CITY OF PICKERINGTON

SAFETY COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL

CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD

MONDAY, MARCH 3, 2003

7:30 P.M.

REGULAR MEETING AGENDA

1. ROLL CALL. Mr. Fox called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M. with Mr. Wright and Mr. Fox present. No members were absent. Others present were: Joyce Bushman, Lynda Yartin, Chief Mike Taylor, Steve Carr, Bob Mapes, Jeff Kraus, Sandy Whittington, Greg Biggus, Wayne Patterson, and others.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF February 3, 2003, Regular Meeting. Mr. Wright moved to approve; Mr. Fox seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Wright and Mr. Fox voting "Yea." Motion passed, 2-0.

3. DEPARTMENT REPORTS:

A. Parks and Recreation.

(1) Reports

a. Parks and Recreation Board Council Representative Report (Mr. Fox). Mr. Fox stated the Parks Board had discussed the Skate Park and the Board understood the situation at the police station, however, they are very enthused about finding a location for the skate park and asked to be kept informed on this issue. Mrs. Bushman stated there is another site being evaluated and we are talking to the schools, so she hoped to have more information at the next meeting.

(2) Gazebo Park Landscaping Project - Update.

a. Review and request for motion to award contract. Mr. Carr stated this was actually the landscape services contract. Mr. Carr stated the bids were opened on Friday and a copy of staff’s recommendation and the bid tabulation had been provided to the committee members. Mr. Carr stated on one bid the contractor would only submit hourly rates with no estimation of material costs or hours so that bid was not responsive. He further stated Tree Management’s bid was very low, but it was for very few flowers and not what we have traditionally done in the past. He stated when you factored in the material costs and the cost to maintain them, Keller Farms had submitted the best and most responsive bid. Mr. Carr stated Keller Farms has done the landscaping for the past two seasons as well. Mr. Fox clarified we have not worked with Tree Management for landscaping in the past. Mr. Carr stated further last year we spent $15,246 for what we bid, and this year we have added the gazebo park. Mr. Mapes clarified although we did not specify the number of flats for the bid, the bidders had toured the site and knew the beds and locations. Mr. Carr stated during the tour of the sites he had informed the bidders that these were not sparsely planted, but was very full coverage. Mr. Wright moved to award the landscape services contract to Keller Farms; Mr. Fox seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Fox and Mr. Wright voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 2-0.

(3) Review and discussion regarding the Parks Master Plan. (TABLE, 7-01-02)

Mr. Carr stated Mrs. Bushman has appointed three staff members to review this issue, himself, Lance Schultz, and Paul Lane. Mrs. Bushman stated the team is preparing a milestone document that will be available for the Committee at the next meeting. She stated after meeting with the team members, she feels comfortable the Master Plan can be done in house with the exception of perhaps some mapping.

(4) Skate Park Project – Bid Opening, 2-28-03. Mr. Carr stated the bids were opened on Friday with four contractors providing bids. Mr. Carr stated three contractors submitted two proposals and two alternates, and one contractor submitted a base bid and 13 alternates. He stated they have just begun the process of evaluating the bids and he should have a recommendation by the next meeting, however, it appeared we did get favorable bids.

(5) Handicap Garden – Update. Mr. Greg Biggus stated he represented Buckeye Gardens for Humanity and they are a not-for-profit organization who builds gardens for handicapped people. Mr. Biggus stated former Mayor Hughes had viewed some of the work they did and he had felt they would be able to provide assistance to the city on this project. Mr. Biggus stated he had asked to have Mr. Patterson work with him and Mrs. Bushman had generously agreed. He stated the two criteria that were necessary for a handicapped garden were parking and handicap accessible restrooms, and the site that provided these two items was in Sycamore Park. Mr. Patterson stated he had a rendering showing what they would like to accomplish. He stated they would have an entrance to the park by the parking lot and there would be paths with raised beds going to the pond. He stated these beds would be available for someone who doesn’t have the space for their own flower beds so they can come to the park and work in their own garden. Mr. Patterson stated we have a beautiful pond there, however, currently it is unusable because the sides slope down into rocks and are eroding. He stated they would like to put a seawall around the pond and actually put in a handicapped dock with a pier so individuals in a wheelchair can actually go out on the dock and fish. He stated what they wanted to do was to make it into a beautiful park that is handicapped accessible. Mr. Patterson stated the first goal is to get it going by putting the seawall in, and the remainder of the park can be done in phases as there is a gazebo there that can be tied into the project and they would like to use what we already have. Mr. Fox inquired if there were funding sources, and Mr. Patterson stated they were hoping to get some donations and there may be some types of grants available as well. Mr. Patterson stated they do not have a cost estimate at this time as they were first looking for this committee’s approval of the project. Mr. Wright clarified the next phase would be the planning stage; putting together engineering, etc. Mrs. Bushman stated she would like to have our engineers look at the project and provide a cost estimate. Mr. Wright moved to authorize the design drawings be put together and then authorize bidding of the project; Mr. Fox seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Wright and Mr. Fox voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 2-0.

