WOODSTOCK – For the past six months, Village Council has conducted its regular business a member short following the resignation of Melissa Thompson in June 2015. On Monday, council returned to full strength as village resident Kyle Travis was sworn in by Mayor Jackie Hayes.
Travis, who expressed interest in the open seat during the December 2015 meeting, said he and his wife moved to the village in October 2014.
“(Council) is something we would like to get involved in,” he said during last month’s meeting. “We just had a baby, and we plan to raise her in this community, so we’d like to have an active role.”
Since Travis was appointed to fill the seat Thompson vacated, he will serve the remainder of her elected term, which expires Dec. 31, 2017.
Land purchase not finalized
Village Administrator Bradley Herron said the village’s pending acquisition of the vacant lot at 106 W. Bennett St., located next to the municipal building, is still being ironed out.
“I talked to the attorney today, and there is a little confusion on it,” Herron said, noting the hold-up involves the title search process. “It should not have been this much of a problem.
“I’ll make a phone call every day until it is resolved,” he added.
In September 2015, council passed a motion authorizing the purchase of the roughly one-10th-acre property from village residents Steven and Harley Nott at a cost of $6,500.
During last month’s council meeting, a motion was passed approving the hiring of a surveyor after Herron learned the county engineer wouldn’t allow the transfer and recording of the property without it being resurveyed since the land was being sold to a government entity.
In other business:
•Following an executive session to discuss employee compensation, council approved a pay raise for village maintenance worker Ron Moore, whose hourly rate will increase from $15.45 to $16.
•Fiscal Officer Tom Hallinan informed council the results of a two-year audit (2013-2014) of the village’s finances was recently released by the Ohio Auditor of State’s office.
“To me the bottom line is, everything balanced, and they didn’t find any wrongdoing. In my mind, that’s a good audit,” Hallinan said.
•Council member Phil Garland was appointed council president.
•Hayes appointed council members Mike Dixon, Paul Zizzo and Travis to the Street Committee. Council members Beatrice Metz and Garland were appointed to the Finance Committee as was Council member Tony Groves’ (resigning from council in February) future replacement.
•Hallinan stated the village’s permanent appropriations budget for 2016 will be presented to council during the Feb. 8 meeting. He added the budget will be posted online at www.woodstockohio.org prior to the meeting.
