By Megan Alley
Sun staff

The village of Amelia will outsource its general engineering services to Choice One Engineering.

The firm, which is headquartered in Sidney, Ohio, works with a number of municipalities in Clermont County, including the villages of Felicity and Moscow, according to Vice President Matt Hoying, who works out of the firm’s Loveland office.

The Amelia council approved an ordinance to retain the engineering firm for engineering, planning and zoning services during its meeting on May 17.

In conjunction with the ordinance to retain Choice One Engineering, the council also approved an ordinance to eliminate Amelia’s in-house zoning inspector position.

“Our zoning person worked part-time for us, and she actually works for two other municipalities; it’s not like we just eliminated a person who works [with us exclusively],” said Mayor Todd Hart.

Amelia’s agreement with Choice One Engineering is designed to help the village meet increased zoning demands.

“We manage our own stormwater, which is a pretty big to-do, and our zoning inspector did not have all the experience that Choice One Engineering has,” Hart said. “We are a growing community, and if we had a new development coming, our zoning inspector would have to take the retention basin drawings to an engineer to figure out if they were compliant.”

He added, “We thought it would be best to just use one person, a kind of ‘one stop shop’; Choice One Engineering has multiple people in that office to deal with different functions.”

Per the agreement, Choice One Engineering will serve as Amelia’s planning and zoning department. The firm will work with staff and elected officials to perform services as directed, and will get approval from village staff before making any revision to Amelia’s current processes.

Choice One Engineering will send a staff member to work out of Amelia’s administrative offices one day a week.

The firm will review zoning applications, consult with residents and developers to provide interpretations of the village’s zoning codes, review applications to the planning commission and board of zoning appeals, review and suggest revisions to the village’s zoning code and permit applications, maintain and update the village’s zoning map and review complaints related to the enforcement of the zoning code as well as recommend a course of action based on zoning code compliance.

Choice One Engineering will also perform services related to property maintenance and private development.

“We have been in discussions about the ways we felt we could hopefully help Amelia out, not only for the immediate future, but planning out capital improvement projects and development,” Hoying explained. “We want to get a consistent process around, and make it as simple as we can.”

Choice One Engineering will also help Amelia look and apply for grant funding for its community development projects.

The firm’s services will be billed on an hourly rate; Hart expects the village to spend about $6,000 to $9,000 annually.

Amelia has not paid the firm a retainer fee and has not contracted with the firm for any set time; the village is able to terminate the firm’s services at any time.