THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 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 Matt Delp, Ed Drobina, Becca Medinger, Greg Bachman, Joe Henderson, Scott Fulton, Chet Hopper, Mark Matthews, Chris Schweitzer, Brandi Whetstone, Phil Eichhorn, and others.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF August 17, 2011, Regular Meeting. Mr. Fix moved to approve; Mrs. Sanders seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Fix, and Mrs. Hammond voting “Yes.” Motion passed, 3-0.

3. PRESENTATION BY MORPC ON CENTRAL OHIO GREEN PACT. Ms Brandi Whetstone stated she was present this evening to answer any questions the Committee may have on the Central Ohio Green Pact. Ms Whetstone stated she works for the Center for Energy and Environment and this is a program that was initiated in 2007 to bring together communities to join a regional commitment to ten environmentally themed goals. Ms Whetstone stated there are currently 32 members and this is a voluntary commitment to the ten goals that enhance the quality of life in the region. She further stated this is a way to set some general green goals for the community that you can follow and provide an agenda that you can reference over time to track your progress. Ms Whetstone stated there is no regulatory authority on the pact, it is just a commitment to lead by example and a commitment to some positive goals. Ms Whetstone continued that as the City is a MORPC member community, they offer a free carbon footprint inspection for one facility each year. She stated this inspection can identify ways that you can save money through efficiency improvements and other measures. Ms Whetstone stated that in order to join the Green Pact you just need to pass a Resolution in support of the ten goals and you would be recognized at the Summit on Sustainability of the Environment reception on October 10^th. She stated they would invite someone to represent the community and sign the pact there. Ms Whetstone stated you are already a member of MORPC so there is no membership fee to join. Mr. Fix inquired if Ms Whetstone had an estimate as to what other communities have spent as far as time and financial resources in working to come into compliance with the pact and Ms Whetstone stated she does not have that information. Ms Whetstone stated a lot of times there are measures the community already wants to implement, but you are not obligated to do specific things. Ms Whetstone stated they have some general reporting from Green Pact member communities and they are always looking for funding to help that aspect of the program and to help communities implement some of the measures. Ms Whetstone stated Violet Township had joined last year.

Mr. Fix stated it did not seem like there were a lot of binding things in the pact, and it did provide some focus toward some green initiatives. He stated he did know that as far as our budget priorities and manpower priorities are concerned it did not seem like this would be high on the list, however, it seems we are already doing some of these things. Mrs. Sanders stated she supported this and she felt there was a lot we were already doing and this may help us accomplish some of our other goals. Mr. Barletta stated he noticed some of the other communities are supporting green initiatives and some corporations that are looking for homes might be interested in a community that supports green initiatives. He stated it certainly could not hurt us to join this group and he did not see a downside to it. Mrs. Sanders moved to approve the draft resolution in support of the Central Ohio Green Pact and forward it to Council; Mr. Fix seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Fix, Mrs. Hammond, and Mrs. Sanders voting “Yes.” Motion passed, 3-0.

4. COMMUNITY COMMENTS: There were no community comments.

5. POLICE:

A. Chief’s Report. Commander Delp stated the Chief had submitted a written report and he would be happy to answer any questions. Commander Delp stated the Department is in the process of initiating the DARE program at Diley Middle School. He stated this would be a volunteer program held in the morning prior to the start of school and he would notify this Committee when the program will begin. Mr. Fix clarified that the plan is to approach the other middle schools regarding the DARE program, however, they want to see what the response is at Diley Middle School. Commander Delp stated with this program the classes would be limited to 50 and it would be a two week program.

B. Review and discussion regarding permit parking on East Street. Mr. Vance stated Mr. Eichhorn has some apartments on East Street and he has requested permit parking in that area. Mr. Vance stated further Mrs. Yartin had done some research and the Committee had been given a packet of information showing that permit parking for this area was approved in 2005, however, it had not been implemented. Mrs. Hammond stated she would like to state that in general she does not like permit parking on public streets. Mr. Fix clarified this had come to light when Mr. Eichhorn made a request for permit parking. Mr. Vance stated he and Chief Taylor have investigated this request and he felt it made sense because there is no designated parking for these apartments. Mr. Eichhorn stated when school is getting out and parents are picking up kids, the people who live in the apartments have no place to park. Mr. Fix clarified that staff has no objections to this and felt the request was reasonable. Mr. Vance stated the request to have this apartment complex, which is an approved development in the City, have some sort of parking opportunities seems to be reasonable. Mrs. Hammond clarified if the apartment residents park on adjacent streets they takes up spaces in front of those residences. Mr. Vance stated his position relied heavily on Chief Taylor’s recommendation and Chief Taylor has looked at this and has no objection to working with the residents for permitted parking. Mr. Fix stated as long as we did not create a situation where we were putting kids in any kind of danger he would support staff’s recommendation. Mrs. Sanders stated she is not a fan of permit parking, but if it is limited to four spaces she could support that. Mrs. Hammond stated her concern is that if we do this for this complex we will have other people coming in asking for the same thing. Mr. Fix moved to authorize permit parking for four spaces on East Street for the apartment complex located on East Borland Street and East Street; Mrs. Sanders seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond voting “No,” and Mrs. Sanders and Mr. Fix voting “Yes.” Motion passed, 2-1.

