CITY OF PICKERINGTON

                                             SAFETY COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL

                                             CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD

                                                  MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2005

                                                                      7:30 P.M.

 

                                                 REGULAR MEETING AGENDA

 

1.         ROLL CALL.  Mr. Wisniewski called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M. with Mrs. Riggs, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mr. Sabatino present. No members were absent.  Others present were:  Judy Gilleland, Lynda Yartin, Chief Mike Taylor, Steve Carr, Ed Drobina, Paul Lane, Cristie Hammond, Jeff Fix, Keith Smith, Mike Stacey, Ted Hackworth, Ira Weiss, and others. 

 

2.         A.        APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF October 3, 2005, Regular Meeting.  Mrs. Riggs moved to approve; Mr. Wisniewski seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino voting “Nay,” and Mr. Wisniewski and Mrs. Riggs voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 2-1.        

 

            B.         APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF November 7, 2005, Regular Meeting.  Mrs. Riggs moved to approve; Mr. Wisniewski seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino voting “Nay,” and Mr. Wisniewski and Mrs. Riggs voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 2-1. 

 

3.         DEPARTMENT REPORTS:

 

A.        Parks and Recreation.

 

(1)        Director’s Report.  Mr. Carr stated he had provided a written report and he would be happy to answer any questions.   

 

                                    a.         Parks Master Plan.  Mr. Carr stated on December 1st, 998 random citizen surveys were mailed out and 28 responses have been received as of today. 

 

                                                1.         Joint Parks District – Update.  Mr. Carr stated he had nothing new to report this evening.         

 

                                    b.         NatureWorks Grant Project.  Mr. Carr stated he had no report this evening.    

 

                                    c.         Sycamore Park Tennis Court Repair Project – Update.  Mr. Carr stated he had no further update this evening.  

 

                                    d.         Violet Festival Board – Update.  Ms Gilleland stated she would like to invite both the Violet Festival Board and the Olde Pickerington Village Business Association (OPVBA) to the Safety Committee meeting in January to talk with the Committee about their plans for the upcoming year.  She stated the OPVBA has expressed dissatisfaction with their budget being cut; they had requested $10,000 and we included $5,000 in the annual budget, but put $2,500 of that on the contingency list.  Mr. Wisniewski stated that would be a good idea to have them at the next meeting. 

 

                                    e.         Review and request for motion to authorize the City Manager to submit an application to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for 2006 NatureWorks funding.  Mr. Carr stated this was his annual request to authorize the City Manager to submit an application for NatureWorks funding.  He stated he would guess there would be about $13,000 available for all of Fairfield County and that would allow us to submit a project in the $20,000 to $25,000 range.  He further stated this has been budgeted for in the CIP.  Mr. Wisniewski moved to forward the appropriate legislation to Council; Mrs. Riggs seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Riggs, and Mr. Sabatino voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 3-0.  

 

Mr. Wisniewski stated Mr. Weiss was present this evening to address the Committee regarding walking trails in the area.  Mr. Weiss stated he had attended the meeting regarding the Parks Master Plan at the last Parks Board meeting and as President of the Fairfield Heritage Trail Association he is very supportive of trails.  Mr. Weiss stated it is very important that the walking trails and bike paths be accessible to the residents, and the handout he had prepared for the Committee provided ideas of possible trail plans for Pickerington and Violet Township and spoke about things that should be connected as trails are developed.  Mr. Weiss stated this connectivity is very important as areas develop.  Ms Gilleland stated Mr. Weiss had also provided this handout to Mr. Edsall and the Parks and Recreation Board.  Mr. Wisniewski stated he would like to thank Mr. Weiss for being involved in this process. 

 

            B.         Building Operations:  Mr. Wisniewski clarified as soon as the City Hall property is rezoned we will be going out for bids on the addition.      

 

            C.        Service Department: 

 

                        (1)        Traffic Engineer

                                    a.         Review of recommended speed limit on Hill Road South.  Ms Gilleland stated she met with Bill Yaple of Violet Township and spoke with him about annexing the roadway to get this taken care of.  She stated the Township wanted to talk with the County about this issue and he had hoped to get back with her before today, but she has not heard from him as yet.  She stated she hoped within the next week or so we may see some movement on this issue. 

 

            D.        Code Enforcement:  Ms Gilleland stated there was no report this evening.  

 

            E.         Building Regulations Department – Update.  Ms Gilleland stated Paul Lane, our Inspections Administrator, and Mr. Mike Stacy were present to address the Committee this evening.  She stated Mr. Stacy is a contractual employee and is our Plans Examiner and Chief Building Official.   Paul Lane stated as the Committee is aware, the impact fees went into effect on Thursday, December 1st.  He stated Mr. Stacy did some plan reviews this past weekend and we will be receiving those plans tomorrow.   He stated further those individual builders will be contacted to let them know what their fees are and what plans are ready for pick-up.  Mr. Lane further stated with these first permits, the building department will be collecting the following impact fees:  $2,904 for government facilities, $4,224 for street fees, $4,332 for police facilities, and $9,360 for parks and recreation, for a grand total of $20,820 for six residential permits.  Ms Gilleland stated she would like to thank all the hard work the staff has put in getting the impact fee program implemented.  Mr. Mike Stacy stated he had put together a report for the month of November that had been distributed to the Committee this evening.  He stated the information was broken out between residential and commercial, and at the end of November there were 26 residential plans still awaiting review, and for commercial there were eight plans still waiting for review.  Mr. Stacy stated the larger commercial projects he is looking at right now include Giant Eagle, three office condominiums at Windmiller Square west of the Credit Union, and the Kroger expansion should submit plans later this week. 

 

5.         POLICE:   

 

            A.        Chief’s Report.  Chief Taylor stated his report had been distributed and he would answer any questions.  Chief Taylor stated the Department had participated as an evaluator in an Emergency Operations Center exercise conducted by the Fairfield County Office of Emergency Management Homeland Security. 

 

6.         CHAIRMAN.   Mr. Wisniewski stated he had nothing to bring forward. 

 

7.         OTHER BUSINESS. 

 

            A.        Review and discussion regarding reconsideration request for lighting curfew extension at PYAA baseball fields.  Mr. Wisniewski stated after reviewing the legislation that was adopted in December 1999, the lighting curfew was set at 11:00 P.M. for Fields 1, 2, 3, and 4.  He stated the request by PYAA was for an 11:00 P.M. curfew and as that is already in effect he felt this item could be removed from the agenda.  Mr. Wisniewski requested PYAA be notified they do have an 11:00 P.M. curfew on Fields 1, 2, 3, and 4, and ensure that was what their request was for.  Mr. Wisniewski further inquired if there has been any movement on setting up a meeting with PYAA and PYSA to try and resolve the access issue off of S.R. 256.  Ms Gilleland stated she has been working to get the meeting scheduled and she hoped it would be set within the next week or so.  Mr. Wisniewski requested he be notified when that meeting has been scheduled.   

 

Mr. Wisniewski stated a resident in the old downtown who has a lot of concerns about safety has contacted him.  He stated people seem to be using the alleys as a cut through to avoid the traffic signal at the intersection.  Mr. Wisniewski stated he would like to have someone talk to the residents that live along the alleys to see what their feelings would be about making the alleys one-way.  He stated he would also like to investigate the possibility of making Cross Street one-way and see if this might take care of some of the speeding and other traffic issues in that area.  Ms Gilleland stated she agreed that speeding is a problem in the old downtown area and she would look into this and get back to the Committee.  

 

8.         ADJOURNMENT.  There being nothing further, Mr. Wisniewski moved to adjourn; Mrs. Riggs seconded the motion.  Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Riggs, and Mr. Sabatino voted “Aye.”  Motion carried, 3-0.  The Safety Committee meeting adjourned at 8:00 P.M., December 5, 2005. 

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

 

 

________________________________

Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk