President of Council Marjorie Harlow called Council to order on
October 21, 2009, at 7:00 p.m.
The governmental body and those in attendance recited the pledge of
allegiance. Mrs. McNear gave the invocation.
Mr. Vanover asked for a moment of silence for local resident Joe Scott,
who had passed away. Mr. Scott had been a boy scout leader for many years and had
thirty-four scouts in his troop who became Eagle Scouts.
Mrs. McNear took roll call. Present were Council members Danbury,
Diehl, Galster, Vanover, Wilson and Harlow. Mr. Squires was absent.
The minutes of October 7, 2009 were approved with five affirmative
votes. Mr. Danbury abstained.
Health Department Flu Update – Jane Kay
Jane Kay said despite the worry and concern about H1N1 positive things
are happening. We have received our first initial shipment of vaccine as it is coming in
increments. Most cases of H1N1 have been mild but it is affecting young people up to age
24. The EMTs in Springdale have been given the vaccine. Pregnant women are top priority,
then caregivers for children under six months, health care and emergency responders. After
that it will be offered to those between 25 and 64 with complicating medical issues. The
Health Department held a seasonal flu shot clinic in September and gave 500 injections.
There is another clinic tomorrow. We are working in cooperation with the Princeton School
District, Sharonville Health Department and Hamilton County Public Health to inoculate the
school children in the Princeton school district. There are eleven health care providers
in the community interested in providing H1N1 for patients. They are eligible to receive
funding from Hamilton County to help recoup some of the money used for this.
Mr. Parham said at the last meeting Mr. Squires spoke. There was a
notice sent to the parents in the school district. Was that sent out by the School
District, the County Agency or the City?
Ms. Kay replied that the notice was sent out by the school district.
She also indicated that Jean Hicks, the public health nurse, is here to answer questions
as well.
Mrs. Hicks said the notices were sent out through the school system.
Sharonville, Hamilton County and our Health Department are working closely with the school
district. We helped create the forms.
Mr. Parham said the eleven medical providers Jane identified are
doctors in the City of Springdale. Was our role to reach an agreement with them so that
they would be willing to provide the vaccine at their locations?
Mrs. Hicks said our role was to go into the offices and make sure they
have proper storage (refrigeration) and internet access to report which doses they had
used and to whom they gave it. We had to put that into a computer program created by the
Ohio Department of Health. ODH will then let them know how they can order the vaccine.
Mr. Parham asked could you elaborate on our plan relative to the high
school, junior high, the elementary schools in Springdale and then the general public? The
last conversation I had with the department we did not have final dates of when the
clinics would be held.
Mrs. Hicks replied I wish I could say they are all finalized but they
aren’t. We have tentative dates set up with the schools. Some of that will depend on
whether enough vaccine arrives in time for all of the schools to be serviced. There is a
meeting tomorrow and the answer will be sent out tomorrow. Monday the plan is to vaccinate
children at the high school and middle school. Tuesday we plan to vaccinate children at
Springdale Elementary, and on Wednesday Heritage Hill School. We will vaccinate the school
children who come with a permission slip signed by their parents. This is not mandatory.
We have one private school that we are in close communication with and a date has not been
set with them yet. As soon as we can obtain enough vaccine or the company we are working
with has enough vaccine we will have a clinic to provide the vaccine to target groups and
then the general population in our community. This all depends on who gets the vaccine.
Tentative dates have been set.
Ms. Kay said all the plans have been made, it’s just the
availability.
Mr. Parham stated you will assist Sharonville with the high school and
middle school and take care of the schools in Springdale. Will other schools in the area
be handled by the County?
Mrs. Hicks responded we will do the Springdale schools, Sharonville
will handle the Sharonville schools and Hamilton County will take care of the schools in
the County. We offered to help Hamilton County and take over the schools in the Princeton
School District but they wanted to do it. We wanted to do it close to the same times but
it depends on whether we get the vaccine. We don’t have any control over that.
Mr. Parham said not everyone will need a second shot. Will you identify
the groups that may need a second shot?
Mrs. Hicks said children who have reached their tenth birthday will not
need a second shot. Those under ten will need two shots and they must be 21 to 28 days
apart. Things change daily and If you want to keep up to date on everything you can go to
www.CDC.gov.
Mr. Galster said the high school and middle school students brought
home packets at the beginning of last week. They were due back on Friday. I would hope
that Springdale and Sharonville would be getting a count on how many people desire the
vaccination. You can’t tell me right now if our shipment is enough to do the high
school, middle school and elementary schools, can you?
