SERVICE COMMITTEE
OF COUNCIL
CITY HALL, 100
LOCKVILLE ROAD
REGULAR MEETING
7:30 P.M.
1. ROLL CALL. Mrs. Hammond called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M., with Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Hackworth, and Mr. Fix present. No members were absent. Others present were: Judy Gilleland, Lynda Yartin, Lance Schultz, Ed Drobina, Brenda VanCleave, Jennifer Frommer, Thomas Jedlinsky, and others.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF April 16, 2007, Regular Meeting. Mr. Hackworth moved to approve; Mr. Fix seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Fix, Mr. Hackworth, and Mrs. Hammond voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.
3. COMMUNITY COMMENTS: There were no community comments.
4. PLANNING AND ZONING DEPARTMENT:
A. Planning and Zoning Director’s Report. Mr. Schultz stated he had provided a written report and he would answer any questions.
(1) Board of Zoning Appeals (Mr. Schultz). Mr. Schultz stated the Board will meet on May 24th, and they have one agenda item.
(2) Planning and Zoning Representative Report (Mr. Hackworth) Mr. Hackworth stated the Planning and Zoning Commission met on May 8th, and while no items were moved to Service Committee he felt it important to mention that the Pickerington Local School District did submit an application for a Certificate of Appropriateness for the elementary school in Sycamore Creek. He stated they also approved a Certificate of Appropriateness for a patio next to the Drug Mart and he is concerned about the outdoor patios. He stated two were approved at the last meeting and he noticed this past weekend that the area around the patio at the Coldstone Creamery is littered and cluttered. Mrs. Hammond stated she has also noticed that with people sitting on the patio you need to walk into the street to get into the businesses. Mr. Schultz stated he would investigate to ensure they have Certificates of Appropriateness and he would also get with the Building Department about the access issue.
B. ACTION ITEMS: Mr. Schultz stated he had no action items for this evening.
5. Discussion regarding wastewater treatment plant engineering. Ms VanCleave stated Mr. Tom Jedlinsky of CDM provided us with the independent review of the wastewater treatment plant contract, and he was present this evening to answer any questions. Mr. Jedlinsky stated he had provided a written review for the Committee after being requested to review the fees to determine if they were fair and reasonable. Mr. Jedlinsky stated he had used two ways to determine if the fees were appropriate. First, he did a sheet-by-sheet count and estimated the number of hours it would take by various personnel to come up with each one of those sheets. He stated he did have the benefit of a recently bid project his firm had done that was a 1.75 MGD and included all of the elements you are doing. He stated when priced out their cost on that project was about $819,000 as compared to the $774,000 that was offered by DLZ. He stated their estimated hourly effort was about 7,500 hours and DLZs was about 7,100 hours. So, when they calculated their number against DLZs for that similar project, it appeared to be reasonable. He stated the second method used was to take a nationally published guide of engineering fees for wastewater plant projects around the country and this represents a relatively good ballpark number. He stated if you used that guide it comes up to be quite a bit more than the DLZ amount, and that is because as he understood it, DLZ is going to be patterning their work after the plant that exists now. Mr. Jedlinsky stated based on those two methods of comparison, he arrived at the conclusion that the fee being offered is fair, reasonable, and there was no reason not to go ahead and negotiate a scope. Ms Gilleland clarified that the project CDM had done and had used as a comparison was for another public entity, Becker, Minnesota, and is a matter of public record.
6. SERVICE DEPARTMENT
A. REPORTS:
(1) Utility Fees Review Committee Representative Report (Mr. Hackworth). Mr. Hackworth stated he had no report.
(2) Service Manager’s Report. Mr. Drobina stated he had provided a written report to the Committee and he would be happy to answer any questions. Mr. Hackworth clarified that the amount of paving we do each year varies by the amount we have budgeted. Mr. Sabatino further clarified that we do have an inventory of streets and Mr. Drobina is putting together a five-year pavement plan. Mr. Hackworth clarified we have placed an advertisement to sell the barn that needs to be removed for the Diley Road project, however, we have not had a response as yet.
B. ACTION ITEMS:
(1) Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance approving the Violet Township Maintenance Building use of Fairfield County water. Mr. Drobina stated the agreement had been provided to the Committee. Ms Gilleland stated this is to allow the Township to temporarily connect to County water because it is right across the street from them and our water system is not close. She stated this would be until such time as we have water available to the property and then we would require the Township to connect to our system. Mr. Sabatino clarified that our water is a good distance away. Mr. Drobina stated we felt this was a reasonable request at this time, and the Township is putting in a sewer line because County sewer is not available at this time. Ms Gilleland stated typically we would require a developer to put the water line in, however, this being another governmental entity of which we are a part we felt it was economically responsible to consider this alternative. Mr. Hackworth clarified our water line will be development driven and it is hard to say how long before a line is put in. Mr. Fix moved to approve and forward to Council; Mr. Hackworth seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Fix, Mrs. Hammond, and Mr. Hackworth voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.
C. WATER UTILITY:
(1) Review and request for motion to approve contract with Kelstin, Inc., for the water treatment plant clearwell addition. Mr. Drobina stated we received two bids for this project and it was our consultant’s and staff’s recommendation to award the contract to Kelstin. Mr. Hackworth clarified this will add to our above ground water storage capacity. Mr. Hackworth moved to approve and forward to Council including a five percent contingency amount; Mr. Fix seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Hackworth, Mr. Fix, and Mrs. Hammond voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.
D. WASTEWATER UTILITY MAINTENANCE:
(1) Biosolids Contract Update. Mr. Drobina stated he was still discussing a renewal of the contract with Synagro and he hoped to have more information at the next meeting.
E. STREET MAINTENANCE. Mr. Drobina stated he had no report but would answer any questions.
F. STORMWATER : Mr. Drobina stated we have our sanitary cleaning and televising project out for bid last week. He stated this will affect storm water and sanitary, and the bid opening is scheduled for June 6, 2007.
7. ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT CAPITAL PROJECTS
A. WASTEWATER
(1) Wastewater Plant Expansion - Update. Ms VanCleave stated the Committee received a copy of the proposed contract with DLZ and we are still working with them to try and incorporate a few details. She stated she felt these could be worked through within the next couple of days. Mrs. Hammond stated due to some difficulties with the EPA, she would like to move this forward to Council and if there are any problems they can be worked out prior to Council. Mr. Hackworth stated he noticed some things were added and he would like to have those specified from the original. He stated the original estimate from Malcolm Pirnie was 8.8 million and then some things were added that might put it up over the 9 million. Ms VanCleave stated she believed that was shown on Exhibit B. Mr. Hackworth stated Exhibit B that he received was blank, and Ms VanCleave stated that was e-mailed but she would get everyone a copy. Mr. Hackworth stated DLZ mentioned that the headworks was not in the original Malcolm Pirnie and also we only had one tertiary filter and he questioned if that was what was being added. Ms VanCleave stated she believed that was clarified in Exhibit A to the contract. Mr. Hackworth stated a back-up generator was an item that was added as well. Mrs. Hammond moved to approve and forward to Council the agreement for engineering services between the City of Pickerington and DLZ Ohio, Inc., contingent upon all details being agreed upon; Mr. Hackworth seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Hackworth, and Mr. Fix voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.
B. TRANSPORTATION:
(1) Diley Road Improvements Project:
a. MORPC/ODOT Project – Update. Ms Frommer stated Ms Gilleland officially signed the title sheet today and it will be sent to reproduction tomorrow and filed at the District Office on Thursday morning. Ms Frommer stated this means the District will be able to file it with Central Office for bid so by next month we may know what the bid opening date is. She stated AT&T has begun work in the corridor and South Central Power should start this week and she is still waiting to hear a final confirmation from Insight. She stated there should be some heavy activity in the corridor soon. Mr. Hackworth stated he saw wooden pole being stacked up by South Central Power and he understood fiberglass poles would be used. Ms Frommer stated she did believe the poles in the corridor were fiberglass and she would double-check that. Mr. Drobina stated from Wright Road north they would be wooden poles.
D. STORMWATER. Ms VanCleave stated she would answer any questions. Mrs. Hammond stated Ms VanCleave had reported violations from the EPA regarding the use of blue dye as an algae treatment for stormwater ponds. Ms VanCleave stated she did notify all of the Homeowner’s Associations and builders as they are responsible for the ponds. She stated the City was cited instead of the individual buildings/Homeowner’s Associations because of our NPDES Permit with the State.
8. CHAIRMAN.
A. Review and discussion of Master Economic Development Agreement proposed by Violet Township. Mrs. Hammond stated she did not feel there was any further action to be taken on this. Ms Gilleland stated if the ordinance rescinding the authority for her to sign the agreement is adopted she would notify the Township. Mrs. Hammond stated this item can be removed from the agenda.
9. OTHER BUSINESS. Mr. Hackworth stated he had received a call from a resident requesting the City address the problem of making a left-hand turn into the condo area off of S.R. 256. He stated at least three cars have to be in the lane before the turn signal cycles. Ms Frommer stated there is a loop there and if there are a lot of people making that movement, the loop will detect the third one and it will go. She stated every intersection in the City that has the capability of giving a dedicated left-turn arrow does have third car vehicle detection except for Refugee/S.R. 256. She stated this is standard protocol and there will be times people wait for multiple cycles before they can make the left-turn, but with 25,000 to 30,000 cars a day on S.R. 256 taking additional time out of the cycle length at each intersection would dramatically increase the wait time for traffic on 256. She stated further, the loop would have to be moved to change the cycle. Ms Frommer stated if you make that a dedicated turn arrow every time you would reduce the main line time by ten percent. Mr. Fix stated the traffic is already bad enough on S.R. 256. Mr. Drobina stated he would look into this and see if anything could be done.
10. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mr. Fix moved to adjourn; Mr. Hackworth seconded the motion. Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Fix, and Mr. Hackworth voted “Aye.” Motion carried, 3-0. The Service Committee adjourned at 8:28 P.M., May 21, 2007.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:
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Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk