President of Council Kathy McNear called Council to order on September
5, 2007, at 7:00 p.m.
The governmental body and those in attendance recited the pledge of
allegiance.
Mr. Knox took roll call. Present were Council members Danbury, Galster,
Harlow, Squires, Vanover, Wilson and McNear.
The minutes of August 15, 2007were approved with six affirmative votes.
Mr.
Vanover abstained.
COMMUNICATIONS
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PRESENTATION – TASTE OF SPRINGDALE - Greg Karle
and Julie Matheny
Mr. Karle, Parks and Recreation Director, presented information on the
Taste of Springdale. It will be held September 15th from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the
Community Center. We will have a cornhole tournament. There will be music throughout the
day, starting with easy listening, an acoustic guitarist and then a rock and roll show
band. There will be fireworks at 9 p.m.
Julie Matheny, Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce, said we
have nineteen confirmed food vendors: Manor House, New Orleans to Go, Buffalo Wings &
Rings, Hooters, Whiskey Willie’s, Mateo’s Charbroiled, Dan’s Taste &
See Bar B Q, Macaroni Grill, Graeter’s, Cold Stone Creamery, Rooster’s,
Angilo’s, Donato’s, Dave & Buster’s, Mustard’s Last Stand, Java
Jo’z, Chick Fil A, Gold Star Chili and Funnel Cakes. We also have a wine booth, beer
booth, pop, ice tea, frozen lemonade and water. We also have shaved ice. It’s much
bigger and better than I imagined it could be and if we have good weather, perhaps it will
be even bigger next year.
Greg Karle said we thought it was important to support the vendors and
we contracted with Warm 98. There will be forty announcements on the radio and an on-air
personality at the Taste.
Mrs. Harlow said the Terrace is having a garage sale that day also and
if there are a lot of signs out, I’m hoping that will help.
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE -
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ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS
ORDINANCE NO. 42-2007 “AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CLERK OF COUNCIL/FINANCE DIRECTOR TO
ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH CARGILL, INC., FOR THE PURCHASE OF HIGHWAY DE-ICING ROCK SALT
AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”
Mr. Vanover made a motion to adopt and Mr. Squires seconded.
Mr. Danbury said we only dipped into the salt two or three times last year. This
shouldn’t be a large amount.
Mr. Osborn stated right now we have 1,068 tons of salt on hand. Our dome holds 2,400. We
plan to buy 1,300 tons by the end of the month. The bids you are hearing this evening are
the same rates we have been paying over the past year and Cargill was our contractor last
year. Even though we have the same prices for this year we have the price break that ends
October1st.
Ordinance 42-2007 passed with seven affirmative votes.
ORDINANCE NO. 43-2007 “ACCEPTING A BID AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CLERK OF
COUNCIL/FINANCE DIRECTOR TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH DeBRA KUEMPEL FOR THE MECHANICAL
CONSTRUCTION OF THE SPRINGDALE FIRE STATION HVAC REPLACEMENT PHASE II PROJECT AND
DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”
Mr. Vanover made a motion to adopt and Mrs. Harlow seconded.
Mr. Osborn said De Bra Kuempel was low mechanical bidder at $105,869. The low bidder for
the electrical work was Banta at $8,950. The air handling unit was purchased directly from
the vendor in order to save markup at a price of $18,500. The total projected cost is
$133,319. We only budgeted $115,000 for this work but we feel it would be better to
proceed with the contract rather than re-bid it.
Ordinance 43-2007 passed with seven affirmative votes.
ORDINANCE NO. 44-2007 “ACCEPTING A BID AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CLERK OF
COUNCIL/FINANCE DIRECTOR TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH BANTA ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS, INC.,
FOR THE ELECTRICAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE SPRINGDALE FIRE STATION HVAC REPLACEMENT PHASE II
PROJECT, AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”
Mr. Galster made a motion to adopt and Mr. Wilson seconded.
Ordinance 44-2007 passed with seven affirmative votes.
ORDINANCE NO. 45-2007 “AN ORDINANCE REDUCING SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS LEVIED FOR THE
PURPOSE OF CONSTRUCTING CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”
Mr. Danbury made a motion to read by title only and Mr. Galster seconded. The motion
passed with seven affirmative votes.
Mayor Webster asked Mr. Knox, can you give us an explanation of this? This isn’t
something we’ve done every year, is it?
Mr. Knox replied it is something that we will be doing every year according to the service
agreement we signed with the Port of Cincinnati Authority. We have not done it in the
past. We signed the service agreement with the Port of Cincinnati. They are in charge of
receiving the money for this, but given the old service agreement, we had to be part of
it. Since we have to be part of it, this was the stratagem that is being used. We have
absolutely no liability in this.
Mr. Knox stated a few years ago the City passed a TIF (Tax Increment Financing) and we
directed it toward the garage that is next to Pictoria Towers. The owners paid for the
building and they wanted a bond issue in accordance with the service agreement that was
passed originally in 2002. We could not really come to a meeting of the minds with them so
a second group that would act as an intermediary was looked for and the Port of Cincinnati
became the best possible venue to use. They were very cooperative. They required certain
things in their service agreement that just went into effect last year, and some of those
things had to be in agreement with the service agreement from back in 2002. The City
really has no liability in this situation but legally we need to do this on an annual
basis. As I mentioned a few meetings ago this should have been done July 1 but we never
got the information that was incumbent upon the owners of the building. Mr. Williams did
yeoman work and so did Brenda Weimer and Mr. Schneider’s office, in getting these
people to finally come through with the information that is required according to the
service agreement. I have sent a letter to them telling them in no uncertain terms, that
this won’t happen again next year, and on the first of July they will deliver this
information to us and we’ll proceed from there. We should be able to do this at the
August meeting. We are now the intermediaries and we just pass this through. Another
requirement is that we pass through the money that goes to the school district as part of
the original agreement.
Mr. Galster made a motion to adopt and Mr. Vanover seconded.
Mr. Osborn said the special assessment is a parallel agreement to the TIF. The service
payments generated by the TIF wouldn’t support enough debt to meet the needs of the
developer. In order to supplement the service payments, the TIF debt, they had to levy on
themselves a special assessment against their property that would make enough income for
debt service on the bonds that they actually wanted to finance. The service payment is a
parallel but separate entity. The way it gets reduced is the amount of the service payment
collected the previous year is examined and a projection is made as to what the special
assessment needs to be in the coming year to cover that debt service. Typically that is
going to be going down.
Mayor Webster said it will continue to go down as they get more space rented out but there
will continue to be some shortfall.
Mr. Knox said since they were so late this year they are paying the whole thing themselves
and then they will straighten out their own books. That will also move them towards an
earlier date in getting this resolved properly.
Ordinance 45-2007 passed with seven affirmative votes.
ORDINANCE NO. 46-2007 “ACCEPTING A BID AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CLERK OF
COUNCIL/FINANCE DIRECTOR TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH MT. PLEASANT BLACKTOPPING FOR THE
CONSTRUCTION OF THE CHURCH STREET PARKING LOT, AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”
Mr. Vanover made a motion to adopt and Mr. Wilson seconded.
Ordinance 46-2007 passed with seven affirmative votes.
ORDINANCE NO. 47-2007 “ACCEPTING A BID AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CLERK OF
COUNCIL/FINANCE DIRECTOR TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH QUEEN CITY FENCE FOR THE
CONSTRUCTION OF THE COMMUNITY CENTER FENCING, AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”
Mr. Vanover made a motion to adopt and Mr. Squires seconded.
Mr. Osborn stated this involves the replacement of the six foot chain link boundary fence
around the Community Center, the overthrow fences on the ball fields, and the boundary
fence at Underwood Park. At the Community Center we have forty-two neighbors who are
affected by this project. The Recreation Director has sent correspondence to everyone
inviting them to contact him or his staff if they had questions. So far we have heard back
from twenty-three of the residents. There have been a few issues raised, most of which can
be handled over the telephone. One or two may require a face-to-face discussion. The City
budgeted $153,000 for this project and this is not a significant overage so we would not
recommend re-bidding.
