Forest Village Council – February 26, 2026

Village of Forest Council met in regular session on February 26, 2026 at 7:00 PM in council chambers.

Mayor Hastings called the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Attendance:

• Derek Hastings- present
• Mary Dickinson- present
• Loretta Perkins- present
• Sarah Hankins- present
• Danielle Moore- present
• Valerie Mullholand- excused absence
• Joe Moore- present

Village Announcements: None

Approval of Agenda for February 26, 2026: M. Dickinson moved to approve agenda for 2/26/26 meeting. L. Perkins seconded. Vote: 5 yeas, 0 nays. Agenda approved.

Approval/Corrections of Minutes: Approval of minutes from February 12, 2026.

S. Hankins moved to approve minutes from 2/12/26 council meeting. D. Moore seconded. Vote: 5 yeas, 0 nays. Minutes approved.

Bills: Approval to pay bills

M. Dickinson moved to approve the payment of bills. J. Moore seconded. Vote: 5 yeas, 0 nays. Payment of bills approved.

Citizens’ Comments: None

Old Business: None

New Business: Ben with Wessler Engineering gave proposal and answered any questions regarding the wastewater project.

Resolution 2026-02 Authorizing the Village of Forest to contract with Wessler Engineering Services for the ongoing sewer lagoon rehabilitation and sewer construction project and declaring it an emergency.

M. Dickinson moved to declare Resolution 2026-02 and emergency. D. Moore seconded. Vote: 5 yeas, 0 nays. Emergency declared.

Mary moved to pass Resolution 2026-02. S. Hankins seconded. Vote: S yeas, 0 nays. Resolution approved.

Committee Reports

Mayor: None

Finance/Audit: Committee met 2/26/26. Village audit will be occurring next week. End of year 2025 has been completed. Will be working on permanent appropriations for 2026. Mayor has approved pay increase for Fire Chief to match the increase from Jackson Township.

Safety: Update from 2/23/26 meeting was given. Forest Fire Department was granted a $50,000 grant for turnout gear. The department currently has 18 members, with a roster that could be 33.

The department applied for another grant for $9000, but they received this last year and not likely to obtain two years in a row. Discussion was held on contracting with Vanderpool Excavating for buildings that would need torn down. Reviewing this with Solicitor. The Forest Police Department was awarded a grant for 50% payment of body armor. The department had included their portion of purchases in the budget. All ordinances have been uploaded to the system and the police department has a tentative go live date on electronic citations for March 15, 2026.

The committee reported that there are no ordinances prohibiting solicitation in the Village. The police department applied for funding for National Night Out from Hardin County Community Foundation. Discussion was held on increasing the yellow light time and funds would be taken out of state highway. Scooter ordinance is now enforceable. The Village applied for funding for concrete repair in front of doctor’s office from Hardin County Community Foundation. Solicitor is working on u turn ordinance.

Police Chief: Will be presenting on information regarding solicitation at next council meeting.

Fire Chief: Did not have anything new to report that wasn’t covered during safety update.

Ambulance Board: None

Service: None

Administrator: Water- On 2/19/26 we located a water main break on Julia near Mad River, we were able to shut a valve off in the area to make repairs. The valve that was closed would not open back up. This caused 5 houses and 1 business interruption with their water services. The houses were provided water due to them not having services for extended period of time. This morning at 8:35 AM the boil advisory was lifted due to good sample returns. Continue working on H2Ohio for the well project, project is estimated to cost roughly $462,000, we did receive a grant for $400,000.

Working with Layne Corp to cap the old well and do EPA paperwork, working with Choice One to design and bid for construction of well.

Sewer- February 13th we been having issues with the vac system on the 14th a leak was discovered on Blaine Street, Service department immediately dug the area up and capped off the leak. The next few days Service cleaned out every pit in town to make sure they were working correctly, B-line was giving us trouble on South Davis Street and services were not interrupted during the time, by the 19th all lines were open and working. Tomorrow we will receive 4 new pumps for the lift stations, they will be installed as soon as possible to the lift stations on Wells and Railroad Street, this was paid for by a grant. Training will also be conducted for the lift stations in the coming weeks.

Streets- Once the water line and sewer line repairs have been finished, they will be back filled with stone, once settled we will asphalt and repair the sections of road that were dug out. Blaine Street is open at this time.               

Park – Will be posting the seasonal job next week as well as maintenance park equipment including the mower so that it is ready to go. Will be working on Park requests.

Park Board: Riverdale football has agreed to help with spring clean-up. Spring clean-up has been scheduled for March 14, 2026 @ 9am. The rain dates will be 3/21/26 and 3/28/26. Anyone is more than welcome to come and assist. Working on a list of repairs and projects that will need to be completed this spring. Next Park board meeting is 3/9/26@ 9am at the all-weather pavilion.

Market Square: None

CIC – None

Business/Industrial Development: Have not met, meeting quarterly planning to meet in March.

Zoning and Planning: Update from 2/23/26 meeting was given. Sheds under 100 square feet do not need to obtain a permit. They have been discussing the need for a zoning officer. Working on a list of responsibilities that would be needed. Next meeting is March 9, 2026@ 6pm.

Human Resources/Ethics: Need to schedule the next meeting. Will be focusing on one section of employee handbook at a time.

Tree Commission: None

Village Solicitor: Main focus has been working on Resolution 2026-02. He has researched Joint Recreational Park District rules/responsibilities. He reported that per ORC 755.12-722.18 the Park District is responsible for maintaining, developing, equipping for the park to operate. He reported that the board does not have legislative authority. He advised that the governing body for rule making/authority is council.

M. Fish is still in talks with a potential replacement for his position. He will have a firm update by next council meeting.

Fiscal Officer: Audit is next week. Will be focusing on permanent appropriations for 2026 to be presented at next council meeting.

L. Perkins moved to adjourn meeting. J. Moore seconded. Vote: 5 yeas, 0 nays, Meeting adjourned at 7:50pm.