Forest Village Council – September 10, 2026

Village of Forest Council met in regular session on September 10, 2026 at 7:00 PM in Council Chambers.

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

Attendance:

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

M. Dickinson requested to be excused for Council Meeting scheduled on 9/24/26. S. Hankins moved to excuse the absence. D. Moore seconded. Vote: 5 yeas, 0 nays, M. Dickinson abstained. Absence excused.

S. Hankins requested to be excused for Council Meeting scheduled on 10/22/26. V. Mullholand moved to excuse the absence. L. Perkins seconded. Vote: 5 yeas, 0 nays, S. Hankins abstained. Absence excused.

Village Announcements: None

Approval of Agenda for September 10, 2026: J. Moore moved to approve agenda for 9/10/26 meeting. D. Moore seconded. Vote: 6 yeas, 0 nays. Agenda approved.

Approval/Corrections of Minutes: V. Mullholand moved to approve minutes from 8/27/26 Council Meeting. L. Perkins seconded. Vote: 6 yeas, 0 nays. Minutes approved.

V. Mullholand moved to approve minutes from 8/13/26 Council Meeting. D. Moore seconded. Vote: 5 yeas, 0 nays, S. Hankins abstained. Minutes approved.

Bills: D. Moore moved to approve the payment of bills. V. Mullholand seconded. Vote: 6 yeas, 0 nays. Payment of bills approved.

Citizens’ Comments and Guest Presentations: None

Old Business: None

New Business: None

Committee Reports

Mayor: Portion of West Gage Street was tarred and chipped recently. This was at no cost to the Village of Forest. A thank you to the County Engineer was given.

Finance/Audit: Committee met today and signed purchase orders and reviewed bills/ finances. Final Audit results will be forthcoming. Currently, the Village is working with Mark Doll for a grant opportunity to focus on Railroad Street area. The Village of Forest is being asked to pay $34,224.52 of a street project. This is 11% of the total project cost. J. Moore moved to approve the Village of Forest to agree to 11% payment of the street project. S. Hankins seconded. Vote: 6 yeas, 0 nays. Village of Forest approved to contribute 11% of the project cost.

Safety: Committee needs to reschedule meeting.

Police Chief: Chief Kromer gave monthly statistics. The department in August 2026, had 26 traffic citations and 12 criminal. The Auxiliary donated 19.5 hours. Part-Time Officers worked 177.5 hours.

Fire Chief: None

Ambulance Board: None

Service: Update from 8/31/26 meeting was given. Alley improvements were discussed. Looking into options for disposal companies for a Village clean-up event. Fiscal Officer will check with Rumpke to see if other providers are able to be used per our contract.

Administrator: Interim Administrator Jamie Davis advised he has been working on cleaning up some open projects/issues. There was a leak on Fassig Street which has been resolved. Maintenance will be flushing hydrants next week. Payment was received for the damaged fire hydrant and will get replaced. Only 8 water meters are in stock. They have not heard anything back from Sensus regarding the replacement meters that were under warranty. Jamie updated on the Neptune meter pilot project. He is working on leaf pick up plan for the year and will present once it is finalized. Compost pile is still able to be used, but still need to obtain a key during business hours. The compost pile is still not accepting concrete. The Service Committee will discuss more hours of opening at next meeting. Jamie has a meeting with Bee Safe Security to discuss cameras at maintenance building, water plant, park and compost area.

Park Board: Mowing and weeding continue to be completed. Next meeting is scheduled for 9/21/26 @ 6:30pm.

Market Square: None

CIC: None

Business/Industrial Development: Will be meeting on 9/17/26 @ 5pm.

Zoning and Planning: Committee needs to reschedule meeting.

Human Resources/Ethics: Committee is scheduled to meet on 9/17/26 @ 5:45pm.

Tree Commission: Mayor Hastings advised that the committee needs to schedule a meeting to create a tree plan to present to Council.

Village Solicitor: Solicitor Seeley discussed the open projects he has been working on. He has some employee matters that he should have updates next week for review. He is working with Mayor Hastings on priority list of abatements.

Fiscal Officer: Working on 2027 Appropriations. A meeting is scheduled for 9/11/26 with Wessler and EPA to discuss projects and compliance. Final Audit results should be forthcoming.

V. Mullholand moved to adjourn meeting. D. Moore seconded. Vote: 6 yeas, 0 nays, Meeting adjourned at 7:32pm.

Brenda Kromer, Fiscal Officer Val Mullholand, Council President

Approved: 9/24/26