FINANCE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL
CITY
HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD
TUESDAY,
FEBRUARY 17, 2009
SPECIAL
MEETING
6:30
P.M.
1. ROLL CALL. Mr. Fix called the meeting to order at 6:30 P.M., with roll call as follows: Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Smith, Mr. Fix, Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Wisniewski were present. No members were absent. Others present were Mayor O’Brien, Tim Hansley, Lynda Yartin, Linda Fersch, Frank Hirsch, Bob Blair, Paul Martin, Harry Myer, Devin Reany, and others.
2. SCHEDULED MATTERS:
A. Review and discussion of proposal from Fairfield County Health Department. Mr. Fix stated several representatives of Fairfield County Health Department were present this evening and all committee members had received information in their packets on this issue. Mr. Fix stated if there were no objections he would have Mr. Hirsch address the Committee at this time.
Mr. Frank Hirsch introduced other individuals from the Board who were present, Mr. Bob Blair, Mr. Paul Martin, Mr. Larry Hanna, and Ms Diana Uther. Mr. Hirsch stated in going over the proposal he had tried to target some of the concerns the Committee had discussed at the last meeting and address some of the issues between Fairfield County and Franklin County. Mr. Hirsch stated it is very difficult to compare one health department to another because in Ohio each department does things based on the need of their particular county. Mr. Hirsch further stated he understood the struggle the City was going through as to whether or not there were advantages to the City to not only save some money but also get a better mix of services from Franklin County. He stated he felt, however, Pickerington would be making a mistake to leave Fairfield County and he was present this evening to try and convince the Committee of that. Mr. Hirsch stated when he compared the Franklin County Board of Health contract with Reynoldsburg to what Pickerington might get, he had questions that he would like to point out to the Committee. He stated he had tried to answer the sections one on one and he had indicated if Fairfield County could or could not meet those services or if it was something that they could do. He continued that this issue was extensively discussed at their Board meeting last week and he felt the overall opinion of the Board was not that they did not want to negotiate with the City of Pickerington, but they felt they could not do so in good faith right now because negotiating with one entity and not negotiating with the others would not be good business sense; especially with the merger contract coming up for renewal. Mr. Hirsch stated he felt it would be in the best interests of everyone concerned if they could all sit down around the table and everyone renegotiate the contract. He stated he felt one of the biggest adjustments that should be made is that the Board of Health and the cities go into the contract looking at perhaps changing the way the cities pay their fee. He continued that in talking with other health departments and seeing how things are done elsewhere he felt that was certainly possible. Mr. Hirsch further stated their legal advisor has stated they can really do what they want in the contract as far as rearranging the terms. He stated if the cities wanted to do a per capita assessment that was certainly possible, and he felt the argument would be what that assessment would be based on, what population should it be based on. Mr. Hirsch stated the one service the Board found particularly attractive was the plumbing program and if they needed to make some reduction in fees in the assessments perhaps that could be made up in some of the sharing of the plumbing fees. He continued that even though the proposal he had provided looked negative, it is only negative in the sense of the immediacy of getting the information to the Committee. Mr. Hirsch stated in addition to renegotiating the contract, he felt Pickerington should look at some things to see what Fairfield County would do versus Franklin County and if there are additional costs you might incur. He stated one of the major ones would be the legal counsel issue as right now legal assistance is provided to the Fairfield Department of Health through the City of Lancaster City Attorney’s office, and Franklin County works through their prosecutor and a special prosecutor that they pay individually for individual projects or litigations, and it was his understanding that Pickerington would be charged separately for that. Mr. Hirsch stated he is also concerned about communicable disease nursing, how that is done and who does it. He further stated there are other issues such as that he had pointed out in his proposal and he would be happy to go over some of them with the Committee if they had any questions. Mr. Sabatino clarified the communicable disease nursing resulted from diseases that happen within the community, not necessarily that come from the clinic. Mr. Hirsch stated, for example, they have had three or four cases of TB in the Pickerington area they have been working on and one case was where a person emigrated from another country. He stated there is no physical exam for children when they enter the country and their parents are legal residents. Mr. Hirsch stated a child came over with a case of TB and exposed the school to that, and that did not involve any clinic situation. Mr. Hirsch stated he had also distributed to the Committee this evening a handout detailing the services provided by the Health Department. Mayor O’Brien clarified that in some cases the Health Department has been able to separate the City from Violet Township with regard to their statistics. Mayor O’Brien stated he would suggest the Board coordinate with the 9-1-1 call centers because they can separate the cities from the townships for handling 9-1-1 calls for police. Mr. Hirsch stated that would be a big help and he would check into that. Mr. Paul Martin stated he is the President of the Board of Health and