Village OKs purchase for new vehicles
MINSTER — The village of Minster will soon add a slew of new work vehicles to its fleet as councilors approved the purchases of two new skid loaders, a new mower and a new utility vehicle at its Tuesday night meeting.
Village Administrator Don Harrod said that one of the skid loaders will be for the electric department and another one will be for the public works department.
Harrod said the electric department is looking at a John Deere skid loader at a cost of $68,812, which the department had appropriated $80,000 for the purchase in this year’s budget.
They will be replacing a 2011 model that Harrod said has around 1,400 hours on it.
The parks department will also be getting a new utility vehicle to replace its current 1999 John Deere Gator, with Harrod saying that it gets used a lot.
The department will purchase a Kubota through the municipal discount program that Kubota offers for $14,971.45.
The department will also be getting a new mower, a zero-turn Kubota, to replace their current 2001 mower. Harrod said the mower will also be purchased through the discount program that Kubota offers.
The purchase price will be $20,213.10.
The public works department is looking at a Case skid loader at a cost of $56,300, which would replace the current 1998 skid loader.
Harrod said the quote for the vehicle would expire on Friday as “nobody will give you a quote for more than two or three days anymore” due to rising costs.
Councilor Nicole Clune asked what the village will do with the old vehicles, with Harrod replying that the village will list the vehicles on GovDeals.com.
Also Tuesday, councilors approved a new pay range for the fiscal officer position as John Stechschulte has agreed to remain on board as the village conducts a search for a new fiscal officer.
The pay range was bumped up from $12,500 to $60,000.
Also Tuesday, Clune reported the total first quarter runs for the fire department. There were 85 total runs, with 73 coming from Minster, seven were from Jackson Township, three were from Van Buren Town
ship and two from McLean Township. Of those 73 runs to Minster, 17 were from the nursing home.
In other business:
• Council approved the fee of $6,852.50 to be paid Washington, D.C. based law firm Duncan and Allen for services rendered through Feb. 28 regarding the village’s ongoing solar lawsuit.
• Council approved 11 invoices over $3,000, with one of the purchases being an inflatable water rescue boat for the fire department. Harrod said that money will be reimbursed to the village by the fire department.
• Council approved removing village employee Luke Lazier from introductory status to full-time.
• Council agreed to waive a hearing to object to the renewal of liquor permits within the village.
• Harrod reported that Brumbaugh Construction was moving along on the reconstruction of Seventh Street. He said they were working on completing the installation of the storm sewer along the street and were finishing sanitary work.
Once complete, they will begin removing the old water line and wrapping up the installation of utilities. Harrod said as long as the weather cooperates, they should remain ahead of schedule.
• Harrod said a prebid meeting was held on Monday regarding potential bidders for the village’s upcoming water tower construction project. Harrod said based upon the number of questions regarding the bids, the village may extend the due date past its original April 13 date.
• AES/DP&L have indicated that they will start work on rerouting its dual transmission lines that lie along North Ohio Street. At a previous meeting, councilors granted AES an easement along Seventh Street and the access drive to the compost area so that they could reroute one of the dual feeds from Ohio Street. Harrod reported that the steel poles for the project had been dropped off at the site and AES indicated that they will be in the second or third week of April to begin. Once finished, they will begin to work on the rebuilding of the transmission lines between the village and the Amsterdam substation.
• The village is currently accepting applications for part-time summer employees at both the swimming pool and for the parks department. Applications can be picked up at the village offices and should be returned by the end of April.
• Harrod said that Brian Brothers Painting of Piqua will be in to sandblast and repaint the steel dugouts at Four Seasons Park. Harrod said that the dugouts have started to show rust over the years. Brian Brothers will also sandblast and repaint the diving board towers at the pool.
• The next meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on April 19.