(6) Recreation facilities discussion. Mrs. Bushman stated this was added to the agenda at the request of Councilman Shaver at the last council meeting. Mrs. Bushman stated the old police station is approximately 2,000 square feet and part of that includes a three car garage bay. She stated the Building Regulations Department, who do housing inspections, code enforcement, and a whole plethora of things related to construction issues in the City, have rehabbed the building, saving the City over $20,000. She stated that department will be relocated into the building because the way that building was built there is no way to open it up into a large hall. Mrs. Bushman further stated the food pantry will be using a portion of the building as well. Mrs. Bushman continued this is not to say we do not need a recreation facility of some sort in the city, but there is not sufficient parking in the area and the building would not be effective as a recreation center. Mr. Wright stated there were some private and public individuals looking at the possibility of doing some type of combined City and Township recreation center and he felt the best use of this building was as office space. Mrs. Bushman stated we were also looking at the barn in Sycamore Park and doing an evaluation to see if it can be converted into some kind of space for classrooms or something like that.

B. COMMUNITY OUTREACH:

(1) Violet Festival Board Report. Ms. Whittington stated the fundraising is well underway and tickets for the Reverse Raffle scheduled for April 26^th are on sale now. She stated they are continuing to update the website as new information is available and they do have a new Gold Level Sponsor, WCBO Radio in New Albany. Ms. Whittington stated a Gold Level Sponsor is one who donates over $5,000. She stated some new activities being planned are a tethered hot air balloon ride, a children’s tractor pull, a dog agility show, and fun stations by Mad Science in COSI.

(2) Olde Pickerington Village Business Association Report. Ms. Whittington stated the Association is working on their year-end financial report, and at their last meeting they discussed the March and April Shoppe Hops. She stated they were also presented with an idea to move the Farmer’s Market from Saturday to Friday. She stated this was the request of a Lancaster farmer who felt they could not come up this way because we were competing with Lancaster and Canal Winchester on Saturday. She stated the idea is to do it in the afternoon to hit evening rush hour traffic.

C. Building Operations:

(1) City Web Site – Update. Mrs. Bushman stated we are continuing to update the web site and if anyone has any suggestions for additions or improvements please let us know. Mr. Fox stated this could be removed from the agenda.

D. Streets:

(1) Tree Commission. Mrs. Bushman stated Mr. Wiseman is on vacation and there is no report this evening.

E. Code Enforcement:

(1) Nuisance Abatement Board. Mr. Wright ascertained that the Drug Mart building will be completed in the spring and Mrs. Bushman stated we are monitoring that situation.

(2) Weather Alert Monitors – Update. Mr. Wright stated Mr. Lewis is monitoring this. Mrs. Bushman stated she would request this be removed from the agenda and brought back at a later time as we are also working on the tornado siren project and we can bring those back together. Mr. Fox stated he concurred and this would be removed from the agenda.

4. POLICE:

A. Chief’s Report. Chief Taylor stated his report had been distributed and he would answer any questions. He further stated he has completed his promotions and the interviews for a new officer have been concluded. He stated he hoped to hire one officer in late March and the next officer in late May. Chief Taylor stated he will be conducting a physical fitness test for 10 individuals who would like to be auxiliary police members. Chief Taylor stated as of this afternoon all of the local businesses have complied with the tobacco and amusement device license requirements.

B. Police Facility – Update. Chief Taylor stated the range is completed will be ready to shoot in there as soon as his range officers have some time on the computer to get familiar with it. He stated there are some issues with getting the jail open and he hoped they will be resolved in the next week or so.

5. CHAIRMAN.

A. Update on Sexually Oriented Business Legislation. Mr. Mapes stated Columbus is submitting their revised proposal this week and he was hoping to get a copy of that so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. He stated he hoped at the next hearing we will know more of what will be accepted. Mr. Fox stated regardless of what Columbus does, he would like to have something to move forward to Council at the next meeting.

B. Update on Historic Register Legislation. Mr. Mapes stated he does not have any information on that as yet, and he hoped to have it to the committee soon.

Mr. Mapes stated he would like to clarify if this Committee would like to authorize any contingency on the landscape contract as we may have some beds we would like to add or whatever, it seemed we might want to add in a contingency so we don’t have to come back and ask for a change order approval. Mrs. Bushman stated that is an excellent suggestion and she would like to see a $2,500 contingency. Mr. Fox stated he did not see a problem with adding the contingency. Mr. Wright moved to amend his previous motion to include a contingency in the amount of $2,500 for the landscape services contract; Mr. Fox seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Wright and Mr. Fox voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 2-0.

6. OTHER BUSINESS. No other business was brought forward.

7. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mr. Wright moved to adjourn; Mr. Fox seconded the motion. Mr. Wright and Mr. Fox voted “Aye.” Motion carried, 2-0. The Safety Committee meeting adjourned at 8:15 P.M., March 3, 2003.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

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Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk