PICKERINGTON CITY COUNCIL

TUESDAY, JANUARY 4, 2011

CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD

 

REGULAR MEETING

 

7:30 P.M.

 

1.         ROLL CALL AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE. Council for the City of Pickerington met for a regular session Tuesday, January 4, 2011, at City Hall.  Mayor O’Brien called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M.  Roll call was taken as follows:  Mr. Barletta, Mr. Blair, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mayor O’Brien were present.  No members were absent.  Others present were: Bill Vance, Lynda Yartin, Phil Hartmann., Chris Schornack, Chief Mike Taylor, Ed Drobina, Susan Crotty, Lynn Miller, Greg Bachman, Nate Ellis, Janet Thiede, and others. 

 

2.         APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF DECEMBER 21, 2010, REGULAR MEETING.  Mr. Fix moved to approve; Mrs. Sanders seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Blair abstaining, and Mr. Barletta, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Fix, and Mrs. Sanders voting “Yes.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

3.         ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING:

 

            A.        MOTION FOR EXECUTIVE SESSION UNDER SECTION 121.22(G)(1), Matters regarding the election of Officers. Mrs. Sanders moved for an Executive Session under Section 121.22(G(1); Mr. Blair seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Barletta, Mr. Blair, Mr. Fix, Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Wisniewski voting “Yes.”  Motion passed, 7-0. 

 

Council adjourned into Executive Session at 7:32 P.M., and reconvened in open session at 8:00 P.M.

 

            B.         Mrs. Sanders moved to elect Brian Sauer as Council President and Tony Barletta as Council Vice President; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Barletta, and Mr. Wisniewski voting “Yes.”  Motion passed, 7-0. 

 

            C.        Mrs. Sanders moved to appoint the 2011 Committees of Council, noting that all committee appointments shall apply to any new committee taking over the duties of the previous committees, as follows:

 

                        Public Safety and Community Affairs (Safety) Committee:  Mrs. Hammond, Chairperson; Mrs. Sanders, Vice Chairperson; and, Mr. Fix, Secretary.  Council Representative to the Parks and Recreation Board, Mrs. Sanders.  Nuisance Abatement Board Representative, Mr. Fix.  The Committee will meet on the Wednesday after the second council meeting of each month at 6:30 P.M.

 

                        City Planning, Projects, and Services (Service) Committee:  Mr. Fix, Chairperson, Mr. Blair, Vice Chairperson, and Mr. Barletta, Secretary.  Council Representative to the Planning and Zoning Commission, Mr. Blair.  The Committee will meet on the Wednesday after the second Council meeting of each month after the Public Safety meeting or at 7:30 P.M.

 

                        City Administration (Rules) Committee:  Mr. Wisniewski, Chairperson, Mrs. Hammond, Vice Chairperson, and Mr. Barletta, Secretary.  The Committee will meet on the Wednesday after the first Council meeting of each month at 6:30 P.M.

 

                        Finance Committee.  Mr. Sauer, Chairperson, Mr. Fix, Vice Chairperson, Mrs. Hammond, Secretary, and members Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Blair, and Mr. Barletta.  The Committee will meet the Wednesday following the first Council meeting of each month at 7:00 P.M., or immediately following the Rules Committee;

 

Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski voting “No,” and Mr. Barletta, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Fix, Mr. Blair, Mrs. Hammond, and Mrs. Sanders voting “Yes.”  Motion passed, 6-1. 

 

4.         COMMUNITY COMMENTS.  There were no community comments. 

 

5.         COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS.  Mr. Wisniewski stated he would like to publicly thank the police department for an excellent job when his car was hit in the Drug Mart parking lot.  He stated after speaking with his children and witnesses the officer put together the description of the individual and the car and before his family left the Drug Mart parking lot the officers had found the individual who had hit their car and left the scene.  Mr. Wisniewski stated he would like to thank the police department for an excellent job well done. 

 

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

 

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

 

8.         REPORTS:   

 

A.        MAYOR.  Mayor O’Brien stated he had attended the Senior Citizen Foundation meeting and the Senior Center has not requested any funds from the Foundation because of their levy.  Mayor O’Brien stated he had also attended the employee recognition ceremonies for staff at City Hall and at the Police Department.    

 

B.         LAW DIRECTOR.  Mr. Hartmann stated he would like to point out that Item 9.A. is an ordinance on first reading that defines classified and unclassified positions and this is a result of the new Charter that requires Council do this by ordinance rather than having it in the Charter.  Mr. Hartmann stated he was also preparing various ordinances that will be before committees in order to comply with the new Charter and he hoped to have those in the next Council packet.  Mr. Wisniewski clarified these changes deal with the Administrative Code to comply with the voting procedures and one deals with the threshold amount that can be placed on the Consent Agenda that Council must set. 

 

C.        FINANCE DIRECTOR.  Mr. Schornack stated he received our Moody’s rating today and our bond rating moved up to a AA2 from an A1, and we also received a MIG 1 rating on our notes and that is the highest rating you can get on those.  Mr. Schornack stated during the Budget work sessions it was discussed to have a performance audit done on the Police Department and he has received a letter of arrangement from the Auditor of State and he would request a motion later in the meeting if Council would like to proceed with having that Performance Audit done.  Mr. Schornack stated further he would also request a motion to schedule the January Finance Committee meeting if one is necessary. 

