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Fort Recovery reviews pool renovation options and warns residents of pending ACH changes
Summary
Council heard staff say the village is pursuing a NatureWorks grant for pool work and reviewed splash‑pad estimates; staff also warned residents that utility ACH processing will transition to Global Payments, which could require re‑enrollment and carry small monthly fees.
Village staff briefed council on two interrelated items that affect residents’ pocketbooks and summertime amenities: utility payment processing changes and pool renovation options.
Jennifer Schoonover, a village staff member, told council that the village’s billing vendor, Muni‑Link, is eliminating in‑house ACH processing and has contracted Global Payments to handle collections. Schoonover said the village currently has about 300 utility accounts on ACH and that staff hope to transfer customer data to Global Payments automatically; if an automatic transfer is not possible, affected customers will need to re‑enroll. She said Global Payments will offer a credit‑card auto‑pay option with a $2 monthly fee and an E‑check option with a $1 monthly fee. Schoonover said the village will include a notice in utility bills and that the change will take effect in mid‑August.
Separately, staff reviewed pool renovation options tied to the NatureWorks grant authorization the council just approved. Aaron Rengers said bids show a recirculating splash‑pad system would cost roughly $791,000 while a domestic (non‑recirculating) system was estimated near $350,000. The village has a $441,000 capital budget grant that can be applied toward a splash pad; staff estimated that operating a domestic system eight hours daily during summer would add about $44,000 in water costs annually, whereas a recirculating system’s chemical costs would be about $11,000. Council members said they had heard rumors the pool would close; Aaron said, "we are not closing the pool."
Staff emphasized they will pursue grant funding and provide residents with notices about payment processing changes; no final contract decisions on pool upgrades were made at the meeting.
