WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2011

REGULAR MEETING

6:30 P.M.

1. ROLL CALL. Mrs. Hammond called the meeting to order at 6:30 P.M., with roll call as follows: Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Fix were present. No members were absent. Others present were: Bill Vance, Lynda Yartin, Mayor O’Brien, Phil Hartmann, Chet Hopper, Ed Drobina, Greg Bachman, Joe Henderson, Becca Medinger, and others.

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

3. COMMUNITY COMMENTS:

Mayor O’Brien stated on January 30, 2011, at Seton Parish a drug awareness workshop is scheduled from 5:45-7:00 P.M. and 7:30-8:45 P.M. He stated further on January 31, 2011, at 6:30 P.M. there will be a meeting at Fairfield Medical Center for community leaders and it will be geared toward coming up with an action plan to tackle the issue. Mayor O’Brien stated as Council has chosen the drug problem as a main issue it might be a good idea for a representative to attend these meetings. Mrs. Sanders stated she would be glad to attend the meeting on January 30^th. Mrs. Hammond stated before committing to attend all of the meetings she would like to get the schedule. Mr. Fix stated prior to Mr. Hall being appointed to the Governor’s cabinet; he had met with him to start putting together a framework to begin attacking the drug issue in our part of the County. Mr. Fix stated he would attend the meeting at Fairfield Medical Center on January 31^st. Mr. Fix stated he would be glad to volunteer to be the Safety Committee representative to this group.

4. POLICE:

A. Chief’s Report. Mrs. Hammond stated Chief Taylor was not present this evening, however, he had submitted a written report to the Committee. Mr. Fix stated in looking at the criminal activity report and comparing 2010 against 2009, it seemed that crime is down fairly significantly. Mrs. Hammond stated these figures have been dropping every year. Mr. Fix inquired if we track our closure rate and if so what that number would be. Mr. Vance stated he would get that information and forward it on. Mayor O’Brien stated also the Mayor’s Bulletin contains a graph each month that is a compilation of the charts provided in the Chief’s report. He stated next month they would also begin including the number of mutual aid calls we get for the Sheriff’s Department.

5. DEPARTMENT REPORTS:

A. Building Regulations Department.

(1) Code Enforcement Report. Mr. Hopper stated he had provided a written report on Code Enforcement and he would answer any questions. Mrs. Hammond stated she noticed the majority of code enforcement complaints related to tall grass or vacant homes and due to the reduced staff she wondered if there would be a problem keeping up with the code enforcement problems that we have. Mr. Hopper stated during spring and grass cutting season he will have to devote more time to this issue, and he will do the best he can. Mr. Vance stated vacant home and dangerous properties are always a priority, and banners and temporary signage along S.R. 256 pretty much stay a constant, and we try to do the best we can with limited resources. Mayor O’Brien clarified that if staff notices a problem while they are out in the City they will report it to Mr. Hopper.

a. Review and discussion regarding feral cat issue. Mr. Hopper stated he is working with the law director and the prosecutor in drafting a complaint on this issue and he should have it to the Clerk of Court before Monday so the process to cite the individual into Mayor’s Court can proceed. Mr. Fix clarified that the charges will be a minor misdemeanor and you can do one every day so they will be bringing something like ten charges at once for harboring. Mr. Hartmann stated the individual can either plead to the charge, agree to some clean up effort, or we will go forward with a trial in Mayor’s Court. Mr. Hartmann stated if the individual does not show up for Mayor’s Court we can issue a warrant for failure to show. He stated that is usually passive, but it does not have to be. Mr. Fix clarified that so far the City has spend approximately $1,000 on this problem. Mrs. Sanders clarified that if the individual does clean things up for awhile and then it starts all over again we can bring charges again. Mr. Fix clarified that we have tried to contact the individual but she does not respond to mail or to the Code Inspector going to her house.

(3) Review and discussion regarding draft ordinance to amend Chapter 1490 “Property Maintenance Code” of Part 14, “Building and Housing Code” of Title 8 “Housing” of the Codified Ordinances of Pickerington. Mrs. Hammond stated the Committee had received a new draft ordinance that contained the changes requested at the last meeting. Mr. Hopper stated Mr. Hartmann had worked hard to come up with an ordinance that met everyone’s expectations and he felt that had been done. Mr. Vance stated the emphasis of the revisions were directly related to vacant properties or foreclosed properties where we have nuisance situations and we are seeking either permission or capabilities to take care of those nuisances and also to strengthen our coordination with banks that take over the ownership of these properties, to expedite making contact so that we can stay on top of the maintenance responsibilities in an effort to use our time more efficiently to make sure that we retain property values in our neighborhoods at a high level. Mr. Blair questioned how “legally occupied” was defined in this ordinance and Mr. Hartmann stated that if we did not have that in there and there were squatters, it could be argued it was not vacant. Mr. Hartmann stated it must be someone who has the legal right, based on the legal ownership, to be in that house or in that structure. Mr. Fix moved to approve and forward to Council; Mrs. Sanders seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Fix, Mrs. Hammond, and Mrs. Sanders voting “Yes.” Motion passed, 3-0.

B. Service/Parks Department

(1) Recreation Administrator’s Report. Ms Medinger stated she had provided a written report to the Committee and she would be happy to answer any questions. Mrs. Sanders stated in speaking with her students, there were quite a few who were using the ice rink. Mayor O’Brien stated based on it’s initial success he thought we might want to talk about planning what we want to do next year and if we want to do anything more than what we have now. Mr. Barletta stated we have the shelter with the fireplace that is mostly open, but it might be more friendly to families with smaller kids that might want to skate but would be hesitant because of the exposure. Mrs. Hammond stated that might require some kind of monitoring as well. Mayor O’Brien stated he liked the program guide changes. Mr. Fix clarified that right now, with the churches that have made space available, Ms Medinger felt she had adequate space for our winter programs. Mrs. Hammond stated everyone had received the new pricing structure for pool passes by e-mail and they will be formally approved at Finance Committee. She stated that Ms Medinger does need to start advertising for pool passes and if there were no concerns she would recommend she go ahead and use the new rates. All Committee members concurred in the new rate structure and Mrs. Hammond stated it seemed to simplify what we had last year and made it much easier to understand.

(2) Service/Parks Maintenance Report. Mr. Drobina stated he had provided a written report and he would answer any questions. Mrs. Hammond stated she had a question regarding cleaning the brush along the streams. She stated she thought that was a great idea, but questioned if we had any rules and regulations we had to follow regarding what we can and cannot pull out. Mr. Vance stated we had an excellent resource on the Tree Commission and Mr. Drobina stated he will be meeting with Mr. Malone, who has been on the Tree Commission for several years. Mr. Vance stated Mr. Malone is also an employee of the EPA. Mayor O’Brien stated we also have the recommendations of our former arborist. Mrs. Hammond inquired if we would be cleaning up some of the brush, etc., that is stopping the flow of the water. Mr. Vance stated it is not so much the banks, we are looking to start by knocking the brush back a good ten feet or so and that will keep us busy without actually getting down toward the creek. Mr. Drobina stated there are also some areas that have been used as a dumping spot for dead trees, etc., and we plan on cleaning that up as well. Mr. Fix inquired if there was a chance when the snow is cleared that we will get to some of the neighborhoods that did not get leaves picked up in the fall. Mr. Drobina stated we have not done that in the past, however, if he can get the address he would see what he can do. Mr. Fix stated it just seemed like his neighborhood did not get leaves picked up because there are still a lot of leaves out there. Mr. Drobina stated we will send the street sweeper out as soon as we can in the spring and that will pick up a lot. Mr. Vance stated our focus throughout the remainder of this calendar year is to make our services more efficient and encourage people to call if they want to make sure they get our attention and they have something for us to collect so we are sure we do not miss them. Mr. Vance stated our refuse collection contract is coming up in 2011 and we are discussing things like spring and fall clean-ups. Mr. Blair clarified that when looking into the refuse collection contract we would also be looking at trying to partner with other entities to get not only a better rate for our residents but to also lessen the number of refuse collection trucks on the roads. Mr. Barletta stated further he would like to see if we could have recycling included without an additional fee for our residents. Mr. Sauer stated he would like to see our contract contain the option of recycling or not and not have it mandated. Mr. Drobina stated he and Mr. Vance would be meeting with our current contractor, Rumpke, to see if we will renew our contract or rebid it so it will be in place by the time our contract expires in September.

Mr. Drobina stated with the opening of the parks this spring his plan is to open the public restroom in Victory Park and the one in the upper part of Sycamore Park. He stated we will still require portable restrooms at the disc golf course and Diley Road softball fields, as well as the lower part of Sycamore Park. Mr. Drobina stated he has also been reviewing our mowing contract and he will be meeting with the City Manager this week to discuss this. Mr. Vance stated they will bring recommendations on this to this Committee for discussion. Mr. Fix inquired if we have had conversations with any representatives of PYAA lately because he has heard they were having some problems and Mr. Drobina stated he had not. Mr. Fix stated PYAA involves many families in our City and if they have a problem, then we have a problem, and if there is a way to reach out and see if there is anything we can do to help them, it might be good to get ahead of it. Mr. Fix further stated sports are a large part of our community and it all starts with PYAA. Mr. Vance stated Ms Medinger has reached out to the local organizations that were putting on various programs that serve thousands of kids and she has been attending the monthly PYAA and PYSA meetings. Mr. Vance stated we can reach out to see if there is anything we can do to help them with anything.

C. Engineering Department:

(1) City Engineer’s Report. Mr. Bachman stated he had provided a written report and he would be happy to answer any questions.

(a) Review and discussion regarding Sidewalk Replacement Policy. Mr. Bachman stated he had no update on this issue this evening.

(b) Review and discussion regarding bicycle ordinance. Mr. Bachman stated he had no update on this issue this evening.

(c) Review and request for motion to approve draft resolution for the City of Pickerington to participate in the Mitigation Program written by the Fairfield County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security. Mr. Bachman stated the Committee had received a draft resolution that is requested by the Fairfield County EMA to participate in the mitigation program. Mr. Bachman stated it is his understanding that periodically FEMA makes money available for proactive projects to mitigate some potential problems a community might have. He stated if the County has a mitigation plan then we would be eligible for some of those funds. Mrs. Hammond clarified there is no cost involved with this, it will just make us eligible to potentially receive funding. Mrs. Sanders moved to approve and forward to Council; Mr. Fix seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Fix voting “Yes.” Motion passed, 3-0. Mrs. Yartin stated if there were no objections this would be included on the Consent Agenda at the next Council meeting. There were no objections.

Mr. Bachman stated there were certain items on the Service agenda that he would mention to Safety Committee as there are some safety elements to them. He stated with regard to the safety project for the S.R. 256 corridor from I-70 down to below Refugee Road, ODOT has indicated that they would like to take the lead on that project which will move us up on the funding order. He further stated with the safety concerns on the intersection of Center/Milnor/Meadows we have received word that we will get a MORPC grant for $500,000 to improve that intersection. He stated the funds will not be available until 2015; however, the environmental work will start pretty quickly. Mr. Bachman continued that we have a 30-inch storm sewer on S.R. 256, just north of the CVS that has collapsed. He stated this is a 30-inch line that runs underneath the sidewalk and runs parallel with S.R. 256, and approximately a ten-foot section has collapsed. Mr. Bachman stated this was put in about 1995 as a part of the road widening project. Mr. Bachman stated we have TV’d the line as much as we could and he has been meeting with contractors and he will be requesting Service Committee take some action on this. He stated he is trying to work out the best and least disruptive and least costly alternate to fixing that. Mrs. Hammond questioned if just one lane of the road will be closed, and Mr. Bachman stated he does not know if a lane closure will be required. He stated ideally he would like to see a no-dig fix as that would be less disruptive and a lot less costly than the traditional method of digging it up. Mr. Bachman stated he should know more about this in the next day or so. Mr. Vance stated we are fortunate to have a storm water reserve and we can use those funds for this purpose.

6. CHAIRMAN: Mrs. Hammond stated she had nothing to bring forward this evening.

7. OTHER BUSINESS:

A. Review and discussion regarding the expansion of powers for Nuisance Abatement Board. Mrs. Hammond clarified that Mr. Hartmann had provided everyone with a draft ordinance this evening. Mr. Hartmann stated this Committee had requested he put together an ordinance expanding the powers of the Nuisance Abatement Board as a result of the feral cat issue. He stated the Nuisance Abatement Board was structured only to be available to deal with structures and not with other types of nuisances, so what he has done is put together an expansive list to increase the powers and provide the local ability to adjudicate these matters and bring people in front of the Board. He stated he has not had a chance to review this thoroughly with the City Manager and Mr. Hopper, but if this is the direction Council would like to go he certainly would work through the details and get a final ordinance for this Committee to review. Mrs. Hammond stated she would like to continue this on the agenda to allow Mr. Hartmann and staff to work through any issues on this ordinance.

8. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mrs. Hammond moved to adjourn; Mr. Fix seconded the motion. Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Fix, and Mrs. Sanders voted "Aye." Motion carried, 3-0. The Safety Committee adjourned at 7:20 P.M., January 19, 2011.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

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Lynda D. Yartin, City Clerk