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FLUSHING -- Village council welcomed a new member while hearing updates on lift station issues that had been brought to its attention in July.
At a meeting held Oct. 19, it was announced that two special meetings had been held since the previous regular meeting on Sept. 14.
Council had met on Sept. 25 to accept the resignation of Steve Ronyak from council and to approve the process by which members would pick his replacement.
On Oct. 4, council met again and chose Eric McCort from among three applicants to fill the empty seat.
Also during the Oct. 19 meeting, Josie Bashline and Ryan Hughes addressed council concerning the sewage lift station that had been repeatedly breaking down, resulting in raw sewage infiltrating a pond on Bashline's property.
Bashline said he appreciated that Councilman Dave Coe had gone out to the site to assess the situation after they had brought the matter before council during the July meeting.
Bashline also said they had noticed improvements in the maintenance and monitoring performed by the village crew since July, but he wanted to know what the village would be doing about the situation moving forward.
Kris Chini, who was hired as Flushing's new village administrator in September after the resignation of Bryan Clark, said he had received and would soon be installing all new, "updated" check valves for two of the village's four lift stations, including the one in question. He claimed this would prevent failures that cause the backflow issues.
He added that he had implemented a weekly inspection and update schedule for all village lift stations and would be installing new warning lights as well.
He also said he was working on a plan to reroute the sewage from Circle Drive, which in the current setup is being pumped twice.
Chini reported that the village's backhoe and dump truck were being repaired and that repairs were also underway on the other truck and plow in preparation for winter weather.
He also said he and the village crew were having daily "tailgate" meetings as part of a work hazard awareness and safety program he had implemented.
Police Chief Paul Leek reported that during September he had made 10 traffic stops, resulting in six citations, and charged an individual for shoplifting at Dollar General.
American Legion Post 366 Commander Pat Kovac addressed council concerning the placement of signs commemorating the seven Litten Brothers, Flushing natives who served a combined 137 years in the U.S. Air Force. After some discussion council approved having a sign placed in front of the village offices as well as the previously approved signs being placed at three entrances to the village.
Coe volunteered to contribute 50% of the cost of the sign being placed in front of the offices.
Kovac and council also discussed the removal and storage of the village veteran banners, with Kovac saying that while the legion had put the banners up, he wanted the village to take them down due to liability concerns.
Council President Preston Eberhart noted that during the Aug. 10 meeting it had been decided that the village would not be responsible for the removal or storage of the banners after then-village administrator Bryan Clark came under fire from Kovac for the way the initial installation of the banners was handled.
Resident and candidate for council Chuck Nucci said he was waiting on a quote from a contractor to take down the banners while putting up lights for the holiday season. Councilwoman Sandy Twarog said she would find a place to store them.
Nucci also gave his findings from his search for better health insurance rates for village employees, saying he had found plans with lower rates that had $5,500 deductibles for in-patient services and that this plan would save the village $250 per employee per month.
After some discussion it was decided that since the village had just renewed the current plan in September and would unlikely be able to get out of that agreement. Members will revisit the matter next year.
Fiscal Officer Jeryl McGaffick informed council that all Staple's credit cards, which were issued by Citibank, had been canceled and that as a result she had recently purchased $900 in office supplies with her own credit card.
Council had already approved reimbursing McGaffick for the purchase as part of the monthly bill approval, with McGaffick saying they would have to go over the options and find another method of getting office supplies in case Staples is unable to offer credit again through another company.
Flushing Village Council meets again at 6 p.m. Thursday in the village offices on High Street.