Valley View council ratifies contract summaries, fixes permit fee and approves ODOT bridge grant

The Valley View Village Council on Dec. 22 ratified executive summaries of three labor agreements for village service workers, police and firefighters and authorized the mayor to proceed with final contracts, approved several budget and fund-closing ordinances, corrected a long-standing building-permit fee error and agreed to pursue an ODOT-funded bridge replacement.

Council members opened the special meeting at 2:07 p.m. and took roll. The meeting listed three ordinances on first reading to authorize the mayor to enter contracts with full-time service-division workers, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 67 (Valley View Division) and AFF Local 2634 (Valley View firefighters). Council was given executive summaries of the agreements and a staff presenter said final contract documents would be prepared by attorneys for subsequent review and formal passage.

Council discussed key terms summarized in the materials, including changes to how employee insurance premiums will be handled and modest adjustments to pay and leave provisions. Council members pressed staff on affordability; staff said they had calculated the fiscal impact but did not provide an exact dollar total during the meeting. After discussion, council moved to ratify the summaries and to authorize the mayor to sign the final agreements once they are prepared; the motion carried on recorded votes.

The council also moved several housekeeping fiscal actions: it adopted temporary appropriations for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026; closed Fund 206 (American Rescue Plan/FRF) and Fund 706 (flower fund); and approved a memorandum of understanding with the county board of health. All votes were recorded as affirmative by the members present.

Council corrected an apparent clerical error in the village code for building permit fees. Officials said the ordinance simply updates ordinance text so the code reflects the $75 fee staff has been charging for several years, replacing an older $35 figure that remained in the published code due to a drafting/processing error. The council suspended rules and passed the correction on final reading.

On infrastructure, council approved a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter a Local Public Agency (LPA) agreement with the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) to replace the Fazduk Road bridge over the Erie & Ohio Canal. Mr. Cristiano, who spoke to the council about the project, said the village secured a grant that will fund 90% of construction costs and that the award is in excess of $1.9 million. "This is a municipal bridge that we own. We were able to get a grant to have it replaced at a 90/10 split — they're funding 90% of the cost on the construction," Mr. Cristiano said. The council suspended the rules and passed the resolution.

Council followed with a separate resolution authorizing the mayor to negotiate necessary agreements and easements for the bridge right-of-way. A council representative explained three affected property interests: one parcel where the state agency (transcribed as ODNR) will be subject to a lease; a parcel to be donated by Cleveland Metroparks; and a parcel from Valley View Holdings (the transcript references a local/Dallad company) that was offered as a donation to avoid ODOT-required appraisals. The speaker said typical appraisals for property required by ODOT cost between $10,000 and $20,000 each and that donations would speed the acquisition timeline. The council passed the easement-resolution votes.

With business concluded, council moved into executive session to discuss employee personnel matters.

What happens next: staff will deliver the final, attorney-drafted labor contracts to council for review before formal adoption; right-of-way documents and formal agreements for the bridge replacement will proceed under ODOT timelines and the village's LPA requirements.