, electric, etc.) We came out of last year having added to our surplus--we now have over $1.6 million as a reserve.

This is an important cushion to have, given that we do not know what the future may hold, in terms of the economy. If there was a sudden catastrophe that cut deeply into revenues, it's good to have some money that could be drawn from to keep basic services running for awhile, to give Council and staff time to adjust to new realities. Managers and fiscal advisors universally suggest it is not good to run a municipal budget too close to the bone.

Some municipalities have a larger cushion, some smaller, and at our meeting it wasn't clear exactly what our goal historically has been, or what the current council would hope to set it at. Mark is planning to get more us information about how other municipalities determine their appropriate cushion, so that we can make those kinds of determinations.

The reserve that is there, is largely a result of the levy and the cutbacks to staff that have been made over the last few years. Our manager, Mark, and our accountant, Sharon, have approached this year's budget with a goal of trying to add 25% more to next year's reserve (although we probably won't quite make that in all funds, including the GF).

As it stands, with the current, fiscally conservative approach we're rightly taking to most expenditures, we're on track to possibly add 21% more to our surplus in the GF. And that number could be higher if some of the expenditures for the police, for example, are able to be covered by federal moneys known as the "Furtherance of Justice Fund." (That rather Orwellian name is basically drug-bust money.)

So, that being said, there are a few things I noticed that you all might want to ponder and provide feedback on.

GREEN SPACE: The current draft puts $50,000 into the Green Space fund, rather than the approx. $112,000 that the Tecumseh Land Trust suggests would be necessary to get it up to a comfortable fund of $250,000, in the case of some land coming open this year, which is not a sure thing but there are some very good signs that it may happen, soon, and we'd like to be in a position to act quickly if it does.

WHY I SUPPORT THE LARGER AMOUNT: I look on this money as an investment of the best kind: it can bring many times the dollar value back into the community through matching grants from a variety of sources, and it supports our retention of our identity as a small, walkable/bikeable village. It is a long-standing goal of the community for 40 years to maintain green space in and around the village. While some villagers have characterized such an investment as frivolous in years past, the sense I have from the majority of villagers is that this is a vital part of our history, and should be an investment priority.

There are other things in the general fund that seem mostly non-controversial. There is a proposal to put up security cameras in some places--on the train station and the swimming pool--which some villagers may have concerns about. Please feel free to share your concerns.

PC: BARR PROPERTY (321 Xenia Ave.): The revised plans for the Friends Care Senior Housing on the Barr Property are available for public inspection--I have them in PDF form but, frankly, there are a dozen or more documents and many of the images are really big and bulky--meant to be printed on big 11 x 17 paper. I'll send 'em to you if you want, but unless you have a really fast, bigger screen computer, you may find it easier to just go look at the hard copies in the library and the Bryan Center.

My understanding of the agenda for Monday's meeting is that we are merely "receiving" these final plans for this important property, and that at a near-future meeting we will have the Public Hearing on the Final Plan.

CERAMIC MEMORIAL BENCH ON BIKE PATH: Kaethi Seidl and Beth Holyoke have been commissioned by the Scott family to create a memorial bench along the bike path, on a slab that the Village would create. The bench would be similar to the benches that now grace the library and the corner of Xenia and Corry, and they propose to place it at some point between the Glen Helen driveway and the Women's Park.

The main sticking point that the PC will need to consider is that in 2003, the Design Advisory Committee wrote up guidelines (that were never officially adopted by Council) which would effectively prohibit all further memorial bench installations, with the goal of primarily maintaining relatively pristine green space along the path, and avoiding clutter. There are 13 benches in the Women's Park (I find that hard to believe, but apparently it's true), and four more benches as you down the path toward the Riding Center. There are no benches in the proposed area, north (roughly) of the Women's Park.

I love the ceramic benches, but also agree that we could reach a point where there are too many memorial benches, etc. Is this the best place for such a bench? What are your thoughts?

OTHER PC BUSINESS: We'll be going over our report to Council for 2008, our goals for 2009, and--we hope!--actually completing the revision to the Comprehensive Plan (believe it or don't).