 

            D.         SERVICE MANAGER.  Mr. Drobina stated he had no report this evening, but would answer any questions. 

 

E.         CITY ENGINEER.  Mr. Bachman stated he had no report this evening but he would answer any questions. 

 

F.         CITY MANAGER.  Mr. Vance stated he had no report, but he would point out that we are attempting to create an ice rink at this point in time. 

 

9.         PROCEDURAL READINGS: 

 

            A.        ORDINANCE 2011-01, “AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING CLASSSIFIED AND UNCLASSIFIED POSITIONS IN THE CITY AND RE-ADOPTING THE CODE OF PERSONNEL PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES PURSUANT TO CHARTER SECTION 9.02 ENTITLED, “CLASSIFIED AND UNCLASSIFIED POSITIONS,” First Reading, Finance Committee.  Mr. Sauer moved to waive the requirement in Charter Section 2.05 that the ordinance be read on three separate meeting days; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Fix, and Mr. Blair voting “Yes.”  Suspension of Rules passed, 7-0.  Final Reading.  Mr. Fix moved to adopt; Mrs. Sanders seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Barletta, Mr. Fix, Mr. Blair, Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Sauer voting “Yes.”  Motion passed, 7-0.              

 

            B.         ORDINANCE 2011-02, “AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND ORDINANCE 2010-88, THE EMPLOYEE PAY PLAN ANUTHORIZED STRENGTH FOR 2011,” First Reading, Finance Committee.  Mr. Sauer moved to waive the requirement in Charter Section 2.05 that the ordinance be read on three separate meeting days; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Blair, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Fix, and Mrs. Hammond voting “Yes.”  Suspension of Rules passed, 7-0.  Final Reading.  Mr. Fix moved to adopt; Mr. Sauer seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Fix, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Sauer, and Mr. Blair voting “Yes.”  Motion passed, 7-0. 

 

10.       LEGISLATIVE READINGS:

 

            A.        ORDINANCE 2010-92, “AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING AN INCREASE IN PAYMENT TO URS CORPORATION FOR CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT SERVICES FOR THE CITY OF PICKERINGTON’S WWTP EXPANSION PROJECT,” Third Reading, Service Committee.  Mr. Fix moved to adopt; Mr. Sauer seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Fix, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Barletta, and Mr. Blair voting “Yes.”  Motion passed, 7-0. 

 

            B.         ORDINANCE 2010-93, “AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND SECTION 1258.15, “STREET TREES; URBAN FORESTRY” OF THE CODIFIED ORDINANCES OF PICKERINGTON,” Third Reading, Safety Committee.  Mrs. Hammond moved to adopt; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sauer, Mr. Blair, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Barletta, Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Fix voting “Yes.”  Motion passed, 7-0. 

 

            C.        ORDINANCE 2010-94, “AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTIONS 416.06, 852.03, AND 853.06 AND ADDING A NEW SECTION, 852.101, OF THE PICKERINGTON CODIFIED ORDINANCES RELATING TO SOLICITORS WITHIN THE CITY,” Third Reading, Safety Committee.  Mrs. Hammond moved to adopt; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Fix, Mr. Blair, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sauer, and Mr. Barletta voting “Yes.”  Motion passed, 7-0. 

 

            D.        RESOLUTION 2010-20R, “A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO APPLY FOR THE 2011 ASH REMOVAL AND CANOPY RESTORATION GRANT PROGRAM,” Third Reading, Safety Committee.  Mrs. Hammond moved to adopt; Mr. Fix seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Fix, Mr. Blair, Mr. Sauer, and Mr. Barletta voting “Yes.”  Motion passed, 7-0. 

 

11.       DISCUSSION. 

 

            A.        STRATEGIC PLAN UPDATE.  Mayor O’Brien stated he had no report this evening due to the holidays and the scheduled reorganizational meeting this evening. 

 

12.       REFERRAL TO COMMITTEE.  Mayor O’Brien stated he had nothing to be referred to Committee. 

 

13.       OTHER BUSINESS.  Mayor O’Brien stated the City would sponsor a table at the Chamber’s annual event this year and he encouraged Council members to attend. 

 

14.       MOTIONS: 

 

            A.        Mr. Sauer moved to schedule the January Finance Committee meeting for immediately following Council on January 18, 2011; Mrs. Sanders seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Fix, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Blair, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Barletta, and Mrs. Hammond voting “Yes.”  Motion passed, 7-0. 

