PICKERINGTON CITY COUNCIL

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2009

CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD

 

 

REGULAR MEETING

7:30 P.M.

 

1.         ROLL CALL, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE, AND INVOCATION. Council for the City of Pickerington met for a regular session Tuesday, February 17, 2009, 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, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Sanders, and Mayor O’Brien were present.  No members were absent.  Others present were: Tim Hansley, Lynda Yartin, Linda Fersch, Chief Mike Taylor, Ed Drobina, Phil Hartmann, Pastor April Thoms, Devin Reany, Harry Myer, Frank Hirsch, Paul Martin, and others.  Pastor Thoms of C3 Church delivered the invocation. 

 

2.         A.        APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 3, 2009, PUBLIC HEARING REGARDING REZONING OF PROPERTY.  Mr. Fix moved to approve; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Smith, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Fix, and Mrs. Sanders voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 7-0. 

 

B.         APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 3, 2009, REGULAR MEETING.  Mr. Sabatino moved to approve; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Smith, Mr. Fix, Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Wisniewski voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 7-0. 

 

3.         COMMUNITY COMMENTS. There were no community comments. 

 

4.         COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS.  There were no council communications. 

 

5.         APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA.  Mayor O’Brien stated there was one consent agenda item, Resolution 2009-04R, “A Resolution re-appointing Tim Wagner to the Personnel Appeals Board.”  Mr. Smith moved to adopt; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Fix, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Sauer voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 7-0. 

 

6.         APPROVAL OF AGENDA.  Mr. Fix moved to approve; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Smith, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Sabatino voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 7-0. 

 

7.         REPORTS:   

 

A.        MAYOR.  Mayor O’Brien stated he had nothing to report this evening. 

 

B.         LAW DIRECTOR.  Mr. Hartmann stated this afternoon he had received a revised agreement from Red Flex and he had forwarded it out to Council.  He stated there were three changes, they had removed the references to speed enforcement as Council requested, they removed any demonstrative qualifier such as “significant,” and they included the actual viable intersections.  He stated he would answer any questions.  Mr. Wisniewski stated he had understood one of the requests was that the intersections would be monitored in all directions.  Mr. Hansley stated several Council members had contacted him or the law director and asked that change not be included.  Mr. Hartmann stated if Council wished to give him direction, it could be done during the “Motion” section of the agenda. 

 

C.        FINANCE DIRECTOR.  Mrs. Fersch stated she had no report but would answer any questions. 

 

D.        SERVICE MANAGER.  Mr. Drobina stated the field assessment improvement that was requested for the ACS has been completed and a representative from the contractor was in the field last week.  He stated further controller programming was updated and Internet modems were installed at eight intersections and network communication upgrades will be ongoing for the next week or so.  Mr. Drobina stated ACS light will be in the monitoring mode for the next several weeks and at the end of March or early April a representative will be back to install the new traffic model and activate the system.  Mr. Wisniewski inquired if there was a video feed you could get from these cameras and Mr. Drobina stated they do not record or take still pictures.  Mr. Wisniewski inquired if there was the option for still pictures or video.  Mr. Drobina stated there would be a live video feed, but he did not know about recording.  Mr. Wisniewski stated the discussion on safety and benefits the red light cameras were going to provide for traffic accidents and finding fault, if the ACS system had the same capability to be able to capture live feed from it would that satisfy the same issue we are trying to get out of Red Flex systems.  Mr. Wisniewski stated if Mr. Drobina could find that out for him he would appreciate it.  Mayor O’Brien stated he understood Mr. Wisniewski’s request was to find out if those cameras can monitor and record, and Mr. Wisniewski stated that was correct.   Mayor O’Brien further requested Service Committee get a monthly report of the metrics of what the system sees, what it has changed, etc. 

 

E.         CITY MANAGER.  Mr. Hansley stated he had provided a written report and he would answer any questions. 

 

F.         FINANCE COMMITTEE.  Mr. Fix stated Finance Committee met on February 4th, and had a special meeting earlier this evening to focus on the Board of Health issue.  He stated he would be asking for three readings on the appropriation ordinance on tonight’s agenda.   

