T-L Photo LENNY WITTENBROOK Flushing Village Administrator Kris Chini, from left, is shown with Council President Chuck Nucci and Councilman Tom Bober during the most recent council meeting.

FLUSHING — Village Council last week rescinded the resignation of Village Administrator Kris Chini and welcomed him back aboard while learning that Councilman Tom Bober would be resigning at the end of the year due to his position on council preventing him from receiving his retirement benefits.

It had been reported that Chini had turned in his letter of resignation during an executive session at the November council meeting. During the council meeting held Dec. 19, however, Chini was in his seat with notebook and pen in hand, and council voted unanimously to rescind his resignation.

Mayor Preston Eberhart told Chini, “Welcome back,” while Councilman Dave Coe encouraged him to “come talk to one of us” if he ever had a thought of resigning in the future.

Chini was hired as full-time village administrator in September 2023 despite budgetary concerns since he required a family insurance plan as a condition of his employment and was replacing a village administrator who only worked part time.

During May’s meeting, council discussed the success of Chini and village crews’ efforts in finding and eliminating water leaks throughout the village water system, noting that the village’s April water bill from Belmont County was around $13,000 whereas prior bills had been as much as $24,000 per month.

Meanwhile, Eberhart informed council that a village-owned property on Pearl Street was not big enough to accommodate a new building to store village vehicles and other equipment.

“It’s only 79 feet wide, and we need 100,” Eberhart said, adding that the actual deed had the correct dimensions.

Eberhart then recommended that the village pursue auctioning off that property as well as another on Morristown Street after the first of the year, and council approved beginning that process.

Village officials had been looking to use roughly $16,000 in remaining American Rescue Plan Act funds to help construct a new building to replace the old municipal building, which is suffering from multiple structural issues.

Regarding the ARPA funds, Eberhart said he and Fiscal Officer Jeryl McGaffick had sought quotes for a smaller garage to house the village’s police cruisers and for storing records that could be placed behind the village offices on High Street.

Eberhart said getting the weight of the police cruisers off of the floor of the municipal building garage would be beneficial while seeking a permanent solution for the rest of the village’s equipment.

After a brief discussion, council voted to accept the $25,750 quote from Withrow Contracting for a 24×24-foot building using the remaining ARPA funds first and to pay the remainder from the village gas and oil funds.

Council tentatively approved a new water and sewer agreement with Zion Christian Retreat and Nature Center to accommodate its plans to add 45 new campsites in the coming year.

Chini indicated that the village wastewater plant was fully capable of receiving the additional flow and that the planned expansion was unlikely to cause the flow to exceed the amounts in the current agreement.

Council also approved $275 year-end bonuses for village employees and passed a resolution required to place the village’s 5-mill fire levy renewal on the May ballot.

Meanwhile, resident Ian Schneider addressed council about trash blowing onto his property and about speeding traffic on Pearl Street.