St. Albans Township/Alexandria Merger Commission Meeting

Agenda/Minutes 9/4/2024

1. Call to order, pledge of allegiance

Chairperson Carianne Meng calls to Order the St. Albans Township/Alexandria Merger Commission Meeting of September 4, 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: 

Linney Lane, Bruce Lane, Jean Morrison, David Lees, Mitch Peters, VanNess

3. Review and Approval of Minutes

Minutes from St. Albans Township/Alexandria Merger Commission Meeting 8/21/24.

Robertson made a motion; seconded by Lodder, to approve the 8/21/2024 minutes. All in favor?

Chair declares motion failed / carried. Baer and Taylor abstain.

4. Old Business 

Ensuring quorum for next meeting, September 18.
-Lodder, BaerREMINDER re: road mileage: Township Mileage: 26, County Mileage: 24, State Mileage: 13, Village Mileage: 10.035

Following up on to-dos

Plank Law Firm Invoice: Village has mailed their portion; Trustees will discuss on Tuesday, 9/10.
Bank Account for the Merger Commission: Plank Law Firm recommends yes. Dean and Plank Law Firm to discuss on Friday 9/6/24.

Township Finances: Still no word from the Township on having someone speak about the appropriations. Need someone to go to the Tuesday meeting to request presence at the 9/18 meeting. Need a representative to go through the line items with us because the line items are not obvious in the ways they’re accounted for.
                -Email was sent to the 3 Trustees and Mrs. Reeves; no reply
                -Prepare a list of questions
                -Cari to attend on 9/10

5. New Business

Lodder and Schiller: Schiller spoke with Township Association and Department of Taxation. We continue to lack concrete numbers on Township Income Tax (commerce reports, etc.) OTA or Dept. of Taxation recommend we hire researchers to nail down this data (employers, income tax paid, etc.). Lacking tax information, we are a bit stuck. 

Baer made a motion; seconded by Barnes to pursue via Plank Law Firm recommendations for

income tax researchers. 

Lodder: Y

Robertson: Y

Burton: Y

Baer:  Y

Meng: Y

Taylor: Y

Barnes: Y

Motion carries

Lodder is working to determine how often they pave roads. ⅓ every year (sometimes ½ every other

year)

Drafting Merger Conditions 

General Updates:

Merger website overhauled; if bugs are noted, let Baer know.

6. Citizen Comments (3-minute time limit) 

Mitch Peters: How will the council be decided? (Reviewed drafted merger conditions)
Mitch Peters: Is the plan to take the township’s zoning and what the village has and work with that until the next zoning resolution comes along. (Reviewed drafted merger conditions)
Mitch Peters: What’s the lean of the commission? (Reviewed the makeup of the merger commission)
Mitch Peters: How close are we to being a city? (2040 is the earliest projection per OTA; based on registered voters)

7. Meeting Announcements 

The next meeting will be held on: Wednesday, September 18 at 7PM, location St. Albans Fire Station Community Room.

Future meetings are:
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 7:43PM.