PICKERINGTON CITY COUNCIL

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2008

CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD

 

PUBLIC HEARING

7:20 P.M.

 

 

OPEN DISCUSSION REGARDING DELETING CHAPTER 1254.02 (CONTENTS OF PRELIMINARY PLAN) AND 1254.03 (REVIEW OF PRELIMINARY PLAN) OF THE PICKERINGTON CODIFIED ORDINANCES

 

 

Mayor O’Brien opened the public hearing at 7:20 P.M. with the following members present:  Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mayor O’Brien.  Others present were:  Tim Hansley, Lynda Yartin, Lance Schultz, Chief Mike Taylor, Phil Hartmann, Ed Drobina, Rex Myer, Rachel Scofeld, Carol Carter, Nick LaTorre, Paula Evans, and others. 

 

Mayor O’Brien stated this Public Hearing was to hear any comments either for or against the proposed amendments to the Pickerington Codified Ordinances.   

 

Mr. Schultz stated several months ago Service Committee had requested we look at expediting the platting process and we discovered our platting process was a few months longer than most communities in central Ohio.  He stated it is currently a three-step process including preliminary plan, preliminary plat, and final plat, and the proposal is to eliminate the preliminary plan review.  Mr. Schultz further stated Planning and Zoning Commission approved this in July and Service Committee approved it in August.  Mr. Schultz stated this should reduce the review time by up to two months for all plats. 

 

Mayor O’Brien ascertained there were no further comments either for or against the proposed changes. 

 

There being nothing further, Mayor O’Brien closed the public hearing at 7:22 P.M., September 16, 2008.

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED: 

 

 

_______________________________

Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk

 

 

ATTEST:

 

 

________________________________

Mitch O’Brien, Mayor

 

 

 

PICKERINGTON CITY COUNCIL

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 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, September 16, 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, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Sanders, and Mayor O’Brien were present.  Mr. Smith was absent as he was out of town.  Others present were: Tim Hansley, Lynda Yartin, Linda Fersch, Chief Mike Taylor, Ed Drobina, Lance Schultz, Phil Hartmann, Miriam Segaloff, Rachel Scofeld, Nick LaTorre, Carol Carter, Harry Myers, Larry Jones, Nancy Wright, Cindy McAlister, Rex Myers, Paula Evans, and others. 

 

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

 

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

 

4.         COMMUNITY COMMENTS:   

 

A.        Carol Carter.  Ms Carter stated she would like to let Council know how much she appreciated on how great the City did in the clean up after the recent storm. 

 

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

 

6.         COMMITTEE REPORTS:   

 

A.        RULES COMMITTEE.  Mr. Fix stated Rules Committee met on September 3, 2008, and they completed the first pass on the complete Charter.  He stated at the October meeting they plan to start the second look to make sure that all of the revisions that have been discussed are accurate and there are several points that are still up for debate.  He stated they have put together a tentative timeline to put together a Charter Review Commission and there will be further discussion before that is finalized.  Mr. Fix further stated we do have a vacancy on the Parks and Recreation Board and the Committee will be addressing that at their next meeting as well. 

 

B.         SAFETY COMMITTEE.  Mr. Sabatino stated Safety Committee met on September 8, 2008, and the minutes have been distributed.  He stated they did discuss the playground equipment in Victory Park, disturbing the peace issues, and procedures for snow emergency parking.  Mr. Sabatino stated revised ordinances on disturbing the peace and on snow emergency parking are on tonight’s agenda for a first reading.  Mr. Wisniewski clarified the playground equipment was removed from Victory Park in July and since this is mid-September it seems there has been a considerable lag in getting equipment ordered.  Mr. Hansley stated most of the equipment is in and is in a warehouse waiting to be installed.  He stated the delay right now is the base and we are trying to do that in-house.  Mr. Hansley stated our personnel were pulled off of that project to work on the Meadows Boulevard culvert project, however, they are back on schedule now.  He stated we hoped to have that completed and installed before cold weather.  Mayor O’Brien stated he thought Mr. Carr had informed us some months ago that all of the equipment was here and in storage, we were just waiting for all of the festivals to be over.  Mr. Hansley stated that is still a correct statement, and Mr. Wisniewski stated Mr. Carr’s report indicated the equipment was ordered for the 2-12 year old range.  Mr. Hansley stated the replacement equipment has been here for some time and we have added some equipment for another age group.  Mr. Wisniewski stated it is just that we have had our most used park out of commission for two-thirds of the summer.

