PICKERINGTON CITY COUNCIL

TUESDAY, JULY 1, 2008

CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD

 

REGULAR MEETING AGENDA

7:30 P.M.

 

1.         ROLL CALL, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE, AND INVOCATION. Council for the City of Pickerington met for a regular session Tuesday, July 1, 2008, at City Hall.  Mayor O’Brien called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M.  Roll call was taken as follows:  Mr. Fix, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Sanders, and Mayor O’Brien were present.  Mr. Wisniewski was absent due to vacation.  Others present were: Tim Hansley, Lynda Yartin, Linda Fersch, Ed Drobina, Commander Steve Annetts, Phil Hartmann, Pastor Tim Kuenzli, Larry Jones, Gary Weltlich, Susan Lentz, Lilane Fox, Pat Deskins, Kathie Butler, Brent Bloomster, Anthony Diaz, Mike Bayes, Christopher Lotte, Charles Daniels, Steve Holcomb, Nick LaTorre, Miriam Segaloff, and others.  Pastor Kuenzli, of Epiphany Lutheran Church, delivered the invocation. 

 

2.         APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF JUNE 17, 2008, REGULAR MEETING.  Mr. Sabatino moved to approve; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Smith, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Fix, and Mrs. Sanders voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

3.         APPROVAL OF AGENDA.  Mr. Smith moved to approve; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Smith, Mr. Fix, Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Hammond, and Mrs. Sanders voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

4.      COMMUNITY COMMENTS: 

 

A.        Lilane Fox, Pickerington.  Mrs. Fox stated she was present this evening to address the recycling program.  She stated it has been her understanding, and she has been proud to live in a community that has chosen a waste management company that had enough foresight to do recycling on its own, and it is her understanding they still do that.  She stated her question was if they still do that, why are we considering this program, which is something that will cost her additional money, will give her an extremely large trash can to figure out what to do with, and take her time and effort to do something that Waste Management already does for her.  She stated she would like Council to strongly reconsider this program, and if by chance her facts are incorrect and they are no longer recycling, she would like to strongly urge Council to consider the opt-out of the program.  She stated from what she has read, 800 people responded to a survey and less than 20 percent said they were willing to participate in a program that they had to pay additional money for.  She stated she would question why 80 percent of the residents had to opt out of a program they do not want and do not need.  Mrs. Fox stated she is in favor of recycling and taking care of the earth that God his given us, but it is her understanding we are already doing that by having had the foresight to pick a company that does that for us.  She stated Waste Management is one of the most green waste management companies out there.  Mrs. Fox stated again she would ask Council, please don’t waste her money or her time and keep the contract we have and be the good citizens we already are. 

 

B.         Steve Holcomb, Pickerington.  Mr. Holcomb stated he was present this evening was based on the recent flooding.  He stated he and several other homeowners from Longview Acres are present and their concern is because with the last four and one-half inches of rain they have taken in an enormous amount of water.  He stated they wish it were just flood or rainwater, but it is not.  Mr. Holcomb stated he is familiar with the drainage detail of most subdivisions, and this is sanitary overflow.  He stated out of 40 houses in the subdivision he knows of 22 that have communicated that they have had overflow and sanitary backup into the foundations.  He stated it was not the normal drainage, it was through the sanitary.   Mr. Holcomb stated their big concern is that there has been a breach somewhere along the line and they are one of the lowest points in this system.  He stated somewhere along the system it is faulty, it is taking on water and as everyone knows, sanitary should not take on water, and he was talking hundreds of thousands of gallons of water.  Mr. Holcomb stated they are not getting the answers they would like to hear from the Engineering Department; they have been out several times and are trying to communicate, but what they are communicating is that they are not finding any problem.  Mr. Holcomb stated he could assure Council there is a problem, and it will do nothing but them in harm’s way when they go to resell their houses or even just try to finish their basements.  Mr. Holcomb stated this is a major concern for their community and he didn’t know if he could ask for guidance here, but they wanted to make sure it was noted and they would continue to talk with the Engineering Department.  He stated they would probably get some contractors involved and some other opinions at this point because they just don’t know what else to do.  He continued it was recommended they come before Council and express their concerns and they were just looking for some advice and direction to get this resolved.  Mr. Holcomb stated further there is a lot of construction going on up and down Diley Road and they have an additional main exit pipe that was introduced to their subdivision when he moved in in February that was never hooked up, so he was trying to find a timeline for all of these things, and maybe that is one of the remedies.  He stated however he was pretty sure there was a breach somewhere in the system. 