6. 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. Mrs. Sanders clarified that with regard to the feral cat issue it is scheduled for trial. Mr. Hopper stated, however, through conversations with the law director, the prosecutor, and the judge the result will probably not be very favorable. Mr. Hopper stated he understood the law director is working to amend our ordinance to make it very specific to the feeding and housing of wild, feral cats so our legislation is strong enough to support reciting and starting this process over again. Mr. Vance stated it was his understanding the prosecutor is leaning towards dismissing this case because they have problems with some of the language in our current ordinance.

Mr. Hopper stated in August 2010, we did 45 code enforcement inspections and in August 201l, we did 148 code enforcement inspections. He stated this shows we have really increased the code enforcement efforts in the City. Mrs. Hammond stated she has seen some vacant homes with what appear to be abandoned above ground swimming pools and she felt this was a potential hazard. Mrs. Hammond questioned if there was anything we could do about that, and Mr. Hopper stated he has spoken to the Board of Health on this issue. Mr. Hopper stated the Board of Health gets more involved in swimming pools and in going out with them last week they found two pools that are abandoned and they will be sending letters out on these.

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 questioned when we learned of the new ADA guidelines for the pool and how much time were we given to put them in place. Ms Medinger stated we heard about it at the end of last summer, however, we did not know all of the guidelines until they came out at the beginning of March of this year. Mr. Fix further clarified that all public pools must have these guidelines in place by March of 2012, or they will be penalized. Ms Medinger stated she had been told the penalty could go into six figures. Mrs. Hammond stated it appeared the grand total for the pool items is roughly $227,000. Ms Medinger stated with regard to budgeting for next year we know that $65,000 will be needed for the ADA items. Mr. Vance stated he felt staff needs to talk a little more and make sure we have the information we need to identify all the flexibility we may have going forward. He stated he has not had a chance to speak with staff on this issue as yet and he would like to come up with some recommendations to bring back to this Committee as well as to Finance Committee. Ms Medinger stated she had inquired if we had to have everything done by March of 2012 and she was informed they must be done by the time the pool opens for the year. Mrs. Hammond stated she would like to have staff look into exactly what it is we will need and come back to the Committee in October with their recommendations.

Ms Medinger stated the disc golf tournament will be in November and she wanted to make the Committee aware that she has been approached by Indoor Gardens to do a sponsorship for the disc golf course tee signage, which is estimated at $2,500. Ms Medinger stated originally we were thinking of doing one sponsorship sign near the first hole, but they would prefer individual tee signs. Mr. Vance stated if Council wants to go in this direction we can do that, and if Council is not interested in having a sponsor at this point in time we can convey that to them. Mr. Vance further stated if someone wants to sponsor the signs he wanted to make sure Council was aware of it. Mr. Fix stated he appreciated the idea of sponsoring charitable events with the $100 off the pool pass and encouraged staff to continue to look for opportunities to do that. Mr. Vance stated we do not have any policy to cover sponsorship at this point in time, and if this Committee were to be receptive to receiving these funds one of the first questions would be how long the signs would be up; would there be a time limit, etc. Mr. Fix clarified Mr. Vance was suggesting staff come up with some guidelines to present to this Committee. Mrs. Hammond stated she felt that would be something that would be included in the Parks Policy that the law director is working on. Mr. Vance stated then he would notify Indoor Garden that we appreciate their interest, but we have no clarification on how long the signs would be up, etc., and he would recommend we not act at this time and this will be addressed in our parks policy. Mrs. Hammond stated she definitely felt that before we take any further action on anything with the parks we need to have a policy in place.

a. Discussion regarding Parks and Pool Rental Policies. Mrs. Hammond stated discussion on this policy, as well as the beer garden location and permits, will be deferred until next month to allow our law director to put a policy together.

b. Discussion regarding beer garden location and permits. Mr. Mark Matthews stated he was present representing the Violet Festival and it was his understanding that they could potentially lose the ability to have alcohol served on City property. He stated this is a fundamental part of their budgeting and they return that money to the community. He stated they would support legislation that would allow groups such as theirs to have the ability to have a beer garden. Mrs. Hammond stated that would be considered as a part of the whole package they were working on. She stated this would be continued on the agenda for next month.

(2) Service/Parks Maintenance Report. Mr. Drobina stated he had provided a written report and he would be happy to answer any questions. Mr. Fix clarified the surveillance cameras in the lower part of Sycamore Park are operational.

(3) Parks Board Representative Report (Mrs. Sanders). Mrs. Sanders stated she had no 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 he had provided contact information to the resident interested in this issue, however, he has not heard from him as yet.

(3) Review and request for motion to approve draft resolution authorizing the Ohio Director of Transportation to proceed with a project constructing certain new sidewalks and bike paths in Pickerington (Safe Routes to Schools). Mr. Bachman stated this is the preliminary legislation required by ODOT for this project. He stated this is a 100 percent grant and he does not anticipate the City having any dollar involvement other than staff time. He stated this is for the sidewalks and multi-use path on Long Road for Pickerington Elementary School. Mr. Bachman stated the design of the project will be this year with anticipated construction in the summer of 2013. Mrs. Hammond stated it will be good to have some sidewalks along Long Road. Mr. Fix moved to approve and forward to Council; Mrs. Sanders seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Fix voting “Yes.” Motion passed, 3-0.

7. CHAIRMAN:

A. Strategic Plan Goals – Update.

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

B. Discussion regarding Pickerington’s Bicentennial Celebration. Mrs. Hammond stated she had no discussion items this evening.

8. OTHER BUSINESS:

A. Review and discussion regarding request to honor T. O. Ebright (Pickerington Mayor 1930-1950). Mr. Vance stated he had spoken with Jim Ebright and he has verbally agreed to change Ebright Drive within the approved soccer complex to T.O. Ebright Drive. Mrs. Hammond asked Mr. Vance to express the Committee’s appreciation to Mr. Ebright.

Mr. Barletta stated he has received a series of phone calls over the course of the summer about the noise from the outdoor music at Rule3. He stated he and the Mayor had met with the owner of Rule3 and explained that the neighbors were upset and he did not feel it had any effect. Mr. Barletta stated the police have been called to Rule3 numerous times, and some of the neighbors that are affected by this are getting upset. Mr. Barletta stated he would like to see what we can do by either escalating our enforcement of the fine for repeatedly disturbing the peace and also investigate what they are permitted to do versus what they are actually doing to see if we have any recourse. Mr. Barletta stated he is not interested in harming their business; he is interested in having the neighbors not complain about the noise.

Mr. Henderson stated Rule3 had come in for a conditional use for the outdoor service facility and with that there were limitations to the noise level, the hours of operations, etc. Mr. Henderson stated the Planning and Zoning Commission had placed restrictions on the hours of operations, time the patios can be used, and those kind of things. Mr. Vance stated it was his understanding with Rule3 that anything outside, such as loud music, was complaint driven. He stated he understood Rule3 was working with the Windmiller Ponds Homeowner’s Association and they had negotiated some sort of understanding, but then there was the situation where the radio station sponsored an event that 600 to 700 people had attended. He stated that is when he reviewed the specific documents in the Rule3 file and he did not see any negotiated times on the conditional use application, but he saw where it was indicated that if there was any noise coming from Rule3 that can be heard at the closest residential property, that is to loud. Mr. Vance stated this is something that Rule3 negotiated and accepted and at this point in time it seems they are not willing to operate within the strict accordance set for that permit. Mr. Vance continued that Mr. Henderson would be talking to the owner and letting him know that we have received a lot of calls lately, and further the police department will respond if they get calls saying it is too loud, and they will cite them. He further stated if the noise continues, they will cite them again and each citation has a fine of $150. Mr. Vance stated we will take a second look at the conditional use permit, go through whatever process we need to go through, and make sure they understand we appreciate their business but this is what they negotiated and agreed to and what they need to abide by. Mrs. Hammond stated she wanted to make it clear it was not the intent to keep businesses from succeeding, but we just want to take care of problems before they become a major issue.

Mrs. Hammond stated as required this Committee had received notification of the items to be included in the auction of surplus items and ascertained there were no questions or comments on these items.

9. 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 7:40 P.M., September 22, 2011.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

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Lynda D. Yartin, City Clerk