 

C.        SERVICE COMMITTEE.  Mr. Wisniewski stated Service Committee met on September 11th, and the ordinance on tonight’s agenda regarding the preliminary plan process had been moved forward from Service with the public hearing held earlier this evening.  Mr. Wisniewski stated Service Committee had additional discussions about the red light cameras and the engineer is working on some more information on that.  Mr. Wisniewski stated we did receive notification from ODOT that they will refuse to allow the red light cameras to be placed in their intersections and the intersections that are controlled by ODOT are where we have the majority of the incidents.  He continued that based on the figures we received from RedFlex, it was estimated that approximately two-thirds of the incidents would not be targetable, so there is much more discussion to be held on this issue.  Mayor O’Brien clarified those discussions will probably occur in both Service Committee and Safety Committee as Service Committee is basically dealing with the timing issues and what intersections are able to be targeted.  Mr. Sabatino clarified that Service Committee had discussed the possibility of taking the signals back from ODOT.  Mr. Wisniewski stated the City is going in a positive direction with ODOT right now as we are discussing the opportunity for ODOT to tie into our ACS system so the signals are better timed, and other issues as well.  Mr. Wisniewski stated taking those signals back from ODOT is definitely a possibility, but he did not feel Service was leaning in the direction of recommending that at this time and there will be several more months of discussion on the ACS part of that. 

 

7.         REPORTS:

 

A.        MAYOR.  Mayor O’Brien stated today was Community Care Day in Fairfield County and we had over 80 volunteers who did some storm damage clean-up for some elderly residents who needed help, and they picked up around I-70 and S.R. 256.  He stated he had also attended the “Picktown Smackdown” and that was a well-attended event, as well as, the Bicentennial Picnic.  Mayor O’Brien administered the oath of office to Paula Evans as a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission and presented a proclamation to the Daughters of the American Revolution for Constitution Week.  Mayor O’Brien presented a proclamation and a plaque to Tim Hansley in recognition of his 35 years of public service. 

 

B.         LAW DIRECTOR.  Mr. Hartmann stated he had no report this evening but would answer any questions.   

 

C.        FINANCE DIRECTOR.  Mrs. Fersch stated she had no report this evening.    

 

D.        SERVICE MANAGER.  Mr. Drobina stated we had some minor damage from the storm at the wastewater plant, service garage, and swimming pool.  He stated City crews will pick up tree branches, etc., they are asking residents to put them at the curb and they will pick them up as they can.  Mr. Drobina stated he is estimating it will take three to four weeks to get it all cleaned up.  Mr. Drobina further stated the Fairfield County Commissioners issued an Emergency Declaration on the storm so it appears we will be able to get some reimbursement from FEMA on equipment and overtime hours for the first 72 hours.  Mr. Drobina further stated Long Road, on the west side of Diley Road, will close for 14 days beginning next Monday.  Mr. Drobina stated he has been asked to speak for the Safe Routes to Schools Committee.  He stated last year the Committee submitted an application for sidewalks and they were not funded, and it is time to submit again this year.  He stated the plan must be submitted to ODOT for approval by October 6th, and, if approved, they can then apply for funding on November 3rd.  Mr. Drobina stated the Committee is planning on submitted the plan submitted last year with some modifications and would appreciate it if Council would review the plan and get comments back to them by Friday, September 26th.  He stated if anyone would like to review the plan they can contact him or Ms VanCleave and one will be sent to them. 

 

            Mr. Wisniewski requested Mr. Drobina provide a quick briefing on the reverse osmosis issue that was discussed in Service Committee.  Mr. Drobina stated we have tracked the TDS problem at the wastewater plant back to the process we use for softening at our water treatment plant, which is the ion exchange.  He stated most of our TDS comes from the waste from the salt we use for the softening process.  He stated we were discussing going to the reverse osmosis treatment at the water plant, but we are going to do more research on the TDS problem.  Mr. Wisniewski stated the reverse osmosis solution was estimated at roughly $2 million so Service has requested we have at least three or four options to discuss.  He stated he wanted everyone to be made aware of it now so that if something does come about in the near future no one is shocked.  Mr. Sabatino stated he understood the County was resisting the EPAs request to do this same thing and questioned if Service had discussed waiting to see how that comes out before we decide what we are going to do.  Mr. Wisniewski stated that was correct, and that was one of the options Service Committee discussed.  He stated we are not at a decision making point right now, he just wanted everyone to be aware we do have issues that we need to address in some way. 

 

            Mr. Drobina stated he hoped to pave the right-in/right-out at Drug Mart tomorrow and it should be open by Friday.  Mr. Sabatino inquired if the stop sticks would stay up once that was completed and Mr. Drobina stated the original intent was for them to come down, but they can stay up.  Mr. Sabatino stated he assumed they would stay up because even with them in place people still make U-turns.  Mr. Hansley stated the design is for them to stay in place. 

 

E.         CITY MANAGER.  Mr. Hansley stated he had provided a written report and he would like to thank everyone for the presentation, it was a total surprise.  He stated he would like to thank Wesley Ridge for providing a transportation bus for transporting the volunteers for the Community Care Day, they have been a very good community partner.   Mr. Hansley stated he would like to thank Mr. Drobina and his staff for getting out there early and cleaning up from the storm and our community was much more fortunate than other areas. 

 

8.         PROCEDURAL READINGS:

 

            A.        ORDINANCE 2008-60, “AN ORDINANCE DELETING CHAPTER 1254.02 “CONTENTS OF PRELIMINARY PLAN” AND CHAPTER 1254.03, “REVIEW OF PRELIMINARY PLAN” OF THE PICKERINGTON CODIFIED ORDIANCES,” First Reading, Service Committee.  Mr. Wisniewski moved to adopt; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Mr. Wisniewski stated this is the legislation that the public hearing was held on earlier this evening and we are modifying our ordinances relating to platting to speed up the process for getting approval on new construction.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Sauer, and Mr. Fix voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

            B.         ORDINANCE 2008-61, “AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 452.16 OF THE CITY’S CODIFIED ORDINANCES ENTITLED, “SNOW EMERGENCY, PARKING BAN,” First Reading, Safety Committee.  Mr. Sabatino moved to adopt; Mrs. Sanders seconded the motion.  Mr. Sabatino stated this can best be described as a common sense approach on how to deal with a snow emergency.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Fix, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sabatino, and Mr. Sauer voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

            C.        ORDINANCE 2008-62, “AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 618 OF THE PICKERINGTON CODIFIED ORDINANCES TO BETTER PROTECT THE CITY’S RESIDENTS FROM DANGEROUS ANIMALS,” First Reading, Safety Committee.  Mr. Sabatino moved to adopt; Mrs. Sanders seconded the motion.  Mrs. Sanders stated this amendment would take out some of the specifics and Mr. Sabatino stated the ordinance we have on the books dealing with this issue was deemed to be unconstitutional, and this will update our ordinance.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Fix, Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Sauer voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

            D.        ORDINANCE 2008-59, “AN ORDINANCE TO CREATE A NEW CHAPTER OF THE CODIFIED ORDINANCES TO LIMIT EXPENDITURES MADE BY THE CITY FOR BURIAL OF INDIGENT PERSONS,” Second Reading, Finance Committee.  Mrs. Hammond moved to adopt; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Fix, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sabatino, and Mr. Sauer voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

9.         LEGISLATIVE READINGS:  NONE.

 

10.       OTHER BUSINESS:  No other business was brought forward. 

 

11.       MOTIONS: 

 

            A.        MOTION FOR EXECUTIVE SESSION UNDER SECTION 121.22(G)(2), PURCHASE OR SALE OF PUBLIC PROPERTY, AND SECTION 121.22(G)(3), CONFERENCE WITH LAW DIRECTOR ON PENDING OR IMMINENT COURT ACTION.  Mr. Wisniewski moved for Executive Session under the subject sections; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Fix, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sabatino, and Mrs. Hammond voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

Council adjourned into Executive Session at 8:07 P.M., and reconvened in open session at 8:35 P.M.

 

12.       ADJOURNMENT.  There being nothing further, Mr. Fix moved to adjourn; Mr. Sauer seconded the motion.  Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Fix, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mrs. Sanders voted “Aye.”  Motion carried, 6-0.  The meeting adjourned at 8:37 P.M., September 16, 2008. 

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED: 

 

 

_______________________________

Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk

 

 

ATTEST:

 

 

_______________________________

Mitch O’Brien, Mayor