By Ashley McCarty-
The Peebles Village Council held a recent meeting, with the major topic on the board the appointing of a new council member and a sewer project. with visitor Holly Johnson from Adams County Economic Development.
Following is a summary of the events othe the meeting.
A motion by Councilman Charles Countryman to enter executive session regarding the vacant council seat was seconded by Councilwoman Eugenia Gordley, council agreed.
The three applicants for the vacant seat were Karisa Kremin, Dave Stephens, and Larry Shiveley. The vacant seat was occupied by Kevin Cross.
A motion by Countryman to appoint Stephens was seconded by Councilman Norman Newman, council agreed.
Village Solicitor Randalyn Worley swore in Stephens before the council.
A motion by Councilwoman Tammy Crothers to approve the minutes is seconded by Countryman, council agreed.
A motion to approve the mayor and police report is seconded by Countryman, council agreed.
“Back to water and sewer, have you guys given it any thought on how far you want us to go with the sewer? I’d like to know the council’s thoughts. If we end up, the Mineral Springs section is $3.5 million, if we could get $3 million, that would be $500,000 that the village would have to come up with. Now, does the village have to come up with it altogether? No you don’t, you can also ask the business to put in funds with that, too. So, we can put that together, but what I have to do is do some more of the engineering portion of it, to then be able to apply, that kind of stuff. So, I just want to know if you want us to move forward with it on your behalf, or how you want us to do that,” said Economic Director Holly Johnson.
Mayor Wayne Setty said that sounded good to him. Countryman asked how much the village’s part was.
“We come in at $3.5 million, and we could get $3 million from the EPA, it would be $500,000 is normally what they’ll do, because you’re in a distressed area where you’re at, and dependent upon the EDUs that we could pull from there. So, that’s where it all comes in. I have to do more engineering portion of it, that kind of stuff, which may potentially end up having to cost some dollars there, but with the engineering, any money that’s put out on that is recouped during construction. We can get that money back,” said Johnson.
Crothers asked if there were any delayed payment options if they had a bigger amount of debt.
“We will look at your debt, we will take your debt into account when we do the application. All of that comes into play. We will put everything on paper before we move forward to be able to do this. What I’m saying to you guys is this — we’re here today, we have until this time next year to apply. This gives us time to look at your debt, assess all of your capital improvements that you’re going to have to do over the next five years for the village, and then that will help make that payment, plus we’ll be able to get the correct EDUs out there on what the payback will be to the village. So, that’s what we need to do, is to be able to see what revenue you’re going to get in to and what your payment is going to be out. That’s what we need to be able to provide you guys,” said Johnson.
Setty said they can move forward with it but they’re not obligated at this time.
“Correct. You haven’t spent any money, nor are we going to ask you to spend any money until later on down the road once we’re able to gather and do more due diligence,” said Johnson.
Crothers asked if it was better to get it in sooner or later.
“No. We have to do it in a year. It’s the EPA, it’s their application, and that’s where we’ll apply for funding is through them, because they will give you zero percent interest on your dollars that you have to pay back. That’s what we try to do, we don’t want to get you with OWDA where they’ll have a percentage — up to four percent to have to pay back — we’d like to keep it at zero to one percent for payback on that. So, we’ll be able to come back with you guys with more money, with a little bit better options laid out, I just wanted to know if you guys wanted us to move forward,” said Johnson.
Fiscal Officer Jayme Eldridge asked Johnson to update Stephens on what was going on.
“Mineral Springs Lake is sold. They have about 270 trailers on average out there right now. They have a little bit of issue with gray water out there. It’s going to come to the point with the acreage that’s out there, they have a potential for 500 campers plus. They’re going to have to have sewer that’s out there. There’s three options, Option A is the village runs their sewer out to them and they hook into the village at the $3.5 million, Option B is the owner of the facility has to put in it’s package plant and then deal with hiring someone to come out there to take care of it, and it becomes a real big issue that way, Option C, long-term is, it’s in an unsewered area, which means it’s the counties responsibility to do that, and so, then the county would ultimately have to end up running sewer out to Mineral Springs. So, there’s just a lot of different things that have to happen, so what we tried to do is, county tries to lift for the village and to be able to assist and offset that. The next thing that we’re going to talk about is Locust Grove. So, what happens with the Ohio EPA is, they hit all unsewered areas wherever there’s leechage or graywater, or anything like that. It becomes orders and findings against the county, then the county then comes back to the village that’s the closest that’s able to serve it, and we all try to work together to make sure that everything goes where it’s supposed to go and that’s away, so,” said Johnson.
