Minutes of Regular Council Meeting
December 4, 2000 at 7: 30 p.m.

The meeting was called to order by Mayor Janis Meyer.

The Pledge of Allegiance was repeated by all present. Present were: Clerk/Treasurer, Diane Collins; and Council members, Tom Haase, Ed Foster, Ron Jones, and Max McDonald; Solicitor, Stan Yoder and Administrator, Kent Gardam. Amy Haver and Mick Pocratsky were absent.

Foster moved to approve the November 20 minutes. Haase seconded. All voted yes.
Foster moved to approve the bills. Jones seconded. All voted yes.
Planning Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals: A hearing is scheduled for December 14 to review preliminary plans for a sub-division.

Jane Stover, Community Services Manager for American Electric Power, showed a slide presentation with regards to the new state law on deregulation of electric suppliers. Foster asked about aggregation. She informed council to aggregate, the Village must apply through PUCO. Foster requested that someone come to speak to council about aggregation.

Eric Green was present to ask council questions concerning his shared employment between the Village of Hicksville and the Cemetery Board. His concerns seemed to be that no one actually explained to him what he is supposed to be doing. He also noted that he does not want to be a shared employee with the Village. Haase pointed out to Eric that he was told at the time of his employment that this was the plan. The Sharing Agreement was put in the council packets for review prior to the meeting. It was noted that more money must come from the Village to support this. Haase stated he will call a meeting with the Cemetery Board and Green to discuss it further. Green told council he will be off for six weeks in January and suggested that a Village employee learn his job. Council agreed that was a good idea.

Police/Fire Committee: No report was given.
Insurance Committee: No report was given by Jones.
Finance/Audit Committee: No report was given by Jones.
Street/Light/Property: Haase reported they held a meeting but there was nothing to report.

Acreage at the Industrial Park was discussed. Kent was asked to have the ASCS office to inform us of how much acreage will be farmed after other areas of the park are seeded and mowed. Some council members feel we should then take bids on leasing the land. Currently there is no farm lease.

Personnel Committee:. Foster reported that tonight’s meeting was cancelled. He will re-schedule.
Sidewalk Committee: No report was requested.
Water & Sewer Committee: There was no report by McDonald.
Ordinance Committee: There was no report.
Cable TV Committee: Foster stated there will be a meeting at 8:00 a.m. on Dec. 9. They are close to taping council live, however, there still is the audio issue to solve.
Cemetery Committee:. Haase reported that he will call a meeting.
Pavilion Committee: There was no report requested.
Park Board: November minutes were in the packets. There will not be a meeting in December.
Nuisance Board: No report was requested.
Administrator’s Report: Kent Gardam reported the following:
The Water Department has repaired water system leaks. Currently 84% of the identified leaks are repaired or checked out.
Gardam found the original construction plans for the Village Offices/Fire Hall and it appears that the building was constructed without footer drains around the base of the foundation. As a result, natural ground water and storm runoff has no avenue to be carried away from the building. After consideration of the available options for dealing with our basement water problems, the consensus is that we need to install an interior drainage system under the basement floor to collect the ground water that accumulates around the building and forces itself into the basement through any foundation and floor cracks. This project consists of cutting a trench in the floor against the exterior basement walls and where there are significant floor cracks; installing an interior footer drain tile in that trench along with sheeting on the walls for moisture protection; repouring the floor over the trench; installing a sump crock and pump to discharge the collected drainage; and plumbing it outside the building. The estimate received for that particular work is $9,880 from Interior Channel, Inc. of Fort Wayne. Additionally, we will still have a backflow prevention valve installed in the sewer discharge line from the building to prevent the sewer from backing up into the basement. Council wanted Gardam to have the work done ASAP.

We received the final bill from the County Engineer's office for this year's repaving work in the Village. The total project cost was $58,751.01.