 

G.        RULES COMMITTEE.  Mr. Smith stated he would like to state that he continues to be impressed with Mayor’s Court and the way it is being used in getting back taxes collected.  Mr. Smith stated Rules Committee met on February 4th as well and had scheduled a Council work session for March 2, 2009, at 7:00 P.M. for the purposes of going over the proposed charter changes recommended by Rules Committee.  Mr. Smith stated he had also presented a tentative timeline to the Rules Committee that basically seats a Charter Review Commission sometime in early summer.  Mr. Smith stated the consent agenda item just passed came out of Rules Committee as well, and the ordinance removing the requirement for employees of Council to file financial disclosure forms with the Ohio Ethics Commission is also on tonight’s agenda.  Mayor O’Brien clarified that Rules Committee would be advertising for Charter Commission volunteers and previous applicants would also be contacted to see if they were still interested in volunteering for the Commission. 

 

8.         PROCEDURAL READINGS:

 

            A.        ORDINANCE 2009-05, “AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE 2009 APPROPRIATION, ORDINANCE 2008-92,” First Reading, Finance Committee.  Mr. Fix moved to adopt; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Fix, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Sauer, and Mr. Smith voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 7-0.  Mr. Fix moved to suspend the rules for the purpose of three readings; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Fix, and Mrs. Hammond voting “Yea.”  Suspension of Rules passed, 7-0.  Second Reading.  Mr. Fix moved to adopt; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Smith, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. Hammond, and Mr. Wisniewski voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 7-0.  Third Reading.  Mr. Fix moved to adopt; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Smith, Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sauer, and Mr. Fix voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 7-0. 

 

            B.         ORDINANCE 2009-06, “AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 250, ETHICS, OF THE PICKERINGTON CODIFIED ORDINANCES,” First Reading, Rules Committee.  Mr. Smith moved to adopt; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Mr. Smith stated this was originally passed in 2004 to require employees of Council to file the same financial disclosure forms with the Ohio Ethics Commission as the Ohio Revised Code requires elected officials to file.  He continued it has come to Rules Committee’s attention, and verified by counsel, that the Ohio Ethics Commission has no jurisdiction over employees of municipalities and they do not do anything with these forms.  He stated, therefore, Rules Committee had asked the law director to look at the ordinance to see what could be done and what is before you is basically striking the requirement for employees of Council to file these financial disclosure forms.  He stated the law director could answer any specific questions anyone might have.  Mr. Sabatino stated even though the Ethics Commission has no jurisdiction, the submittal of these forms did create a public record.  Mr. Wisniewski stated the fact that someone is required to file this form does not mean they will fill it out correctly.  Mr. Smith stated the City also paid the filing fees for these employees, and also the employees of Council have the same ethical requirements as elected officials.  He stated this would not be removing any requirement for ethical behavior from employees; it would only remove the requirement to file this financial disclosure form that serves no purpose.  Mr. Sabatino stated his point was that this created a public record and anyone who had any concerns about the financial disclosure of any council employee had the ability to request this information.  Mr. Sabatino stated he would be more comfortable is the forms were still filled out and filed with the Municipal Clerk.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino voting “Nay,” and Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Fix, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sauer, and Mr. Smith voting “Yea.”   Motion passed, 6-1. 

 

            C.        RESOLUTION 2009-04R, “A RESOLUTION RE-APPOINTING TIM WAGNER TO THE PERSONNEL APPEALS BOARD,” First Reading, Rules Committee.  Mr. Smith moved to adopt; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Fix, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Sauer voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 7-0.  (CONSENT AGENDA ITEM) 

 

            D.        ORDINANCE 2008-90, “AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE REGIONAL COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS FOR THE PURPOSE OF UTILIZING THE REGIONAL INCOME TAX AGENCY TO ADMINISTER AND ENFORCE THE CITY OF PICKERINGTON’S INCOME TAX ORDINANCES,” Second Reading, Finance Committee.  (TABLED, 12/16/08)

 

            E.         ORDINANCE 2009-02, “AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT FOR A PHOTO RED LIGHT ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM WITH RED FLEX TRAFFIC SYSTEMS, INC.,” Second Reading, Service Committee.  (TABLED, 02/03/09)

 

            F.         ORDINANCE 2009-03, “AN ORDINANCE TO AUTHORIZE THE CITY MANAGER TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH NEPTUNE EQUIPMENT COMPANY,” Second Reading, Service Committee.  Mr. Wisniewski moved to adopt; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Smith, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Sabatino, and Mrs. Hammond voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 7-0. 

 

            G.        ORDINANCE 2009-04, “AN ORDINANCE APPROVING THE REZONING OF 5.82 +/- ACRES (PARCEL ID 0411122200) FROM C-2 LIMITED COMMERCIAL (VIOLET TOWNSHIP) TO C-3 COMMUNITY COMMERCIAL LOCATED AT THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE REFUGEE ROAD AND MILNOR ROAD INTERSECTION (GILLILAN LIMITED PARTNERSHIP), Second Reading, Service Committee.  Mr. Wisniewski moved to adopt; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Smith, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Hammond, and Mr. Wisniewski voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 7-0. 

 

            H.        RESOLUTION 2009-03R, “A RESOLUTION AUTORIZING THE PETITION FOR ANNEXATION OF 4.088 ACRES, MORE OR LESS, LOCATED IN VIOLET TOWNSHIP, FAIRFIELD COUNTY, TO THE CITY OF PICKERINGTON (SWIMMING POOL),” Second Reading, Service Committee.  Mr. Wisniewski moved to adopt; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Smith, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Sauer, and Mr. Sabatino voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 7-0. 

 

9.         LEGISLATIVE READINGS:  NONE.

 

10.       DISCUSSION.  There was no discussion.

 

11.       REFERRAL TO COMMITTEE.  Mayor O’Brien stated he had no committee referrals. 

 

12.       OTHER BUSINESS.  No other business was brought forward. 

 

13.       MOTIONS: 

 

            A.        Mr. Wisniewski moved to authorize the City Attorney to modify the contract to read so that all intersections will be monitored from all directions when the roadway entering the intersection does not originate from a subdivision; Mr. Sabatino seconded the motion.  Mr. Wisniewski stated he did not see a need to have an intersection coming out of a subdivision monitored by a camera.  Mr. Fix clarified that Mr. Wisniewski felt all directions should be monitored because he did not feel that we had 300 red light runnings per month from northbound S.R. 256 and 5 from Refugee in the same intersection.  Mr. Wisniewski stated if we have a problem intersection, by whatever criteria Red Flex came up with, then he felt it was a problem intersection and should be taken care of in all directions not just the direction they felt would make them the most money.  Mr. Wisniewski further stated accidents do not occur just from people running red lights in one direction.  Mr. Fix stated, however, he felt the east/west traffic that goes through those intersections was significantly lower than the north/south traffic.  Mr. Wisniewski stated he would not agree that was the case during certain times of the day.   Mr. Sabatino stated if you were looking at it from a safety standpoint and you were looking to use the captured still video of an accident, then he felt having more than one angle would be beneficial.  Mr. Fix stated as he recalled all cameras were not on and recording all the time.  Mr. Wisniewski stated he understood Red Flex had conducted a 12-hour survey and then made the determination we were not safe.  Mr. Fix suggested having Red Flex redo the survey in a different way that gets much more data, and Mr. Wisniewski stated they told us we had a problem before they did their survey.  Mr. Wisniewski further stated we received a public information request for the study that was done, and the answer is there wasn’t any.  Mr. Hansley stated there was no public record because Red Flex is not a public body.  Mr. Wisniewski stated we were provided a report, we did not see the data regarding it, and according to their study we have a problem at certain intersections and how many thousands of red light runnings we have in a month.  Mr. Fix stated Red Flex would not go to the expense of installing cameras in intersections where they didn’t believe there was an issue of people running red lights because they are not in the business of losing money.  Mr. Wisniewski stated he thought we were doing this for safety, and Mr. Fix stated having the cameras in place changes driver behavior and improves safety.  He further stated the benefit to the police department and to Red Flex is financial and that fact has not been hidden.  He stated Red Flex is in business to make money and they make money from people running red lights, and we benefit from that.  Mr. Sabatino stated if we are really looking at doing this from a safety standpoint, we need to look at all directions.  Mr. Hansley stated Red Flex is putting in the cameras, the city is not paying for that, and if they felt the bulk of the activity will be going north and south on S.R. 256, not on the side streets.  Mr. Sabatino stated we know Red Flex’s motivation is financial, but if our primary concern is safety and if we cannot give the people what they need to enhance their safety then we should not do it at all.  Mr. Wisniewski stated we were told by Red Flex that we had a problem and we did not look at any other solution as to how to solve this purported problem other than putting in the red light cameras.  He stated this was the only solution offered, there was no discussion about increasing the yellow light, about off setting when the green turns in the other direction, and if we have a big problem with t-bone accidents and with red light running, there are other ways to solve that other than going initially to red light cameras.  Mr. Fix stated we were not told we had a problem by Red Flex; we were brought Red Flex as a solution to a problem by Chief Taylor and Commander Portier.  Mr. Fix stated they had done the research and looked at the numbers and they felt it would increase safety.  Mr. Sauer stated from all of the studies he has looked at, this does decrease red light running.  He further stated it would only affect individuals who run red lights and if there is revenue that does come in from this he would hope this Council would earmark those funds specifically toward police officer salaries and police officer overtime.  Mrs. Sanders stated she felt all of Council had done their due diligence on this issue, however, as the Mayor had pointed out at the last meeting we have the ACS system that is not even completed yet and we are not sure how it will work.  She stated she is a supporter of the red light cameras, however, she wanted to see what the ACS system does before she would be willing to vote on this issue.  Roll call was taken on the motion with Mr. Sauer, Mr. Fix, Mr. Smith, and Mrs. Sanders voting “Nay,” and Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Hammond, and Mr. Wisniewski voting “Yea.”  Motion failed, 4-3. 

 

            Mr. Smith moved to request Red Flex enhance the cameras they are going to install by having them monitor right turns on red and adding that enforcement option to the contract; Mr. Sauer seconded the motion.  Mayor O’Brien inquired if the cameras monitored north and south, would this mean monitoring right on red to northbound S.R. 256.  Mr. Smith stated it would work better with monitoring in all four directions and that was why he wanted that capability on all cameras Red Flex installed as he hoped we would grow the system over time to where all four directions can be monitored.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sabatino, and Mr. Wisniewski voting “Nay,” and Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Fix, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Sauer voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 4-3. 

 

            Mr. Sabatino moved to have the Red Flex contract clearly define what intersections will have cameras, whether or not we are going to utilize the intersections controlled by ODOT, and that we do have authority to place the cameras on those intersections; Mr. Wisniewski seconded the motion.   Roll call was taken with Mr. Smith voting “Nay,” and Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Fix, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sabatino, and Mrs. Hammond voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-1. 

 

Mr. Fix stated the first regular Council meeting in April will fall during spring break and he would like everyone to consider moving or canceling that meeting if several members will be out of town. 

 

            Mr. Sabatino moved to request the City Manager explore the option of installing the countdown timers at the intersections where red light cameras would be installed; Mr. Sauer seconded the motion.  Mayor O’Brien stated the countdown timers are part of the pedestrian signal and questioned if that was what Mr. Sabatino was referring to.  Mr. Sabatino stated he just wanted something to let the public know the light would be changing.  Mr. Fix stated he thought this was an issue that should be referred to Service Committee and Mr. Wisniewski stated Service would look into this if Council desired.  Mayor O’Brien stated he could refer this issue to Service Committee if the motion were withdrawn.  Mr. Sabatino withdrew his motion; Mr. Sauer withdrew his second.  Mayor O’Brien stated he would refer to Service Committee to explore the option of countdown timers on lights that are monitored under the proposed contract with Red Flex. 

 

12.       ADJOURNMENT.  There being nothing further, Mr. Fix moved to adjourn; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Smith, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Fix, and Mrs. Sanders voted “Aye.”  Motion carried, 7-0.  The meeting adjourned at 8:45 P.M., February 17, 2009. 

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED: 

 

 

_______________________________

Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk

 

 

ATTEST:

 

 

_______________________________

Mitch O’Brien, Mayor