WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 2010

REGULAR MEETING

7:00 P.M.

1. ROLL CALL. Mrs. Sanders called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M., with roll call as follows: Mr. Blair, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Fix, Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Wisniewski were present. Mrs. Hammond arrived at 7:06 P.M. No members were absent. Others present were Chief Taylor, Lynda Yartin, Chris Schornack, Phil Hartmann, Linda Fersch, Lance Schultz, Greg Bachman, Susan Crotty, Mayor O’Brien, Mark Matthews, David Willard, Steve Grassbaugh, Ben Hale, Doug Matty, James Ebright, Alexa Liebert, and others.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF February 3, 2010, Regular Meeting. Mr. Fix moved to approve; Mr. Barletta seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Fix, Mr. Blair, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mrs. Sanders voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 7-0.

3. FINANCE DEPARTMENT.

A. Finance Director’s Report. Mr. Schornack stated he had provided a written report and he would answer any questions. Mr. Schornack stated the Committee had received the Tax Budget schedule and he would be happy to answer any questions on that. Mr. Fix clarified that Mr. Schornack would keep the committee apprised of the status of our income tax revenue. Mr. Fix stated as he understood it we had projected a two percent increase and we are down four percent to date. Mr. Schornack stated that was correct. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that in April Finance could review the budget and make changes if necessary.

B. Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance amending the 2010 appropriation, Ordinance 2009-91. Mr. Schornack reviewed draft appropriation ordinance and stated he was decreasing the donation to the Fairfield County Dog Shelter from $2,000 to zero after the discussion at the last Finance meeting. Mr. Schornack stated he was also increasing the travel/transportation/training budget for the City Manager for possible travel expenses for interviewees, increasing the overtime budget in the Street Fund by $7,500 as due to the weather this budget has been depleted, and he was decreasing the Aquatic Fund by $18,665 as the property tax exemption has been filed for the swimming pool. Mr. Schornack stated he would answer any questions regarding the proposed appropriations. Mr. Sauer questioned if the City would still receive services from the dog shelter and Mr. Blair stated as far as he understood it, they still have to provide services to anyone in the County, but if they don’t have the funds it will limit their effectiveness. Mr. Blair stated it is a County-wide funded organization. Mrs. Sanders stated it was her understanding that there was a greater need than the funding they received from the County would cover, so they were asking for donations from various entities. Mr. Fix moved to approve the draft ordinance and forward to Council; Mr. Wisniewski seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Sauer, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mr. Blair voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 6-0.

4. PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT.

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

5. CHAIRMAN:

A. Strategic Plan Goals – Update. Mrs. Sanders stated she did not have an update at this time. Mayor O’Brien stated he felt the Strategic Plan needs some revisions and the goals should be reviewed to see how we can fund the various projects. Mrs. Sanders stated she would request everyone look at the Plan over the next month and make any notes or comments on what they feel should be moved around or deleted. Mrs. Sanders stated we are in the process of trying to schedule a one-day retreat and we plan to review and revise the Plan as needed at that time. Mr. Fix further stated Rules Committee is in the process of looking at how we can structure our committees in line with the strategic plan. Mr. Sauer stated he would like to know where we are at with the individual items prior to the retreat. Mayor O’Brien stated it might be that a work session should be scheduled prior to Finance or something to look at the plan and brainstorm on it and see what we would like to do.

B. Technology Assessment Subcommittee – Update. Mayor O’Brien stated as a part of their service to the City, Governing Dynamics will be providing us a basis on where to start this assessment.

6. OTHER BUSINESS:

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

B. Review and discussion regarding contribution requests. Mrs. Sanders stated Mr. Schornack had provided the Committee with several pieces of data and we have several organizations requesting donations. Mr. Sauer stated he thought we had set aside a certain amount at the beginning of the year for these donations. Mr. Schornack stated during the budget process $40,000 was set aside for various activities and by his figures $30,000 of that has already been designated. Mr. Fix stated during the budget hearings there was lengthy conversation about setting aside money for these things and at the end of those conversations it was his understanding that we had a certain amount of money, and he thought it was $40,000, set aside for when people like the Violet Festival and others came in and asked for help, and it would then be a matter of prioritizing what we could do. He stated if Mr. Schornack says $30,000 has been spent then there is $10,000 left and that is after the $5,000 for the Violet Festival. Mr. Schornack stated some of the requests received are open-ended and do not have specific dollar amounts. Mr. Wisniewski stated they had a request for a donation to the Veteran’s Memorial at Violet Cemetery, the Food Pantry requested $5,000, the Olde Pickerington Village Business Association has requested $2,500, the Violet Festival has requested an additional $5,000, and the Humane Society has request a donation with no dollar amount. Mr. Sauer stated it was his understanding that the Food Pantry was a 501C nonprofit organization and that qualified them for certain contributions from the State or the Federal government, so why do they need $5,000 from the City. Mrs. Hammond stated the Food Pantry started out under the Church Alliance and they have recently become self-sufficient. She stated further they are in the process of trying to become a member of the Mid-Ohio Food Bank. Mr. Barletta stated when they become a member they will be eligible to purchase large quantities of food at a low rate, but they still need to purchase a large quantity of food. Mr. Barletta stated one of the goals of the Food Pantry is that they are trying to relocate out of the Carnegie building so they will have a facility that will enable them to have the food storage and pantry in the same location. He stated they are currently renting a storage facility and while it is weatherproof it is subject to temperature swings. Mr. Barletta continued that the Township has given a donation, and if they get a donation from the City, that will help give them leverage to approach The United Way and other funding sources to get some stable contributors and they would be able to afford to pay rent. Mr. Sauer clarified that the Township had donated $5,000 to the Food Pantry.

Mrs. Sanders stated Mr. David Willard was present to address the Committee regarding the Veteran’s Memorial at Violet Cemetery. Mr. Willard stated he would like to clarify that the request for funding was not from the cemetery. Mr. Willard stated each Memorial Day the Pickerington Cub Scout Pack 256 places flags on the graves of all veterans, and of the veterans accounted for 197 were in the Army, 51 were in the Navy, 27 were in the Air Force, and 16 were in the Marines. Mr. Willard stated these veterans served our country in time of war and conflict and in peace. He stated the wars they fought in were the Civil War, the War of 1812, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf. He stated the American Legion has a ceremony each year at the cemetery on Memorial Day in the green space area where there is a flag pole. Mr. Willard stated his father was a World War II veteran and when he passed away in 2009, he noticed how many veterans were buried in that cemetery. He stated this made him wonder why there was no memorial for veterans and he approached the cemetery board of trustees to see if he could look into having a monument placed in the cemetery. Mr. Willard stated he has been working with the cemetery board and he had approached the American Legion about having a fund raiser, and the Legion wanted to donate money directly to this project. Mr. Willard stated he determined that having fund raisers to raise the amount for the project could take one or two years, so he decided to take the one-on-one approach and go to the local government, the local civic associations, local banks, and businesses he deals with to request donations. He stated he has also gone to the Chamber of Commerce and local news publications. Mr. Willard stated he had distributed a sketch of what the memorial would look like, and the total cost of the project will be $6,979 for the stone, the flag poles will be $1,366, and then the cost of putting in the lighting, for a total cost of about $9,000. Mr. Willard stated they are hoping to have everything complete and have a dedication in May. Mr. Willard stated he would appreciate a donation from the City. Mr. Fix clarified that to this point the American Legion was donating $3,000, the Reynoldsburg/Pickerington Rotary donated $500, and the Liberty Union VFW donated $1,000. Mr. Willard stated Logan Monument has agreed to have the donations made payable to them indicating it is for the Violet Cemetery Memorial and they will account for all the funds.

