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Mingo moving forward with levy

MINGO JUNCTION – Village Council on Tuesday approved moving forward with placing a 6-mill renewal levy on the Nov. 5 general election, which will increase revenue for the garbage fund by about $90,000.

Village Clerk John Angelica said the current levy generates about $150,000. The replacement levy will generate about $238,000. A replacement levy is based on current property values.

Angelica said council first will have to approve a resolution sent to the county auditor and then a second resolution will have to be submitted to the county board of elections for the levy to be placed on the ballot. The deadline for submitting the issue to the board of elections is Aug. 7.

Councilman John Bracone voted against moving forward with making the levy a replacement, saying the property taxes of village residents will increase. He said the village already is increasing water and sewer rates.

Council also agreed to bring in an ordinance setting forth where the pay for the village administrator will come from. Angelica said 25 percent will come from the water fund, 25 percent from the sewer fund, 30 percent from the capital improvement fund and 20 percent from the community development fund.

Police Chief Steve Maguschak is serving as temporary village administrator. He will receive an extra $1,000 a month for working as administrator.

Maguschak, as police chief, said April was the highest month ever in the village for theft cases. He said there have been arrests made in thefts and break-ins, with about half of those arrested being juveniles.

Maguschak said the village has to contact the county dog warden for animal complaints. He said residents could call the dog warden directly with a complaint. If the resident knows the owner of the dog, they can file charges through the village police department.

Maguschak also advised council the codified ordinances of the village haven’t been updated in eight years. He suggested the criminal and traffic codes first be updated because the village is filing charges based on laws that haven’t been placed in the codified ordinances. He said the cost to update all the ordinances will be about $8,000.

Council also approved a resolution honoring Howard Armstrong, who volunteered without pay to be village administrator for five months.

Council also heard an update from John Ney, an energy consultant with World Energy, about a public hearing at 7 p.m. today in the basement of the Municipal Building concerning the electric aggregation program approved by village voters in the May 7 primary election.

A second public hearing is set for 7 p.m. on May 22 in the Municipal Building.

After the hearings, council will approve a governance plan for the program, which will be submitted to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. Ney then will start negotiating an electric rate from providers, with council approving the final contract.

Ney said he believes the annual savings for the average electric customer will exceed the $150 a year previously stated based on updated rate information.

Councilman Michael Herrick said the electric aggregation program is a “win-win” situation for residents in the amount of money that will be saved on electric bills.

A representative of FeX, a processing plant in south end of the village off Commercial Avenue, told council a company has been hired to sweep streets and sidewalks also have been cleaned. He said the company received quotes for paving the entrances to the plant and for installing a truck tire-washing system.

The representative said the company will probably be moving its operations to the site of the old stadium, which the company owns.

Residents in the area of the current location have been complaining to council for more than a year about dust problems,

Council’s water and sewer committee scheduled a meeting for 9 a.m. on June 3, followed by a council recreation committee meeting.

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