 

Mayor O’Brien ascertained Mr. Holcomb spoke for a number of homeowners who were present this evening.   Mr. Smith stated this sounds like something the Service Committee should be looking at and the next Service Committee meeting is scheduled for 7:30 P.M. on Thursday, July 10th here at City Hall.  Mayor O’Brien stated between now and that meeting the residents would have time to get more information together, and also allow the staff to further investigate the situation. 

 

5.         APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA:  Mayor O’Brien stated there were no consent agenda items this evening. 

 

6.         COMMITTEE REPORTS:   

 

A.        FINANCE COMMITTEE.  Mrs. Hammond stated Finance Committee met for a Special Meeting on Wednesday, June 11th, and the regular Finance Meeting on June 18th, and the minutes have been distributed.  Mrs. Hammond stated three items were on tonight’s agenda from that meeting and she would discuss them as they came up. 

 

7.         REPORTS:

 

A.        MAYOR.  Mayor O’Brien stated he would like to encourage everyone to come to the Fourth of July celebration and the Heritage Days events coming up this next weekend.  Mayor O’Brien stated the Monthly Mayor’s Court Report had also been distributed.    

 

B.         LAW DIRECTOR.  Mr. Hartmann stated he had nothing to report, but would answer any questions. 

 

C.        FINANCE DIRECTOR.  Mrs. Fersch stated she would request three readings on the appropriation ordinance on tonight’s agenda and she would be happy to answer any questions.     

 

D.        SERVICE MANAGER.  Mr. Drobina stated to update everyone on Diley Road; it is scheduled for a 30-day closure north of Cherry Hill beginning Monday.  He stated further with the recent storm he has had 51 residents call in saying they had water in their basement and we are checking the sewers.  He stated the wastewater treatment plant bid opening has been moved until next Tuesday at 11:00 A.M.  Mr. Drobina stated on the agenda this evening is also discussion regarding the Meadows Boulevard culvert because it did wash out in the storm.  Mr. Drobina stated he would be happy to answer any questions. 

 

E.         CITY MANAGER.  Mr. Hansley stated his written report had been distributed and he would be happy to answer any questions.  Mr. Hansley stated due to losing a police cruiser and the culvert washing out from the storm we were working with Fairfield County in the hopes they would have a countywide declaration that would allow us to get some EMA funds in this community.  He stated his understanding today was that there was not enough damage countywide to qualify.   

 

8.         PROCEDURAL READINGS:

 

            A.        ORDINANCE 2008-44, “AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE 2008 APPROPRIATION, ORDINANCE 2007-85,” First Reading, Finance Committee.  Mrs. Hammond moved to adopt; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Mrs. Hammond stated these are the appropriations Mrs. Fersch had requested three readings on this evening.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Fix, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Sauer voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0.  Mrs. Hammond moved to suspend the rules for the purpose of three readings; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Smith, Mr. Fix, and Mr. Sabatino voting “Yea.”  Suspension of Rules passed, 6-0.  Second Reading.  Mrs. Hammond moved to adopt; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Smith, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sabatino, and Mr. Sauer voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0.  Third Reading.  Mrs. Hammond moved to adopt; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Fix, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sauer, and Mr. Sabatino voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0.  

