WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2009

REGULAR MEETING

7:00 P.M.

1. ROLL CALL. Mr. Fix called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M., with roll call as follows: Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Smith, Mr. Fix, Mr. Sauer, and Mrs. Sanders were present. Mr. Wisniewski arrived at 7:06 P.M. Others present were Mayor O’Brien, Tim Hansley, Lynda Yartin, Linda Fersch, Nate Ellis, Pat Navin, Larry Hanna, Frank Hirsch, Paul Martin, Nancy Pry, Paul Rosile, Susan Tilger, John Wolfe, and others.

2. A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF February 4, 2009, Regular Meeting. Mrs. Sanders moved to approve; Mrs. Hammond seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Fix, Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Smith, Mr. Sauer, and Mrs. Sanders voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 6-0.

B. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF February 17, 2009, Special Meeting. Mr. Smith moved to approve; Mr. Sabatino seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Sauer, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Sabatino voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 6-0.

3. FINANCE DEPARTMENT.

A. Finance Director’s Report. Mrs. Fersch stated she had provided a written report to the Committee and she would answer any questions.

Mr. Fix stated if there were no objections, he would move on the agenda to Item 3.D., Review and discussion regarding Franklin County Board of Health proposal. Mr. Fix stated representatives of both the Franklin County Board of Health and Fairfield County Board of Health were present to answer questions of the Committee. Mr. Fix stated he would begin with Franklin County. Ms Tilger stated she was the Director of the Franklin County Health Department and Ms Pry, Mr. Rosile, and Mr. Wolfe were present this evening to answer questions as well. Mr. Sauer stated he would like to know if a determination had been made on the issue of how items would be prosecuted. Ms Tilger stated she did not have an answer to that as yet. Mr. Hansley stated he understood that it would be handled similar to the way Dublin and Reynoldsburg do. He stated they are in more than one county and if we adopted the Franklin County regulations locally, then they could enforce them. He stated they would likely be cited into whichever court would have jurisdiction, the Franklin County portion of our City would be cited into Franklin County and the Fairfield County portion would be cited into Fairfield County. Mr. Hansley further stated our law director had indicated the cost of that would be handled under their retainer because it seemed there would be only a handful of activities over a year’s time. Mr. Sauer clarified that over the past year probably less than five of these cases have gone to court. Mr. Fix stated one of the issues we have been struggling with is that the Fairfield County District Advisory Council has been difficult to work with and clarified that the Franklin County Board of Health District Advisory Council and the Board have been working well together. Ms Tilger stated her District Advisory Council has the same authorities and powers that the Fairfield County District Advisory Council does, but it is a little different because they are not a combined health district but a general health district and they contract with all of their cities versus a merger or a combined. Mrs. Sanders clarified that as a contract city with the Franklin County Board of Health, the City would not have a representative on the District Advisory Council. Mr. Sabatino ascertained that if we would contract with Franklin County, Ms Tilger would consider the City as a customer. Ms Tilger stated that they have statutory authority to protect the public health and there are certain things they are responsible for doing. She stated at times that is not always easy, but their first and foremost concern is for the citizens and meeting their statutory obligations which sometimes takes a lot of relationship building and working through, but ultimately that is the reason they are here. Mrs. Fersch clarified that the DAC is required to approve a contract and if necessary a special meeting would be called. Mr. Smith clarified Franklin County Board of Health contracts with ten municipalities, however, none of those have their majority in a county other than Franklin. Mr. Fix clarified that Ms Tilger would classify their financial situation as cautious and Franklin County does not fund them at all. Ms Tilger stated they are funded by property valuation in the townships and villages and per capita in the cities. Mr. Hansley clarified Franklin County does provide them with a building, the utilities and phone service.

Mr. Frank Hirsch, Fairfield County Board of Health, stated he and several representatives from the Board of Health are present this evening to answer any questions. Mr. Wisniewski stated one of his concerns is that the DAC just met and knocked a $220,000 hole in their budget by not accepting the fees for the septic systems and inquired what plans they had to handle that. Mr. Hirsch stated he planned to take the exact same budget that he presented to the DAC to the Board and he would try a different way to raise that money. Mr. Hirsch stated the $200,000 was the minimum they needed to run a professional, effective, home sewage treatment system operation and maintenance program. He stated they felt they needed to do this for the good of the people in the county and they would find a way to do it one way or another and they have a couple of options they are looking at. Mr. Fix stated one concern about the financial situation was the drain that the clinic has on the overall budget. He stated he heard that the clinic received a grant from the federal government. Mr. Hirsch stated they did just receive notice they have been given full designation as a federally qualified health center which means they get an annual grant from the federal government and the first year it will be $600,000 and $550,000 the second year. Mr. Hirsch stated this is the first economic stimulus grant to be coming into Fairfield County and it looks like it will be a continuing type of arrangement. He stated this grant is only good for two years, but now that they are a fully designated federally qualified health center that money should continue. He stated this designation will also now allow them to apply for other types of grants. Mr. Wisniewski stated he was still trying to decide why we should stay with Fairfield County. He stated we have a viable option on the table that looks very good to the City and he was having a hard time understanding why we should not take it. Mr. Paul Martin stated if the City goes to the table to negotiate a new contract, and they wanted to do that this year, would it be possible to bring to the table why those who have sewer systems in the city bear the brunt of those who do not. Mr. Hirsch stated Pickerington could drop out of the merger and still contract with Fairfield County and the allocation fee would probably go down. Mayor O’Brien stated it has seemed to him that the other entities do not seem to care if Pickerington would leave and Mr. Hirsch stated he felt there were a lot of people in the townships that would be unhappy if Pickerington left. Mr. Hirsch stated if Pickerington would drop out of the merger, then Lancaster may drop out, and if there is no merger the Health Department would become a County Health Department and the County would be required to give them their housing. Mr. Wisniewski stated he felt if we stayed in the Health Department will continue to limp along without the support they need from the County Commissioners and their stepping up to do what is right for the Health Department. Mr. Hirsch stated he felt it was important to stay in the County and he would like to see Pickerington stay with Fairfield County either in the merger or by contract. Mr. Sabatino clarified that should Pickerington contract with Fairfield County, the DAC would still have to approve the contract. Mr. Smith clarified that Franklin County does not have a clinic but the Columbus Medical Association Foundation has a free medical clinic and typically people are referred there. Mr. Smith stated then, if we had a contract with Franklin County, they would handle these referrals the same way they do for all of their contract cities. Mayor O’Brien stated it seemed Pickerington paid a lot and did not consume a lot and the contract option may be worth exploring. He questioned how much time we had to see if we can pay for what we consume. Mrs. Sanders stated if we would go with a contract with Fairfield County, what are the chances that the DAC would not approve it. Mr. Fix stated should that happen we always have the second option.

Mr. Fix stated he would ask that the Fairfield County Board of Health prepare a proposed contract working with Mr. Hansley and Mrs. Fersch and have it for the Finance Committee to review at the next meeting. Mr. Smith stated he just wanted to caution everyone about making this a competition between Franklin and Fairfield County Health Departments, and Mr. Fix stated he was not suggesting that he was just trying to explore every option we have in order to make the best decision we can. Mr. Fix stated he hoped then that a decision could be reached at the next meeting. Mr. Sabatino stated he would be willing to look at that, however, if we do not have a proposed contract to look at from Fairfield County he would request this Committee vote on the issue at that point. Mr. Wisniewski stated he agreed, as he did not want to keep carrying this out. He stated he was not pleased that all of a sudden there is an option for a contract with Fairfield County they had not heard about before. Mr. Sauer stated he agreed with Mr. Sabatino and Mr. Wisniewski and he would like to see something at the next meeting and make a decision one way or the other. Mrs. Sanders stated she would like to see us stay with Fairfield County if possible. Mrs. Hammond stated she agreed with waiting until the next meeting, but she did not see the necessity for delaying it longer than that.

Mr. Hansley clarified that Fairfield County would provide staff a proposed contract to review, and to provide to this Committee before their next meeting on April 8^th. Mr. Hirsch stated he would work with Mr. Hansley, Mrs. Fersch, and his legal advisor to develop a contract.

Finance Committee recessed at 8:20 P.M., and reconvened in open session at 8:25 P.M.

B. Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance amending the 2009 appropriation, Ordinance 2008-92. Mrs. Fersch stated the Committee had received a draft appropriation ordinance and in the Stormwater Construction Fund she was requesting to increase the capital line item to cover the cost of the outfall that was approved at Council last night. She stated the others items were mainly clean up and she would answer any questions anyone might have. Mrs. Hammond moved to approve and forward to Council; Mr. Sauer seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Smith, Mr. Fix, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mrs. Sanders voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 7-0.

C. Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance to accept a donation from Honda East to be put toward the purchase of a new police motorcycle. Mr. Wisniewski moved to adopt; Mr. Sauer seconded the motion. Mr. Smith stated he was not opposed to accepting funds, but questioned where the amount of $1,131.80 came from. Mrs. Fersch stated she felt that so much money was appropriated in the budget and this is the remaining amount that was needed. Mr. Smith questioned that money was appropriated for a motorcycle, and Mr. Sauer stated he was under the impression that the motorcycle was dropped out of the budget and Mr. Smith stated that was his impression as well. Mrs. Fersch stated she thought this was money left from last year’s budget. Mr. Smith clarified this would be a replacement motorcycle not an additional one. Mr. Smith further stated the motorcycle did not appear that it was in trade-in need right now. Mr. Fix stated he would suggest this be moved forward to Council this evening and then Mrs. Fersch and Mr. Hansley could get the answers to any questions to council members before the next council meeting. Roll call was taken with Mr. Smith, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sauer, and Mr. Sabatino voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 7-0.

D. Review and discussion regarding Franklin County Board of Health proposal. Mr. Fix stated this was discussed earlier in the meeting.

E. Review and discussion regarding 2010 Tax Budget. Mr. Fix stated this is a very preliminary budget that does not really impact anything that we do and does not impact our budgeting process. Mr. Hansley stated it is a best guess budget and the schedule Mrs. Fersch has presented is very fast paced for that reason. Mr. Smith moved to approve the 2010 Tax Budget Schedule presented by Mrs. Fersch; Mr. Sabatino seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Smith, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mr. Sabatino voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 7-0.

F. Review and request for motion to approve draft resolution amending Resolution 2004-28R, designating financial institutions as public depositories, to add Charter One as a public depository for interim funds. Mrs. Fersch stated every five years we approve a list of banks that she can invest public dollars in. She stated our contract for all of the other banks will expire at the end of the year, and in the meantime she would like to have the opportunity of having another bank to choose from. Mrs. Fersch stated Charter One is a very sound bank and they would be pledging collateral. Mrs. Fersch stated then at the end of this year they would be included on the list when we redo the contract for another five years. Mr. Sabatino clarified that some of our investments were higher than the FDIC limits and when that happens we have a pool of banks that has been approved by the State of Ohio. Mr. Smith questioned why we had to select a list of specific banks, and Mrs. Fersch stated the Ohio Revised Code requires this if we are investing public money. Mr. Smith questioned if Council could give authority for public money to be invested in any state or federal chartered bank that has an office in Pickerington as opposed to maintaining a list of banks that may float up and down. Mr. Fix stated that any bank that is federally backed that is in Pickerington would automatically be approved. Mrs. Fersch stated the ORC requires that we maintain a specific list. Mr. Smith stated he would like to have Mrs. Fersch get a legal opinion from our law director that we do have to specifically name banks and have it forwarded to Council prior to the next council meeting. He stated he hated handcuffing staff to a specific list in case an opportunity came up, and he was very loyal to our City and he liked to support businesses that have brick and mortar in our city. Mr. Sabatino stated he felt Mr. Smith had a valid point and if we attempt to keep things within the City it sends a message to our business community that we do place a value on them. Mr. Wisniewski stated he did not feel we wanted to limit ourselves to just the financial institutions that are in Pickerington especially if we could get a lower interest rate outside the City for debt. Mr. Smith stated that is why he divided that comment into two things, first just a generic statement for any federally or state chartered bank and then whether we can limit it to those that have brick and mortar inside the city limits. Mr. Sabatino stated those that have a physical presence are contributing to our commercial tax base where those outside are not. Mr. Sauer stated for investments he would rather earn more interest than less. He stated he understood Mr. Smith’s concern, but when it came to the taxpayer’s money he wanted to get the best possible return we can for it. Mr. Sabatino inquired if Mrs. Fersch knew for a fact she could get a better rate from Charter One and she stated a few times when she has checked it did have competitive rates. Mrs. Fersch stated it just depends on the day of the week, who needs the money, and what is going on just like the stock market. Mrs. Fersch stated when Star Ohio went down to .39 percent she took a lot of money out of there and put it in our checking account because we were getting 1.15 percent. Mr. Sabatino stated he felt we had enough of a base in the city that he would like to see us stay in the city if we can. Mr. Sauer moved to approve and forward to Council; Mr. Fix seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski abstaining, Mr. Sabatino voting “Nay,” and Mr. Sauer, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. Hammond, and Mr. Smith voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 5-1.

4. PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT.

A. Personnel Director’s Report. Mrs. Fersch stated she had provided a report to the Committee and she would answer any questions. Mrs. Fersch stated we have received 24 resumes for the city engineer position. Mr. Sabatino clarified that we have had some applicants drop out due to the request by the media for the resumes of the applicants.

5. CHAIRMAN: Mr. Fix stated the Pickerington Area Chamber of Commerce has requested the City consider maintaining its Platinum membership with them which is $1,200 because everything they own has the City listed as a platinum member and it would be very costly to change all of this. Mr. Hansley stated we budgeted $500 for this membership this year. Mr. Fix stated he would be making a motion that we increase our allocation by $700 to maintain the platinum membership. Mr. Sabatino clarified that a business level membership is based on the size of our operation, 107 or whatever it is.

6. OTHER BUSINESS:

A. Pickerington Local School District Board Meeting – Update. Mrs. Sanders stated she had no report this evening.

Mr. Smith stated the Rules Committee will meet immediately following this meeting and he would like to ask all members if they would stay for at least the first few minutes of that meeting in order to discuss setting the work sessions for Charter review.

Mr. Sauer stated when it comes to the contribution toward the motorcycle he would like some clarification on what Council did during the budget process before this is purchased. Mrs. Fersch stated she felt that the purchase had been made and Chief Taylor had encumbered the funds from last year’s budget. Mr. Smith stated he thought Council approved a line item budget and Mrs. Fersch stated when Council approved the budget they approved categories and they looked at the line items as a working tool to see what the money was proposed for. She stated at any point in time if department heads have the money they can move money back and forth if they are shy on a line item. Mr. Hansley stated he did not recall if the motorcycle was in and then taken out by the Committee, and if that is the case he will be more upset than Council. He stated he had not seen this in the packet before now and he would be having a discussion with Chief Taylor on this issue, even the donation part of it. Mr. Hansley stated for someone to solicit a donation without upper management being involved is wrong. He further stated the Chief is used to handling his budget as if it were separate from everything else, and he did not mean to be overly critical, it is just a discussion he needs to have with the Chief. Mr. Hansley stated this type of thing should not be done without input from management, Council, and the finance director. Mr. Sauer stated he was not questioning the donation; just that he thought the motorcycle was specifically taken out of the budget. Mr. Sauer stated he would look through minutes of other meetings to see when this was discussed. Mr. Sauer stated further although the Red Flex issue is on the table at council, if it moves forward he would like to see something come out of this committee that earmarks any revenue received from those citations specifically for the police department and targeted toward police salary or overtime. Period. Nothing else at all. Mr. Hansley stated if this proposed contract moves forward the next steps would be to adopt all the ordinances, regulations, funding, and several other companion legislative pieces that you could amend or modify to earmark funds or whatever you want to do. Mr. Hansley stated we are several months away from that. Mr. Fix stated that when it is appropriate he would ask Mr. Sauer to work with the Manager and Law Director to prepare that legislation the way he felt it was appropriate. Mr. Sabatino stated if something like this is not presented as part of the enabling legislation it could influence the direction of how some people would vote. Mr. Sauer stated his intent was to have this done so it was going side-by-side. He stated he did not want to have one pass, then, after-the-fact, determine we want to go down this road. He stated if this were to pass before Red Flex were either approved or disapproved he felt it would be better because it would clarify what the intent is with this. Mr. Fix stated that was a good point, although we do not have the final contract proposal from Red Flex and there has been discussion about referring this back to Service Committee. Mr. Fix stated he would prefer to have the legislation prepared by staff and the law director before making decisions. Mr. Sabatino stated he felt that when and if Council is ready to move this forward they should have a final wrap-up before being asked to vote on it. Mr. Sauer stated he was fine with it going back to Committee he just wanted something attached that would divert those funds to where they should be going. Mr. Fix stated then at Council perhaps they would have it referred back to Service Committee.

Mr. Fix stated the final item he would like to address is that the first Council meeting in April falls during the school’s spring break and he would like to know if anyone would be out of town during that break. Mayor O’Brien, Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Smith, and Mrs. Hammond stated they would not be out of town and Mr. Wisniewski stated he was not sure. Mr. Fix and Mrs. Sanders both stated they would not be in town. Mr. Fix stated, then, it appeared at there would be at least four members present for the April 7^th Council meeting.

7. MOTIONS:

A. Motion for Executive Session under Section 121.22(G)(1)b, Matters involving an employee’s or public official’s employment, Section 121.22(G)(2), Purchase or sale of public property, Section 121.22(G)(3), Conference with law director regarding pending or imminent court action, and Section 121.22(G)(4), Matters involving bargaining sessions with public employees. Mr. Fix stated an executive session was not required this evening.

Mr. Fix moved to amend the appropriation ordinance to increase up to $1,200 the amount of money we spend with the Pickerington Area Chamber of Commerce to be used for a platinum membership; Mr. Sabatino seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Sauer voting “Nay,” and Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Fix, and Mr. Smith voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 6-1.

8. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mr. Smith moved to adjourn; Mr. Sabatino seconded the motion. Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Fix, Mr. Smith, Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Sauer voted "Aye." Motion carried, 7-0. The Finance Committee adjourned at 9:05 P.M., March 4, 2009.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

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Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk