Forest Village Council – May 14, 2026

Village of Forest Council met in regular session on May 14, 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 – absent
• Sarah Hankins – present
• Danielle Moore – present
• Valerie Mullholand – present
• Joe Moore – present

M. Dickinson moved to excuse L. Perkins absence. D. Moore seconded. Vote: 5 yeas, 0 nays. Absence excused.

Village Announcements: Spring Clean-up is 5/16/26 from 9am to 12pm.

Approval of Agenda for May 14, 2026: D. Moore moved to approve agenda for 5/14/26 meeting. S. Hankins seconded. Vote: 5 yeas, 0 nays, Agenda approved.

Approval/Corrections of Minutes: V. Mullholand moved to approve minutes from 4/23/26 council meeting. D. Moore seconded. Vote: 5 yeas, 0 nays. Minutes approved.

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

Citizens’ Comments and Guest Presentations: Hardin County Commissioner Tim Striker and Deb Phillips with Hardin County Chamber Alliance were in attendance. They presented a donation of $3500 for Tree Town Festival’s fireworks.

Old Business: 2nd Reading Ordinance 2026-03 Repealing Ordinance Section 113.03 entitled Council Members Exempt from Two Percent Annual Salary Penalty for Absence

2nd Reading Ordinance 2026-04 Amending Ordinance 113.02 Notification of Meetings

New Business: None

Committee Reports

Mayor: The demolition of Tree Town Inn is at a standstill right now, but he is continuing to work on this. Still proceeding with abatement process on other properties. Attended the Hardin County Legislative breakfast.

Finance/Audit: The roof repair quote from All American Roof Pros was $21,711.21. Insurance will reimburse all but $1000 for deductible. V. Mullholand moved to approve the payment. M. Dickinson seconded. Vote: 5 yeas, 0 nays. Payment approved.

Choice One just advised there is $18,010 that is needed on the street project. This was not disclosed previously. Jay is going to investigate this a little more and will update at next council meeting.

Safety: Have a meeting scheduled for 5/18/26 6pm.

Police Chief: Statistics for April 2026 was given. New part time Officer Jacob Davis was sworn in and will be starting next week. There is another part time officer who will take his testing next week and then will schedule his swearing in. The department was awarded $1000 grant from Hardin County Community Foundation to be used for National Night Out. A planning meeting will he held soon.

Fire Chief: None

Ambulance Board: None

Service: Met on 5/11/26. Discussed the issues with compost pile. Residents have not been returning the afterhours key. J. Rinehammer will look into installing cameras at the compost. At this time, the compost pile will only be available during business hours. Residents will continue to sign out the key. We will no longer be accepting concrete. J. Rinehammer will work on an update to send to the community.

Water meter for pools will have a stricter policy in place. A sign out form will be completed and will instate a $250 fine if the meter is not returned.

Rinehammer will have all equipment that can be sold on Gov Deals by end of June 2026.

Seasonal worker resigned. A full-time employee has accepted the seasonal position. J. Rinehammer is now in the process of hiring a full-time worker.

J. Rinehammer is looking into purchase of a vehicle or repairing the broken-down vehicle, He is obtaining quotes.

Committee discussed RITA and how they collect fees and enforcement of non-filers/payers of Forest Income Tax.

Administrator:

Water — Continue to work on the Well project, Layne Corp will now be doing most of the work, waiting on their estimate, Choice One will still be working on this and will do the bidding for us once this is ready.

Sewer – Heard back from Husted’s office and they will not be funding the project, have not heard from any of the others.

Streets – Choice One sent their quote to bid and do the construction plans for the street project, this came out to $18,010. Will continue to patch roads. New U-turn signs have been placed downtown, new speed limit signs have been placed on North Gormley Street.

Park – The Seasonal guy quit, Levi will be transitioning to seasonal position on 6/1/26. Bought new freezer for all-weather pavilion. Bought material to fix a broken see-saw. Splash pad had been put together and will be painted soon, mushroom piece was damaged. Will be looking for grants next year to fix ball field fencing and lighting.

Admin – Working with Brenda to process and investigate inactive delinquent utility accounts so we can also move water deposits and collect debt with the assistance from the auditor. Posted for service
employee opening.

Park Board: Update from 5/11/26 meeting was given. Splash Pad will open on 5/22/26. J. Rinehammer has been given a list of projects that need completed. Park Board is moving forward with work being completed on open air pavilions and pump house. Park Board approved placement of a wooden bench to be placed by a family by the all-weather pavilion. Next meeting is 5/26/26 @ 9am at the park.

Market Square: None

CIC: None

Business/Industrial Development: None

Zoning and Planning: Have a meeting scheduled for 5/18/26 @ 6:45pm.

Human Resources/Ethics: Have a meeting scheduled for 5/26/26 @ 5pm.

Tree Commission: None

Village Solicitor: Solicitor has reviewed the loan application for lagoon project and all looked fine. Has been working with Mayor on abatement properties. Will follow up with J. Rinehammer to complete some changes with the tall grass/nuisance ordinance, sent documents for review for loan for lagoon project all looks fine and will paperwork.

Fiscal Officer: Received the funding from Nature Works Grant. Continuing to work on increasing Muni Link account registrations. Reminder that all committees need to submit minutes to Fiscal Officer. Training information has been sent out and reminder was given to have these completed as soon as possible. The Village of Forest was selected to complete Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics Program thru ODES. Fiscal Officer is working on completing the documents. Fiscal Officer has been working with Ohio Water Development Authority and Wessler Engineering on loan process. Weekly newsletter information will be sent out again to explain in more detail the process. Residents have been signing up, but many have not verified their email to complete the process.

D. Moore moved to adjourn meeting. V. Mullholand seconded. Vole: 5 yeas, 0 nays, Meeting adjourned at 7:51pm.