CITY OF PICKERINGTON

                                           FINANCE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL

                                               CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD

                                                THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2005

 

                                                          REGULAR MEETING

 

                                                                      7:30 P.M.

 

1.         ROLL CALL.  Mrs. Riggs called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M., with roll call as follows: Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Hackworth, and Mrs. Riggs were present.  Mr. Wright was absent.  Others present were:  Mitch O’Brien, Frank Wiseman, Lynda Yartin, Linda Fersch, Dennis Schwallie, Bob Cramer, Susan Sheikh, Phil Hartmann, and others.

 

2.         A.        APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF January 20, 2005, Regular Meeting.  Mr. Wisniewski moved to approve; Mr. Hackworth seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Riggs, and Mr. Hackworth voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 3-0.  

 

            B.         APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF February 1, 2005, Special Meeting.  Mr. Hackworth moved to approve; Mr. Wisniewski seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Riggs, and Mr. Hackworth voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 3-0. 

 

3.         FINANCE DIRECTOR:

 

            A.        Presentation by Bob Cramer and Dennis Schwallie. 

 

                        (1)        Review and discussion regarding Debt Policies.  Mr. Cramer stated for discussion draft debt policies had been provided to the Committee.  Mr. Cramer stated the City has five notes coming up for renewal or conversion to bonds.  He stated four of the five are utility notes, water and sewer, and because of the current rates, they should be renewed for another year before going to the market for revenue bonds.  Mr. Cramer stated he would also suggest consolidating maturity dates so you do not have to focus on renewing notes several weeks or months in a row and they can be done at one time.  He stated this would also make the renewal less expensive for the City.  Mr. Cramer stated with regard to the draft debt policy, it clearly favors those investors who are here between bond issues, those that bid on or purchase the City’s notes.  He stated the next section of the policy, City Indebtedness, discussed the debt limit the City shares with the County.  He stated this policy recognizes the 7.5 mill limit and creates the exception for an emergency when it is in the City’s best interest.  Mrs. Riggs stated she felt something should be included in the policy that we would communicate with the County before we exercised that emergency option.  Mrs. Riggs stated she felt it was a good idea to have a policy that was adopted by Council.  Mr. Hackworth stated he would like to have the opportunity to review this draft policy more thoroughly.  Mrs. Riggs requested anyone who had  any recommendations to be added or deleted could let Mrs. Fersch know and it could be included in the policy.  Mrs. Riggs stated she would like to have this with a draft ordinance on the next Finance agenda. 

 

Mrs. Riggs stated Mr. Schwallie was present to address the issue of a bond issue for the Diley Road project.  Mr. Schwallie stated the procedure would be that Council would officially adopt an ordinance asking the County Auditor to officially estimate the millage that would be required to support the bond issue, based on estimates.  He stated this ordinance would need to contain the following items:  (1) the purpose of the borrowing (project description) as it is to appear on the ballot, (2) the maximum principal amount to be borrowed, (3) the maximum number of years for the borrowing, (4) the estimated interest rate the bonds would bear, (5) the date of the proposed election, and,  (6) the estimated date of the proposed bond issue.  He continued once the County Auditor certifies the estimated tax millage, Council would pass a second ordinance determining to proceed to the ballot.  He stated this ordinance, along with the other proceedings, would need to be certified to the Board of Elections not later than the 75th day prior to the election.  Mr. Wisniewski stated as he understood it, an ordinance would have to come out of Committee requesting the estimate, go to Council for three readings, have the 30 day waiting period before it is effective, then it would have to come back to Committee after the millage amount was known and we would have to go through it again before it could get to the ballot.  Mr. Schwallie stated that was correct.  Mr. Wisniewski stated the Committee had received a rough draft from the County Auditor showing the formula used to determine what millage would be necessary.  Mr. O’Brien stated his concern was that if we proceeded with Diley Road as a three lane project, the traffic study done by MORPC shows it will only sustain traffic for seven years, and it would have to widened to five then.  He stated if we borrowed the funds for a three lane project, in seven years we would have to borrow again to pay for the additional widening.  Mr. O’Brien stated he did not see any other funding options for the road widening. 

 

            B.         Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance amending the 2005 appropriation ordinance 2004-81.  Mrs. Fersch stated the reason for each appropriation change is detailed on the draft ordinance and in the Water Plant Fund she was requesting an increase of $17,864.74; in the St. Rt. 256 Highway Fund a decrease of $1,903; in the General Fund an increase of $71,600;in the Downtown Revitalization Fund an increase of $39,740.58; in the Trust Fund, an increase of $554,000; in the TIF Cover Construction Fund an increase of $3,109.66; in the TIF Cycle Way Construction Fund an increase of $812.56, and in the Diley Road Improvement Fund an increase of $400,000.  Mr. Wisniewski moved to approve and forward to Council; Mr. Hackworth seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Hackworth, and Mrs. Riggs voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 3-0. 

 

C.        Finance Director’s Report:  Mrs. Fersch stated she had provided a written report to the Committee and she would be happy to answer any questions.  Mrs. Fersch stated at the beginning of the year the Committee authorized her to go out for bids on renewal notes.  She stated our water issue will be due in May and she plans to renew that with Fairfield National Bank on a negotiated revenue issue so it will come due next year at the same time as other water issues. 

 

D.        Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance providing for the issuance of $1,710,000 of notes by the City of Pickerington, Ohio, in anticipation of the issuance of bonds, to renew notes previously issued for the purpose of paying part of the cost of acquiring and constructing improvements to the sanitary sewer collection and treatment system of the City, including Phases 3 and 4 of the D-Line sewer.  Mr. Schwallie stated the $1,710,000 is a renewal of existing sewer notes.  Mrs. Fersch stated the note history had been provided to the Committee as well.  Mr. Hackworth moved to approve and forward to Council; Mr. Wisniewski seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Riggs, and Mr. Hackworth voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 3-0. 

 

E.         Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance providing for the issuance of not to exceed $75,000 of notes by the City of Pickerington, Ohio, in anticipation of the issuance of bonds, for the purpose of paying part of the cost of street improvements and particularly, the closing of Meadows Boulevard.  Mr. Hackworth clarified this was for the project to cul de sac Meadows Boulevard by Milnor Road.  Mr. Wiseman stated this project was budgeted but was not funded until money was available.  Mrs. Fersch stated it was also listed in the budget that we would borrow the funds for this project.  Mrs. Riggs moved to approve and forward to Council; Mr. Wisniewski seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Hackworth, Mrs. Riggs, and Mr. Wisniewski voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 3-0. 

 

F.         Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance providing for the issuance of not to exceed $275,000 of notes by the City of Pickerington, Ohio, in anticipation of the issuance of bonds, for the purpose of paying part of the cost of constructing and acquiring improvements and renovations to the City Hall and Building Department buildings.  Mrs. Riggs clarified the plans were to do some renovations to City Hall and the Building Department.  Mr. Wisniewski stated this is a CIP project for this year and was included in the budget.  Mrs. Riggs moved to approve and forward to Council; Mr. Wisniewski seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Rigs, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mr. Hackworth voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 3-0. 

 

G.        Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance providing for the issuance of not to exceed $350,000 of notes by the City of Pickerington, Ohio, in anticipation of the issuance of bonds, for the purpose of paying part of the costs of acquiring real property for use as park land.  Mrs. Fersch stated this is for the park land that is to be purchased on S.R. 256 for $250,000 and a $100,000 contingency is included as we are looking at some other park land.  Mr. Wiseman stated he would like to discuss the additional park land during an executive session.  Mr. Hackworth moved to approve and forward to Council; Mr. Wisniewski seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Riggs, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mr. Hackworth voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 3-0. 

 

H.        Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance consolidating up to four bond anticipation note issues of the City of Pickerington, Ohio, into a consolidated note issue, and establishing the terms of such consolidated note issue.  Mr. Schwallie stated this would consolidate up to four of the note issues.  Mrs. Riggs moved to approve and forward to Council; Mr. Hackworth seconded the motion.  Mr. Hackworth clarified this would consolidate the three new note issues, and perhaps one of the renewals.  Mr. Wisniewski stated it was strictly for marketing purposes, to have a larger issue and receive more favorable rates.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Hackworth, Mrs. Riggs, and Mr. Wisniewski voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 3-0. 

 

4.         PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT:   Mrs. Sheikh stated she had provided a written report to the Committee and she would be happy to answer any questions. 

 

A.        Insurance Review Committee – Update.  Mrs. Sheikh stated at the last insurance review meeting an individual from HRH who specializes in employee benefits addressed the committee.  She stated one possible option for the future that was discussed was Health Savings Accounts.  Mrs. Sheikh stated currently the Committee is just getting educated on the various insurance options such as fully insured plans, self-insurance, consortiums, etc. 

 

5.         DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT:  Ms Crotty stated she had provided a written report to the Committee and she would be happy to answer any questions.  Ms Crotty stated she had also provided a listing of current and potential commercial development projects and the status of current development or redevelopment.  Mr. Hackworth clarified an actual JEDD is several months away as there are several issues that must be addressed. 

 

6.         CHAIRMAN: 

A.        Law Director Search – Update.  Mrs. Riggs stated as everyone can see, we are behind schedule on the timeline we wanted to meet.  She stated Mr. Plunkett had received input from Council and he would be putting together the profile with the desired qualities and capacities. 

 

7.         OTHER BUSINESS:   No other business was brought forward.     

 

8.         MOTIONS:  

 

A.        Motion for an Executive Session under Section 121.22(G)(1)(b), Matters involving an employee’s or public official’s employment, Section 121.22(G)(2), Purchase or sale of public property, Section 121.22(G)(3), Conference with law director regarding pending or imminent court action, and Section 121.22(G)(4), Matters involving bargaining sessions with public employees.  Mr. Wisniewski moved for Executive Session under the stated sections; Mr. Hackworth seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Riggs, and Mr. Hackworth voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 3-0.   

 

Finance Committee went into Executive Session at 8:34 P.M., and reconvened in open session at 8:53 P.M.

 

9.         ADJOURNMENT.  There being nothing further, Mr. Wisniewski moved to adjourn; Mr. Hackworth seconded the motion.  Mr. Hackworth, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mrs. Riggs voted "Aye."  Motion carried, 3-0.  The Finance Committee adjourned at 8:54 P.M., February 17, 2005.

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

 

 

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Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk