Macon Reporter

Village of Bethany Board of Trustees Met Nov. 12.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

The regular board meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by President Jon Book. The following Trustees were present; Dave Doty, Jeannie Ruppert, Mike Jennings, Greg McLain, and Brian Gill. Raven Russell joined the meeting by phone

A motion was made by Trustee Doty to approve the minutes from the October 8, 2020 regular meeting, seconded by Trustee Jennings. Roll call taken, all ayes, motion carried.

A motion was made by Trustee Doty to approve the “Income and Expenses Journal”, seconded by Trustee Ruppert. Roll call taken, all ayes, motion carried.

A motion was made by Trustee Doty to approve the “Banks and Checks Journal” seconded by Trustee Ruppert. Roll call taken, all ayes, motion carried.

Public – None

Helping School with Cost of Transformers – Final tally is $16,256.28. School has not come to ask the Village for help. Engineers are the ones who wanted to see if we could help. Ordinance states that the School is responsible. Our labor is not included in the final tally, just materials and contractor. Materials are at our cost. Suggested to list all of the expenses and then to mark down what we would have charged for the Village’s labor. With our labor the bill would have been $20,000.

Town-Wide Speed Limit – Need to decide on what is “otherwise specified”. Discussion was just to make the entire village 25 mph. Does not pertain to school zones or Hwy 121. This will leave some room if things need to change.

Annual Tax Levy – This was discussed last month. Trustee McLain made a motion to approve Ordinance 20-791 the Annual Tax Levy for the Village of Bethany showing 100% of last years taxes, seconded by Trustee Doty. Roll call taken, all ayes, motion carried.

Water System Resolution – Trustee McLain made a motion to approve Resolution #20-495 giving Greg Gustafson authority to sign for the Village on an official deal, seconded by Trustee Ruppert. Roll call taken, all ayes, motion carried. Heard back from Rural Water Development. PER that we assembled on 10/28/2020 formal response back today. He has a list of elements that need to be added or deleted. This is a big step. He needs the Board to approve a pre- application form containing the same elements as the PER. This allows Rural Water to register it formally with the USDA. Trustee McLain made a motion to Authorize Village President Jonathan Book to sing the pre-app form for the USDA, seconded by Trustee Gill. Roll call taken, all ayes, motion carried.

Purchase of Soda Machine – someone is getting contact information to President Book. This is tabled until next month.

Supplemental Health Insurance Info – Mrs. Hogge, new business owner, was here to talk about insurance before a major health issue occurs. She had a hand out to show what she is doing and to hopefully help us. She is willing to meet with anyone who is interested.

Building Permit Rates - There are several things in our Zoning Ordinance that need to be updated. Fee schedule is where to begin. Cost now is $10 for a building permit. This has been in place for many, many years. This is located in the 40-8-12 section of the code book. This is something that needs to be addressed very soon. President Book wanted to begin the discussion on this. This will be discussed more next month.

Overtime Approval for Police Dept. – With Officer Grubb being in the Military, Chief Nichols was seeking approval to help cover hours/days that are not able to be covered. Currently, it is believed, that in any emergency situation, overtime is approved. Comp time is allowed now instead of overtime. Discussion was that there needs to be the ability to allow this with checks and balances. It was discussed to call the Police Committee Chair & Village President to approve any overtime and then it will be reported to the Board the next month. Trustee Jennings made a motion to approve overtime for Police with the consent of the Police Committee Chair and/or the Village President, seconded by Trustee Doty. Roll call taken, all ayes, motion carried.

New Radios For Police Dept. – Currently two radios one of them is not reliable and 10 years old. Quote from Global Tech for 2 Kenwood radios, digital ready for $ 1976.00 including batteries. Trustee McLain made a motion to approve the purchase of 2 Kenwood radios not to exceed $2000, seconded by Trustee Ruppert. Roll call taken, all ayes, motion carried.

Approval of the Annual Financial Report - This is the report from the annual audit. President Book thanked the office staff for all the hard work they did for this. Treasurer Jessica Henderson has resolved many of the things listed in the report already. There are things that the Board needs to clean up. For instance, there needs to be a change in the Ordinance to reflect the actual date that the late fees are added. Budget billing, salaries/departments, and other items were discussed.

Additions to the Utilities Ordinances – Treasurer Henderson wanted to start the discussion on this item. There is a problem with people being continually late and only paying a small amount of their overdue bills but are still technically in line with what our current ordinance says. She has an email in to the Village Attorney to see if he can draw something up pertaining to this. This will be discussed again next month.

Christmas Lighting Contest – This was mentioned to give the prize money as a credit on thewinners’ utility bills. The dates of the lighting contest will be Dec. 12/7 to 12/24. Trustee McLain made a motion to set the contest dates from 12/7 to 12/24, lights must be on from

dusk until 9pm, prizes will be the same as last year and will be a credit on the utility bill, seconded by Trustee Gill. Roll call taken, all ayes, motion carried.

REPORTS - were given from: Shannon Risley, Finance Committee, & Chief Nichols.

CORRESPONDENCE - None

MEETINGS BEFORE THE NEXT MEETING - NONE

With no further business to discuss, a motion to adjourn was made by Trustee McLain, seconded by Trustee Ruppert. Voice vote taken, all ayes, motion carried.

https://www.villageofbethany.com/documents/116/village_minutes_11-12-20.pdf