Johnson said if they have any other questions they could call the office and she’d be happy to show them everything they have on it.
Down the road, are the residents required to hook onto us if we run the line?” said Setty.
Johnson said the Ohio Revised Code and Ohio EPA all state that if the house is 200 feet from a sewer line, it’s mandatory that they hook on.
“Even if you’re in town?” said Countryman. Johnson said, “Even if you’re in town.”
“If they have a sewer issue with their septic tank, if their septic tank leeches out and The Health Department is called, they will not get a permit to fix their septic tank, they will have to hook on to the sewer,” said Johnson.
Johnson inquired about Administrator Danny Pertuset’s thoughts.
“It will come down to the $500,000 versus the revenue that we take in, even though I think it’s a wonderful idea. I think you heard me say it before, there’s so much potential in that direction for Peebles in the future. So, I’m standing where I stood the first time. If we can make it happen, I think we make it happen,” said Pertuset.
Johnson said she was happy to hear him say that.
“I will tell you, the potential to pick up Ohio 32, the McCoy property that’s for sale, the 121 acres, that’s a sticking point for lots of businesses that come in to look at that. So, we’ll move forward, we’ll get together, you guys will see me often in reference to the sewer,” said Johnson.
Johnson went on to discuss the possibility of an online grocery store pop-up pick-up in the village of Peebles, which will operate seven days a week, two to four hours a day.
“Can we rewind back to Locust Grove sewage? Was that part of the $3.5 million?” said Pertuset.
Johnson said no.
“We’re not going to talk about it tonight?” said Pertuset. Johnson said she didn’t have all of the numbers for Locust Grove yet.
“The other thing of it is, if you guys take on Mineral Springs, I think that we can probably — when the North Adams sewer district comes in — if we let the EPA know that we’re working on Mineral Springs, because I can tell you that’s going to be a quicker, bigger issue for them — orders and findings will stand at Locust Grove, and if we need to, we can come through the back way from the sewer plant, from the other sewer plant, into Locust Grove if that has to happen that way,” said Johnson.
Johnson asked if they had a capital improvement plan on what has to be done in the village. Pertuset said not as far as he knew.
“Okay, so if you could get — I’m sure Shawn does, probably, does he know what has to be done sewer wise over the course of everything? If he has a list of those, and we can categorize those, and we could put numbers to those, then what we can do is put that on a spreadsheet over the course of the next five years, and then we can break down projects as affordability happens, and then as grant dollars become available,” said Johnson.
Pertuset said they did all of that for EPA last year.
“Since we were denied from the EPA last year on the grant money, we’ve done a bunch of that already out of our pocket,” said Pertuset.
Johnson said the capital improvement plan is a working document that continuously changes and evolves.
“So, if you take it out of your pocket, and you do x, y and z, then those slide off, and then the a, b and c starts over again. So, and then that helps you understand dollars, what has to come in. When one debt falls off, then what you can afford to take on for the next round, because it’s continual progression that has to happen with infrastructure, and it’s a lot. It’s big numbers, usually,” said Johnson.
Johnson said she knew it was hard, she understood.
Roxanne McCoy announced that Pamela Kellough Murals would be painting a mural on the side of Shively’s building. The mural will cost $15,000.
“The Adams County Arts Council is going to pay $10,000, and I’ll raise $5,000,” said McCoy. Kellough will be starting on Sept. 7, and the mural will take three weeks to complete. Donations can be made to the Adams County Arts Council through McCoy.
Pertuset said council received a letter to close a grass alley between two properties; council discussed te matter and a motion by Countryman to close the alley was seconded by Gordley, with council agreeing.
“I spoke to Jayme about looking into the purchase of a truck, a F350 Ford Powerstroke Diesel with a flat bed, four-door cab. It was a former Manchester fire truck for a period of time, and an individual by the name of Dustin Scott bought it. It’s something we’ve been looking for,” said Firre Chief Estep. Estep said they have a truck that is down at one of the other stations with a transmission problem that’s been looked at three times. The vehicle will be financed at $18,000.
A motion by Countryman for a bond in the amount of $18,000 is seconded by Councilwoman Connie Kidder, council agreed.
With no more business before the board, the meeting was adjourned. Meeting minutes will be approved by the council at the next meeting, subject to revisions.