CITY OF PICKERINGTON

SAFETY COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL

CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD

MONDAY, MAY 7, 2007

7:30 P.M.

REGULAR MEETING

1. ROLL CALL. Mr. Sabatino called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M. with Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Wisniewski and Mrs. Hammond present. Mrs. Riggs was absent. Others present were: Judy Gilleland, Chief Mike Taylor, Steve Carr, Ed Drobina, Brenda VanCleave, Paul Lane, Mike Stacy, Stacey Bashore, Jeff Moneybrake, Gary Wilhelm, Gene Houser, Scott Seaman, and others.

Mr. Sabatino stated if there were no objections, from this meeting forward he would like to address Community Comments for any residents that would like to speak to the Committee.

Mr. Greg Wilhelm stated his son is a freshman at Pickerington Central High School and last Friday there were two Pickerington Police Officers that pulled him out of class while he was taking a test. He stated that the officers, without calling his parents or informing the school, interrogated his son. He continued that one of their neighbors had a marble thrown through their bay window on March 23rd and they filed a police report. He stated that five to six weeks later his son was being questioned about it. He further stated his son has never been in trouble and that he was appalled that two police officers would do that. Mr. Wilhelm stated he felt it was completely unacceptable that no phone calls were placed to them and they were never told. He continued stating he spoke with Sgt. Annis and Principal Kemper regarding the matter and was told by the Principal that the policy of Central was to notify the parents and Sgt. Annis told them it doesn't matter if it was school policy or not, the police do not have to follow that policy. He stated that Principal Kemper did some further checking and told them that was the case. Mr. Wilhelm stated this is not an isolated incident with the police and there have been several complaints called in for 275 McKenzie Drive and with the children that are in that house. He further stated when you check the records you will see there are 40 different reports against that house. He stated he wanted to give the history to show how the Police Department has failed to do their jobs to protect the kids, specifically his child, who has stood up and done the right thing. Mr. Wilhelm stated they are in a position now where they feel grave danger. He stated the children at this house have demonstrated that this will escalate and unfortunately he is told every time he files a report that the juvenile system is wrong and there is not much that can be done. Mr. Wilhelm stated when it comes to protecting our children the proper steps are not being taken. He stated that he has been keeping track of this issue since November and has been taking the steps of going to the parents and then the Police Department, the School System, and now the Safety Committee. Mr. Wilhelm stated a teacher's purse was stolen at the Pickerington Central in November and the student that stole the purse rides the same bus as his son. He stated that when his son got on the bus he saw a purse with it's contents lying on the seat and picked up as much as he could. He stated once his son got home his wife took him and the belongings back to the school and informed the school what happened. Mr. Wilhelm stated the police did take a statement from his son and they were told his name would not be used. He stated unfortunately that didn't happen because the next day he received a message from his son saying that the foster kids who were there knew he told and proceeded to threaten him. He stated he received a call from the School to come pick up his son because they had heard there were several kids who were going to jump him after school, so he had to go to the school in Pickerington, Ohio and pull him out because of that. He further stated there have been times when those kids have tried to literally pull his son out of the house. Mr. Wilhelm stated two of the kids came to their home and rang the doorbell while one hid on the side yard and against his better judgment he did not file a police report. He stated his son was assaulted on the bus by one of the kids that spends time with these kids. He further stated that they came to the house again and things escalated. Mr. Wilhelm stated he went to the mother's house and addressed the issue with her and then came to file a police report. He stated that he was very disappointed with the police officer that came and that the officer made it clear that since they are juveniles there was not much that could be done. Mr. Wilhelm stated he informed the foster agency of the incident and was told by the agent that they saw a white guy who didn't like black foster kids in the neighborhood. He stated that he has gone through the proper chain of command and has not seen the help they need. He stated that he can't see how a child can be pulled out of school and interrogated and wants that issue addressed. Mr. Wilhelm stated he expects formal investigations of those police officers involved and he wants a public apology from the officers to his son. He stated that his next step will be going to the School Board. He stated in his opinion he feels like something major is going to have to happen before something changes. Mr. Wilhelm requested a copy of the police report that was filed for the window that was busted out because the foster kids were questioned about it and he was told they told the police officers it was his son that busted the window out. Mr. Wisniewski stated about six months ago he sent a note to our attorney about the foster system and there is no doubt about it that it is broken. He stated he did not get the response that he was hoping for and he would like Ms Gilleland to follow up on it immediately. He continued that there are some serious problems in our City because of this and there are a lot of kids that are getting dumped into Pickerington from Franklin County and it is very unfortunate because it is bringing the school system down. Mr. Wisniewski stated his neighbor stopped kids walking down the street swearing like crazy to rap music and they got in his face and he told him he should have called the police. Mr. Wisniewski requested that we look into every possibility of what is the licensing guidelines around foster homes and make sure we are following it to the exact letter of the law and push the system as much as we can on it. He stated that what is occurring here is out of control and whatever we can do to lock it down as much as we possibly can within the law, we'll do it. He stated it is a very flawed system and we will explore every possible scenario that we can to make sure that we push the envelope on this. He stated that it probably won't be a quick solution and he feels for a lot of kids that are dealing with this in the school system. Chief Taylor stated he will fix it and asked that he be given a chance to talk to his people to see what did occur. He stated that if we were wrong we will certainly be apologetic, understanding we are human also, and if we are wrong he will fix it. Chief Taylor asked what questions were asked of Mr. Wilhelm's son so he could follow up. Mrs. Wilhelm stated a marble was given to the police officer as evidence of what was thrown through the window and somehow one of the foster kids told the police that their son was seen with a BB gun shooting up cars and houses in the neighborhood. She stated her son doesn't have a BB gun and the police have evidence that it was a marble, so her son was baffled as to why he was being questioned about shooting up cars and houses. Mrs. Wilhelm stated the officers told her son that the foster kids told them they were eye witnesses to him running around with his BB gun and her son told them he didn't do that. She stated that the police officer told him that… "they know who did it and they want an apology, so don't you think the responsible party should apologize," her son agreed but told them it wasn't him. She stated that the officer kept saying that isn't it peculiar that we have eyewitnesses that you and your friends were shooting up people's cars and houses and her son felt like he was a suspect. She further stated this all came about because the foster mother had damage to her truck back in December and the foster kid accused her son of shooting up the back of the car and her son was never questioned about that. Mrs. Wilhelm stated she was told by Officer Simcox that her son wasn't being interrogated and that he wasn't a suspect that it was just questioning, but to a 15 year old he felt like he had no rights. Chief Taylor stated he would get to the bottom of it and have an answer and he will get back in touch with them. Ms Gilleland stated we will be back in communication regarding the foster guidelines and enforcement and we will check into it.

Mr. Houser stated he lived at 42 West Columbus Street in the Richter House and his concern was the parking situation in front of their house. He stated that the parking on Columbus Street is two hour parking and he would like to have the two hour parking during business hours only so that he can have the opportunity to have friends park in front of his house. He stated he is not interfering with businesses in any way and whenever they have business hours the two hour parking should continue during that time. He stated that his sister-in-law wanted to stay the night and so they called the police department to see if she could park there and were told that if she parks in front of the house she is breaking the law and that the car would have to be out of there by 8:00 a.m. Mr. Houser asked that the parking hours be considered. Mr. Sabatino stated the idea behind the parking regulations was to create turnover for the businesses so this request does not seem like it should be out of place. He further stated it was his understanding that when they were changed it was for the business owners and he didn't know there was 24-7 enforcement. Mr. Houser stated that the signs haven't been changed. Mr. Sabatino stated that we need to take a look at what the ordinance says and if we need to tune it up we can talk about it. Mrs. Hammond stated she thought we should look at it too because the nature of the businesses have changed and you can get stuck at a dentist office for longer than two hours. Mr. Sabatino stated we will look at the ordinance.

Mr. Moneybrake stated he was following up on the Adopt-A-Road program and he feels that there could be a better job done as a community with keeping things clean. He stated he saw a program about keeping Columbus Beautiful and he passed out a copy of the brochure to the Committee. He suggested having a Keep Pickerington Beautiful program and stated as we grow try to create more public awareness and keep dialogue going on it. Ms Gilleland stated we have talked about it at the staff level and we do like the community clean up day and we will have our code enforcement do more work on that idea. She stated that she started looking at signs on littering. Mr. Moneybrake stated that if he could help in anyway he would be happy to.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF APRIL 2, 2007, Regular Meeting. Mrs. Hammond moved to approve; Mr. Wisniewski seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski abstaining and Mrs. Hammond and Mr. Sabatino voting "Yea." Motion failed, 2-0. This item will be on next month's agenda.

Mr. Sabatino stated if there were no objections he would like to discuss the speeding issue on Fox Glen Drive. Ms Gilleland introduced Scott Seaman from W.E. Stilson Consulting Group to discuss traffic calming. She stated that she has also been approached by her neighbors on speeding issues on Washington Street. Mr. Seaman stated that this is a very common issue. He stated there are two main points to the Fox Glen Subdivision and it is a locally contained situation because the portion of the subdivision in question doesn't lend itself to cut through traffic. He stated that residents of the subdivision are the offenders and this type of offense if primarily driver behavior. He stated that it is not a bad roadway design and that it was due to people not obeying the speed limit. Mr. Seaman stated that typically we look at education and enforcement to address these type of issues and those are the first steps to address it. He stated that the education could be public meetings, signage or mailings that identify what the impacts are. He stated that the enforcement could be the Police Department watching for speeders and issuing tickets and could also have speed trailers to help monitor. Mr. Seaman stated after that you could move onto physical improvements to guide the driver or force them to obey the speed limit and one of the keys to making it work is neighborhood participation. Mr. Seaman handed out examples of traffic calming treatments to the Committee and reviewed it with them. He stated that a recommendation from a resident was made for a stop sign and this doesn't meet Ohio Revised Code warrants to do so. He pointed out that the costs on the traffic calming examples were general nationwide costs and not specific to this area. Mr. Wisniewski stated he would like to see something added into the costs of the development of new roads in neighborhoods to add medians or things like that to give it a more residential feel. Ms Gilleland stated we can do different things with the design of the roadway and layout as well. Mr. Sabatino stated we have lots of subdivisions with speeding issues and the common denominator is enforcement. He asked what Chief Taylor would recommend to get the situation under control and Chief Taylor stated a stop sign is what he came up with, but that is out of the question, so he deferred to our City Engineer for ideas. He stated he was open for any ideas that will help other than sit a car there, because that is only a temporary fix. Mr. Wisniewski asked if there were any speed trailers with cameras and Chief Taylor stated they exist and the trailer to accommodate taking pictures would run about $35,000 to $40,000. Mr. Wisniewski stated if there was a trailer we could move it around and it could be a potent deterrent. Mr. Sabatino asked Chief Taylor to look into acquiring one of these units that would be fully operational and Chief Taylor stated he would. Mr. Wisniewski stated that the cost of the medians would have to supersede versus buying one trailer and one of the things we talked about was trying some design on the road for a visual effect. Mrs. Hammond stated she drove down the road and it is extraordinarily wide and maybe something visual would make a difference there. Mr. Sabatino asked the Chief to have the information ready for the June Safety Committee meeting.

3. DEPARTMENT REPORTS

A. Parks and Recreation:

(1) Director's Report- Mr. Carr stated that Giant Eagle has committed $17,000 to become a sponsor of our summer concert series and be the main stage sponsor of our July 4th concert. Ms Gilleland stated Mr. Carr worked very hard on making presentations to Giant Eagle and competing with other Central Ohio area organizations. Mr. Sabatino stated he would like to comment that Giant Eagle was also very generous with the Make A Noise project. Mr. Carr stated we received news this afternoon that the State of Ohio has funded a Nature Work Grant for $18,500 to help us purchase new play equipment for Victory Park. He added that there was $26,000 available to the County and we received $18,500 of that. Mr. Carr stated we are participating with the Olde Pickerington Village Business Association on the Health, Safety and Fitness Fair. Mrs. Hammond stated that the concerts in the past have been wonderful and it looks like some great entertainment for this, so she would encourage everyone to go and bring their families. Mr. Wisniewski asked if Victory Park was going to be the first one worked on with impact fees and Mr. Carr stated it was and it would be a Fall project after the Violet Festival. Mrs. Hammond asked what age group would the play equipment encompass and Mr. Carr stated it would be for both preschool and elementary age children.

