Vaughn to head the village council in 2013

By Rob Treynor

Assistant Editor

The torch has been passed from Mark Hostetler to Kevin Vaughn.

Plain City Village Council, in its first meeting of 2013, elected Vaughn president pro tempore for the 2013 year. The position had been held by Hostetler in 2012.

Mayor Sandra Adkins made committee appointments with little change from 2012 to 2013. Todd Skidmore stepped down from his position on the personnel and finance committee, but recommended to Adkins that she appoint Shawn Kaeser as his replacement, which she did. All other committee appointments remain the same from 2012 for council members: Hostetler remains on planning and zoning; Todd Skidmore remains on the Board of zoning appeals; Kaeser remains with the parks and recreation committee; Doug Saxour will stay on the economic development team; and Vaughn will continue with the public safety committee.

• In other business, Sean Hughes, Mark Bennett and Dusty Parker of Madison County Future, Inc., Community Improvement Corporation (CIC), presented council with a packet which showed council members the CIC’s successes for 2012.

Last fall, Plain City council had agreed to partner with Madison County Future as its economic development agency for 2013. Plain City had partnered with Union County Community Improvement Corporation in the past.

“The one thing I like about Madison County Future is that it’s county-wide,” said Bennett, addressing council. “The fact that Plain City is joining the CIC is great. Sean (Hughes) will be a good advocate for us and for Plain City’s future.”

Hughes informed the council that the CIC would report on a monthly basis to the village on any economic developments.

Also on Monday, Julie Weaver of the Uptown Plain City Organization (UPCO), visited council.

“It didn’t look like Heritage Days was going to happen, but it’s back on, thanks in large part to Dutch Kitchen, Der Dutchman and Carlisle Gifts,” Weaver said.

Village Administrator Steve Hilbert informed council that the little league baseball association requested to hold its annual parade in the village on Saturday, May 18, this year. Hilbert said the association had been notified that it would have to pay for the personnel costs associated with a parade. Council had no objections to the May 18 date.

In other village news:

• Interviewing is moving forward for the Wastewater Superintendent position.

• Numerous applicants have expressed interest in the village solicitor position that will be available when Eamon Costello steps down in February.

“I know Steve (Hilbert) has a lot of resumes from people interested in being my replacement,” Costello said. “There’s a lot of qualified names in there. This is a good problem to have.”

• Discussion continued on the topic of making council meetings more accessible to handicapped individuals. Closed-circuit cameras and webcams were brought up and will be researched. Holding meetings at the new elementary school was also suggested. Adkins agreed to look into the possibility.

The next village council meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 28.

Posted by Staff Reports on Jan 21 2013. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.