 

            B.         ORDINANCE 2008-45, “AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE CITY OF PICKERINGTON PERSONNEL POLICY AND PROCEDURES MANUAL TO ACCOMMODATE CHANGES IN CIVIL SERVICE INITIATED BY HOUSE BILL 187 AND TO INCORPORATE AN E-MAIL POLICY AND OTHER TECHNICAL CHANGES,” First Reading, Finance Committee.  Mrs. Hammond moved to adopt; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Mrs. Hammond stated this was discussed at Finance Committee and she felt it was self-explanatory.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Fix, Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Sauer, and Mr. Smith voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

            C.        ORDINANCE 2008-46 (Re-Introduced), “AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 882.17 OF THE PICKERINGTON CODIFIED ORDINANCES TO PROVIDE A ONE HUNDRED PERCENT (100%) CREDIT ON THE FIRST ONE AND ONE-HALF PERCENT (1.5%) OF INCOME TAXES PAID TO ANOTHER MUNICIPALITY FOR THE INCOME TAX LIABILITY INCURRED UNDER CHAPTER 882, FROM A FIFTY PERCENT (50%) CREDIT ON THE LOWER OF THE TWO APPLICABLE TAX RATES ON THE INCOME TAXES PAID TO ANOTHER MUNICIPALITY,” First Reading, Finance Committee.  Mrs. Hammond moved to adopt; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Mrs. Hammond stated this was discussed at length in Finance Committee with all of Council present and she clarified that the intent is clear to everyone.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino and Mr. Sauer voting “Nay,” and Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Fix voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 4-2.   

 

            D.        ORDINANCE 2008-39, “AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE DISPOSITION OF A VEHICLE IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CITY OF PICKERINGTON POLICE DEPARTMENT PURSUANT TO COURT ORDER,” Second Reading, Safety Committee.  Mr. Smith moved to adopt; Mrs. Sanders seconded the motion.  Mr. Smith stated Safety Committee had discussed this and the vehicle would be auctioned in some manner.  Mr. Hansley stated he would add for the benefit of individuals who were not present at the last meeting, this is a Mercedes that the City received as a seizure from a DUI, the City does not own a Mercedes.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Smith, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sabatino, and Mr. Sauer voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

            E.         ORDINANCE 2008-40, “AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH WASTE MANAGEMENT OF OHIO, INC., TO GRANT AN EXCLUSIVE RESIDENTIAL LICENSE FOR GARBAGE COLLECTION,” Second Reading, Safety Committee.  Mr. Sabatino moved to Table and refer this item back to Safety Committee; Mr. Sauer seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Smith, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sabatino, and Mr. Sauer voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0.  (TABLED) 

 

            F.         ORDINANCE 2008-41, “AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH ROBINSON PIPE CLEANING COMPANY FOR THE SANITARY SEWER MAINTENANCE/REPAIR PROJECT IN THE OLDE PICKERINGTON VILLAGE,” Second Reading, Service Committee.  Mrs. Hammond moved to adopt; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Fix, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Smith, and Mrs. Hammond voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

            G.        ORDINANCE 2008-42, “AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO APPLY FOR, ACCEPT, AND ENTER INTO A WATER POLLUTION CONTROL LOAN FUND AGREEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE CITY OF PICKERINGTON, OHIO, FOR PLANNING, DESIGN AND/OR CONSTRUCTION OF WASTEWATER FACILITIES; AND DESIGNATING A DEDICATED REPAYMENT SOURCE FOR THE LOAN,” Second Reading, Service Committee.  Mrs. Hammond moved to adopt; Mr. Sauer seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Smith, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sabatino, and Mr. Sauer voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

            H.        ORDINANCE 2008-43, “AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 882.03 OF THE PICKERINGTON CODIFIED ORDINANCES TO INCREASE THE INCOME TAX RATE FROM ONE PERCENT (1%) TO TWO PERCENT (2%) PER ANNUM AND TO PLACE THIS AMENDMENT BEFORE THE ELECTORS AT THE GENERAL ELECTION ON NOVEMBER 4, 2008,” Second Reading, Finance Committee.  Mrs. Hammond moved to adopt; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Mr. Sabatino stated with the revised figures provided by the Finance Director it was his personal opinion that Council could accomplish what they wanted to do before when they thought they were going to get $1.7 million by doubling the tax.  He stated if we only raise it to 1.5 percent instead of 2 percent, treating the credit the same as it is, it would generate approximately $1.4 million and he felt it was more responsible, to minimize the impact on the citizens, to consider the 1.5 percent as opposed to the 2 percent.   Mr. Fix stated he had prepared, with the help of staff, some things to talk about tonight.  Mr. Fix read a statement into the record.  (Attachment 1 to these minutes)  Mr. Fix stated today we have almost $30 million in total debt for this City of 5,000 residents.  He stated since we started taking on debt in 1979 we have paid $6.2 million in principal and $7.5 million in interest.  He stated we have 22 different debts, and that does not take into account our Capital Improvements Plan, which shows $53 million over the next five years.  He questioned where this money would come from. 

 

                        Mr. Sauer stated he is on the record as opposing this and when Council first started reviewing this they had the option of increasing income tax to 2 percent, providing essentially what would amount to a 75 percent credit.  He stated the numbers they originally saw told them that would increase our revenue somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.1 to $1.4 million.  Mr. Sauer stated since then they have received additional information that revised those numbers and with a 100 percent credit it would essentially take in somewhere around $2 million.  He continued with a 75 percent credit, which is essentially what we are getting today, it would be around the neighborhood of $2.8 million.  Mr. Sauer stated when he originally asked what it would take to continue to pay down the debt, to keep our low interest rate of 3 percent for the Diley Road expansion, we needed to bring in roughly $1 million or a little more.  He stated if we do a 100 percent credit and give a good portion of the residents in the City a bit of a tax break, then we would be able to bring in that $1 million, also be able to pave our roads, and six more police officers for $250,000, would fall in the realm with a little left over.  Mr. Sauer stated we are in a rough economy right now, people are struggling to get by, and the City has been going through expenses and trying to tighten the budget up as well.  He stated he believed there are still areas that can be tightened and there are areas we can improve in terms of efficiency.  He stated that expense review has not been completed and he would like to continue to focus on that and get resolved.  The economy is not always going to be bad, it goes through cycles, and it is going to improve and revenues will increase.  He stated with regard to some of the debt that was mentioned, the sewer plant is completely outside of the scope of income tax collections that are being used to pay because that is all based upon user fees that we pay for our water and sewer service.  He stated you can take that debt right out of the picture because that is being paid by the residents every time they pay their water and sewer bill.  He stated as far as police and safety, that is probably one of the first responsibilities of any responsible government, however, crime has not significantly spiked over the past few years.  He stated the only information he has been provided in terms of evidence that we need an increase in police officers to date, and he may not have all the information, but it has been that our population in comparison with other cities of comparable population we don’t have the same number of officers.  He stated if our crime is not increasing why would we go out and spend more money on officers when it is not warranted based on what is happening out in the community.  He stated there is the potential of the red light cameras that may be coming up soon and that would take officers off of intersections and they can be put into patrolling neighborhoods or into other areas.  He stated those are issues of efficiency, of redeployment, instead of spending your tax dollars to pay for more resources and are ways we can stretch the dollar a little more without coming back to ask for more.  Mr. Sauer stated beyond that, even if we raise it to two percent and give you a 100 percent credit, we are increasing revenue to the community to $2.1 million, and if that is not enough to continue to pay down our debt, maintain our roads, and continue the safety services that we have, then Council is not doing their job to make sure they are good watchdogs of the tax dollars of this community.  Mr. Sauer stated further we need to look in-house first, as everyone else is doing with the increases they are seeing in their budgets every day, and he felt it was his responsibility to look at the budget and make some of the hard decisions that would cause the City to stream some things back a little further in order to alleviate some of the pain that the residents are feeling.  Mr. Sauer stated he grew up in this community, it is his hometown, but he does not feel we need $2.9 million so we can be a “great” community, he felt we could do it with $2.1 million, and that is why he will vote against this. 

 

                        Mrs. Hammond stated in general principal she believed that most of Council were extremely reluctant to raise any taxes, but everyone has seen the results of what happens when we don’t have enough money to repair our infrastructure.  She stated Council wants to make sure that we generate enough money that when we have an emergency situation, when we have a culvert that fails, when we have trees fall and do damage, or when anything happens, that we have enough money to handle those and as things stand at the current time we do not.  Mrs. Hammond stated we can make all the cuts we want, but we would be cutting the service we give to our citizens because the only cuts we can make are to personnel and we don’t have that much excess personnel here in the City in the first place.  She stated it was with a great deal of thought and agonizing that the majority of Council reached the decision to place this issue before the voters and let them decide where they want the city to go. 

 

                        Mr. Sabatino stated what we did with what money we had in the past comes down to choices being made.  He stated we made the choice to use one of the most prestigious law firms in Columbus as our city attorney and he felt a couple of years ago we paid them close to $500,000 for one year’s worth of activity.  He stated we could get the job done far more cost efficiently and he did not feel we need to have the prestige and some of those spendings may have contributed to what Mrs. Hammond said are why some of the other infrastructure needs were chosen not to be dealt with.  Mr. Sabatino stated he would like to update Mr. Fix on the drug dog situation, and when Zar passed away he had spoken to Chief Taylor and offered to fund a replacement dog.  Chief Taylor stated at this point in time we did not have the right officer to match with the dog and he didn’t want to proceed with it.  He stated he had told Chief Taylor when he wanted to proceed, he would be happy to take it up with him, so it wasn’t done due to the fact that we didn’t have the money to do it.  He stated again it comes down to making choices on what we do with the funds that we have and if everyone would take an objective look backwards they would see there were some instances that could have been done differently and then we wouldn’t be in the situation we are in now.  He stated that is why he felt that only raising it by one-half percent was the more responsible way to go. 

 

                        Mrs. Sanders stated with regard to making do with the funds we have, coming from the educational background she has been there and done that, and it was not fair to the kids.  She stated to make do with the funds we have for the City is not fair to the citizens, we do not want to just make do, we want it to be better.  She stated she felt Council should do what is best for the citizens.  Mr. Sabatino stated the best way to do that is to make sure we are spending the funds available as judiciously as we can and he did not personally feel that has been the case in the past. 

 

                        Mr. Fix stated to update Mr. Sabatino, he spoke to Chief Taylor today about the drug dog situation and the reason he is not interested in bringing that canine unit back right now is because he does not have an officer to do it, but if he could get some more officers in he would have an officer to take care of that and it would certainly make a difference in the schools and it would certainly make a difference on late night stops when they are suspicious of drug carrying cars.  Mr. Fix stated he felt the difference between the law firm we contracted with and the lowest bidder who did not have near the qualifications that Schottenstein did, was somewhere between $50,000 and $100,000, so we could have saved that amount over the past two years.  Mr. Fix further stated he along with Mr. Sabatino and Mr. Sauer, over the past three or four months, have addressed two-thirds of the different departments that work in the City, looking at every line item in their budget, and to date has been able to find one department where they felt they could outsource things and run the department more efficiently by outsourcing it, and save somewhere between $70,000 to $80,000, and that is a drop in the bucket.  Mr. Fix stated the $10 million sewer debt that Mr. Sauer referred to earlier is not included in the $30 million debt he referred to earlier.  Mr. Fix stated $30 million for a city of 15,000 is an awful lot of debt to carry, and it scares him that we will go out and get more and more debt, and at some point the City would default because we don’t have the income stream to pay down that debt.  He stated as he had noted earlier, we have paid more in interest than we have in principal, and we have to pay down the principal on these debts so our kids aren’t paying 300 or 400 percent over time interest on debts for something that happened in 1979.  He stated those issues need to be addressed, and it is difficult for Council to ask the citizens to pay more money.  He stated fortunately they had found a way where most of the citizens will pay what they pay now, some of the people who live here also happen to work here, and the people that work here are primarily the people who will pay more taxes.  He stated this would be shifting the tax burden from the residents to the workers, it is equalizing it and that is the whole point.  Mr. Fix stated he felt most residents when they go to vote on this will say they don’t have to pay more and can get their street paved, they don’t have to pay more and they can see a police car in front of the house more often, they don’t have to pay more and the debt is going to go away over time.  Mr. Fix stated that was the point on why we were doing this. 

 

                        Mr. Sauer stated his response would be that he could go to the ballot and say we could increase revenues in the community to around $2 to $2.1 million and he could pay less and when presented with that alternative and being able to meet the expenses and pave the roads and increase the safety, why wouldn’t he choose that option. 

 

                        Mr. Sabatino stated lastly, to set the record straight once and for all on Zar, Chief Taylor told him he did not have the right individual, he did not tell him that he was looking to keep hiring people until he found the right individual, he told him he was willing to wait until that right situation presented itself. 

 

                        Mayor O’Brien stated he has not spoken about this a lot because he does not have a vote, but he is extremely pleased with the way Council has debated these issues.  He stated these are the hardest calls many have had to make as long as they have been in office and any time you have to deal with something like this it is very stressful.  He stated Council has been remarkable at the civility and the professionalism of their debates and he appreciated that.  Mayor O’Brien stated with regard to the cost of the law firm, he felt he could assure everyone that during the length of service we have had this firm we have probably saved five times what we have paid them in lawsuit settlements.  Mayor O’Brien further stated Council was not voting here to raise taxes, they are voting to send the issue to the ballot and ask the residents if they want to reinvest in their community, add to their investment in the community, do they want to join Council in making Pickerington better. 

 

There being nothing further, roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino and Mr. Sauer voting “Nay,” and Mr. Smith, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Sanders, and Mrs. Hammond voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 4-2. 

 

            I.          RESOLUTION 2008-08R, “A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING THE AMENDMENT TO THE SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN BY THE COSHOCTON FAIRFIELD LICKING PERRY SOLID WASTE DISTRICT,” Second Reading, Safety Committee.  Mr. Smith moved to adopt; Mrs. Sanders seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Fix, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Smith, and Mrs. Hammond voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

            J.          RESOLUTION 2008-09R, “A RESOLUTION TO PLACE THE ISSUE OF INCREASING THE MUNICIPAL INCOME TAX BY ONE PERCENT (1%) PER ANNUM AS PROVIDED BY ORDINANCE NO. 2008-37, ON THE BALLOT AT THE GENERAL ELECTION ON NOVEMBER 4, 2008, AND DIRECTING THE BOARDS OF ELECTIONS FOR FAIRFIELD AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES TO CONDUCT SUCH ELECTIONS,” Second Reading, Finance Committee.  Mrs. Hammond moved to adopt; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Mrs. Hammond stated for clarification purposes, this resolution is simply what is required to send the previously discussed issue to the Board of Elections to put it on the ballot.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino and Mr. Sauer voting “Nay,” and Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Smith, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Hammond, voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 4-2. 

 

9.         LEGISLATIVE READINGS:

 

 

            A.        ORDINANCE 2008-33, “AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE ISSUANCE OF NOT TO EXCEED $371,000 OF REVENUE NOTES BY THE CITY OF PICKERINGTON, OHIO, FOR THE PURPOSE OF RENEWING REVENUE NOTES PREVIOUSLY ISSUED FOR THE PURPOSE OF PAYING PART OF THE COSTS OF CONSTRUCTING (1) STREET IMPROVEMENTS ON HILL ROAD AND BLACKLICK-EASTERN ROAD, INCLUDING WIDENING STREETS, CONSTRUCTING SIDEWALKS, CURBS AND GUTTERS AND INSTALLING TRAFFIC CONTROL DEVICES, AND (II) STREET IMPROVEMENTS KNOWN AS THE HILL ROAD CONNECTOR, INCLUDING CONSTRUCTING STREETS, SIDEWALKS, CURBS AND GUTTERS,” Third Reading, Finance Committee.  Mrs. Hammond moved to adopt; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Fix, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sauer, and Mr. Sabatino voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

            B.         ORDINANCE 2008-34, “AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE ISSUANCE OF NOT TO EXCEED $290,000 OF REVENUE NOTES BY THE CITY OF PICKERINGTON, OHIO, FOR THE PURPOSE OF RENEWING REVENUE NOTES PREVIOUSLY ISSUED FOR THE PURPOSE OF PAYING PART OF THE COST OF CONSTRUCTING STREET IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CYCLE WAY AREA,” Third Reading, Finance Committee.  Mrs. Hammond moved to adopt; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Fix, Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sabatino, and Mr. Smith voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

            C.        ORDINANCE 2008-35, “AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE ISSUANCE OF NOT TO EXCEED $175,000 OF REVENUE NOTES BY THE CITY OF PICKERINGTON, OHIO, FOR THE PURPOSE OF RENEWING REVENUE NOTES PREVIOUSLY ISSUED FOR THE PURPOSE OF PAYING PART OF THE COST OF CONSTRUCTING STREET AND TRAFFIC SIGNAL IMPROVEMENTS IN THE STATE ROUTE 256/STONECREEK DRIVE AREA,” Third Reading, Finance Committee.  Mrs. Hammond moved to adopt; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sauer, Mr. Smith, Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Fix voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

            D.        ORDINANCE 2008-36, “AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE ISSUANCE OF NOT TO EXCEED $2,100,000 OF REVENUE NOTES BY THE CITY OF PICKERINGTON, OHIO, FOR THE PURPOSE OF RENEWING REVENUE NOTES PREVIOUSLY ISSUED FOR THE PURPOSE OF PAYING PART OF THE COST OF CONSTRUCTING STREET IMPROVEMENTS IN THE WINDMILLER/DILEY AREAS, INCLUDING CONSTRUCTING WIDENING AND TURN LANE IMPROVEMENTS FOR STATE ROUTE 256 TO ESTABLISH AN EXIT POINT FOR THE REALIGNMENT OF DILEY ROAD,” Third Reading, Finance Committee.  Mrs. Hammond moved to adopt; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Mr. Fix stated he would just like to note that Council just renewed $3 million of notes and it would be great if we could find a way to pay them down.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Fix, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sauer, and Mr. Sabatino voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

10.       OTHER BUSINESS: 

 

            A.        DISCUSSION REGARDING EMERGENCY REPLACEMENT OF THE MEADOWS BOULEVARD CULVERT.  Mr. Hansley stated council has previously authorized staff to do the engineering and begin the bid process to replace the culvert.  He the demo cost has been decreased with the help of Mother Nature and the raising water removing the pipe.  Mr. Hansley stated he had an emergency crew come in that Thursday morning to complete that process to prevent blockage further downstream.  Mr. Hansley stated we have a couple of options; do nothing and close the road off; go ahead and take the engineering we have and become our own general contractor where the staff would order the prefabricated culvert and hire a local firm to place the culvert and then sub out the ground replacement, the repaving and the guardrail sidewalk construction; or we could do an abbreviated bid process and ask Council to waive some of the bidding requirements so we would have a shorter advertising period and waive some of the readings so the bid can be awarded more quickly.   Mr. Drobina stated he and Mr. Hansley had discussed this today and they felt the City could save some money by being our own general contractor.  Mr. Sabatino questioned if we did that would we utilize City personnel during normal work hours and not utilize overtime.  Mr. Drobina stated that was correct unless there was a situation where we were right at the end of something that needed to be finished.  Mr. Fix questioned what amount of money we would save by doing it that way and Mr. Drobina stated he was not sure.  Mr. Drobina stated just on the culvert, if we bid it out, the contractor would add profit on top of the cost.  He stated if we bought the culvert there would be no mark-up and we could hire a contractor to set it in.  He stated then we could haul the gravel to back fill it.  Mr. Drobina stated he was comfortable that City staff could get this done.  Mr. Sabatino inquired if we knew what actually caused the current culvert to fail and would we be doing the replacement so we would not be repeating a situation that didn’t work.  Mr. Drobina stated the current culvert was an old metal culvert that basically rusted out.  Mr. Hansley stated we would replace it with a pre-engineered concrete culvert.  Mrs. Sanders clarified if we bid this project that would mean three weeks for the bid, then reviewing the bids and taking it to Service Committee and Council.  Mr. Hansley stated with the bid process we would be lucky to get this project started this year.  Mr. Sabatino stated he felt the common sense approach, if we are capable of doing it ourselves and saving money in doing so, that would be the logical approach to take.  Mr. Smith stated he was fully confident that staff could do this, however, we are already using our staff on other full time jobs and he questioned if this would place a burden on what we are already doing.  Mr. Drobina stated perhaps a little, but if we start running behind we could contract more of this out, but he felt we could handle it.  Mr. Hansley stated by doing it ourselves, we could control the project with the goal of getting it done as quickly as possible, but before cold weather.  He stated if something else had a higher priority, we would handle that first and still try to get this done in a reasonable timeframe.  He stated he felt we could complete it faster than if we went through the normal bid cycle.  Mr. Hansley stated if Council was receptive, he would request the necessary emergency legislation be prepared and the appropriation be accomplished.  He stated he would request a motion this evening with the legislation to follow so we can start getting quotes, etc.  Mayor O’Brien stated a resident who lives adjacent to that area was at Service Committee a few months ago, and he was aware the culvert needed to be replaced.  He stated at that time he had requested we close the street to help ease the dangerous intersection at Meadows, Milnor, and Center Street, and to slow down the through traffic on Meadows.  He questioned if we had surveyed the residents to find out their preference on keeping the road open or closing it.  Mr. Drobina stated the City did speak to the residents on the east end and at first they said they would like the road closed, and then they began calling back and after thinking about it they did not like that idea.  Mayor O’Brien then summarized the options we were looking at were to fully contract it out, to contract it out with an expedited bid, to do it in-house, or do nothing.  Mr. Drobina stated even if we were to do nothing, we would have to do something because we have a 12-inch water line that is exposed and the gas company came in and capped off each end of the gas line.  Mayor O’Brien clarified no residents were impacted by the gas line being capped off.  Mrs. Hammond stated she did not feel that doing nothing was really an option.  Mr. Fix moved to authorize the City Manager to work with City staff and the law director to create emergency legislation for the next Council meeting so that staff can work with contractors to expeditiously replace the culvert; Mr. Sabatino seconded the motion.  Mayor O’Brien clarified that if necessary a council manic waiver of committee action would be included in the legislation.  Mr. Hansley stated he would like to clarify the legislation would also include a companion ordinance to appropriate the funds up to the engineer’s estimate so we can get the funds appropriated.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Fix, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Hammond, and Mrs. Sanders voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

11.       MOTIONS: 

 

            A.        WHEREAS, THE CITY HAS EXPERIENCED A LARGER ENROLLMENT THAN ANTICIPATED IN THE SUMMER PLAYGROUND PROGRAM; AND WHEREAS THE CITY HAS ALREADY APPROPRIATED FUNDS NECESSARY TO ADD AN ADDITIONAL STAFF MEMBER, COUNCIL ACKNOWLEDGES AND APPROVES THIS ADDITIONAL STAFFING TEMPORARILY UNTIL THE CITY PAY PLAN AND AUTHORIZED STRENGTH CAN BE FINALIZED AND PRESENTED TO COUNCIL, INCLUDING THESE CHANGES.  Mrs. Hammond moved to approve the motion stated above; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Mr. Sauer stated as he understood it, the funds have been appropriated in the budget.  Mrs. Fersch stated we have extra funds in the budget for the playground program, it is just in the pay plan we have had the same amount of positions over the past ten years or so and this year we had extra children enrolled and there is the safety issue of having two teachers per so many children.  Mr. Sauer clarified this did not increase the budget, it just increased the staff.  Mr. Sabatino stated there was a corresponding increase in program fees with the increased enrollment. Mayor O’Brien stated while our Parks Department is experiencing a larger enrollment than anticipated, he would like to add that our swimming pool has a higher attendance rate than anticipated, and he felt this is a great opportunity to go to the residents to ask them to reinvest in the community to improve everything that we can to give the residents more of a reason to stay here and play here.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Fix, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sauer, and Mr. Sabatino voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

12.       ADJOURNMENT.  There being nothing further, Mr. Smith moved to adjourn; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Fix, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Smith, Mr. Sabatino, and Mrs. Hammond voted “Aye.”  Motion carried, 6-0.  The meeting adjourned at 8:40 P.M., July 1, 2008. 

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED: 

 

 

_______________________________

Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk

 

 

ATTEST:

 

 

 

_______________________________

Mitch O’Brien, Mayor