WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 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, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Fix, Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Wisniewski were present. No members were absent. Others present were Mayor O’Brien, Bill Vance, Lynda Yartin, Chris Schornack, Linda Fersch, Ed Drobina, Greg Bachman, Carrie Woody, and others.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF July 7, 2010, Regular Meeting. Mr. Sauer moved to approve; Mrs. Hammond seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Fix, Mr. Barletta, and Mr. Wisniewski abstaining, and Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Blair, Mr. Sauer, and Mrs. Sanders voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 4-0.

3. PRESENTATION BY CARRIE WOODY OF LANCASTER PUBLIC TRANSIT. Ms Woody stated she had spoken at the last Council meeting with an update on ridership numbers and she was present this evening to see if there were any questions, comments, or concerns anyone might have regarding the service. Ms Woody stated she hoped to make this a permanent service in Pickerington and Violet Township and she would like to see where Council stood on that because she does have to apply for her federal grant within the next month. Mr. Fix stated he understood the school system seemed to be taking advantage of this service and Ms Woody stated the schools have sent out information in their newsletter twice that she is aware of and this is also listed on the school’s website as an option for transportation. Mr. Fix clarified that the ridership has increased for school aged children although not as drastically as the general public ridership, however, they are seeing an increase with football players going to and from practice. Mr. Fix clarified that when Ms Woody asked Council to consider making this more permanent, she felt that she would require the same level of funding for at least the next two to three years and then hopefully they would be able to start backing off with the funding. Ms Woody stated that ultimately, in speaking with ODOT, one of the things they would like to see in the future would be a county-wide levy to replace all of the local government funding. Ms Woody stated she is meeting with every village and every township in the entire county looking for each one to chip in a little bit to help cover the cost to go county-wide, as well as some other entities. Ms Woody stated if this were county-wide, it would mean it would cost $2.00 for anyone in the county to go anywhere in the county. Mr. Fix further clarified the City’s funding was $10,000 and Mr. Blair clarified Violet Township gives the same amount and Mrs. Hammond stated the Senior Center gives $5,000. Mrs. Hammond stated she felt this transportation option is a tremendous help for people with disabilities and for older residents and if we can possibly manage to continue this service she would highly encourage it. Mr. Blair ascertained that the service can only be expanded to an area if they are able to contribute to the program as that is how the grant funding works, there must be a local match from the area. Ms Woody stated she would like to know as soon as possible what the City’s funding level would be so she can submit her grant paperwork by the end of October. Mr. Vance stated this issue was a budget priority for the Manager and Finance and he felt it was pretty much a definite that we would be able to fund this in the next fiscal year. Mr. Fix stated he appreciated Mr. Vance’s position, but he felt that we could not make a commitment until we have looked at the entire budget. Mayor O’Brien clarified that the ridership numbers are tracked by the point of origin and inquired if Ms Woody had spoken to the Fairfield County portion of Canal Winchester. Ms Woody stated she has contacted them, but has not set up a meeting as yet.

4. FINANCE DEPARTMENT.

A. Finance Director’s Report. Mr. Schornack stated he had provided a written report and he would be happy to take any questions. Mr. Fix stated it appears that income tax is relatively flat and Mr. Schornack stated we are up .5 percent and we budgeted two percent. Mr. Schornack stated through June 30^th our general fund revenues were at 55 percent of our estimated amount for the year. Mr. Vance stated he felt Council would see an aggressive budget strategy as we go forward and the collection of delinquent taxes will be an item of discussion and interest in the budget process. Mr. Vance stated the Mayor has taken a close interest in this and he would be coordinating with the Mayor and Mayor’s Court to see what can be done to enhance this effort as well. Mr. Fix stated this administration has been very aggressive in the collection of delinquent taxes and while he agreed we have a ways to go, we have come further in the last 24 months than we have in the 10 years previous. Mr. Vance stated the Tax Administrator has stated they do not have enough resources to assist with our collection of past due amounts so going into the budget he will propose to budget for some additional resources. He stated those additional resources will be paid for with the additional returns we will receive.

B. Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance authorizing the City Manager to continue membership with the Central Ohio Risk Management Association for the time period October 1, 2010, to September 30, 2011. Mr. Schornack stated we have not received our renewal policy as yet, but this will allow us to go ahead and move forward with our membership. Mr. Fix inquired if we have looked at other groups besides CORMA to see if we are getting a good deal. Mrs. Fersch stated we are now at a stage in CORMA where we are adding other communities and that will bring our costs down. She stated there are other pools, but CORMA has done well for us. Mr. Wisniewski moved to approve and forward to Council; Mr. Fix seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Blair, Mr. Fix, and Mr. Barletta voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 7-0.

