WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17, 2010

REGULAR MEETING

7:30 P.M.

1. ROLL CALL. Mrs. Hammond called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M., with roll call as follows: Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Barletta, and Mr. Blair were present. No members were absent. Others present were Commander Steve Annetts, Lynda Yartin, Lance Schultz, Chet Hopper, Steve Carr, Greg Bachman, Brian Sauer, Jeff Fix, Representative Gerald Stebelton, Tory Kramer, Alexa Libert, Nate Ellis, Tom Whiteman, Sharon Montgomery, Britney Westbrook, Rachel Schofield, and others.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF February 17, 2010, Regular Meeting. Mr. Blair moved to approve; Mr. Barletta seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Blair, Mr. Barletta, and Mrs. Hammond voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.

3. COMMUNITY COMMENTS: There were no comments at this time.

4. POLICE:

A. Chief’s Report. Acting Chief Annetts stated he had provided a written report and he would answer any questions.

5. DEPARTMENT REPORTS:

A. Parks and Recreation:

(1) Director’s Report. Mr. Carr stated he had provided a written report and he would be happy to answer any questions. Mr. Carr stated we are in the middle of spring registration, our swimming pool pass sale, and garden plots. He stated we are also working on the Breakfast with the Bunny, and he would like to compliment Giant Eagle. He stated this is their fourth year of involvement with our Summer Concert series and their sponsorship fee this year is $18,000 and their four year commitment now totals $70,000. Mrs. Hammond clarified that Fairfield Federal is still sponsoring the Friday Night Movies in the Park, and that sponsorship has been ongoing for at least 12 to 13 years. Mrs. Hammond stated she would like to thank both of those organizations and all they do for the City. Mr. Blair ascertained the disc golf course is still on schedule to open Memorial weekend.

B. Code Enforcement:

(1) Code Enforcement Officer’s Report. Mr. Schultz stated a written report had been provided and he would be happy to answer any questions. Mr. Schultz stated further the function of Code Enforcement has been moved under the purview of the Building Department. Mrs. Hammond stated we had a lot of empty homes last year and a lot of the City’s time was spent doing upkeep on them and she questioned if still had a large number of empty homes this year. Mr. Hopper stated he had spoken to Mr. Mahaffey and he thought we had about the same number. He stated further they have discussed putting together an inventory of these vacant properties and looking to see how we can minimize costs on this.

a. Code Enforcement Technology Update. Mr. Schultz stated he had no update this evening.

b. Review and discussion of Long Term Code Complaint Report. Mrs. Hammond ascertained there were no questions on this report.

C. Building Regulations Department:

(1) Building Department/Chief Building Official’s Report. Mr. Hopper stated he had provided a written report and he would answer any questions. Mr. Hopper stated he had also provided the Committee members a copy of the first instruction packet he has prepared as a step by step guide for deck construction. He stated this guide will show the property owner exactly what the process is and what they must provide to the Building Department, etc. He stated he will be putting together guides for other projects such as refinishing basements, etc. Mr. Hopper stated he had also found some conflicts with issuing permits for swimming pools and he will be working with the law director to correct this conflict and he hoped to bring that to the Committee in the next few months.

D. Service Department: Mr. Drobina he has been receiving some phone calls from residents regarding sidewalk damage caused by trees and he had provided the Committee with information on how other communities are handling this situation.

E. Engineering Department. Mr. Bachman stated he had provided a written report to the Committee and he had addressed sidewalks in that report. Mr. Bachman stated he will be working with Code Enforcement in looking at our policy on sidewalks and he hoped to have something for the Committee to review in the near future. Mr. Bachman stated further we have various traffic control signs and devices for the six schools located in the City, and not all of them are up to date. He stated he would like to do a thorough review of those and recommend how we can standardize how we mark our school zones and make sure we are in compliance with the latest in the Ohio Revised Code.

(1) Review and discussion regarding abandoned gas well on Avalon Drive. Mr. Bachman stated this had been discussed at the last meeting and ODNR has indicated they will not be able to get to this for some time unless the City shares the cost. He stated after further discussion with them they will take a closer look at this situation to see if it should be moved up on their priority list, but he has not heard back from them as yet. Mr. Bachman stated he would keep the Committee informed and Mrs. Hammond stated she would like to know if this is considered a safety hazard. Mr. Blair stated he had gone out and looked at this well and the pipe does come out above head level but you can see the gas escaping. Mr. Barletta stated he had also gone to look at this and inquired if it were discovered because this property was about to be built on and Mr. Bachman stated Ms VanCleave was handling most of this and he would have to get the details from her and get back to the committee. Mr. Barletta stated if they want to build on that lot maybe there was something we could do to make it a little safer. Mrs. Hammond stated she would like to have this item removed from the agenda and when Mr. Bachman gets more information it will go back on the agenda. She stated if you can see the gas escaping she wasn’t sure how safe that would be, and Mr. Bachman stated it is not escaping close to the surface and it is about the amount of gas that would be coming out of a pilot light. He stated he would keep the Committee advised on this issue.

6. CHAIRMAN:

(1) Discussion regarding bicycle ordinances. Mrs. Hammond stated at the last meeting an individual addressed the Committee and stated that our ordinances regarding bicycles were not consistent with the Ohio Revised Code. She stated the law director had provided some information on our ordinances to the Committee for review. Mrs. Hammond stated she had noticed that we have language in our ordinance that states no person shall ride a bicycle on the sidewalk within a business district, and she knew that people do ride on the sidewalk in a business district because they do not feel comfortable riding on S.R. 256. She stated she wasn’t sure that if they did not impede pedestrians that we would want to stop people from doing that. Mr. Blair stated when he read the information he had that same thought. Mrs. Hammond stated perhaps this is something that we could amend, but she did not have any other comments at this time. Mr. Barletta stated our Code also states that no person under the age of 11 shall operate a bicycle on the street, and from the information he had provided on what other communities have, it looked like 8 years old was the most common. Mrs. Hammond stated she agreed that age 8 would be appropriate in a subdivision, but she wasn’t sure about S.R. 256. Mrs. Hammond stated she would like this continued on the agenda at this time.

7. OTHER BUSINESS:

A. Discussion regarding prohibiting texting while driving. Mrs. Hammond ascertained there were some individuals who would like to address the Committee on this issue.

(1) Mr. Tom Whiteman stated while he does not live in the City, he is employed here and travels through the City. Mr. Whiteman stated his daughter, Leslie, was killed when a distracted driver pulled in front of the motorcycle she was a passenger on. He stated he called the driver “distracted” because when asked she told the investigating officers that the motorcycle came out of nowhere. He stated that motorcycle was a Harley Davidson Road King which is one of the largest motorcycles on the road. He further stated according to the prosecuting attorney during the proceedings the 9-1-1 call came from the passenger of the car’s cell phone. He stated he will never know what impact the cell phone had because for some reason the passenger was not interviewed by the investigating officer. Mr. Whiteman stated since his daughter’s death he and his wife have been heavily involved in motorcycle awareness. He stated aside from cell phone use becoming such rude behavior he has seen people using cell phones going 35 MPH on the freeway, they have run off the road, they have stopped at green lights and it is dangerous. He stated now they are talking about typewriting while driving, and if some think that is an exaggeration, but your mind is not only off the road as in using your phone, but your eyes are off the road as well. He stated this is a very dangerous habit and we have lost the note that driving a vehicle takes a lot of attention. Mr. Whiteman stated he has heard that texting while driving would be hard to enforce, but he felt that all laws should be difficult to enforce so that police officers are not able to act on a whim. He stated he would like to see a ban on texting because texting is so far off the scale on distracted driving that we need to do something about it. He stated he does not have the statistics but he has heard that you are more apt to be involved in an accident while you’re a texting than being intoxicated while driving. He stated he would ask the City Council to seriously consider banning texting, so no one else is in the position he and his wife are in.

