President of Council Marjorie Harlow called Council to order on August 19, 2009, 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, Galster, Squires, Vanover, Wilson and Harlow.

    The minutes of were approved with six affirmative votes. Mrs. Harlow abstained.

    COMMITTEE AND OFFICIAL REPORTS
    Civil Service Commission – Mr. Potts stated they met twice. The Commission approved a City Administration request for a timeline on promotional examinations. We will be administering a Police Lieutenant promotional exam on September 17 and Fire Captain promotional exam on October 6. The Commission also approved a request from the Administration to develop a new eligibility list for patrol officer. Advertising will be in September and testing in October. The Commission is also continuing ongoing discussions regarding classified positions for which testing can be waived.

Rules and Laws    -    no report
Finance Committee    -    no report

Planning Commission – Mr. Galster reported Pappadeaux has three blank panels on their pole sign. They requested a second panel and that was approved. A wireless communication tower was requested at 11970 Kenn Road at the wooded area of Calvary Church. They would have to clear out trees to put it in. They don’t meet the setback requirement from residential property. This would be the third tower in three miles. They are doing this to provide in-the-basement service. We want to make sure they explore other options. This was continued until the September meeting.
   
Board of Zoning Appeals – Mr. Diehl said at the July 21 meeting a garage conversion was withdrawn by the applicant. A screened patio was approved 6-0 at 399 Naylor Court. A swimming pool at 344 Peach Street was approved. Additional signage at 85 West Kemper was approved on the condition that they be directional signs only. Signage at 1280 East Kemper was approved. A signage request for 33 West Kemper was tabled until August.

Mr. Wilson asked was the signage at 1280 East Kemper for directional signage also? Mr. Diehl replied there were no conditions on that one.

Mr. Danbury said Jake Sweeney at 11521 Princeton Pike and 33 West Kemper currently has three pole signs. They were approved for seven additional 2’x8’ pole signs at 11521 Princeton and four signs at 33 West Kemper. A rental property owner asked for a variance for a converted garage to stay that way. That was approved 7-0. The second property of the same owner was denied. Several residents complained about the property. There was a bathroom in the middle of the garage with two closets on the sides. There was no storage space and no windows in the garage area. This was denied by a 7-0 vote.

Mr. Danbury said a third garage conversion was approved 7-0.

Mayor Webster asked at the second house at 846 Ledro, did they have two bedrooms in the garage?

Mr. Danbury replied it was called living space but they have a shower, toilet, laundry area and two closets. There are no windows and the neighbors say they have seen a lot of people living there.

Mr. Danbury advised the residents of the hot line and asked residents to call if they see issues. He said the City is working on these issues.

Mayor Webster said the Building Department is probably the reason the owner was at BZA. It’s probably a result of the legislation Council passed authorizing the rental license program.

Mr. Danbury said they will have to have a certificate of occupancy so they would have to convert it back to a garage or put in windows.

Mr. Vanover asked was the property owner given a time limit for the corrections?

Mr. Danbury responded it was denied so they can’t rent it out. I know our Building Department is on top of it and will follow up.

Mr. Vanover said I know that property well. It has had raccoons going in. The windows are the same as the ones that were in my house thirty years ago. The owner has not done due diligence to keep this house up.

Mr. Galster said even if they put windows in they still need a variance.

Mr. Diehl said there was a long list of corrections to be made after the rental inspection.

Mr. Danbury said a board member said it would be nice for BZA to see that list before the meeting.
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Board of Health – Mr. Squires said Board of Health doesn’t meet until September 10. However, a flu shot clinic will be held September 24 from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Community Center. Call the Health Department for an appointment.
   
Veteran’s Memorial Committee    -    no report

O-K-I - Mrs. McNear reported projects funded by stimulus money have been coming in with lower bids so some of the projects that were not approved may get funding.
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Mayor’s Report – Mayor Webster said we doubled the rental fee for the annual yard sale this year. In prior years we have had about sixty vendors. This year we had forty-seven. We cut down on the mailing costs and labor. The 2008 costs was $4132 and this year with thirteen less vendors the cost was $2112. The boosters did well also.
   
