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Schedule of Monthly Meetings

Council Meetings: 1st and 3rd Tuesday of month 7:30 PM unless otherwise noted.  Planning Commission and or Board of Zoning Appeal meet 3rd Tuesday when scheduled.

Upcoming Village Council Meetings;

June 16, 2020 at the Community Room – Novak Rd.

Council Members

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GRAFTON COUNCIL PRESIDENT

Matthew Dukles
Ward 1Matthew (‘Matt’) Dukles is currently serving in his third term on Village Council being first elected to office in 2009 and reelected in 2013 and 2017, representing all the residents of Ward 1.  On March 12, 2019, Councilman Dukles was unanimously selected by his peers to serve as COUNCIL PRESIDENT. Matt is a long-time Grafton business owner and proponent of downtown business sustainability and community reinvestment.  With that, Councilman Dukles has supported and encourage infrastructure reinvestment and revitalization projects throughout Grafton.  Additionally, Councilman Dukles has taken up the cause for re-purposing equipment and decommissioned assets of the Village no longer utilized by Village departments, listing the assets for public auction, primarily on GovDeal (a governmental auction site).  Matt’s efforts in this program has returned more than $200,000.00 to the Village General Fund and vairous departments over the past eight and a half years.

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Council-at-Large

Tim Strah

Councilman Tim Strah was appointed to the position of Grafton Village Council-at Large on October 16, 2018.

For the past 38 years Tim and his wife Darla have called Grafton home.  They raised 3 children and are active in the community.  Tim has served Grafton as a Volunteer Fireman.  Tim is an active member of Our Lady Queen of Peace serving on the finance council and is involved with the Helping Hands Ministry.  Tim has recently served on the Mayor’s 2018 Charter Review Commission.  Tim hopes that his work knowledge and experience as a Lead Maintenance Mechanic will provide insight that will be beneficial to the Village.

Councilman Strah stated, “I see my efforts here on the Village Council as a continuation of my love for Grafton through community service.”

Councilman Strah’s platform for his first term to council:

• Assure the Village of Grafton remains fiscally responsible to its residents.
• Continue strategic efforts regarding an aging infrastructure and the projects that are designed to address all infrastructure needs.
• Seek way to improve the Village Parks and Recreation.
• Support economic development programs and opportunities benefiting Grafton.
• Continue a legacy of community volunteerism through public service.

Councilman Strah’s term runs through December 2021.

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RICK LOGUE

WARD 3

Rick Logue was appointed to Council on April 4th, 2019 and elected to Council Ward 3 on November 5, 2019 (a 4-year term).  Rick Louge has been a resident of Grafton since 1975. Rick graduated from Elyria High School in 1966 and joined the U.S. Navy that summer. He spent three years in the Navy, including a year in the Vietnam War as an aircraft controller. After his service, he worked as an aircraft controller for the Federal Aviation Administration at the Oberlin Air Traffic Control Center from 1970 to 2002.

Rick Louge has served on the Board of Zoning Appeals and has served as a volunteer with the Fire Department and EMT. He also volunteered in the community as a bowling and football coach for youths.

From 2007 to 2010, he served as the commander of Grafton Veterans of Foreign Wars and in 2016, he returned as commander. Rick states his Grafton accomplishments include working with officers of the Grafton VFW to eliminate 100 percent of the organization debt. Rick’s  experience and general knowledge of the area made him Mayor DiVencenzo’s choice to appoint the prior vacancy to the Ward 3 council seat..

“I moved to Grafton because it was a small, friendly, growing community and I would like to continue the progress the village has made to stay that way.”  ~Rick Logue~ April 2019

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Lynette Kitts
Ward 4Lynette Kitts is serving her first term on Village Council being elected to office in 2015 representing the residents of Ward 4 and reelected to a second 4-year term November 5, 2019. Many know Councilperson Kitts simply as “Lynette”, who has faithfully delivered their mail here in Grafton while working for the United States Postal Service for the past 26-years.  Lynette championed the funding of the “downtown beautification floral program” in 2017 where she worked personally with a local manufacture to design brackets that would attach to the existing ornamental light polls and worked with a local grower to design the flower arrangements all enjoyed in 2017.  Because of her efforts in 2017, the “downtown beautification floral program” continues to this day.___________________________________________________________________________

