President of Council Kathy McNear called Council to order on November 7, 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 October 3, 2007 were approved with six affirmative votes. Mrs. McNear abstained. The minutes of October 17, 2007 were approved with six affirmative votes. Mr. Galster abstained.

    COMMUNICATIONS                     -     none

    COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE     -     none

    ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS

ORDINANCE NO. 55-2007 “AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CLERK OF COUNCIL/FINANCE DIRECTOR TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH JONATHAN SMITH FOR PUBLIC DEFENDER SERVICES FOR THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE, OHIO, AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”

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

Ordinance 55-2007 passed with seven affirmative votes.

ORDINANCE NO. 56-2007 “AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CLERK OF COUNCIL/FINANCE DIRECTOR TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH MARK E. PIEPMEIER FOR PROSECUTING SERVICES FOR THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE, OHIO, AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”

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

Mayor Webster said the contract with Jonathan Smith that you just approved is at the same rates, terms and conditions as the prior year. The one for Mr. Peipmeier is also identical to last year’s. Ordinance 57-2007 for the magistrate, Donald White, has been increased by $500. Mr. White asked for an increase primarily because he comes from Clermont County and getting here is more and more a problem and more and more expense.

Mrs. Harlow said the prosecuting attorney is required to carry worker’s comp, professional liability, comprehensive and all those other types of coverage. Why is that not in the contract for Jonathan Smith?

Mr. Forbes explained I suspect it is because Mr. Peipmeier is acting as the prosecutor on behalf of the City and we require him to have the insurance. Mr. Smith is acting as a public defender on behalf of private individuals, compensated by the City, but not acting as a representative of the City.

Ordinance 56-2007 passed with seven affirmative votes.

ORDINANCE NO. 57-2007 “AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CLERK OF COUNCIL/FINANCE DIRECTOR TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH DONALD W. WHITE TO SERVE AS MAYOR’S COURT MAGISTRATE FOR THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE, OHIO, AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”

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

Mr. Danbury asked Mayor Webster, are you satisfied with the level of service we are getting?

Mayor Webster replied yes. If any of you have the opportunity to observe court on Wednesday afternoon, I think you would be very impressed with the court that this City offers and how fair it is. We have a fair amount of non-English speaking people in court and the City provides an interpreter. It is a justifiable expense.

Mr. Wilson said Mr. White asked for an increase because he lives farther away.

Mayor Webster stated he has to travel farther than the other two. He has to deal with the I-275 mess and the court load is increasing so he is spending more time when he gets here.

Mr. Wilson responded I can accept more time but just because he lives on the other side of town is not justification to give him a raise.

Ordinance 57-2007 passed with seven affirmative votes.

ORDINANCE NO. 58-2007 “ACCEPTING A BID AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CLERK OF COUNCIL/FINANCE DIRECTOR TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH ATKINS AND STANG, INC., AS THE ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR FOR THE ELECTRICAL WORK ON THE VETERANS’ MEMORIAL AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”

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

Mr. Wilson said the Veteran’s Memorial Committee reviewed the bids and we felt the combination bid from Atkins & Stang met the criteria that we as a city were looking for. I’m in favor of this contractor for the electrical work and hope you will support this ordinance.

Ordinance 58-2007 passed with seven affirmative votes.

ORDINANCE NO. 59-2007 “ACCEPTING A BID AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CLERK OF COUNCIL/FINANCE DIRECTOR TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH R.E. SCHWEITZER CONSTRUCTION COMPANY AS THE PRIME GENERAL CONTRACTOR FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE VETERANS’ MEMORIAL AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”

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

Mr. Wilson said I want to extend a thanks to the Administration, staff and committee. This has been a long time coming and I hope Council will support it.

Mayor Webster said it was a long time coming. We’ve talked about it for ten years. Unfortunately, there has always been something in the budget that bumped it back. This year we were finally able to budget it. We plan to dedicate it on Veteran’s Day in November 2008. We have had some contributions to help off-set the costs of the statues. These two bids for tonight do not include the statues. We will have information shortly on how you can purchase bricks.

Mr. Osborn said the newsletter for December will have an article updating the community on the project and the progress it is making. The newsletter will also contain an order form for individuals to place orders for the bricks. The committee agreed that we are going to sell these at our cost engraved, which is only $15. We elected to keep the cost down and get a lot of participation from people. March 30, 2008 will be the cut off date for orders.

Mr. Osborn continued we did this project two months ago. At that time the best price on that bid was $940,000. By re-bidding it we have saved over $200,000. It was a good decision to re-bid it and extend the length of the contracts.

Mrs. McNear asked has there been any thought of having a donation block on the order form? Also, some companies give matching funds if a person donates to an organization with a 501(c3) designation.

Mrs. Harlow suggested putting on the form that people can make multiple copies of the form to use for purchasing multiple bricks.

Ordinance 59-2007 passed with seven affirmative votes.

    OLD BUSINESS                     -     none

    NEW BUSINESS

    Mr. Vanover said Council needs to make two appointments for BZA for terms ending November 30. We also need to replace Mr. Diehl on Planning Commission, a Civil Service appointment and a Charter Commission appointment for December 31.

    Mr. Osborn said I’d like to request legislation for the sale of a V-8 diesel engine and transmission from a 1979 fire engine. We’ve had this vehicle in storage on our back lot. We’ve been cannibalizing it from time to time for different parts. It’s at the point now where we cut it up to get the power train out. We are cutting out the pump to use it as a training device so people can see how the internal operations of the pump work. We’d like to sell this power train on e-bay with a minimum price of $5,000 with a buy now price of $7,000. We would like legislation at the next meeting declaring the vehicle no longer needed for public purpose.

    Mr. Osborn continued I would like to request legislation for an agreement with Tri-County Mall for the right of entry and permanent easement to install a security system that the City is putting up around the perimeter of Tri-County Mall under a Homeland Security Grant. As you know, malls are considered soft targets by Homeland Security. We did obtain a grant a year or two ago, and we’re supplementing that grant and putting a series of cameras in place at the entrances to the mall. Some of those cameras have to be on mall property so we have to have an agreement with the mall to do it.

    Mayor Webster stated I got a letter from Chief Laage requesting again to do the Food for Fines program. It will begin Thanksgiving Day and continue through Christmas Day. Mayor Webster read a letter from Chief Laage recapping the program:

    “The 2006 Food for Fines Program was once again a great success. This was the eleventh year we conducted this holiday program and we had another very successful program in helping needy families and food banks in the Springdale area. As we did in 2004 and 2005, motorists paid their fines with ten canned goods and the appropriate state costs. In 2006 we issued substantially more citations than in past years and our designated food banks received a tremendous amount of food to give to needy families during the holiday season. The City of Springdale has been most gracious in allowing the department to sponsor this program. We have received very favorable comments from other law enforcement officials and residents regarding the program. We continue to have residents who never received a citation drop off canned goods at the Police Department, just wanting to give something to a good cause. Our City leaders are setting a fine example by helping some of the less fortunate in our community during the holiday season. Your actions are very indicative of the caring, concerned community we live in. This year, in addition to the two food banks we assisted, we were also able to assist four needy families residing in the City. We received several referrals from the City Health Department, an apartment complex manager and Princeton schools. In addition to the food we have collected from this program that we presented to the families, J & R Coordinating Services gave us $100 for one of the families and we had approximately $100 remaining from our Cop and Shop Program in addition to cash donations from our officers. These funds allowed us to purchase Christmas gifts for all the children of those Springdale families. Our Cop & Shop Program was financed with a $1,000 check from WalMart enabling our personnel to take eight children from Springdale on a Christmas shopping trip in December. All of our employees did a tremendous job as can be seen from the above results. We have the best people within the Department. It is a pleasure to offer this special thank you to all the City leaders for their efforts to make Springdale a better place. From all within the Police Department we sincerely thank you.”

    Mayor Webster said last year the cost of the program was $16,726 in fines that were forgiven. The organizations that were assisted were Tri-County Soul Ministries food bank, The Vineyard Church food bank in addition to the four Springdale families.

    Mrs. McNear said Council would like to see the program continue. It is a fine service provided to the community. The community really supports this.

    Mr. Parham reported we have begun our labor negotiations with the patrol officers. As usual, since it is at the end of the year I request an extension agreement to extend the date for the fact finding so that the fact finder/conciliator can make recommendations and/or binding agreements that have financial impact.