C. Review and discussion regarding Deputy Finance Director position. Mr. Schornack stated he had sent an e-mail detailing the cost benefits to having a Deputy Finance Director with the right qualifications in place that would allow us to reduce our costs as far as our GAAP conversion goes. He stated he would estimate a savings of up to $15,000 to $20,000 in the first year alone because we have a $35,000 per year contract with Local Government Services through the Auditor of State and that is all paid from the General Fund. He stated the Deputy Finance Director position is divided among the General Fund, Sewer, and Water Funds as much of their time is spent on those different areas. Mr. Schornack stated this is included in the budget in December; however, he would like to get someone in place for the budget season this year. Mr. Wisniewski inquired what the pay plan rate was and Mr. Schornack stated he believed it was between $60,000 and $68,000 as a starting salary. Mr. Wisniewski inquired how that would be allocated to the various funds and Mr. Schornack stated it would be 40 percent to the General Fund and 30 percent to the Sewer and Water Funds equally. Mr. Fix clarified that we have had a Deputy Finance Director position for several years and Mr. Schornack was asking that the position be filled in October rather than wait until December. Mr. Wisniewski stated he felt it was always a good idea to have a second person on board. Mr. Schornack stated in order to fill the position early he had included the necessary funds on the draft appropriation ordinance should Finance approve filling the position now. Mrs. Hammond clarified that the $11,500 on the appropriation ordinance would cover the salary and benefits until the end of the year.

D. Review and discussion regarding budgeted 2010 police officer position. Mr. Fix stated he thought this would not be discussed until our union negotiations are completed, and Mrs. Hammond stated she also recalled they had determined not to commit to a position until they knew what would be required by the new union contract. Mr. Wisniewski clarified the conciliation hearing is scheduled for August 26^th and everyone would have to live by the decision rendered. Mrs. Fersch stated we will not have the decision until mid to late September. Mr. Sauer stated he felt then it would be best to just consider this in next year’s budget. Mr. Vance stated Chief Taylor indicated that he had an officer in the budget that was yet to be hired and he had encouraged him if he wanted to pursue hiring this individual to make a request. He continued that Chief Taylor had sent an e-mail with that request and it was then placed on this agenda for discussion. Mr. Vance stated we are using reserves to balance the budget, he is just coming in as City Manager, and we know we will have costs associated with the FOP negotiations. Mr. Vance further stated he felt that Chief Taylor understood we would not be moving on anything until after those FOP negotiations are concluded and if he wanted to provide any information to the Finance Committee he had the opportunity to do so this evening. Mrs. Sanders stated she would request this be continued on the agenda for the October meeting.

E. Review and discussion regarding allocation of remaining advertising budget. Mr. Vance stated a community calendar opportunity came to his attention from the Mayor’s office and we do have sufficient funds. He stated it seems like a lot of entities within the community get out their message using this calendar and it is a price of $100 per month for an inch by inch and a half space and he would move forward with this if the Finance Committee had no objection. Mr. Sauer inquired if this were on-line or where it was posted. Mr. Vance stated he understood it was mailed throughout the community. Mr. Fix inquired if Mr. Vance felt this was a good idea and Mr. Vance stated we are trying to get the word out that we are open for business or whatever slogan we want to use, and we can basically begin to educate the public that we are about public service and great customer service, etc. Mr. Vance stated he did see this as an investment. Mr. Schornack stated it is $1,200 and that is already appropriated in the advertising budget. Mr. Schornack stated the total advertising budget was $9,600 and a good bit of that was spent on the Pickerington Magazine. Mr. Blair clarified that this calendar goes out to the City and Township residents. Mr. Wisniewski stated he felt Mr. Vance could use these funds wherever he felt appropriate and if staff deems this is a worthwhile investment then he would have council’s support. All Committee members concurred with Mr. Wisniewski’s statement.

F. Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance amending the 2010 appropriation, Ordinance 2009-91. Mr. Schornack stated he had provided a draft ordinance and he would answer questions anyone had. Mr. Fix questioned how we would know the amount of money we would receive from the recent drug seizure as Chief Taylor had stated we may get a car or a house or whatever. Mr. Schornack stated he felt it was divided among all of the agencies involved in it and he thought it was divided by how much time they spent on it. Mr. Schornack stated the funds on this ordinance were received earlier in the year from a seizure by the major crimes unit and it is very limited as to what you can purchase with these funds and Chief Taylor intends to purchase taser guns. Mr. Schornack stated it takes some time to get any funds from an operation and we will not know for some time what the City may receive from that incident. Mr. Fix moved to approve and forward to Council, Mr. Sauer seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Fix, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Blair, Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Sauer voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 7-0.

G. Review and request for motion to accept the amounts and rates as determined by the Fairfield County Budget Commission and authorizing the necessary tax levies and certifying them to the county Auditor. Mr. Shonac stated we have not received the actual paperwork from the County as yet, however, this is an annual resolution and last year’s resolution was provided as an example. Mr. Schornack stated the County Budget Commission met this week and we received the same rates as we have in the past. Mr. Sanders moved to approve and forward to Council; Mr. Wisniewski seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Blair, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Fix, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mrs. Sanders voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 7-0.

5. 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. Mrs. Fersch stated with regard to the part-time utilities operator, Mr. Stengle had been offered the position and he did not indicate that he was not interested, however, after he received the conditional offer with the starting wage he did not feel that was high enough to sacrifice working every weekend. Mrs. Fersch stated another applicant would be interviewed to hopefully fill that position. Mrs. Fersch stated Ms Medinger will begin as our new Recreation Administrator on August 16^th.

6. CHAIRMAN:

A. Strategic Plan – Update. Mrs. Sanders stated it appears that August 28^th will work for everyone for the next retreat/work session. Mrs. Sanders stated then they would schedule the Council Retreat for August 28, 2010, at 8:00 A.M., at the Police Department on Refugee Road.

Mrs. Sanders stated Governing Dynamics has indicated they would come in and facilitate our retreat for $1,750 and had submitted a proposed agenda. Mrs. Sanders stated, however, she and the Mayor and Mr. Vance had met and they felt we could come up with an agenda based on the needs we know we have and perhaps save those funds for something else we may need. Mayor O’Brien stated he felt we did need someone to keep everyone on track, however, he felt we could find a facilitator for a much lower cost. Mrs. Sanders stated she felt the last retreat was the most beneficial time she had planning something, but she did not see that we needed break out sessions this time. Mr. Fix stated he has done a lot of these in his profession and to have it be as productive as it can be you need to have someone who is not a part of it to facilitate, and perhaps we could have a conversation with Governing Dynamics and get that rate reduced considerably. Mr. Sauer stated he agreed it was important to have an outside facilitator just to help move everything along. He stated he would prefer to stay with the group that did it last time just because they are familiar with us and they went through this process with us, so it would be more efficient. Mr. Vance stated he could approach Governing Dynamics and see if they were interested in doing this at a lower rate, but it was his understanding they were also interested in providing us some services in the next fiscal year. Mr. Vance stated he did feel the $1,750 was a little excessive as far as this retreat was concerned, and if Governing Dynamics wants to continue a relationship with the City, they may want to try and make it a little more affordable for an item such as this. Mr. Vance stated if he gets direction to utilize $1,000 maximum for such a purpose he will speak with Governing Dynamics he was just trying to get the majority position from council on how to go forward. Mr. Blair stated he felt $1,000 was still too much. Mr. Wisniewski stated they have already done business with the City and if this was their best offer then we should reassess our use of this firm. He stated we used them for PR last year and now they are coming back with a $350 per hour rate for a five hour session, and he felt they overstepped their bounds and it was time to look elsewhere. Mr. Blair stated he concurred with Mr. Wisniewski’s view on this issue. Mayor O’Brien stated Governing Dynamics had provided a draft agenda for the retreat, however, he did not feel it was relevant and he felt we could develop an agenda based on what we need to know. Mayor O’Brien stated he felt the subject was if we wanted a facilitator, do we want Mr. Vance to go back to Governing Dynamics and ask them to provide a lower cost, do we want to just look for another facilitator. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that we do have funds allocated in the budget for the retreat. Mayor O’Brien stated another item that would come out of the retreat was if we wanted to do another survey to see if we have made any progress, if we have regressed, or anything like that. Mayor O’Brien stated however he did not feel the time was right to do another survey. Mr. Fix moved to authorize the City Manager to spend up to $1,000 on finding a facilitator for the strategic planning session; Mrs. Sanders seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Blair, and Mr. Wisniewski voting “Nay,” and Mr. Barletta, Mr. Fix, Mr. Sauer, and Mrs. Sanders voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 4-3. Mr. Vance clarified that if cannot negotiate the fee of $1,000 with Governing Dynamics he would see if he could find another facilitator for that cost.

B. Technology Assessment Subcommittee – Update. No update.

7. OTHER BUSINESS:

A. Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance adopting the Franklin County Board of Health Regulations. Mr. Fix questioned the difference between our health code regulations, historically, versus what they will be. Mr. Vance stated with our contract with Franklin County we must adopt their regulations. Mr. Fix stated he was not against adopting the regulations; he would just like to know if there were any differences that we should make anyone aware of. Mr. Vance stated he would get an answer for Mr. Fix. Mr. Sauer moved to approve and forward to Council; Mr. Fix seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Blair, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Fix, Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Wisniewski voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 7-0.

Mr. Bachman stated he has had conversation over the past couple of days regarding the amount we have to spend on pavement resurfacing. He stated there had been discussion about reducing that amount from $350,000 down to $150,000, and he was getting ready to advertise this project and he wasn’t sure what dollar amount he should use. Mr. Vance stated he had communicated the amount of $150,000 based upon recent discussions, and we would discuss additional allocations in the next fiscal year. Mr. Sauer questioned if we would be hurting ourselves by doing $150,000 instead of $350,000, and Mr. Bachman stated he could not say that. Mr. Bachman stated the roads need more than $150,000, the condition will go down on the roads and long term we will end up paying more. Mr. Fix stated we should be doing ten percent a year and over the last six years we might have collectively done three percent, so we are about 50-60 percent behind. Mr. Sauer stated it seems to have become a habit to push it down each year and at some point we have to start taking care of our infrastructure. Mr. Vance stated at this point in time we need to take care of our infrastructure, but we also have to pay for it. He stated he has yet to go through our budget, get comfortable with what is there and potentially we have multiple positions that are needed but not funded. Mr. Vance stated there is need in many places, but we have to have the resources necessary to do so. Mr. Wisniewski stated he understood that, but we also have a responsibility to provide for the infrastructure and while Mr. Vance does not have a history here, Council does. Mr. Wisniewski stated the history is that we have been putting this off for the last six years and we are starting to pay a price for it because we have some roads that are in pretty critical condition in some subdivisions. Mr. Wisniewski stated he was not sure that cutting it back to $150,000 is necessarily the right answer and while he appreciates Mr. Vance’s position, there is not a good answer. Mr. Wisniewski stated he felt Council needed to make the decision regarding this and live with the consequences as a Council. Mrs. Hammond clarified Mr. Bachman was recommending mill and fill in some areas and crack sealing in other areas. Mr. Vance stated Mr. Bachman is putting together a maintenance program to prioritize the conditions of all the streets around the city to make sure we address the worst streets first. He stated that program has yet to be complete, so we could start out with $150,000 this fall with some of the worst areas and come back in the spring and allocate reserves if we need to do more paving. Mr. Fix clarified that if this is pushed back the earliest in the spring we could get out to do paving would be May. Mr. Fix stated we would know more in May of next year what our financial situation is, what the future looks like, and Mr. Bachman will have a better idea of what the most critical streets were. He stated he was inclined to agree with Mr. Vance and spend $150,000 and make sure that we try very hard to put more money into this budget for next year. Mrs. Hammond stated we put more money in this year and look what happened. Mr. Wisniewski stated he agreed, that is what has happened every year. Mrs. Sanders clarified that Mr. Bachman should have the priority listing completed this fall. Mr. Wisniewski stated he appreciated where Mr. Vance was coming from, but he would like to see at least $200,000 for paving this year. Mr. Vance stated he would be more than happy to coordinate $200,000 worth of paving this fall and as we do not have a maintenance program in place right now, we will do the best we can to prioritize $200,000 worth of paving activities. Mr. Fix stated he felt that was a good compromise. Mr. Bachman stated he was hoping to advertise the paving project on Monday, and if he is authorized to spend $200,000 that is what the contract amount will be. All Committee members concurred in the amount of $200,000 for road resurfacing this year.

8. 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 necessary this evening.

9. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mrs. Sanders moved to adjourn; Mr. Fix seconded the motion. Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Blair, Mr. Fix, and Mr. Barletta voted "Aye." Motion carried, 7-0. The Finance Committee adjourned at 8:20 P.M., August 4, 2010.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

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Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk