CITY OF PICKERINGTON

                                             SAFETY COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL

                                               CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD

                                                         MONDAY, MAY 5, 2003

                                                                      7:30 P.M.

 

                                                 REGULAR MEETING AGENDA

 

1.         ROLL CALL.  Mr. Fox called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M. with Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Riggs, and Mr. Fox present. No members were absent.  Others present were:  Councilman Wright, Councilman Maxey, Joyce Bushman, Lynda Yartin, Chief Mike Taylor, Steve Carr, Frank Wiseman, and others. 

 

2.         APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF April 7, 2003, Regular Meeting.  Mr. Sabatino moved to approve; Mr. Fox seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mrs. Riggs, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Sabatino voting "Yea."  Motion passed, 3-0.

 

3.         PRESENTATION ON CITY OF PICKERINGTON AND SELF-DETERMINATION BY CHRISTINE BROWN.  Mr. Fox stated Ms. Brown was unable to attend this evening. 

 

4.         DEPARTMENT REPORTS:

 

A.        Parks and Recreation.

 

(1)        Reports

a.         Parks and Recreation Board Council Representative Report  (Mrs. Riggs). Mrs. Riggs stated she had attended her first Parks Board meeting and it was very informative.  Mrs. Riggs stated Mr. Carr would brief on several items later on the agenda. 

 

(2)        Gazebo Park Landscaping Project - Update.  Mr. Carr stated the new sod has been installed and annuals will be planted later this month.  He stated that will complete this project. 

            (3)        Review and discussion regarding the Parks Master Plan.  (TABLE, 7-01-02)  Mr. Carr stated staff has been meeting weekly and they are still in the information gathering stages.  He stated they will be meeting with a representative of Metro Parks to discuss linking future bike paths with Pickerington Ponds, Blacklick, and Three Rivers Metro Parks.  Mr. Fox asked if this Committee could receive a written status report with their packets each month.  Mrs. Bushman stated that would not be a problem. 

 

(4)               Skate Park Project

                        a.         Review and request for motion to authorize acceptance of bid for purchase of equipment.  Mr. Carr stated he is still reviewing the modular equipment proposals and Stilson is preparing bid specifications for the concrete pad.  Mr. Fox asked if the Committee would have a recommendation on the equipment at the next meeting and Mr. Carr stated he thought that could be done.  Mr. Fox further clarified we are looking at having the project completed by late summer or early fall. 

 

            (5)        Handicap Garden – Update.  Mr. Carr stated that R. D. Zande is working up cost estimates at this point.  Mr. Sabatino clarified once we receive the cost estimates they will be submitted to this Committee along with more detailed plans, and a request for approval to proceed with this project.  Mr. Carr stated he was not sure if we would have all the estimates by the next meeting, but he hoped we could get this done this summer.  Mr. Carr further stated they are looking to apply for a grant for funding of the fishing pier part of the project, so that would more or less be the second phase of the project.

 

B.                 COMMUNITY OUTREACH:

 

            (1)        Violet Festival Board Report.  Mr. Carr stated Ms. Whittington was not present this evening and did not provide a report. 

 

            (2)        Olde Pickerington Village Business Association Report.  Mr. Carr stated they are proceeding with their Friday Shoppe Hops, and their schedule is listed in the Parks and Recreation Spring Brochure that he had distributed this evening. 

 

C.        Building Operations:  No Report. 

 

D.        Streets:

 

            (1)        Tree Commission.  Mr. Wiseman stated the Arbor Day ceremony went very well and there was a very nice turnout.  Mr. Wiseman stated the street tree planting started this week and they will plant 350 trees within the next few weeks. 

 

E.         Code Enforcement:

 

            (1)        Nuisance Abatement Board.  Mr. Sabatino stated he had a question on the empty sign frame on Columbus Street.  Mrs. Bushman clarified Mr. Sabatino was referring to the sign where the old pool hall used to be, and she stated the City has written orders on that sign on several occasions, it has just not been followed through in the courts.  She stated she would ensure our law director follows through on this issue.  Mr. Sabatino stated with things going on in the downtown area he thought it would be a good idea to get this taken care of.  Mrs. Bushman stated she would provide Mr. Sabatino with copies of the orders and the history on the sign and we would proceed with legal action.  Mr. Sabatino stated he had nothing further this evening. 

 

            (2)        Weather Alert Monitors – Update.  Mr. Fox stated he felt the weather alert monitors could be removed from the agenda, however, this item also dealt with the issue of tornado sirens.  Mrs. Bushman stated Chief Fuller had been working on this and Chief Taylor has picked up on it.  She stated we made a commitment to do this project last year, there were just some funding issues.  Mrs. Bushman stated she hoped to have some information by the next meeting.  Mr. Fox stated he would like to have Tornado Sirens added as an agenda item.  Mr. Wiseman stated he would work with Chief Taylor on this project as well.  Mrs. Bushman stated the biggest issue would be how we would handle this from a budgetary standpoint. 

 

            (3)        Containment of Developer Trash.  Mrs. Bushman stated the building department has been on the developers and there have been several discussions with the builders.  Mr. Wright stated the one property that had the problem on Diley Road has been cleaned up.  Mr. Wiseman stated the building department did handle that.  Mr. Fox stated he would like to keep this item on the agenda through the summer at least.  Mrs. Bushman stated she had a meeting today with the railroad and we are going to get them to clean up the two railroad crossings where they left railroad ties, piles of asphalt, etc. 

 

4.         POLICE:

 

A.        Chief’s Report.  Chief Taylor stated his report had been distributed and he would answer any questions.  He further stated the department had a lot of complaints about the truck that was selling furniture door to door as late as 8:00 P.M., and he has addressed that problem.  Chief Taylor stated the date for the Open House at the new facility is tentatively set for May 18th, and he will confirm that in the next few days. 

 

            (1)        Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance authorizing the City Manager to enter into an agreement with Pickerington Local School District for extraordinary police services. Chief Taylor stated a draft contract and ordinance had been provided to the Committee.  Mr. Sabatino stated it appeared this would just be replacing the contract that will be expiring.  Chief Taylor stated that was correct, the main change would be that the annual four percent increase has been included.  Mr. Sabatino moved to approve and recommend approval from Council; Mrs. Riggs seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Fox, Mr. Sabatino, and Mrs. Riggs voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0. 

 

            (2)        Review and request for motion to approve draft resolution authorizing the Police Department to apply for the 2003-2004 school year DARE Grant.  Chief Taylor stated a draft resolution had been provided to the Committee.  Mrs. Bushman stated the City applies for this grant every year.  Chief Taylor stated he understood in the 2004-2005 cycle the State would remove the funding for the DARE program.  Mr. Sabatino moved to approve and forward to Council; Mrs. Riggs seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Riggs, Mr. Sabatino, and Mr. Fox voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 3-0.  

 

            (3)        Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance authorizing the City Manager to enter into a contract with Fairfield County Board of Commissioners for jail services.  Mr. Fox stated the Committee had received a copy of the contract and draft legislation on this issue and it appeared to be the standard agreement.  Chief Taylor stated it was a two year contract and the cost remains the same.  Mrs. Riggs inquired if we would need to have Fairfield County provide this service as we have a jail in our new facility.  Chief Taylor stated our facility has not been approved as yet by the State.  Mrs. Bushman stated we are still going through the certification process with the State, and Mrs. Riggs inquired what State office we were dealing with.  Chief Taylor stated he was dealing with the state jail inspector.  Mrs. Riggs asked Chief Taylor to let her know what specific office he was dealing with.  Mrs. Bushman stated we are planning on using our facility as an overnight holding facility, however, we must still meet the five-day facility criteria.  Mrs. Riggs clarified we budget each year for this, and we average sending about 10 people a year to the Fairfield County facility.  Mrs. Bushman stated it is much more cost effective for us to use their facility.  Mr. Sabatino moved to approve and forward to Council; Mrs. Riggs seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Fox, and Mrs. Riggs voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 3-0. 

           

B.         Police Facility – Update.  Chief Taylor stated other than the landscaping there are a few minor things that have to be done and the building will be completed.  He stated the landscaping is being held up because the contractor has not completed the grading, and they cannot complete that with the rain that we have been having.  Chief Taylor stated the firing range is operational and he has been qualifying officers during the past week. 

 

            C.        Parade of Homes – Update.  Chief Taylor stated he had met with the BIA today and they have all the special duty and traffic issues almost completely ironed out. 

 

Chief Taylor stated the issue of traffic on East Street was discussed at the last meeting, and he and Mr. Wiseman have discussed this issue.  He stated they have provided some suggestions to the School Superintendent and he will take those suggestions to the School Board on May 12th and get back with the City on possible solutions.  Mr. Fox asked that staff get in touch with Mr. O’Brien who had brought this problem up at Council and let him know what we were doing on this issue. 

 

5.         CHAIRMAN.  

 

            A.        Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance to create Chapter 820 of the Pickerington Codified Ordinances relative to sexually oriented businesses.  Mr. Sabatino stated he understood the law director was going to provide a review on the processing fees to be charged.  Mrs. Bushman stated the law director is not available right now and she does not have that information for the committee this evening.  Mrs. Bushman stated this ordinance does not address tattoo parlors and some municipalities do include that in their legislation.  Mrs. Bushman further stated we have had some calls regarding opening a tattoo parlor.  Mr. Sabatino stated since a tattoo parlor also does body piercing he thought it would be appropriate to include it in our ordinance.  Mr. Fox stated he would like to get this taken care of before our moratorium expires.  Mr. Sabatino stated he would prefer to move it out of Committee contingent upon the amount for the processing fees and tattoo parlors being included.  Mrs. Riggs stated she understood the law director was going to look at the fees charged by other communities.  Mr. Sabatino inquired if staff could conduct a survey and find out what amounts other communities charge and then we could put in a reasonable amount.  Mrs. Bushman stated she could have a survey done and have the law director include language on tattoo parlors.  Mr. Sabatino moved to forward to council contingent upon the processing fees and inclusion of tattoo and body piercing language; Mrs. Riggs seconded the motion. Mr. Fox stated if there were no objections from the Committee he would like to have Mr. Wright sponsor this legislation as he had brought it forward while he was a member of this Committee.  All Committee members concurred.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Riggs, and Mr. Fox voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 3-0.

 

            B.         Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance enacting Section 1478.11 of the Pickerington Codified Ordinances to provide for the preservation of notable structures within the City.  Mr. Sabatino stated he did have some reservations on if there was the possibility we were infringing on property owners rights and on what is historic and what isn’t.  Mr. Fox stated the draft provided does go further than he had intended and he would like to get with the law director on some changes.  Mr. Fox stated he would like to have this item remain on the agenda. 

 

6.         OTHER BUSINESS.  Mr. Sabatino stated he was very pleased to see the “No Left Turn” pavement markings by Burger King, and he questioned if we could do the same thing for the right-in/right-out at the Brookview Shopping Center.  Mrs. Bushman stated that was a good suggestion and she would take care of getting that done.  Mr. Sabatino stated further as you approach the S.R. 256/Tussing Road intersection, going north on S.R. 256, he would like to know if the left turn lane can be extended as that might help with the traffic in that area.  Mrs. Bushman stated that might be an engineering question and she would get with our engineer on that.  She stated the stripping was laid out to meet certain Uniform Traffic Control specifications, but there may be a way we can improve it. 

 

7.         ADJOURNMENT.  There being nothing further, Mr. Sabatino moved to adjourn; Mrs. Riggs seconded the motion.  Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Riggs, and Mr. Fox voted “Aye.”  Motion carried, 3-0.  The Safety Committee meeting adjourned at 8:20 P.M., May 5, 2003. 

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

 

 

________________________________

Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk