CITY OF PICKERINGTON

SAFETY COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL

CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD

MONDAY, JULY 7, 2008

7:00 P.M.

REGULAR MEETING

1. ROLL CALL. Mr. Smith called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M. with Mrs. Sanders and Mr. Smith present. Mr. Sabatino arrived at 7:10 P.M. There were no members absent. Others present were: Mayor O'Brien, Chief Taylor, Jeff Fix, Ed Drobina, Don Phillips, Steve Carr, Stacey Bashore, Susan Lent, Brian Price CC Ungurean, Carol Carter, Larry Jones and others.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF June 2, 2008, Regular Meeting. Mrs. Sanders moved to approve; Mr. Smith seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mrs. Sanders and Mr. Smith voting "Yea." Motion passed, 2-0.

3. COMMUNITY COMMENTS. Carol Carter stated she was there to ask about the trash collection agreement and Mr. Smith stated it was on the agenda to discuss. Mr. Drobina introduced Brian Price from Rumpke and CC Ungurean from Local Waste.

4. COMMUNITY SAFETY CONCERNS: There were none.

5. DEPARTMENT REPORTS

A. Parks and Recreation- Mr. Smith stated that the Committee received the written report and there were no questions.

B. Code Enforcement: Mr. Smith stated that the Committee received the report by e-mail and appreciated the very thorough information. Mayor O'Brien stated he spoke with Mr. Mahaffey regarding federal grant money toward helping with Code Enforcement issues because of the rising home foreclosures. He further stated that Mr. Mahaffey would be doing some research on the grants for the future.

C. Building Regulations Department:

(1) Building Department Report (Mr. Lane) Mr. Drobina stated that Mr. Lane was on vacation. Mr. Smith stated he would like to have on record that so far this year we have 27 plans that have been reviewed and approved for Single Family housing and last year at this time there were 64 plans.

(2) Chief Building Official's Report (Mr. Phillips) Mr. Smith ascertained that the Committee had received Mr. Phillips written report and there were no questions.

D. Service Department:

(1) Review and discussion regarding on-street parking during a snow emergency- Mr. Drobina reported that staff has not had a chance to review it. Mr. Smith stated he felt the Committee was comfortable with language that is flexible so that the Mayor has as much latitude as possible. He further stated that he does not like the way it is currently written because there are too many variables. Mr. Smith continued that whatever staff wants to recommend that would give the Mayor more flexibility, assuming that it is reasonable, would have his support.

6. POLICE:

A. Chief's Report Chief Taylor stated he had provided a written report and would be happy to answer any questions. He reported that we have a suspect in custody from the most recent bank robbery who has admitted to the robbery. Mr. Smith asked if this was the first robbery that has been solved and Chief Taylor stated that we have solved all three bank robberies. Mayor O'Brien reported that there was an incident that occurred after the 4th of July parade of a lost child and the officers were mobilized in minutes. He stated that everything worked out and a neighbor found her and took her home, but he was impressed with the response. Mr. Smith asked if there was an improvement with the major traffic issues and Chief Taylor stated it has been a slow start. Mr. Smith stated he would like to have a discussion regarding the intersection where the boy was hit trying to cross over to Sonic and he wanted to make sure that the City has done our due diligence making sure all of the signals were working. Chief Taylor stated through witness statements we have found nothing wrong with the outlay of the accident and everything was working and visible. He stated that the boys chose to cross the street while disregarding the traffic light and they were outside of the crosswalk. Mr. Smith stated he didn't want to suggest any knee jerk reactions and hoped that everyone realized how important cross walks are. Mr. Sabatino stated that it was a very unfortunate thing and hoped for the best outcome as possible.

B. Review and request for motion to approve draft resolution authorizing the Police Department to apply for the 2008-2009 school year DARE Grant Mr. Smith clarified that this was the annual application for the grant. Mrs. Sanders move to approve the draft resolution authorizing the Police Department to apply for the 2008-2009 DARE grant and forward to Council; Mr. Sabatino seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Smith, Mr. Sabatino, and Mrs. Sanders voting "Yea." Motion passed, 3-0.

7. CHAIRMAN:

Mr. Smith stated that he would like to review an ordinance that was tabled at the last Council meeting to give Safety Committee a chance to discuss it again. Mrs. Sanders stated she stood by her original opinion and someone made a comment that we are currently recycling anyway, but that is only about 10% of what could be done. She further stated that in her opinion to go from $13.51 to $16.04 and the larger containers is worth it. Mr. Smith stated in his opinion calling the dirty MIRF a recycling program is better than nothing, but a good portion cannot be pulled because they are contaminated. Mrs. Sanders stated she liked the larger containers because there wouldn't be trash blowing around the neighborhoods. Mr. Sabatino stated that in all the time he had been on Council this is his third term that he has gotten the most calls about this matter. He stated the gist of the comments roll down into a common theme that people don't want to pay for something that they may not use. He stated no one said they had any problems with the service that we received from our current supplier, but everyone that talked to him was desirous of trash only or an opt in recycling program. Mr. Sabatino stated that along those lines there is a firm that offered a proposal on an opt-in basis and the cost on that appears to be less than what we are currently paying. He stated that people have said there are a lot of things going up in cost and they would like to have the option of choosing to recycle. Mr. Drobina stated he called it a subscription curb side recycling service and that is an opt-in or opt-out program. Mr. Sabatino reviewed Rumpke's bid with the Committee for an opt-in recycling program and stated it would pay to look at this to give the residents the most choice. Mr. Smith stated there were four options that were given in the bids and it has generated a lot of discussion and we have all of the bidders here to discuss it. Mr. Fix stated that no matter what we do we need to make sure we are comparing apples to apples and giving all of our potential vendors the opportunity to do the same thing. He stated in his opinion our current vendor has done a great job and he has had Rumpke in the past and didn't feel it was that good, but it has been made very clear that there a lot of people who are interested in some type of a recycling program. Mr. Fix stated this may not be the best time to ask voters to increase their cost for a recycling program, but his concern with an opt-in program are the costs associated with it. Mrs. Sanders asked how many communities have the opt in program and Mr. Smith reviewed the list of communities that have recycling included in their basic rate. Mr. Fix asked what the Township was doing and why we were on different programs. Mr. Sabatino stated he talked to Mr. Weltlich and they would like to do something however it is going to take them six to nine months to make a decision and his advice was to go ahead and do what we are going to do and if it was possible to get an opt-in option for the Township included they could look at it. Mayor O'Brien stated he attended the Trustee meeting and there have been public comments concerning their costs because the costs are not fixed. He stated that in the past people have demanded their right to pick who they wanted for trash service and now it is becoming more of a money issue so more people are being flexible. Mayor O'Brien stated the process will be to survey the different homeowner's associations to see what interest there is and the Township will be waiting to get input back from the residents and have public hearings. He stated his personal comment is that he is not dissatisfied with the current service, however he has gotten a lot of comments about perceived mandatory recycling, and he felt that a lot of people would opt-in for recycling. Mr. Sabatino stated he hadn't talked to anyone that had an issue with service from a provider in this area. Mr. Fix asked if we received opt-in recycling bids from all of the providers and Mr. Smith reviewed the bid specifications with the Committee and clarified that only one bidder provided an opt-in bid. Mr. Sabatino clarified that there was an optional 90 day extension period with the current contract with Waste Management and he stated that he spoke with the law director and was told we would have to ask for new bids that were different from that last bid specifications. Mayor O'Brien stated that one of the concerns he would have with an open top bin for recycling would be trash blowing around and he would like to see a closed bin. Mr. Smith asked the vendors to present their information to the Committee. CC Ungurean introduced himself and stated he was with Local Waste and a resident of the City of Pickerington. Mr. Ungurean stated he appreciated the amount of effort that everyone has put into this and from the standpoint of looking at all of the bids in order to get the best price you need to know what you are bidding on. He stated that the bid specifications did not request subscription recycling and he felt that going to an every other week service would not be a good idea because it is very hard to maintain. Mr. Ungurean stated everyone could give their best price if the bids were specific enough and if they knew what they were bidding on. He stated that he sees re-bids all the time and from a fairness standpoint the bids need to be specific. Mr. Smith asked if it was fair that all of the other vendors know the different price points and Mr. Ungurean stated any business is in it to make money and they are not going to quote a price that won't make money. He stated that you don't know their price margins and there are so many different prices that have been offered. Mr. Brian Price introduced himself on behalf of Rumpke and stated they felt it was a fair bid and everyone had the opportunity to give options. He stated that with the recycling program they do not charge for an extra bin and lids are available. Mr. Price stated people want a choice and they offered it at a fair price. He stated that Rumpke does separately capture all of the recyclables that come through and then sort through all of the recyclables and process it. Mr. Price stated that Rumpke came to Columbus around 1996 and has expanded their operations with state of the art equipment and have grown to become a municipal specialist. Mr. Sabatino asked about the alternate bid of the co-mingled recyclables and asked if people had to sort items and Mr. Price stated they do not have to sort things and they provide a list of what are acceptable recyclables and they put them all in the bin and a separate truck comes to pick them up. Mr. Sabatino asked for clarification on the lids for the bins and whether or not there was a charge for them and Mr. Price stated they are available but he could not say they are not at a charge because that was not included in the bid specifications. He further stated that with all of the other cities they provide the lids at no charge, so it would be fair to assume they would be provided at this point. Mayor O'Brien clarified that the trucks that come for the recyclables are much smaller so that is a little less wear and tear on the roads. Mr. Price clarified that if only one person subscribes to recycling their items would be recycled, so it would not be co-mingled with trash because there is no mandated number for this option. Ms Susan Lent introduced herself on behalf of Waste Management and stated the City is very important to them. She stated they were the only company that bid on the dirty MIRF option which is the current service level. Ms Lent stated 100% of the people are getting some type of recycling materials pulled out of their trash without sorting, so the City is getting a percentage of what is being pulled out. She stated that if people are given an option of paying more or less she believed that a bigger portion will choose not to recycle based on costs. Ms Lent stated that under House Bill 592 the City has to report on the diversion rate of what is going to the landfill which the City is responsible for. She stated that lids are very important to the City and the carts with the hinged lids provides that. Ms Lent stated they have smaller trucks as well to help on wear and tear on the road and a decision should be made based on efficiency and effectiveness. She stated they would like the opportunity to bid again based on the options the City wants and there is no City that she is aware of that has an opt-out program. Mr. Sabatino stated that he concurred that the neatest thing is to have a lid on the recycling container, however the enormous amount of people that said they want to pay for something they don't use, puts him in a situation that makes it hard to vote for something that will make them do something they don't want. He further stated he is a fan of an opt-in recycling program and we have one bidder that does that, so we may want to reconsider re-bidding and asking for an opt-in program that will give the customer a choice of the bin sizes with lids. Mr. Sabatino stated Waste Management has a long history of serving Pickerington and they have done a good job of dealing with concerns so hopefully we can assume that the other two companies will be as responsive. Ms Lent stated that more people are apt to use the recycling service if it is included in the rate, but they would love the opportunity to bid on the opt-in option. Mr. Sabatino stated that when the original bid specifications went out no one exactly knew the pulse of the community of what they were looking for and now we understand they want a choice. Mr. Sabatino clarified that any of the providers could obtain the different carts if specified. Mr. Smith stated that based on comments Council has received he felt that no one wants forced to pay for recycling. Mr. Sabatino stated that we should re bid based on the fact that people want the ability to opt in and choose the size of a recycling bin and the law director said we can't put out the same bid, but we can if we have different specifications. Mr. Smith stated he felt if we go out for re-bid we would need to have a special meeting before the next Council meeting to discuss the options. Mr. Fix stated in order to be fair to the citizens and the bidders we have to decide exactly what we want and ask them to give their best price because you need to be very specific. Mayor O'Brien stated because this was tabled at last Council and based on Safety Committee's agenda people thought they had to get new containers and there would be a new trash can ordinance. He stated that we need to make legislative choices that helps Code Enforcement and there are provisions to help people under the existing law if the containers change. Mr. Sabatino stated we do have a bid on the table that allows people the option of whether to pay for recycling and Mr. Fix stated that the way to get the best deal is to go out and bid exactly what we want. Mr. Sabatino stated we need to be fair on how we handle the alternative bids, but we need to be responsible as well. Mayor O'Brien stated that we need to get a legal opinion on how to proceed. Mr. Smith stated that we could do a motion at this meeting subject to the concurrence of Council. Mr. Sabatino stated before he would vote for us to re-bid he wants to make sure we are doing our due diligence and if we need to honor the bid that we have we do that. Mr. Smith stated he would contact the Law Director on whether he was available for a Special Meeting to discuss this and answer any questions. The Committee agreed to schedule a Special Meeting for Wednesday July 9, at 8:15 p.m. Mr. Sabatino invited the bidders to that meeting.

A. Review and discussion regarding Ordinance 2004-73 relative to proper disposal practices for garbage containers- Mr. Smith stated this ordinance was on the agenda to discuss trash cans and their placement. Mr. Sabatino stated that when this first happened it was stated that it would only be enforced by complaints and there were over 200 citations issued over trash can placement and his personal feeling was he didn't feel we needed to legislate exactly where someone places their garbage can. Mr. Smith clarified that there were only two location items in the ordinance and there is nothing in it on whether they can be seen. Mr. Fix asked why it was being brought up and Mr. Smith stated it has received a lot of press. Mr. Sabatino stated if this ordinance wasn't in place you would still have a statistical number of where the trash cans are placed now regardless of where the Ordinance says they should be. Mr. Smith stated that from a logical standpoint he didn't have a problem with the concept of not putting your trash can in front of your house because there are other options. He further stated that he wasn't sure that he had a problem with the 24 hour period that the trash cans can be out for collection. Mayor O'Brien clarified that the ordinance is telling people where not to put their trash cans and it generated a lot of contention at the time, and he felt that it has worked and there have not been a lot of complaints. Mr. Smith stated it was requested that we discuss it and that is why it was on the agenda. Mayor O'Brien stated there have been different approaches to Code Enforcement since this Ordinance has been put in place and in most cases people are not aware that it was an issue and comply with the Ordinance. Mr. Sabatino stated as long as the front of the house does not become subjective and to him the front would be something in front of the front door. Mayor O'Brien stated Property Maintenance described it as the furthest projected elevation on your house such as a garage. Mr. Sabatino stated that people do this because of common sense not because of some ordinance. The Committee decided not to take any action at this time.

B. Review and discussion regarding Section 618.015 of the Pickerington Codified Ordinances relating to dangerous and prohibited animals Mr. Smith stated he has received a lot of calls regarding this item and we have the research that goes back to the original court case regarding this. He reviewed the list of prohibited animals in the Ordinance and the one that has caused the most issues is the snakes. Mr. Smith stated that "all" constrictor snakes was deemed overly broad and therefore unconstitutional. Mr. Sabatino asked if we had any more leverage on what we could do since we are a Charter City and Mr. Smith stated that there is nothing that we can do to change that ruling. Mr. Smith asked based on what anyone has heard in the community if there should be any changes to the prohibited animal ordinance. Mr. Sabatino asked if there was anything about keeping animals that are used cannibalistically such as live rats that are kept to be fed to snakes and Mr. Smith stated that according to the Ordinance rats are prohibited. Mr. Smith clarified that only "all" constrictor snakes was removed from the Ordinance and everything else remains in force because the Court said "all" was too broad. Mayor O'Brien suggested that the law director look at this ordinance to come up with language to bring it into compliance. Mr. Sabatino stated it would be our due diligent responsibility to, if we are aware of something that needs looked at, to look at it. Mr. Fix stated he didn't see the need to make a big deal out of this and possibly ending up in court again when the Court has already decided that we may be able to restrict how many and how big they can be, so anything we do past that may be challenged. Mr. Smith stated he would discuss this with the Law Director and see if he wants to recommend any new language. Mr. Sabatino requested that the Law Director look into having rats to feed to the snakes. Mr. Smith stated he intended this to be more than just a discussion about an incident here in the City and wanted to make sure that everyone reviewed it from the standpoint to see if there is anything else that needs changed.

8. OTHER BUSINESS: Mr. Carr apologized for being late and wanted to point out that there was some flood damage in the parks with downed fences and we should have a quote in the next few days. He further stated that we lost all of the safety mulch at Victory Park on the playground so we have accelerated removing the old equipment. Mr. Smith asked that a sign be placed at the area to say that we will be installing more equipment later. Mr. Carr stated that we have sold approximately 725 pool passes. Mr. Fix stated he received great compliments on the July 4th fireworks.

9. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mr. Sabatino moved to adjourn; Mrs. Sanders seconded the motion. Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Smith and Mr. Sabatino voted "Aye." Motion carried 3-0. The Safety Committee adjourned at 9:28 P.M on July 7, 2008.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

Stacey L. Bashore, Deputy Municipal Clerk