the Board had made an agreement with the District Advisory Council a few years ago and as the property tax goes up, three percent was all they could increase their budget for two years and in the third year it is reassessed but the highest they could go would be six percent. He stated he felt they have tried to show they are fiscally responsible and they have been very conservative in their spending and they are very committed to keeping the costs down. He stated he would ask that Pickerington stay with the Board for 2010 and be at the table for the next round of negotiations. Mr. Hirsch stated the Economic Stimulus Package passed and there is a great deal of money in there for Federally Qualified Health Centers and if all goes as planned they should be asked whether or not they want to be considered for full designation by the Federal Government. He stated that would mean approximately $500,000 extra for the clinic and that would help the Health Department greatly because they have had to float the clinic with District Health Funds in the amount of about $85,000. He stated with that extra money for the clinic, the Health Department can be repaid and that money can be used for their other programs. Mr. Hirsch stated further that he did not want the Committee to feel that the Fairfield County Department of Health was the only one in financial difficulty, and this past weekend there was an article in the Columbus Dispatch about health agencies bracing for cuts. He stated that article was not even referring to Fairfield County, but was about the Franklin County and Columbus Health Departments. Mr. Hirsch stated of the approximately 130 health departments in Ohio, he would guess that at least 75 percent of them are having financial difficulty. Mr. Hirsch stated for a struggling health department he felt they were doing pretty good and he is very concerned about what would happen to the rest of the health department if Pickerington pulled out.
Mrs. Sanders stated she was very much on the fence, but she felt she would be in favor of staying with Fairfield County through 2010, and see where things go. Mayor O’Brien stated he felt the comparison with the Reynoldsburg model was interesting, but he felt there could be more brought to this report. He stated given a little more time he thought staff could come up with a side-by-side comparison to be sure we include the services we get, services we would lose, etc. Mr. Sauer stated his major concerns were with the communicable disease program and the litigation issue. He stated without that information he was sort of on the fence and he wanted as much information as possible to make a reasonable decision. Mr. Sabatino stated he agreed with Mr. Sauer’s concerns and he felt we do need some estimate on the litigation costs. Mr. Smith stated our potential savings in going with Franklin County seemed to be about $8,000, and to him that was not enough to break our governmental relationships and natural attachment to Fairfield County. Mr. Smith stated he did not feel the purpose of this discussion was to put Fairfield County Board of Health over a barrel to get a better deal. He stated Council was faithfully representing the residents of the City of Pickerington, and he agreed with Mrs. Sanders that it would be a better strategy to do this as part of the negotiation for the new contract coming up next year. He stated if the City did stay and participated in the negotiations, it would help to know where the Board’s costs were coming from, who were their customers. He stated it seemed Pickerington was under served and under represented, and this discussion was a result of that. Mr. Fix clarified that Pickerington’s being included in the Fairfield County Board of Health would help in some grant applications and would hurt in other applications. Mr. Fix further inquired if we had a deadline to commit to Franklin County one way or the other and Mrs. Fersch stated we did not.
Mr. Fix stated he appreciated the Fairfield County Board members coming to the meeting and the work they had done since the last meeting. He stated he agreed with Mayor O’Brien that there are still a good number of questions that need answered before making a final decision. He stated it appeared the financial expense was fairly close together with both Franklin and Fairfield County, and the financial condition of the Board of Health is still a significant concern to him. Mr. Fix stated he would ask Mr. Hansley and Mrs. Fersch to come back to this Committee at the next meeting with the financial details, comparison of services, and help the Committee come to a final conclusion. Mr. Sauer stated having heard the presentation from Fairfield County’s Board of Health, he has come up with some questions for Franklin County, and he questioned if it would be possible to have a representative of Franklin County come back to answer some questions. Mr. Sabatino stated he thought that would be beneficial. Mr. Fix stated he would ask Mr. Hansley to coordinate with Franklin County to have them come to the next Finance Committee meeting. Mr. Sabatino clarified that Pickerington has met the legal requirement of providing Fairfield County with the notice of intent to withdraw. Mr. Fix stated for the March 4th Finance Committee meeting he would ask that both Franklin County and Fairfield County have representatives attend to answer questions and that Mr. Hansley and Mrs. Fersch provide Mrs. Yartin with the financial information to be included in the Committee’s packets so they would be prepared for the meeting.
3. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mr. Sauer moved to adjourn; Mr. Smith seconded the motion. Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Fix, Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Smith, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mrs. Sanders voted "Aye." Motion carried, 7-0. The Finance Committee Special Meeting adjourned at 7:18 P.M., February 17, 2009.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:
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