Minster Police Department building construction discussed
The Village of Minster Council met on Tuesday evening to discuss several topics including the planned construction, and renovation of the Minster Police Department building, as well as old and new business.
The first topic covered during the meeting was the construction and renovation of the police department building. The Council received detailed presentation by Garmann Miller, the firm selected to design and implement the project. The presentation was given by Eric Schmiesing, and explained all of the planned spaces for the new building, and the changes to the current building.
The current building has just over six-thousand square feet, with the new addition adding another four-thousand. Council members actively asked questions about the design, and received meaningful responses from Schmiesing, and Matt Hibner, another member of the Garmann Miller team present. At the conclusion of the presentation a rendering of the building was shown. The council then voted to approve the project which is estimated to cost $2.49 million dollars, and which is expected to start construction in July of this year.
Next not he agenda was the third reading of Ordinance 22-12-01, and Ordinance 22-12-04, which deal with cats running at large, and water rate changes respectively. Both ordinances were passed after the the readings, and brief discussions.
After the ordinances were discussed, the various committees were asked to give their reports. Only the Safety Committee had a report which was relayed by Councilwoman Nicole Clune. Clune reported that the committee had discussed the purchase of the grass firefighting truck with the township trustees, and relayed that they’ll be responsible for twothirds of the cost. The reason for that, Clue said, was because the grass truck will mostly be used in the countryside. Clune also discussed the creation of a part time position to aide the fire chief, and relayed that there were a total of 289 runs completed by the squad last year.
There was one topic that was heavily discussed at the meeting, and that was the discussion involving the ownership of the retention pond in the Stonegate Subdivision. Currently the subdivision is responsible for the pond, and the associated mowing, and upkeep of the property. The council discussed the merits, and drawbacks of voting to buy the pond from the subdivision.
Councilwoman Nicole Clune was very clear in her opposition to the purchase of the property, as she said it would set a new precedent in the village.
“Each new subdivision will be looking at making the village own their retention ponds,” said Clune. The councilwoman then pointed out that the city doesn’t currently have regulations requiring new subdivisions to have a long term plans on how to take care of their ponds. Other council members seemed to agree that it was something that needed addressed.
Councilman Tom Herkenhoff argued that, “Owning it and being in control of it, is better than someone else owning it.” The council then discussed various ideas around the topic including that in the subdivisions, the city is already expected to take control of some infrastructure.
“Contractors are putting in storm and water lines, we’re accepting all of those. They’re putting them in our right of ways, and we have to take care of those forever,” said Councilman Craig Oldiges. He noted that these too will be connecting to the systems that are already in place, the same as would occur should the city take over the pond. After a lively discussion of the topic, a vote was called and the council approved the purchase of the retention pond, with Councilwoman Clune being the only dissenting vote.
Other New Business
• Discussion and motion
to appoint Tanya Helton as Pool Manager, which was passed with a start date of March, and with a salary of $10,500
• Discussion and motion
to approve the Income Tax Report as submitted by the City of St. Marys which was passed. End of year totals were $4,468,018.39, with year to date totals being $446,898.51
• Discussion and motion
to appoint individuals to various committees which was passed.
• Discussion and motion to approve invoices over $3,000.00, which was passed and included twenty invoices.
• Discussion and motion to appoint Bryan Koesters as a Police Officer II, which was passed.
From the Administrator’s Notes:
• Crews from Landmark have returned and continue to work on setting sections of the water tower. Last week
they poured an additional section. After this section, they will need to raise the crane so that they can complete the next pours. There are eight sections remaining to be poured and set, yet.
• In addition, Shinn Brothers, a sub-contractor for Landmark, has begun the installation of the water line. They have installed about 740 feet of the water line so far.
• The bid opening for the work on the water line extension and sanitary sewer extension along State Route 119 West is set for Jan. 24 at 10:00 am. Once all bids are received, we will review them and have a recommendation to council at an upcoming meeting.
• Crews from the Water Department and Quinter Well drilling replaced the pump and the control wire in well number six last week. They are in the process of taking samples of the water from the well so that it can be put back on line.
• Peterson Construction has indicated that they will start moving in supplies that include the media for the sand filter media replacement project at the water plant. New filter media should start arriving around Jan. 23 and work should start on the project shortly thereafter.
• The parks department is getting quotes on making repairs to several of the Christmas decorations that go in the Minster Machine Centennial Park and the Oktoberfest Park. Several of the displays are starting to show cracks or have parts broken off.
• Electrical crews have begun setting a couple of the ductile iron poles that will used to replace the rotten wooden poles along the transmission line. Crews have installed two of the poles along west First Street and will install additional poles along the golf course.