By Martha Jacob
Fayetteville Village Council met for its first meeting in 2020 on Jan. 9 led by its new mayor, Tina Houk who took over Jan. 1.
Houk’s first order of business was to swear in the two new council members, Wendy Evans and Jeff Bilzing. Councilman James Greco was absent from the meeting.
Fayetteville Council has one empty seat still to be filled.
Councilman Andy Huber told council that he had requested a copy of the budget in the Fayetteville Police Department. Chief Chad Essert said he was working on it and would get it to council as soon as he could.
At an earlier meeting council approved raises within the police department but council needed to see the budget before they could approve anything. Council approved dissolving the police departments’s cruiser line item.
Mayor Houk told council that she would like to have two meetings a month instead of one meeting for the months of January and February, to help her get up to speed on what’s been happening in the village. “One thing I’d like to see happen in our village,” Houk began, “I want each position in our village be defined as to what each one entails. We need descriptions of their expectations, who that person answers to and we need the information put on paper along with each rate of pay. We need to make sure the rate of pay for these positions are a sustainable amount.
“I would also like to see all council members involved in finance meetings, and they understand the finance report we get each month.”
Mayor Houk said she would very much like to see some money allocated for the village park which is getting run down and in need of some repairs. She said the entire community uses and enjoys the park a lot.
“I have been strongly opposed to the whole rob-from Peter-to pay Paul situation that we have going on here,” Houk said. “We have been relying heavily on the water account and I don’t think the village should have done that.
“We can’t use that money every time we get in a jam.”
Councilman Huber responded that the village was advised to use water funds by the auditor since 60 percent of the towns expenses are water related. The auditor said to take funds from the water account. He added that the village had never used the funds in the past.
Houk said she would like to have several people who are knowledgeable about grants and grant writing working on obtaining them for the village.
The mayor talked briefly about the fines that are collected in the village by the police department which she feels should be put into the general fund instead of the police department.
Other actions at the meeting included Robert Aubrey is interested in filling the vacant seat and former Councilman Jody Edwards has applied for the position of village administrator, currently held by Chief Essert.
Committees were discussed and council members were named to each committee.
Mayor Houk told council that she wants all the road work needed in the village to move forward but that the village could not waste any money for any reason. She added that she has a company coming to the village in a few days to give her an estimate on the work needed between Huber and main.
Houk said she looks forward to holding a quarterly meeting and invite the public to attend.
