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WHAT: Village council meeting Thursday, Feb. 16
PRESENT: Scott Klein, Bill Blue, Carl Hornug, Sam Morrow, Kaitlyn Arganti and Rick Seyer
ABSENT: Mayor Ben Garlich
Council:
• Heard a report from the Middlefield Fire Department that it responded to four building fires, two brush fires, one chimney fire, one vehicle fire, 16 medical responses, 12 car crashes, three hazardous conditions, three alarms due to malfunction and not fire, and 11 canceled responses, and had a total of 59 responses in the month of January;
• Heard a report from the Middlefield Police Department that traffic citations are up compared to last year;
• Heard an update from economic development director Leslie Gambosi-McCoy on a study the village is conducting about the possibility of having a hotel built in Middlefield. Gambosi-McCoy stated that the village will be meeting with a company to investigate potential building sites in early March;
• Passed an ordinance establishing the 2023 wage rates for police officers of Middlefield Village effective Jan. 1;
• Passed an ordinance establishing the salaries and wages of non-police employees of Middlefield Village effective Jan. 1;
• Passed an ordinance creating the position of cemetery maintenance and streets laborer, then passed a subsequent ordinance authorizing the hiring of John Sommers as a full-time cemetery maintenance person to fill the position;
• Passed an ordinance authorizing the hiring of Mark Citriglia as a full-time water and wastewater treatment plant operator;
• Passed an ordinance accepting a bid from Ronyak Paving Company of Burton for a resurfacing project on North Springdale Avenue in an amount not to exceed $246,842.25, which was the lowest and best bid;
• Put an ordinance into first reading authorizing an agreement in which village council would pay Cardinal School District $55,000 to operate the Middlefield and Cardinal recreation department. If passed, the village would pay the school district to be the head director of the program while the village would assume the financial intake;
• Put an ordinance into first reading authorizing all actions needed to accept the Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC) 2023 Energized Community Grant of approximately $7,000 to put toward energy efficient projects;
• Passed an ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter into a settlement agreement with Eli Gingerich, Ella Gingerich, Middlefield Milk, Rothenbuhler Farms, Hans Rothenbuhler & Sons Inc., Rothenbuhler Cheesemakers Inc.
• Put a resolution into second reading authorizing the archivist to act as the designated representative of the members of the village of Middlefield council for the purpose of required public records training;
• Passed an ordinance to grant consent to the director of the Ohio Department of Transportation for the authority to apply, maintain and repair standard longitudinal pavement markings and erect regulatory and warning signs on state highways inside village limits. The ordinance also gives the consent of the village for ODOT to remove snow and ice and use snow and ice control material on state highways within village limits. The ordinance also gives consent to ODOT to perform maintenance and repair on state highways within village limits;
• Heard a report on the village website from Kim Breyley. The website saw a 5 percent increase in traffic since last month and a 52 percent increase since last year. Breyley stated that the top pages of the website included the village's live camera feed and that the Instagram and Facebook profiles continued to grow.