PICKERINGTON CITY COUNCIL

TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 2010

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, March 16, 2010, at City Hall.  Mayor O’Brien called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M.  Roll call was taken as follows:  Mr. Barletta, Mr. Blair, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mayor O’Brien were present.  No members were absent.  Others present were: Chief Mike Taylor, Lynda Yartin, Mitch Banchefsky, Chris Schornack, Ed Drobina, Greg Bachman, Linda Fersch, Nate Ellis, Rachel Schofeld, Carol Carter, Pastor Jeff Myers, Alexa Libert, Monique Nichols, and others.  Pastor Myers delivered the invocation. 

 

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

 

3.         COMMUNITY COMMENTS. 

 

A.        Monique Nichols.  Ms Nichols stated she is a Senior at Pickerington High School Central and she would like to address the safety of Long Road west of Diley.  She stated she lives in a subdivision off of that road and on November 12, 2005, one of her classmates, Aaron Schneider, was involved in a fatal accident on that road.  She stated that road is very dangerous with no sidewalks for pedestrians and no streetlights for motorists.  She stated she would like to see the addition of sidewalks on a two mile stretch, but that would be very expensive.  She stated an alternative would be the addition of streetlights to help motorists see pedestrians, deer, etc. at night.  She stated just the addition of streetlights would go a long way to help ensure that in future years to come no one would end up losing a classmate like Aaron Schneider who would have been graduating along with her this year.   

 

4.         COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS.  None.   

 

5.         APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA.  Mayor O’Brien stated there were no consent agenda items this evening. 

 

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. Blair, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Barletta voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 7-0. 

 

7.         REPORTS:   

 

A.        MAYOR.  Mayor O’Brien stated he had no report this evening.     

 

B.         LAW DIRECTOR.  Mr. Banchefsky stated Mr. Hartmann was on vacation this week and he had provided no report.      

 

C.        FINANCE DIRECTOR.  Mr. Schornack stated he had no report this evening.     

 

            D.         SERVICE MANAGER.  Mr. Drobina stated we are currently working on installing battery back-ups on four more traffic signals on S.R. 256 north and they should be operational within the next three weeks.  He further stated ODOT would be doing their final walk through on Diley Road so if Council or anyone has anything he should bring up please let him or Mr. Bachman know and they will pass it on to them.  Mr. Drobina stated the statewide tornado drill is scheduled for March 24th at 9:50 A.M., and if anyone wants to be a weather spotter training will be held on March 23rd from 6:30 to 8:30 P.M. at Liberty Center.  Mr. Drobina stated he would answer any questions.  Mayor O’Brien asked Mr. Drobina to let Council know what he has been asked to do by AWWA.  Mr. Drobina stated he and Robert Shoaf had submitted to AWWA to present on our TDS problem at the wastewater plant.  As this is a water conference they titled it “The use of reverse osmosis to control TDS” and they will go over ways to reduce TDS at a wastewater treatment plant.  He stated this will be in Chicago on June 23rd.   

 

E.         CITY ENGINEER.  Mr. Bachman stated a preconstruction meeting had been held on the Refugee Road water tower and the preliminary schedule from the contractor is to start the foundation in May with steel delivery scheduled for September and the painting of the tower next spring.  Mr. Bachman further stated within the last week he and Mr. Carr had met with MetroParks about the possibility of bike paths on Wright Road and Long Road connecting to Pickerington Ponds.  He stated they plan to meet with the Township and have discussion on this as well.  Mr. Drobina stated he had spoken to Ms Nichols about streetlights on Long Road and he would be checking with the utility company on this issue as well as doing a little research on solar powered streetlights.  Mr. Bachman stated the traffic signal at S.R. 256 and Commerce Drive has been put on flash yellow for S.R. 256 and flash red for Commerce Drive and he anticipates that remaining on flash until it warrants being turned on.  He stated the developer did provide the signal so he did not want to turn it down.  Mayor O’Brien clarified that if the signal was not turned on it would be like a signal that is out and technically it would become a four-way stop.  Mr. Sauer clarified that work should start up on Town Square Drive in either April or May. 

 

F.         CITY MANAGER.  Chief Taylor stated he had provided a written report and he would try to answer any questions. 

 

            G.        FINANCE COMMITTEE.  Mrs. Sanders stated Finance met on March 3rd and they had lengthy discussion on donations and contributions to various groups, and we will also be keeping an eye on income tax revenue coming in as we were down a little the first two months of the year.  She stated they also had discussion regarding a TIF request for the Ebright/Homestead project and that is still a work in progress. 