(2) Ms Sharon Montgomery. Ms Montgomery stated she lives in Gahanna and she is very glad Pickerington is taking up this issue. She stated she is a phone crash victim so she has educated herself on this problem. She stated she understood some want to wait for the state to act on this issue and that would be preferable, however, her experience makes her recommend you not wait. She stated House Bill 415 will be voted on in the House of Representatives next week and it is likely to pass. She stated, however, the state legislature has had one bill on this issue every session since 1997, and this is the first one to make it out of committee. She continued the Senate is showing little interest on Senate Bill 164, and two committee members are expressing strong opposition and there has not been an opportunity for supporters to even respond in open meetings to that opposition. She stated if they don’t show much interest in their own bill, she did not have much hope that they would act on the House Bill. She stated Mr. Blair’s suggestion that the City send something to the State urging them to act is a good one, but it will not solve this serious problem by itself. Ms Montgomery stated the National Safety Council, AAA, MORPC, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a Sherriff’s department, the City of Cleveland, a professional car driver, and a driving instructor have all told the state it is time for legal restrictions on this dangerous and unnecessary behavior and that has not prompted the senate to act yet. Ms Montgomery stated Mrs. Sanders wisely checked into driver’s ed and this is a key component of getting control of this situation, but it is not enough. She stated the problem with relying solely on education is education tells us we shouldn’t do this because we are likely to crash, but human nature tells us it won’t happen to me. She stated we need to have a law that says you are not allowed to do this because you are too likely to crash. Ms Montgomery stated she agreed with Mr. Barletta and Mrs. Sanders that if you want Pickerington residents and visitors to be safe you will have to take your own action. Ms Montgomery stated Mr. Wisniewski had suggested making the existing full time and attention law a primary offense and while this could make that code section more effective in preventing crashes, however, she was not convinced it would prevent enough crashes. She further stated this kind of law exists in many cities codes but it is not reducing the incidents of drivers using mobile communication devices. She continued that Mrs. Hammond’s concern about enforcement is legitimate and enforcement will have to be visible and consistent. She stated she was worried that Bexley’s law will not be as effective as it could be because the word is out that texting drivers are being stopped but they are being warned and not cited. She stated why would drivers take the law seriously if they do not think the police are taking it seriously. Ms Montgomery stated many municipalities are making this a minor misdemeanor which carries a maximum fine of $150, and some cities are sending a stronger message by increasing the fine for repeat offenders. She stated to serve as a deterrent you need increasing fines and to afford some justice for the victims you need to include whatever provisions the state law and state court rules will allow to make offenders have to appear in court. She stated with no trial there is no sentencing, with no sentencing there is no victim impact statement or chance for victim’s restitution. She continued that with no victim statement or restitution the victim is invisible and that demeans the victim and insulates the offender from the dire consequence of their behavior.

Mr. Fix stated State Representative Stebelton is present this evening and he has done a little homework on the status of the bills that are in the State House. Mr. Blair stated he understands House Bill 415 got through the Public Safety Committee this past week and will now go to the House for a vote. He questioned if this bill could come out of the House and go to the Senate for a vote. Representative Stebelton stated at this point he feels that is likely to happen, but there is some serious question as to whether the Speaker will have a session in the House next week, but there is a possibility. He stated a bill coming out of committee and being passed by the whole House are two different issues. He stated the Speaker is usually not going to bring a bill to the floor of the House unless he is pretty sure he has the votes to pass it. He stated he thought there would be sufficient votes to pass it in the house, but they do have an issue in the General Assembly this term in that there seems to be a pride of ownership issue. He stated currently there are eight bills dealing with text messaging or mobile communication device messaging that are pending; two in the Senate and six in the House. He stated he felt the bill would pass the House and go to the Senate and it is just a question of whether or not the Senate would be willing to take it up this year. Representative Stebelton stated his advice to anyone who has a genuine interest in this would be that pressure on your State Senator, on all the Senators, is the best thing that can happen because constituency pressure means a whole more than just one person calling on the phone. He stated he was not talking about a standard e-mail someone types up and then 6,000 people send it, but if each person sent a letter or an e-mail in their own writing that is from your heart and what you believe, that will get someone’s attention. He stated he did feel this is a major hazard and he felt the General Assembly would eventually get around to passing something, hopefully it would be this term, but he could not guarantee what would happen in the Senate. Representative Stebelton stated he had provided a summary to the Committee members of all the bills that are pending showing what each of them does, what the exceptions are, what it does permit, what each of them does not permit, and what penalties are proposed. He stated he felt the bill proposed by Nancy Garland is the most realistic bill because it does have a six month period within which people can receive a warning and then after that it becomes a primary offense. He stated it is, however, a minor misdemeanor so that means it is a maximum of $150.

Mrs. Hammond stated this was on the agenda for discussion and she did not feel the Committee was ready to take any action at this point but should continue to look into what we can do. She stated she would encourage everyone to do exactly what Representative Stebelton said and contact your State Senators, your Representatives, or all of them if need be to encourage them to take action. She stated she does feel this is a very big problem, and the issue is growing. She stated hopefully we can encourage the State to do something about it soon.

Mr. Fix stated he appreciated Safety Committee addressing this issue this evening and he appreciated the people who came out to learn about this and speak about it. He continued that over the past couple of months this has become an issue in the City and he is trying to understand the downside of putting a law on this on our books. He stated he has heard it would be very difficult to enforce and there is no doubt that it would be; he has also heard that the State is going to take action and from Representative Stebelton’s comments tonight something is probably going to happen at some point. He stated he has not heard a reason not to do this and if we never wrote a citation but we put signs up around town that remind people not to do this, and we make it part of our education process in driver’s ed that there is a law on this in Pickerington, there’s a chance we could save a life. He stated he did not know why we wouldn’t do that and he has not heard a good reason not to move forward with something like this. Mr. Sauer stated at the last meeting he was in favor of seeing what the State was going to do, but in listening to our State Representative he was not so convinced anymore. He stated he was not aware this has been in front of the State legislature since 1997, and in those 13 years nothing has happened. Mr. Sauer continued he equated this with MADD and that took a monumental effort to make drunk driving penalized the way it is today. Mr. Sauer stated he found himself wavering in that if the state has not acted in 13 years, why would he think they would act this year or next year. Mr. Sauer stated if something were to come to Council he would take a serious look at it and consider it. Mrs. Sanders stated in the almost three years she has been on Council she has not had as many phone calls or e-mails with people urging the issue. She stated she would definitely support this at this point if it came forward to Council, and she agreed she did not see a downside. She stated if we could save one life or avoid one accident, we would have accomplished something. Mr. Barletta stated he also did not realize this has been considered for 13 years without action and he did hear that it came out of the House committee with a unanimous vote, which is rare, and he would like to give them a chance. He stated he felt the State would be shirking their responsibility by not taking action as this is a national issue with the Transportation Department already putting in measures to make it illegal for truck and bus drivers to text. He stated we have seen several major train or subway accidents caused by engineers texting where multiple people have been killed and the government has responded with laws and regulations that affect those areas. He stated he felt we needed to write letters to our representatives because this is a law that encompasses the whole state and not just one little area. Mr. Blair stated he agreed with Mr. Barletta that this is a state-wide issue and with the bill coming out of the House and going to the Senate they will have to bring it out as well if the pressure continues on. He stated it makes sense to have this as a state-wide issue not at the local level because every community will have a different law or no law.

Mr. Whiteman stated he and his wife had received a life sentence, and Ms Montgomery was given a life sentence. He stated the person who caused the accident that killed his daughter was charged with a misdemeanor of a lower degree and it only became a misdemeanor of a higher degree because she was driving under suspension. He stated if every political subdivision enacts a law we send a message throughout the state that this is unacceptable behavior, then when it comes to killing someone, vehicular homicide, you have to deal with other issues of states of mind such as recklessly or negligently, so if you commit some behavior that has been outlawed you are acting recklessly or negligently perhaps and it would become a felony. He stated people do not pay attention to $100 fines, so every political subdivision, every city, every village needs to have a law that prohibits texting so that everyone in this state knows it is unacceptable behavior. Mr. Fix stated again he could see no reason not to do something and if the state comes down in six months with a law, we can rescind ours. Mrs. Hammond stated she was not sure she was ready to move forward with this because she did not know if we would limit it to texting or if we would want to ban phones altogether. She stated there is more discussion that needs to be held before we do anything. Mr. Fix stated he was not suggesting something be done tonight, but just to continue the conversation.

Ms Montgomery stated with regard to sentencing, the man who killed her husband, almost killed her, and left another driver permanently disabled, and was fined $75. She stated he mailed in his check and he still uses his phone while driving. She continued we need to have a law and better penalties for this.

Mrs. Hammond determined there were no further comments.

8. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mrs. Hammond moved to adjourn; Mr. Blair seconded the motion. Mr. Barletta, Mrs. Hammond, and Mr. Blair voted "Aye." Motion carried, 3-0. The Safety Committee adjourned at 8:25 P.M., March 17, 2010.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

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Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk