President of Council Marjorie Harlow called Council to order on May 21, 2008, at 7:00 p.m.

    The governmental body and those in attendance recited the pledge of allegiance. Mrs. McNear gave the invocation.

    Mrs. McNear took roll call. Present were Council members Danbury, Diehl, Squires, Vanover, Wilson and Harlow. Mr. Galster was absent.

    Mrs. Harlow said we would like to extend our sympathies and support for Mayor Webster in the passing of his mother.

    The minutes of May 7, 2008 were approved with six affirmative votes.

    COMMITTEE AND OFFICIAL REPORTS
    Civil Service Commission                 -         no report
Rules and Laws                     -         no report

Mayor Webster asked have you started considering the Charter amendments? Mr. Osborn and I have a couple of comments on a couple of recommendations and would appreciate an audience.

Finance Committee                     -         no report
Planning Commission                     -         no report

Board of Zoning Appeals – Mr. Danbury said the property at 12065 Greencastle was granted a variance to build a new house with a 22 foot backyard setback. The owner of 1079 Ledro Street was granted a variance for a privacy fence with the posts on the outside. The owner of 141 Ruskin was granted a variance for a porch roof over the back patio. A utility building that was denied last month for a two foot side and rear yard setback was denied again. A variance was granted for a fence with outside posts on the outside at 207 Diston Lane.     The owner of 81 East Crescentville had a fire and wants to rebuild using the same slab. They needed a variance for the front yard setback. That was approved 7-0.

Board of Health – Mr. Squires reported that the subsidy agreement with the Ohio Department of Health has been completed and filed. The Boulevard has received a notice for a third smoking violation and fine of $500. A women’s health screening will be held on June 14 at The Vineyard Church. There will be changes with the flu immunization program this year as the State may not be providing vaccine for those over 65 years of age. The Health Department will work with Maxim Health Systems to provide flu vaccine this year.

Veteran’s Memorial Committee – Mr. Wilson stated Jay Dennis and he were invited to speak on the Veteran’s Memorial and golf outing for ICRC. That was taped on Monday.

O-K-I                             -         no report
Mayor’s Report                      -         no report
Clerk of Council/Finance Director             -         no report

Administrator’s Report – Mr. Osborn reported we have been awarded funding for the total replacement of our traffic signal system. The estimated cost of the project is $1,045,825. The funding will be 80% CMAC funding, 20% Springdale. Our local share would be $209,165. We plan to do design in 2009 with construction in 2010. The project is made up of the replacement of the signal equipment and controllers, communication cables, pan-tilt-zoom cameras for incident management at intersections and the conversion of the system to a more comprehensive controlled management approach. We were one of the first cities to have a closed loop system but they were linear. The new generation will allow us to treat it as a total web. We can manage our traffic signals globally as opposed to linearly. We will upgrade our pedestrian lights and buttons and I would imagine they would have an audible sound to be in compliance with ADA.

Mr. Osborn continued our current cooperation agreement with Hamilton County for the Urban County Community Development Block Grant Program comes to an end on February 28, 2009. The County is now going through their process to put together their next three year application to HUD for this funding source. It would be my intention to bring the necessary resolution and recommendations before you at your next meeting. The packet I have distributed to you includes the agreement and the federal document behind the agreement so we all agree with what we are committing to. The purpose of the program is to help low and moderate income people. This program also has another component which is to protect historical facilities. In the past we have been successful in this process. In the last three year funding cycle we received help with funding for the senior center that we created at the Springdale Community Center, street repairs in areas that based upon census data are eligible for funding. We will be fortunate if we get funding in one of these three funding years. There have been some occasions when we have not received any funding because the qualifications are very stringent and the competition is pretty significant. I do think it’s worthwhile though to renew our agreement with the County and proceed with an application.

Law Director’s Report                  -         no report

Engineer’s Report – Mr. Shvegzda said R B Jergens was the low bidder at $2,363,067 for the SR 4 improvements at Crescentville. This was $190,000 below ODOT’s estimate. The fountain wall for the Veteran’s Memorial is substantially completed and the planning for the fountain is underway. The SR 4 southbound lane addition at I-275 construction drawings are 75% complete. Mt. Pleasant Blacktopping is the low bidder for the 2008 street program. Construction will be mid June to late October.

    Mr. Danbury asked Mr. Shvegzda, do you know the status of the I-275 widening. It’s supposed to be a three-year project and I know they are really moving along.

    Mr. Shvegzda replied they are on track. They intend to switch over this fall.

    Mayor Webster said it is a four-year project.

    COMMUNICATIONS                     -         none

    COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE

    Darryl Bryant, 480 West Sharon Road, said I understand that you don’t have an energy conservation program. I have noticed twice Springdale vehicles in the drive-thru at Wendy’s. To me, when you let a vehicle idle you are wasting money. I can’t see city vehicles going through the drive-thru. They are wasting my money and other taxpayers’ money. I talked to Mayor Webster and he said you don’t have a policy on that. I would appreciate if you would look into working out some type of vehicle policy. There is a real good site on the internet called ecomotor.com. It gives you 105 driving tips on the efficiency of operating a vehicle and getting the most out of it. I don’t know if you have any control over the speed limit but 55 or 60 coming through here would help. On SR 4 coming down from the County there is a split for the entrance ramp onto I-275. I think they need to put another curb in there so people don’t have to stop at that one light where people are coming off. That’s one light they don’t have to stop and idle at.

