SAFETY COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL

CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD

MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2008

 

REGULAR MEETING

7:00 P.M.

 

 

1.         ROLL CALL:  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Sanders and Mr. Smith being present.  There were no members absent.  Others Present were: Tim Hansley, Chief Taylor, Mayor O'Brien, Jeff Fix, Paul Lane, Stacey Bashore, Steve Carr, Tim Kelly, Andrea Kelly, Kelly Sweeney Hungerman and others.

 

2.         APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF September 8, 2008, Regular Meeting- Mr. Sabatino moved to approve; Mrs. Sanders seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Sabatino voting "Yea."  Motion passed, 3-0.

 

3.         COMMUNITY COMMENTS- There were none.

 

4.         COMMUNITY SAFETY CONCERNS:  There were none.

 

5.         DEPARTMENT REPORTS

 

            A.        Parks and Recreation:

                        (1)        Director's Report-  Mr. Carr stated he had provided a written copy of the report and he would be happy to answer any questions.  Mr. Smith asked if all the work on the pool was complete and Mr. Carr stated that the second coat of paint went on today and the concrete work is complete.  He further stated that the bath house has yet to be painted because it is indoor.  Mrs. Sanders asked when Victory Park would be started and Mr. Carr stated that the equipment was in and the excavation should be starting in the next couple of weeks.

 

            B.         Code Enforcement:

                        (1)        Code Enforcement Officer's Report-  Mr. Smith stated that the Committee had received the written report.  Mr. Hansley stated that it is campaign season and the difference between the types of signage are the signs for Issues are allowed to exist in the right of way with permission of the City and the signs for the candidates have to be on private property.  He stated that we hold any signs that we collect for a short period of time for people to claim them. 

 

 

 

            C.        Building Regulations Department:

 

                        (1)        Building Department Report (Mr. Lane)- Mr. Lane stated he had provided a copy of his written report and would answer any questions.  He stated there are several commercial projects that have been in the pipeline for a long time.  Mr. Sabatino asked if there was any activity for Single Family homes in the previous month and Mr. Lane stated we had six.  Mr. Sabatino asked that column be added to the report to show what the cut off date and what the monthly total was.  Mr. Lane stated he would like to have some discussion on the definition of a permit.  He stated that there is some misinformation that the Building Department issues permits.  Mr. Lane stated that the Building Department issues Plan Approvals for Single Family or Commercial projects and it is the City that issues the building department from 3 components.  He stated that we are more concerned with the Plan Approvals that are picked up and starting construction.  Mr. Lane stated that it will change the numbers on the reports as well as some financial numbers, but it will be more reflective of what the Central Ohio community does as a whole.  He stated that we would like to define a permit as something that has been picked up and is ready to start construction in the field.  Mr. Smith clarified that the permit is not a physical piece of paper and Mr. Lane stated we can create one.  Mr. Lane stated that now we have a build card that identifies the inspections that need to be completed and then if it passes we sign off on it.  Mr. Lane stated that we have 42 plan approvals this year and the new number will be a more accurate reflection as to what the construction is out in the field.  Mr. Smith clarified that just because there is a Plan Approval doesn't mean construction has started.  Mr. Lane stated that instead of discussing plan approvals we can talk about true permits.  Mr. Sabatino stated he felt it was more indicative of true activity and it was an appropriate to show that.  Mr. Smith stated he would still like to see plan approvals because that is the core workload.  Mr. Lane clarified that the Committee was open to changing the definition of permits. 

 

                        (2)        Chief Building Official's Report (Mr. Phillips)-  Mr. Smith stated the written report was received and there were no questions.

 

            D.        Service Department

                        (1)        Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance authorizing the City Manager to submit a grant application to the Ohio Department of Transportations Safe Routes to School Program- Mr. Hansley stated there was a memo submitted in the packet and we have applied for this in the past and we did not get funded the last time. Mr. Hansley stated we are fairly optimistic that we have a chance this year. Mr. Smith made a motion to move the draft ordinance on to Council; Mrs. Sanders seconded the motion.   Roll call was taken with Mr. Smith, Mr. Sabatino, and Mrs. Sanders voting "Yea."  Motion passed, 3-0.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6.         POLICE:

 

            A.        Chief's Report - Chief Taylor stated he had provided a copy of his written report and would be happy to answer any questions. 

 

            (1)        Discussion regarding Agreement with Pickerington Local School District for Extraordinary Police Services-  Chief Taylor stated this agreement is to provide police services for the school system and the current agreement expires at the end of this year.  He stated that it is standard as to what we provide for the school every year.  Chief Taylor stated it included Central and the elementary school.  Mr. Hansley clarified that this needs to go forward to Council as a draft ordinance.  Chief Taylor stated at this point it is just an FYI.  Mr. Fix clarified that the hourly rate that the school would be paying would cover the costs.

 

7.         CHAIRMAN:

 

            A.        Review and discussion regarding proposed amendments to Disturbing the Peace Ordinance - Mr. Smith stated this was discussed in work session prior to the Safety meeting to review the current Disturbing the Peace Ordinance and there were quite a few changes and recommendations.  He stated the most significant were the five criteria that Disturbance of the Peace can be judged.  Mr. Smith stated the Mayor, Chief Taylor and the prosecutor will review and submit any suggestions.  He stated that if that makes it over the next week he fully expected an ordinance to go before Council at the next meeting and if there are a lot of comments we will continue it until the November meeting.  Mr. Fix clarified that there was no urgency and we want to make to sure that this Committee is fully on board with all of the details.  Mr. Sabatino stated we have a base and it needs to be reviewed by the Safety Committee again.  The Committee asked that it be brought back to the Safety Committee in November.  

 

Mr. Smith stated that the Violet Township Fire Department would be sponsoring a blood drive on November 10th.

 

8.         OTHER BUSINESS: 

           

            A.        Notification of Surplus Auction Items- Mr. Hansley stated that anything that is valued less than $1,000 can be disposed of by auction and there is no single item that is worth more than $250.  He stated there was no action needed.

 

            B.         Discussion regarding restricting right turns on red at S.R. 256 and S.R. 204- Mr. Sabatino stated he has had discussions with Jennifer Frommer regarding the right turn from S.R. 256 onto S.R. 204 during the peak driving times in the evening.  He stated the reason for that is from personal observation because you cannot see all of the traffic in the intersection.  Mr. Sabatino stated that the traffic light at Winderly is red and holding traffic there as well.  He stated that Jennifer Frommer spoke with Brian Bosch from ODOT and he thought that restricting the right turn on red is something that should be looked at.  Mr. Sabatino stated that the initial response was it may make traffic back up on the freeway, but if you look at the amount of inventory space from Winderly to S.R. 256 there would still be room on the ramp.  He stated that his recommendation is that we consider restricting the right turn on red between the hours of 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.  Mr. Sabatino stated we could get the engineer's input and ODOT has said that if we decide to change it we can and just let them know that we did.  Mr. Smith stated that the choices are no right turn on red at all or just doing restricted hours and it seemed to him that the largest group of individuals that would be impacted would be non-residents turning to go into the City of Columbus.  He stated that the queuing along the exit ramp is somewhat of a concern, but he had never see it queue up that far.  Mr. Hansley stated those signals are not current part of the ACS, but ODOT has agreed to allow us to make it part of the ACS at the appropriate time.  Mayor O'Brien stated that ODOT owns the lights and they will have to buy the ACS and they have studied the system and they think they can tie all of their lights up to and including all the way north on S.R. 256.  He stated they are going to apply for a grant in April and the earliest would be about a year from now that they would be able to tie their lights into our system.  Mayor O'Brien stated that we need to approach the engineers with the what and not the how and tell them what we are trying to accomplish.  Chief Taylor stated that we need some kind of restriction there. Mr. Smith stated that other committee that we need to run this by is the Service Committee even though signage has always come out of Safety.  Mr. Sabatino stated this is strictly a safety issue and the last time we restricted the right turn on red it was our right.  Mr. Smith stated he was not suggesting that we don't have the right, but with the ACS component he wanted to get their input.  The Committee agreed on the restricted hours being from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.  Mr. Hansley stated there is an ordinance 84-21 on the books that prohibits the right turn on red for west bound traffic onto S.R. 204 at S.R. 256.  He stated he would have to review the ordinance.  Mr. Sabatino moved to restrict right turn movements from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on southbound S.R. 256 to Tussing Road; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Smith, and Mrs. Sanders voting "Yea."  Motion passed, 3-0.    

 

9.         ADJOURNMENT  There being nothing further, Mr. Sabatino moved to adjourn; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.   Mr. Smith, Mrs. Sanders and Mr. Sabatino voted "Aye."  Motion carried 3-0.  The Safety Committee adjourned at 7:54 P.M on October 6, 2008.

 

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED

 

 

 

                                                           

Stacey L. Bashore, Deputy Municipal Clerk