Middleport Village Council Meeting

MIDDLEPORT – The Middleport Village Council held a meeting on Monday, February 24 with several community concerns being brought forward.

The minutes for the January 27, 2014 meeting were read and approved.

A guest speaker from Hazen & Sawyer came to give a presentation and discuss options to make Middleport’s sewer lagoon profitable. The speaker said three options were available which were Hydropower, Algae biofuel, or carbon scalping. It was determined that carbon scalping would be the best option for the town but more research would be needed. To use this option outside waste would have to be shipped in, this process needs 42,000 tons of biomass to be profitable and Middleport only produces 40 tons of biomass. The representative from Hazen & Sawyer said this about the process. “Significant personnel and capital is necessary to market, operate, and maintain an energy production facility.”

The council decided to approve moving forward in the next step of the project under the condition that only grant money is used to research and not funds from the village.

The council moved to approve the payment of bills which totaled $34, 747. 88. The council also approved the finance report, income tax report, the public works report, and the refuse report.

The Middleport Volunteer Fire Department is looking to raise the cost of the fire protection contract with Salisbury Township. Salisbury has said they are looking to put a fire levy in place to help pay for the services. More will be discussed on the matter.

The council approved to hire Debra Smith as a part-time corrections officer.

The council approved purchase of a new cruiser once the cruiser loan is paid off in May; this is with the condition that the two oldest cruisers be sold.

The council approved refunding money to someone who rented out the Depot for a baby shower due to the heat not working.

The third reading of Ordinance 89-14 to amend Codified Ordinance 1337 Flood Damage Reduction per FEMA mandate was approved.

The council discussed Ohio Revised Code 4933.22 in reference meter pits, no action was taken.

The Village Solicitor Mick Barr was present and told the council there is a new minimum wage for village solicitor which is $600; he was being paid $400 a month. It was approved to pay him the minimum wage.

The new ordinance to create a grant writer position for the village was discussed and at the time no decision has been made.

Denis Alkire with the Meigs County Grants Office came to discuss with the citizens what they would like to see done if the village receives the grant she is trying to get. Needs surveys need to be filled out to get this grant, so far 69 have been filled out and any resident of Middleport is able to fill one out. Alkire said the grant would be used for six projects. The grant can be used for street repairs, sidewalk repairs, to build an auditorium, a child care center, demolition of unsightly structures, rehab of the fire department, to fix storm drainage, tennis court rehab, ball fields and basketball court rehab, and also things like new equipment for the park.

Linda Meyer from the Middleport Community Association was present and asked citizens for their help in participating with their projects for the year. Some of the projects the MCA said they do are planting perennials, spring flower planting for the business district, tree box cleaning, 4th of July parade, fireworks, and other 4th of July activities, free movies once a month, Christmas celebration which includes the parade, Christmas market, décor and Christmas giveaway items, spring bag and basket games, and dinners for village workers.

Don Bitanga came to discuss a backflow valve he installed. He said he found out he didn’t need it for his business but was told to put one in anyway which was a costly expense to him. He wanted council to see if other businesses were forced to put a backflow valve in place that didn’t need it, Bitanga said he thought making businesses that do not need them have them installed would deter businesses because of the expense. No action was taken on this matter.

Bitanga also suggested the council look into an economic planning and steering council for the village. The council did not take any action on that idea at this time but said it could be looked into in the future. There was a lot of talk from the audience of Middleport being dead. The Mayor was quick to respond in saying, “we cannot keep saying Middleport is dead because it deters businesses away.”

Sarah Pullins came to represent the Big Bend Youth League. She, along with others involved in the youth league wanted to know why the football stadium is being given to the Senior Center to use. She said when they use it, it tears up the field so it can’t be used for the kids who play football there. The youth league has around 400 kids participating in it and when they have games it brings 2,000 people into the town of Middleport. Pullins said the league has to spend thousands on upkeep with the field to make it playable for the kids and up to codes, when others use it they have to spend more money to fix it again. Pullins said the youth league would offer $10,000 to buy the stadium from the village to be able to keep it for themselves. No action was taken at this time; the council did ask that she come back to the next meeting to discuss it further.

The council is still looking to rescind the three percent automatic increase on the water bills. No action was taken at this time but the council will discuss it further and see what can be done about getting rid of the automatic increase.

The council went into executive session at the end of the meeting.