President of Council Kathy McNear called Council to order on June
20, 2007, at 7:00 p.m.
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 Galster, Harlow,
Squires, Vanover, Wilson and McNear. Mr. Danbury was absent.
The minutes of May 16, 2007 and June 6, 2007 were approved with six
affirmative votes.
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 there is essentially no change to the 2007 street
program.
Public Utilities - no report
Mrs. McNear asked Mr. Shvegzda, did you call about the flags in the roadway?
Mr. Shvegzda replied Mr. Butsch took care of that.
Capital Improvements – Mr. Wilson stated the SR 747 CSX grade separation work is
substantially completed. The date for the street light installation by Duke has not been
established yet. The replacement of approximately forty-six feet of a culvert that did not
have the proper transition section installed by the original contractor is under
construction. Due to the cost related construction of this project initial outside funding
has been requested. An application has been submitted to OKI for additional funding. This
application will be rated by OKI on June 19. The SR 4 continuous northbound lane north of
Glensprings Stage 3 design was submitted in May with construction scheduled in 2009. The
construction date may be changed to start in 2008. The SR 4 ODOT urban paving from
Glensprings to 800 feet south of Crescentville Road is substantially completed.
Construction for the Kemper Road improvements at Tri-County Mall will start July 9 and is
expected to be complete in late August. A presentation of the Veteran’s Memorial will
be made to Council of the final plans on July 18. Construction on the Church Street
parking project is scheduled for August. The Fire Department Phase II project should be
completed in October.
Finance Committee - no report
Planning Commission – Mr. Vanover reported a conditional use permit for outdoor
seating at Bargo’s, 12140 Springfield Pike was the first item. It is not really
seating. It will be a smoking area. That was approved 6-0. The second request was for
signage on an awning at Mirror Imaging in the Springdale Town Center. The covenants of the
development call for signage on the facade of the building. This
was approved until June 1, 2008 and then they have to conform. Tri-County Mall received
approval for a slight modification to the south elevation which will be Ethan Allen Store.
We are waiting for comments from the Law Director on Zoning Code amendments.
Board of Zoning Appeals – Mr. Squires said the applicant who lives at 1271 East
Crescentville ordered and got a permit for an 8’ x 10’ utility building. The
company delivered and erected a 10’ x 16’ shed. The inspector noticed the size
difference. She was granted a variance to keep the shed. The resident at 640 Smiley
requested a variance to erect a fence within the setback of a side street. This had to be
tabled because the resident to the north has a fence that exceeds beyond the corner of
their home. That is the fence this applicant wants to connect with. The board felt that we
had to deal with the first fence first. An oversize prefab shed was requested at 170
Ruskin Drive. There are two existing structures in the yard already and the applicant
agreed that they would have to be removed. The variance was granted. The resident at 11058
Glenfalls Court is asking for two accessory buildings on the property and that was tabled
until July. The next item was a request for a decorative fence in the front yard at 507
Dimmick Avenue. This was denied 6-1. However, the board chairman is sending this to
Planning Commission to determine if a wrought iron fence of this nature is a fence or an
adornment. A privacy fence eight feet high was requested at 11684 Neuss Avenue. The
property dips and then comes up again. The first fifty feet will be six feet high;
however, in order to keep the last twenty-four feet uniform in height he will have to have
eight foot boards. This was granted 7-0. An oversized accessory building was approved for
672 Cloverdale Avenue.
Board of Health - no report
Veteran’s Memorial Committee – Mr. Wilson said they met with CDS this afternoon
to review and modify Phase I priorities for the memorial. Because of value engineering the
start date is tentative. The golf date will be September 12.
O-K-I – Mr. Knox said there was a lengthy presentation having to do with inter-module
transfer facilities. The thinking in Butler County is that they need to have a facility.
They are asking cooperation with other entities. They don’t have enough room in
Fairfield and it will probably go around Middletown. The excess STP funding that amounted
to $8.6 million had fifteen applicants for those funds.
Mr. Vanover said there is already an operation at Crescentville and Mosteller. Was there
any consideration of expanding there?
Mr. Knox replied they said the Sharonville yard is maxed out.
Mayor’s Report – Mayor Webster stated I got a phone call from our Duke rep
telling me they are asking for a 5.8% increase in natural gas prices and an electrical
increase to be phased over a couple of years ranging from eight to thirteen percent.
Mayor Webster read a proclamation proclaiming July 2007 Parks and Recreation Month.
Clerk of Council/Finance Director -
no report
Administrator’s Report – Mr. Osborn said if I understand correctly the Duke
increases are a commercial rate only, not residential. They’ll be coming back later
for residential, but certainly it affects our economy and us as a consumer of electricity.
Mr. Osborn said we did a resolution a meeting or two ago regarding the CSX grade
separation funding. Presently we project that the project is $2,134,000 under-funded. OKI
announced a special round of the STP (Service Transportation Act) for this spring using
$8.4 million in surplus funds. Based on the point system our project has been ranked
number one. While this is just a recommendation coming out of the prioritization committee
of the Inter-Modal Coordinating Committee of OKI, typically this is an accepted
recommendation. We had applied for $1,7525,000, which represents eighty percent of the
projected shortfall. We did that because STP requires at least a twenty percent match. The
projects were evaluated and I received a call from Mark Payne of OKI and he inquired if
the City would be willing to accept something less than the amount we had applied for,
$1.3 million and I said yes. We will be funded in the amount of $1,307,363. We had applied
for $907,200 in construction funding and we will get 100 percent of that. We applied for
$800,325 in additional right-of-way funding and they have indicated they will give us 50
percent of that. When you take the new money into consideration and reduce the current
predicted shortfall, the new number is $826,637. While this is a great opportunity for us
to close the gap significantly, we’re still not out of the woods and there is a
projected shortfall on the project. The total cost projected is going to change. It’s
very unlikely we hit the right-of-way number on the head. We think we have been
conservative in the number we estimated. We hope that the final number might come in less
than what we estimated. On the construction side we can only base our estimates on the
information we get back from various elements of the Ohio Department of Transportation,
and there are other variables like the railroad force account. The railroad could change
without oversight or control by the State of Ohio. We believe the shortfall is around
$800,000 and hope it will go no higher.
Mr. Knox stated this is the first of three steps that will take place. It will go to the
ICC and then will be decided by the Board of Trustees at the August OKI meeting.
Mayor Webster said I want to compliment Mr. Osborn for his work on this endeavor.
Initially we got funding and it was tied into a certain percentage. When they award the
project the amount of the award is a fixed number. The percent doesn’t float up with
increased costs. With all the fiasco of the State having to re-bid the project, the
railroad with their shenanigans, the contractor going toes up, etc., the costs continue to
escalate where our funding was tied into a fixed dollar amount. Mr. Osborn has really
scrambled and pulled in every marker we have with every agency to try to get additional
funding.
Mr. Osborn responded I want to thank the Mayor for the kind words but I want to pass a
great bulk of that onto CDS because they provided the technical support for this
application and it was certainly a team effort.
Law Director’s Report (Ken Schneider) -
no report
Engineer’s Report (Don Shvegzda) -
no report
COMMUNICATIONS
Mr. Knox said I have one communication of which the Mayor has already
broached the subject. It comes from Duke Energy. It states in part: “This letter is
to inform you of Duke Energy Ohio’s intent to file with the Public Utilities
Commission of Ohio an application related to our gas service. The application will propose
an increase in current rates and charges for natural gas service. Duke will seek a 5.8
percent increase in rates. Our latest base rate increase occurred in 2002. We anticipate
the new rates will become effective in the spring of 2008. In the application Duke will
propose a thing known as Rider AMRP (Accelerated Main Replacement Program) to allow them
to continue making filings to annually update the charges to recover the cost of its cast
iron and bare steel main lines and related service lines. The goal of the project is to
replace cast iron and bare steel distribution mains of twelve inch diameter or less and
related service lines. Duke expects to complete the program in nine more years, in 2015.
