President of Council Kathy McNear
called Council to order on
The governmental body and those in
attendance recited the pledge of allegiance.
Mr. Knox gave the invocation.
Mr. Knox took roll call. Present were Council members
The minutes of
Introduction of Assistant Recreation
Director, Matt Beaty and Senior Programmer, Marty Garges
Greg Karle, Community Center
Director, said
Matt Beaty needs no introduction. He has
served as our
Mr. Karle said most of you know we
have become heavily involved in senior programming since the first of the year. Currently we are serving over 1,000 senior
members with programs and special events.
It’s been a huge project and our Assistant Director, Sharon Casselman,
as well as our entire staff, has done a great job in getting the program off
the ground and running real well. Our
new Adult Senior Programmer is Marty Garges. Marty was most recently employed with the
City of Mason Recreation Department. She
served as their front desk manager in their Community Center. Most of her experience previously was in
senior programming. She brings a lot of
talent and background with her. I think
it will be a great fit for her and for us.
Mr. Osborn stated prior to this year
about 400 members of our community were participating in the Community Center
at various levels, some in name only.
When we jumped into this we saw our numbers go up, not only from outside
the City, but also residents in the City.
We have 500 active members from within
RESOLUTION R7-2006 “COMMENDING JOSEPH SCOTT FOR HIS
DEDICATION
Ms. Pollitt made a motion to adopt and Mr. Wilson seconded.
Ms. Pollitt said I’ve known Joe for a long time and had two boys who
went through his troop. My one son made
Eagle Scout under Joe. I know that you
taught them all the skills that were represented in the Boy Scout handbook such
as building fires, blazing trails, pitching tents; but you taught them other
things that were not in that book that has made a world of difference to a lot
of young men. You taught them fairness,
integrity, honor and character. You were
a mentor to the boys who needed a male figure in their lives. I know I am very proud to be part of that
short span that my sons were in your troop and I thank you from the bottom of
my heart.
Mayor Webster said I have known Joe as a neighbor since the early 70s
and I’ve tried to attend most of the Eagle Scout presentations since I’ve been
Mayor and Joe has always been there. I
think it’s pretty incredible when you thing about someone who has been a mentor
and father figure at times to over 300 boys in this community. A lot of times we honor coaches who win
league championships and trophies and I doubt if we’ve ever had a coach before
us who has coached over 300 young men the way you have, especially to mentor 21
to where they’ve become Eagle Scouts. I
think your contribution is unparalleled in this community. On
behalf of the entire City, thank you very much.
I’m sure your troop is going to miss you.
Resolution R7-2006 passed with six affirmative votes.
Mr. Scott said I appreciate this honor you are bestowing upon me but
truthfully I’m not worthy of it. You are
giving it to me and there are so many men and women who are behind me that have
contributed so much toward the way this troop has been run. Joe Rudik has been
with me since Day One. Charles Hormann has sixty years in scouting and has been with me
since Day One. Bob Simmons gave his last
year of life at summer camp dying of cancer to be with the boys. These are people who give everything for the
kids. A lot of the high adventure trips
and campouts wouldn’t have happened without Frank Gorman. If you want to give a round of applause these
people in the background deserve it.
RESOLUTION R8-2006 “COMMENDING
MATTHEW JACKSON FOR RECEIVING THE DISTINGUISHED HONOR OF EAGLE SCOUT”
Mr. Squires made a motion to adopt and Mr. Danbury seconded.
Mr. Scott stated Matt joined our troop and like a lot of new scouts was
unsure of himself.
Matt turned out extremely well.
Matt has turned into a mentor. He
has been training the younger scouts for the last year and a half. He’s helping the boys advance. He has made Eagle and he’s over 18 so he’s no
longer a scout. He’s an assistant scout
master. He stayed with the troop and is
in the process of training the next batch of scouts. He’s going to go far.
Resolution R8-2006 passed with six affirmative votes.
RESOLUTION R9-2006 “COMMENDING
JUSTIN ROBINSON FOR RECEIVING THE DISTINGUISHED HONOR OF EAGLE SCOUT”
Mr. Danbury made a motion to adopt and Mr. Wilson seconded.
Mr. Scott said if you want to see Justin’s eyes light up tell him you
are going on a high adventure trip somewhere.
He’s always the first one to raise his hand. He’s also accomplished with several musical
instruments. He also has been helping
out with the young scouts.
Resolution R9-2006 passed with six affirmative votes.
RESOLUTION R10-2006 “COMMENDING ANDY GORMAN FOR RECEIVING THE
DISTINGUISHED HONOR OF EAGLE SCOUT”
Mr. Squires made a motion to adopt
and Mr. Danbury seconded.
