PICKERINGTON CITY COUNCIL

TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 2011

CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD

PUBLIC HEARING

7:00 P.M.

1. Call to Order: Mayor O’Brien opened the public hearing at 7:00 P.M.

2. Roll Call: Roll call was taken with the following members present: Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Fix, Mr. Blair, Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mayor O’Brien were present. Others present were: Bill Vance, Lynda Yartin, Chris Schornack, Commander Steve Annetts, Jennifer Readler, Nate Ellis, Janet Thiede, and others.

3. Purpose of the Public Hearing: Mayor O’Brien stated the purpose of this Public Hearing is to allow citizens a chance to voice any concerns and/or questions regarding the proposed City of Pickerington/Violet Township Joint Planning Agreement and Area.

4. Presentation to Council: Mr. Vance stated this Agreement was co-authored by the City Manager and the Township Administrator and the purpose of the Agreement is to allow for Township land use or development applications to be forwarded to the City within five working days, and vice versa, the City would forward its land use or development related applications to the Township within five working days. He stated the agreement itself is a promotion of the City’s ability to work with the Township and also the Township’s ability to work with the City in a positive manner on regional, development related activities. It also creates the Township/City Planning Agency which is a group of four individuals, two representatives from the City and two representatives from the Township which can convene to discuss development related issues at the request of either the Township or the City.

5. Resident Questions/Comments: There were no questions or comments.

6. Council Comments/Questions: Mr. Wisniewski stated an agenda item on the Planning, Projects & Services Committee is the discussion of sharing council resources for the development director position, and if we do share a person between the two entities, what would be the purpose of providing documents to a person that is already covering both entities. He questioned what would be the purpose of having a committee that would be made up of essentially one person that is representing two entities. Mr. Vance stated he felt that staff members do not represent policy positions for either the Township or the City so the Township/City agency would provide the opportunity for the policy makers to discuss any development applications or land use applications which have a regional interest. Mr. Fix stated he thought one of the thought processes was the possibility of passing this tonight and then before the third reading seeing what progress can be made in the Planning, Projects & Services Committee on the economic development program, and if that looks like it has promise this issue can be tabled so we can tackle the bigger picture of doing joint economic development or some kind of cooperative process that would be on a bigger scale than what is before them tonight. Mrs. Yartin clarified that under the new Charter this resolution would have its final reading this evening. Mr. Fix stated he would then probably request this be tabled this evening. Mr. Fix stated in looking at the bigger picture, which is something everyone wants to do, there is a greater opportunity to make a real impact on how development happens in the whole community by working together with the Township on a bigger scale, which is what they will start to explore under Mr. Vance’s leadership and with Mr. Yaple from the Township tomorrow night. He stated he felt that should play out before setting this agreement up. Mr. Wisniewski stated if we are going to be sharing these resources there is obviously the engineering department, the service department, and other departments so why stop at one. He stated why not seriously consider merging the Township and the City as one entity if we are going to share resources and everything else, and we are looking at the community as a whole, then he felt it was time to start addressing the bigger picture of merging into one entity. Mr. Wisniewski stated the City’s census is rapidly catching up to what the unincorporated Township is, so it is just a matter of time before the City surpasses the Township in population.

Mr. Vance stated he felt the shared position was distinct from the agreement itself, because in his estimation staff does not speak for the policy makers on policy. He stated you could have significant developments of regional impact that need the involvement of both the Township and the City and representatives from both the Township and the City, appointed by the Township Trustees and City Council, could get together to discuss specifics as associated to the impact the development may or may not have on those they represent. Mr. Vance stated he felt that was beyond the responsibility of a staff member. Mr. Fix stated he felt those communications can and will continue to happen outside of a formal board setting, and the opportunity to start working cooperatively with the Township in one area and showing that we have the ability to do that, is a good step forward for the community. He continued he did not know that either of the governments was ready to talk about merging our governments together and it did not seem that now is the time to have that conversation. He stated by taking this first step, however, we can make a significant positive impact on how things are developed in our entire community.

Mr. Wisniewski stated we did have a very good working relationship in our 911 services when we were sharing resources there and they chose to remove themselves from that and take their money and go elsewhere instead of investing in the City. He stated he felt that if we are going to go into joint planning and other things, sharing of resources on their end from a development director’s standpoint, then we need to seriously look at them coming back to the City and showing their good faith by reinvesting in the City and bring those financial dollars back here and supporting us. Mayor O’Brien stated the vehicle maintenance was the first trial we were going to talk about as a shared service, and it has been over a year. He stated he felt Mr. Wisniewski was correct about engineering and other shared services we do. Mayor O’Brien stated perhaps we should get an organizational chart from them and compare it to ours and see what opportunities are there and see if they want to talk about it. Mr. Wisniewski stated he did not see why not and Mrs. Hammond stated she felt that would be a good idea. Mrs. Hammond stated we are all aware that is sort of the wave of the future and is being talked about everywhere in the State and she felt it did not hurt us to pursue all avenues. Mayor O’Brien questioned if Council would like this set up separately to look at other organizational opportunities. Mr. Sauer stated as he understood this agreement it simply stated that if something came in to the City we would send the documents to them so they were aware of it and if something came into the Township they would send the documents to us so we were aware of it, and it gave the opportunity to discuss if anything comes up. He stated obviously if there is a single individual as an economic development person that would change the situation, but it still does not negate the positive aspect of this particular agreement because just because that may happen now, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will be that way forever. Mr. Sauer continued that by having this as the backbone and the basis, it would still be there. He stated this agreement doesn’t cost us anything, it is a goodwill thing, and in trying to create an umbrella where it is everything for everyone, it would end up putting this particular opportunity at risk. Mr. Sauer stated he felt this agreement is the first step of many and by taking this first step instead of trying to make one giant leap, it at least shows the intention and the fact that we are willing to do something in that positive regard. He stated he was afraid that by tabling it and delaying something that was as innocuous and easy as this agreement that it ends up getting pushed to the back burner and never happens. Mr. Wisniewski stated if we do go down the path of sharing the economic development director he had a hard time understanding why we would go down this path. Mr. Sauer questioned what harm this would cause and Mr. Wisniewski questioned what benefit it would bring. Mr. Sauer stated he felt it had a lot of benefits and it showed a mutual relationship between the two communities, there was no red tape, it was just when something came in an extra packet was sent to the Township and they do the same for us. He stated it was a beneficial arrangement where each side could be aware of what the other was doing with regard to development. Mr. Wisniewski stated there was also a committee that would need to be called whenever one entity decided to do it, so then there would be a special meeting about something. Mr. Sauer stated this would not slow the process down and Mr. Wisniewski stated we don’t know what it does. Mrs. Hammond stated perhaps that was something that needed to be clarified because the agreement says that sharing the information is a courtesy, it does not stop either entity from going ahead, but there is that committee process in there and if the committee would decide it wasn’t a good idea would that stop the process. Mayor O’Brien stated he interpreted the agreement as saying that if there was something along the border or something that requires annexation or where they require our services, if there was going to be an overlap then we would convene that committee. Mrs. Hammond questioned if that shouldn’t be clarified.

Mayor O’Brien stated he would like to point out that we also have the JEDD and we worked very hard on that. He stated that shows we can work together and although we haven’t had any opportunities yet because of the economy, but that also has a JEDD board that meets, so it is not the first time we’ve done this.

Mr. Fix stated he felt everyone shared the goal of working cooperatively with the Township and his foremost concern was working with them on economic development. He stated at the committee meeting tomorrow night they will have the beginning of what he felt was a nice opportunity to do that and he felt it would be premature to push this forward tonight and create a board that may not be necessary as we explore the opportunity to do joint economic development with the Township. He stated perhaps something like this could be part of that agreement, but he did not know if it behooved them tonight to push this forward and then have to undo it sometime down the road. Mr. Fix stated he was excited about what they would hear at the meeting tomorrow night and he would like for that to proceed without anything hanging over it so he would be asking that this be tabled tonight.

Mr. Vance stated this agreement is not so much for the Township or the City’s operational benefit, it is a promotional opportunity to communicate to anyone who might be interested in Violet Township or the City of Pickerington that we are on the same page when it comes to being committed to finding ways to provide for support of job creating developments. He stated it is a promotional tool in addition to an operational resource. Mayor O’Brien stated that is what the JEDD is for; it is a three party JEDD with Violet Township, the City of Pickerington, and Canal Winchester, that this would be a facet of. He stated he felt we needed to go back and look at the JEDD and questioned if the law director has looked at this to see if there is any overlap. Ms Readler stated they have reviewed the JEDD and the Joint Planning Agreement, and there is nothing that conflicts. She stated this agreement does not obligate us to do much more than to pass on information, it is more of a notification and a promotional issue that is in the spirit of regionalism and a lot of cities are doing this now too to show development its cooperative atmosphere. She stated that legally in terms of having liabilities or potential dangers of entering into this, there is no real exposure because you can terminate it at any time with 60 days notice. Mayor O’Brien stated he just questioned if we have done this once, what is the difference between what we did and why didn’t we make this a line item extra and include Canal Winchester as part of this. Mayor O’Brien further stated he would request the City Manager obtain the organizational chart from the Township and he would refer that to Committee to look at other opportunities. Mr. Wisniewski stated he would request that be sent to the City Administration Committee.

Mrs. Sanders stated she felt this was being way over thought because she felt this was just another way to promote our City to people as in the past years we have not had a very good reputation for development to come here, and if it goes to the next step and we are able to join together with services that is great, but this is just one positive step that does not entail a lot of effort on anyone’s part. She stated she just felt this was a great way to promote our City. Mr. Barletta stated he agreed with Mrs. Sanders and he does not see any downside here, to promote cooperation between two entities can only be positive. He stated he felt this was a win-win issue. Mr. Blair stated he felt the same way, this was simply information sharing more than anything and since it will not slow down the process he agreed it was a win-win for both entities.

7. Adjournment. There being nothing further Mayor O’Brien closed the Public Hearing at 7:20 P.M.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED: ATTEST:

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Lynda D. Yartin, City Clerk Mitch O’Brien, Mayor