Mrs. Sanders stated that brought the Committee back to how they would like to proceed. Mr. Fix stated he felt it would make sense to give $5,000 to the Food Pantry, $2,500 to the Veteran’s Memorial, and an additional $2,500 to the Violet Festival. Mrs. Hammond stated at some point the subject came up about how much events the City does in conjunction with other people cost. She stated Mr. Carr had provided council with a breakdown as to how much these event cost the City, for example, breakfast with the Easter Bunny was $485, the Taste of Pickerington was $135 plus whatever electric was used, Holiday Village was $515, and the Breakfast with Santa was $68. Mrs. Hammond stated the letter from the OPVBA stated they were asking for $2,500 to cover the fees for the events we would be charging them for the events. Mrs. Sanders stated last month this Committee decided to track the fees that would be incurred if we were enforcing it this year. Mr. Wisniewski clarified we would not be charging the fees this year, but we would be tracking those costs. Mayor O’Brien stated we do have a documentable cost for the police. Mr. Wisniewski stated it was his understanding that the police overtime would be charged to the entities. Mr. Sauer stated our income tax receipts are down right now and there is the potential they could be down for the next couple of months, and that meant we could possibly be revisiting this and something could be deleted if it is not paid already. Mr. Sauer stated with what we know with receipts right now it is difficult for him to justify spending this type of money on donations when there may be other more critical, important priorities. Mrs. Sanders stated she did feel the Food Pantry was a priority to our community and Mrs. Hammond stated perhaps we could lend our support, but in a lesser amount than the groups were requesting. Mr. Fix stated he found it hard to spend $12,500 on fireworks and telling the Food Pantry we can’t donate to them. Mr. Sauer stated the fireworks costs are less than half of what it was in the past, and it is being shared with the Township, and he looked as this as a celebration of our heritage and not a donation. Mr. Fix stated he enjoys the fireworks, but if it came to a choice of helping people put food on the table or shooting off fireworks, he felt that would be an easy choice. Mr. Sauer stated he would like to know more about the Mid-Ohio Food Bank deal and how that is working out in terms of what they are getting from them. Mrs. Sanders stated perhaps we could give the Food Pantry $2,500, $1,000 to the Veteran’s Memorial, and though we would like to help the Violet Festival more we have already donated $5,000. Mr. Wisniewski stated if revenues increase we could always donate another $2,500 to the Food Pantry later, and Mr. Barletta stated we can donate to them at any time. Mr. Wisniewski stated he would be in favor of donating $2,500 to the Food Pantry now, and make no donation to the OPVBA as long as we communicate that we will not charge the fees for their events with the exception of police overtime. Mr. Wisniewski stated he would have a hard time cutting back on the donation to the Veteran’s Memorial for what it stands for. Mrs. Sanders clarified that the appropriation ordinance that was approved earlier in the meeting could be amended to include any donations the Committee determined they would like to make. Mr. Fix moved to amend the appropriation ordinance to include a $2,500 donation to the Food Pantry and $2,500 donation to the Veteran’s Memorial; Mr. Wisniewski seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Sauer voting “Nay,” and Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Blair, Mr. Fix, and Mr. Barletta voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 6-1.

C. Review and discussion regarding Ebright/Homestead Development agreements and TIF request. Mrs. Sanders stated the developer was here to make a presentation to the Committee this evening and she would like to thank them for coming in and for working with the City. Mrs. Sanders stated with Ms Crotty, our Development Director, being new she wasn’t sure if this was ready for the Finance Committee as yet, but they did want to give them the opportunity to present their request.

Mr. Ben Hale stated the plan that was submitted to the Planning and Zoning Commission basically has a state-of-the-art soccer facility at the back of the property behind the Big Bear center. He stated a road comes off of S.R. 256 that services the gas station and other uses and they had early discussion about servicing the soccer facility off of that road. He stated they would also have office and retail buildings on the property. Mr. Hale stated P&Z determined that the intersection coming off of S.R. 256 was a mess and it is not stripped very well, and they had talked to the owner of the shopping center and he was willing to let them do that. Mr. Hale stated the Planning Commission felt very strongly that should not be the access and the access should be at the Kroger light. He stated Pickerington has a thoroughfare plan in place that calls for a public road to not only service this site but to also service the Nicodemus site so they can also get to the light. Mr. Hale stated this plan calls for the construction of that road as a part of the first phase. Mr. Hale stated they could probably access their site with some sort of an internal road for a couple of hundred thousand dollars and the public road will cost $750,000, so that would add a very considerable amount of cost to this development. Mr. Hale continued that they have had discussions with the City’s attorney as to how you do TIF’s and they have proposed a development agreement that calls for them to build the road and to be paid back out of the TIF and out of the impact fees. Mr. Hale stated early on there was a calculation of impact fees on the soccer facility. He stated the cost to build the soccer facility is about $2.5 million so this road adds another $750,000. He stated it did, however, make the site a job ready site because the roads would be in. He stated he did believe the money they would invest would be paid back over some period of time and would enable them to attract offices. He continued that in reading your impact fees in the purpose and intent it talks about these being proportionate to the demand on the community, that they should be fair and equitable, etc. He stated they believe the road they would spend $750,000 on, that a great deal of that is a public purpose and not something that is simply related to this development. He stated they felt they would be spending an additional $300,000 to $400,000 that they would not spend if it wasn’t a public road to access the Nicodemus property and other places, so they have asked that they be reimbursed out of the impact fees. Mr. Hale stated the impact fees as originally calculated on this site amount to about $200,000, and they do not believe that their impact is anything like $200,000. He continued that for comparison if you looked at the office development it would actually add cost to that development of under one percent, .92 percent of the cost of the development, and the impact fee that has been proposed on this site is 82.2 percent of the cost, and they feel there is something wrong with this. Mr. Hale stated in looking at the traffic impact from this facility, it is very low. He stated the traffic that comes out of this at peak hour does not degradate any intersection or any road out here. He stated further the whole development does not negatively impact any intersection. He stated there are some improvements that need to be made to S.R. 256, but they need to be made whether this development is here or not. Mr. Hale continued they would like to have a review of the impact fees, they would like to have a fair and equitable impact fee, and if the fee is the same as the office in terms of what it cost them to build the facility the impact fee would be $23,000 instead of $205,000. He stated they felt $205,000 was clearly excessive in terms of their true impact. Mr. Hale stated your code also has a provision about forgiving impact fees and they were not asking that it be forgiven; they were asking that the funds be directed toward public improvements. He stated another thing he wanted to point out is that with the TIF and the impact fees there is an amount that is going to come in and there is an amount of money that the City is going to get. He stated the issue is in what order that money is to come; it isn’t about Pickerington getting less money, it is about when you get the money. He further questioned how much they could stand as they have not asked in their agreement or in the understanding with the City’s lawyer that the City write a check. He stated they are paying for these improvements and they need to get paid back. He stated if they build this road and they build the soccer facility and nothing else ever gets built, they will never get their $750,000 back because this soccer facility does not generate enough money. He stated they believe, as developers, that when they do these improvements that this is money that will help them market the site for office uses and the recession is not going to go on forever. He stated they believe the facility they are talking about building is a great value to the community and they do not see this in any way as adversarial, they think they are the City’s partner, but the also have to be able to get financing and if you add $750,000 onto something up front that is tough. He stated they would like to review with the Finance Director what an appropriate impact fee is, and go through the numbers with the Development Director, and come back to this Committee with a proposal of what a fair and equitable distribution is.