    Mrs. Harlow said I’m sure the Administration will be looking at a possible vehicle policy. Everyone is concerned about energy costs right now. The interchange at the interstate is being reworked. It is a state project and the speed limit is also state controlled.

    Mayor Webster said I told Mr. Bryant we do not have a policy on using vehicles at lunch. It doesn’t make sense to have someone working in the field come back in to get his own car. In talking with Mr. Osborn I learned that we do have a policy that allows non-salary people to use their vehicles. That is an administrative policy that is not going to change at this point.

    Mr. Vanover said some vehicles are diesel and it is cheaper for them to continue to run rather than be turned off and on but we can all adapt and make better use of our energy.

    Mr. Danbury stated our Street Maintenance Building is heated by used motor oil so that’s one good thing we have done.

    ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS

ORDINANCE NO. 23-2008 “DECLARING FIVE VEHICLES AS SURPLUS OR SEIZED PROPERTY AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY ADMINISTRATOR TO ADVERTISE, AUCTION AND ENTER INTO A CONTRACT FOR SALE OF SAID VEHICLES AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”

Mr. Vanover made a motion to adopt and Mr. Squires seconded.

Ordinance 23-2008 passed with six affirmative votes.

ORDINANCE NO. 24-2008 “APPROVING A MAJOR MODIFICATION TO THE PRELIMINARY DEVELOPMENT PLAN (PUD) TO THE CROSSINGS IN THE PARK PUD LOCATED AT 12100 PRINCETON PIKE ”

    First reading.

ORDINANCE NO. 25-2008 “ACCEPTING A BID AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CLERK OF COUNCIL/FINANCE DIRECTOR TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH MT. PLEASANT BLACKTOPPING FOR THE 2008 STREET IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”

Mr. Vanover made a motion to adopt and Mr. Wilson seconded.

Ordinance 25-2008 passed with six affirmative votes.

RESOLUTION R8-2008 “PRELIMINARY LEGISLATION – URBAN PAVING – SR4”

Mr. Danbury made a motion to read by title only and Mr. Vanover seconded. The motion passed with six affirmative votes.

Mr. Danbury made a motion to adopt and Mr. Vanover seconded.

Mr. Osborn stated the project involves the resurfacing and repair of SR 4 from Sharon Road north to Cameron Road. The estimated cost is $351,900. The State of Ohio projects that our local share will be $104,700. The State will put the wearing surface on but if there are any subsurface repairs to be made they look to the local jurisdiction to do that. Once they are in the field and determine how much they have to do, our number could change. We will probably have to make a deposit on that money in 2008 for this 2009 project.

Resolution R8-2008 passed with six affirmative votes.

OLD BUSINESS                 -         none

    NEW BUSINESS

    Mrs. McNear asked have we confirmed our summer schedule?

    Mr. Vanover made a motion to repeat the summer schedule and meet the third Wednesday only in July and August. Mr. Danbury seconded. The motion passed with six affirmative votes.

    Mrs. McNear asked Mr. Shvegzda, do you anticipate that the accident on I-74 will affect the summer programs we have going on as well as the construction on I-275?

    Mr. Shvegzda replied there should be no impact. They are all separate with separate completion dates.

    MEETINGS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

    Board of Zoning Appeals                 -     June 17
       
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE   

Mr. Bryant suggested the employee in Wendy’s drive-thru should drive a gasoline powered car that he can turn off and go inside. Also, have you all registered with CG&E for the automatic cut-off of air conditioners for about five minutes an hour to save energy?

Mr. Osborn responded we did one audit with Cinergy about five years ago. It’s not just shutting off the air conditioning. It’s also changing out inefficient motors, correcting air flow and changing other components of the heating system as well as cycling and timing. At that time the cost of replacing all the components they wanted us to replace would not have been a payback to us over the fixed life they gave us in their projection to do that. We are going to take another look at it. We’ve seen presentations by other firms that do a similar exercise.

Mrs. Harlow said we also need to consider that in our homes. If we can go out one time and get our errands done rather than go multiple times that will help.

UPDATE ON LEGISLATION STILL IN DEVELOPMENT

Ordinance 24-2008                         -         June 4
Hamilton County Community Development Cooperative Agreement    June 4

RECAP OF LEGISLATIVE ITEMS REQUESTED        -         none

Council adjourned at 8:02 p.m.

                        Respectfully submitted,



                        Kathy McNear
                        Clerk of Council/Finance Director

Minutes Approved:
Marjorie Harlow, President of Council


__________________________, 2008



       

City of Springdale Council



    May 21    2008