(2) Skate Park Noise Complaint - Update Mr. Carr stated we had the spray on insulation put onto three ramps last week and to his amateur ear it has muffled the sound somewhat, but he doesn't know if it made a major difference. He stated that as a second part of that experiment we are going to purchase some sand bags to fill the ramps with to see if the combination of the two will make a difference. He stated that he did not believe that the spray on insulation by itself made a major difference. Mr. Carr stated he had not heard from the Huntworks since they last appeared at Safety. Mr. Wisniewski asked if we had given up with bikes on the skate park and Mr. Carr stated we have chased bikes out on numerous occasions and they reappear. Mr. Wisniewski asked if there were any signs up and Mr. Carr stated there was one and it says they are not allowed right at the entrance. Mr. Wisniewski asked how big it was and Mr. Carr stated there are 15 to 16 rules on there and that is one of them. Mr. Wisniewski requested something more visual on the fence regarding the bikes and Mr. Carr stated we will make it more visual and put it right at the entrance. He stated that one of our dilemmas is that Lancaster and Reynoldsburg allow both, so we are fighting an uphill battle on that, but we can do a better job of signage. Ms Gilleland asked if there was a problem with bikes and skaters together and Mr. Carr stated there was an issue with our insurance provider and they advised us that we should not permit both. Ms Gilleland asked with that aside was it a problem for the people using the facility and Mr. Wisniewski stated that our facility is not that large and a bike going up against a skater would not be pretty. Mr. Carr stated we have not had any recent complaints, but when the park first opened there were two or three complaints of bikes being in there from parents of skateboarders. Mr. Sabatino asked if it was a situation that if they want to they can respect each other's space and Mr. Carr stated they seem to work it out at most parks and our insurance provider told us we would have to go before their board if we were going to permit it. Mr. Wisniewski stated if it was not an issue it didn't bother him as long as putting it on the sign satisfies our insurance issues. Mr. Carr stated we have some liability protection if it is an unsupervised facility, we can monitor the facility, but not supervise it. He stated when you can't supervise the facility the enforcement of those issues is not very good. Ms Gilleland asked what the best use for the park was; combined or skaters only. Mr. Sabatino stated if we need to have it on a sign for insurance purposes and the kids are working it out among themselves than maybe it is best to leave it alone. Mr. Carr stated we should be able to accomplish getting a bigger sign up within the week.

B. Building Regulations Department:

(1) Building Department Report (Mr. Lane) Mr. Lane stated he had provided a written report and would be happy to answer any questions. Mr. Wisniewski asked what the average number of issued housing permits were for the last five years and Mr. Stacy stated historically it has been running around 200 a year. Mr. Sabatino stated that we also need to note that the number of permits issued was not necessarily the number of homes being built. Mr. Wisniewski stated he thought that it was normally about 200 to 250 permits a year.

(2) Chief Building Official's Report (Mr. Stacy) Mr. Stacy stated he would be like to point out that DiCarlo's Pizza had their appeal hearing before the Ohio Board of Building Appeals and they did win their appeal with several stipulations added. He stated it identified the maximum occupant load that they can have inside the store as well as the number of tables and chairs outside, maintaining an accessible pathway on the sidewalk, not storing tables and chairs inside the center exit corridor, and that we receive a letter from their landlord stating they approve the tables and chairs outside. Mr. Sabatino asked about the four new tenants in the Luse office building that went in without the proper documentation. Mr. Stacy stated that Mr. Lane had a walk through with them last week and those tenants have received approval from the zoning department and there were no modifications done to the building itself in order to accommodate those tenants. Mr. Sabatino asked if they needed to do something that they didn't do and Mr. Stacy stated they have complied with the requirements for zoning with no alterations being done except for one office space, but we need to update the Certificates of Occupancy noting those tenants. Mr. Sabatino asked if there was a requirement if a new tenant moves into a new building that they file paperwork with the department and Mr. Stacy stated the procedure is zoning approval as well as submitting to the Building Department. Mr. Sabatino asked if that was a tenant responsibility or a building owner responsibility and Mr. Stacy stated he would guess the responsibility would be placed on the tenant by the building owner depending on their lease. Mr. Sabatino asked if we had a way to inform new tenants of the City's process and Ms Gilleland stated we have this issue with retail shells, but typically the developers know they need to get the tenants in touch with us. She further stated a lot of times they just forget because they are trying to get their small business moved in and the developers are trying to get it rented, but we catch up with them sooner or later to get things squared away. Mr. Sabatino clarified that these were the only tenants for this building and that none of the tenants complied. Mr. Sabatino asked where it was in the process now and Mr. Stacy stated it was a continuing enforcement process and we don't see everything that is going on, but if there is a sign that goes up, we catch most of those. Mr. Sabatino clarified that for right now it was under control.

C. Service Department:

(1) Traffic Engineer.

a. Review and discussion regarding Drug Mart access issues. Mrs. VanCleave stated that crews have begun work at the Drug Mart with making the truck turn around in the rear and the right-in/right-out will be torn out on Hill Road tomorrow. Ms Gilleland stated there was no good solution there, but at least we picked a course and we are proceeding.

D. Facilities Operations:

(1) Update of City Hall Renovation Project- Ms Gilleland stated the toilets were installed today and we are getting ready to wrap this phase up and the next phase will be the Council chambers which will be minimal changes, but she would like to get an area where we can all see and hear each other. She stated she couldn't recall whether that was in this year's or next year's budget. She stated this could be removed from the agenda and Mr. Sabatino requested that it be removed from the agenda.

4. POLICE:

A. Chief's Report- Chief Taylor stated he had provided a written report and would be happy to answer any questions. Mr. Sabatino stated he has heard some concerns about the recent bank robberies and Chief Taylor stated we have a couple of good solid leads to go on and we think both banks were robbed by the same people

B. Review and request for motion to authorize the City Manager to submit annual application for DARE grant. Chief Taylor stated that the DARE grant is not due for submittal until July in order for us to get any share of the money. Mr. Wisniewski moved to approve; Mrs. Hammond seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sabatino and Mr. Wisniewski voting "Yea." Motion passed, 3-0.

5. CHAIRMAN:

A. Review and discussion regarding proposed amendments to Ordinance 89-20 regarding Hotel and Motel Excise Tax. Mr. Sabatino requested this item be left on the agenda.

B. Review and discussion regarding speeding issue on Fox Glen Drive West Mr. Sabatino stated this item was discussed earlier in the meeting.

6. OTHER BUSINESS: Mr. Sabatino stated if there were no objections he would like to change the Safety Committee agenda to include a Community Comment section right after the approval of the minutes.

Mrs. Hammond stated she received a letter from someone who received a ticket for having a for sale sign on their truck, so as a result of that this Ordinance 97-30 came up. She stated after review it was discovered that originally the ordinance had a statement that said "for the principal purpose of selling it" and somehow when it got into our Code that line was left out. Mr. Wisniewski asked what was a private versus a public parking lot and if it is private couldn't they maintain the rules. Mrs. Hammond stated she was told this came about because of the public park and ride that people were using as a used car lot. Ms Gilleland stated we will get clarification on it. Mr. Sabatino stated that we need to get clarification on whether this deals with public and not commercial parking lots. Mr. Sabatino stated this item will be brought back next month.

Mr. Wisniewski asked for clarification on what Ms Gilleland will be getting back to the Committee on. Ms Gilleland stated we will be checking into the licensing guidelines regarding the Foster System; we will be looking into a speed trailer with cameras and issuing tickets; we are going to look at pavement markings and various speed calming devices; we are going to post a sign on the skate park fence for bikes and check on the insurance issues regarding bikes; we will also check into the parking on Columbus Street; we will continue to pursue the public awareness campaign for littering and post some signs; we will also look into a possible community clean up day; she and the Chief will get back with Mr. Wilhelm on that issue; and they will look into the public parking lot issue. Mr. Wisniewski requested that it be further clarified with Mr. Hartmann that we cannot do anything about the foster system is not an acceptable answer.

7. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mr. Wisniewski moved to adjourn; Mrs. Hammond seconded the motion. Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mrs. Hammond voted "Aye." Motion carried 3-0. The Safety Committee adjourned at 9:27 P.M on May 7, 2007.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

Stacey L. Bashore, Deputy Municipal Clerk