St. Albans Township/Alexandria Merger Commission Meeting

Agenda/Minutes 3/20/2024

1. Call to order, pledge of allegiance

Chairperson Carianne Meng calls to Order the St. Albans Township/Alexandria Merger

Commission Meeting of March 20, 2024 at 7:01PM.

Note: these meetings are for the Merger Commission to review findings and to draw up

the conditions for a merger.

2. Committee Member Roll Call:

Baer: Present / Not Present

Barnes: Present / Not Present

Burton: Present / Not Present

Lodder: Present / Not Present

Meng: Present / Not Present

Robertson: Present / Not Present

Schiller: Present / Not Present

Taylor: Present / Not Present

Thorpe: Present / Not Present

Zanks: Present / Not Present

Additional Attendees:

3. Review and Approval of Minutes

Minutes from St. Albans Township/Alexandria Merger Commission Meeting 2/21/2024

Baer made a motion; seconded by Barnes, to approve the 2/21/2024. All

in favor? Chair declares motion failed / carried.

4. Old Business

Water and Sewer – final meeting of the JAG (Johnstown, Alexandria, Granville)

forthcoming in a week or two. Hope is that the OEPA and MORPSE will be presented

with a plan at that time. Then it goes to Commissioners for approval. MOUs have been

signed, and service agreements are next.

5. New Business

Sean acquired 3 sets of merger conditions in Ohio. (Digitize)

Washington Township and Dublin

Cuyahoga Falls and Northampton Township (passed)

Legal help in writing: Sean to get referral from Jim Jasper

Things that we like: plainspeak, layman’s terms, translations

Our STA Comp Plan is a great start because it envisioned the “town center” of the

village staying the same.

Legal: Need assistance – recommend Plant & Associates

Drafting Conditions: next meeting

Merger Conditions Topics/Committees:

Finance:

Updates: Dean has a calculator for earned income for Township residents.

Project schedule which is free – Dean will put our deadlines into the project tracker as

we create them.

QR Code – will link to the calculator

Action items:

Dean will see Brad Cottrel on Sunday from the Licking County Auditor. We will be able

to drop all taxes into the calculator (parcel taxes + EI).

Services:

Updates: Met with LC Engineers Office (Jarod Kner, Tyler Dye); will likely need to go

back and will likely need to contact ODOT.

Township Mileage: 24.636

Village Mileage: 10.035

Things up for discussion: 310, Sadie Thomas, Wesleyan Church – any township line

roads – will need to be coordinated with the bordering townships.

Bridges of St. Albans. 4 “red” bridges that need help and work, 2 yellow. Total number is

26 in the Township.

Proposed changes to classification – not right now. Expansion not noted for right now (2

to 4-lane)

2017ish – County Commissioner’s Office sometimes pays for bridge repairs

License plate fees, gas tax – determined by ORC

Pataskala – how do they get money for their roads?

Pataskala bridges – ODOT a good partner and will do inspections for free. You have to

work with them to discuss how that happens.

Licking County has an NHRO

What questions are there?

Action items:

ODOT meeting

Village of Granville – service agreements?

Zoning

Updates:

Jeff – Gun discharge overlay still in process. Integrating requirements from ORC 2923

(what you can shoot near) and looking against what Pataskala did. Should have a map

out to the group via email before next meeting for review, can discuss at next.

Cemetery maintenance: Maple Grove (owned by association), Morse and Outville,

Duncan Plaines, Pioneer (behind Maple Grove)

ORC 929.04: Right to Farm – If you build next to a farm, they were there first. What

about new structures: if it complies with zoning, the same applies.

Sean spoke to Mayor of Pataskala – they merged due to the threat of Columbus taking

over the area. By doing the zoning correctly from the get-go with their merger

conditions, they set up the community for a good future. They differentiated between

Lima Township and the “city”.

Ideally, we would take advantage of the FLUM and maintain township zoning (with

comp plan evolutions), and a Village Center. Would allow for a seamless transition. This

is also how they brought in the gun discharge zone.

Action items:

General Updates:

Discussed the asset sheets for the Township and Village

Discussed debts as well – limited for the Village

Ann – will work on getting property valuations added to Village asset sheets

Summary: We need to have conditions written by August 1, 2024. If we request an

extension, we would have until August 1, 2025.

ORC 709.46(c): costs of the commission.

Ann sent an email to the Mayor of Alex and Bruce Lane re: costs of an attorney.

Estimated $10k total. 80% township, 20% village based on population.

To have an attorney review conditions, need to have them written by April 17 meeting.

Action: Dean to create a project schedule – using Monday.com

Dean: update on submitting costs to the Village/TWP?

6. Citizen Comments (3-minute time limit)

Question re: sunshine laws and what we must publish

Question re: reimbursement

How will we pay for roads?

Earned vs. unearned income tax? Going forward, can that be unearned income?

Calculator status: on the way

Describe the metamorphosis of the government – initially appointed and then voted in in

phases (ORC709.45-48) – would also need participants to raise their hands

7. Meeting Announcements

The next meeting will be held on: Wednesday, April 17. 2024 at 7PM

8. Adjournment

Elaine made a motion; seconded by Steph , to adjourn.

All in favor? Chair declares motion carried / failed.

Chairperson Meng declares the meeting adjourned at 8:46PM