FLUSHING — Mayor Angelo Vincenzo had a pointed question for former mayor and candidate for village council Tom Bober when he appeared before council to announce his candidacy.

Bober resigned as mayor in July 2017 with no reason disclosed for the decision at the time. Current Mayor Angelo Vincenzo, who was president pro tem of the council, replaced Bober as mayor and was then elected in November of that year to a full term.

After Bober announced his candidacy to those present for the scheduled October council meeting, Vincenzo raised his concern.

“As a voter, can I ask you a question? Last time you were an elected official we had some issues with how you treated employees and other things of that nature. We were actively looking to hire a human resources firm to deal with those issues in case of being sued. Can you guarantee that that’s something that the village isn’t going to have to spend thousands of dollars on in the future? As a voter I want to know that taxpayer money isn’t going to have to go towards that sort of thing.”

Bober responded calmly, “I’ve been an official for 22 years and I’ve never been thrown in jail yet, and I never have cost the village any money so I think we will be safe in that regard.

I think I’ve come a long way, Angelo, and I think I’ll be able to handle myself very well, but thanks for asking.”

Bober’s name appears on the ballot as Carl Thomas Bober.

Bob Eberhart, whose name is listed on the ballot as Robert Eberhart Jr., was also at the meeting to announce his candidacy for village council, saying as a longtime resident and member of the fire department he would look forward to the challenges and helping the village to continue to move forward.

A third candidate, Preston Eberhart, also is seeking a council seat in the general election set for Tuesday. There are two seats open, so voters must choose two of the three candidates.

Meanwhile, resident Vick Dymiboski, who had addressed council concerning repairs needed on Johnson Lane during both the August and September meetings, expressed his dismay that nothing had been done yet. It had been discussed during those meetings that contractors doing work for American Electric Power had damaged Johnson Lane while using it to access work sites to the south of Ohio 149 and Ohio 331 that go through Flushing as High Street, and that Columbia Gas had damaged the pavement while installing new gas line infrastructure.

Village Administrator Bryan Clark told Dymiboski that he had not been able to get any answers from those responsible for the damage, and that while he had told Dymiboski that he and village crews would address some of his concerns other matters had prevented them from doing so.

Resident Fred Kidd was at the meeting saying that a ditch that runs through his property has filled with sediment that washed in with stormwater from the road drains and asked that the village come in and clean it out.

Vincenzo replied that that the village wasn’t allowed to dredge out creeks or streams, but Kidd said that there was no naturally flowing water there and that the village had done it many times since he and his mother first moved into the house in 1962.

Both Vincenzo and Clark insisted that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources has regulations concerning groundwater and that the village could not do that kind of work on private property. Kidd maintained that the sediment was washed off of village roadways through the village drainage system and therefore was the village’s responsibility.

In the end, Clark said he would contact ODNR to come look at the problem and Vincenzo said that he had no problem letting village crews use a backhoe to clean out the ditch if ODNR and adjacent property owners said it was OK to do so.

Josey Bashline addressed council saying that contractors for ODOT who paved High Street through the village this summer had removed a berm and that, as a result, water from the roadway was flooding his yard.

Clark explained that as he understood it, ODOT was no longer permitting asphalt berms due to snow plows dislodging pieces of them that then become airborne hazards to other drivers.

Fiscal Officer Jeryl McGaffick recommended he contact ODOT himself and write a letter for the village to submit with other similar complaints.

Council President John Jozwiak asked about progress on Convenient constructing a new building as had been discussed prior to the village voting to allow alcohol sales at that location. Vincenzo said he believes there is a plan to break ground in the spring, but there are several things that have to be taken care of logistically before that could happen.

Council went into executive session to discuss personnel, discipline, termination and hiring and possible pending litigation related to the termination of personnel.

After returning from executive session, council voted to accept the resignation of Joe Knight and then voted in favor of promoting John Stabil to full-time employment at a rate of $12 per hour with health insurance, effective Oct. 20 under a six-month probationary period.

Council also voted to accept new rates with Aetna for health insurance coverage, approved upgrading the Sensaphone program, which alerts the appropriate parties when there are issues with sewage lift stations in the village, and approved the purchase of a bar screen auger for the village sewage plant at a cost of around $50,000 from Ortec to be paid from the Sewer Operating Fund.

Council also passed a resolution certifying levy amounts to the county and voted to update the village employee drug screening program so that screenings take place pre-employment and whenever there is an a workplace accident, as well as one random test yearly.