Duke’s main replacement program has been quite successful however. During the period
2001 to 2006 the company replaced 492 miles of cast iron and 67 miles of bare steel gas
mains. In 2002 Duke repaired 6,223 leaks. By 2006 they only had to repair 4,913. The lower
leak rate has improved public safety and led to a decrease in Duke Ohio’s maintenance
expense. Since 2001 Duke has used the rider AMRP to credit customers with approximately
$8.5 million in maintenance savings resulting from this program. Duke seeks to expand
Rider AMRP to allow it to recover costs for replacing service head adaptor style risers.
The risers are the item that connects the service line to your meter. Duke’s total
cost to complete the main replacement and the riser replacement program during the next
nine years is estimated at approximately $599 million. For residential customers this will
result in an additional charge of approximately $1.53 per month during the first year of
the program beginning in the first year of 2008.” Mr. Knox said I will read the next
to last paragraph and you can make your own decisions. “Finally, Duke also proposes a
new rate structure for delivery services that is not based upon the volume of gas
delivered. Rather than allowing our annual delivery revenue to fluctuate with volumes
flowed, we will compare our sales each year to a benchmark which is where the normalized
level of sales approved by the Public Utility Company of Ohio and our most recent general
gas rate case adjusted for new customers since that time. We will then compare our actual
sales to this baseline and provide customers a credit or charge to their accounts for the
difference. Sandra P. Meyers, President, Duke Energy”
Mayor Webster said the numbers I gave are consistent with that although
I just got a voice mail from Marvin Blake. I didn’t hear anywhere in that letter that
those only apply to commercial. Were you implying just the electric part of it, Cecil?
Mr. Osborn replied it’s my understanding that both are commercial.
In a person to person conversation with Mr. Blake he told me these were not residential
changes.
Mr. Vanover asked does the City have the same option to purchase from
outside providers that residents have?
Mr. Osborn replied we have looked at it in the past and we went with a
dba provider through CG&E saving money. They discontinued that. The history has been
that the southwestern Ohio region has not been highly competitive because Cinergy has held
relatively low rates compared to the rest of the State.
Mayor Webster said from that last paragraph I get that if we have an
extremely cold winter we will pay a lot of money. If we have a light winter they will
raise the rates and we will still pay a lot of money.
Mr. Knox said another company tried to get into the market and sent a
communication to our homes. They promised a rate of 8.04 per thousand cubic feet.
I’ve been monitoring that for one and a half years and I saw one day where the rate
that is charged nationally was above 8.04. It would have cost you money if you had gone
that way.
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE
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none
ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS
ORDINANCE NO. 34-2007 “AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE’S PARTICIPATION IN THE
MIAMI VALLEY RISK MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION (MVRMA) WORKERS’ COMPENSATION GROUP RATING
PLAN FOR 2008 AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”
Mr. Vanover made a motion to adopt and Mr. Wilson seconded.
Mr. Osborn stated we have been participating in this program since 1993. Certainly when it
comes to a workers’ compensation ratings process it is better to be in a pool because
you are spreading the risk over a bigger population. It’s even better to be in a
group that is selective about its composition. The MVRMA group ratings pool does not
include all members of MVRMA. Some members of MVRMA have ratings that make them ineligible
to be in this pool because they are too high. A couple of years ago we were put on
probation because we were slipping. We were close to being dropped from the pool.
It’s a real cost savings to the City and we encourage you to adopt the ordinance.
Ordinance 34-2007 passed with six affirmative votes.
ORDINANCE NO. 35-2007 “AMENDING ZONING CODE SECTION 153.902 OF THE CODIFIED
ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE AFFECTING VIOLATIONS AND PENALTIES FOR
VIOLATION”
First reading.
ORDINANCE NO. 36-2007 “AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CLERK OF COUNCIL/FINANCE DIRECTOR TO
RENEW THE CONTRACT WITH NEXT STEP NETWORKING TO PROVIDE NETWORK AND LAN ADMINISTRATIVE
SERVICES FOR THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE LOCAL AREA NETWORK AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”
Mr. Vanover made a motion to adopt and Mr. Squires seconded.
Mr. Osborn reported we have dealt with this company for more than ten years. They are
working to hold IT costs down and going to more remote maintenance. I recommend adoption
of this ordinance.
Mr. Galster asked are all the computers on the same system now?
Mr. Osborn replied most of the workstations are. Some of the peripheral computers are not.
A disaster recovery process request is to come. The volume of data and number of
workstations keeps growing. We’ve only had one period where the system has gone down.
Public Hearing
RESOLUTION R12-2007 “ADOPTING THE TAX BUDGET OF THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE FOR THE YEAR
JANUARY 1, 2008 THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2008”
Mr. Vanover made a motion to adopt and Mrs. Harlow seconded.
Mr. Osborn said the basis for this resolution and the tax budget is a requirement in the
Charter and the State law. The purpose is to allow the County Budget Commission to see
that are our projected expenses for the 2008 budget do not exceed our projected revenues.
You can see by the attachment that we are solvent. The expenses are taken from the five
year budget.
Mr. Knox said the total revenue figures for this year and next are conservative. I applaud
Mr. Osborn and Mr. Williams for their work on this.
Mayor Webster said the bonds have been paid off. We are on course to reach our financial
goals. A $3.9 million note is nothing to be ashamed of.
Mr. Osborn said this was a great effort by Jeff Williams. He put the document together.
OLD BUSINESS
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none
NEW BUSINESS
Mr. Vanover stated I am getting calls from neighbors of residents who
still have mulch piles in their driveways. Can we expedite the removal of that?
Mayor Webster suggested they call the hot line. That way they can get
an answer right away.
Mr. Galster stated if we don’t have something on the books we
should.
Mayor Webster said we want to have a housing stock discussion and
explore the possibility of licensing all rental units, not just single unit housing. We
need to go in with our eyes wide open. We are talking about licensing and inspecting and
we will incur additional expense with this program.
Mrs. Harlow said I think that is a good idea. A lot of complaints I get
in my district are out rental units. A lot of calls are about the number of occupants in
some housing areas. Anything we can do to keep the character of our neighborhoods as
single family homes in good quality I would be supportive of.
Mr. Vanover said three of the major infractions of high grass were
vacant homes. Two I know for certain were rentals. It’s disheartening for other
property owners. There’s a different mentality when it’s yours or when it’s
somebody else’s, and it shows. There have been exceptional tenants but we are seeing
some downslide.
Mrs. McNear stated we are always looking for different programs in the
City and I wonder if we could look at the possibility of having rain garden classes
locally. The other thing I’ve been noticing about houses is a lot of the roofs are
streaked with black marks.
Mrs. Harlow responded that is fungus that is traveling up from the
south. They do have roofing materials now that have an anti-fungal coating. You can also
put a copper strip across your roof that is supposed to deter that. There are also some
washes you can use to help remove that.
Mr. Galster said we are talking about tenants not keeping up their
property. It’s the landlords who are not keeping up the property. The landlord is
making money. He uses it as a business. He does business in the City and we need to make
sure he is doing business in a manner that everybody else does business in the City. It
will allow us to not only document the condition of the property, but also the number of
people who are in it. We will be able to take some square footage readings from some new
language in the Building Code. Maybe it’s just an opportunity to inform the landlord
of issues he has on the property and things that are expected of him. At the same time
this is probably going to be a man or two if it’s going to be an inspection of all
rental property in Springdale. If we don’t take care of rental properties in this
City we have to decide what kind of city we are going to have.
