St. Albans Township/Alexandria Merger Commission Meeting

Agenda/Minutes 10/16/2024

1. Call to order, pledge of allegiance

Chairperson Carianne Meng calls to Order the St. Albans Township/Alexandria Merger Commission Meeting of October 16, 2024 at 7:00PM

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:

Dan Wetzel, Jersey Township Trustee, Morrison, Lees, Mrs. VanNess

3. Review and Approval of Minutes

Minutes from St. Albans Township/Alexandria Merger Commission Meeting 9/4/24

Baer made a motion; seconded by Lodder, to approve the 9/4/2024 minutes. All in favor?

Chair declares motion failed / carried. 

Minutes from St. Albans Township/Alexandria Merger Commission Meeting 9/18/24

Robertson made a motion; seconded by Barnes, to approve the 9/18/2024 minutes. All in favor?

Chair declares motion failed / carried. 

4. Old Business 

Ensuring quorum for next meeting, November 20
-noneREMINDER 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: was not discussed at Township meeting on 9/10.
-After September 18 meeting, the Commission received the invoice from the law firm which had an incorrect previous balance; this was reviewed and we were billed for an additional $330 in August after our initial bill received on August 22.
-Forwarded the bill to the Township and Village
-Village paid their portion directly; Township sent a check to the Commission
-Plank Law Firm is paid up
Lodder is working to determine how often they pave roads.
-⅓ every year (sometimes ½ every other year)
-Watkins, Hardscrabble etc are done every 3 years
-Stonesthrow, Delia, etc. are done every 8-10
-Dependent on traffic
-Lodder and Schiller reviewed 10 years of bids/checks and determined the cadence

Schiller and Lodder also found the list of roads they maintain; will reconcile with what was rec’d from the county engineer.

5. New Business

(Finance): 

(1) Expenses paid to-date by Commission
                – presented spreadsheet

(2) Montrose Engagement Letter

                -An LLC that can research the earned income for the Township

                -We have an accurate appraisal for the Village re: RITA
                -Would use Census data and ESRI data to provide earned income for the Township

Discussion:

• It would be $16000 for the Township and $4000 for the Village
• Do our projections suffice (e.g. extrapolating the earned income from the Village across the Township)
• Looking for a quote from another entity
• Could MORPC assist us?
• Chair of the Ohio Township Association recommended we use a specialist to gather this information
• Citizen comment that the Montrose Group is excellent, but expensive, and he did not believe we need the level of information they can provide
• Citizen comment that using the Village data and extrapolating to the Township would put us within $20,000
• Could also go backward from expenses
  
  
  

(3) 2020-2023 Expenses for Twp and Village

• Ohio Checkbook and Melody Bogantz were very assistive
• Schiller has broken the data out very specifically
• Missing 2021 expenses for the Township

(4) If merge, determine expenses to eliminate

• Township Administrator is PT and makes $50k; only receives SSI as a benefit
• Items to eliminate with a merge:
  • Administrative category
    • Medicare for administration
    • OPERS for administration
    • Bonding
    • Trustee salaries, Fiscal Officer salary 
  • Fire protection – all stays
  • Bonds and Capital Outlay – ask Fiscal Officer
  • Highways – all stays
    • County does not help with these
  • Fireman pension – all stays
  • Utilities – stays
  • Telephone – stays
• Schiller has a spreadsheet
  • Purple – check with fiscal officer
  • Yellow is in question
  • Green stays
  • Red goes away

(5) Request for additional commission member assistance on Finance Team

• Lodder and Schiller could use some assistance
  • Burton volunteered
• Income from the Village is next

Drafting Merger Conditions 

General Updates:

6. Citizen Comments (3-minute time limit) 

Mr. Wetzel asked what brought the merger commission togetherhttps://www.abc6onyourside.com/news/local/jersey-township-looks-to-new-albany-to-collaborate-on-development-plans-and-protect-land-ceda-cooperative-economic-development-agreement

7. Meeting Announcements 

The next meeting will be held on: Wednesday, November 20 at 7PM, location St. Albans Fire Station Community Room.

Future meetings are:
November 20, 2024
December 18, 2024

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

Chairperson Meng declares the meeting adjourned at 8:15PM