CITY OF PICKERINGTON

SAFETY COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL

CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD

MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2007

7:30 P.M.

 

REGULAR MEETING

 

 

1.         ROLL CALL.  Mr. Sabatino called the meeting to order at 7:35P.M. with Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Riggs, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mrs. Hammond present.  There were no members absent. Others present were: Judy Gilleland, Ralph Portier, Steve Carr, Paul Lane, Mike Stacy, Stacey Bashore, Lynn Boetcher, Slade Hankinson and others.

 

2.         APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF September 10, 2007, Regular Meeting.  Mrs. Riggs moved to approve; Mrs. Hammond seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Riggs and Mr. Sabatino voting "Yea."  Motion passed, 4-0. 

 

3.         COMMUNITY COMMENTS.   Lynn Boetcher stated he was a resident of the Cherry Hill Subdivision and he had appeared several times before the Safety Committee because of his concern over the intersection of Cherry Hill Drive and Diley Road.  Mr. Boetcher handed out copies of his presentation to the members of the Committee. (Attachment 1)  He stated that he also has concerns with bus safety in that intersection.  Mr. Boetcher stated that he wants the Safety Committee to know that it is still a potentially volatile situation.  Ms. Gilleland stated in the beginning the Cherry Hill intersection was determined not to be warranting a traffic signal.  She further stated we have talked about adding a traffic signal and we have held off for a variety of reasons, with one being the budget for Diley Road.  Ms. Gilleland stated we needed to think long and hard about going against the advice of our engineers.  Mr. Sabatino asked for clarification on whether traffic studies were done for signalization on residential street intersections.  Ms. Gilleland stated that she wasn't here when those decisions were made.  Mr. Sabatino asked for an overview of the anticipated construction schedule and when that intersection would be fully functional.  Ms. Gilleland stated that if all goes well construction will start in Spring of 2008 and she would anticipate it being complete sometime in 2009.  She stated it could be difficult to intermingle a project that would be 100% city cost with a federal funded project.  Mr. Sabatino stated that the signalization of anything other than the major intersections would not be a part of the Diley Road project, but that doesn't mean that down the road that we couldn't take a look at it.  He stated that we completely understood the presentation of the facts and knew that it was an issue, but it is still early for it to be considered an actionable item at this time. 

 

4.         COMMUNITY SAFETY CONCERNS:  There were none.

 

5.         DEPARTMENT REPORTS

 

            A.        Parks and Recreation:

 

                        (1)        Director's Report-  Mr. Carr stated he had submitted a written report and would be happy to answer any questions.   He stated that we had an opportunity to purchase play equipment that was demonstrated at the National Recreation Parks Convention and we were able to purchase it at a 35 percent savings.  Mr. Carr stated it would be one component of the new playground in Victory Park.  Mr. Wisniewski asked if the playground equipment that was removed from Sycamore Park would be replaced next year and Mr. Carr stated it was not in the plans for next year, but this new piece of equipment will appeal to all ages and especially the older elementary ages.   Ms. Gilleland stated the money we designated toward the Parks Master Plan was a moving target depending on different variables and this year we had designated $300,000 in Park Capital and that budget has been cut down to $100,000.  Mr. Wisniewski asked how much more did we collect last year than what was estimated on impact fees.  Ms Gilleland stated she could get that information and it had been different every year that she had been here.

                                   

                                    (a)        Simsbury Park Parking Lot Project-Update  Mr. Carr stated that pavement began on September 26th and if the weather cooperates it should be finished this week.  He further stated that it cost an additional $10,000 due to taking care of the soil conditions, but we are staying within the five percent contingency.  

                       

            B.         Code Enforcement:

                        (1)        Litter Control Project and Clean up Day- Update   Ms Gilleland stated that we had over 35 volunteers that collected over 100 bags of trash.  She stated we also received a lot of positive feedback on the project.     

                       

            C.        Building Regulations Department:

                       

                        (1)        Building Department Report (Mr. Lane)  Mr. Lane stated he had provided a written report and he would be happy to answer any questions.  He stated that as of last Thursday the total for impact fees is $452,746.  Mr. Lane stated that the Shoppes at Stonecreek paid $114,000 in impact fees on Friday, so that brought the total to $566,746.66.     Mrs. Hammond asked if the houses that some builders built last year to beat the design guidelines were ever filled.  Mr. Lane stated that a lot those plans have expired, so while the numbers are large as far as plan approvals some were not even built.  Mr. Sabatino clarified that when the plans expires they haven't paid the impact fees unless they got a building permit.  Mr. Lane stated if they have paid the impact fee and we have to refund it, we keep the permit and plan approval costs. 

           

            (2)        Chief Building Official's Report (Mr. Stacy)  Mr. Stacy stated he  had provided a written report and would be happy to answer any questions.  He stated that Kindercare and Luse Office Building were in compliance per the orders that were written.  

 

                        (a)        Review and discussion regarding Radon concerns- Mr. Stacy stated it was an appendix F of the Ohio Residential Code and within that appendix there is a chart of the State and a listing of the Counties that show those counties that have potential radon issues.  He stated that Fairfield County shows a high potential. Mr. Stacy stated that the City chose to adopt the appendix and now it is a question of whether it needs to be enforced.  He stated the inspections would only be done on new homes and it should only take one inspection.  Mr. Stacy stated that many of the items were already a part of the code requirements for radon mitigation.  He stated that the cost to go from passive to an active system is minimal.   Mr. Wisniewski stated that more homebuyers are requesting this and we are trying to increase the quality of the homes.  Ms. Gilleland stated we can set up the procedure and if we need to set up a fee for the inspection we would come back to Council.  Mr. Sabatino moved to request staff to look into the possibility of enforcing radon standards; Mr. Wisniewski seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Riggs, Mr. Sabatino and Mr. Wisniewski voting "Yea."  Motion passed, 4-0.

 

6.         POLICE:

           

            A.        Chief's Report- Commander Portier stated the Chief had provided a written report and would be happy to answer any questions.  He stated that the numbers are off slightly because of the date the information was compiled but they would be corrected at the end of the year.  

                        (1)        Review and request for motion to approve draft resolution authorizing the City of Pickerington to adopt the National Incident Management System (NIMS)  Commander Portier stated that the City will need to adopt a Resolution clearly indicating that we will follow the guidelines of NIMS during anything that might involve a multiple agency response.  He stated he provided language that could be used.  Commander Portier stated that we are at 100 percent compliance at this point, but it could change with new hires.  Mr. Sabatino asked if the point of contact would be someone from the Police Department and Commander Portier stated it would more than likely be.  Mrs. Riggs asked how it worked with Federal money and Commander Portier stated if we are not compliant we wouldn't get the Federal grants. Mr. Wisniewski moved to approve the draft resolution and forward it to Council; Mrs. Riggs seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Riggs, Mrs. Hammond, and Mr. Wisniewski voting "Yea." Motion passed, 4-0.

                       

7.         CHAIRMAN:  

           

            A.        Discussion of community safety concerns about unsecure conditions at Exxon    Mr. Hankinson introduced himself as the owner of the former Exxon station.  He apologized to the Committee and gave a brief overview of the plans to remedy the situation.  Mr. Hankinson stated they are working on securing the excavation there at this time and is a perimeter fence is planned for the end of this week.  He further stated they had been working closely with BUSTR regarding remediation of the site.  Mr. Hankinson stated they are in the process of getting an independent analysis from an environmental firm to get a better picture.  He stated that this firm would also take care of the clean up once the remedial action plan is approved by BUSTR.  Mr. Hankinson stated that the original buyer backed away from the deal, but there have been several other interested buyers.  Mr. Sabatino clarified that a fence would be put in sometime next week to secure the excavation area.  Ms. Gilleland stated that she wanted to make sure that we are not stuck and wanted to see what precautions could be taken such as a bond so the City could fill in the hole.  Mr. Hankinson stated that any filling of the hole would be under the direction of the State of Ohio and he could have them present that with the remedial action plan.  He stated this review and approval has been put on the fast track and once that is approved work can begin again.  Mr. Hankinson stated his hope was that the plan would be approved and the work would begin in the next few weeks.  Mr. Sabatino suggested putting a tarp over the hole in addition to the fence if the work doesn't begin as planned.  

           

8.         OTHER BUSINESS:      

            A.        Surplus Auction List-  Ms Gilleland stated that included in the packet was a list of items that are going to the auction.  She stated that according to the administrative code we need to supply the Safety Committee with a list of items valued under $100 that we are going to dispose of.

 

9.         ADJOURNMENT.   There being nothing further, Mr. Wisniewski moved to adjourn; Mrs. Hammond seconded the motion.   Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Riggs and Mrs. Hammond voted "Aye."  Motion carried 4-0.  The Safety Committee adjourned at 8:30 P.M on October 1, 2007.

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

 

 

 

                                                                       

Stacey L. Bashore, Deputy Municipal Clerk