 

Mayor O’Brien stated he had some questions on the Performance Audit being proposed as we are in the process of querying our residents to get their feel on issues related to the police department, what their level of expectation is.  Mayor O’Brien questioned what we would define to the auditors we wanted to see, how do we define that and when do we define that.  Mr. Schornack stated that would be defined as we move forward with the letter of arrangement.  He stated we have met with them and discussed what we would like to see from the audit, there is a list of items we received from the Auditor of State, it is a checklist of items we can look at and we put in ideas that we wanted incorporated as well.  Mr. Wisniewski inquired who came up with the checklist items as to what would be audited, who was involved with coming up with that list.  Mr. Schornack stated this was discussed at a meeting attended by himself and Mr. Fix.  Mayor O’Brien stated what he was looking for was more of some input agreed upon by Council to say what we wanted to see.  Mr. Schornack clarified the Mayor was looking for an outline of what we wanted them to look into and he could send that on to everyone.  Mayor O’Brien stated not a lot of Council has had the opportunity to learn about where this performance audit idea came from and what is involved in performance audits.   He stated he had seen some examples of audits from other cities and he was not terribly impressed by them.  Mayor O’Brien further questioned if this was a financial audit, and Mr. Schornack stated it is not a financial audit.  Mayor O’Brien stated we have a documented average response time per call and would it be included to say we want to continue to operate with this level of response time or this quality of service.  Mr. Schornack stated the audit is a comparison of us to other entities and how we are performing, our costs, our response times, our level of staffing, our fleet, etc.  He stated it is basically a comparison to show this is how much we cost to do it, here is what other cities cost to do it, whether they can do it for more or less, it is a comparison; it is not financially related.  Mr. Fix stated it also looks at best practices in the State from different governmental entities similar to ours.  Mrs. Sanders questioned if the final result would show our strengths and weaknesses and Mr. Schornack stated absolutely, yes, it would.  Mayor O’Brien stated then what, we get this information and then what do we do with it.  Mr. Schornack stated it would be up to Council to decide how they want to use that information as it might tell us if we should continue funding at the current level, if we are short officers, etc.  Mr. Fix stated it is a step in the process of going to the citizens and being able to ask them to help us with our financial situation based on being able to tell them we are doing things as well as anyone in the state, we are understaffed according to state auditors, and it is not just Council saying it at that point, it is outside independent people who are experts in the field saying what we need to continue to provide our service levels.  Mayor O’Brien stated then, these people have law enforcement backgrounds, and Mr. Schornack stated no, because if you had a law enforcement background it might skew the analysis.  Mr. Schornack stated these individuals are experts in the field of performance auditing as well as understanding how the police department functions, and they would be analyzing data.  Mayor O’Brien stated all of Council would probably have different areas they would like looked at, but shouldn’t we ask our residents what they want because they are who our police department are protecting and serving.  He stated if we asked their expectations and see if they said they were happy just as it is, they wanted it to get better, or whatever.  Mr. Blair stated during the strategic plan survey we asked people what they thought of the police department and we got a very overwhelming response that they are happy with what they are getting.  Mr. Sauer stated obviously the people are thrilled with our police department and think they are doing a good job. He stated from his perspective he felt in going forward with this the idea was to get an outside point of view on the way the organization itself operates and to see if there is any type of procedural changes or any type of efficiencies that can be gained in performance of service and maybe find a way to do it better.  He stated maybe we are already doing it the best we can, but if there are ways to improve it then it would provide that particular review, it would give us that information.  Mr. Sauer continued that if there are changes that can be implemented, his understanding was that the final report would come back outlining some of those changes.  Mr. Wisniewski stated Mr. Schornack stated there was a checklist of items and he did not recall having any input on that checklist of items as to what we were going to have them look at.  He stated he does not know what it is or what was decided on and he would like to see that before he could support this.  Mr. Sauer stated Mr. Schornack sent out an e-mail letting everyone know this meeting was taking place and Mayor O’Brien stated the meeting was during the day.  Mr. Sauer stated he understood that, but if there was a concern over what was being discussed or a checklist, then Council should have asked to have that meeting rescheduled.  Mr. Sauer stated Mayor O’Brien has some good points, but his concern was that this would be slowed down to a point where we get to a point in the year where it is useless to us and we are unable to make a decision with regard to city finances at the end of the year.  Mr. Wisniewski stated the first Finance meeting is in two weeks so why couldn’t it be discussed at that meeting.  Mr. Schornack stated we can hold off as long as we want on this, it just pushes back the audit.  Mayor O’Brien stated it certainly is not his goal to stall this until it goes away, he agrees we need some unbiased information, but he would like to review what we are going to ask them to do before we make a motion to proceed.  Mayor O’Brien stated he would suggest this could be done at either Finance or the next Council meeting and that would give everyone a chance to read through it.  Mr. Barletta stated he would like to see the checklist and what was determined to be looked at.  Mr. Fix inquired if this would be referred to Finance Committee and Mr. Sauer stated he would request that.  Mayor O’Brien stated he would refer the Performance Audit on the Police Department to the Finance Committee on January 18, 2011. 

 

15.       ADJOURNMENT.  There being nothing further, Mr. Fix moved to adjourn; Mr. Sauer seconded the motion.  Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Fix, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Blair, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Barletta, and Mrs. Hammond voted “Aye.”  Motion carried, 7-0.  The meeting adjourned at 8:30 P.M., January 4, 2011. 

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED: 

 

 

_______________________________

Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk

 

ATTEST:

 

 

_______________________________

Mitch O’Brien, Mayor