President of Council Marjorie Harlow called Council to order on January
7, 2009, at 7:00 p.m.
The governmental body and those in attendance recited the pledge of
allegiance.
Mrs. McNear took roll call. Present were Council members Danbury,
Diehl, Galster, Squires, Wilson and Harlow. Mr. Vanover came in late.
The minutes of December 17, 2008 were approved with six affirmative
votes.
COMMUNICATIONS
Mrs. McNear read a letter from Andrew Kaferdini: “As the 127th
general assembly comes to a close, I want to thank you for the opportunity to represent
the citizens of the 28th district. It was an honor to serve you in the Ohio House of
Representatives. Many important pieces of legislation were passed in the final weeks of
the session. To thank our veterans for their service we passed financial bonuses for Ohio
veterans who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf War. To help stimulate
Ohio’s economy and create new jobs we passed incentives designed to bring outside
investments to Ohio with HB 196. In HB 79 we made important clarifications to our workers
compensation system. To protect and serve our children we passed HB 320 which safeguards
our kids by ensuring that they are secured properly in their car seats, and most
importantly we passed the final version of HB 7 which makes it easier for loving families
to adopt children in our state. Pending Mayor’s Court legislation did not emerge for
a final vote. The year ahead brings many challenges for all of us but it will also provide
new opportunities for Ohio to be a leader in our nation’s economic recovery. To do so
we must continue to focus on the results and doing whatever it takes to make Ohio a more
competitive place to do business, create and attract jobs and make our state a better
place to live and work. Progress was made in the final weeks of the 127th general assembly
but there is still much more to do. Representative elect Connie Pillich begins her service
as your representative in January and I wish her well. Thanks again for your trust and the
opportunity to serve our community.”
Mrs. McNear said there is a notice that Baldwin Grove is planning an
open house on Thursday, January 22 and it is open to the public.
Mr. Osborn stated they are reorganizing that event and it will be held
later in the year.
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE -
none
ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS
ORDINANCE NO. 1- 2009 “ANNUAL APPROPRIATION / ESTIMATED RECEIPTS ORDINANCE FOR FISCAL
YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 2009”
Mr. Squires made a motion to adopt and Mr. Wilson seconded.
Mr. Osborn said the total on Exhibit B for the general fund
appropriations is shown as $20,824,296. The work budget we put in front of you in December
was $19,182,796. The difference is that in order to be in compliance with State accounting
requirements we roll the insurance trust and health insurance trust funds into the general
fund and treat them as one fund.
Ordinance 1-2009 passed with six affirmative votes.
ORDINANCE NO. 2-2009 “AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 8-2008 AND ORDINANCE NO. 46-2008 TO
PROVIDE FOR WAGE INCREASES AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”
Mr. Squires made a motion to adopt and Mr. Wilson seconded.
Mr. Osborn said this was incorrectly assembled. The document attached to the revision
dated 1/5/09 should have been incorporated into the original document as opposed to
creating a separate ordinance. We would like you to consider the total attachment
referenced in the ordinance. It would be an amendment to Exhibit A which would add the
position of full time sanitarian which was overlooked when we put together the pay
ordinance in December. The change accommodated by the revision is the inclusion of a pay
item for a recording secretary because we are looking at taking some of these positions
and converting them to part-time positions.
Mr. Parham said on Exhibit A, there is Exhibit A, Exhibit A-1 and Exhibit D. On Exhibit A
we added Public Health Sanitarian. In February 2008 Council adopted n Ordinance 8-2008
creating the position of public health sanitarian as a full-time position. We are asking
that we now incorporate that into the pay table. Exhibit D is recording secretary shown as
a grade 9. The second page is there because there are that many positions listed.
Mr. Galster asked is the recording secretary a new position or just a change in the pay
scale?
Mr. Parham replied it is a change in the pay scale. It was previously listed at $7.25 to
$12.50 and we simply changed it to grade 9.
Mr. Osborn stated that was a rate that had not been used in a long time because we had not
had a part-time person filling the role of recording secretary. Now we are going to have a
part-time recording secretary for the Civil Service Commission and we are going to be
consistent with how we pay our part-time police clerks, etc.
Mayor Webster said looking ahead, is everything included in the pay table?
Mr. Parham said if we don’t have any union contracts in a year, Council approves the
wage ordinance at the end of the year and that’s all we need. If we have a contract
that has a change, we keep the supervisors at an equal rate with the officers, after we
adopt the contract we adopt the adjustment for those supervisors. In this instance, I made
sure I put that sanitarian position in so when we do it next year everything should be
captured.
Ordinance 2-2009 passed with six affirmative votes.
RESOLUTION R1-2009 “AUTHORIZING THE INVESTMENT OF MUNICIPAL FUNDS”
Mr. Squires made a motion to adopt and Mr. Danbury seconded.
Mr. Wilson asked how much money is invested and is it invested monthly, quarterly, etc.?
Mrs. McNear replied we check the rates and get a determination. We have been using Star
Ohio for quite some time as they have the best rate. We invest it quarterly but we check
it monthly.
Mayor Webster said it’s whenever an investment comes up. If a CD comes up every
thirty days, that’s when we check it. If it’s six months, we do it then.
Resolution R1-2009 passed with six affirmative votes.
RESOLUTION R2-2009 “REQUESTING ADVANCE PAYMENT FROM HAMILTON COUNTY AUDITOR”
Mr. Squires made a motion to adopt and Mr. Wilson seconded.
Resolution R2-2009 passed with six affirmative votes.
OLD BUSINESS
Mr. Osborn said when we were doing the budget we were looking at areas
where we could institute fees or increase fees. The debris removal program is one of those
areas. The cost items take into account mileage, tipping fee and manpower. The program is
popular but expensive. We suggest putting a modest fee on it to generate some revenue but
still provide the service at a reasonable cost. Our recommendation is a fee of $25 for the
smaller truck and $50 for the larger truck.
Mr. Danbury said Reading charges a higher fee for second and subsequent
uses. If we charge a higher fee people might get everything out the first time.
Mr. Osborn said with a modest fee we will eliminate the cancellations
or returned empty trucks. It will also bring down the usage. This program does have value
to the City. It helps clean up the City.
Mr. Danbury suggested $25 and $50 for the first usage and $75 and $100
for the second use in a calendar year.
Mr. Galster said I wouldn’t have a problem with fees of $50 and
$100.
Mr. Wilson stated I am uncomfortable with raising the fee. I think $25
and $50 are good fees even for the second time. Raising the fees would discourage people
from using it.
Mr. Diehl said I think the fees should be higher but should not be
raised for the second or third time.
Mayor Webster said I would not want to raise the fees beyond $25 and
$50 and would be comfortable with leaving it at $25 and $50 for the second time.
Mrs. Harlow said we have used it at our house. We have also used Waste
Management and those containers costs $300+ for a five day time period.
Mayor Webster said if we did away with the program the City would save
$9,000 a year.
Mr. Danbury said if we took out the labor cost and we did 150 next
year. It would cost the City $9,000 and we could recoup $3,000 to $4,000. I think the
benefit to the City would be well worth it. If we charged $50 it would cost the City
approximately $1,500.
Mr. Danbury made a motion to charge $25 for the small truck and $50 for
the large truck for each occurrence. Mr. Squires seconded. The motion passed with six
affirmative votes.
Mr. Osborn continued we also looked at the leaf program. The cost that
would be eliminated would be just under $8,000. That does not include labor. There is no
overtime for the program. The other major programs at this time of year are cleaning up
landscape areas and putting up Christmas decorations. The program is worth the money we
put into it. The savings does not justify the loss of service.
Mayor Webster said I recommend keeping the program. It lasts six weeks
max.
Mrs. McNear, Mr. Danbury, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Squires, Mr. Diehl and Mrs.
Harlow all spoke in favor of the program.
Mr. Galster said it costs an average of $20,000 to run the program
including man power . I am not opposed to keeping this but added to the debris removal
program it is the cost of one full-time job.
Council was in agreement to keep the program.
Mr. Parham stated at the December 3rd meeting we had legislation on a
totaled police cruiser. We received $22,000 in insurance checks and $5,515 from the
salvage auction.
Mayor Webster said when we pulled the budget numbers together we
thought we would end the year with a balance of $2.7 million. We actually ended the year
with $3.4 million. The expenses came in $485,000 less than projected. State tax was up
$155,000 and the earnings tax was $85,000 more than anticipated. I’d like to suggest
that Mrs. McNear give a budget report at the end of each quarter.
NEW BUSINESS
Mrs. McNear said I had put a liquor license request in your mailboxes earlier this week
but I received a letter from the Department of Commerce saying they sent it by mistake so
please disregard it.
Mr. Osborn said OKI sent out an invitation to submit proposals for
projects that might be included under funding through an economic stimulus package. This
is totally unofficial. They are just trying to position this region to be ready to react.
Some of the criteria we have to observe are that these projects have to be transportation
related, have no planning elements at all, and they have to be ready to go to construction
by July 2009. The projects we have identified include the Northland Boulevard improvement
project that we did not receive funding on through LTIP, the southbound lane addition, the
Ross Park bridge that is now a ford, the intersection at Kemper and SR 4. This project
would require 100% local funding. It is approaching $1 million and we can not afford to do
it. The last project is the SR 4 and Glensprings ditch enclosure. There is no guarantee
but it is good of OKI to take this initiative to get us ready if something should happen.
This has to be in to OKI by January 22 so I wanted to preview our response for you this
evening. No legislation is required at this time.
Mayor Webster said the ford at Ross Park has been on the capital
improvement list for six or seven years. One of these days we will have a big flood and
won’t be able to get over to the park so we really need to get that done.
Mr. Squires said Mr. Osborn, I mentioned to you one time the situation
of CXS hauling chlorine. Do you have an update on that?
Mr. Osborn replied that has been a practice by CSX for many years. Our
Fire Department and the regional HAZMAT operation are also aware of it. Chlorine is in
those tanks as a liquid but if a leak should develop it would escape as a gas. Chlorine
gas is heavier than air so it would fall to the ground. The treatment or approach would be
for the Fire Department or HAZMAT unit to put water on the area because that dilutes the
chlorine gas. We would have to determine where any evacuations might have to take place.
The railroad tracks are elevated and if the prevailing winds are southwest to northeast
that would blow it right down in that valley in the Heritage Hill area. This is the kind
of stuff the Fire Department trains for.
MEETINGS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
OKI
-
January 8
Board of Health
-
January 8
Planning Commission
-
January 13
Board of Zoning Appeals
-
January 20
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE - none
UPDATE ON LEGISLATION STILL IN DEVELOPMENT
Cooperative Agreement with ODOT regarding the repair
and resurfacing of SR 747 from I-275 to Kemper Road January 21
RECAP OF LEGISLATIVE ITEMS REQUESTED - none
Council adjourned at 8:05 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Kathy
McNear
Clerk
of Council/Finance Director
Minutes Approved:
Marjorie Harlow, President of Council
__________________________, 2009