Sardinia Village Council met for its first meeting of the year on Jan. 9,2017 with full council in attendance. Village administrator Tim Mock was unable to attend.
After paying the bills for the village, council heard from Sardinia Fire Chief Tom Kirker and assistant fire chief Mike Young regarding an analysis of the fire department finances.
Young has been reviewing all the ways the fire department could save money, including eliminating two Verizon cell phones that used phone lines, that have been in place since 1995. He also said that an area light at the fire station was not working and he was looking into getting it fixed.
“At the station,” Young said, “a phone line and a FAX line runs us about $350 a month so by negotiating with Frontier I’ve been able to save us between $70 or $80 a month.
“Other things we need to do are all the annual testing of our equipment and the cost is $1,405, and that will take place later this week.”
Young mentioned several other department systems that have to be tested either annually or every five years. He also said that his department would like to get rid of some old, unusable or broken equipment.
Following comments from Chief Kirker, council made a motion and approved the fire department’s purchase of two new Carbon-monoxide monitors at a cost of $1,800.
Chief Kirker also asked councilman Seth Cooper to draw a name from a box, to pick the winner of a gun which was from a gun raffle sponsored by the Sardinia Firefighters Association. The winning name was David Bohl, who will be notified that he was the winner and could choose from three different guns.
The association raised approximately $1,500 from the raffle, minus the cost of the gun.
Sardinia Police Chief Jim Lewis talked briefly to council regarding a recent drug overdose at Montgomery Manor Apartments. He said although Narcan was administrated, the 50 year old woman later died at Clermont Mercy. He said the Drug Task Force would be handling the investigation.
Chief Lewis also asked council to approve a contract with the Brown County Sheriff’s Office to house prisoners at a cost of $50 per day. Later in the meeting, council approved the contract.
“Our Shop With a Cop was a success again this year,” Chief Lewis said. “We were able to take 5 children and sponsored another child.”
Lewis thanked all the officers and chaperones and the businesses and individuals who made donations.
In other business at the meeting council accepted a bid of $1,050 for a .02 acres of land where the old water tower stood. The bid from Kenny Doss was accepted.
Committee assignments were made for 2017 and council heard the 2nd reading of two ordinances. The first ordinance fixed rates and charges for sanitary sewerage system and sewage disposal service for five years and a second ordinance fixing rates and charges for water service for five years to the village.
A resolution to provide services to the 1,387 acre and the 53,209 acre annexation to the village. Both were adopted as an emergency after suspending the rules.
Council briefly discussed purchasing an LED sign to be place somewhere in the village, either in the center of town or in front of the administration building.