Fort council OKs major increase in village budget

FORT RECOVERY - Village council members at Monday night's meeting approved a 2016 budget that set aside $4.04 million for all accounts, a large increase from 2015's total.

They also selected Erik Fiely to fill the unexpired council term of Rod Thobe, who resigned Dec. 31 after serving 36 years.

The appropriations bill was passed as an emergency after council members suspended the rules, eliminating the need for three public readings.

The $4.04 million compares with the nearly $2.06 million budgeted for 2015. Fiscal officer Roberta Staugler this morning attributed the spike in part to $1.15 million in proposed capital improvement expenses for the coming year.

Some of the capital expenses include $487,000 for the street department, including the estimated $275,000 paving of William Street; $459,900 for the utility department, including $185,000 for a utility extension on Sharpsburg Road and $135,000 for improvements to the lagoon system; $175,000 for park improvements; $3,000 for police equipment; $9,000 for new trees; and $22,000 for remodeling village hall and upgrading computers.

As a rule, officials don't spend all that is appropriated except for major infrastructure projects, village administrator Randy Diller said.

"We usually underestimate our resources, overestimate our expenditures - just kind of give us a worst-case scenario," he told council members

After $908,952 is transferred to various accounts, the village will have $3.13 million in net appropriations: $1.15 million, 37 percent, is projected to be spent on capital improvements; $780,187, 25 percent, on wages and benefits; and $996,564, 32 percent, on all other expenses.

Also, $210,153, 7 percent, will be spent on repaying the village's $3.4 million aggregate debt. The village has six outstanding loans for the water plant, street projects and the recently completed sewer separation project.

General fund appropriations are pegged at $1.9 million this year compared with $981,126 in 2015. The general fund pays for day-to-day village operations. The village is expected to begin the year with a general fund carryover of $1.9 million and officials anticipate collecting $900,000 in income taxes and $347,184 in other revenue, providing the village's general fund with a total of $3.18 million.

Council members anticipate general fund expenses of $1.05 million and plan to transfer $858,733 to other accounts for capital purchases and loan repayments, Staugler said.

Council members also established a fund to help pay for a recreational trail around Community Park. The project is estimated to cost $200,000 and will be funded by a $50,000 donation from the Kathy Staugler family and a $45,000 village contribution. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has awarded a $120,000 Recreational Trails Program grant for the project. The Paul Staugler Memorial Recreational Trail will be named in memory of the announcer known as the voice of the Fort Recovery Indians. Construction is expected to begin this summer or fall.

It will be the second part of a planned four-phase project to connect downtown and the parks. The already-completed first phase included installing sidewalks on Wayne and Milligan streets to the pool, Diller said.

Council members also,

• appointed Fiely to fill Thobe's unexpired term, which expires Dec. 31, 2017. Fiely was chosen over Marv Collins, Greg Schmitz and Jerry Byram.

Fiely, 32, has a wife, Kristy, and four children. He's a production planner and scheduler with Crown Equipment Corp.

"Basically, I've lived in town my whole life and I want to make sure that my four kids have the opportunity to grow up in as nice of a town as I did," he told the newspaper after the meeting.

• amended the wage ordinance to set the pay of part-time patrolmen at $15 per hour. Earlier this month, council members hired part-time officer Bill Westgerdes, a Mercer County Sheriff's Office lieutenant. Westgerdes will retire from the sheriff's office soon and should join the department in April, police chief Jared Laux had said. The part-time position has been on the books but was not filled for at least five years.

• learned Diller and village solicitor Erin Minor plan to craft a new plan to address installing new sidewalks as well as maintaining and repairing current sidewalks. Diller will present the plan to council at a later date.

"The ultimate goal is that eventually we'll have sidewalks on every street where there's a house and it'll just be then a matter of upkeep," Minor said.

Diller, who noted a community survey overwhelmingly indicated people want better sidewalks, said any new policy would be fair and equitable.  

Council president Dave Bretz warned the plan could cause controversy.

• learned the village intends to renovate the Community Park restrooms and add benches near the playground and new trail and add trash cans.

"We're asking for folks interested in donating benches," Minor said. "What we're going to be doing is having those benches engraved (with names)."

• learned the administration is considering buying tablet computers for council members and the mayor to save on paper costs. All documents would be be distributed via the devices and sensitive data would be secured, Minor said.

• heard Laux report on two men who were arrested and charged with forgery Friday afternoon after reportedly trying to cash fraudulent checks at Second National Bank. Bank employees did an excellent job and kept the bank open while officers arrested the two men, he said.

"Our bank employees handled themselves really well," he said. "They were nervous, obviously, with everything going on."