 

            H.        RULES COMMITTEE.  Mr. Fix stated Rules also met on March 3rd and the two primary things they are working on are to get the Administrative Code back in line with the Charter as some of the changes that were made were in anticipation of some Charter changes that did not happen and that should be ready in April, and they are working on restructuring the committees to be in line with the strategic plan and they should have a proposal for Council by the second meeting in April. 

 

8.         PROCEDURAL READINGS:

 

            A.        ORDINANCE 2010-17, “AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE 2010 APPROPRIATION, ORDINANCE 2009-91,” First Reading, Finance Committee.  Mr. Blair stated he has spoken to an individual at the Food Pantry and their financials are not quite as dire because of the contract now with Mid-Ohio Food Bank.  He stated while he does support the remaining appropriations he would not vote in favor of this appropriation this evening.  Mrs. Sanders moved to waive the requirement in Charter Section 2.06 that the ordinance be read on three separate meeting days; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Blair, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Fix, and Mrs. Hammond voting “Yea.”  Suspension of Rules passed, 7-0.  Mrs. Sanders moved to adopt; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Blair and Mr. Sauer voting “Nay,” and Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Fix, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mr. Barletta voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 5-2. 

 

            B.         ORDINANCE 2010-13, “AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE A CONTRACT WITH FLOYD BROWNE GROUP FOR PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING SERVICES ON THE SANITARY SEWER MASTER PLAN PROJECT,” Second Reading, Service Committee.  Mr. Wisniewski moved to waive the requirement in Charter Section 2.06 that the ordinance be read on three separate meeting days; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sauer, Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Blair, Mr. Fix, Mr. Barletta, and Mrs. Sanders voting “Yea.”  Suspension of Rules passed, 7-0.  Mr. Wisniewski moved to adopt; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Fix, Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Blair, and Mr. Sauer voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 7-0. 

 

            C.        ORDINANCE 2010-16, “AN ORDINANCE TO INCREASE THE SPEED LIMIT ON DILEY ROAD,” Second Reading, Safety Committee.  Mr. Wisniewski inquired if we had a baseline study as to what the current average speed is on Diley Road so we will have an idea of what the effect is going to be after the speed limit is increased.  Mr. Bachman stated he had not taken that on Diley Road.  Mr. Wisniewski stated if we do not know what our baseline is now, we will not know what the effect of raising the speed limit has been.  Mr. Wisniewski stated he would address this at Service Committee.  Mr. Wisniewski stated assuming you drive 45 miles per hour from one end of Diley to the other end you would gain less than one minute.  Mr. Sauer stated he supports this primarily because the speeds being driven on that road are already about 45 and if you drive 35 you are consistently passed or the distance to the car behind you is very short.  He stated his concern was that people driving in that wide range of speed it can create a safety issue as well.  Mr. Sauer stated S.R. 204 is a narrower road, it has as many driveway cuts as Diley, and quite a few neighborhoods empty out on it as well.  He stated he did not see how that road is less safe than Diley and he does not recall a number of accidents on S.R. 204.  Mr. Barletta stated he had heard from a former councilman who is a resident on Diley Road encouraging him to support the speed increase because if you have people driving 35 while everyone else is going 45 that increases the likelihood of accidents.  Mr. Wisniewski stated he feels council already broke their promise to the people that live on Diley Road and he while he personally thinks the speed limit should be 40 MPH, he gave his word to those people and there is no way he can support this.  Mr. Fix moved to adopt; Mr. Blair seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski voting “Nay,” and Mr. Fix, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Blair, and Mrs. Hammond voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-1. 

 

9.         LEGISLATIVE READINGS:  NONE.

 

10.       DISCUSSION.  There was no discussion. 

 

11.       REFERRAL TO COMMITTEE.  Mayor O’Brien stated there were no committee referral items. 

 

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

 

13.       MOTIONS: 

 

            A.        Mrs. Sanders moved for Executive Session under Section 121.22(G)(1), Matters involving appointment of a City Official; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Barletta, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Fix, Mr. Blair, 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 8:10 P.M.

 

14.       ADJOURNMENT.  There being nothing further, Mr. Barletta moved to adjourn; Mr. Sauer seconded the motion.  Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Fix, Mr. Blair, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Barletta, and Mr. Wisniewski voted “Aye.”  Motion carried, 7-0.  The meeting adjourned at 8:11 P.M., March 16, 2010. 

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED: 

 

 

_______________________________

Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk

 

 

ATTEST:

 

 

_______________________________

Mitch O’Brien, Mayor