St. Albans Township/Alexandria Merger Commission Meeting

Agenda/Minutes 7/31/2024

1. Call to order, pledge of allegiance

Chairperson Carianne Meng calls to Order the St. Albans Township/Alexandria Merger Commission Meeting of July 31, 2024 at 7:01PM.

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:
Jean Morrison, Mike Washington, Pam Hills, David Lees, Tad VanNess, Anita McCoy, Clair Lewis

3. Review and Approval of Minutes

Minutes from St. Albans Township/Alexandria Merger Commission Meeting 7/24/24.

Baer made a motion; seconded by Lodder, to approve the 7/24/2024 minutes. All in favor?

Chair declares motion failed / carried. 

4. Old Business 

Ensuring quorum for next meeting, August 21 meeting – Dawn out
REMINDER re: road mileage: Township Mileage: 26, County Mileage: 24, State Mileage: 13, Village Mileage: 10.035

Following up on to-dos
TO DO: Barnes to get new property values from Brad Cottrel
Cottrel provided Barnes with the new property values, as follows

CURRENT	MILLS	TOTAL
Township	14.8	$1,551,339 (levies included)
Village	6.1	$63,867 (levies included)
		TOTAL: $1,615,206
HYPOTHETICAL	MILLS	TOTAL
New Village	7.3	$822,869
Levy needed: Fire/EMS	5.8	$825,120
Levy needed: Road/Bridge	1.93	$274,566
		TOTAL LEVIES: $1,099,686
		TOTAL ALL: $1,922,555

CURRENT	Current cost per $100,000 market value
Township	$374.52 (levies included)
Village	$408.39 (levies included)
HYPOTHETICAL
New Village	$183.65
Levies	$270.55

Levies could be dropped off (or never added) because of new property tax. Property tax could drop off if an income tax covers all expenses. By year 2 or 3, you are fully collecting income tax and could drop off other funding sources (levies).

Earned income extrapolation for the Township: $1,038,282 (without businesses)


Meeting with LCSO: Lodder and Burton met with Lt. Carson on Monday 7/29/24.
In 2022, the number of calls LCSO took care of, STA was #8 of all municipalities represented in Licking County. 2386 calls in 2023 – of these 1069 are “business checks”. Business checks are counted as (1) per check of a business. We had 22 uniform crime reporting calls.
In 2024 (through June 30) we had 1124 calls. That is roughly half of the 2023 total – pacing the same.

Pataskala had a strong PD presence prior to the merger. LCSO helped through the transition. In 2019, Etna contracted for 2 deputies (80hr coverage a week) on a 3-year contract.

Biggest cost for Etna is salary: $124k/yr (salary, benefits, uniforms). This is the highest paid in the county. The base is $37.51/hour. OT is time and a half (250 per officer per year on average). Base pay is $78k/year. Does not include OT.
In the contract, Etna is required to purchase and maintain 4 vehicles ($76k each – ready to roll) [6 year vehicle life]

-The Sheriff’s office also helps all agencies at no cost. Sheriff is dispatched if/as needed.
-Discussion of Alex PD vs. LCSO contract


Motor Vehicle Tax: Lodder contacting the Department of Taxation on the motor vehicle gas tax, to ensure the 25% over is still accurate
-Erika Herdel with the OHDT re: motor vehicle gas tax. The actual tax amount is greater than the Village and Township gas tax added together. More to come.

Building Code: Licking County Building Code re: serving a Home Rule Village. Troy Warnock informed us the process would not change should the two municipalities merge. LCBC will continue to ask for zoning approvals prior to issuing permits.

TJ Evans Trail: Meng spoke with Tami McAdams at LC Park District. Park district will continue to service the trail unless there is a cooperative agreement between the new municipality and the Foundation (typically for major projects).

Plank Law Firm Invoice: No updates

5. New Business

For August 21, financial presentation with expenses on the large screen for audience

Drafting Merger Conditions – Article V

-Tabling for August 21

General Updates:

6. Citizen Comments (3-minute time limit)
Discussion of the 3-year ramp up to taxes and concerns about impact on residents.
Add to expenditures: plow trucks, mowers.
Discussion on bringing a County Commissioner in to discuss contracts for service.
Discussion of ODOT services
Some discussion of the JAG agreement and its impacts in St. Albans

7. Meeting Announcements 

The next meeting will be held on: Wednesday, August 21 at 7PM, location St. Albans Fire Station Community Room.

Future meetings are:
August 21, 2024
September 4, 2024
September 18, 2024
October 2, 2024
October 16, 2024
November 6, 2024
November 20, 2024
December 4, 2024
December 18, 2024

8. Adjournment
Baer made a motion; seconded by Lodder , to adjourn.
All in favor? Chair declares motion carried / failed. 

Chairperson Meng declares the meeting adjourned at 8:41PM.