THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2008

REGULAR MEETING

7:30 P.M.

1. ROLL CALL. Mr. Wisniewski called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M., with Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mr. Sauer present. No members were absent. Others present were: Tim Hansley, Lynda Yartin, Ed Drobina, Jennifer Frommer, and others.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF November 13, 2008, Regular Meeting. Mr. Sauer moved to approve; Mrs. Hammond seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Sauer, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mrs. Hammond voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.

3. COMMUNITY COMMENTS: There were no community comments.

4. DEVELOPMENT:

A. Development Director’s Report. Mr. Hansley stated he had nothing to report this evening.

5. PLANNING AND ZONING DEPARTMENT:

A. Planning and Zoning Director’s Report. Mr. Hansley stated Mr. Schultz was not present this evening, however, he had submitted a written report to the Committee.

(1) Planning and Zoning Representative Report. Mr. Sauer stated he had no report this evening.

B. ACTION ITEMS: NONE.

6. SERVICE DEPARTMENT

A. REPORTS:

(1) Service Manager’s Report. Mr. Drobina stated he had provided a written report and he would be happy to answer any questions. Mr. Sauer clarified the grit and grease removal system at the wastewater treatment plant will be modified instead of building a new system. Mr. Wisniewski clarified URS felt this would be fine for the new plant and it would save approximately $400,000. Mr. Drobina stated that was correct and in order top move forward with this URS would need to do some design modifications at the proposed cost of $40,000. Mr. Drobina stated prior to moving forward he had brought this to the attention of this Committee. Ms Frommer stated she did not see any risk in this modification, and URS has indicated they will try to do the design work under the existing contract, but it could be up to a $40,000 cost. Mr. Drobina stated he and Ms Frommer agreed it would be a good idea to go ahead with this change order. Ms Frommer stated Mr. Drobina was correct and timing was the chief reason this was not incorporated in the plans during design review. Mrs. Hammond moved to approve the design modification of the existing grit and grease removal system at the wastewater treatment plant; Mr. Sauer seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Hammond, and Mr. Sauer voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.

(2) Staff Engineer’s Report. Mr. Hansley stated Ms VanCleave was not present, but she had submitted a written report. He stated he would try to answer any questions the Committee may have.

B. ACTION ITEMS:

(1) Review and discussion regarding TDS options and costs. Mr. Hansley stated he and our attorney will be meeting with the attorney that works for Fairfield County regarding their legal action in the EPA appeals process. Mr. Hansley stated he would request this remain on the agenda for the next meeting and he would hopefully have more information by that time.

7. ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT CAPITAL PROJECTS.

A. WASTEWATER

(1) Wastewater Plant Expansion – Update. Ms Frommer stated she doesn’t have a real update, but there is a lot of activity going on out there. Mr. Wisniewski inquired if we knew where the contractor was in the purchasing process since the price of steel has gone down and would we get a significant discount because of that. Mr. Hansley stated we are locked into the price that was in the bid, and they will be paid based on the bid. Mr. Drobina stated he had inquired if the price increased if they had a contingency and he was told the contractor has worked with his vendors and if the price starts going up he will just purchase it sooner and store it at the site.

B. TRANSPORTATION:

(1) Diley Road Improvements Project – Update. Mr. Wisniewski stated he understood the contractor would be doing the noise walls and then basically shut down for the winter and Mr. Drobina stated that was correct. Ms Frommer stated they were doing clean up paperwork, but there would be very little activity until spring.

C. WATER: No Report.

D. STORMWATER. Mr. Wisniewski stated at the Council work session he had asked if we could do some research into what the stormwater fees are in municipalities in the area that do charge a stormwater fee. Mr. Hansley stated Mr. Drobina is working on that project. Mr. Wisniewski stated he would then like to know how much of that fee we can apply toward Diley Road.

8. CHAIRMAN. Mr. Wisniewski stated at the last meeting a public hearing on the rezoning of the Gillilan property was scheduled for January 6^th at 7:20 P.M., and if there are no objections the Planning and Zoning Department has requested that hearing be rescheduled for January 20th at 7:20 P.M. There were no objections from the Committee members. Mr. Wisniewski moved to reschedule the public hearing regarding the proposed rezoning of the Gillilan property located on the northeast corner of the Refugee Road and Milnor Road intersection for Tuesday, January 20, 2009, at 7:20 P.M.; Mrs. Hammond seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Hammond, and Mr. Wisniewski voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.

9. OTHER BUSINESS:

A. Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance authorizing the City Manager to enter into an agreement for Red Light cameras with RedFlex Traffic Systems, Inc. Mr. Wisniewski stated the Committee has received the reports from the engineers and the Service Committee has discussed this at length. Mr. Wisniewski stated from a service perspective he believed the cameras are a bad idea as we already have significant congestion on S.R. 256 and this would only add to that. He stated he did not believe from a safety perspective, with the number of crashes that we have, we would have perhaps one less crash per intersection per year. Mr. Wisniewski further stated from an enforcement perspective there is nothing better, but there is a definite trade off. Mrs. Hammond stated as far as enforcement the best thing we could do would be to have our officers target these intersections. Mr. Wisniewski stated he has been in contact with a council member in Chillicothe and there is currently a petition being circulated to have the cameras removed because of the problems they have had with people making legal right hand turns on red getting tickets. Mr. Hansley stated he has contacted the City of Columbus with regard to their cameras and they have not done anything with regard to House Bill 30 because that does not go into effect until January and they are also waiting for ODOT to define what it means to add one second of yellow, does it come off of the red or the green cycle. Mr. Hansley stated the cameras Columbus have are not yet certified but they will be certified by the required date. Mr. Hansley further stated from a revenue end they are very happy with the cameras and they believe their accidents have decreased and once they receive the answers regarding the timing and the certification process they intend to expand their program. Mr. Wisniewski stated there was information that at some intersections in Columbus there was a reduction in t-bone crashes, but there were also three intersections where the accidents actually increased. Mr. Wisniewski stated there is a lot of conflicting information about the red light cameras and as Chairman of Service Committee he felt his duty was to move traffic through the city as efficiently as possible and he personally felt this would be a hindrance. Mrs. Hammond stated she agreed with Mr. Wisniewski completely. She stated she felt the red light cameras may work in places like the City of Columbus but they have a totally different traffic pattern than what we have here. She stated further she felt a genuine ticket being issued by an officer was more effective. Mr. Sauer stated he has struggled with this because traffic is a big concern to him. He stated, however, our Chief of Police felt this was a good thing and it could help free up an officer from sitting in an intersection to do other things. Mr. Sauer stated he has looked at this from both safety and traffic and given our situation with not being able to add officers to the police department that tilts him toward the side of supporting this issue. Mr. Wisniewski moved to forward the ordinance authorizing the City Manager enter into an agreement for Red Light cameras with RedFlex Traffic Systems, Inc. to Council; Mr. Sauer seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski and Mrs. Hammond voting “Nay,” and Mr. Sauer voting “Yea.” Motion failed, 2-1. (Clerk’s Note. The ordinance will be forwarded to Council from Service Committee as Not Recommended.)

Mr. Wisniewski stated a public hearing on the red light cameras is scheduled for January 20,2009, at 6:30 P.M. He stated he would like to have this ordinance on the Council agenda for that evening after the public hearing and all Committee members concurred. Ms Frommer verified that Mr. Wisniewski would like Stilson to attend that public hearing and to make the same presentation that was given to Service Committee. Mr. Hansley stated the representative from RedFlex would also attend that public hearing as well as the Chief of Police and another vendor.

10. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mr. Wisniewski moved to adjourn; Mr. Sauer seconded the motion. Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mr. Sauer voted “Aye.” Motion carried, 3-0. The Service Committee adjourned at 8:05 P.M., December 11, 2008.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

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Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk