Bellaire to have gas aggregation on ballot
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BELLAIRE -- Visitors attended the Bellaire Village Council meeting Thursday evening to address the aggregation question that will be on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Energy Aggregation Specialist Larry Taylor of Trebel Energy and Pultney Township Trustee Mark Cervelli addressed council at its regular meeting to discuss natural gas aggregation. Taylor said because the issue is on the ballot, Cerevilli and other trustees in Pultney Township thought it would be a good idea to come and answer some questions and provide information to the media.
Taylor said about 50% of residents in Bellaire are in the electric aggregation program and the other 50% are in unincorporated areas in the township. He said the savings on the current electric aggregation benefits residents who are in the aggregation program, which essentially is a collective bargaining power. The aggregation allows for better savings so those who opted into the electric aggregation with township.
He said he was there to answer any questions regarding gas aggregation because the village of Bellaire is in Pultney Township. He wants to market in a couple different ways to let the community know and found one of the best ways to do it is to ask council members and maybe family members who have numerous followers on Facebook to post about it.
"Gas aggregation, just like the electric aggregation, is another option that you all are providing for the residents," Taylor said. "And again, with the electric it's helping a lot of folks save a lot of money, and hopefully we can do the same type of thing with the gas aggregation. The nice thing about the aggregation, gas and electric both are the same when it comes to opting in or opting out. There's never any fees, no penalties."
Councilwoman Janet Richardson added that she thinks what is really important is that they break it down and explain to people what the benefit of aggregation is.
"It's great that you're sending out marketing information and whatnot," she said. "I know that when we did this with the electric there were people that were confused and some people who didn't get in on it, and it does, it did prove to save on the rates that the electric company was charging."
Taylor said ultimately his company always wants to be able to provide a lower rate.
Taylor discussed with council holding a community meeting about the aggregation. Council decided on the Bellaire Public Library as a venue, and Mayor Edward Marling said he would contact it first thing today to see if he can schedule a community meeting there.
Clerk Mary Haglioizou read two resolutions at the meeting. The first was Resolution 2024-1111 to amend prior resolutions regarding police salary and thus adjusting the rate of pay for full-time employees of the village of Bellaire Police Department and declaring it an emergency. Richardson said the police department has some officers who are going to leave in November and the pay increase will encourage them not to leave, which is why the resolution was declared an emergency. The amount of the pay adjustment was not revealed during the meeting Thursday.
Councilman Robert "Bubba" Kapral, Councilwoman Elizabeth Dugmore, Councilman Mike Doyle, Councilman Jerry Olack, Councilman Bill Schmitt and Richardson approved the motion to declare the resolution an emergency and passed the resolution. The effective date is Dec. 1.
The second measure, Resolution 2024-1112, is a resolution appointing interim service foremen and setting the salary, which was not announced Thursday, and declaring an emergency.
Mike and Mark Clark, who are already the interim service foremen dealing with streets and sanitation, will supplement their current pay for a temporary period of time by taking on the additional duties.
Dugmore made a motion to prepare and pass Resolution 2024-1112 and council approved unanimously.
Patrolman Connor Probst from the police department will be resigning after putting in his two weeks notice Thursday, so he will be officially done working for the village Oct. 31. Police Chief J.J. Watson would still like to bump up part-time Officer Derek Peck to full-time status starting with the new pay period.
There will be a Personnel Finance Committee meeting at 10 a.m. Oct. 24.
The village is still looking for an administrator but is getting closer to filling the position as an interview is scheduled for one candidate.
Dugmore raised an issue that she asked Watson to bring up to his officers regarding people walking their dogs. She said when the animals defecate, some owners aren't cleaning it up. Dugmore emphasized that there is an ordinance stating if someone's dog defecates in the village, they need to pick it up.