Mr. Scott said Andy has a lot of
respect for his elders. He enjoys life a
whole lot. He has fun doing just about
everything. He always has a smile on his
face and works hard at what he does.
Andy Gorman said I’d like to thank
Mr. Scott, my parents and other leaders for getting me where I am today.
The Mayor and members of Council
offered their congratulations to the recipients.
Resolution R10-2006 passed with six
affirmative votes.
Mr. Scott said I’d like to thank Ms.
Pollitt. Because of her efforts, the troop was able to procure a trailer to
haul all of our equipment to do these high adventure trips.
COMMITTEE AND OFFICIAL REPORTS
Civil Service Commission - no report
Rules and Laws - no report
Public Relations - no report
Public Health, Safety & Welfare - no report
Public Works – Mr. Wilson said all work on the 2005 street
program has been completed.
Public Utilities - no report
Capital Improvements – Mr. Danbury said the report back from
the contractor on the SR 747 grade separation was not satisfactory to ODOT so
they have been found in default of the contract. The meetings between the bonding company and
ODOT are being held to verify the schedule and a new contractor. Mr. Shvegzda said his best guess as to when
the project will start again is mid June.
The remainder of the pavers and decorative wall for the Streetscape will
be completed this month. The SR4 at
Crescentville project has no change. Ordinances
25, 26 and 28 on the agenda tonight are concerning Kemper Road Phase III. The Fire Department HVAC legislation is on the
agenda tonight. The project should be
complete in late October. Bids for the
Fire Department roof will be open May 10.
The contract for the SR 747 pavement replacement project will be awarded
in July. The
Finance Committee - no report
Planning Commission – Mr. Vanover reported landscaping and
building materials for
Board of Zoning Appeals – Mr. Squires said a request for an
oversize utility building two feet from the property line was discussed. The setback will be five feet from the
property line and approval was granted for a 10 foot by 14 foot shed. The second item was Jake Sweeney’s request
for additional signage. This was
recommended to BZA by Planning Commission and was approved.
Board of Health – Mayor Webster stated the major discussion
was about
Veteran’s Memorial Committee - no report
O-K-I - no report
Mayor’s Report – Mayor Webster said the Police Department is
trying to start two more neighborhood watch groups; one at The Willows and one
at The Colony. Twenty-five people
attended the first meeting at The Willows.
They talked about the communication problems with people who can’t speak
English. If you can’t speak English you
have to be able to at least give your address.
There is a process in place with Hamilton County Dispatch to have a call
transferred to a translator in 10 to 45 seconds if the caller speaks
Spanish. They also had a meeting at The
Colony and thirteen people attended that one.
The Police Department needs all the eyes and ears they can get in the
neighborhoods. It’s the best crime
prevention we can institute.
Clerk of Council/Finance Director - no report
Administrator’s Report – Mr. Osborn stated I would like to
request legislation at the next meeting authorizing an agreement with BP Oil to
provide gasoline, diesel and bio-diesel to our City over the period July 2006
to June 2007. The prices are based on
the Oil Pricing Index Service (OPIS).
There is an average price at distribution points, gas stations, etc.
published on a daily basis. We then get
a markup for transportation of that fuel to the City garage facilities. We are for the first time, going to purchase
bio-diesel at an 80% diesel/20% soy mix as a test program to see how some of
our bigger vehicles do on that mixture.
I don’t think initially this will be a cost benefit to us. It will be an environmental benefit, but as
prices continue to grow for fossil fuels I think we need the experience on how
to use the bio-diesel or other types of bio fuels and how we might incorporate
their use on a larger scale.
Mr. Osborn said we have a change order for the Springfield
Pike Streetscape Phase II. This would be
change order number 1 to add the streetscape across the frontage of what was
formerly Bing’s.
We did that orally with the State.
Mr. McErlane reports that the State of
Law Director’s Report - no report
Engineer’s Report - no
report
COMMUNICATIONS - no report
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE - none
ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS
ORDINANCE NO. 23-2006 “AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CLERK OF
COUNCIL/FINANCE DIRECTOR TO ENTER INTO AN ADMINISTRATIVE AGREEMENT WITH UNITED
MEDICAL RESOURCES (UMR) AS THE THIRD PARTY ADMINISTRATOR OF THE CITY’S
SELF-FUNDED HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”
Mr. Danbury made a motion to adopt
and Mr. Wilson seconded.
