At 7 PM, East Palestine's new Mayor, Margo Zuch, swore in the 3 new members of Council: Raymond Hull, Fran Figley & Endia Wisser. As soon as they were sworn in and seated at the table, the Council meeting began with Mayor Zuch presiding. Present were Don Elzer, Fran Figley, Raymond Hull, Scott Rauch, Jim Tyger & Endia Wisser. Minutes of 12-29 were approved on a motion by Rauch, seconded by Tyger. Carried. December department reports were approved on a motion by Rauch, seconded by Tyger. Carried. Elzer congratulated the Police on the audit. There were no agenda items, or reports from Clerk Cindy Clark. The Law Director was ill, & did not attend.

MAYOR Zuch read from the sheet she prepared listing the Committee members & those who would be chairing the 6 Council committees. Later in the evening Figley said he was disappointed that Zuch did not place him on the Utility Committee. He asked the Mayor if her committee assignments could be changed to include him on the Utility Committee. Tyger agreed to switch & the final Committee list read as follows: STREET: FIGLEY-CHAIR, Hull & Elzer; DEVELOPMENT: ELZER-CHAIR, Rauch & Tyger; SAFETY/PARK/RECREATION/CEMETERY: RAUCH-CHAIR, Hull & Wisser; UTILITY: WISSER-CHAIR, Elzer & Figley; FINANCE: TYGER-CHAIR, Rauch & Figley; LEGISLATION: HULL-CHAIR, Tyger & Wisser.

> Zuch read a list of names of committee & board members whose terms expire or need to be replaced for other reasons. She had contacted each person. Those who agreed to be appointed or re-appointed to various boards/committees were: (Mayor Appointments) Margo Zuch & Nancy Rhodes to the Architectural Design Board of Review; Karen Mitchell, Kevin McKinstry & Carolyn Wilkovich to the Library Board; Raymond Hull to the Records Commission; Don Elzer, John Herbert & Margo Zuch to the Tree Commission. (Mayor Appointments that need consent of Council) John Turner to the Planning Commission; (Council Appointments) Raymond Hull, Shirley Gorby, Jana Grim & John Turner to the Architectural Design Board of Review; Becky Boggs to the Board of Housing Appeals; Vicky Terwilliger to the Board of Zoning Appeals; Sandy Wales to the Park Board. Elzer asked about the Architectural Design Board & the Manager said this involves architectural quality & esthetics in business & industrial areas. Hull made a motion, seconded by Tyger to make the appointments/reappointments as read by Mayor Zuch. Carried unanimously. (CRA members Dan Boggs & Mary Anne Tyger were re-appointed by the CRA Housing Council earlier in the evening at their meeting, as is required by the CRA ordinance & Tami Harris of the CRA Housing Council will have to be re-appointed or replaced on the CRA Housing Council by the Planning Commission, as this is the CRA ordinance requirement for her position. Gary Clark on the Arch. Design Board is self-appointment.)

> Hull made a motion, seconded by Rauch to nominate Jim Tyger as Mayor/President of Council Pro Temp. There were no other nominations for the position. Motion carried unanimously.

> Zuch had written a list of rules for visitors who wish to attend Council meetings & she read it. It included the following requests: Men will remove hats for the entire meeting. The table in the back of the Council Chambers is for on-duty Police officers and for members of the press who are using computers. All other visitors are requested to sit on the chairs set up for that purpose. Visitor comments are restricted to those people who are listed on the agenda. Comments regarding current legislation will also be heard but only at the proper time. Council members may ask for comments from visitors if they feel it is necessary to do so. Mayor Zuch asked everyone to remember that a Council meeting is a business meeting, and not Town Hall or a public forum.

> Mayor Zuch then distributed a resignation letter from Chief Hoffmeister to those at the table. The Chief had handed it to her just prior to the meeting. The Mayor read his letter out loud. He is retiring as of February 4^th after serving as a Fireman, Emergency Medical Technician, Dispatcher, Patrolman and for the last 10 years as Police Chief. He was congratulated on his retirement & there was applause from those in attendance.

MANAGER Gary Clark said following the authorization of Council, he sent requests for proposals to 8 engineering firms. He's looking for an impartial 3^rd party opinion as to the best way to get utilities to the Brittain site. He included maps & about 20 funding sources. He is looking for the best route with the best funding & requested rationale for the decisions. He should have something by 2-10. At that point he would like a committee of 3 to rate them. He asked Mayor Zuch & Figley to serve on this rating committee with him. Clark then went over his list of 28 projects with Council. Beside each project, Clark had listed the "Description/Rationale/Comments", the "Consultant/Engineer" of the project, the date the project was "Initiated", the "Planning" that has been done so far, "Funding", & "Construction". (Council had received this revised/updated list in their packets.) Clark said Council constantly provides input throughout the life of these projects. He invited Council to assess these & set priorities. He invited members to let him know which should go forward, which should be suspended & which deserve more research. Clark then went over the 28 projects, explain- ing why each one is on the list & answering questions from Council as he went down the list. Clark also explained why certain changes had to be made to projects on this list. He emphasized that he will keep Council informed. (Note: Since the list took up 3 entire legal sheets of paper & was read by Clark at the meeting, copies of the sheets will be attached to these original minutes for future reference. ckc) There was discussion on some of the items on this list. Clark then asked for Council's guidance on another matter. He told Council that it is time to consider projects for the Water Supply Revolving Loan Account. Clark said last Feb. he suggested 4 items to Council & at that time Council chose 3 of them. The EPA chose 2 of those 3. Clark said the 2 remaining are replacing the 6-inch water lines at the water plant ($100,000 estimate) & the N. Market water line extension ($437,000 estimate). He emphasized this is the estimate for water line only because he is talking about water funds. He added that this is 20% grant & 80% loan, meaning the Village would only get about $87,000 in grants. The rest of the $437,000 for water would have to be financed by the Village. He asked for comments & input but said he has until 3-15. This would be from the Village limits to 14. Rauch said there would be an extra water charge if these people were out of the limits. Clark said there are about 20 ways to get funds. Figley asked if we were looking at going up Market & Clark replied that Council will know more after the engineers' evaluations are received after the 10^th. Clark explained that we could nominate both but not get enough points for either one, adding that it's very competitive to get these funds. Elzer said that "getting water & sewer to Market Street without having those people join the City takes away all of the incentive for them to join the City." He said that if all the people up Market have water & sewer, they won't want to annex & that option will then be off the table. He said Council should "be really careful" about sending water & sewer to people without bringing them into the City. He said even though we are just talking about water right now, that would still "take one of our advantages away". Elzer contended there were 100 houses or 100 properties in the North Market area being discussed but this number was disputed by Councilman Figley. Clark said he thinks there may be 12 to Wilderson & then possibly another 12 to 15. Elzer feels there are 100 properties. Clark said it wouldn't be compulsory to connect to water.

STREET: Figley had no report. He said he will wait to see the engineers' reports.

SAFETY/PARK/RECREATION/CEMETERY: Rauch welcomed the new Mayor & those new to the Council table & told them to feel free to call him if they have questions. He thanked Chief Hoffmeister for his many years of service & said he's glad to be the new chairman of this committee.

DEVELOPMENT: Elzer welcomed the newly elected officials.

UTILITY: Wisser had no report.

FINANCE: Tyger said there was a nice carry-over into 2012.

VISITORS: Olivia Figley, Gracie Fitzsimmons, Chris May, Heather & Israel Loyd, Jean & Mark Max-well, Leanna & Mike Dugan, Carter & Trent Wisser, Traci Thompson, Chief & Michele Hoffmeister, Pam Figley, Dianna Elzer, Dan & Veronica Figley, Fran & Cathy Ross, Dan Figley, Jim Hill, Shirley & Brent Wilson, Bonnie & John Davis, Ben & Caroline Figley, Marty Grim, Rodrigo Castelli, Elena Caviedes, Chuck McGuire, Emery Coon, Mark Rhodes, Don Johnson, Pam Steiner, Jerry Coblentz, Kevin Semon, Kim Sensenbaugher, Greg Hyde, John & Brock Jurjavcic, Denny Griffith, Jana Grim, Karen King, John Hamner, Bob & Tami Harris, Ben Terwilliger, Katie Schwendeman, Brian Moore.

LEGISLATION: Hull introduced Ord. 33-2011 for 2^nd reading & made a motion, seconded by Tyger that it be read by title only. Carried…modifying Ord. 12-2010, an ordinance authorizing Mgr. to enter into contract w/MS to provide engineering design services for rehabilitation/replacement of Park Dr. Bridge. Elzer said they are asking for more money for changes & talked about this cost to the Village. Figley had comments about the bridge & brought up the County report. Clark said that 5 years ago ODOT told the Village that the condition of the bridge qualified us for up to $300,000 of funding if we wanted it. Figley wanted more discussion before a vote is taken on this. Clark emphasized that he never said that replacing this bridge was compulsory. Clark said we were never required to replace this bridge but we were told that we were eligible for funding for it due to its condition. Clark said we have a choice. Rauch said the legislation is only up for 2^nd reading tonight. Figley asked about funding & Clark said it could be over 2 or 3 years out of the street levy money. Figley brought up potholes & said he would hope the Village would not spend money on a bridge that doesn't need done now instead of on potholes. Clark told him this is Council's decision. Clark said he's trying to put all information Council needs on the table for them. Clark said the WWTP was not on the horizon when this project first came up. Clark said he wants to ask them to reconsider what needs done on the bridge. Figley was worried about being forced to vote on the bridge matter at the next meeting & he was told that Council always has the option of tabling legislation. Hull said people he's talked to want streets & alleys fixed instead of a new bridge so he also thinks the bridge project should be tabled. Figley said he's spoken to Clark & he feels that Clark is being very reasonable about this bridge situation. Figley feels that everyone at the table is on the same page with their concerns about the cost of it, etc. Clark also said he is concerned about right-of-way issues, surveys, easements, work agreements, etc. which would add about a year to the project. Clark said he went through this with the West St. Bridge. Rauch said eventually something is going to need to be done about this bridge. He asked that Clark do more research before the next meeting & said that more research done now means less will have to be done in the future. Traci Thompson asked if the ODOT Park Dr. money could be used for Sumner instead but Clark told her that Sumner is considered a culvert instead of a bridge because it is only an 18 ft. span. It doesn't qualify as a bridge because it's not 20 ft. Hull introduced Ord. 1-2012 for 1^st reading & made a motion, seconded by Rauch that it be read by title. Carried. …providing for authorization of Mgr. to enter into & accept contract w/Waugh Excavating as to the system improvement portion of the project known as the Water Storage Facility & System Improvement Project & declaring an emergency. Clark explained that sewer will be from the trailer park to Oak (Dairy Queen area) and water will be from Garfield to Wood (Sparkle Market area). Hull made a motion, seconded by Rauch to suspend rules & pass this as an emergency. Carried with 6 yes votes. Hull called for a vote. There were 6 yes votes for passage.

ADJOURN: Rauch made a motion, seconded by Hull to adjourn. Motion carried. Adjourned.