WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 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, Commander Matt Delp, Lynn Miller, Mark Mathews, Dan Heitmeyer, and others.

2. A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF October 27, 2010, Special Meeting. Mr. Fix moved to approve; Mr. Blair 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.

B. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF October 27, 2010, Budget Work Session. Mr. Fix moved to approve; Mr. Blair seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Sauer, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mr. Blair voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 7-0.

C. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF November 3, 2010, Budget Work Session. Mr. Fix moved to approve; Mrs. Hammond seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Blair abstaining, and Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Fix, and Mr. Barletta voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 6-0.

D. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF November 3, 2010, Regular Meeting. Mr. Fix moved to approve; Mr. Sauer seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Blair abstaining, and Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Fix, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Sauer voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 6-0.

E. APPROVAL OV MINUTES OF November 10, 2010, Budget Work Session. Mr. Fix moved to approve; Mr. Blair 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.

F. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF November 16, 2010, Special Meeting. Mr. Fix moved to approve; Mr. Blair seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Barletta, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sauer, and Mr. Blair voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 7-0.

3. VIOLET FESTIVAL DISCUSSION. Mrs. Sanders stated Mr. Mathews was going to be present for this discussion, and she would delay this item until his arrival.

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. Schornack stated he would like to report that we are up 2.8 percent this year on our income taxes and he had also sent an e-mail regarding the delinquent amount we have outstanding. Mr. Schornack stated currently we have about $280,000 of uncollected income taxes that we are aware of and we are in the process of researching outside organizations for collection. He stated he is in the preliminary stages of researching and hearing from other cities that are utilizing this service. He stated he understood there was an agency, CCA, that does offer a collection only type of service at five percent of the amount they collect. Mr. Schornack stated he felt it was premature to move into something without doing our due diligence, but he would be happy to answer any questions anyone might have. Mrs. Hammond inquired if the amount that we have delinquent is comparable to what other cities our size have, and Mr. Schornack stated he does not have any data for that. He stated that is a good question and he would like to see how we compare to other cities. Mr. Schornack stated as far as our collections, we are ahead of other cities at this time. Mrs. Sanders clarified that 99 prosecutor letters were sent out and Mr. Schornack stated we are having an influx in court and we are starting to catch up with those and get them into the court system and we are continuing to file those cases. Mr. Schornack stated he hoped to have some prospects early in 2011, but if we continue to make good progress he would like to continue to keep this in-house so we can collect the entire amount that is due to us as well as the penalties and interest. Mr. Sauer ascertained that Lancaster signed a contract for collections within the last month and Mr. Schornack stated he has spoken to their income tax administrator and they are still in the process of gathering their data for the agency to utilize. Mr. Schornack stated he would like to see how they get up and going and he is going to remain in contact with them to see how the process goes. Mr. Sauer clarified that using this agency will give them the capability to utilize IRS auditing and Mr. Schornack stated that was correct and that would be a benefit that we do not currently have. Mr. Schornack stated we would weigh those benefits as we move forward.

B. Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance amending the 2010 appropriation, Ordinance 2009-91. Mr. Schornack stated this was the final appropriation ordinance for the year and stated he would answer any questions. Mr. Schornack stated Chief Taylor has requested sell-back of unused vacation for this year and also there is the lump sum vacation payout for two unfunded employees. Mrs. Sanders 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.

C. Review and request for motion to approve draft resolutions to request advance distribution of tax monies of 2.3 mill General Operating Levy and 5.5 mill Police Operating Levy from the Fairfield County Auditor. Mr. Schornack stated these were the annual resolutions that would allow him to request our taxes as they are received by the Fairfield County Auditor. Mr. Wisniewski moved to approve and forward to Council; Mr. Fix seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Sauer, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mr. Blair voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 7-0.

Mrs. Sanders stated at this time, she would return to the Violet Festival Discussion. Mrs. Sanders stated the Committee would like to discuss our options with the Violet Festival such as in-kind donations. Mr. Vance stated he felt the two issues we needed direction from Council on dealt with reimbursements and what we will do in 2011 as far as public safety services and whether or not the City is going to provide in-kind services. Mr. Vance stated during the budget work sessions there was one in-kind discussion that the services would be provided in accordance with what has been budgeted and at a subsequent meeting a cap of $5,000 was discussed. Mr. Vance stated he would like clarification on Council’s position as far as that goes. Mrs. Sanders inquired if Mr. Vance had any recommendations and Mr. Vance stated he does have some specifics as far as the cost. Mr. Vance stated after speaking with Chief Taylor regarding the anticipated cost associated with the City providing public safety services, he felt could do so with our officers for an amount not to exceed $10,000. Mr. Vance stated the amount of $5,000 was discussed during the budget process, so that does leave the amount of $5,000 to be considered. Mr. Vance stated the most pressing matter is the reimbursement bill for 2010, which was for $7,000 and was sent in the recent past. Mr. Vance stated he met with Violet Festival representatives after they received that bill, they looked at last year’s minutes, they looked at the event application, and the bill was put together using portions of the event application, but that is an application that all involved with the event do not have to execute to confirm that everyone understands what is agreed to. Mr. Vance stated there is a line where the city official executes the agreement which specifies some of the costs associated with city personnel that can be sought to be reimbursed. Mr. Fix questioned if there was some confusion as to what actually was agreed to in the early part of this year or in the budget process during 2009. Mr. Vance stated he did not see any clear indication in the minutes as to what was agreed to. He stated there was some general discussion but it did not appear that there was any consensus on any specific arrangement. Mr. Fix inquired if any type of arrangement was communicated to the Violet Festival that Mr. Vance was aware of. Mr. Wisniewski stated he thought we already had this discussion and it was on the books that they would pay the police overtime. Mr. Vance stated in checking the minutes for last year he did not see any specific consensus understanding that was indicated by both the City and the Violet Festival representatives that there was a specific understanding as to what was going to take place with a specific reimbursement. Mr. Mathews stated over the past few years they have paid the police force approximately $3,800, $4,100, and $4,300, and they were operating under the assumption that it would be $5,000 or less for 2010 and they budgeted that amount into the budget for the 2010 event. Mr. Mathews stated going forward they would like the City to look at this as an investment more than an expense and provide in-kind services so there is no exchange of money. He stated that was his understanding at the budget meeting he had attended earlier this year and he understood at the next meeting there was discussion of perhaps a cap of $5,000, however, he was not at that meeting. Mr. Vance stated that was what he was referring to, there was a $5,000 amount discussed and it was his understanding that the Violet Festival still has $5,000 budgeted for the City for those services, but the bill sent to them was in an amount of $7,000. Mr. Vance stated in looking at what was agreed to in the event application, at least on the City’s behalf, the amount of $7,000 really could have turned into $8,000, $9,000, or $10,000. He stated this is where we need clarification as to how we are going to proceed. Mr. Fix stated then Mr. Mathews is prepared to pay $5,000 for the 2010 services, and Mr. Mathews stated that was correct and he had that check with him tonight. Mr. Fix stated then in 2011 Mr. Mathews was asking that we not provide any cash, just provide the police services in-kind and then there would be no cash going back and forth. Mr. Wisniewski stated he understood we had placed a $5,000 cap on how much police overtime we would pay. Mr. Barletta stated he thought that amount was discussed prior to Council knowing the bill for this year was $7,000. Mr. Mathews stated they pay for the Sheriff and for special duty already and that amounts to about $2,000. Mr. Fix stated if we cap it then there would be a conflict to what the festival would want, which would be to pay for $5,000 for police, and perhaps with what the Chief would want, which would be to have enough police there to keep it safe. Mr. Fix stated it made more sense to him to have Chief Taylor put the right number of people there to keep it safe and we’ll deal with the budget.

Mr. Vance stated he would recommend we either embrace the festival or we don’t. He stated in the City of Pickerington we have put together a budget, the budget after it is adopted by Council is given to staff, and it an agreement, that Council says is what we have to work with. He stated further that Council says that by the way we are going to have a Violet Festival next year and by the way the Violet Festival is going to need public safety services and Council recommends that you work with what you have, work with the Violet Festival representatives, and let’s get through the next fiscal year. Mr. Vance stated in speaking with Mr. Mathews at the end of the Festival, the Violet Festival Committee makes certain donations to certain non-profits around the City, potentially if their gate receipts will allow for it; the Violet Festival could make such a donation to the City to help supplement the costs associated with public safety. Mr. Vance stated at this point in time he was not asking them to guarantee that, but that is the position Council might want to take, but he thought the Violet Festival is ready to consider that possibility after 2011’s festival. Mr. Mathews stated their goal is to promote the City and any entities that operate within it and it would difficult for them to make that commitment, ironclad, on a certain numeric amount, and it could put future festivals in jeopardy by doing so. Mr. Blair stated he agreed with Mr. Fix that Mr. Vance and Chief Taylor should handle it and provide the overtime. Mr. Wisniewski stated then if the Festival expanded days, then the City would just eat the cost of the overtime. Mr. Mathews stated they do not anticipate expanding the number of days of the festival, and if that would come up they would certainly discuss it with the City to make sure it was agreeable. Mr. Wisniewski inquired if the festival would still supplement with the Sheriff or not or have the City provide everything. He stated that was a big difference because they supplementing with the Sheriff before and if they were going to use all city services then you would see the bill go up not just a couple of thousand dollars, it would be significantly more than what it was for this year. Mr. Wisniewski inquired if that was what the Violet Festival was requesting, that the City fully support this and not have supplemental sheriffs. Mr. Mathews stated that would be ideal for them to do that. He stated they have always paid special duty officers, but ideally so they are not in between what becomes special duty for them to be responsible for and regular scheduled officers it could make it right back to where they are, so they would want in-kind support services that they request from the City. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that Chief Taylor was estimating this be $10,000 if we use his officers. Mayor O’Brien ascertained the Violet Festival pays a private company for overnight security and safety for the grounds. Mr. Wisniewski stated he felt this was getting into a lot more of a financial obligation than everyone is aware of. He stated we went from $5,000, now we’re going to $10,000, and it could be even more than that. Mr. Fix stated this year it was $7,500 for the police and $2,000 for the Sheriff, so that was $9,500. Mr. Schornack stated one of the differences is that if we do the whole overtime, it won’t be the special duty rate at $30.00 per hour; it would be at our overtime rate of $55.00 an hour for most of our officers. Mr. Schornack stated we are looking at the number of hours based upon that rate, rather than the lower rate of the special duty officers. Mr. Sauer clarified the Festival had raised approximately $30,000 with the entry fee this year and inquired if they had thought about raising the fee by $1.00 and Mr. Mathews stated they did charge $2.00 this year, but it is a community event and the $2.00 was driven out of necessity from paying two years of police costs and the lack of contributions. He stated when the festival started the city promoted this event and said they would give all services in-kind and also a $20,000 contribution to help fund this event. He stated they are not asking for the monetary support, but they do need the in-kind services to have this happen. Mrs. Hammond stated that is not what the City did when the festival first started. Mr. Fix stated in his opinion $10,000 worth of in-kind police force work that can be managed between the Police Chief and City Manager for the Violet Festival gets them what they want and lets the City show support of this festival. Mr. Mathews stated at some point the City has the responsibility, if they want to support this event, to do what needs to be done. Mr. Fix moved to accept $5,000 as payment in full for the 2010 Violet Festival and authorize the Police Chief and City Manager to work with the Violet Festival to provide in-kind police services for the 2011 festival; Mrs. Sanders seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mr. Barletta voting “Nay,” and Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Blair, and Mr. Fix voting “Yea.” Motion failed 4-3.

Mr. Sauer stated he felt we needed to have a discussion regarding admission because he did not feel asking $3.00 would be a hardship for people to attend this event. He stated if they raised $30,000 with a $2.00 admission then $1.00 or even $.50 would raise between $7,500 and $15,000 if there is the same attendance and that would help cover some costs. Mr. Mathews stated as far as raising the entry fee, the weather is such a major point and in 2009 they were basically rained out three of the four days, so the fee wouldn’t have helped that much. Mr. Mathews stated he understood the monetary concerns, but if you looked at it as an investment, it more than justifies itself. Mrs. Sanders stated with the economy as it is there are more people sticking around town and not traveling as much and as a city this is our one festival that some of these families look forward to and the City’s support is important. Mr. Wisniewski stated he is fine with accepting the $5,000 payment for police services for 2010 to write that off. He stated, however, with the City losing three positions and other things he was not sure that it was wise to make a decision before we even enter 2011 on dedicating another $5,000 for something. Mr. Sauer stated he understood where the festival was coming from, and he was also good with accepting the $5,000 for 2010, but going into next year it was the unknown that concerned him. He stated with the budget discussions they had just gone through where they were squeezing things as much as they could. He stated if Council was willing to cut back somewhere else, he didn’t know where that would be and he did not want to see the budget expanded from where it was at.

Mr. Vance stated for clarification what the City Manager is recommending is Council has provided staff a budget and just state your expectations if you need to, reiterate your expectations that we live within the confines of that fiscal budget in 2011 and if you would like to endorse and embrace the Violet Festival taking place, staff and the police department understand we will be providing public safety services, and he has no problem assuming those responsibilities. Mr. Fix stated then what Mr. Vance was saying is that he will find the $5,000 somewhere in the budget to cover it. Mr. Vance stated if he needed to and he would work with the Violet Festival on some additional options to cover costs. He stated he would work with the Violet Festival to make this a success one way or another. Mr. Sauer stated as long as we would not increase the budget in any way, shape or form he did not have a problem. Mr. Vance stated he was not proposing to increase the budget. Mr. Wisniewski questioned why Council had gone through every department and what the budget was going to be for every area and dealing with it on such a minute level and then before it is even adopted, we are talking about changing whatever it was that was voted on. Not from a monetary standpoint, but from all the departments and everything else they looked at and okayed, now to say it was okay to take it from somewhere and move it somewhere else. Mrs. Sanders stated she felt they needed to be flexible. Mr. Wisniewski stated further he did not understand why this discussion needed to be held in December. Mr. Barletta stated this year there was a level of police protection provided by our force and there was some trouble one night at the Circle K and the next night there were a lot more police, including some sheriff’s officers, which are paid at $30 per hour versus our police at $55 per hour. He stated if you were paying the bill and you had a choice to make, you would buy some sheriffs officers at $30 per hour and not pay the $55 per hour for officers from us. He stated perhaps we need to limit whatever the standard offering is from the City of Pickerington. Mr. Vance stated he was not saying that was not a possibility, what he was saying is he would like to go into the fiscal year with the position that we are willing to support with in-kind services this festival and staff would stay within the budgetary restrictions that were placed on us for 2011. He stated we have $5,000 identified for the provision of these services, and that is a starting point, and then as the festival approaches at that point in time, if not before and he would assume before, he would have public safety discussions, budgetary discussions, with the Violet Festival Committee and make sure that we can get on the same page as we go forward. Mr. Vance stated this is an opportunity to show that we are embracing the event. Mr. Wisniewski inquired how the Township was embracing this event, what was their contribution to the festival. Mr. Mathews stated the Township was contributing $5,000. Mr. Barletta stated he was okay with accepting the $5,000 as payment for the 2010 event. Mr. Sauer moved to accept the payment of $5,000 as full payment for police services for the 2010 Violet Festival; Mrs. Sanders 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.

Mr. Wisniewski stated as he understood it then, Mr. Vance would come back in January with recommendations on where to take the other $5,000. Mr. Vance stated his point was he might not need the additional $5,000; it might rain three out of the four days. Mr. Wisniewski stated we still needed to budget for the likelihood of what the bill would be. He stated we do not budget for salt on the assumption that we aren’t going to have snow. Mr. Vance stated he was asking for the flexibility to work with the Violet Festival throughout the months that are leading up to the Violet Festival to make sure that we have all our bases covered and live within the confines of the budget. He stated he can continue to communicate with Council along the way if that is Council’s desire and that is the routine protocol of staff anyway, so he would keep them closely informed as to how we are approaching any potential additional costs associated with the public safety. Mrs. Sanders stated as that comes forward those discussions can be held at Finance Committee. Mr. Vance stated staff realizes the challenges associated with embracing this festival and we are trying to take them on because we see the benefit that hopefully could be obtained by the community overall as a result. He stated he is not making his job any easier at this point in time, there might be some additional costs, and he is willing to work with the Violet Festival to meet those challenges, to embrace this festival and go forward. Mrs. Sanders requested Mr. Vance to keep Council informed of any information on this issue. Mr. Wisniewski stated then we were accepting the $5,000 as payment in full for police services for 2010, and Mr. Vance would work with the Violet Festival for the 2011 event. Mr. Mathews stated then they would plan on all services being in-kind and as we draw closer if there are issues they will be dealt with as they come up. Mr. Vance stated the intent of staff is to provide in-kind services to work on any additional challenges that might present themselves in close coordination with the Violet Festival, but the spirit going into it is the provision of in-kind services and also reiterating the fact that Council has provided, or will soon provide staff, a budget to get through the 2011 year with. He stated he was not seeking to have that budget increased to accommodate any additional costs such as the ones that are possible.

Mayor O’Brien stated he would like to have Mr. Vance look at the events package and determine if it is the best it can be and advise Council on that. Mr. Vance stated he would certainly do that and he felt at the very least we need to make sure that all parties sign a completed package so everyone can officially signify that they understand what is being agreed to.

5. PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT.

A. Personnel Director’s Report. Mrs. Fersch stated with the replacement Charter that was adopted in the November election, one section that referred to the merit system or exempt positions changed. She stated in that section it had listed board members, council, directors of departments, and certain administrative assistants as unclassified positions. Mrs. Fersch stated the Charter change is that Council determines what are classified and unclassified positions. She stated our classification plan was last rewritten and adopted in 2005, and when the pay plan each year is presented it shows if each position is classified or unclassified. Mrs. Fersch stated further the organizational chart has had some changes such as putting parks and recreation under the Service Manager, and utility billing going under the Finance Director. Mrs. Fersch stated she has made several changes to the Classification Plan that she had provided to the Committee and also the Pay Plan showing some changes. Mrs. Fersch stated she had also provided an explanation as to what designates classified and unclassified, what the ramifications are, etc. Mrs. Fersch stated she was bringing this forward for discussion this evening as Mr. Hartmann had indicated that since the Charter will be in effect on January 1, 2011, he would like to have something from Council as soon as possible. She stated if this Committee would like to move this forward to Council tonight she would have the cover legislation prepared.

Mrs. Miller stated for some reason the administrative assistant in the street, sewer, and water department was the only administrative assistant/executive secretary title that was unclassified and did not handle sensitive material, and to be fair to this person and the administrative assistant in the planning department to leave them as classified personnel and remove the executive secretary title and reserve that administrative assistant/executive secretary just for those administrative assistants who were handling classified and confidential information. She stated that would leave those positions as unclassified and move this administrative assistant to a classified, protected situation. She stated further the utility treatment plant chief operator positions in both water and sewer were listed as classified and it is her feeling that in their positions as lead in the plants that they should be classified as unclassified personnel so we would have the ability to recruit and terminate at will. Mrs. Miller further stated that in the classification table an area was added for seasonal recreation to keep that separate from normal administrative functions and on the draft presented the yellow highlighted positions they were assigned a slightly different title to differentiate or to create parody across the organization in similar situated titles. She stated what she was asking tonight was to draw attention to the classified/unclassified personnel and that is the change in the Charter that Council needs to act on. Mrs. Fersch stated on the pay plan itself there were some name changes on some titles because of responsibility. She stated the Finance Clerk II is responsible for payroll so that position is retitled a Finance Specialist. The Utility Billing Administrator has been changed to Supervisor because we have a Utility Operations Administrator and the Income Tax Administrator are unclassified positions and it was felt the degree of responsibility for making decisions was not as high in those two, so it was decided to call this a Supervisor and would remain as a classified position. Mrs. Fersch stated on some positions the starting range was changed and Mr. Drobina’s title has been changed from Service Manager to Service Director because he now has more departments reporting to him. Mrs. Miller clarified that the classification plan is simply a blueprint for positions just to show their relation to one another within the organization and across functions. She stated it is not anything that you have to staff completely; it is simply a guide so in the future if we have a vacancy we will be able to draw from this document and say this is the type of individual we seek to recruit to fill a vacancy or a shortcoming in an area. Mr. Wisniewski moved to adopt and forward to Council; Mr. Blair 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.

B. Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance amending Ordinance 2007-58, authorizing a premium only plan for health care benefits. Mrs. Fersch stated IRS requires that if you take the employee’s contributions paid toward the health insurance as pre-tax that you have this premium only plan. She stated with the change to the age group that is allowed to be covered by our insurance to age 26 we must adopt this change. Mr. Fix moved to approve and forward to Council; Mr. Sauer seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Barletta, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sauer, and Mr. Blair voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 7-0.

C. Review and discussion regarding Classification Plan. Mrs. Sanders stated this had been discussed earlier in the meeting.

6. CHAIRMAN:

A. Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance appointing Lynda Yartin to the position of City Clerk. Mr. Fix moved to approve and forward to Council; Mr. Wisniewski seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Fix, Mr. Blair, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sauer, and Mrs. Sanders voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 7-0.

B. Review and discussion regarding 2012 Budget Issues/Concerns. Mrs. Sanders stated this is on the agenda as a follow up to the plan discussed in the Budget Work Sessions. Mr. Fix stated he felt the two questions to be determined were if Council wanted to move forward with the steps in this plan and, if not, what are they moving forward with. He continued the second question is if we can start working on a five year plan regardless of what he had suggested and could they start working on the performance audit. Mrs. Hammond stated she felt Council should move forward with a five year plan regardless of any other decisions. Mr. Schornack stated he is in the process of creating a five year plan and he hoped to have something ready for the February 2011 Finance Committee meeting based on 2010 actual amounts. He stated as soon as he closes out the year he would like to put those into a spread sheet and carry those forward out five years and see where we end up with the fund balance. Mrs. Sanders clarified that once this is put together it will be easy to update. Mr. Schornack stated his goal was to bring this forward to Council each February. Mr. Vance stated it is anticipated that at some point in time Council is going to request additional revenues be infused into our budget through an income tax referendum. He stated he and Chief Taylor would be working on a five year projected expenditure plan associated with public safety services. He stated we have not added a police officer in some time and we will be playing catch up and it will be a good idea to understand exactly how much that will cost. Mr. Vance stated there is going to be a time when the taxpayers of Pickerington will have to give us direction as to what level of public safety services they are willing to support. Mr. Schornack stated his intent is to go back three to five years and get an average of our revenue increase or our expense increase or decrease in each of those years and carry those forward five years to be a little more accurate as far as what we have spent in the past, and show the data that way. Mr. Schornack stated it is all projections and assumptions and will be for General Fund, Police, and anything that relies on the General Fund. He stated it would be include the enterprise funds unless the time comes those need to be looked at again. He stated at this point we are meeting our projections based upon or water rate study and he did not see the need to change anything with those yet.

Mr. Schornack stated with regard to the performance audit, he had received the contract from the Auditor of State estimating the cost at $24,500. He stated as soon as the budget is adopted the funds will be available to sign the letter of arrangement to move forward with the performance audit of the Police Department in hopes of getting that started by March or April and have some product by July or so. Mr. Schornack stated after that Council can determine if they would like to move forward with the audit of any other departments.

Mr. Fix stated he felt the major point of contention was whether or not we get community input and he would suggest this remain on the agenda for the Finance meeting in January 2011 and continue the conversation at that time. Mr. Sauer stated he agreed there was plenty of time to discuss a citizens commission if it was determined we wanted to do that. Mayor O’Brien stated if Council would like he could contact the Mayor of Gahanna who had just put together a citizens commission and get some feedback on why they did it, what they did, etc. Mrs. Sanders stated she would like that and requested Mayor O’Brien forward that information to this committee.

Mr. Wisniewski stated he thought this Committee was going to discuss using the funds that were allocated for this year to start telling our story now regarding a levy. Mr. Wisniewski stated he thought we were going to have someone come out who has had experience running campaigns and can start telling our story now instead of waiting until the eleventh hour. He stated he felt we should get someone on board and start using some of those funds. Mr. Sauer clarified that $25,000 was allocated for this. Mr. Wisniewski suggested Mayor O’Brien speak to Governing Dynamics because they have run campaigns and they know the city better than anyone else and they know this Council. Mrs. Sanders stated she would like this to be added to the next agenda.

Mr. Sauer stated he thought it might be a good idea to have a press release or something after each Finance Committee to let the citizens of the City know they are doing something, such as the five year financial plan, the audit on the Police Department, etc. He stated he felt they needed a way to let the residents know what the City is doing. Mayor O’Brien stated he has a meeting with Governing Dynamics scheduled next week and he could ask that they come to the January Finance meeting. Mr. Schornack reminded everyone that the $25,000 appropriation would lapse at the end of the year and would need to be reappropriated.

7. OTHER BUSINESS:

A. Review and discussion regarding Ordinance 2010-19, an ordinance approving the rezoning and final development plan for the approximate 16.06 acre Ebright/Homestead parcels. Mr. Vance stated staff had met with the developer and basically identified everything that would need to take place and we requested correspondence from them give us an idea of how we would be proceeding. He stated we have not yet received that correspondence. Mr. Fix stated it was his understand they were no longer going to request a TIF so he would suggest this be removed from the Finance Committee and referred to Service Committee. Mayor O’Brien clarified this should be returned to Council and then referred to Service Committee. Mr. Fix moved to return this item to Council for referral to Service Committee; Mr. Sauer seconded the motion. Mayor O’Brien stated he would like to get some legal advice on whether this should be scrapped and started again from scratch, if it should continue as is, etc. He stated as this has completed the Planning and Zoning Commission process and the legislation has no impact on the P&Z process if it can be changed without starting over or whatever. 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.

Mrs. Hammond stated she would like to let everyone know that Safety Committee would not meet in December and Mr. Wisniewski stated Service Committee also would not meet in December.

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 is not necessary this evening.

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

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

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Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk