PICKERINGTON CITY COUNCIL

CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2007

COUNCIL WORK SESSION

5:30 P.M.

1. CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Shaver opened the Council Work Session at 5:30 P.M., with the following council members present: Mr. Fix, Mr. Smith, Mr. Hackworth, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sabatino, and Mr. Wisniewski. Mrs. Yartin stated Mr. Smith was absent due to the death of his mother. Others present were: Judy Gilleland, Lynda Yartin, Tim Hansley, Phil Hartmann, Tricia Sanders, Brian Sauer, Al Schrader, Bill Yaple, Terry Weltlich, Judy Shupe, Tony Vogel, Bill Arnett, Rachel Scofeld, Lancaster Mayor David Smith, and others.

2. SCHEDULED MATTERS:

A. Review and Discussion regarding proposed JEDD Contract with Violet Township, Bloom Township, Canal Winchester, City of Lancaster, and City of Pickerington. Mayor Shaver stated he would turn the work session over to Mr. Hansley and Mr. Schrader to begin the discussion on the proposed JEDD contract.

Mr. Hansley stated he had received a list of questions and answers from Mr. Hartmann and he would suggest going through those questions prior to getting into questions that anyone might have.

Mr. Hartmann stated there was some confusion as to if this was an actual JEDD agreement or something different since there is no land currently that is in it and a JEDD Board cannot be formed yet. Mr. Schrader stated the confusion is understandable, and to actually establish the JEDD, after public hearings, and after you have tentatively agreed to a contract, there has to be a majority petition signed by landowners in the area that is actually going to form into a JEDD, and also if there are any currently existing businesses a petition signed by a majority of them asking to join the JEDD. Mr. Schrader stated as a practical matter is makes sense to come up with an agreement between the local governments, then get the business owners and landowners to ask to join the JEDD. Mr. Schrader stated the JEDD contract is like a constitution for the JEDD, and it will get much bigger over time as it will probably start out with only a few landowners. Mr. Schrader stated what is being done now is coming up with an agreement as to how the JEDD will be run when it is created, but it will not be created until after a majority of landowners and business owners sign up.

Mr. Sabatino stated then the document Council has under consideration is not a JEDD, but a contract for a future JEDD. Mr. Schrader stated at this point, yes, because the JEDD itself will not come into effect until after public hearings, until after you have a majority of petitioners, after all of that goes to the Commissioners and they get to review it, then the JEDD would go into effect 30 days later. He stated the document being discussed now is very much a work in progress. Mr. Schrader stated, for example, the County Commissioners have suggested some language that will make it clearer that, in general, water and sewer services will be provided by the County. He further stated the County would have a period of 30 days after receiving a written request for water or sewer service to determine whether they can provide the service or not. He stated if they are unwilling or unable to provide the service, it would then default to one of the local governments providing that service. Mr. Fix clarified that a small amount of land in the Busey/Diley Road area would be Pickerington water and Canal Winchester Sewer. Mr. Hansley clarified that this agreement would not supercede any existing water and sewer contracts.

Mr. Hackworth stated with regard to the territory of the JEDD, Exhibit “A” and Exhibit “B” are referred to several times. He stated Exhibit “B” apparently does not exist as on every document all they have is Exhibit “A” and “B” is supposed to be the expansion area. He questioned if any kind of territory being added would require an amendment process going through all five contracting parties. Mr. Schrader stated it has already been agreed that certain expansion areas would be okay for a JEDD. Mr. Schrader stated there will be an Exhibit “B”, and Mr. Bill Yaple stated there is no current JEDD area because there is no current property in the JEDD. Mr. Schrader stated the current JEDD will be whatever landowners sign up to join once it is done. Mr. Hartmann stated the map provided is actually Exhibit “B”, and all parties have agreed that if property is in the expansion area it would be allowed to be added, however, there is a statutory requirement that you have to go through an amendment process to allow it in. He stated that happens after a landowner or business owners in that area have asked to join the JEDD.

Mr. Schrader stated the JEDD Maintenance and Infrastructure Fund will be a pot of money that will be available to provide things like roads and lighting within the JEDD area. Mr. Hackworth questioned if property is a distance from a road, and you need to improve the area between the JEDD and the current road, who would provide that to make that development even possible. Mr. Hansley stated the JEDD Board could be petitioned for assistance and it would be their duty to review the request and make a determination on the request.

Mr. Wisniewski stated the agreement references Section 715.61 of the Ohio Revised Code and questioned what that section was about. Mr. Schrader stated that section talks about how you expand a JEDD or how you amend a JEDD and lists the documents you have to provide.

Mr. Schrader stated the JEDD Board is required to have five members, one representing a Township, one representing a City, one representing the businesses within the JEDD, and one representing the employees of the JEDD, and those four choose the fifth member. He stated this is by law, and to get a little more control some of those positions have been assigned to certain of the local governments. He stated for example, the employee position would be appointed by the Mayors and the employer position would be appointed by the Townships. Mr. Schrader stated it is one JEDD board whether the development is in Bloom Township, Violet Township, etc. Mr. Sabatino questioned the term of the JEDD board appointments and Mr. Hartmann stated Section 715.78 of the Ohio Revised Code mandates the actual board be composed of five people and also mandates the term of those board members.

Mr. Wisniewski stated we are talking about a 2 percent income tax rate, and as he understood it, 35 percent of the income tax would go to the maintenance and infrastructure fund and another 5 percent would go to the tax administrator. Mr. Schrader stated he believed that 5 percent is part of the 35 percent. Mr. Wisniewski stated then 15 percent comes off to go to the City or Township where the business is located, and the remainder is split with 20 percent coming to the City. He stated looking at this; the amount of money realistically coming to the City is not very significant.

Mr. Smith clarified that once the JEDD is formed, when additional businesses come into the JEDD they will be part of the same JEDD, but if the maintenance and infrastructure fund is going to be used, then the JEDD Board would have the ability to say yes or no to a particular business. Mr. Smith stated then the JEDD Board is formed to assess an income tax and to assist in the provision of infrastructure. Mr. Schrader stated that was correct. Mr. Schrader stated there is a Route 33 corridor group that is supposed to promote the Route 33 corridor, but what the JEDD contracts are to do is to give you as much authority as you can. He stated language is included that the maintenance and infrastructure fund could be used for promotion, but hopefully you won’t need to do that if the Route 33 corridor coalition is doing a good job of that. But, you are preserving the right to do that if you have to.

Mr. Wisniewski stated the contract refers to other entities along the Route 33 corridor and questioned what the Route 33 corridor is because that is not defined. He stated there is a lot of grayness in the document that troubles him when dealing with five parties and attorneys. Mr. Schrader stated they have tried to have as much flexibility in the contract as possible. He further stated as he understood it, the Route 33 corridor, in general, is one mile either side of Route 33. He stated not all of it will be in the JEDD, Violet Township will be, the other township will not. He stated if you make the contract to black and white then you kill the possibility to handle the situations that no-one has come across yet. He stated you need a little bit of flexibility to handle things that have not been anticipated. He stated the contract is very much like a constitution; it sets up in general how you will handle things as a partnership between these five communities. Mr. Wisniewski stated he has no problem with the concept of this or a lot of the language in it, he is just trying to protect the City from spending a lot more money when our “best efforts” don’t meet the criteria for somebody else’s “best efforts.” Mr. Schrader stated that comes back to the idea that this is a partnership and you expect everyone to act in good faith. He stated “best effort” is a gray term, but it is a legal term that has some meaning in the law that you don’t just sit around and do nothing.

Mr. Wisniewski stated further as he read it if another entity decides to start annexing property outside the area that we are concerned about, then the City would have to use whatever efforts or have to contribute somehow to oppose those annexations. He stated he has a problem with the grayness of that statement and would like some clarification as to what “best effort” really means. Mr. Schrader stated the idea is to protect your JEDD for one year, and it is a one-year limitation. Mr. Wisniewski stated his concern is because we are talking about a major time period here. He stated Councils, Mayors, and Township Trustees will change but they will still be bound by this agreement. He stated the interpretation of the new official’s on the agreement may not be what the original parties’ interpretation was at the time this is joined. He stated that is why he is concerned about the language and some of the terms. Mr. Wisniewski stated in reading the agreement, it shows on page 35 that the 5 percent is not coming out of the 35 percent, but 5 percent is going straight to Canal Winchester for being the tax administrator. Mr. Schrader stated if that was a problem he would certainly make it clearer because the intent was that the 35 percent covers a lot of things including the 5 percent for the tax administrator.

Mr. Sabatino stated it appeared that the County would not receive a percentage from the JEDD, and Mr. Schrader stated that was correct and there was no JEDD in Ohio that he knew of where the County actually gets any part of the income tax. He stated any time there is development in the County, the County gets some of the property tax. Mr. Sabatino stated he did not see a connection with how Lancaster played into this. He questioned the reason for including them in this agreement and Mr. Schrader stated it was because they were along the Route 33 corridor and the idea was to sit down with the communities that might stand to benefit from the development along Route 33 and try to work out one of these Joint Economic Development Districts. He stated the Mayor of Lancaster is present this evening and could speak to that. Mayor Smith stated Lancaster is one of the founders of the Route 33 Alliance and economic development is the key issue if what a JEDD is supposed to do and they wanted to be a partner of it. He stated when they were initially approached they had the same questions because there were other municipalities and other taxing authorities that were in the area. He stated after looking at it they felt they had a place to participate in a multiple entity JEDD that would bring economic development and some continuity and consistency in what the JEDD area would be. He stated whether or not it would bring economic development down into Lancaster when this JEDD is formed or another JEDD is formed, the potential for annexation opportunities is there and there is the harmony and the spirit of economic development that everyone wants to participate in. He stated anything that happens in Fairfield County, Lancaster would like to be part of somehow because either their residents, businesses, taxpayers, or utility payers will somehow benefit from the cooperation with other entities. Mr. Sabatino stated what he was alluding to is if there was a thought process that, over time, the Board is looking to send this further south and come closer to Lancaster. Mr. Weltlich stated since he was the perpetrator of this plan initially, it was his concept that when any time a firm wants to come in and invest in a community, if there is infighting they will run for the nearest exit. He stated as the 33 corridor alliance started he felt if governments agree to raise funds for marketing, it made no sense for the government entities to fight for the same, exact piece of the pie. He stated what he meant by that was if a business wanted to put in a small distribution center or something, if the entities were not united in some way, by some agreement, that every one of the economic development people will be trying to get that business. He stated the developer will then try to cut a deal with one entity, then another, they will go shopping around. Mr. Weltlich stated the spirit and intent is, if this is approved and accepted, that this will become a model for a JEDD that will get us all the way down the Route 33 corridor below Lancaster. He stated that will probably not happen in his lifetime, but at least it will form a foundation for cooperation in Fairfield County.

Mr. Wisniewski further clarified that the intent of the Township is to use zoning as an incentive to join the JEDD, and that is what the agreement indicates.

Mr. Schrader stated he hoped questions of Council had been answered this evening, and if they have additional questions he would be glad to try and answer them. He stated he felt if this is thought of as a partnership, that is the best way to do it as the idea is for everyone to benefit from development on Route 33.

3. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, the Council Work Session closed at 7:05 P.M., December 18, 2007.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

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Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk

ATTEST:

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Keith Smith, Council President Pro Tempore