Mr. Parham stated last year we took
a slight gamble by incorporating the Corridor Program with lower rates and more
risks. We were very fortunate in that we
had one individual in the program who did exceed the
numbers but it did not reach the numbers that we would have anticipated. Therefore, we experienced a savings of
$37,000 by accepting the Corridor Program.
We had a slight increase in our stop loss rates for singles by 12 cents
but we actually had a decrease for the stop loss rate for families. We experienced a reduction in our aggregate
of six percent per employee per month.
When I published this report we had expended $951,000 with four weeks
left to pay. Right now we have one week
left to pay and we are at $1.24 million.
I’m not sure if we will pierce the aggregate or not.
Mr. Parham reported we had not had a
rate increase by the third party administrator over the last year. Our last increase came in 2004. At this point they are requesting a 3.65
percent increase over the 2004 rates to 29.80 per employee. Our access fee for the Health Span Preferred
Network remains at $5.50. We are going
to look at ways to reduce the claims volume and take a closer look at the
prescription program to see if there is a way to reduce costs in those
areas. I recommend Council approve both
ordinances 23 and 24.
Ordinance no. 23-2006 passed with
six affirmative votes.
ORDINANCE NO. 24-2006 “AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CLERK OF
COUNCIL/FINANCE DIRECTOR TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH HCC BENEFITS CORPORATION TO PROVIDE FOR STOP-LOSS INSURANCE AND
DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”
Ms. Pollitt made a motion to adopt
and Mr. Danbury seconded.
Mr. Osborn said I’d like to
compliment Mr. Parham for the excellent job he is doing with risk management,
particularly this health insurance coverage.
It’s a very volatile field. This
plan does save us money. Most of this
contract fell during the first year that we had employee co-pay on our health
insurance. That has not been factored
into our true cost because at this point it is not much more than token. It’s $50 for a
family per month and $25 for single. We
have opened that door with our unions and I think they appreciate the fact that
health insurance is becoming a greater factor for an employer in terms of
providing a full range of benefits.
Ordinance 24-2006 passed with six
affirmative votes.
ORDINANCE NO. 25-2006 “AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR
Mr. Squires made a motion to adopt
and Mr. Wilson seconded.
Mr. Osborn stated these
modifications come out of the Tri-County PUD that was recently approved by you
and Planning Commission. The cost of
construction for this work will initially be born by the owner of the mall, but
ultimately they will be reimbursed out of the Tri-County TIF proceeds once that
gets on its feet. The work covered by
the ordinance this evening deals with the design of
these improvements. Because we did want
to hold control of that design, we are contracting directly with our City
Engineer to do that work. Once the TIF is in place and has generated
sufficient funds we will be able to reimburse ourselves from that TIF. This is a project that is needed in a timely
way. That drawing you saw of the new
location shows a new building which is a combination deli and Caribou Coffee
that is served by this new intersection.
We would like to get this work started.
This improves access between Cassinelli and
Tri-County Mall. We ask Council to
consider this favorably.
Ordinance 25-2006 passed with six
affirmative votes.
ORDINANCE NO. 26-2006 “AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR
Mr. Danbury made
a motion to adopt and Ms. Pollitt seconded.
Mr. Osborn
said this represents the purchase of four easements, two permanent and two
temporary for the roadway work which would be our cost. We are acquiring 13,591 square feet of
permanent roadway and utility easements, and temporary easements of 15,807
square feet. For the waterworks we are
obtaining 8,550 square feet of permanent easement and 2,330 square feet of
temporary easement. As Mr. Danbury
alluded to earlier, this is the first of three properties we need to settle for
the construction of this project. We are
acquiring these easements at their appraised value. Although we are going to pay John Morrell
$43,542 for all four easements, we will be reimbursed by the Waterworks making
our net cost $23,372.
Ordinance
26-2006 passed with six affirmative votes.
ORDINANCE NO. 27-2006 “AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CLERK OF
COUNCIL/FINANCE DIRECTOR TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH MCBRIDE DALE CLARION FOR PROFESSIONAL PLANNING SERVICES”
Mr. Wilson made a motion to adopt and Ms. Pollitt seconded.
Mr. Osborn said I might start out by saying we haven’t had
an increase for this contract in seven years.
This is no more than a token
increase. The average increase for the
different rate categories is 10.5% but if you break that out over the seven
years she has been working under the original amount, that
results to 1.1% increase per year. I’m
very glad to see us renewing our contract with
Mr. Vanover stated I have had the pleasure of serving with
Anne on Planning Commission. Her reports
as well as the other staff reports provide us with all the ins and outs we need
so that we can walk through
our job fully knowledgeable.
Mayor Webster said I am very impressed with the detailed
nature of staff comments. I think it
makes our planning process so much more professional. Even though applicants may get grilled, I
think they know where we are coming from and are impressed with what degree we
go to to make sure that this City maintains a quality
development. Anne is an integral part of
our process and we’re glad you’re on board for another year.
Mr. Osborn said I wanted to add that we have tried to refocus
our rolls as support staff to Planning Commission. Rather than just dwell on the negative with
the project, we also want to sell to Planning Commission what’s right with the
project. We are not here to turn
projects down. We are here to help Planning
and Council make decisions about projects.
We have to be more customer friendly if we want
to stay competitive.
Ordinance 27-2006 passed with six affirmative votes.
ORDINANCE
NO.
28-2006 “AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR
Mr. Danbury made a motion to adopt and Mr. Wilson seconded.
Mr. Osborn stated I distributed to the dais a copy of a
report I asked the City Engineer to put together because we don’t face this type of agreement with
the railroad every day. It’s very
difficult for us to appreciate how they burn their money. Mr. Shvegzda did a thorough review and audit
of their proposal and I think what they are proposing is realistic in terms of
cost. We could not do the widening of
the bridge without their participation.
The cost to us will be $190,578 but I wanted you to see the components
of that cost explained by our City Engineer.
Ordinance 28-2006 passed with six affirmative votes.
ORDINANCE
NO.
29-2006 “ACCEPTING
A
Mr. Danbury made a motion to adopt and Mr. Squires seconded.
Mr. Osborn said we bid this same project in December. We were fifty percent over budget so we broke
it down into components to see what we can afford to do since we had budgeted
$270,000. We’re doing the bulk of the
project but we are leaving out some of the alternates. Those revolve mainly around the water
circulation pumps that feed and remove water from the boiler through the hot
water system. We will look at replacing
those next year.
Ms. Pollitt asked what we are looking at for the water re-circulating
pump?
Mr. Osborn replied if you look at Alternate H3, H4,
Alternate E3 and E4 you will see that the biggest item is Alternate H3, which is
$93,480 so we are looking at around $100,000.
We can live without replacing this system until the next budget year.
Ordinance 29-2006 passed with six affirmative votes.
ORDINANCE
NO.
30-2006 “ACCEPTING A
Mr. Danbury made a
motion to adopt and Mr. Squires seconded.
Mr. Osborn said I’d like
to direct your attention to the memorandum I just distributed that is actually
issued by ODOT. They had a meeting to
discuss why their costs on contracts state-wide have increased so rapidly over
the last two years. They have seen an
average increase of 26% from 2003 to 2005.
We are seeing a similar rapid increase in cost for projects. The State thinks that is based primarily on
the cost of fuel. Asphalt is a petroleum
based product and all the equipment runs on petroleum. I give
you that information as preparation for going through our status on East Kemper
Road Phase II. It’s one of the biggest
projects we’ve ever entered into cost-wise.
Attached to your legislative update is a cost summary. The low bid without alternates is
$5,017,381. Of that amount we can subtract
$2,706,910 as direct cost to Cincinnati Water Works, and Water Works will
deposit a sum in that amount with the City in order to pay for this project. They will net some things out of that but
their cost will be a little over $2.3 million.
Below that we have to add in the cost of our sixteen-inch water main
relocation. We had some water main work
that we had to do that Water Works is charging us for. The only alternate we want to put into this
project is one that will pay for repairs to the existing bridge. The City must also pay the Force Account that
you just approved. Cincinnati Water
Works will owe us money for paying on the
Ordinance 30-2006 passed
with six affirmative votes.
OLD BUSINESS - none
NEW BUSINESS
Mr. Osborn said we request time on
the second meeting in May to introduce new police officers.
MEETINGS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Opening Day parade - April 29
Mayor Webster reported that Mr.
Osborn and I have been spending a lot of time working on the bicentennial. We are trying to get some dates locked in and
should be able to start giving you a bi-weekly report of where we stand, what
we have planned, etc.
Mr. Wilson asked have we received
the check for the Veteran’s Memorial.
Mayor Webster replied yes, it has been receipted into the City treasury
and the City has to cut a check for the Veteran’s Memorial committee.
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE - none
UPDATE ON LEGISLATION STILL IN DEVELOPMENT - none
RECAP OF LEGISLATIVE ITEMS REQUESTED
Ordinance to buy gas - May 3
Change order for streetscape - May 3
Building Code changes - May 17
Council adjourned at
Respectfully
submitted,
Edward F. Knox
Clerk
of Council/Finance Director
Minutes
Approved:
Kathy
McNear, President of Council
__________________________,
2006