Town of Osgood Minutes
Regular Meeting
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
7:00 P.M.
Present at the meeting were Tammy Wilhoit, Chris Kuhn, Holley Rose, Bill Roberts, Lynn Fledderman, Matt Wirth, Stephanie Back, Reyna Jackson, Gary and Caleb Payne, Ken McAfee, Russell McKay, Daniel Craig, and Dale Gick.
Pledge of Allegiance.
Roll Call – all present
Motion to waive the reading and adopt the pre-read minutes. Holley 1st, Bill 2nd
3- ayes
Old business:
Sale of 117 Ripley Street - Lynn Fledderman is suggesting Council to take under advisement. The bidder has requested more time to get funding together.
Lynn will be putting an amendment together for the Personnel Policy change concerning the part time high school students. The insurance company is requesting it to be updated. She will have a resolution prepared for next month's meeting.
Commonwealth Project Update Memo: Dale Gick and Matt Wirth
- 2021- Round 2 Community Crossings Projects
- 2021- Round 2 Community Crossings Projects
- Construction is substantially complete
- PPA#6 submitted for payment
- Retainage in the amount of $57,552.50
- Unspent balance of $137,747.53
More pavement work was completed compared to the budget. Dale explained that what was below Morris Street crumbled and with some other issues, $57,000 extra was spent on paving. Chris Kuhn asked if the asphalt expenses could be justified to the state and Reynolds Foundation. Dale said yes. They have the paving tickets to justify it. Bill Roberts said this was a bad time of year for grass, will the contractor come back if it doesn’t take hold. Dale explained there is a one year warranty to fix yards and seeding. We were late in the season for grass and it was very dry.
- 2022 Round 2 – Community Crossings Project
- Awards expected this month
- CEI has completed survey into design portion. This is why they wanted to get out and get field work done early, before winter, so the bid will go out earlier and the contractor can start earlier.
- Water Improvements Project: Matt stated he hopes to bid in late spring.
- Commonwealth performed a site visit on October 27, 2022, to review the location of existing utilities and the proposed location of the new water main. Additionally, we visited the WTP site to review the hydraulic connection between the filters and the clearwell.
- Commonwealth will coordinate with Tony regarding a proposed check in meeting after the Thanksgiving holiday. A draft plan is being prepared and will be reviewed at the meeting.
2022 Community Crossing Project claims:
Commonwealth Engineers - $24,317.14 for Resident Project Representative.
All Star Paving – Partial Pay Application #6 for $556,945.44 with retainage of $29,312.92
Motion to approve Commonwealth’s and All Star Paving claims. Bill 1st, Holley 2nd
3 - ayes
Ripley County Area Plan Commission: sent an email stating that our representative to the Commission appointment expires December 31st. They are requesting that we notify them in writing of our decision to either re-appoint Dustin Payne or appoint someone else. Mr. Payne has communicated with the Clerk-Treasurer stating that he is still interested in being our representative.
Motion was made to retain Dustin Payne. Holley 1st, Bill 2nd
3 - ayes
John Vollmer (Ralph Schneider) is requesting a zoning change at 902 Tanglewood from an I-1 Industrial to R-1 Residential. The Commission’s recommendation on the petition of the applicant is favorable: Lynn explained that in order to do zoning changes, statute says to consider and pay reasonable regard to the Town’s comprehensive plan, the desirable use of land, the property values, responsible development and growth.
