By Andy Chappell-Dick

All council members, administrators, and employees were in their places at 7:00 p.m. sharp as Mayor Rich Johnson does not start meetings late. After the Pledge of Allegiance, Council approved the last meeting's minutes and payment of the last two weeks' bills.

Several committees met jointly in recent days, as important matters often require input from different angles. 

PERSONNEL AND FINANCE

Personnel met with Finance to discuss wage increases for village employees. Consensus was established that an across-the-board increase of 6%  is needed to meet the demand of the market. This is akin to a cost-of-living increase; also on the table were requests and rationales for additional increases presented by Emergency Services and Public Works employees. 

The committees determined that these discussions need to proceed with Council as a whole, and a meeting was set for January 31 to do that.  The meeting will be entirely in Executive Session (not open to the public) due to its sensitive nature.

STREETS, LIGHTS, ALLEYS AND SIDEWALKS

Streets, Lights, Alleys and Sidewalks also met (that's a single committee) to deal with seven agenda items. They began discussions with the Police Chief to update and unify parking ordinances.  Also up for clarification was the intersection of College View Drive and Campus Drive; no historical basis for the one-way signage on Campus Drive is known, so a proposal was floated to restore that street to two-way traffic and install a stop sign at its intersection with College View Drive; this intersection was also determined to be public property. 

The committee discussed a county Health Department program that promotes infrastructure improvements to encourage biking and walking; Bluffton's Pathway Board is is already very active in this but participation in the program might provide access to funding for such improvements. 

The committee reported that AEP is raising its rates for streetlights by 31%, far more than the 5% increase to metered accounts, but this is due to the high cost of transmission to spread-out lights. 

Finally, the Committee reported that they are making decisions on the final layout of the Bentley Road/Main Street intersection improvement, scheduled to happen this summer. The main goal is improve safety and to make the intersection more pedestrian friendly; another consideration is providing for less awkward truck turns.

READINGS

After Committee reports, Council was asked to approve the readings of one ordinance and two resolutions. The ordinance was the annual appropriations bill for fiscal year 2022, in its first reading. One resolution was a procedural matter regarding Bluffton's participation in the Allen County Planning Commission, the other authorized advertisement of bids for summer road work.

ADMINISTRATION

Village Administrators reported next.  Village crews were putting in overtime dealing with two days of "nuisance snow."  Residents are asked to comply with parking restrictions in place whenever 2 inches or more of snow has fallen.  Alternate-side street parking is required, but it's obviously far easier on plow drivers when cars are removed entirely from streets. 

Downtown accumulations were not enough to justify the high cost of hiring a specialized contractor to remove it.  In the past this has cost the Village around $8,000 per event, and when asked those contractors indicated that they would no longer perform the service for that amount.  Administrator Blackburn hopes that downtown building owners can work with the Village to deal with the snow piles.

In their ongoing project, AEP has announced that work will not continue on the County Line Road portion until late next fall.  Nevertheless, $10,000 will be payable to the Village to replace trees slated for removal from the Village Arboretum, and to purchase some additional right-of-way in that area.

FIRE DEPARTMENT

In his report, Fire Chief Jon Kinn reminded residents to clear away snow from hydrants.

POLICE DEPARTMENT

Police Chief Ryan Burkholder asked for and was granted Council approval to support Austin Probst, currently a student in the police academy.  In exchange for a commitment of three years as a part-time officer starting later this year, the Police Department will provide training ammunition and body armor.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Opening the floor to public comment, Bernadine Ludwig rose to address council.  As Maple Grove Cemetery Sexton, Ms. Ludwig wanted to call attention to the ongoing issue of cremated remains left unclaimed at the local funeral home.  She appealed to the conscience of Council that in order to provide this final dignity, the Village should consider donating one or two plots in order to properly accomplish the disposition. 

Speaking for the funeral home, Jon Kinn stated he was still attempting to make final connections with relatives of the deceased. Action should be considered by springtime.