Clerk of Council/Finance Director - Mrs. McNear stated the annual audit has been completed and there were no instances of non-compliance and no material items reported.
   
Administrator’s Report     -    no report    
Law Director’s Report     -    no report

Engineer’s Report –Mr. Madl reported we are still waiting on ODOT to resolve some additional issues on temporary easements for the SR 747 CSX project. Once they are done it should only take about a month to resolve all the overall project cost responsibilities. The modular wall at Crescentville/SR 747 is ninety percent complete. The signal at SR 747 is also complete. The SR 747 and I-275 ramp modifications cost analysis is $500,000, of which $150,000 is the local share. SR 4/Crescentville intersection has a completion date of September 30. The SR 4 improvements at Glensprings has a completion date of September 30. The local portion of the SR 4 lane addition is $86,000. Construction is to start in April 2010. A final punch list has been submitted to the contractor for the Veteran’s Memorial. A concept for the paver indexing has been developed and there will be a web version for the City website. The SR 747 urban paving project will begin August 24. The Northland Boulevard repair and resurfacing project received $950,000 in stimulus funding. Construction is to begin in March 2010.

Mr. Vanover asked have we gotten any feedback on the temporary walls at the eastbound turn off Northbound SR 747 onto eastbound Crescentville? You can see the tire scuffs on it. That’s a poorly thought out radius especially with the amount of truck traffic we have there.

Mr. Parham responded we have had a few discussions about that issue during a couple of our meetings. Because it is a State of Ohio run project, Mr. Shvegzda has made contact with the State to express our concerns. We have pointed out that motorists continue to hit the wall as well as the problem with the trucks on that road. To date, we have not received a very positive response.

Mr. Wilson said on the continuous northbound lane from Glensprings towards I-275 are we still looking at a September 30th completion date?

Mr. Madl replied we are still looking at September 30th. They did have to pull off the project. I’ve not heard of an extension but I would think that is certainly possible.

Mr. Wilson asked could you make a copy of the paver locations for the members of the Veteran’s Committee? Mr. Madl replied yes.

Mayor Webster said we have three projects that are supposed to be completed by September 30th; Crescentville/SR 747, Crescentville/SR 4 and the continuous SR 4 from Glensprings. I would hope that the continuous SR 4 does not ask for an extension. They pulled off the project. I’m not going to be very happy if they ask for an extension. The same is true for the Crescentville/SR 4 project. They dilly dallied around with that project all summer long. I will be very upset with that one also. I don’t know how you can deny an extension request, unless there are penalties in the contract. The one at SR 747/Crescentville I’ve seen no curtailing of work all summer long.

Mr. Wilson said my concern is how we have inconvenienced our residents over the past several months with dirt being moved and having barrels all over the place. Our residents have certain expectations of us when we put these projects together and come up with a completion date. Maybe we need to put something in our contracts in the future so that there is a penalty if there are delays.

Mayor Webster said no one has requested an extension yet but I agree with you.

Mr. Madl stated the typical contracts have a penalty fee for every day the work is not completed. The contractor can be reminded of that.

Mr. Galster said the exit from westbound I-275 to SR 4 has now changed to the new concrete. It seems to me if you are turning right and going northbound on SR 4, if you follow the concrete wall you end up hitting the corner of the median.

Mrs. Harlow said I was on there today and it is stacked. The traffic was so heavy that cars are going to end up on the highway stopped in traffic.

Mr. Parham said there has not been any request for an extension at this point from any of the contractors. The Glensprings contractor did run into an issue on another one of their projects and needed to pull their folks off for the other project. My understanding is at this point they have returned to the job with two crews now working on our project. We don’t anticipate that they will ask for an extension. The SR 4/Crescentville project is another issue. The utilities were completed far in advance of what was anticipated. They have taken their crew off from time to time. We were told that they were going to begin back up in mid August. It is mid-August and they have not yet returned. That too is an ODOT run project. Hopefully, ODOT will be less favorable in offering an extension to that crew. As for the SR 4/I-275 project we just found out this morning that the contractor has taken the exit lane down to one lane and there is practically no right turn lane. We were hoping that they would have made an adjustment to the lane to ease the traffic congestion. I just spoke with Sergeant Morris before I came over and he indicated they have not made any adjustments. We are in contact with the engineer at ODOT to try to relieve that part of the problem.


