CENTERBURG — Centerburg residents could see gas and electric aggregation programs on their ballot in November’s General Election.
Council members gave a first reading on Monday to legislation establishing an aggregation program for both utilities.
Village Administrator Rick Dzik said he and Mayor Greg Myers have discussed how to relieve costs of services to village residents.
They feel one way is to adopt aggregation programs.
“What that means is that we bundle our entire population, and we go out to the market and see if we can get better electric or natural gas rates for our population,” Dzik said.
“If the voters approve the aggregation, they’re automatically opted into the program. But they’re not stuck to it.”
Residents can opt out of the programs at any time. They can also join at any time, although they could incur a penalty from their supplier if they leave and join the aggregation program.
“Generally, what we find is that you’re paying less for natural gas and electric for an aggregation program,” Dzik said.
He acknowledged that consumers need to pay attention to rates to determine whether to stay in an aggregation program or opt out.
“If at some point our contract got more expensive than the aggregation or the typical utility, everybody in the village could call and go ‘I want out.’ They have to let them out,” he said.
Dzik is working with Palmer Energy, an energy consultant who works with the County Commissioners Association and the Ohio Municipal League.
Group buying power
The Knox County Board of Commissioners has aggregation programs for its county buildings. Fredericktown and Mount Vernon also aggregated their gas and electric.
The council must pass legislation by August to get on the November ballot. Voters have the ultimate say.
Meyers noted aggregation is a chance to “get in a groove where you have some leverage.”
Dzik said that according to Palmer Energy, a potential downside to aggregation is that bids are not as good as the market rate.
If that happens, Palmer would recommend the village not aggregate.
“Even though we’re allowed to participate in a purchase and aggregation program, we don’t have to just because we passed [legislation],” Dzik said.
Realistically, he said, it would be up to the county commissioners because the village, along with other municipalities, can cede authority and allow the county to oversee the aggregation programs.
“The bigger group you have, the better prices you get. So they’re trying to aggregate as many communities in the county as they can to get us the best rate possible,” Dzik said.
Council members OK grant applications
Council members waived the three readings and adopted two resolutions authorizing the village to file for grants. Both resolutions carry the emergency clause.
A NatureWorks grant through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources will go toward the trail head projects in Memorial Park and downtown.
Each year, ODNR authorizes Knox County between $30,000 and $40,000 in NatureWorks grant money. Municipalities typically rotate which one applies for the grant.
The grant applications require completed plans.
“We will be, as far as I understand, the only village applying for this grant, which means we should get the full allocation,” Dzik said.
“The trail head’s the only thing we have stamped formal plans for right now, which is good because we’ve been trying to gather all of the financial resources for that this year. It really just worked out in alignment and none of the other villages were really ready to go for this.”
A FEMA grant through the Ohio Emergency Management Agency will help offset costs of completing the comprehensive plan.
Dzik plans to apply for $145,000 to cover planning activities related to building code enforcement, permitting software, land use, and zoning.
Council takes other legislative action
Council members waived the three readings and passed three pieces of legislation carrying the emergency clause.
They accepted Mid Ohio Paving’s bid of $78,870 to resurface North Clayton Street.
The council adopted revised 2026 appropriations. Fund transfers include paying for camera upgrades and covering liability insurance.
Funds for paving Clayton Street ($78,870) and banners ($1,500) comes from $1.5 million in unappropriated money.
Nine thousand for park events and DORA-related matters comes from fundraising revenue.
Council members also approved acquiring property, casualty, and general liability insurance for the village. The legislation included the emergency clause because the current contract expired on May 4.
Dzik said the village is considering increasing its cyber security insurance to $1 million, adding an officials’ faithful performance policy to eliminate the need for bonds on the mayor and fiscal officer, and a liability policy that covers entities who participate in events in the Between the Bricks green space.
Additional actions
Council members adopted three pieces of legislation on the third reading:
• Creating a Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area (DORA).
• Adopting a cyber security program for the village (state-mandated to adopt policy by July 31).
• Updating building and zoning fees. Councilman Daniel Hardwick favored increasing significantly the price per square foot for a new home build.
Dzik will ask zoning administrator Jon Merriman to compare recouping costs via impact fees vs. a New Community Authority.
He said the intent of updating the fees is to capture what it costs staff to complete the work.
• Gave a first reading to legislation authorizing Dzik to bid for single-source trash hauling and recycling for one-, two-, and three-year terms.
“The theory behind it is if we were to go with a single-source trash caller, generally the rates for most of the village could go down. We could reduce the number of vehicles on the road, and we could have a standard pickup day for the village,” Dzik explained.
Central Ohio Joint Fire District Chief Mark McCann presented run volumes between 2018 and 2025.