Motion to approve and adopt Ordinance 2022-4 changing the zoning. Bill 1st, Holley 2nd
3 - ayes
Travis Neal is requesting a zoning change at 3115 N U.S. 421 from Local Business to General Business. The Commission’s recommendation on the petition of the applicant is favorable:
Motion to approve and adopt Ordinance 2022-5 changing the zoning. Bill 1st, Holley 2nd
3 - ayes
Gary, Caleb Payne, Ken McAfee, Lucinda Dunbar, and Stephanie Back have had some meetings and discussions on trails. They have been working on an idea for a couple of years. Stephanie has made progressive steps in a similar area as them on extending the trails of Osgood. Caleb wanted to give a little history, we have people who established the town and who care about it. We have some buildings in town like the Freemen building, Opera House, and the track at the fairgrounds. Those were Osgood's forefront of ingenuity. They would like to carry on the legacy. They feel like they have a good idea. They want to help establish a good community for future generations. Gary wanted to compliment the Town on the development of the trails system south of town. A lot of people use the trails and they are good for Osgood. We have a unique situation to link communities together with trails. They were working on developing a trail system to the north, before they started talking to Stephanie Back. They had a vision to run trails on the properties of the REMC, Upper Room, Railroad spur, Case Makes, Thomas & Skinner, Fairgrounds, to the Reinking forest to get to the school. It’s a vision that will not happen next year, but can look toward the future and work their way to the school. Austin Rohls did a report last year concerning the expansion. They are looking at possibly having the School take care of that part of the trail that’s by the school. They do not know what the expenses would be, but we shouldn’t let the concern of who will maintain them hold us back. Also discussed hooking up to the Versailles State Park. They would like to look to the future and start making plans. Ken McAfee owns the land between the trails and Osgood. He stated there are a lot of kids walking behind the building there. Some streets were redone that don’t have sidewalks, he feels that is a safety issue for kids. Ken stated he would donate property free of charge. He also stated there are bikes being ridden on Tanglewood that he feels is not a good situation. Stephanie Back stated she has been employed with the Town a little over a year. She has been receiving invitations to attend county and state leadership meetings. She wanted to thank Tammy for allowing her to attend those meetings because they are community based and it’s a good way for communities to collaborate. Holley Wehr and Stephanie have been attending the meetings together and they have been brainstorming on ways to collaborate together. Stephanie also stated the Town has been working on a new website, logo, and etc. Versailles has a new connector trail, which is something we looked at about 10 years ago, that never came to fruition. She’s looking at the possibility to connect Osgood to the state park. Lucinda Dunbar is with SIMBA and they have discussed connecting Osgood to the state park by using existing roadways. She stated that at the old 4 H camp, the manager of the Versailles State Park, has plans in place to create a parking lot there, which would allow trails from Finks Road to County Road 300 N to our trails. The manager will be taking this idea up the channels to his boss. DNR will be coming on January 19th. Stephanie stated there are grant opportunities through DNR starting March 1st for $100,000 to $400,000 to create trails. It’s an 80/20 match. Steve has created trails that haven’t been paved, Stephanie said maybe those could be completed. Holley Rose asked if we need to have a park board or a community board. Stephanie stated their goal was to make the council aware of it. Lucinda looked into it for the bike association. She stated that Ray Toops is willing to work with them on county roads. SIMBA got $300,000 in Versailles. It would be 12 miles for people to go from Osgood to the park. Chris Kuhn stated they had council blessing to keep exploring the idea further.
Motion to proceed, Holley 1st, Bill 2nd
3 - ayes
Police Department - Daniel Craig stated that he and Tony are working on writing a grant for a new police vehicle. He asked if we received a partial grant if Council would be able to match some of it. He asked when Council thought they would be available for interviews. They are working on a date.
Reyna Jackson wanted to thank Daniel Craig for an incident she had on Short Street.
Stephanie stated that it was very nice to have Daniel passing out stickers on trick or treat night. We are also looking at installing cameras for the mini park. Graffiti has been painted on the newly painted wall of Taylor’s building and one of the letters has something etched on the wood. The Town has had someone look at it and with the existing cameras, we are able to get a camera on that location. We would need to get permission from building owners in order to do it. She believes the cost would be around $1,500 to get the equipment.
Claims were signed
Motion was made to adjourn the meeting. Holley 1st, Bill 2nd
3 - ayes