President of Council Marjorie Harlow called Council to order on September 15, 2010, 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 Diehl, Emerson, Galster, Squires,
Vanover and Harlow. Mr. Hawkins was absent.
The minutes of September 1, 2010 were approved with six affirmative votes.
RESOLUTION NO. R 14-2010 “COMMENDING POLICE OFFICER DAVID J. BUSCHMANN FOR HIS
DEDICATION AND SERVICE TO THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE”
Mr. Vanover made a motion to adopt and Mr. Squires seconded.
Resolution R14-2010 passed with six affirmative votes.
Mayor Webster said there are a lot of outstanding adjectives in this resolution to
describe Officer Buschmann but if I had to use one word to describe Dave it would be
“excellence.” Whoever has crossed paths with Dave has nothing but positive
things to say. I’ve never heard anything bad about you in thirty-two years. We will
be eternally grateful to the City of Cincinnati for allowing Dave Buschmann to become a
Springdale officer.
Chief Laage said Dave is definitely one of the good guys. He’s a good man, a good
husband and a good father. Dave is a thirty-two year veteran. He attended Xavier High
School and then received a bachelor’s degree in sociology at Xavier University. Dave
coached soccer for a number of years and touched the lives positively of a lot of people
in our community. He was the department’s first canine officer. In 2001 he was
involved in the arrest of America’s Most Wanted Fugitive, Clayton Lee Waagner. In
2002 Dave received the Donald Stemann Award as the Springdale Officer of the Year and
Greater Cincinnati Police Appreciation Award for “Contribution to Law
Enforcement.” We hope that you will have very many good retirement years.
Dave Buschmann said I didn’t know what to think when I first started here. After a
few months I was feeling pretty good about the job and the officers I was working with. I
had been laid off from the Cincinnati PD and I was glad to get back on a police force.
Then a phone call came from Cincinnati PD saying they were hiring back the officers they
had laid off. I talked to my wife and we decided to stay in Springdale. Then I got another
call from Cincinnati and the answer was the same. About a week later there was an envelope
in my mail box from Cecil Osborn and I thought, if that’s got a pink slip in it I
made a big, big mistake. But there was no pink slip. There was a note from Mr. Osborn
thanking me for staying with the City of Springdale and not going back to Cincinnati. That
note told me a lot about the Springdale family. Tonight I want to say thanks for allowing
me to have a wonderful career in a wonderful place. Having worked and sometimes lived in
Springdale, I have had the opportunity to meet some of the greatest people on earth. Many
are right here in this room. I thank you all for your friendship.
Mrs. McNear, Mr. Vanover, Mr. Squires, Mr. Diehl, Mrs. Emerson and Mrs. Harlow expressed
their thanks to Officer Buschmann.
Mrs. Buschmann said Springdale is a great place to work and raise kids.
Cincinnati USA Partnership – Status and Success of Partnership, Benefit to Springdale
- Julia Muntel
Mr. Parham said Julia Muntel from the Cincinnati USA Partnership is
with us this evening. Over the years the City has been a contributor to the Greater
Cincinnati Partnership (the Cincinnati Chamber, the Blue Chip Program). In our minds it
has been a very good working relationship for the City and the Chamber. We’ve asked
Julia to come this evening and present to you some of the information relative to our
relationship, some of the benefits of the City being associated with the Chamber and
hopefully some of the successes we have experienced, if not directly in Springdale but
throughout the Greater Cincinnati Chamber.
Ms. Muntel said I will discuss the overview of the Cincinnati USA
Partnership, how we fit in with the regional Chamber, the process of economic development
and leads and prospects, and what you get out of your investment. Ms. Muntel said the
Chamber includes southeastern Indiana, northern Kentucky and up past Middletown. Over
eighty percent of new investment and new jobs comes from existing businesses. We work
tirelessly to retain our local businesses. Springdale gets lead generation, assistance in
closing deals, technical support, and business information. Information resources
available are demographics and statistics, real estate locator, executive pulse, and
marketing support. We appreciate your investment in the partnership. It helps promote this
region globally and supports and enhances the regional business climate.
Mayor Webster said I can’t remember us not being a part of this.
The level of commitment is $10,000. We thought it was a very worthwhile investment.
Ms. Muntel stated the Blue Chip campaign started twenty-five years ago
and Springdale has been a long time investor.
Mr. Diehl said there are about a dozen communities investing from
$5,000 to $50,000. Is there a disadvantage to a community that is not an investor over a
community that is an investor?
Ms. Muntel responded there are over a dozen investors and the range is
up to over $100,000. We sell this region. If someone is interested in Cincinnati, then we
show them what is available. We are not going to pass up the opportunity to have new jobs
come in. There are benefits at certain levels of investment.
Mr. Diehl said I agree with the trickle down effect but can you point
to one direct investment we have had in the community in the last five to ten years?
Ms. Muntel replied let me research that.
Mr. Squires stated if a business is considering Springdale, even if we
don’t get it, there’s a good chance it will stay in the region. That benefits a
lot of people.
Mr. Vanover asked wasn’t the Chamber involved in the international
enterprise with Avon?
Mr. Parham replied yes they were. I think it was called the Foreign
Trade Zone.
Mr. Vanover said we did receive a direct benefit from that. When a
business goes into another community in our region we benefit from shopping, spin offs,
etc. It is beneficial.
Mrs. Emerson said the big difference between the $5,000 level and the
$10,000 is the ability to draw from databases.
Ms. Muntel said it is the ability to receive information directly for
prospects. There are other benefits at the $10,000 level beyond the $5,000 and I’d be
happy to e-mail them to you.
Mr. Galster stated what is good for Greater Cincinnati is good for the
surrounding communities. If the overall health of the City is good, Springdale’s will
be good. You need to lobby representatives to allow incentives to retain employers in
established communities. It’s a lot tougher to redevelop a brown field than a green
field. We may lose out on someone who wants to move from downtown Cincinnati to
Springdale, but I think in general most of it is going out to undeveloped areas. You may
lose partners if we can’t compete with the grass fields.
Ms. Muntel said we are in total agreement because there is no benefit
from a business moving twenty miles down the road. That pits one community against
another.
Mayor Webster said you can’t really get the State’s attention
unless a company is leaving the State. I think all the Chamber can do is be an advocate.
Mr. Parham said there are some features the State has in place to try
to prevent one company relocating from one place in the State to another. There are
incentives in place that state, if you cannot expand at your current location or in
another location within that community, then the State will offer a waiver and grant you
that incentive package. When the company tells the State that they are considering moving
their business out of State, the State will move forward with the incentive because they
don’t want the company to leave their jurisdictions. The same thing occurs in Indiana
and Kentucky as well. There are four levels of contribution at the Chamber: Team 100 at
$10,000 to $24,999 (there are 11 communities participating at that level); Stewards at
$25,000 to $49,999 (has 4 communities contributing); Partners at $50,000 to $99,999 (have
2 contributors); and Directors at $100,000 plus has 2 contributors. The City of Cincinnati
and Duke Energy contribute at the Directors level. The advantage we enjoy through our
participation with the Partnership is the long arm of economic development that goes out
internationally as well as nationally for us. We do not have the resources to send Jeff
Tullock, Economic Development Director out on even a national basis. The foreign trade
zone was ten to fifteen years ago but the Chamber was very helpful in helping us establish
that for Avon. Early on in my career here we had the opportunity to sit at the table with
a group called Blue Angels. They were out of Tulsa and it was Marathon Oil who was
leveraging Ohio against the State of Oklahoma to give them what they needed. They
eventually got what they needed and stayed in Tulsa. There was a group out of India that
we had a chance to compete for also. There are times we do get the chance to sit at the
table and sell the City of Springdale’s attributes, services and what we can offer
that organization. Unfortunately, a lot of times what we have to offer does not fit what
that organization is looking for but I think the investment we make with the Chamber is a
very wise investment, very beneficial for our community, and as we have heard tonight,
although it doesn’t sit in Springdale directly, there are benefits to our community
with the retail, restaurants, the individuals who live here and have an opportunity to
compete for jobs.