    COMMUNICATIONS – Mrs. McNear said she received a letter from Jean Schmidt, second district representative to Congress who sent a letter to FEMA to ask for consideration for a grant for the City of Springdale Fire Department.

    Mayor Webster said Mrs. Schmidt is not our representative. We got nothing from Mr. Driehaus.

    COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE -    none

    POLICE DEPARTMENT SURVEY RESULTS

    Chief Laage stated we have the results of the 2009 neighborhood survey. Construction is one of the top five issues. The objective is to get feedback from our residents as to how well we are performing. Our objective is always to look at the area we need to work the hardest in.

    Dave Bushman said we put this out in the newsletter, on the website, Rec Center, Administration, with the seniors and at neighborhood watch meetings. Ninety-nine percent of the people feel safe during the day and ninety-seven percent at night. Traffic is the number one complaint.

    Mr. Wilson said speeding concerns me. My street is like a freeway. Also, loud noise is an issue. The walk signal at Glensprings and SR 4 is quite short. What can we do?

    Mr. Buschmann replied I’ve been here thirty-one years and it’s the same thing. It just maybe moves from your street to somebody else’s street as time goes by. You can enforce it and some people don’t care.

    Mr. Vanover said one of the most comments I get from residents is the block watch. They are thankful for it.

    Mr. Squires said I commend Officer Buschmann for his work with the seniors. Residents, if you have a police issue, please call the Police immediately. Don’t wait.

    Mr. Danbury said some of the people at Board of Zoning Appeals last night who were complaining did not know about the neighborhood watch meetings so Mr. Diehl gave them some information.

    Mr. Galster asked do you pass things on to other departments?

    Mr. Buschmann responded after our neighborhood watch meetings I immediately e-mail the Chief and other departments as necessary. We have representatives from other departments at our meetings.

    Chief Laage reported we came up with five areas that we felt we need to draw more attention to in the department: construction issues, seeing more patrols in the evening, speeding, noise, and quality of life issues.

    Mr. Vanover said power braking has been an issue for me for years.

    Chief Laage said we have a City ordinance against that but the problem is identifying that vehicle from a patrol car.

ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS

Mayor Webster asked that Ordinance 20 be moved up to the first ordinance.

ORDINANCE NO. 20-2009 “AN ORDINANCE REDUCING SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS LEVIED FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONSTRUCTING CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”

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

Mayor Webster said we have Brenda Wehmer from our Bond Counsel and Susan Thomas from the Port Authority. This is something we have to do every year to levy these assessments. The difference this year is reduced property values. Is that an issue this year?

Ms. Wehmer replied the garage has been exempted by the State because it is now owned by the Port Authority. The special assessments have gone up to replace the service payments that were being paid on the garage while the exemption was pending at the State. The property values in terms of what it’s worth haven’t really changed but part of it has been declared exempt by the State which was always expected. During that period of time service payments were more. Now they will be less so the special assessments will correspondingly increase. The amount of the reduction this year is less than it was last year resulting in a slightly higher assessments being paid by the property owners. Their service payments will go down as well.

Mayor Webster said so we are at no more risk than we were before which we consider near zero on these bonds. It’s just a matter that it’s coming out of a different pocket. The owners of the property eventually are either going to pay for these bonds in either service payments or special assessments.

Ordinance 20-2009 passed with seven affirmative votes.

ORDINANCE NO. 18-2009 “ACCEPTING THE PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS FOR NORTHWEST BUSINESS CENTER SUBDIVISION, REPLAT OF LOT 4, AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”

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

Ordinance 18-2009 passed with seven affirmative votes.

