PICKERINGTON CITY COUNCIL

TUESDAY, JULY 7, 2009

CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD

 

REGULAR MEETING

7:30 P.M.

 

1.         ROLL CALL, INVOCATION, AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE. Council for the City of Pickerington met for a regular session Tuesday, July 7, 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, Ed Drobina, Phil Hartmann, Commander Steve Annetts, Carol Carter, Greg Bachman, Tony Barletta, Rachel Scofield, Nate Ellis, Devin Reany, Lori Sanders, Wes Monhollen, and others. 

 

2.         APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF JUNE 16, 2009, REGULAR MEETING.  Mr. Sabatino moved to approve; Mr. Fix 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. 

 

3.         COMMUNITY COMMENTS.  No Community Comments.

 

4.         COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS.  Mr. Fix stated Council’s retreat will be held this weekend and he felt it would be very healthy for Council to get together and try to set a course for the future.  Mr. Fix further stated Council had received a letter from Mr. Hiltz from the BIA asking for impact fees to be waived.  Mr. Fix stated he has asked the City Manager to draft a response that we are not interested in waiving impact fees for the BIA so if any council member objects to that, if they would let him know he can adjust the letter.  Mr. Wisniewski stated the request also was to waive some of our design guidelines and he would like to have that we are not interested in waiving the guidelines as well.  Mr. Hansley stated staff has already worked some of those details out and he will draft a response that states Council is not willing to look at that at this time.  Mr. Wisniewski stated as long as it was clear we would not be suspending our design guidelines. 

 

5.         APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA.  Mayor O’Brien stated there were two consent agenda items this evening, Resolution 2009-09R, “A Resolution appointing Carol Carter to the Parks and Recreation Board,” and Resolution 2009-10R, “A Resolution reappointing Yulanda Hammond to the Parks and Recreation Board,” both First Reading, Rules Committee.  Mr. Smith moved to adopt; Mr. Sauer 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. 

 

6.         APPROVAL OF AGENDA.  Mr. Fix moved to approve; Mrs. Sanders 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 received a lot of comments regarding the reinstatement of the Fourth of July celebration that the money could be used elsewhere.  He stated the parade was very well attended and he received many comments from residents that they were very pleased with the event.  Mayor O’Brien stated he would like to thank Mr. Sauer for his efforts in getting this event reinstated.  Mayor O’Brien stated the Monthly Mayor’s Court Report had been distributed. 

 

B.         LAW DIRECTOR.  Mr. Hartmann stated the legislation on tonight’s agenda acknowledging the annexation of the swimming pool is not a requirement, we are doing it so our records will have something acknowledging the annexation and showing when it was actually annexed. 

 

C.        FINANCE DIRECTOR.  Mrs. Fersch stated she had no report this evening.

 

            D.         SERVICE MANAGER.  Mr. Drobina stated we will receive $65,773 from the OWPC Grant we applied for as a part of the Governor’s Stimulus package for the Hill Road culvert.  Mr. Drobina stated the engineer’s estimate for the project is $93,000 so we are receiving about 70 percent and the funds will become available around the end of August or first of September.  Mr. Sabatino stated he had received some calls from residents near Diley Road relative to the application of the cement products on the roadway.  He stated it must have been pretty windy the day they were doing that because it got all over people’s houses and cars.  He stated he would like to have Mr. Drobina provide him with a contact person at ODOT for these people to contact. 

 

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

 

F.         FINANCE COMMITTEE.  No report. 

 

G.        RULES COMMITTEE.  No report.     

 

8.         PROCEDURAL READINGS:

 

            A.        ORDINANCE 2009-33, “AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH THE PICKERINGTON LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT FOR EXTRAORDINARY POLICE SERVICES,” First Reading, Safety Committee.    Mayor O’Brien clarified in the process used to come up with this contract the schools defined the “what” and then we respond with the “how” and the contract is built from there.  Commander Annetts stated that was correct.  Mr. Fix stated in reviewing the contract he was disappointed to see that the DARE program had been cut out of Harmon Middle School and was not included at all at Tollgate Middle School, but was being continued at Diley Middle School.  Mr. Fix stated he is a big believer in this program and he felt everyone should have the opportunity to go through this program.  Mr. Fix stated he had contacted school board member Lee Gray on this issue and they were both working within their jurisdictions to try and put a group together to try and find a way to fund the program for all three schools.  He stated he did not feel he had enough information at this point to know what that looks like or what our alternatives are.  Mr. Fix stated he and Mr. Gray were planning on meeting with our Finance Director, Chief of Police, a Council representative or the Mayor along with someone from the school board, their finance officer or treasurer and the school superintendent to try and figure out how this great program can be provided to all the schools.  He stated he felt it might be prudent to table this item this evening until they have a chance to meet and discuss the issue.  Mrs. Sanders stated she would support tabling this, however, she did want to make sure it was not tabled for a long period of time.  She stated she would look forward to working with the school board and other city officials in trying to find funding for the other programs.  Mr. Sabatino stated he would not have a problem with tabling it for two weeks, but Chief Taylor’s preference was that the first reading go forward tonight to keep it on track with the school year.  He also stated he wanted to be very careful that the City is not perceived as trying to micromanage the school board, it is their ultimate decision to have the DARE program or not.  He stated further if they have a desire, he felt it was the City’s duty to try and help them find a way to secure some creative funding, but it is their decision whether or not to have the program.   Mr. Wisniewski stated he agreed with Mr. Sabatino that the school board does not tell us how to do our business and we should not try to tell them how to do theirs.  Mr. Wisniewski stated he did not see a problem with having the first reading this evening and if necessary the contract can be amended as it goes through the process to keep it on track.  Mr. Sauer clarified that Mr. Fix felt it would be difficult to support a contract that has the program only in one school and because there was a commitment to work jointly to try to find a solution that may be very different that what was in front of Council, he did not see where it made sense to move this forward tonight.  Mr. Fix stated he did not see an urgency to pass this flawed contract forward.  Mr. Sauer stated his major concern was that this not be derailed.  Mrs. Hammond stated she concurred with Mr. Wisniewski and did not see any reason why the first reading should not go forward this evening and amend it later if necessary.  Mr. Smith stated he felt the biggest item in the contract other than DARE was the Resource Officer at Pickerington Central, so he agreed with Mr. Wisniewski and Mrs. Hammond that they can at least get the ball rolling because the new school year is approaching rapidly.  Mr. Sabatino stated he would take exception to this being described as a “flawed” contract, and he felt Council needs to deal with the things that are relative to where the City has jurisdiction and leave school policy decisions to the school board.  Mr. Sabatino stated he was also concerned that if this were put on the table we would get off the timeline of having this in place for the start of the school year.  Mr. Fix moved to table.  Motion died for lack of a second.  Mr. Sabatino moved to adopt; Mr. Wisniewski seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Fix voting “Nay,” and Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Smith, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mr. Sabatino voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-1.

 

            B.         ORDINANCE 2009-34, “AN ORDINANCE APPROVING THE RELEASE OF AN EASEMENT FOR LOT 109 OF THE WINDMILLER PONDS SUBDIVISION,” First Reading, Service Committee.  Mr. Wisniewski stated this particular lot is at the back corner of the Windmiller Ponds subdivision.  He stated the easements are being released because there is no longer a need for them and it will allow that lot to be built on.  Mr. Wisniewski moved to adopt; Mrs. Hammond 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.  

 

            C.        RESOLUTION 2009-08R, “A RESOLUTION ACKNOWLEDGING THE ANNEXATION OF 4.088 ACRES, MORE OR LESS, IN VIOLET TOWNSHIP, FAIRFIELD COUNTY, TO THE CITY OF PICKERINGTON (SWIMMING POOL),” First Reading, Service Committee.  Mr. Wisniewski stated we are just acknowledging the annexation of the swimming pool that was approved by Fairfield County.  Mr. Wisniewski moved to adopt; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Smith, Mr. Sauer, and Mr. Fix voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 7-0. 

 

            *D.      RESOLUTION 2009-09R, “A RESOLUTION APPOINTING CAROL CARTER TO THE PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD,” First Reading, Rules Committee.  Mr. Smith moved to adopt; Mr. Sauer 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. (CONSENT AGENDA ITEM)

 

            *E.       RESOLUTION 2009-10R, “A RESOLUTION REAPPOINTING YULANDA HAMMOND TO THE PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD,” First Reading, Rules Committee.  Mr. Smith moved to adopt; Mr. Sauer 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. (CONSENT AGENDA ITEM)

 

            F.         ORDINANCE 2009-32, “AN ORDINANCE TO APPROVE THE PLAN OF OPERATION AND GOVERNANCE FOR THE CITY OF PICKERINGTON’S NATURAL GAS AGGREGATION PROGRAM,” Second Reading, Finance Committee.  Mayor O’Brien stated a public hearing was held on this issue just prior to Council this evening.  Mr. Fix moved to adopt; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Smith, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sabatino, and Mr. Sauer voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 7-0. 

 

9.         LEGISLATIVE READINGS:

 

            A.        ORDINANCE 2009-31, “AN ORDINANCE TO AUTHORIZE THE CITY MANAGER TO PURSUE A NATURAL GAS AGGREGATION PROGRAM WITH VOLUNTEER ENERGY SERVICES, INC.,” Third Reading, Service Committee.  Mr. Wisniewski moved to adopt; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Fix, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sauer, and Mr. Sabatino voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 7-0. 

 

10.       DISCUSSION.  There was no discussion. 

 

11.       REFERRAL TO COMMITTEE.  Mayor O’Brien stated there were no items to be referred to Committee. 

 

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

 

13.       MOTIONS: 

 

            A.        MOTION FOR EXECUTIVE SESSION UNDER SECTION 121.22(G)(1)(b), MATTERS INVOLVING AN EMPLOYEE OR PUBLIC OFFICIAL’S EMPLOYMENT, AND SECTION 121.22(G)(2), PURCHASE OR SALE OF PUBLIC PROPERTY.  Mr. Fix moved for Executive Session under the stated Sections; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Fix, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mrs. Sanders voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 7-0. 

 

Council adjourned into Executive Session at 7:55 P.M. and reconvened in open session at 8:44 P.M.

 

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

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED: 

 

 

_______________________________

Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk

 

 

ATTEST:

 

 

_______________________________

Mitch O’Brien, Mayor