COMMITTEE AND OFFICIAL REPORTS
Civil Service Commission
-
no report
Rules and Laws - Mrs. Emerson reported Rules and Laws of Council special committee met
September 8. They continue to work on Rules of Council.
Mrs. Harlow asked do you know when you might bring any drafts before Council for review.
Mrs. Emerson responded in the next week or so I’ll be meeting with Mr. Hawkins and
Mr. Forbes to draw up some rough drafts.
Finance Committee - no report
Planning Commission - Mr. Galster stated Entenmann’s Bakery wanted to add three logo
signs on the side of the building. The landlord was there representing Entenmann’s
and he has in his covenants that everything should be raceway type channel letters. The
request was denied. Tri County Towne Center asked for modification to the PUD looking for
signs on their out building and landscaping plans. The signs were denied and the
landscaping was tabled as we are waiting for more details.
Board of Zoning Appeals - no
report
Board of Health –Mr. Squires said the food licensing fees for 2011 were discussed. As
they are less than they were for 2010, we have asked the Health Commissioner to rework the
numbers. National Drug Take Back Day is September 25 and residents are encouraged to bring
in any expired or no longer used drugs for disposal. The State Subsidy to Boards of Health
has been cut by forty percent. The local schools were inspected and Heritage Hill and
Springdale Elementary both have roof issues and Heritage Hill also has concrete and water
fountain issues. Calvary Christian School has air quality issues. The 2010 flu clinic will
be held October 19.
Mrs. Harlow said I talked to the man in charge of maintenance at Princeton Board of
Education and he said there was a failure of the roofs. They are being replaced under
warranty.
Mr. Vanover said the Potomac River is experiencing big problems with drugs getting into
their systems. It seems to be primarily birth control pills creating a lot of problems.
Cincinnati has one of the finest water purification systems in the nation so it picks up a
lot of stuff but a lot of communities have less and these drugs do not come out of the
water system. If you have old drugs this is a safe and efficient way to get rid of them.
O-K-I - no report
Mayor’s Report – Mayor Webster said Shirley Fassnacht invited my wife and I to
the forty-third Senior Citizens Hall of Fame Recognition Banquet. Barb and Harold Dauer of
Springdale were being inducted into this Hall of Fame. Mayor Webster read a proclamation
in honor of Harold and Barb Dauer.
Clerk of Council/Finance Director -
no report
Administrator’s Report –Mr. Parham stated at the last meeting you authorized a
resolution allowing me to complete an application for three State Capital Improvement
Projects. One was the Merchant Street project that we didn’t feel very confident
about being able to receive any funding. The second was SR 747 northbound to I-275
westbound additional turn lane. We felt we could score pretty well on that one. We have
already received funding through the CMAQ program at a 70/30 split which leaves us with
about $90,000 in construction costs. We were also going to apply for OPWC funding in the
amount of $81,000; thereby leaving us with $9,000 in construction costs. We felt pretty
comfortable with that application. The third project is the Century Boulevard North repair
program. There was some discussion on that project at the last meeting. The Mayor and I
wanted to bring that back before you just to get a feel from you as we continue to go
further into the numbers. This Friday is the deadline for submitting the applications for
OPWC Funding. We have decided not to include the Merchant Street project as part of the
application process because we don’t think we are going to score well and we
don’t want to insult the committee by continuing to apply for one that we don’t
think will score well. We clearly want to apply for the SR 747/I-275 project which has the
potential of reducing our costs to $9,000. The Century Boulevard project is the one we
want to discuss with you this evening. The estimated construction cost for the project is
$535,000. We are planning to apply for a breakdown of funding at 70% SCIP funding, 30%
local funding. Our 30% share would be $160,500. The SCIP share would be $374,500.
Construction engineering is generally 10% which would be $53,500. Design engineering at
10% is another $53,500. If you combine the City’s total contribution for the project
of $535,000, the City’s share would be $267,500. The Mayor and I rode over there
today. There are gaping holes in the roadway. The plan is to remove the concrete and
repave the road in asphalt. We would have to replace the curbs and add catch basins.
We’re just beginning to enter into the budget process. Last year we were estimating
to have $2.5 million at the end of 2010. Over the next couple of years, our balance is
projected to continue to deteriorate. Part of that calculation was the loss of additional
jobs in the second phase at GE. We were told those would happen for certain last year. At
this point, there has been an RFP that GE has put out that we can compete for those jobs.
Mayor Webster said when Mr. Parham and I went over the numbers my knee-jerk reaction was
no, we don’t want to do this. Is there any way we can patch it? I think we have to be
aware that if we patch it, those are throw away dollars. Sooner or later that street will
have to be done. We have an opportunity to get around $375,000 if we have another $260,000
to match that. Let’s assume we are successful and we get the funding. Do we want to
take $260,000 out of our limited capital improvement budget and redo that road? With
living with the Northland Boulevard project where we get all this money from the federal
government to help us with this project, and now as you see in Derrick’s report, we
are going to be bringing in an ordinance for $400,000 to cover the overrun on that
project. What do we do if we dig this concrete slab street up next summer expecting to
spend $260,000 of our limited capital improvement budget and we run into another $400,000
rat hole? I personally am not willing to take that chance. We have other needs in this
community. I hate to walk away from $375,000 but I think that there’s a time to play
and a time to fold. In this case, I’m not willing to make the application. Now, if
you want to go halfway we can instruct Mr. Parham to submit the application on Friday,
wait until we get all the budget numbers in and then see where we stand financially, and
then at that point pull the project. I don’t think they’d like you to do that
but we’ve never done it before. My personal recommendation is that we do that or walk
away.
Mrs. Emerson asked what does it hurt to wait a year or two. Can we reapply and get funding
at a later date or will it deteriorate so much in two years that the catch up costs will
be outrageous?
Mayor Webster said I think some repairs will have to be made. We have potholes that can
damage vehicles. I think we have to spend some money and I have no idea how much it would
cost to fix those potholes. We can reapply but if we spend $10,000 patching it up,
it’s thrown away money. We’re going to have to come back and do the street. Who
knows what will be out there the next cycle.
Mr. Parham stated typically when funds come available, the City of Cincinnati and Hamilton
County are the really big recipients of these funds and they are usually large projects.
This particular year the City of Cincinnati has indicated that they are not going to apply
for any large ticket projects so that leaves available an opportunity for Springdale and
other local jurisdictions to have a better chance to receive these funds. Next year we
don’t know whether that will be the case or not. I understand the Mayor’s
concern. Northland Boulevard is a concrete street with an asphalt overlay. If you look at
the photographs of Century Boulevard, you’ll see the deterioration on transverse
joints and longitudinal joints. At Northland we took the asphalt off and then we found
those problems and tried to fix them leaving the concrete base there. In this project,
we’re removing the entire concrete base so we shouldn’t have the same issues
with the horizontal and verticals joints. The concern is, because we don’t want
another Northland, is that the subgrade has to be mush (or peanut butter) in order for us
to have a similar situation as Northland. We have had some construction there in the past
and did not find that to be the case with the subgrade but there is no guarantee with
that. If we thought we wanted to attempt to move forward, we could put the application in,
look at the budget figures, and in the interim drill a number of bores to try to determine
what is down there. If we find out there is mush or peanut butter, you walk away from it.
If you find out there isn’t any problems, and the budget numbers suggest we have the
funds and you decide you want to go after those funds this year, then the opportunity is
there.
Mr. Galster stated since we are taking out concrete and getting down to the subfloor of
the street it is highly unlikely that any major add would need to be looked at to bring
that up to a good supporting surface. It’s just dirt that we would have to clean up
to make that happen as opposed to sawing out concrete like they are doing on Northland
Boulevard. When would we expect to know about the award of these funds, three months from
now, six months from now?
Mr. Shvegzda responded the applications are submitted this Friday; they will review them
and have the preliminary information in November. The funds don’t become available
until the middle part of next year.
Mr. Galster said with the Northland Boulevard project sitting out there with a $400,000
cost overrun for a free project, you have to be leery of making sure that the money is
there. Just because we think it might be doesn’t mean we should spend additional
money. I agree we should wait for the budget process to run. Let’s find out if we can
fit that into our budget but I think it would be okay to file for it. If we’re not
successful, we’re not looking at it anyway. If we are, we have to decide if this is
the one capital improvement project we’re going to do throughout the City in all of
2011. If, in fact, we’re able to get fifty percent paid for, then we have to make a
decision if the budget can handle it. At the same time, we will have gone through the
budget process and we’ll have identified where we stand exactly, and probably have a
better feel for the job situation you were talking about. If we find we don’t have it
in our budget we return the funds so to speak.
Mr. Vanover said we found out the hard way about concrete streets. It looks from these
pictures that there are moisture problems. If we apply, is there going to be penalties if
we are successful in getting the funding, then say no? I’d hate to jeopardize future
funding attempts.
Mr. Parham said in our first discussion with Mr. Shvegzda and Mr. Agricola they indicated
we may be penalized. We’ve never applied and turned money back in but considering we
were sitting at the Engineer’s table a couple of weeks ago begging for assistance for
the Northland project, they understand the predicament we’re in. They understand our
financial situation. If we decide early enough we can contact them and ask them to release
those funds to some other project.
Mayor Webster said the penalty would not be financial. The penalty would come by possibly
not getting the money in the future. Right now we have an excellent reputation. We’ve
never walked away from a grant.
Mr. Parham said when we met with the County they pointed out how generous they had been to
us over the years. We’ve been one of those communities that over the years received
more than what we put into the system. They do have to balance that with the other
jurisdictions. We can always understand that Century Blvd. is not going to get any better
unless we do something to it. If we don’t apply this year it may be even worse next
year.
Mrs. Emerson said I question why tarnish our reputation for $267,000 for a project on a
road with very little traffic. That’s an awful lot of money to even pursue this and
realistically are we truly going to do this.
Mr. Parham responded I think we have a very good working relationship with the County
Engineer. Again, we were just in their office and they were trying to find creative ways
of helping us find dollars for that project. I really don’t think because we sat at
that table with them that our reputation is going to be all that tarnished. I outlined
some of the financial constraints at that time. The businesses on that street are just
like the businesses on any other street in this community. We owe it to them to make sure
we take care of that road. There are pretty large gaping holes. We do go back and patch
those holes and we will continue to patch those holes until we are able to go in and fix
that road properly.
Mrs. Emerson replied I agree with you but I don’t think now is the time.
Mr. Parham stated we may not get the funds at some other time so I’m not sure when
the time will be right.
Mr. Diehl suggested we submit the application and see where we are down the road.
Mayor Webster said that is fine with me. We will do some of the core borings and see if we
can find out what’s underneath the base.
Mr. Parham stated we will communicate to you when and if we get an indication that we are
successful. At the same time it’s going to be a much scrutinized process as we go
through the budget. We need to have the funds before we can do it.
Mrs. Harlow asked did the Engineer’s office offer any hope for assistance on the
Northland Boulevard project.
Mr. Parham replied no. The funds for this year are extremely limited. They even considered
funding from next year but if they pull out of a future year to help us, that doesn’t
go over well with other jurisdictions. They’ve never done that before and they
don’t want to set that precedence. As we sat there they tried to come up with other
creative ways in which maybe we could receive funding from them for some other project and
possibly could have used those funds for this project, and then somehow we would have to
pay for the ones that we were going to be awarded on those projects but they indicated
they do not have anything available.
Law Director’s Report – Mr. Forbes said I have a status update on the hotel. As
we talked about before, Broadway Bank had filed a foreclosure action against the owner of
the hotel. Broadway Bank was then closed. FDIC stepped in. MB Financial Bank acquired the
assets of Broadway Bank. They expressed interest in the hotel. MB Financial has formally
substituted itself into the foreclosure action. The same day they substituted themselves
in as the proper plaintiff they also filed an emergency motion with the court to have a
receiver appointed which is what we had hoped for early on. The receiver has been
appointed and has made contact with the City to begin to formulate his plan on how to
remediate the property. MB Financial is taking a very proactive stance to protect what
will now be their asset.
Mr. Parham said we have been in contact with the receiver, Raymond Frye. The Fire Chief
has met with him on a number of occasions very early on and provided copies of the
citations to him. They had thirty days to show some effort that they were going to bring
it into compliance. Mr. Frye has been extremely responsive and he has at this point
contacted a liquidator. The plan they have is, through this liquidator, to liquidate the
assets in the hotel. There is a lot of new furniture, tiles, bathtubs, etc. The plan is to
have a sale of new furniture and the target audience would be hotels that are smaller that
may need equipment to upgrade. At the same time there is older furniture that they desire
to sell as well. We have told them this cannot be an open process where John Doe, citizen,
just comes in and walks around because the facility is still not in compliance with the
fire code. It has to be a private, closed process where there is one on one contact. Mr.
Frye is awaiting approval from MB Financial to sell the new furniture. MB Financial is
researching to make sure there are no liens on that furniture. We know what happened with
the previous bank and it is possible that they never paid for the furniture. The Fire
Chief was at the hotel yesterday and noticed that one of the dumpsters had old furniture,
televisions, and tiles in it. Individuals have been gaining access to the hotel, stealing
the copper and destroying the ceiling tiles to get to the copper. Mr. Frye’s group
cleaned out everything they identified as debris and what is remaining is the furniture.
We don’t feel a need to pressure them about the thirty day time. They are doing
things to clean up that site. The unfortunate part is that we believe their intention is
to bring the hotel into compliance by removing all the combustibles, furniture, etc. and
then simply close the doors until the bank decides what to do with the property. As Mr.
Forbes as indicated the legal process is still ongoing.
Engineer’s Report – Mr. Shvegzda said on the Northland Boulevard project, last
week the concrete repair was completed on the portion of the roadway west of SR 4.
Sometime the week of September 20 they will be applying a stress absorbing membrane that
protects the concrete base from moisture and retards the rate that the cracking will come
back up through the asphalt surface again. Shortly after that the asphalt surface of lanes
that haven’t been paved yet will occur. The completion date has been requested to be
delayed until the end of September.
On the Zone A flood insurance study we have met with Mr. McErlane who is the flood plain
administrator for the City. We will submit the information to FEMA to remove the
requirement of certain properties from having to acquire flood insurance. We expect to do
that by the end of the month.
The SR 747/I-275 ramp modification OPWC application will go in that will note that we get
seventy percent funded from ODOT, twenty-seven percent from OPWC and three percent local.
We also have submitted an MRF application to cover both the design cost and environmental
document preparation cost. We will find out about the OPWC and MRF funding in November.
COMMUNICATIONS
-
none
ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS
ORDINANCE NO. 29- 2010 “AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CLERK OF COUNCIL/FINANCE DIRECTOR
TO ACCEPT THE SIGN EASEMENT LOCATED AT THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF KEMPER ROAD AND PRINCETON
PIKE AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY (SPRINGDALE POINTE)”
Mr. Galster made a motion that Ordinance 29-2010 be tabled until the next meeting. Mr.
Vanover seconded. The motion passed with six affirmative votes.
OLD BUSINESS
-
none
NEW BUSINESS
Mrs. McNear reported October 8, 2010 will be government official’s
night at Princeton. The homecoming parade is at 5:00 p.m.
MEETINGS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Board of Health
-
October 14
Rules of Council
-
October 27
Mr. Parham said a couple of months ago you provided a resolution
recognizing BHE for their solar work and energy savings. They have scheduled a solar tour
open house for Saturday, October 2, 2010 from 1 to 4 p.m. at 11733 Chesterdale Road. They
are inviting the public and are hoping to have an opportunity to give you access using a
lift truck to give you a view of their outside panels to see how they actually function.
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE -
none
UPDATE ON LEGISLATION STILL IN DEVELOPMENT
Ordinance 29-2010
-
October 6
RECAP OF LEGISLATIVE ITEMS REQUESTED -
none
Council adjourned at 9:29 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Kathy
McNear
Clerk
of Council/Finance Director
Minutes Approved:
Marjorie Harlow, President of Council
__________________________, 2010