Thanks,

Lori

VC: Double Feature! Antioch, Visioning, Econ Dvlpt Tonight; Budget Tomorrow

The suitcase above is by local artist Vicki Toriello-Farmer. I'm not leaving town! It just symbolizes our dynamic local arts community. Ms. Toriello-Farmer's work is featured on the "about.com" DIY fashion page (about.com is owned by the NYTimes).

Dear People: It's a double whammy: Village Council meetings both tonight (2/2) and tomorrow night (2/3). Tonight will be a regular meeting, with a very full agenda, and tomorrow night we'll be taking our first look at the proposed budget for the year. Both meetings are 7 pm in the Bryan Center.
Unfortunately, due to obligations at school, I have to cancel my office hours today. Please feel free to call me at home if you need to get together; I might be able to meet people later in the afternoon.

Remember that our meeting packets are online!

Tonight's Agenda:

1. LEGISLATION: A resolution authorizing paying our annual dues ($1,500) for the Business First organization, which helps support, retain, and expand local businesses.

2. SPECIAL REPORTS: Matt Derr, of the Antioch Alumni/Continuation Corp, will give an update on Negotiations, future of Antioch College.

3. OLD BUSINESS:

• Safe Routes to School, report by Ed Amrhein

• Economic Development w/ Michael Shuman; follow up report (Smart Growth). They've prepared a detailed overview of his talks, his leakage analysis, and published citizen evaluations

• Visioning/Planning Update: The Visioning Group should have 3 possibie consultants to recommend to Council.

• We'll be discussing/ planning to update our lease with the Library. (The Village owns the building which is leased to the Greene County Library system)

4. NEW BUSINESS:

• 2009 Goals Update: we have the notes from our discussion typed out

• We're planning to look at the Bryan Center Guidelines that we give to groups that rent the spaces in the building.

Tomorrow night: 2009 BUDGET. We do not yet have our copies of this document, so I cannot, unfortunately, be any more specific. Needless to say, however, this is probably the key factor in determining what will get done in the coming year. Please attend!

Best,
Lori

Goals!!!

Dear People: What a great week for democracy and the human spirit. The economy is in dire straits, the weather is frigid, and the last eight years have been a disaster on many fronts. But I went to Washington for this week's inauguration and experienced the warmth of standing on the Mall, next to the Washington Monument, having walked two hours to stand in the frigid air for three hours, with two million of my fellow Americans as we watched Barack Obama being sworn in as our 44th president. It was the single biggest, most uplifting, grand-scale, deeply joyous event I have ever participated in. (If you're interested, you can look at my inauguration pictures here. This 360 / interactive picture from the Washington Post, taken on the opposite side of the Washington Monument, captures pretty well what it was like from where we stood!)

In keeping with the spirit of being in a new era, tomorrow night we have our Village Council goals meeting (Bryan Ctr 7 pm); this is one of the most important meetings of the year, so I hope that you'll attend, bring your ideas and youur friends. I will as usual have my office hours in the Emporium on Monday at 12 noon.

All my fellow council members have turned in their goals for our packet this week, which is available on the village's website. I, however, was bowled over by the beginning of the school year and the inauguration, so I am the delinquent Council member. I therefore include my own goals below, which were written after I had received the goals of everyone else. So in my goals, I tried to indicate where I'm overlapping with other Council members' goals.

Here's the email outlining my goals that I sent to my fellow Council members today, as well as our Village Manager, Mark Cundiff, and our Clerk, Deborah Benning:
Sunday, 24 January 2009

To: Judith, Karen, Kathryn, & John

From: Lori Askeland

Dear fellow Council members: At long last, these are my goals, written with the benefit of reading your goals and having consulted with the EC, the PC, and other villagers. Thanks for your patience.

While assisting with our revision of our Comprehensive Plan, John Eastman provided these standard definitions to the Planning Commission, which I have found helpful and am striving to use here:

GOAL: suggests an idealistic or long-term purpose.

OBJECTIVE: implies that the end, or goal, can be reached, often within a specified time frame.

I have read all of your goals/objectives and tried my best, in this document to indicate where I'm in agreement, instead of re-inventing the wheel. I have also revised the language of a few of our last year's goals mostly as a matter of word-smithing to get more accurately at what I think is the spirit of each over-arching goal:

Lori Askeland's Suggested 2009 Goals & Objectives:

1. GOAL: Deepen democratic decision-making processes with active citizen participation and effective representative governance.

OBJECTIVES:

• I agree with John's bulleted points here, regarding professionalism, inclusion in the Visioning process, and reaching out to historically disenfranchised groups.

• I also agree with the emphasis that both Karen and Kathryn placed on youth.

• Several of us mentioned continuing to improve electronic communication and use of our website. I have two specific suggestions:

1. Make sure the online packet archive is complete for that last 6 months (back to August). [I believe the Sept 18th packet is not online as of now, but otherwise the packets are all up to date.]
2. Make the online archives of Village Council minutes absolutely complete for at least the past year. [Many 2008 minutes are not posted in the Minutes section.]
   

• I would like to ask staff to have those minutes and that missing packet up within the next month, if possible.

• I agree with Kathryn that we need to be especially mindful of our Commissions and seek to better define their roles and relationship to Council. I'm not sure how best to do this, if a retreat is the best way, but it is something we need to consider.

2. GOAL: Strengthen the village as an excellent employer and provider of services within a responsible fiscal framework.

OBJECTIVES:

• Carry to completion the service projects listed by Judith at the beginning of her document: WWTP, Morris Bean/Glen Helen sewer mains; water/sewer rate study.

• From Karen's/Kathryn's list, special attention to Capital Improvement plan, the Tax plan (the end of the current levy), and Power Contracts.

• In particular, I would like to see us strive to begin the goals/budget process in the fall (Sept/Oct) so that we do not have to do emergency budgeting at the beginning of the year.

• Implement Phase I of the ESTF's recommendations with regard to improving distribution within our electric system.

• Direct staff to actively consider diversity in subcontractor and consultant contracts with a goal of hiring diverse subcontractors (Here I agree with John).

3. GOAL: Be a welcoming community of opportunity for people of diverse ethnicities, backgrounds, orientations, identities, and incomes. [Note slight re-wording]

OBJECTIVES:

• I support all John's/Judith's recommendations here, including funding for HRC, pool passes, transgender inclusion and a domestic partnership registry. I would like to be sure that we do provide domestic partner benefits to our staff.

• I also support Judith's objective of joining the HUD program and passing inclusionary zoning legislation.

• I also support Karen's and Kathryn's discussion of the Safe Routes to Schools and Sidewalk enhancements, which also fit with our energy-related goals.

4. GOAL: Establish a plan for improving the economic condition of the community that is in keeping with our identity as a vibrant, walkable/bikeable village rooted in a tradition of valuing diversity, the environment, and educational / artistic / technological innovation. [Note my suggested rewording]

OBJECTIVES:

• Use the Visioning process to help us bring together the energy-jobs agenda put forth in the ESTF's Phase II report, economic localization ideas, and the retention and expansion of the current business, arts, and education communities. Transparency is key.

• Poise ourselves to seek out and take advantage of the state/federal initiatives regarding renewable energy and conservation that are likely to arise in the coming year, and the development of the CBE (see Karen's ideas under land-use. My main question would be, is the marketing of that property our responsibility, or Community Resources'? Or to what degree is it our responsibility?).

• From Karen, revamp EDRLF. Possibly consider changing it to a small business grant fund. Suggestion from a villager (Benjy Maruyama): hold a yearly contest for the best business plan; the winner receiving a grant of start-up or revamping (for current businesses) monies, rather than a loan which we have to then manage.

5. GOAL: Develop a comprehensive plan that seeks to reduce the carbon footprint of the community and encourages sound ecological practices throughout. [Note my suggested rewording, which comes courtesy of Tim Tobey of the Planning Commission.]

OBJECTIVES:

• I agree with Kathryn and Judith that we should set aside money each year for the green-space fund. I would like us to commit at least $50,000 each year to this long-standing agenda in our community.

• I agree with Karen and Judith about establishing the new ETF, with the involvement and participation of the existing Environmental Commission so that our initiatives can be coordinated—e.g., the current Green Pricing program through AMP-OH and the planned rate-study/possible increase proposed by the current ESTF. I would be happy to see up to $50,000 go to this goal as Karen suggested.

• Direct staff to develop a standard procedure by which they consider lower-emissions / energy efficient vehicles and equipment when making new purchases/upgrades, even if their initial cost is slightly higher. (Here I'm pretty much agreeing with Karen)

• On that note, can our building (internal and external) / street light bulbs be replaced by LEDs or other low-energy alternatives?
• Encourage local industries to adopt state-of-the-art environmental protection measures, particularly as related to air pollution, but also water and ground pollution. The EC will soon be presenting a report based on our research into the proposed tire-burning at CEMEX (which we expect will be pressed again when the economic situation improves). We believe that Ohio needs much stricter emissions standards for all industries that burn coal, coke, or alternative 'fuels' like tires. The EC will present a letter to this effect to Village Council, with recommended courses of action.
  

• Steven Conn suggests a "no idling" ordinance that would prohibit leaving cars running while parked within city limits.

6. GOAL: Develop a comprehensive land-use plan.

OBJECTIVES:

• Complete the two major land-use projects currently underway: the CBE projects and the Friends Care Apartment PUD final approval.

• Complete the update of the Comprehensive Plan by April. (I agree with Karen)

• Fund and complete the Visioning and Planning process already begun, as promised, with a goal of producing a comprehensive land-use plan that will facilitate our goals as a village.

• Karen's goals regarding sidewalks, Northern Gateway, and way-finding signs seem on point and do-able to me. I support them all.

• The Planning Commission concurs with Kathryn's goal of seeking to write legislation for the protection of historical properties, without undue burden on property owners or those who would like to develop new, efficient buildings.

• Here's what John Struewing said at our last meeting which seems to convey the spirit of the Planning Commission: "This is not a village that has design review; the eclectic nature of the village won't stand for it. We would just like people/developers to have to go through a process before they tear down historic structures." And we support the current work being done by Ed Amrhein's office in dealing with neglect of properties in the village. The Barr property did go through a process of consideration on this front, but it was both informal and ad-hoc; we believe it would be clearer and fairer to have a clear process—not one involving a new review board, but administered by the Planning Commission possibly with advisory help from local architects and historical commissions as the need arises. We plan to try to update the inventory of historic structures and begin creating proposed language for considering historical relevancy for adoption by Council.

Thanks,

Lori

Shuman deadline today; Mon: no office hours, yes PC; new VC schedule

Dear People: TODAY is the deadline to sign up for next weekend's workshop with Michael Shuman, Jan 17-18. (Note: His Friday night presentation is totally open and requires no reservations; but the workshop, while free to anyone who signs up, does require an RSVP.) See the attached overview for more information/background.

To reserve a spot, contact Megan Bachman or Dimi Reber (shoot me an email and I'll give you their contact info.)

Monday is the Planning Commission meeting, we'll be discussing the Comprehensive Plan.

Monday is also the first day that Wittenberg is in session and, while I don't teach until Tuesday, I have a lot of work to do for which I need to be on campus. So, I'm canceling my office hours. Do of course feel free to

Now, over the next two months we have a veritable carnival of Village Council regular and special meetings. Here they are and their primary purposes:

Jan 20th: regular mtg CANCELED. Happy inauguration!
Jan 26th: Council goals for 2009 session, 7 pm
[Feb 2nd: regular meeting]
Feb 3rd: First Budget workshop (7pm)
[Feb 16th: regular meeting]
Feb 23rd: Second Budget workshop (7:30 pm)
Feb 28th: Third Budget workshop (9-12 am)

On top of those meetings, I'll be attending the regular PC on Feb 9, and EC on Feb 12 & 26.

By the way, I'm not sure if I've recently told y'all that my major emails to you are archived, and generally accompanied by pictures!, at my blog, askelandforcouncil.blogspot.com, which is available to anyone in the world who wants to look at it/subscribe to it. Feel free to share that link with anyone you think might be interested.

Oh, and if you get tired, or are tired, of receiving these emails, or would rather just check/subscribe to my blog periodically, feel free to tell me and I'll take you off the list--I won't be offended!

Best,
Lori

New Year Goals and Coal

Dear People: I meant to get to this yesterday, but time slipped away. In this email, I discuss the agenda for tonight's meeting (7 pm, Bryan Ctr), and will reflect a little on this past year's work and my concerns about our electrical power sources. I'll be in my office hours TODAY (new time for spring!), in the Emporium, from 12-1 or so.

LEGISLATION:
1) Ordinance to approve a temporary budget as an emergency while we sort out our plans for this year's budget.
2 & 3) 2 Resolutions paying dues to Ohio Municipal League and the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission.
4) CBE Development and Funding agreement: This is an extension of a 2007 agreement with Community Resources to complete the infrastructure on the CBE, a project that we hope to complete very soon.

SPECIAL REPORT:
Code Enforcement/ Zoning: We received a list of all the properties in town that requested building permits, variance applications to the Board of Zoning Appeals, and the public hearings conducted by the Planning commission. I suspect Ed Amrhein will simply go over this report with us.

OLD BUSINESS:
1) Setting Budget Workshop dates.
2) Rescheduling our reception for new manager Mark Cundiff
3) An update from Visioning and Planning on the numerous responses to our RFP and their process of evaluating those responses.

NEW BUSINESS:
2008 Goal Report and scheduling goal sessions: Contact me and I'll be happy to email you an initial draft put together by Judith Hempfling and Karen Wintrow of all the things Council has accomplished this past year in relation to our 2008 goals--Karen will be doing a power point of this review tonight. Please take a moment to read the report over, and share any comments or concerns you have with me--better yet, plan to come to Council tonight to do so. Some of these items clearly need follow-up--e.g., especially, the sidewalk issue.

I think we will keep similar overarching goals for 2009, which can serve sort of like a mission statement for us, but will seek this year to be much more specific in our main objectives under each goal. We need to finish the improvements on the wastewater treatment plant, complete the infrastructure work on the CBE site, to deal with our sidewalk problems, etc.

Another issue that we are thinking carefully about is our electric system and this Council's decision to reject helping to build two new coal plants this past year, and how we will replace that lost power source.

A little history: The decision to vote against those plants was actually very challenging to me. Since the new plants would have had much lower emissions than our current base-power providers, there was a logic in supporting them that was hard to refute, and which kept me awake at night: if we reject these new coal-burning plants, will we just wind up buying more expensive and dirtier electricity, from older and less efficient plants, on the open market--and not reducing our actual carbon footprint at all, indeed possibly, arguably, raising it?

But when Elisa Young of Meigs County came and spoke about the farm she lives on that's been in her family since the Revolutionary War, how they already have 4 big coal-burning plants in view, the high cancer rates that already exist in the county, the ash they wipe off their cars every morning, and the effectiveness of big coal companies at keeping the problems with coal mining, burning, and dealing with the waste from public view, I was solidified in my decision. In addition to all the problems with committing to a 200-year old technology for burning coal, for yet another 50 years or so, during a time of global warming, I couldn't see approving coal plants as anything but a NIMBY move on our part.

In her power point presentation to the village shortly before our vote on the AMP-OH plant, Elisa pointed out that large piles of toxic ash were typically created, sometimes within yards of elementary schools, and that there have been problems with on-going leakage and major spills from these toxic ash piles in the past. Well, 3 days before Christmas,the worst ash spill in history happened at the ash-heap in Kingston, Tennessee, creating environmental devastation that was immediately quite visible by NASA satellites, as you can see in these pictures.

"Clean coal" is obviously a misnomer: coal is not clean at any stage of the process, from mining to burning to dealing with the ash heaps that remain long after the energy is used, not to mention the warming of our planet. But we need to be seriously thinking about what alternatives we can possibly tap into. We are in the process of re-commissioning an Electric System Task force to help us think about our future energy needs and how to move forward on this front. Now that the Antioch campus is closed, etc., do we need the same levels of electrical service as were being predicted? What electricity levels do we need, and can we find alternative energy sources to provide those needs?

Those are the questions I'm especially taking into this new year.

Peace,
Lori