Mrs. Hicks stated we have a meeting tomorrow for the final numbers to
be given to us. We’re pretty sure we have enough for the grade schools. The problem
is the high school has children from Hamilton County, Springdale and Sharonville and all
of those numbers have to come together.
Mr. Galster said so the initial shipment we got is not necessarily
going to the high school and the middle school to meet these tentative dates of the 26th
and 27th. The ones we have in our possession we are saving for the elementary schools.
Mrs. Hicks said the decision is being made today and tomorrow about
whether we will be able to service the middle school and high school. If we aren’t
able to service them on Monday the thought is we will give it to the grade schools because
shipments are coming in every week and we don’t want to be saving the vaccine in our
refrigerators when it should be in somebody’s arms.
Mr. Galster said since we are not really providing the vaccine for the
high school and middle school we anticipate that our first shipment will at least do the
elementary schools on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Mrs. Hicks said I will respectfully say that I can’t answer that
question at this point.
Mr. Galster said my concern and my frustration are that these reports
weren’t due back until Friday. Assuming that every student is 100% on time, Friday
was the first time we even knew how many we needed.
Mrs. Hicks replied the reports got back and I did call the school to
get an estimate. It is a pretty involved process. First, they all have to be looked at to
make sure all the questions were answered so they didn’t have an answer for us.
Mr. Galster said my frustration is that even on Wednesday we still
don’t know how many vaccinations we need for the high school and middle school. It
seems to me those reports should have gone out earlier. Is there a mechanism in place with
the Springdale Health Department to handle Calvary Pentecostal School or will that be
handled by Hamilton County?
Mrs. Hicks answered that will be handled by Springdale. A tentative
date is set up for Calvary and they called and asked if another tentative date could be
set up so that has not been decided yet.
SWEARING IN – LYNN MCKEE
Mayor Webster introduced Captain Hafer who has been named Acting Police
Chief while Chief Laage is off.
Chief Hafer said we are here to have Sergeant Lynn McKee sworn in as
Lieutenant McKee. He has been with the Police Department since February 15, 1981.
COMMITTEE AND OFFICIAL REPORTS
Civil Service Commission – Mr. Goins stated 242 participants took
the written exam for patrol officer on October 10.
Rules and Laws - no report
Finance Committee - no report
Planning Commission – Mr. Galster the first item was a wireless communication tower
conditional use permit for Cricket Communications at Calvary Pentecostal. Their last
proposal was 99 feet in height plus the ability to add 20 feet. This was tabled to see if
they could locate it closer to the interstate. Target Store asked for a change to the PUD
for their retaining wall. They want to create a gradual slope and would lose some parking
spaces. This passed 7-0.
Board of Zoning Appeals – Mr. Danbury said the variance granted for the produce stand
on September 15 should have gone to Planning Commission first so a motion was brought
forth last night to nullify the variance granted. That passed 6-0. An applicant from 357
Cameron Road requested a 10’ x 10’ pergola along with their detached garage and
utility building. It passed 7-0. The owner of 846 Ledro requested to eliminate the garage.
The house had been converted when he bought it. That was approved 6-1.
Board of Health – Mayor Webster said most of the report has been covered in the H1N1
presentation. We received a letter from the Court of Appeals of Ohio asking us to consider
mediation with The Boulevard on their smoking violation. The board voted no. The next day
we got word that the Court itself had pulled it. Mr. Comer’s gripe is with the State
as he thinks the law is unconstitutional. As of the date of the meeting we had given 476
flu shots and the next clinic is tomorrow.
Veteran’s Memorial Committee -
no report
O-K-I - no report
Mayor’s Report – Mayor Webster said 2009 is the fiftieth anniversary of the City
of Springdale. We had an open house on the 40th anniversary and would like to observe the
50th anniversary of the City on Sunday, November 15 from 2-4 p.m. When we moved in this
building in 1992 we built a time capsule but we have never put anything in it. We have a
brass box and would like to put a history book and some bicentennial things in there. If
anybody has something they’d like to have considered please bring it forward. Mr.
Osborn, Mr. Parham and I are going to participate in the program.
Mrs. McNear asked do these items need to be related to the City or just the times.
Mayor Webster replied either one.
Clerk of Council/Finance Director – Mrs. McNear said for the quarter ending September
30th through diligent monitoring and controls, we have expended 67 percent of what was
budgeted year-to-date. $16.3 million has been budgeted for the year and $10.9 million
expended. We have receipts for earnings tax of $10.5 million through October. I feel sure
we will fall short of what our anticipated budget was but we have collected $2.6 million
this month.
Mayor Webster said last year we took in $14.8 million in earnings tax. This year
we’re shooting for $14.4 million. We are now estimating revenues will be about $13.7
million, about $700,000 short. At the end of June we were right on budget so this erosion
has taken place in the last six months of the year.
Mrs. McNear said we do have real estate taxes due in the next couple of weeks.
Administrator’s Report – Mr. Parham stated Ordinance 25-2009 is on the agenda.
According to the Law Director’s office we need to vote the ordinance down tonight.
The Parks and Recreation Director, Greg Karle shared with me that our website was updated
for the Community Center in June and since then we have 181 hits to the website. The slide
shows on the web site are the most popular and the most popular blog has been “Change
Your Spare Tire”.
Law Director’s Report -
no report
Engineer’s Report – Mr. Shvegzda said the SR 4 improvement at Crescentville is
essentially complete. The SR 4 continuous northbound lane is also substantially complete.
The pavement on the north side of Crescentville Road at SR 747 is complete. The remainder
of the signal is being installed. The southbound lane to Kemper Road at the I-275
eastbound off ramp is the last section to be paved. That is supposed to take place this
week. The SR 4 southbound lane addition at I-275 plans have been submitted to ODOT.
Construction is anticipated to start in April 2010. The Northland Boulevard repair and
resurfacing project is scheduled to be awarded in early February 2010 with a probable
construction start of April 2010.
Mr. Parham asked would you comment on the I-275 project?
Mr. Shvegzda responded they expect this season’s completion which would be everything
except the final wearing course would be complete November 19th. The next year the final
stage of the project will include the final wearing course across the project area and the
last section of sound wall in the vicinity of I-275/SR 4 westbound off ramp.
Mr. Vanover said I hope they redo the landscaping on the southeast corner at SR
747/Crescentville Road because there is a wagon rut through there.
Mr. Shvegzda said we’ll look at that.
Mayor Webster asked will they do away with the express lane?
Mr. Shvegzda said Thursday night they intend to switch the barrels out so we have four
lanes westbound from Chesterdale to Winton and next week the express lane will be gone
from west of Chesterdale. Subsequent to that, the rest of the express lane will be
eliminated this year.
COMMUNICATIONS
Mrs. McNear said the Board of Elections sent us an advertisement to
inform us that the proposed Charter amendments will appear in The Enquirer on Monday,
October 19 and October 26.
Mrs. McNear stated the second notice is from Time Warner Cable
notifying us of a price increase for the basic tier and standard tier service effective
November 14th. The customers have already begun to be notified. The basic service will
change from $10.46 to $11.45 per month and the standard service tier will change from
$45.02 to $49.54. They say eighty percent of the customers will not experience a rate
increase.
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE - none
ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS
ORDINANCE NO. 25 -2009 “DECLARING ONE VEHICLE AS SURPLUS AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY
ADMINISTRATOR TO ADVERTISE, AUCTION AND ENTER INTO A CONTRACT FOR SALE OF SAID VEHICLE AND
DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”
Mrs. Harlow said we have heard from Administration that they would like us to vote this
down. They plan to use the vehicle for other City business.
Mr. Vanover made a motion to adopt and Mr. Galster seconded.
Ordinance 25-2009 failed with six negative votes.
OLD BUSINESS
-
none
NEW BUSINESS
Mrs. Harlow said I would like to mention that you had in your mail
today the Boards and Commissions list. There are some positions that are expiring and if
you have someone you’d like to bring forward, we would look at nominations for those
positions at the first Council meeting in December.
Mrs. McNear said this Friday is the Viking 50 event, a fundraiser for
the Princeton High School scholarship fund. We appreciate anyone coming out who would like
to participate. The homecoming parade has been rescheduled for October 31st at noon.
Mrs. McNear said we have a liquor license for Lehigh Gas of Ohio, LLC
coming from Standard Oil. It is a C1, C2 permit. Council had no objections.
MEETINGS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
-
none
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE -
none
Mr. Danbury made a motion that Council go into executive session as a committee of the
whole to discuss economic development and personnel issues. Mr. Vanover seconded. The
motion passed with six affirmative votes.
Council went into executive session at 8:13 p.m. and reconvened at 9:37 p.m.
UPDATE ON LEGISLATION STILL IN DEVELOPMENT - none
RECAP OF LEGISLATIVE ITEMS REQUESTED
Boards and Commissions
-
December 1
Council adjourned at 9:39 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Kathy
McNear
Clerk
of Council/Finance Director
Minutes Approved:
Marjorie Harlow, President of Council
__________________________, 2009