Exeter Village Board Meets

By Leesa K. Bartu

Chairman Alan Michl opened the Exeter village board by officially congratulating clerk Becky Erdkamp on her clerk of the year award.  The board meeting was held on Tuesday April 4^th.

The board approved the minutes and invoices from the last month before welcoming Ryan Kavan from JEO Consulting to review the current progress on the street and downtown projects.

“We are progressing really well on the street projects,” reported Kavan.  “We are doing what we can to improve the grades and drainage but it’s difficult as flat as it is.”

He reported that the estimates given earlier were “within about $5,000 of what we projected on the streets project.”  

He questioned the board as to how the estimates should be written: as individual projects or as one street project.

Michl responded, “We should have separate estimates, the three new blocks, especially.  We need to give the homeowners around those three new blocks a chance to review the costs.”

“And the main concern I have is that we need to get our finances in order.  With interest rates going up we would like to lock in now.”

He emphasized, “There would be an order in how we would like it to go because of the truck route issues.”

The board examined some lighting options to update the downtown area.

Kavan noted that the board did not need to choose a lighting option during the meeting but it will need to be made soon.  He also reported that the plans for the water project downtown is about 60 percent completed.  “We are looking at trying to bore as much of the water as possible to not disturb the concrete.”

The board passed Ordinances 586 and 587 to raise the water and sewer rates. 

Next the Board set the wages for summer help. The new hires will start at $9 per hour while returning lifeguards and other employees will get a .25 raise.

Clerk Erdkamp shared some TIF (Tax Increment Financing) information with the board.  Michl encouraged board members to research more online.

Michl brought up changing over to a paperless system for their village board meetings.  It was received well with board member Justin Harre emphasizing “The idea is to get rid of the paper.“

Exeter-Milligan Superintendent Paul Sheffield shared how he sets up the school board packets on ipads.

Maintenance Supervisor John Mueller gave his report.  He noted that the GIS mapping project was reviewed with JEO and is almost completed.  He also informed the board that he was able to have stainless steel bases made for the diving boards at the pool for $1000 each.

Chairman Michl added that the bases have been ordered, “We figured it would cost the same amount to sand blast and powder coat them.”

Clerk Erdkamp reported that she is having computer issues and will need a new desktop computer. Also, she cashed in a Village certificate of deposit to pay for the JEO work but there was a $230 penalty.  Michl added that a short term loan would have cost the village $670 per month so the penalty was a much more economical option. Erdkamp noted that the funds in the certificate of deposit will be redeposited after the board issues bonds for the project.

Erdkamp has also had several long term camping requests but they have not called back as she informed them that there are no bathrooms or showers available.

She also reported that sales tax for January was $12,323.10 and Keno for February was $521.86.

The next meeting was set for May 3 at 7 p.m.