By Noell Wolfgram Evans

In attendance at the July 21 Village of Silver Lake Council meeting were Council Members Christopher Scott, Suzanne Garrett, Betsy Meyer, Kevin Rozsa, Tom DiCaudo and Council Vice President Philip Kaplan.

Also attending were Mayor Therese Dunphy, Law Director Patricia Rubright, Chief of Police Steve Justice, Director of Public Service Ben Gregory, Clerk-Treasurer Sean Housley and Assistant to the Clerk-Treasurer Tricia Ingrassia. An OHM Advisor was also seated with the village representatives.

Kaplan called the meeting, which took place in a fan-filled Village Hall that was dealing with air conditioning issues, to order and then led those in attendance in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Ingrassia called the roll and noted the absence of Council President Matt Plesich. A motion was made to excuse Plesich from the meeting, and all present voted in the affirmative.

The first order of business was the approval of the meeting minutes from the July 7 meeting. Kaplan raised questions about the presentation of some of the notes and if they would be properly understood by someone reading them. Rubright commented that the notes should be taken in the order that events happened, which Ingrassia confirmed in this case. Housley offered to review the notes to confirm the details and their representation and bring the potentially amended version to the next council meeting.

Kaplan then called for the first reading of five ordinances. Ordinance 55-2025 would establish a new line item in the village budget to account for funds for storm, sanitary and water line reconstruction. Ordinance 56-2025 would give OHM Advisors the authority to submit an application to the Ohio Public Works Commission State Capital Improvement program on behalf of the Silver Lake Boulevard reconstruction project. Ordinance 57-2025 would establish purchase orders for two previously approved budget items. Ordinance 58-2025 would allow the mayor to contract with Geopfert to replace air conditioning units. And Ordinance 59-2025 was entered to account for needed budgetary appropriations.

Following the reading of each ordinance, members of the public were invited to make comments. A resident spoke on the recent legislation and discussion in the Ohio Statehouse over property taxes. He wanted to know what the village’s plans were should there be a change to these taxes. Dunphy stated that she has been in contact with the Summit County municipal office as many of the proposed changes would come through there. “We do not believe that most of our property taxes will be affected,” she said.

With no other residents prepared to speak, Kaplan called for comments from each committee. For the Finance Committee, Garrett spoke on each of the ordinances that had been presented. Ordinance 55 would be a place where grant money and other collected funds could be placed in order to fund the needed sanitary improvements. For Ordinance 57, Housley stated “We won’t spend the full amount of each purchase order. Whatever we don’t spend will be liquidated and go back into the general fund.”

The biggest discussion was around Ordinance 58. Gregory said that all of the air conditioning units were older and in need of replacement. The police department unit replacement was part of ordinance 57, 58 would cover the Village Hall and the Public Safety offices would be looked at next. There were four different companies that initially responded to the bid request with a site visit. Of those, only two companies submitted bids and only one of those was a complete estimate. There was a concern about the timing of the work, but Dunphy said a call had been made and that Geopfert was already at work ordering the needed units.

Following the discussion, a motion was made to suspend the rules for each of the ordinances and to vote on them during the council meeting. The suspension and approval of each ordinance passed unanimously.

There were no other committee hearings scheduled, so Kaplan invited the mayor to make a report. Dunphy stated that she felt the recent festival was well attended and a success and thanked all of those involved. She next addressed recent reports that cited potential school closures by Cuyahoga Falls. She cautioned that no decisions had been made yet and she would keep council informed. She stated that once any school closings were announced, “we have 5 to 7 years to try and convince the school board to build a new school here.”

Dunphy also alerted council members that they would soon need to partake in state-mandated cybersecurity training. 

Garrett asked about Metronet, as she has been getting fliers that they would be coming to the area. Dunphy said that their plans have not been approved yet.

Justice introduced an officer who shared examples of new equipment that has been provided to the department to assist in water safety/rescues. One item is a self inflating life vest. The vest inflates when wet or can be activated by a CO2 cartridge. It can also be deflated and used again. The other was a buoyant throw bag, which contains a long rope. Each cruiser will contain one of each of these items. They may be placed strategically around the village, as well.

DiCaudo asked if there was a policy in place for their usage, to which Justice replied they were working on it.

Gregory next provided a public service report. Two larger potholes had been repaired earlier in the week and recycle bins were dropped off at Village Hall. The department also ordered 240 tons of salt for the coming winter.

The finance report was presented by Housley, who said that elevated rainfalls have slightly driven up some of the costs the Village has incurred from the county.

The OHM Advisor spoke on their next steps in regard to the ordinances approved earlier. They also stated they would reach out to Metronet to see where they were in the planning process.

With no further comments, the meeting ended.