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

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

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

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?

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.
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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

<--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.

Rachel Hadas, “The End of Summer” from Halfway Down the Hall: New and Selected Poems. Copyright © 1998 by Rachel Hadas. Reprinted with the permission of Wesleyan University Press.

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

PC: Barr Property Plans

<--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

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)