Mayor O’Brien stated our impact fees were developed by a firm we contracted with to do that, so we are not in a position to debate the fees. Mr. Hale stated, however, there are provisions in the code to look at fees and determine fair and equitable fees. He stated they believe on this facility, it is a large facility, but what is the impact on the community; are there school impacts, are there road impacts; are there park impacts, you know the way you distribute that money. He stated they do not feel they are having any impact on anyone and they do not believe this facility has $205,000 worth of impact on this community under any set of circumstances. He stated if it did, they were also being asked to build a road and there is also a provision in the code that in terms of public improvements that services any area larger than theirs, there was a mechanism in the code to have that fee invested in that project. Mayor O’Brien clarified that when this project was conceptualized, two years ago, the City’s impact fees were already in place. Mr. Hale stated at that time they thought they could access this development without the need to build this road up front. He stated subsequently it was determined the road should be built up front and they started talking about how to finance this road because they cannot afford to write a check for $750,000 and not get paid back. Mayor O’Brien questioned when Mr. Hale anticipated the commercial and retail aspects of this project would be built and Mr. Hale stated they are about a year behind so they would anticipate those being constructed in 2012, 2013, and 2014, but that is just their current estimate. Mr. Wisniewski questioned if there was anywhere in the City where 278 employees were making $60,000 a year as an average. He stated he has a hard time believing the numbers presented were anywhere close to being realistic for Pickerington. Mr. Wisniewski questioned where Mr. Hale’s calculation was in the package as to what was fair and equitable in impact fees, and Mr. Hale stated he has not sat down and done an analysis, he had used the $23,000 number simply to show the difference in the magnitude to the cost of the project. Mr. Hale stated further he was not proposing a number; he was proposing that they sit down with the Development Director and figure out what the real impact of this facility is and come up with a number, and under the Code that is what is supposed to happen. Mr. Fix stated if he understood it correctly, the questions were the dispensation of the impact fees and that the $205,000 be put back in to building that $750,000 road. He stated our TIF attorney is present and perhaps the committee could hear his thoughts.

Mr. Steve Grassbaugh stated he is working for the City and he was the attorney that helped the City when the Equity TIF was done a few years ago. He stated the developer had provided a draft agreement and he had reviewed that document. Mr. Grassbaugh stated he had provided a memo to the Committee with his review of that document. Mr. Grassbaugh stated the public improvement being proposed is an extension of Windmiller Drive through the developer’s property plus property currently owned by Hill Road Plaza, LLC, which is not within the developer’s control, so right-of-way would have to be obtained across that property and the documents reflect the City would be responsible for obtaining that. Mr. Grassbaugh further stated sanitary sewer is available from the existing line to the office and retail buildings through property adjacent to the developer’s property, so, again, we would have to get right-of-way on other people’s property. He continued sanitary sewer to the recreational facility would be serviced by Fairfield County, however, for the developer to have access to the County’s sanitary sewer they will want them to use County water for that facility also, but he felt the City would rather the whole thing be serviced by the City water system. Mr. Grassbaugh stated there is also an access easement to be provided by the developer that they propose the City acquire at $130,000 per acre to be paid as an offset to the impact fees. He stated also for the public improvements to S.R. 256/Refugee Road that are not necessarily developer projects, but some of those would have to be done earlier if this project goes forward. Mr. Grassbaugh stated the developer would construct the Windmiller Drive extension and utility improvements and they would do that as a contract with the City. He stated this would be very much like the City did with Equity, we had them construct the public improvements and we are paying them for the improvements as and if the TIF payments come in. He stated then, essentially, they pay for it up front and as the TIF payments off the development come in, we pay them back. Mr. Grassbaugh stated here, the contract is being offset by the waiver of the impact fees as those come in and he understood the current impact fee for the recreation facility is approximately $205,000 and the impact fees for the office buildings would be about $120,000, and the retail would be about $100,600. He stated the concept would be the developer would build the roadways and either the City would exchange impact fees or we waive it and it is just a lesser cost to building the roadway, but whatever it is, the impact fee is being diverted to pay for the public improvements. He stated the impact fee credits they are looking for is for the extension for the easement they are going to provide, and for the acreage for the Windmiller extension that runs across their property. Mr. Grassbaugh stated if only the recreation facility developed, there would not be enough TIF revenue to even pay for the roadway construction costs that they are doing, let alone to trickle down to the City, so the City’s TIF payments are dependent upon the other two phases being built at some point. Mr. Grassbaugh stated the real issue is if the City has to do some of those S.R. 256/Refugee Road improvements faster the City will have to incur that cost before some revenues may be coming in off the TIF to pay for those improvements. Mr. Hale stated he would add that the right-of-way that is needed to build this road is a condition in Mr. Roth’s previous zoning and he has agreed to give that right-of-way, and assuming their numbers are accurate, they lost some square footage because of the requirements in your Code for open space, and they have not gone back and corrected the document to reflect that 10,000 or 15,000 square footage loss. Mr. Hale stated because this is a non-school TIF over the life of the TIF would produce about $8 million for the schools and $4.4 million in TIF revenue for the City. Mr. Fix stated the Equity TIF Mr. Grassbaugh worked on was a good example of what the City wanted; the schools remained whole, no checks were written by the City, and the improvements bring office income tax into our coffers. Mr. Fix stated it seemed Mr. Grassbaugh has all the tools he needs to continue negotiations to bring it to a successful conclusion, and Mr. Grassbaugh stated that was correct. Mr. Grassbaugh stated what he and the developer were looking for was whether the policy of council is similar to what it was at that time. He stated if that is the case, then the biggest concern with going forward would be the semantics of what we are really doing with the impact fees, and if we don’t receive the impact fees the General Fund pays the money to the impact fee fund. Mr. Hale stated that is if there was a waiver as opposed to an investment in public improvements. Mr. Fix stated he thought it was critical that if the City had to come up with $500,000 out of the General Fund to put in for the developer’s impact fees, that is a non-starter for him. Mr. Fix questioned if there is a provision that allows the City to use that money to invest in a program like this to build the roads, would that reduce the amount of time it would take the TIF to pay back the funds. Mr. Grassbaugh stated the impact fees are dependent on when things come out of the ground, and at the moment we are confident about the sports facility coming up out of the ground, so that would be an offset against the TIF payments. He continued if the other things come up out of the ground that would speed up the TIF payments because we would be offsetting with impact fees coming out of the development. Mr. Grassbaugh stated the real issue is if the City Council wants assurances, as you did with the Equity group. Mr. Fix stated he felt if we could do a program like we did with Equity with this group and bring offices to Pickerington while adding a recreation facility that is very much needed here, he felt that would be a good move for the City. Mrs. Sanders stated she felt this conversation was very good, but it sounds like there are still a lot of conversations to be held. She stated she would like to continue this on the agenda for the next meeting. Mr. Wisniewski stated we have had no offices built on the Equity TIF and he felt the timeline on this project was extremely aggressive considering the state of the economy and the vacant office space that is available not only in Pickerington, but in the greater central Ohio area. Mr. Wisniewski stated he felt the projected annual payroll for the offices was artificially high. Mr. Wisniewski stated the impact fees are set up in a specific manner that they go to specific funds for specific needs, for example the police department, parks, etc. Mr. Wisniewski stated if we did a TIF on this he would expect it to look almost identical to the Equity TIF, with guarantees on it, and he would not support changing our policies. Mr. Grassbaugh stated his assumption was that Council would like to empower the administration to carry on with the negotiations with the guiding principals of the Equity TIF and come back to this Committee and let them know what any deviations were. He stated it would then be a policy decision of Council. All Committee members concurred with Mr. Grassbaugh’s assumption.

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. Mrs. Sanders stated an executive session was not needed this evening.

8. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mr. Fix moved to adjourn; Mr. Sauer seconded the motion. Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Fix, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Blair, Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Sanders and Mr. Sauer voted "Aye." Motion carried, 7-0. The Finance Committee adjourned at 8:30 P.M., March 3, 2010.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

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Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk