St. Albans Township/Alexandria Merger Commission Meeting

Agenda/Minutes 7/10/2024

1. Call to order, pledge of allegiance

Chairperson Carianne Meng calls to Order the St. Albans Township/Alexandria Merger Commission Meeting of July 10, 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:
Tad Van Ness, Lane family

3. Review and Approval of Minutes 

Minutes from St. Albans Township/Alexandria Merger Commission Meeting 7/3/24.

Baer made a motion; seconded by Lodder, to approve the 7/3/2024 minutes. All in favor?

Chair declares motion failed / carried. 

4. Old Business  

Request for extension – status update:
Request submitted on 6/20/24 to the Village and Township respectively

Village Council meeting on July 2, 2024
Extension approved by the Village.

St. Albans Township Trustees meeting on July 9, 2024
Trustees approved to extend as well on 7/9/24.

Next steps: determine how to get this extension marked official

Ensuring quorum for next meeting, July 17 – Schiller, Baer, Lodder
Cari to reach out to Ben re: attending – will be present

Road maintenance costs:
Fiscal Officer Reeves sent the expenditures from Road&Bridge for 21, 22, 23 (which includes Trustee salaries).
2021: $382,994.48 (funded at $385,334.50)
2022: $515,904.72 (funded at $428,906.38)
2023: $394,097.33 (funded at $401,388.32)

(subtract $250k and add to the figures below)

Roadmen are paid from the gasoline fund, not Road&Bridge
Salary for all maintenance:
2021: $105,348.46
2022: $94,274.99
2023: $96,972.80

AVERAGE from both above figures: $530k – Township only

Gas Tax Info – includes BMV registrations
2022 Gas tax for Alex: $28,642.23
2022 Gas tax for Township $137,432.64
2023 Alex: $30,222.52
2023 Township: $142,099.09
2022: If STA did not receive the distribution and Alex absorbed them, the distribution would have been 25% higher as a combined entity.
      Alex + STA revenues for 2023 = $172k x 25% = $215K

May 7 – 4 electric bills
$534.21 – 161/37
$511.40- 161/37
$477.91 – 161/310
$436.70 – 161/310

ODOT estimate for mowing $70 an acre

Can also look up bid histories


REMINDER re: road mileage: Township Mileage: 26, County Mileage: 24, State Mileage: 13, Village Mileage: 10.035

Taxes/EIC:
2023 RITA Numbers and Partial of 2024
2023 Alex RITA $178,650.84
Projected for STA: $
Partial 2024 Alex RITA $97,073.63
Extrapolate to Township: $1.038M

Another funding source: Grants from ODOT and Ohio Public Works Commission

TO DO: Barnes to get new property values from Brad Cottrel
TO DO: Lodder to contact LCSO re: contract services cost for patrol of a newly merged area
TO DO: Lodder contacting the Department of Taxation on the motor vehicle gas tax, to ensure the 25% over is still accurate

Could possibly be able to drop a road/bridge levy (Cari to get Sean to explain further)

5. New Business

Drafting Merger Conditions 

Fun Days: Fun Days is happy to have the commission present information and do Q&A.
Thurs/Fri/Sat 5-10PM (July 18-20).
Creating a large sign with info
-Talking points
      Home Rule

      Community
      We believe our community knows what’s best for our area
      SB243 – eliminating zoning in the township

Definition of community
Welcome to Fun Days: the largest expression of community for Alexandria and St. Albans Township!
Shared values define a community
The work of the merger commission is to protect the community through legal means
Strengths:
Biggest threat: zoning (SB#),
Merger takes care of these concerns
Meeting information

General Updates:

6. Citizen Comments (3-minute time limit)
Tad Van Ness visited and shared some perspectives

7. Meeting Announcements 

The next meeting will be held on: Wednesday, July 17 at 7PM, location St. Albans Fire Station Community Room.

Future meetings are:
July 17, 2024
July 24, 2024
July 31, 2024
August 21, 2024
September 4, 2024
September 18, 2024
October 2, 2024
October 16, 2024
November 6, 2024
November 20, 2024
December 18, 2024
January 15, 2025
February 19, 2025
March 19, 2025
April 16, 2025
May 21, 2025
June 18, 2025

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

Chairperson Meng declares the meeting adjourned at  9:02PM

ADDENDUM RE: Request for Extension