ORDINANCE NO. 19-2009 “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. Parham stated NextStep has been the Network Service provider for the City for over ten years. They have been with us since we started with just desktops. As we have developed into a LAN system, they have been very responsive. They keep us secure with the firewalls and protections we have throughout the system. The contract before us this evening is another example of their willingness to work with us. If we had gone with a one year agreement their rate was far higher. We have been able to negotiate a three year contract with a six percent cumulative increase or two percent each year for the next three years. It’s the first time we have had a three-year agreement with them. The dates on the ordinance are from September 1, 2009 to August 2012. The previous contracts have always had a start date of June through July. Since we extended the contract for two months we adjusted the dates of the contract. Since 2008, we have increased the number of units serviced by NextStep by twenty percent. They have been very amenable to working out the agreement with us and they continue to provide top-notch service.

Mr. Galster said a number of years ago when we were looking at this, there was a question as to whether the price would eventually go down based on how old some of our equipment was. I know the price never really went down but I assume we increased volume and brought everything up-to-date. We traded off updating our system to additional numbers and that’s why the numbers have not gone down as we anticipated.

Mr. Parham responded around 2001 we put the process out to bid because their prices were approaching $60,000. We were able to enter into an agreement with NextStep for around $40,000 after the bid process. Their concern at that time was we were operating with older systems and desktops. Our commitment at that time was that we would begin to upgrade our system. We have done that. Over time where you see the numbers back near the $60,000 figure today, is a result of the gradual increases as we’ve seen with cost of living, wages, etc.

Mayor Webster said Mr. Galster is right. The number did not stay at $40,000 because we have added a number of components and layers of security, new equipment, etc. The goal we stated in 2001 has been accomplished. We have a very good relationship with the vendor.

Ordinance 19-2009 passed with seven affirmative votes.

ORDINANCE NO. 21-2009 “AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CLERK OF COUNCIL/FINANCE DIRECTOR TO APPROVE VARIOUS CHANGE ORDERS IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $57,715.77 TO INCREASE THE CONTRACT OF R.E. SCHWEITZER CONSTRUCTION FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE SPRINGDALE VETERANS MEMORIAL AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”

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

Mr. Wilson stated when we started this project six years ago we had one figure in mind. We had not thought of some of these items such as issues with the water fountain and graffiti control.

Ordinance 21-2009 passed with seven affirmative votes.

Mr. Danbury said the body of the following resolutions are identical and I’d like to make a motion one by one to read each one by title only and then give an explanation of each one.

Mayor Webster said these are identical to the ones passed last year. Due to a mix up in getting these things filed they were not on the ballot.

Mr. Schneider stated they will be filed properly.

RESOLUTION NO. R9-2009 “DIRECTING THE HAMILTON COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS TO SUBMIT TO THE ELECTORS OF THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE, OHIO, AT THE NOVEMBER 3, 2009, GENERAL ELECTION, A REVISION TO THE ARTICLE VII, F, PARAGRAPH 3, OF THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE”

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

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

Mayor Webster said this one deals with the maximum amount of petty cash we can keep and what any one purchase can cost coming out of that petty cash fund. I don’t have a problem explaining the next six but these are housekeeping issues. They don’t have anything to do with the way the City is governed.

Mrs. Harlow said this one currently says petty cash shall never contain in excess of $200.

Mayor Webster responded it takes away the limit so now we’re in sync with the Ohio Revised Code.

Resolution R9-2009 passed with seven affirmative votes.

RESOLUTION NO. 10-2009 “DIRECTING THE HAMILTON COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS TO SUBMIT TO THE ELECTORS OF THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE, OHIO, AT THE NOVEMBER 3, 2009, GENERAL ELECTION, A REVISION TO THE ARTICLE VII, F, PARAGRAPH 4, OF THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE”

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

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

Mrs. Harlow stated this is proposed revised wording which will take out the $5,000 amount under the Ohio Revised Code, Section 5705.41.

Resolution R10-2009 passed with seven affirmative votes.

RESOLUTION NO. R11-2009 “DIRECTING THE HAMILTON COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS TO SUBMIT TO THE ELECTORS OF THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE, OHIO, AT THE NOVEMBER 3, 2009, GENERAL ELECTION, A REVISION TO THE ARTICLE IX, D, PARAGRAPH 2, OF THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE”

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

Mrs. Harlow said this is a change that provides an option to purchase insurance to protect the City against theft as an alternate to purchasing surety bonds for all employees who handle or control the City’s funds.

Mr. Parham stated there are a couple of years where we had challenges in purchasing blanket bonds. The blanket bond may provide a small amount of protection for the City. Current Charter language states in essence, anyone who touches or handles City dollars must be covered with a bond. We already have a crime policy that covers up to $1,000,000. This language would give us the ability not to purchase those individual bonds.

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

Resolution R11-2009 passed with seven affirmative votes.

RESOLUTION NO. R12-2009 “DIRECTING THE HAMILTON COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS TO SUBMIT TO THE ELECTORS OF THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE, OHIO, AT THE NOVEMBER 3, 2009, GENERAL ELECTION, A REVISION TO THE ARTICLE V, B, PARAGRAPH 6, OF THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE”

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

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

Mayor Webster said this one deletes a paragraph that says “candidates for Council at large must be nominated by a petition signed by qualified electors, at least fifty percent whom reside outside the district of the resident.” The Board of Elections says that they do not have the ability to enforce this; therefore, to leave this on the books and have someone turn in a petition and be in violation of this and have a legal issue down the line, we should just take it out of the Charter.

Resolution R12-2009 passed with seven affirmative votes.

RESOLUTION NO. R13-2009 “DIRECTING THE HAMILTON COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS TO SUBMIT TO THE ELECTORS OF THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE, OHIO, AT THE NOVEMBER 3, 2009, GENERAL ELECTION, A REVISION TO THE ARTICLE VII, D, PARAGRAPH 3, OF THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE “

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

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

Mayor Webster said this is trying to differentiate between an operating budget and a tax budget,

Resolution R13-2009 passed with seven affirmative votes.

RESOLUTION NO. R14-2009 “DIRECTING THE HAMILTON COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS TO SUBMIT TO THE ELECTORS OF THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE, OHIO, AT THE NOVEMBER 3, 2009, GENERAL ELECTION, A REVISION TO THE ARTICLE III, PARAGRAPH E, OF THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE”

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

Mrs. Harlow stated this resolution is to change the title of Superintendent of Public Works to Director of Public Works.

Resolution R14-2009 passed with seven affirmative votes.

RESOLUTION NO. R15-2009 “DIRECTING THE HAMILTON COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS TO SUBMIT TO THE ELECTORS OF THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE, OHIO, AT THE NOVEMBER 3, 2009, GENERAL ELECTION, A REVISION TO THE ARTICLE III, PARAGRAPH G, OF THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE “

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

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

Resolution R15-2009 passed with seven affirmative votes.

Mr. Danbury made a motion that Council go into executive session as a meeting of the whole to discuss possible personnel issues and economic development. Mr. Vanover seconded. The motion passed with seven affirmative votes.

Council went into executive session at 8:52 p.m. and reconvened at 9:29 p.m.

ORDINANCE NO. 22-2009 “AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 2-2009 TO AMEND THE PAY GRADE FOR CERTAIN POSITIONS ON PAY TABLE II OF THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE CLASSIFICATION TABLE AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”

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

Ordinance 22-2009 passed with seven affirmative votes.
   
OLD BUSINESS                         -     none

    NEW BUSINESS                         -     none

    MEETINGS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

    Planning Commission                         -     September 8
    Board of Health                         -     September 10
    Board of Zoning Appeals                     -     September 15
   
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE        -      none

UPDATE ON LEGISLATION STILL IN DEVELOPMENT    -    none

RECAP OF LEGISLATIVE ITEMS REQUESTED        -     none

Council adjourned at 9:34 p.m.

                        Respectfully submitted,



                        Kathy McNear
                        Clerk of Council/Finance Director

Minutes Approved:
Marjorie Harlow, President of Council


__________________________, 2009


City of Springdale Council
August 19    2009