WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2010

REGULAR MEETING

7:30 P.M.

1. ROLL CALL. Mrs. Hammond called the meeting to order at 7:35 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, Ed Drobina, Chet Hopper, Greg Bachman, Brian Sauer, Alexa Libert, Rachel Scofield, Christopher File, and others.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF March 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:

A. Christopher File. Mr. File stated he lives in the Fox Glen subdivision and he would like to address the committee this evening regarding speeding in his neighborhood. Mr. File stated he had attended Safety Committee approximately one year ago to express his concerns about speeding in his development. Mr. File stated the posted speed limit is 25 MPH, but there are no stop signs anywhere throughout the neighborhood, at least on the long strip of Fox Glen Drive, and 25 is not the average speed through there. Mr. File stated when he was here last year one solution that was discussed was to paint the 25 MPH on the roadway to remind people what the speed limit was. He stated unfortunately it was not done the way he had envisioned it, which was in the middle of the road where it can’t be missed. He stated there were a couple of spots throughout the development where it was painted on the road, but if you park your car it could cover it up so you couldn’t even see it, and there is one that instead of saying 25 MPH says 25 WPH. Mr. File stated he knew people hate speed bumps, and he knows you cannot put stop signs in just for the sake of slowing down traffic, and he would state that the police do come through on a regular basis, but this is something where people need to police themselves and that is not happening. Mr. File stated he had done some investigating to see if there are any other options and there are companies that specialize in items to calm traffic. He stated he would be willing to invest his own money in putting these into his neighborhood if he knew that Council had his back and if someone tried to vandalize and remove them they would be held accountable for that. He stated he had a brochure from Traffic Logics who sell what are called “speed cushions” and that might be one possible solution. Mr. File stated more than anything he wanted to raise the issue with the Committee because he would have to say that putting the speed limit on the road has not made much of a difference and he did not know what to do next.

Mrs. Hammond stated she felt we had this problem in virtually every neighborhood and inquired if Commander Annetts had any suggestions. Commander Annetts stated they have put the SMART trailer in the developments and they can put it in Fox Glen a little more often. He stated if there is a Home Owner’s Association meeting, if Mr. File would let him know, he would send an officer to that meeting. Commander Annetts stated they were more than willing to attend the meeting and let the residents know what they are finding when they run traffic there because it is usually the residents that are speeding. Commander Annetts stated he would get with Mr. File after this meeting.

4. POLICE:

A. Chief’s Report. Acting Chief Annetts stated he had provided a written report and he would answer any questions. Commander Annetts stated our K-9 and officer are currently in West Virginia continuing their training.

5. DEPARTMENT REPORTS:

A. Parks and Recreation: Mrs. Hammond stated she has heard some questions regarding the parks department since Mr. Carr has resigned. She stated she would like to see that we have ready answers for these questions. Mr. Drobina stated there has been no change in the registration process for our programs and he will be handling the maintenance of everything, including the Carnegie Library building. Mr. Drobina further stated he has already spoken with Mr. Taylor of the Historical Society regarding some issues they have at the Carnegie building.

(1) Director’s Report. Mr. Drobina stated the swimming pool will be pumped out and cleaned to get ready for opening on Memorial Day. Mr. Drobina stated with regard to the disc golf course, there are still some items that have to be completed before advertising when the course will actually open. Mr. Drobina stated he was not sure where we were on the naming issue for the course. Mrs. Hammond stated the committee had received an e-mail showing there was some correspondence between Mr. Carr and a gentleman from The Indoor Gardens regarding their possible sponsorship of the course. She stated he had stated in exchange for the naming rights as “Indoor Gardens Disc Golf Course” he would consider paying a $10,000 per year sponsorship fee for three years, but she did not know that any decisions were made for that to happen. Mr. Barletta stated he felt this would be a good idea if we can defray the costs of the maintenance of the course somehow, but how we pick who the sponsor is or how we approve it would have to be worked out. Mr. Sauer stated he did not have a problem if someone wanted to donate that kind of money or a service. Mrs. Hammond stated she felt we needed to consider who is sponsoring, whether their sponsorship is appropriate to whatever they are sponsoring, etc. Mr. Barletta stated he agreed that he would not want a local tavern sponsoring the course or something like that, and he didn’t know how we wanted to vet the potential sponsors, would it require council approval, etc. Mrs. Hammond inquired if we knew exactly what the cost of upkeep for the course would be per year and Mr. Drobina stated he does not have that information with him but it would include mowing, fertilizing, aerating, maintenance to the baskets, etc. Mr. Drobina stated his concern with sponsorship would be how to get the word out so that everyone would have a chance to apply. Mrs. Hammond clarified there are 18 holes on the course and some golf courses have a sponsor for each hole. Mrs. Hammond stated she felt council needs to come up with some criteria for sponsorship and Mr. Barletta stated his concern also would be with signage because sponsorship comes with signage and he was not sure if we had any criteria for that either. Mrs. Hammond stated she felt all of this needed to be settled before we got into awarding sponsorship or naming rights. Mr. Blair stated perhaps this should be heard in front of Finance Committee and Mrs. Yartin stated this is an item that is on the Rules Committee agenda for discussion. Mr. Drobina stated the community gardens do not have any signage identifying it and if the Committee concurred he would order a sign simply identifying this as the Pickerington Community Gardens. All Committee members concurred there should be a sign and stated they would like Mr. Drobina to order the signage.

B. 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 since the first of the year we have permitted 29 single family homes, so we are doing very well there. Mr. Hopper stated he has received information from the ICC, International Code Council, regarding the consumer energy tax credit for 2010, and he has put that on the building department page on the web site and he also has copies for handout at the department.

(2) Code Enforcement Officer’s Report. Mr. Hopper stated the Committee had also received a written report on Code Enforcement. Mr. Hopper stated he had also provided copies of the reports they can now generate with the code enforcement program they are now using. Mr. Hopper further stated the next Pick Up Pickerington event will be on Saturday, April 24^th, and everyone will meet at the city pool. Mrs. Hammond stated she had also heard that a lot of progress has been made at the property on Long Road and it is now being cleaned up.

a. Review and discussion regarding roadway signage. Mrs. Hammond stated she had requested this be on tonight’s agenda for discussion because she had noticed over the weekend at the corner of Hill Road and Diley Road there were tons of signs. She stated Mr. Hopper and Mr. Mahaffey had come up with some suggestions on what could be done about this including hiring part-time people to work on weekends and pick up these signs, have the Code Enforcement Officer trade a day and come in on a Saturday every once in awhile, or just do nothing with them as they seem to be disappearing by Monday. Mrs. Hammond stated however it looked pretty bad the other day. Mr. Hopper stated he knows we cannot have someone here 24-hours a day, seven days a week, chasing down illegal signs, but he felt if our approach would be to hit the streets before 5:00 P.M. Friday and be back out early Monday morning and try to get those signs picked up, we would not be looking like other communities where every street pole has signs that date back for some time. He stated we would get them picked up fairly quickly, but on Saturdays and Sundays it could be an eyesore. Mrs. Hammond stated the other issue is that we have a lot of organizations that pay for a permit for the privilege of putting signs in allowed locations, and then they are obscured by all these other signs. Mr. Hopper stated he would like to think about this a bit because he is trying to focus on putting some programs together and putting some things in place that would benefit the entire community. Mrs. Hammond stated she was not asking for any action this evening, she just wanted to bring it up for discussion.

C. Service Department: Mr. Drobina he had no report this evening.

D. Engineering Department.

(1) Review and discussion regarding abandoned gas well on Avalon Drive. Mr. Bachman stated Ms VanCleave has been very diligent in talking with ODNR about this gas well and it sounds like they may very well come out and cap that well in the next couple of months and cap that well; move it up on their schedule quite a bit. He stated there were no promises, but it sounded promising that they would be out soon.

Mr. Barletta stated in going back to the sign discussion, he would like to know how we want to handle garage sale signs, would they be taken down or left for the weekend, or what? He stated some of these garage sales are advertised in the newspaper and the signs are used to direct people there. Mr. Hopper stated he would do whatever this Committee or Council determined they wanted done. Mrs. Hammond stated we may be able to do something that says they can go up the morning the garage sale starts and that they must be taken down when it is over, and also that they don’t tape them to the poles because that pulls the paint off. Mr. Barletta stated he did not think there was a permit process for garage sales, and Mrs. Hammond stated technically you are allowed only so many garage sales a year or something like that. Mr. Barletta stated this might be something that can be added to the sign discussion. Mrs. Hammond stated she would like to discuss this further and Mr. Hopper stated he would look at it a little more before the next meeting.

6. CHAIRMAN:

(1) Discussion regarding bicycle ordinances. Mrs. Hammond stated the law director had provided some proposed revisions to our bicycle ordinances. Commander Annetts stated the police department does not get many complaints about bicycle riding in the neighborhoods. Mr. Barletta stated he does not have any problems with the recommendations provided by the law director and Mrs. Hammond stated she would like to stress that she would certainly like people to be allowed to ride a bicycle on the sidewalk because she certainly would not ride a bicycle on S.R. 256. Mr. Barletta moved to approve the revisions to the bicycle ordinance and forward it to Council; Mr. Blair seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Barletta, and Mr. Blair voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.

7. OTHER BUSINESS:

A. Discussion regarding prohibiting texting while driving. Mr. Blair stated he would like to suggest we write a letter to Senator Schaffer stating we would like to see action by the Ohio Senate as the Ohio House has passed this legislation. He stated he felt a letter from the City would be appropriate as he felt this is a State issue and is better handled by the experts, but we want to let them know where we stand as a Council. Mr. Barletta stated he agreed with Mr. Blair and he felt there is no question this is dangerous and people who are distracted are dangerous to not just themselves but other drivers, and he felt this is not just a State issue but a national issue as well. Mr. Barletta stated he felt a local ordinance would not make a huge impact and we need to get the larger jurisdictions to step up and take responsibility for what is a safety issue that needs to be addressed. Mr. Sauer stated he respects the Committee’s opinions, but he did feel this is something the City should act on. He continued that while it would obviously be difficult to enforce, it would be wise to have something on the books, and a number of other communities throughout the state have put something through. He stated he just did not see not doing this and given the fact that the State legislature has not acted on this for as long as they have, and there is still no guarantee the Senate will pass anything before the end of this term, he felt it would be a good thing to do for the community and would add to the safety of the community. Mr. Sauer stated he would support sending a letter to Senator Schaffer. Mr. Blair moved to have a letter to Senator Schaffer prepared requesting the Senate take action on House Bill 415; Mr. Barletta seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Blair, Mr. Barletta, and Mrs. Hammond voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.

Mr. Sauer stated he would like to mention that in Planning and Zoning Commission the issue of parking by the disc golf course had been brought up. He stated along McKenzie there had been discussion regarding placing no parking signs being placed next to the disc golf course as there is a concern that once the course opens up people using the course will park along that street instead of using the parking lot. He stated the request was made that the City do something to alleviate that problem if it occurs. Mrs. Hammond stated if Commander Annetts could look at this area before the next meeting he could let the Committee know if it appeared there could be a problem there. Mr. Sauer stated further he had been asked about our policy on snow removal on sidewalks. He stated he understood most city’s have something in their codified ordinances that it is the responsibility of the homeowner’s to clear the sidewalks when there is snowfall and there has been some concern that at some of the bus stops the kids have had to go out in the streets because they were not able to get down the sidewalk. He stated the residents would like to see that enforced a little better when we get a serious amount of snowfall. Mrs. Hammond stated it is in our code that homeowner’s are responsible for clearing the sidewalks and Mr. Sauer stated it seemed it would then be an enforcement issue. Mr. Barletta stated he had heard this complaint as well and perhaps in the fall we could put a notice about this in the water bills as a reminder to people and stress the safety of the children trying to get to the bus stops. Mr. Drobina stated he had planned on putting out a letter later in the year regarding snow removal and he could incorporate this into that letter.

8. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mr. Blair moved to adjourn; Mr. Barletta seconded the motion. Mr. Blair, Mr. Barletta, and Mrs. Hammond voted "Aye." Motion carried, 3-0. The Safety Committee adjourned at 8:15 P.M., April 21, 2010.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

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Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk