WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 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, Commander Steve Annetts, Tony Barletta, Ed Drobina, Becca Medinger, Greg Bachman, Joe Henderson, Scott Fulton, Chet Hopper, Greg Annis, Ron Ebright, Janet Thiede, and others.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF July 20, 2011, 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.

Mrs. Hammond stated if there were no objections, she would like to move to the Other Business section of the agenda for the discussion regarding the request to honor T.O. Ebright who was Pickerington mayor for a long period of time. She stated this has been discussed for awhile and she was hoping we could come to a resolution as the issue at hand is that we have a new development coming in and the developer plans to name a road Ebright Road. Mrs. Hammond stated if there were no objections by the committee members she would like to ask Mr. Vance to continue to work with the developer on the possibility of naming that particular road for T.O. Ebright. Mr. Vance stated he had spoken with the developer, Jim Ebright, and he is receptive to discussions to change the name of the road to T.O. Ebright Road in his development. Mr. Vance stated he would recommend we continue in that direction and see if we can get resolution by the next meeting. Mrs. Hammond clarified that Mr. Ron Ebright agreed with this recommendation and stated she would like to have this continued on the agenda for the next meeting.

3. COMMUNITY COMMENTS: There were no community comments.

4. POLICE:

A. Chief’s Report. Commander Annetts stated the Chief had provided a written report and he would be happy to answer any questions. Commander Annetts introduced Sergeant Greg Annis who would be attending this meeting for the department in the future. Mrs. Hammond stated has concerns on some items about the Violet Festival that are included in the Chief’s report, however, she thought that could be addressed a little later in the meeting when there is discussion about celebrations in general.

5. DEPARTMENT REPORTS:

A. Building Regulations Department.

(1) Code Enforcement Report. Mr. Hopper stated he had provided a written report and he would answer any questions. Mr. Fix clarified that the Lancaster City Prosecutor had sent correspondence regarding the feral cat issue and questioned if it was reasonable that it took this amount of time to come to that conclusion. Mr. Hartmann stated he did not know that this was the first time that conclusion was reached, but they are still working toward a settlement. Mrs. Hammond stated while she did not like to impose any more rules or regulations on the citizens, was there anything we need to do to clarify our ordinances on this. Mr. Hartmann stated he has been reviewing the ordinances, however, he does not know if there is anything more we can do on this issue. Mr. Fix stated it was just common sense that you don’t feed wild cats, but you cannot legislate common sense.

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. Mr. Fix inquired if it appeared the pool would turn a profit this summer and Ms Medinger stated that as of right now we are slightly under from last year, however, we still have a few parties and she does not have final numbers as yet. Mr. Blair ascertained that the feedback on the fee structure this year has been that it is much easier to understand.

a. Discussion regarding Parks and Pool Rental Policies. Ms Medinger stated it has been brought to our attention to do a review of an after hour policy based on a party that happened a few weeks ago. She stated she and Mr. Hartmann were going to revamp all of our policies for all of our rentals to include the pool, shelters, etc., and streamline it into one packet for any kind of rental. Mr. Vance stated we would have individual applications for the different facilities but one clearinghouse policy that addresses all the issues associated with any City facility that is being rented. Mr. Hartmann stated he is comfortable with streamlining the policy and having one application with a checkmark for what you are renting. He stated it would include the fees and be something that could be posted on the web site. He stated he hoped to get with Ms Medinger during the next month and then present it to this committee. He stated he would incorporate first amendment issues into the policy and that will be discussed later in this meeting. Mrs. Hammond stated as we are coming toward the end of the rental season she would look forward to having the policy come forward in the next few months so it would be ready for next spring. Mr. Fix clarified that we do plan on putting in the ice rink this winter. Ms Medinger stated the rink would be in the same location and would be a kit that can be reused and we would just have to purchase a liner each year. Ms Medinger stated the Parks Board had discussed possibly doing two rinks; however, we were only going to do one this year so we can see how the kit does.

(2) Service/Parks Maintenance Report. Mr. Drobina stated he had provided a written report and he would be happy to answer any questions. Mr. Drobina stated as indicated in his report he has been working on getting quotes to install street lights on Hill Road South and if the Committee has no objections he would like to try and get this done before the weather changes. Mrs. Hammond stated she felt this was a good idea because there are a lot of kids walking between the high school and junior high, especially when football season comes. Mr. Vance stated it is very dark in the morning and we have a lot of foot traffic with the schools. Mr. Sauer clarified these would be standard street lights and would come out of the street fund without having to appropriate funds. Mr. Drobina stated he would then proceed with getting these street lights installed.

(3) Parks Board Representative Report (Mrs. Sanders). Mrs. Sanders stated she had nothing further to report this evening.

C. Engineering Department:

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

(2) Recommendations regarding traffic calming issues on East Street. Mr. Bachman stated Mr. Dean has not contacted him as yet to discuss this issue.

6. CHAIRMAN:

A. Strategic Plan Goals – Update.

(1) Drug Awareness Program. Mr. Fix stated he has no report this evening.

B. Review and request for motion to approve draft resolution in support of the Central Ohio Green Pact. Mr. Vance stated the MORPC representative was not present as yet and Mrs. Hammond stated she would like to have this continued on the agenda for the next meeting.

C. Discussion regarding Pickerington’s Bicentennial Celebration. Mrs. Hammond stated Pickerington’s bicentennial is in four years and to put on anything of this nature takes a lot of planning so we need to decide what direction we would like to go in. Mrs. Hammond further stated the bicentennial for Violet Township was wonderful and they celebrated the past of our area pretty thoroughly so she didn’t know if we wanted to repeat that. Mrs. Hammond stated she has been advised that we do not want to do as many events as the Township did, but we do need to start thinking about what direction we want to go in, forming a committee, determining how much money we want to spend, etc. Mrs. Hammond stated Council needs to have some idea of the way they want to go before getting volunteers, etc. Mr. Fix stated he agreed with Mrs. Hammond, however, he had no idea from a logistical standpoint, an event standpoint, from a money standpoint, etc. on where to begin. He stated he felt the best way to get good questions and ideas would be to get feedback from several areas. Mr. Sauer stated he felt this would involve all facets of the City and he thought the Mayor would be a good resource to have on a Committee as well as the Chairman of the Public Safety and Community Affairs Committee, Chairman of Finance Committee, and the City Manager. Mrs. Hammond stated she would leave this on the agenda for now and should anyone have any thoughts or receive any feedback we can have a record of it in the minutes.

D. Discussion regarding policy on parades and assemblages. Mrs. Hammond stated everyone had received a copy of an ordinance from Circleville and Mr. Hartmann is present to discuss this issue tonight. Mr. Hartmann stated it was brought to our attention that we do not have a policy on this after the Violet Festival when individuals came in and talked to Council about not being able to hand out certain flyers. He stated the goal of this would be to establish a policy for the City to prevent things in the future that would possibly violate first amendment rights. He stated he will try to incorporate this into the Parks Policy and with respect to the parade he felt our current policy, although unwritten, probably needs to be written allowing political figures to be in the parade. He stated that is currently the standard here, but he felt it should be articulated in a policy that is blessed by Council. Mr. Hartmann further stated he would propose presenting a draft policy to this committee at the meeting next month for review. Mr. Hartmann continued that a legal memorandum had been provided outlining case law on this issue and you do have some ability to restrict certain things, but you must be very cognizant that you have to remain neutral across the board. Mrs. Hammond stated she would look forward to seeing a draft policy for the next meeting. Mr. Barletta questioned if the legislation we put together would allow the Violet Festival to prohibit political speech within the boundaries of the festival grounds, and Mr. Hartmann stated the prohibition would be against handing out any flyers, and you can do that but it has to be done evenly and there has to be signage that says the park is closed to the public, private event, because you are basically renting the park out. He further stated they would charge to get in and with those safety parameters they can prevent everyone from handing out flyers, but they have to understand that that also includes vendors because a lot of times you will have vendors walking around handing out things, so they will have to sign some type of waiver that they understand they will not be allowed to do that. Mr. Hartmann stated as long as you put those restrictions up you are able to restrict people from handing out flyers. He stated, however, you cannot stop anyone outside from handing out materials. Mr. Sauer stated that part of the Violet Festival takes place on Pickerington Local School District property so how would the ordinance that we would pass impact that because technically speaking it is not our land. Mr. Hartmann stated he did not realize that was an issue and it was something he would have to consider. Mr. Sauer stated further since the issue wasn’t an issue within the confines of the Violet Festival; it was outside the boundaries of where the festival was occurring it seemed there was nothing restricting those individuals from doing what they wanted in terms of their first amendment rights anyway and if someone was restricting them from doing so, he did not see how the City had any culpability. Mr. Hartmann stated the concern is there is possible State action because you have rented a park to those individuals and the fact that they were outside where you’ve actually rented would be a defense we would use, but the concern would be you still have the ability to be sued because they are prohibiting free speech in an area they shouldn’t. He stated with the policy there would be indemnification language so should someone violate the first amendment policy it would defend the City against any lawsuits. Mr. Hartmann stated most cities have some type of policy in place because it has become an issue and he felt it was good to review this and put it in place so it protects your rights in the future.

7. OTHER BUSINESS:

A. Review and discussion regarding request to honor T. O. Ebright (Pickerington Mayor 1930-1950). Mrs. Hammond stated this was discussed earlier in the meeting.

Mrs. Hammond stated with regard to the Violet Festival, she did not necessarily want to get into the financial aspect, but the Chief’s report contained some things that concerned her. She stated one of her concerns was the beer garden and how late it remained open. She stated she agreed with the Chief’s opinion that it should close when the festival closes. Mrs. Hammond further stated there was a concern about the parade ending at the junior high instead of at the high school and although she understood why it did end there, she questioned what would happen if the parade route was reversed and started at the high school, came down the hill and went back up to the high school. Commander Annetts stated the main issue has been people trying to get up to the junior high to pick up their children and the road is blocked. He stated he has no objection to the route being reversed. Mrs. Hammond stated she felt this was something we need to look into and there should be a viable solution. Mrs. Hammond further stated there were a lot of people in the Violet Festival throwing candy and the problem is that children run out in front of vehicles in the parade to pick up the candy. She stated we require anyone handing out candy to walk along the side of the road and hand it out rather than throwing it from vehicles. Mr. Sauer stated he agreed that we need to make an effort to communicate to any group putting on a parade that anyone handing out candy needs to walk along the edges of the street.

Mrs. Hammond stated Mr. Fix has requested that the Committee meeting be changed for September and October to the third Thursday of the month as he has an obligation on the regular meeting date. She stated if there were no objections, she would reschedule the meeting for those two months. There were no objections.

8. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mr. Fix moved to adjourn; Mrs. Sanders seconded the motion. Mr. Fix, Mrs. Sanders, and Mrs. Hammond voted "Aye." Motion carried, 3-0. The Public Safety & Community Affairs Committee adjourned at 7:15 P.M., August 17, 2011.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

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Lynda D. Yartin, City Clerk