Mr. Squires said I’m glad we are doing this. I have had a few residents tell me they
were unhappy with the fact that they were cited to fix their own fences when the Community
Center fence was in the shape it was in. Secondly, this is not the lowest bid but it is
the best bid. Is that correct?
Mr. Osborn responded the low bidder did not comply with specifications. We had a
particular component where there is a little rail across the middle of the fence. That
bidder chose to leave that element out and therefore, reduce his cost.
Mr. Danbury said I know by Mrs. Harlow’s house there is a big hole in the fence. Has
there been consideration of having an access gateway there because I know some of the
residents may want to utilize the Community Center?
Mr. Osborn stated we are planning to replace the fence just as it exists with a few minor
changes. We had not anticipated any new openings or gateways. If there is an overwhelming
desire to do that we could certainly amend the contract with a change order. We have taken
the position that we are not going to cut down any trees.
Mr. Osborn continued If a tree is in the line, we are going to go out around that tree. If
it is primarily on private property and the private property owner wants us to take that
tree down we will, but it is not our intention to do that. One person asked if we could
take down five or six trees in his backyard and we had to say no.
Mayor Webster said I think you would be opening Pandora’s box if you throw out the
possibility of putting in gates.
Mr. Danbury said I only bring this up because there is no sidewalk along Kemper Road. If
they were able to go back there, it would be safer for pedestrians and it would be more
accessible to kids to that want to utilize the Rec Center. If we do choose to do this and
it’s a problem, we can always put a padlock on it.
Mayor Webster asked whose property are we going to choose to put the gate on? We’ve
survived all these years without an access there.
Mr. Danbury said people are climbing over the fence.
Mayor Webster stated let’s put a sidewalk on Kemper Road then.
Mrs. Harlow said we actually don’t have that many residents in that section of Kemper
Road who have small children. We put a fence in our backyard in the late 1970s and made it
known to all the families on Kemper Road that all the children were welcome to cut through
our yard to get to the Rec Center or to school. We’ve never had a problem. We do have
a lot of people on Kemper Road who come through our yard.
Ordinance 47-2007 passed with seven affirmative votes.
ORDINANCE NO. 48-2007 “REJECTING ALL BIDS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE SPRINGDALE
VETERANS’ MEMORIAL AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”
Mr. Wilson made a motion to adopt and Mr. Galster seconded.
Mr. Wilson said the Memorial Committee met last week and the timing and accuracy of the
bids did not reflect what we wanted. The bidders did not have an adequate opportunity to
make an accurate bid. Some estimates were best guesses. The decision was to reject these
bids and re-bid the project again. It will delay construction but we want to do it right
the first time. Now we are looking at Veteran’s Day 2008 and we wanted to have it
much sooner.
Mr. Osborn stated the engineer said he thought we could get it done by Memorial Day.
Veteran’s Day was actually our target date. By re-bidding it right away we take
advantage of the fact that there are a lot of informed bidders out there that just
didn’t have a chance to bid but are already familiar with the project. One vendor is
providing a new type of stone application process that is offering to instruct the bidders
on how to install the product and they are going to provide the product for free.
We’ve had some good feedback from the engineer’s office on some value
engineering. We’ve also had some contributions for various elements. We think we can
turn this around quickly and still not miss too much.
Mr. Danbury said I recall that the City is going to buy some items itself to cut down on
the cost, such as benches, flag poles, etc.
Mayor Webster said let’s make sure that the two vendors who made a pledge to this
project get recognition. Trend Construction has agreed to do the grading for the project
in the range of $10,000. Delhi Landscaping is donating landscaping at a cost of about
$2,100.
Mr. Knox said the bidders have been very cooperative. We asked for the Request for
Proposal at the busiest time of the year. One of them had their estimator quit just about
that time and also, most of these people are working at 100 percent. In order to start a
project they would have had to rent new equipment and find new workers, which drives the
price up. Just by putting this off for just a few months we are going to gain quite a bit.
Mr. Wilson said I’d like to make mention of our Public Works Department in terms of
labor.
Ordinance 48-2007 passed with seven affirmative votes.
RESOLUTION R14-2007 “AUTHORIZING THE CITY ADMINISTRATOR TO FILE AN APPLICATION WITH
THE OHIO PUBLIC WORKS COMMISSION FOR LOCAL TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM FUNDS AND/OR
STATE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM (SCIP) FUNDS, AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CLERK OF
COUNCIL/FINANCE DIRECTOR TO EXECUTE ALL CONTRACTS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS”
Mr. Vanover made a motion to adopt and Mr. Squires seconded.
Mr. Osborn said I’ve handed out a schematic that shows the details
of this project. If you look at the lower third of the sheet, the intersection at Ray
Norrish, Crescentville Road east/west and SR 4 north/south, there are three lanes
southbound all the way through that intersection. This intersection is being reconstructed
under a separate contract that you are aware of already. In the middle section of the
page, you will see that those three lanes southbound carry on down to a point just past
the entrance to Rooster’s. At that point the middle lane splits into either a through
lane or an express lane onto the expressway. There will be two lanes dedicated to
accessing the expressway. The one on the right will be dedicated to westbound and the one
on the left dedicated to eastbound. The traffic engineers tell us by moving the transition
point down away from the intersection does not cost us anything in terms of intersection
capacity or the ability to move traffic. It does save us construction costs and
right-of-way costs. The overall anticipated cost of this project is estimated at $330,000.
We anticipate that we will apply for sixty percent LTIP and forty percent local share at
$132,000. Construction would be in 2008.
Resolution R14-2007 passed with seven affirmative votes.
OLD BUSINESS
Mr. Danbury said I was going through the new center we just developed
with Subway and Riley’s. I think everybody will be pleasantly surprised at the
atmosphere that Riley’s will bring to the City.
Mr. Vanover said two weeks ago the overpass at Chesterdale was shut
down and we found out about it as we were turning onto Chesterdale and they had the road
closed. Did we not get any forewarning on that?
Mr. Osborn replied no and it was ODOT’s responsibility to make
that notice. That will be happening more. On September 14 from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. all ramps
eastbound will be shut down for asphalt work. The second phase of the project is being
moved up to mid October. It puts the new traffic alignment in place more than a month
before the seasonal crunch.
Mrs. McNear said it is very difficult getting on I-275 east. Now
that’s dark in the morning It’s very scary and dangerous. Now that people are
getting used to it, they don’t give you any slack at all. They won’t slow down
or speed up so that you can get on the expressway.
Mr. Osborn said we will contact ODOT. They did respond to the brush
issue and cut the brush back.
Mayor Webster said I would think that will change drastically when they
switch the traffic over to the middle lanes.
NEW BUSINESS
Mr. Osborn said you all may be aware that the State Legislature has
adopted House Bill 9 that created a new public records law for the State of Ohio. One
element of that new law requires that all elected officials receive three hours of
training from the Attorney General’s Office during the course of their term. That
applies to people who are currently in office whose terms end at the end of November. They
put another clause in saying that the elected officials may designate a surrogate to take
the training for them. If you want a surrogate to go in your place you must give us
written authorization to do that.
MEETINGS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Board of Zoning Appeals
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September 18
Board of Health
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September 13
Planning Commission
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no meeting
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE -
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Mr. Danbury made a motion that Council go into executive session as a
meeting of the whole to discuss economic development. Mr. Vanover seconded. The motion
passed with seven affirmative votes.
UPDATE ON LEGISLATION STILL IN DEVELOPMENT - none
RECAP OF LEGISLATIVE ITEMS REQUESTED -
none
Council adjourned at 9:09 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Edward
F. Knox
Clerk
of Council/Finance Director
Minutes Approved:
Kathy McNear, President of Council
__________________________, 2007
City of Springdale Council
September 5 2007