By Amy Eddings
Water was on the minds of council members on Tuesday night, as Ada's village council considered a proposal to weatherproof the exterior facade of the Municipal Building at 115 W. Buckeye St. and a request by a farmer's father to help him pay for field drainage improvements that he says benefits the village.
The council approved a proposal by Trisco Systems to weatherproof the brick building that houses the village's administrative offices and its council chamber.
Assistant Village Administrator Jamie Hall told council members and Mayor David Retterer that the company will power wash the building, grind out old mortar and re-point the masonry and replace deteriorated caulk around the windows.
"There's infiltration of moisture and air, which is causing some interior problems," said Hall. "It's not just around the windows, but in areas in between the windows, the plaster is flaking off the wall."
He said village administrators have noted problems with the exterior building going back to 2009, and that the village has budgeted for the work. Trisco estimated the work would cost $43,251, lower than the $49,800 estimate provided by Quality Masonry Co.
Council member Don Fleming wondered why the village was going with repairs to problem areas, rather than tuckpointing the entire building.
"Why would other parts of the building not be deteriorated, too?" he asked Hall. "What I’m concerned about is coming back and doing this again three years from now."
Village administrator Jim Meyer said the hope was that by doing the work on the areas that are most badly damaged, the interior damage would stop and repairs wouldn't be needed for at least ten years.
The other water issue brought before the council concerns farmland at the western end of West Buckeye Street. Brad Hays is asking the village to reimburse him $2,277.40 for tile he installed on the land to address a longstanding drainage issue.
"My son Garrett Hays has started to farm this property this past fall," he wrote to the village. "I have been trying to help [property owner] Tony Baker with the excess water situation."
Baker has been cited by Ada's zoning inspector, Mike Harnishfeger, for excessive standing water on the land.
Brad Hays said the problem is due to a blocked 8-inch tile that runs along the railroad tracks' right of way and empties into Ada's storm sewer system.
"I feel this request is fair to all, not asking any more than costs to restore an existing outlet tile that was blocked off of the Baker property," he said in his letter.
Village Administrator Jim Meyer said the old 8-inch tile was probably installed in the 1850s, when the railroad was built.
"They've tied into a tile we're not responsible for and we don't maintain," he told the council and the mayor. "They've done all this work without talking to us."
He said he's leaving it up to the village council to decide what to do.
"I'm not discounting [the improvements] at all, it needed to be fixed," he said. "But whether we have an obligation to reimburse them for that, I leave that up to the council."
No action was taken at the meeting.
Other business included the hiring of a new police officer, John Iten, to replace Ryan Schroeder, who resigned last month after just six months on the job.
Iten is a U.S. Army veteran and a former truck driver. His most recent job was as a full-time police officer with the Village of Spencerville. He's a resident of Lima. He'll start working for Ada's police force on Monday, Feb. 8