    Mr. Galster made a motion to approve the extension and Mr. Squires seconded. The motion passed with seven affirmative votes.

    Mr. Knox said I misstated something about a liquor license the last time. Now everybody here has a list of what the liquor licenses are. A D5B is spirituous liquor on premises, consumption only, beer and wine for off-premises and off-premises in original sealed containers until 2:30. I had said 1:00 a.m. It’s for enclosed shopping malls only.

    Mr. Knox stated we have a request for a D2 liquor license for the New Orleans to Go. There were no objections. There was also a request from ERJ Dining IV, LLC doing business as Chili’s Grill and Bar requesting a D5 and D6 license. We sent a letter in saying it was all right and now Reynoldsburg is officially asking if we have any objections. There were no objections.

    Mr. Knox said for those who have had an opportunity to look at the trial balance for the City for the end of October, for the first time this year, if you look at the bottom line we actually have a negative figure. Last October one of our major employers in the City made a declaration of $1.7 million and delivered those funds to the City. We expected $1.2 million. They gave us one-half million more than we expected. At the beginning of the year we got more money than we had gotten the previous year and that was reflected in the amount of money that was shown in the running totals that you received. Now, we got to the point where that half million dollars was received last year. When you compare figures, we didn’t get the half million this year so suddenly we drop down considerably. But if you compare the bottom line between last year and this year, our tax revenue from income tax is higher this year than it was last year. There are other things, particularly income from the State, that are a bit lower and that’s what is causing the negative figure. We are not in financial trouble though.

    Mr. Danbury asked Mayor Webster, do you want to talk about what SOS is doing. Foods for Fines reminded me of that.

    Mayor Webster reported we have taken on a very ambitious program of trying to identify needy families. We also are making available to the public, the ability to adopt a family. We will give the children’s ages and sex, and a shopping list, or if you want to buy for one child we will provide information for that child. SOS is trying to solicit donors and also reach out for needy families in the area. We copied this from Sharonville and they raise a tremendous amount of money from their businesses to help fund this effort. We look forward to having a successful Christmas for a number of needy families.

    Mr. Danbury said these aren’t people who are begging but we have investigated that they have some needs. Some people have issues where they really need help. It could be an anonymous donation if someone wanted it that way. We are trying to keep confidential the names of the families we are trying to help. I think it is a good opportunity for people in the community to help other people in need.

    Mr. Osborn said I’d like to go back to Mr. Knox’s comments to make it abundantly clear that the City is not in any fiscal difficulty. We’ve done some projections as part of our annual budget process and right now it appears that the City will finish the year with about $1 million more in all revenues than we budgeted and we’ll probably finish the year with about $1 million less in expenses than we had budgeted. The aberration that occurred with the one employer was only significant statistically. What this did for us was give us their money six months early. We got to collect the interest on that. If you think about the income tax itself, before, we had collected the same amount of money that we collected last year at this time. We’ve seen growth in the income tax because we had to make up that half million dollars that came in unexpectedly last year. Our earnings tax revenue is still showing good growth and the City is in good fiscal shape.

    Mrs. Harlow asked will we entertain nominations for the boards and commissions at our next meeting or will that be in December?

    Mayor Webster responded I think the new Council will have to make those appointments. In a case where a board would meet before the first regular Council meeting, then we need to take action on December 1. If not, we can do that at the first Council meeting in December.

    Mr. Knox said I didn’t want anybody to think we have financial problems because we don’t. That is mainly due to the work of Mr. Osborn himself. He budgets very conservatively. Every department in this City is below its budget. Every department should be commended for the way the money is handled.
       
    MEETINGS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
    Board of Health                         -     November 8
Planning Commission                         -     November 13
    Tree lighting ceremony                     -     November 25
    Special Council Meeting                     -     December 1

COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE        -      none

UPDATE ON LEGISLATION STILL IN DEVELOPMENT    -    none

RECAP OF LEGISLATIVE ITEMS REQUESTED
Sale of power train                         -     November 21
Agreement with Tri-County mall for easement        -     November 21

Council adjourned at 7:46 p.m.

                        Respectfully submitted,



                        Edward F. Knox
                        Clerk of Council/Finance Director

Minutes Approved:

Kathy McNear, President of Council


__________________________, 2007