Mrs. Harlow stated if the landlord has to file papers with the City for
a permit and get a license, that will give the City contact information we don’t have
now so that the City can contact the property owner and not just the person living in the
house.
Mr. Vanover said the inspections will yield to some life safety issues.
Mr. Wilson said it appears we have two issues here; the maintenance of
the property, both occupied and vacant; and the issue of how many occupants we can put
into a building or residence per square footage. We have to find out from a legal
standpoint if we as a city can regulate the number of residents per square foot. Are other
cities doing this or would we be setting a precedent? I know if you have two children and
one’s a boy and one’s a girl, they have to have separate bedrooms.
Mr. Galster responded those are more Health and Human Services issues.
The City of Springdale regulation tries to say based on the amount of square footage of
bedroom space and what constitutes as bedroom space can only have so many people occupying
so much space. Even though you say they are separate issues I believe the number of people
in the house create a more likelihood of blighted and normal wear and tear on a piece of
property. Even though they are separate subcategories I think they are very much
intertwined, not only the demand it puts on the house and maintenance of the house, but on
city services, etc. All those go up based on the number of people in the house.
Mr. Wilson replied I didn’t mean they were two distinct issues but
two things we have to address. First we have to address the maintenance issue of the
exterior of the house and dealing with landlords, and also the occupancy because they are
intertwined.
Mr. Galster said we are waiting for some legal feedback but other
communities have tried different approaches and I think we are trying to test the waters
now to see what language is going to stand the test of time. On property maintenance I
don’t want to say it’s just rental property either. In the last two years we
have purchased two residential homes because we as a community have allowed it to become
such that it was better to take it over than continue to let it sit there. I can’t
see us continuing to go down that path and having to buy up every home that falls into
that category so I think we have to take a much harder stance on all the property
maintenance now. Licensing of rental properties allows us to get into homes where the
owner is not there. I hear a lot of comments from a lot of residents who get letters about
property maintenance who complain about somebody else’s property. Well, we need to
know about them, see how bad they are and get them all fixed. In the beginning I think we
were worried about how many people we would make angry but for every one that was another
ten were happy. It’s an important program.
Mr. Osborn said we have an ordinance drafted that regulates household
occupancy based on the size of the home. It’s on Mr. McErlane’s desk being
reviewed. We intend to have that before you at the next meeting in July. As to what Mr.
Wilson alluded to, one of the driving forces behind the idea of having a licensing process
is to allow us to get in the house and see how big it is specifically to that particular
construction, and how many people are living there.
Mr. Vanover said there have been remodels to homes that are illegal.
They’ve made bedrooms out of garages and we don’t know the safety issue there.
The number of occupants can have an effect on the number of vehicles. We all live in
neighborhoods where we only park on one side of the street. When there are eight or nine
people who have vehicles it’s not fair to legitimate owners and property renters who
have to suffer with that.
Mr. Squires asked are we on solid legal ground?
Mr. Schneider replied we have drafted legislation. We cannot accomplish
everything the committee wanted accomplished but we are trying to accomplish everything
permitted within the law. We are faced with a greater expense in hailing this than the
Administration wanted to face but we are doing everything that has to be done to keep it
legal.
MEETINGS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Planning Commission
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July 10
Board of Zoning Appeals
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July 17
Hometown Fourth
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July 4
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE
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none
UPDATE ON LEGISLATION STILL IN DEVELOPMENT
Ordinance 35
-
July 18
RECAP OF LEGISLATIVE ITEMS REQUESTED
Calculation of Occupancy by Square Footage
-
July 18
Council adjourned at 8:22 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Edward
F. Knox
Clerk
of Council/Finance Director
Minutes Approved:
Kathy McNear, President of Council
__________________________, 2007
City of Springdale Council
June 20 2007