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LISBON -- Village Council and others involved continue to try to clear up concerns about the fees and regulations in the vacant building ordinance, even as council passed the ordinance on second reading at last week's meeting.
Lisbon Area Chamber of Commerce President Susan Shank, speaking at the meeting, said she believes a lot of the people reacting fearfully to the proposal are only doing so until they know what it is all about. She encouraged council to again become a 50-50 partner with them in retaining Town Center Associates for $12,500 for another year to help the village complete and implement the downtown revitalization plan begun in 2017.
Councilman Peter Wilson, who was attending his first meeting after being elected to council this past November, voiced his concerns about the registration requirement in the vacant building ordinance and voted against it during the second reading.
The ordinance requires those with vacant business buildings in the B-3 zoning district make an effort to find a tenant or buyer or face being fined. Property owners are also required to register with the village, and Wilson questioned what he sees as a $200 inspection fee charged to the people from whom the village is seeking cooperation. The annual fee doubles every year the building remains vacant until it maxes out at $3,200.
Additionally, he questioned the amounts of paperwork he believes having those with retail spaces register and be evaluated will create when the village has only a part-time zoning officer and the mayor's secretary.
Shank said her understanding is the $200 fee is for those who are not currently leasing their building, renting it out or in the process of renovating it.
Municipal Attorney Megan Bickerton said the idea is to be able to track what is happening in the village's buildings, where are the structural issues and code violations. Additionally, the village is trying to encourage the buildings to be fixed and rented out. Until the program is implemented, it is not known how it will be interpreted, Bickerton said.
However, Wilson said with 87 storefronts council members already know which ones are vacant. He said the owners of the building are concerned about government telling them what to do.
The ordinance must be passed one more time before it can take affect.
In other matters at the council session:
-- Council voted to approve the purchase of a new cruiser for $34,565. This will give the police department four cruisers instead of three, although the oldest now has about 90,000 miles on it.
Police Chief Mike Abraham said he intends to keep four cars until the oldest one falls apart or until they can buy another one in about two years. The fourth vehicle allows him to have two officers assigned to each vehicle, instead of three cars going around the clock.
While he was questioned by Councilman Jerry Cox about the choices of purchasing a Ford cruiser and going through Donnell of Salem, Abraham explained Donnell is one of the local dealerships which provides cruiser packages through the state purchasing program.
"I'm a GM man through and through, but you can't beat a Ford cruiser," Abraham said.
-- Council decided to have a meeting on Jan. 23 anyway. Originally, council had decided to cancel the second meeting of the month in January, but council came up with enough items they wished to address at a sooner meeting, the meeting was called.
-- Four people will be interviewed for a vacant street department job prior to the Jan. 23 meeting.
-- Council voted unanimously on third reading to approve the payroll ordinance for 2018.
-- Council tabled for now repairs to the fire department roof and Cox questioned why no one has been attending recent meetings from the fire department.
The fire department was out on a gas leak call during Tuesday's council meeting. Fiscal Officer Tracey Wonner also said in the past the fire department met with the safety committee and they reported on the fire department, but she would let them know about his request.
-- Council approved the appointments of Mary Ann Gray and Alisa Hall to the zoning board, Barry James to the cemetery board and Vito DiIullo to the board of public affairs.