President of Council Kathy McNear called Council to order on November 21, 2007, at 7:00 p.m.

    The governmental body and those in attendance recited the pledge of allegiance. Mr. Knox gave the invocation.

    Mr. Knox took roll call. Present were Council members Danbury, Galster, Harlow, Squires, Vanover, Wilson and McNear.

    The minutes of November 7, 2007 were approved with seven affirmative votes.

    COMMITTEE AND OFFICIAL REPORTS
    Civil Service Commission                     -     no report
Rules and Laws        -    no report
Public Relations        -    no report
Public Health, Safety & Welfare        -     no report

Public Works - Mr. Wilson reported portions of the Northland Boulevard sidewalk and the Police Department/Fire Department parking lot have been completed.
   
Public Utilities        -    no report
   
Capital Improvements – Mr. Danbury stated Duke has completed installation of the street lights on the CSX project but the service has not been energized. We have an agreement for the right-of-way with five of the seven affected properties for the SR 4/Crescentville Road properties. The right-of-way acquisitions should be completed by the end of the year. Construction will start in the summer of 2008. The Kemper Road Phase II project is substantially complete and all lanes are open. Final review will be in early December. The final plans for the Crescentville Road improvements at SR 747 have been submitted to ODOT. The construction contract should be issued in the fall 2008 and completed in the spring 2009. The contract has been awarded to R. E. Schweitzer for the Veteran’s Memorial and the electrical contract has been awarded to Atkins & Stang. Groundbreaking should be the week of November 26, 2007 with construction completed in September 2008. We were not successful in obtaining funding through the Ohio Public Works Commission for the SR 4 at I-275 project. Construction should begin in August 2008 and be completed in November 2008.
   
Finance Committee        -    no report

Planning Commission – Mr. Galster said the request for a change to the EFIS at Staples was tabled at the applicant’s request. We had a request to allow a wall sign less than three feet from the adjoining property at Princeton Pike. That was approved 7-0 to allow them to move that sign with the understanding that once the sign comes down, the sign company will look at it to see if they can knock off the “.com” and see if they can make the sign shorter. We did have discussion on Zoning Code changes for accessory buildings and garages. There was some wording that needed to be done to draft that. The lot size and home size will be taken into consideration. In general, it will allow some bigger garages and some bigger utility buildings. Under no circumstances will the auxiliary building become bigger than the house that sits on the lot. That should be coming forward to Council for a public hearing. There was also discussion about decorative fencing. An applicant had been denied decorative fencing because fences are not allowed in the front yard. However, this fence was decorative in nature and not intended to close anything in or out. We are having the City Planner look at the wording of that so that we can get a definition that would allow this type of fencing. Bill Syfert has retired from Planning Commission after thirty years. I request a legislation commending him for his service.
   
Board of Zoning Appeals – Mr. Squires stated we had a request to allow an accessory building four feet from the property lot line. The applicant informed us that there was a slab on the lot when she purchased the home and the slab would accept an 8’ x 10’ shed. Also, on the same property BZA gave a variance for an 11’ x 12’ shed in 2007. The owner decided to build a smaller shed and put it on the slab. The board allowed the shed but if she replaces that shed with another shed in the future it will have to conform to code.
   
Board of Health – Mrs. Harlow said we had the second reading of the proposed 2008 food licensing fees. We reviewed the updated 2008 hotel/motel sanitation standards. Mrs. Mitrione discussed a program that is being used in Columbus as a grading system for restaurants. She will research that more. Four hundred thirty-two people received flu vaccines at the first clinic and a second clinic was held last Friday.
   
Veteran’s Memorial Committee – Mr. Wilson said 4” x 8” pavers for $15 each will be available for general donors. There will be an order form in the Springdale newsletter. There is a section for major donors of a minimum of $2,500. Groundbreaking will be December 1. The projected completion is November 2008.

O-K-I        -    no report
   
Mayor Webster said I put a form for nominations for OKI in your mailbox, Mrs. McNear.

Mr. Knox stated the person is supposed to be appointed by January 1 and there is no December meeting. Springdale has to nominate an elected official to be the representative of Springdale. There are also nominations for cities under 40,000 in the State of Ohio for the executive committee, four residents at large and other situations people can be nominated for.

Mayor’s Report – Mayor Webster reported Gus Neuss, Springdale’s first mayor passed away on November 8. It was the longest obituary I had ever seen. I didn’t know him that well but I never dreamt he had been involved in so many things. He was a very well rounded individual. He was very instrumental in getting our government formed in the late 1950s or early1960s. He was the first elected mayor. He only served two years because he worked for GE and in 1962 he was transferred from the area. Gus was 95. One of the highlights was him going back to help celebrate the 200th anniversary. Shortly thereafter he and his wife had their names announced on the Paul Harvey Show for having celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary. We will be eternally grateful for his contributions in making this City what it is today.

Mayor Webster continued the Christmas tree lighting will be Sunday, November 24th at 7:30 p.m. Mr. Danbury had brought up SOS (Springdale Offering Support) at the last meeting and I am happy to announce that the donations are really coming in. This City is a very charitable one. However, the list of needy families continues to grow. The Police Department is aware of twenty-four families. SOS is aware of ten situations so we’re trying to pool all our resources together and service those. If anyone would like to get involved with SOS, you can call 346-5725 and volunteer to adopt a family or just buy for some children, or make a cash contribution to SOS to be used for our Christmas endeavors here, we’d be happy to accept those. Mr. Bob Diehl and his wife, Joanne, will be available after the tree lighting ceremony to accept donations. Make checks to SOS, which is a tax deductible organization. The Food for Fines Program is taking food donations. You don’t have to have a ticket to donate. The City is very generous and we appreciate your support.

Clerk of Council/Finance Director        -     no report
   
Administrator’s Report – Mr. Osborn said we plan to open bids for the HVAC contract for our main buildings on November 27. We anticipate legislation at the December 5 meeting.

Mr. Osborn said Greg Karle reported that Springdale had two boys’ soccer teams qualify and participate in the SAY state tournament. They were boys passer team of Warren Taylor and boys strikers team of Holly Emerson. He has requested that we recognize them with resolutions. If you advise me of when you’d like to have them in I’ll advise Greg Karle.
   
Law Director’s Report (Ken Schneider)        -     no report   
Engineer’s Report (Don Shvegzda)        -     no report

    COMMUNICATIONS                         -     none

    COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE

    Bill Serrano, Neuss Avenue, said a few years ago I was on SR 747 going north toward Kemper and people would flood the intersection. We couldn’t move it all and it took me a good half hour to get through that intersection. You straightened that out. Now, with this new light on Kemper Road, how is that going to affect the traffic there?

    Mr. Shvegzda replied the Kemper Road Phase III project to add that third lane was important but also the SR 747/Kemper Road signal and the new signal at the entrance to the mall are coordinated. They have been fine tuning them the last couple of weeks. The traffic at the new light should clear out before the SR 747/Kemper signal turns green.

    Mr. Serrano said there are a lot of times that I come off Lawnview, turn north on SR 4 and when I hit Glensprings the light turns red. The light will turn green at Glensprings and by the time I get to the off ramp at I-275 it turns red. This happens constantly. I’ve seen it happen in reverse. We should do we what we can to make traffic move smoothly because we don’t create as much pollution and it’s good for the environment. Lights mistimed like that are not good.

    Mr. Shvegzda responded part of what’s happening there is with the construction on I-275 and even before that there was truly one lane on the off ramp. They’ve taken green time away from SR 4 to give it to the ramp so we don’t have traffic stacking up onto the main line of the interstate. Long term they will be adding an exclusive left lane to northbound SR 4 so that will help. Our SR 4 project will add an additional turn lane to the ramp plus it will provide continuous movement through that ramp signal to eastbound I-275. That should improve that intersection.

    Mr. Serrano stated I understand we put stop signs up because we don’t want people flying through the neighborhood and I agree but this constant stop and go is not good as far as pollution and it’s not good as far as wear and tear on your car. I think Lawnview should be straight through from the light on Kemper all the way to SR 4. If people are abusing that put a little revenue enhancement in. I live at the corner of Silverwood with a dead end that has one house on it. It is no parking on both sides of the street. There isn’t even a fire hydrant there. If he has guests they have to park on Neuss Avenue. That doesn’t make sense. I’d appreciate if you could just look at some of those things. If people are abusing the speed limit penalize them. Don’t penalize the people who are doing things right.

    Mayor Webster said we appreciate your comments. We spend a good percentage of the City budget on traffic control and maintaining traffic, stop signs, lights, etc. We are very concerned about moving traffic through, especially SR 747 and SR 4. However, if you lived on Lawnview Avenue and had small children you probably would not want to see us take down all the stop signs and just rely on an honor system and police patrol to try to slow down the traffic. There is a delicate balance. I think the stop signs are pretty strategically placed on Lawnview. We’ve had the same issues with Glensprings, Cloverdale and Smiley. We are three years away from completion of work on the interstate. Once done I think traffic will be helped.

    Mr. Serrano asked if there will ever be another lane added westbound on Kemper Road from Lawnview to Springfield Pike?

   


Mrs. Harlow responded traffic is much better than it was many years ago. You could not get down Kemper Road. The way traffic flows through this city is a million times better.

    Mr. Danbury said two lanes on Kemper Road won’t happen. We did channel two lanes onto Northland because studies have shown that people were using Kemper Road to go to Forest Park or Greenhills. We wanted to tailor through traffic to Northland rather than Kemper Road.

    ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS

ORDINANCE NO. 60-2007 “DECLARING A V-8 DIESEL ENGINE AND TRANSMISSION FROM A FIRE ENGINE AS SURPLUS PROPERTY AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY ADMINISTRATOR TO ADVERTISE, AUCTION AND ENTER INTO A CONTRACT FOR SALE OF SAID ENGINE AND TRANSMISSION, AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”

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

Ordinance 60-2007 passed with seven affirmative votes.

ORDINANCE NO. 61-2007 “AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CLERK OF COUNCIL/FINANCE DIRECTOR TO ENTER AN AGREEMENT REGARDING SURVEILLANCE FACILITIES WITH THOR GALLERY AT TRI COUNTY, LLC AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”

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

Mr. Galster asked is there any compensation to Thor for this easement?

Mr. Osborn replied no, this is just a consent agreement to allow us on their property. Most of the hardware will be in the public right-of-way but there will be some occurrences when we have to be on their property.

Ordinance 61-2007 passed with seven affirmative votes.

ORDINANCE NO. 62-2007 “DECLARING THE NECESSITY AND INTENTION TO APPROPRIATE CERTAIN EASEMENTS FOR THE STATE ROUTE 4 AND CRESCENTVILLE ROAD IMPROVEMENT PROJECT AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY (GUASTELLO)”

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

Mr. Osborn stated this is one of the two remaining pieces that we need for the project at the Crescentville/Springfield Pike intersection. The right-of-way has to be under our control by December 14, 2007 or we put in jeopardy our state and federal funding of $1.9 million for this project. This is the only piece where we have had trouble. There have been fairly long negotiations with the property owner. To my knowledge the property owner has not even tendered a counter offer. We’re talking about just over 1/100 of an acre of permanent right-of-way and just over 17/100 of temporary right-of-way. This legislation this evening is a Notice of Intent we will file with the property owner. We will continue to try to negotiate but if by the next Council meeting it is clear that we are not going to be successful, we will bring in the next ordinance in sequence that will authorize the Law Director to make a deposit with the court and file for a quick take appropriation.

Mrs. McNear asked how much space are we talking about?

Mr. Osborn replied two feet wide for the length of the property.

Mr. Galster asked we’re not getting into his building, parking lot, retaining wall or other structures are we?

Mr. Osborn replied it could involve a retaining wall. We are going to try to design around it but to even work on the retaining wall we would have to have an easement from the property owner. We would keep the wall where it is.

Ordinance 62-2007 passed with seven affirmative votes.

ORDINANCE NO. 63-2007 “ACCEPTING CERTAIN RIGHT OF WAY EASEMENTS FOR THE S.R. 4 AND CRESCENTVILLE ROAD IMPROVEMENT PROJECT AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY (TD MANAGEMENT)

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

Mr. Osborn said TD Management is Tire Discounters. While taking just a small piece of property, 1/100 acre permanent and 2/100 acre temporary, we have already eaten into this property twice before. This time we will have to move their pole sign and put it in another location on their site. It will also impact their landscape area and we will have to come up with a new landscape plan. The property owner has been very cooperative. It’s just been difficult because he is trying to make the site work for himself as well.

Ordinance 63-2007 passed with seven affirmative votes.

OLD BUSINESS

Mr. Knox said there was a Charter Revision Committee meeting tonight. Mrs. Simmons stepped down as chairperson but will stay on as a member. There is a new temporary chairperson. The committee would like to have anyone who would like to see a change to the Charter give that recommendation to the committee in writing so they can set an agenda. Please do not directly contact the members of the committee but send them to the Clerk of Council.

    NEW BUSINESS

    Mr. Danbury said April 19, 2008 will be Springdale Day at the Reds. They said the turnout from the City is one of the biggest non-company functions they ever had.

    Mr. Knox stated Mr. Patel from Hampshire House talked with Mr. Tulloch about obtaining a liquor license and Mr. Tulloch discussed other avenues of getting one and saved Mr. Patel quite a bit of money. There is a request for a liquor license from Hampshire House. There were no objections.

   
    MEETINGS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

    Special Council Meeting                 -     December 1, 5 p.m.
   
    Mayor Knox said I want to thank Mr. Knox for his service to the City. We have been very blessed the last 10-12 years with him as Clerk of Council/Finance Director and Mrs. McNear as President of Council.

    Mr. Galster said Mr. Thomas Goins is interested in staying on Civil Service and the Planning Commission members are interested in returning.

    Mrs. Harlow reported Bob Weidlich would like to continue on Board of Zoning Appeals.
   
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE        -      none

Mr. Danbury made a motion that Council go into executive session as a meeting of the whole to discuss economic development. Mr. Galster seconded. The motion passed with seven affirmative votes. Council went into executive session at 8:07 p.m.

Council reconvened at 8:38 p.m.

UPDATE ON LEGISLATION STILL IN DEVELOPMENT    -    none

RECAP OF LEGISLATIVE ITEMS REQUESTED

Resolution for Bill Syfert
HVAC contract
Resolutions for soccer teams

Council adjourned at 84:40 p.m.

                        Respectfully submitted,




                        Edward F. Knox
                        Clerk of Council/Finance Director

Minutes Approved:

Kathy McNear, President of Council



__________________________, 2007



       

City of Springdale Council



    November 21     2007