Elizabeth (Liz) Sauer
Ward 2Elizabeth (Liz) Sauer is currently serving in her second term on Village Council being first elected to office in 2013 and reelected in 2017, representing the residents of Ward 2. Liz is and remains an active member in the Grafton community, recently serving as council’s representative to the 2017 Bicentennial Committee.  Liz played a pivotal part in many Bicentennial events including the development of Bicentennial Park at the corner of Main St and Mechanic St.  When grant-funding for the development was unsuccessful, Councilperson Sauer lead the effort to create and manage village funding for the park development.  Her efforts with the support of her colleagues on Council, provided funding allocations that not only supported funding for Bicentennial Park, it allowed the administration to design and complete the project on-time and at less than 50% of engineering’s original cost-to-construct estimate.  Bicentennial Park was dedicated on July 1, 2017.

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Village of Grafton – Charter

ARTICLE IV
THE COUNCIL

Section 4.  Duties of Council

All legislative powers of the Municipality, except as limited by this Charter and the Constitution of the State of Ohio, shall be vested in the Council, and in furtherance thereof, but without limitation thereto, it shall:

(a)   Originate, introduce and pass ordinances and adopt resolutions;

(b)   Fix the salaries of all officers and employees of the Municipality, whether elected or appointed;

(c)   Require and fix bond for the faithful discharge of the duties of office by officers and employees, the premium for which bond may be ordered by the Council to be paid by the Municipality;

(d)   Formulate and adopt a budget;

(e)   Provide for a bi-annual financial audit by the State;

(f)   Authorize the issuance of bonds under the laws of the State of Ohio;

(g)   Perform such other duties and exercise such other rights not inconsistent with this Charter as now or hereafter granted to the legislative authority of municipalities by the State of Ohio.

(Amended 11-6-84)

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Amy Barnhart
Clerk-TreasurerAmy Barnhart is serving in her first term as Clerk-Treasurer of the Village of Grafton.  Amy is a 30-year member of the Grafton community and after serving 25-years in the banking industry, Amy sought and was elected to serve as Grafton’s Clerk Treasurer in 2015, reelected to a second 4-year term November 5, 2019. The Clerk-Treasurer position bears several primary and secondary responsibilities including managing municipal finances, public records, managing employee benefits and budget funding management to mention a few.  Amy served on the 2016 Bicentennial Ball Committee.  Amy serves along side with the Village Administration and is actively involved with the Administrations contract negotiations and plays a vital role establishing project funding and project financing on all public-works projects.

Village of Grafton – Charter

ARTICLE V
THE CLERK-TREASURER

Section 2.  Duties

The Clerk-Treasurer is the fiscal officer of the Municipality, the Clerk of the Municipality and the Clerk of the Council.

Specifically, his or her duties are to:

(a)   Demand and receive from the County Treasurer taxes, levies and assessments made and certified to the County Auditor by the Council and placed on the tax list by such Auditor for collection. He or she shall also demand and receive moneys from persons authorized to collect or required to pay them from judgments, fines, penalties, forfeitures, licenses, court costs and debts due the Municipality;

(b)   Disburse the funds of the Municipality on the order of the Council;

(c)   Keep an accurate account of all moneys received by him or her, showing the amount thereof, the time received, from whom and on what account received;

(d)   Keep an accurate account of all disbursements made by him or her, showing the amount thereof, the time made, to whom and on what account paid;

(e)   So arrange his or her books that the amounts received and paid on account of separate funds or specified apportionments shall be exhibited in separate accounts;

(f)   Settle and account with the Council at such regular intervals as may be required by the Council. At the first regular meeting of the Council in January in each year, the Clerk-Treasurer shall report to the Council the condition of the finances of the Municipality, the amount received by him or her, the sources of such receipts, the disbursements made by him or her and on what account during the year preceding. Such account shall exhibit the balance of each fund in his or her hands at the end of the year.

(g)   Attend all meetings of Council and keep the official record of all proceedings, rules, by-laws, resolutions and ordinances passed or adopted; and

   (h)   Perform such other duties as are required by any ordinance of the Municipality consistent with his or her office.

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