City Council

Office of the Clerk of Council City of Gahanna 200 South Hamilton Road Gahanna, Ohio 43230 Meeting Minutes City Council Thomas R. Kneeland, President of Council Stephen Renner, Vice President of Council Karen J. Angelou, Ryan P. Jolley, Brian D. Larick, Jamie Leeseberg, Michael Schnetzer Kimberly McWilliams, CMC, Clerk of Council Monday, March 2, 2015 7:00 PM City Hall A. CALL TO ORDER - Invocation, Pledge of Allegiance, Roll Call Gahanna City Council met in Regular Session on Monday, March 2, 2015, in Council Chambers of City Hall, 200 South Hamilton Road, Gahanna, Ohio. President of Council Kneeland called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Renner delivered an Invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Agenda for this meeting was published on February 27, 2015. Present 7 - Karen J. Angelou, Ryan P. Jolley, Jamie Leeseberg, Stephen A. Renner, Michael Schnetzer, Thomas R. Kneeland, and Brian D. Larick B. ADDITIONS OR CORRECTIONS TO THE AGENDA - None. C. HEARING OF VISITORS - None. D. INTRODUCTIONS AND ASSIGNMENT TO COMMITTEE: Renner introduced the items under section D. Ordinances - To Be Introduced and Assigned to Committee: ORD-0031-2015 SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION - Police Duty Weapon Fund This Ordinance was introduced. ORD-0032-2015 TO AUTHORIZE THE CREATION OF THE PARK RENTAL ESCROW AGENCY FUND. This Ordinance was introduced. ORD-0033-2015 TO REAUTHORIZE AND CONFIRM THE PLANNED TRANSFERS AS APPROPRIATED IN ORD-0163-2014. City of Gahanna Page 1 City Council Meeting Minutes March 2, 2015 This Ordinance was introduced. ORD-0034-2015 SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION - Court Case Files. This Ordinance was introduced. ORD-0035-2015 TO AUTHORIZE THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AGREEMENT WITH THE GAHANNA PARKS & RECREATION FOUNDATION, INC. AND TO SUPPLEMENTALLY APPROPRIATE $16,256. This Ordinance was introduced. E. CONSENT AGENDA: Minutes - To Approve: 2015-0052 February 17, 2015 Special & Regular Council Minutes This Minutes was Approved and Filed on the Consent Agenda. Ordinances on Second Reading: ORD-0025-2015 TO ALLOW THE SURFACE APPLICATION OF BRINE; FOR DUST CONTROL AT SUBURBAN STEEL SUPPLY. This Ordinance was Adopted on the Consent Agenda. ORD-0026-2015 TO AMEND CHAPTER 1150, OLDE GAHANNA DISTRICT, AND CHAPTER 1155, OFFICE, COMMERCE AND TECHNOLOGY DISTRICT, OF THE CODIFIED ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF GAHANNA. This Ordinance was Adopted on the Consent Agenda. ORD-0028-2015 TO AUTHORIZE THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO STEELWORKERS HEALTH AND WELFARE FUND PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT; AS PROVIDED FOR IN ORD-0119-2014, WHICH AUTHORIZES THE NEGOTIATED LABOR AGREEMENT WITH THE UNITED STEEL, PAPER & FORESTRY, RUBBER, MANUFACTURING, ENERGY, ALLIED INDUSTRIAL AND SERVICE WORKERS INTERNATIONAL; TO BE EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2015, THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2015; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. This Ordinance was Adopted on the Consent Agenda. ORD-0030-2015 TO AUTHORIZE THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AGREEMENT WITH ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC., (ESRI) FOR SMALL MUNICIPALITY AND COUNTY ENTERPRISE LICENSE City of Gahanna Page 2 City Council Meeting Minutes March 2, 2015 AGREEMENT FOR GIS SOFTWARE; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. This Ordinance was Adopted on the Consent Agenda. Motion Resolution: MR-0013-2015 Motion Resolution authorizing the transfer of funds for 2015 payroll adjustments. Transfer detail attached. This Motion Resolution was Approved on the Consent Agenda. MR-0015-2015 Motion Resolution authorizing the Director of Public Service to bid the Creekside Parking Garage - Space Count System. This Motion Resolution was Approved on the Consent Agenda. Approval of the Consent Agenda A motion was made by Schnetzer, seconded by Larick, to approve the Consent Agenda. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 7- Angelou, Jolley, Leeseberg, Renner, Schnetzer, Kneeland and Larick End of the Consent Agenda F. PUBLIC HEARINGS: None. G. STANDING COMMITTEES: 2015-0053 Committee Minutes 2-23-2015 Committee of the Whole - Renner Renner had nothing additional to report. Finance - Schnetzer Schnetzer had nothing additional to report. Service & Safety - Leeseberg Leeseberg had nothing additional to report. Development & Parks - Larick City of Gahanna Page 3 City Council Meeting Minutes March 2, 2015 Larick had nothing additional to report. H. CORRESPONDENCE AND ACTIONS: Clerk - None. Council - None. I. SECOND READING OF ORDINANCES: Ordinances Reported Out of Committee - Amend by Substitution (to include Emergency language), Adopt as Emergency: ORD-0029-2015 TO AMEND ORD-0182-2014, WHICH PROVIDES RATES OF PAY AND BENEFITS FOR UNCLASSIFIED PERSONNEL OF THE CITY OF GAHANNA FOR THE PERIOD JANUARY 1, 2015, THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2015; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. Larick noted this compontent is a straightforward opportunity to offer direction on organization and management for the City. A motion was made by Larick, seconded by Jolley, to amend by substituion, to include emergency language and Adopt. Yes: 7- Angelou, Jolley, Leeseberg, Renner, Schnetzer, Kneeland and Larick Motion Resolution Reported Out of Committee: MR-0014-2015 Motion Resolution authorizing the transfer of funds necessary to implement the staffing solution for the Assistant City Administrator position and associated backfill in the Department of Finance. Transfer detail attached. Motion by Jolley, seconded by Schnetzer to adopt MR-0014-2015. President Kneeland asked for discussion on the motion. DISCUSSION: Larick: This has been the focus of most of my debate and discussion on the topic of these changes. The description and delivery of what has been described for the Finance Coordinator Position is not in my mind yet to where it provides the value that I think is appropriate for the community. I think it has opportunity, what I would ask is, what I would like to do is move that we postpone for two weeks to make certain, to allow this to be vetted. City of Gahanna Page 4 City Council Meeting Minutes March 2, 2015 Motion by Larick, seconded by Renner to postpone MR-0014-2015. DISCUSSION: Jolley: We have been discussing this Ordinance for two months now. (Inaudible) I think that there has been some disagreement about goals and what is trying to be accomplished with this staffing change. At this point in the process, there has been more than ample discussion and debate about the changes proposed. I know there is at least a month lead time. That is on top of 2014. I think there is no need to postpone this any further. I don’t see the point in postponing it. I think that when it comes to controls and what needs to be accomplished, it is a staffing change and we have talked about the need of that. The vetting process has been more than ample at this stage. Renner: With all due respect to my colleague Mr. Jolley, this has become an exceedingly complex issue and it is very hard to ferret out the original intent. If we go back to the February 5 e-mail, there is a nice matrix about what the duties and what the role of the Financial Coordinator is going to be. And it was such things as tactical, but it was a little bit more clerical. It was activate or interface with the website, according to some meetings I can’t remember and I’m trying to call up. Then this thing sort of changed and we started talking about more about performance measurement, and I totally recognize that was from my colleague Brian Larick, but everyone is going to have to forgive me because I do not understand the performance measurement discussions that we’ve had to date. If we’re going to talk about creating that kind of a role and that kind of a function, then we need to talk about success, what success looks like, what's the outcome, what do we expect. I did this at the County and set up a forum and what I did was hired a consultant to come in and teach to find out what it is we need to do. So if that is something that we are interested in doing I think definitely think we should be talking about it more. But the discussion as it is, I didn’t feel like we fully vetted or understand what we’re doing. I 100 percent support putting Jennifer into the role of ACA, 100 percent. I think that needs to be done. I don’t want to delay that. I think that the guides and the objectives that she has on that for the strategic planning which, in fact Representative Jolley we can go on and get that going, we can start, but the funding source for this is coming from a Council fund. If we believe we want to fund a body inside Finance, then should that really be coming from moneys from Council, so that’s where I got stuck. This has been City of Gahanna Page 5 City Council Meeting Minutes March 2, 2015 plaguing me, I’ve been trying to figure this out but that fundamental concept, I can’t get away from. So I need your help and that’s why I am in favor of postponing. I don’t want to delay strategic planning but we’ve got to understand better about what we’re talking about. Kneeland: Any other comments. Jolley: (inaudible) Not in favor of that motion. That was a concern. We have had those discussions already. Schnetzer: I guess I want to pose a question to the administration. How would postponing this by two weeks, would there be a material impact to implementing this plan or is it something that is within the broader scope. Stinchcomb: I feel like we’ve been discussing this for many months and as much as I appreciate the conversation, the simple fact is Jennifer cannot fully take on the role of Assistant City Administrator without a backfill. She already has a demanding job. I’ve asked her to take on more and if we don’t have someone else in Finance, to take on some of the Account Coordinator positions I don’t know how we fully take her off of what she is doing. Most of the people in this building already have a job and a half. I agree that if the funding source is a problem, we also have the ability to do a transfer later and you know if you decided that you would need a performance measure person, and that’s something we decide in the future to do; money can be transferred. So I would ask that we not postpone further for a funding decision when Council has the ability to change the funding at any point. And also, I am not sure what more I can provide in two more weeks that would maybe change. I’m finding it very difficult to really be able to figure out exactly what kind of data would be required and discoverable, even in two weeks that would change the outcome as I perceive it. Again...it is March and I would really like to begin the implementation stages of a few of these things and I really don’t know what more I can reasonably provide. Kneeland: Anything else. Schnetzer: I was just going to say thank you, Mayor. I am inclined to agree with you that I don’t see anything that’s really going to change in the existing minds in the two week period and therefore I am not in favor of postponing it. Angelou: I believe that it was in the discussion at "Coffee for Council" that came from one of our residents concerning funding of this and the City of Gahanna Page 6 City Council Meeting Minutes March 2, 2015 fact that it was coming from a Council fund when in fact it was for an administrative position, which clearly, there may be some reasons not to do that if we indeed need that money in the Council, then it’s going to be a situation where we're going to you the administration and say "find us the money with your funds because you’ve used ours" sort of situation. I think that the idea that the contracting would be because instead of getting a contractor from outside we would use our skills from inside and education of the Lean Ohio and the performance measurements. I wish there was a different way to be funding this; but I also believe that potentially this can be resolved and maybe you can answer that Mrs. Teal. If we decide we would like to have a different funding source is that possible to do? Kneeland: Thank you. While I support the City Administrator 100 percent it is an absolute need I think for us to move forward organizationally. I too am struggling a bit, not from the funding at all but it is more from the deliverables of this second person. You know we started out asking for a person that was fairly astute in metrics gathering and being able to find new efficiencies and things and it seems like the position morphed a bit. I would certainly like to have further discussion about this position and what the actual deliverables are in that. Not that we need a PhD, but I think we need to hammer down to where the deliverables are that will show true payback for the position. If it’s truly a finance person that we need, then we need to call it that. If it is truly going to be a person that’s responsible for data gathering and the ability to effect change through metrics building and efficiency gains based on the data collected. I am all in favor of that. So at this point I guess... are there any other comments on postponement. Angelou: Mrs. Teal can you answer a couple of the question we are asking. Can you give us some more information on the question that I had asked as well as what Mr. Kneeland has asked? Teal: Certainly. I think an important distinction in this entire debate is whether we are looking to hire sort an off the shelf, ready to go, performance improvement, performance measurement professional to come to the City and make change; or whether we’re looking to grow our capability to train, to identify and to sort of enculturate a city-wide effort to do that, to do just that. The Lean Ohio model is that enculturation model that everyone gets trained on the basics. Many people get excited and trained on more than that. And we work our projects, we identify ways, we learn how to improve projects and processes internally on our own, and because we’re doing it that way, we can get the buy-in and the work needed internal to do it rather than City of Gahanna Page 7 City Council Meeting Minutes March 2, 2015 have someone sort of come in from the outside. We’re trying to grow a culture. We’re not saying that the Finance Coordinator would do that all by themselves. The Finance Coordinator brings more seats on our bench in the Finance Department so that I can do more, so that Joann can do more, so that folks in the line department aren’t spinning their wheels as much formatting workbooks for the budget process or the performance measurement process because they could be doing that behind the scenes work. Our vision for that position was not to do that work necessarily but to be part of the team who gets that work done at that level. From that standpoint, if there has been a miscommunication about that individual’s task and workload, they are helping lift us up so that as a team we can create that environment and do those projects, not the person doing those projects on their own or leading them. Ms. Angelou asked some questions about successes that we have had or how could we quantify the impact of these changes and again, not to the position per se, but what that position enables us to accomplish. As I was thinking about that in the last few minutes, Tony and I completed the Ohio Greenbelt Training a year ago. We were belted about a year ago and since that time we’ve done a number of small projects and we’ve used those tools in a number of ways, but three stand out. The one the least people were involved in but the most financial benefit happened in my own department is our Accounts Payable function. We essentially proved out that our accounts payable function could be done with a part time staff instead of a fulltime staff. When you think about the long term savings of that. We’re no longer paying family insurance, we are able to work it in 25 hours per week, and we’re saving thirteen to fifteen thousand dollars a year. I can’t promise that every department we go to will find thirteen to fifteen thousand dollars a year, but the fact that the first time out of the gate what we did was pretty promising. And we know we will have the resources to do more projects like that when we have the depth on our bench to get a training program up and running here at City Hall to get department directors and deputy directors trained like Tony and I were and to get that ball rolling. We’ve have great success in development in two different projects, one doing in-house, one hiring. Expert vendors when we identified the need. And we’ve identified a number of smaller projects that have just benefited from the facilitation skills and that’s just on the lean side. There are other items with the strategic plan, with elevating our reporting and continuing to operate at those high standards that position will continue to support and make possible. But I hope, Ms. Angelou, that answers what you were asking. Angelou: It does and I have been asking Jennifer about some information on quantification of things. What about the funding for the City of Gahanna Page 8 City Council Meeting Minutes March 2, 2015 way it is now and if there are alternatives to that either for the future or in the immediate timeframe. Teal: Certainly. So the funding that was identified initially the budget transfer from that line item comes to Council Office. That line was increased at the end of budget cycle in order to accommodate a sort of unknown solution for implementing process improvement and measurement in the City. This is the solution that the Administration is proposing and certainly as the year progresses if there was a need for additional contract staff, if we found that, you know what, we have another situation where bringing in a consultant with experience with something a little bigger than we’re used to dealing with was needed, we believe that we would be able to identify maybe having to piece it together a bit because as the year goes on will know a little better about what’s fitting where. We believe as the year goes on we would be able to help piece that together and sort of offset the draw that we’ve made on those funds. Angelou: Thank you. Schnetzer: So I would just request of my colleagues. I’m hearing a couple of different objections tonight. One is the funding source, which I will agree with Mr. Jolley that it’s somewhat of a surprise it is coming up in the eleventh hour. And the other is this debate is internal culture and growing it up from the inside versus contract services and I would ask that my colleagues consider what contract services. How disruptive that might be and all the other projects that we are trying to do this year. And here we are almost finished with the first quarter and personally I’m in favor of casting the dye tonight I do not see what an extra two weeks. It’s not going to have any sort of material effect in changing anyone’s opinion. Jolley: Again trying to confine my remarks to the motion to postpone and I know it is somewhat difficult to do...(inaudible). I haven't brought this up in prior conversations but almost every discussion we've had about this, the phrase of the term "this position" has been used. The discussion has not clarified which position we are talking about because there are two. One is the Assistant City Administrator and the other is the Finance Coordinator. I've heard multiple people say they wholeheartedly support the Assistant City Administrator position. The Finance portion of that is administration's decision on how to fill...so logically if you support the Assistant City Administrator position wholeheartedly and believe that the Mayor has the prerogative to organize her administration as she sees fit, then you would support the finance portion of this as well. The funding mechanism...I'd be City of Gahanna Page 9 City Council Meeting Minutes March 2, 2015 happy to amend this from the dais and change that. It doesn't matter. It is a dollar amount that we could take from any place in the budget. Supplemental Appropriation now...contract services now and do a supplemental appropriation later. (Inaudible) Renner: Again this is a complicated thing. So for the record, I wasn’t at the Council Coffee, so I had no knowledge or prior knowledge of anyone asking. This is something that was rumbling in my head about the funding source. And I apologize to my colleagues that I didn’t bring it up four, five, eight months ago. I kind of think that is a cop out statement to say that you should have thought to do it and should have thought about this before. If we are going to have a civil discourse and debate about this, let's debate. The point is you’re right we can supplementally appropriate from another appropriate source. There still is confusion in my mind what it is we want this role to do. Is it again, I’ll say it again, the Financial Coordinator role. I was already on record, Mr. Jolley, for supporting the ACA, so do we go by the matrix that was sent out February 5. Do we go by the value proposition statement that was e-mailed later. Or do we go by some minimal, and I emphasize it again, we’ve had minimal discussion about a performance management program and I am not so sure I am 100 percent behind this person to be only yellow belt. Why aren't we going for green belt. I don’t understand. So these again are my questions. If I was smarter, I would have brought them up sooner. But that's the way nature of government goes, Mr. Jolley. So we need time. I’d like to know more about what our target is and if we’re developing a performance management program. Let’s define it. No one has yet told me anything about what success looks like. Larick: I’ve got one last comment. One thing Ms. Teal, you’ve mentioned this is an all-encompassing process that everyone must be involved in order for this to work. That is 100 percent completely true. Nothing that I’ve put on and proposed and debated about and discussed was anything other than that. The only thing that is a drive for me or the significant driver for me is that is the skill sets of the people we are discussing. With that, and with the motion to postpone, tonight is the first time and I’ve asked multiple times, for quantification and definition around the value of doing this. Tonight is the first time any number, any number has been brought to the table. That is a wonderful good start. So it is a part of the foundation of quality to define success. Understanding what success can be. And understanding what success opportunities exist within the organization. For this organization being a government, being a municipality which we hope in perpetuity, my simple ask is for two weeks. I would ask for Council support for the two week postponement City of Gahanna Page 10 City Council Meeting Minutes March 2, 2015 I call the question unless Mr. Leeseberg has something to add. Leeseberg: Me and my colleagues have gone back and forth on this. I obviously support the City Administrator role. I am the one that brought it up on January 2nd. The plans the administration have come up with to move Jennifer into that role obviously need the backfill. Mr. Schnetzer made a great point, how much more information can we get to make everybody happy with the news. Ultimately, I am leaning toward Mr. Jolley that it is not our job to tell Jennifer or the Mayor how to evaluate their personnel. I was in favor of postponing because more information is always better. But as he said I am not sure we are going to have enough information to make everybody so I did bring this up two months ago to move this forward. We’ve got a lot of plans we are trying to format and move forward. Jennifer’s examples today, one of them was monetary, I know Anthony’s project is to streamline the process. It is hard to put dollar amounts on everything because we are a service organization also. So we can’t quantify everything that we do. So I have gone back and forth. As we’ve talked earlier, many of us have gone back and forth on this. Ultimately I think it is up to Jennifer and the Mayor to make sure that their people are doing what they want them to do. Kneeland called for Roll Call Vote on the Motion to Postpone MR-0014-2015. The motion failed by the following vote: Yes: Renner, Larick and Kneeland No: Leeseberg, Schnetzer, Angelou and Jolley Kneeland: Now we're on to the motion to adopt. Any comment on the motion. DISCUSSION: Larick: For the sake of two weeks I have to vote against this. The ask of this for two weeks was to provide definition to the results expected we have a 45 million dollar operational budget. My ask to date has been to justify this position as paying for itself. That is roughly 100 thousand dollars a year. That is a 0.2 percent improvement of our organization that has not been able to be brought to the table to date. That simply tells me that we need to do a little bit more work to get to where we can identify effective improvement. Two more weeks could have given us a little more definition, a little bit of an effective objective to where we’re going. Will this be successful? Yes. I say this right now. We will get improvements out of this. No question. The question I have and what we may now not really effectively be able to effectively City of Gahanna Page 11 City Council Meeting Minutes March 2, 2015 know is what are we leaving on the table? That’s all I’ve got. Angelou: I want to go over just one thing. You keep talking about Assistant City Administrator position and I think we're forgetting about Staffing Solutions for the Assistant City Administrator position because actually this is an expansion of Finance Director’s position, at least that is how I am reading it because in terms of funding the Assistant City Administrator, my vote would have been no. But because we are expanding the role of Finance Director to take on some of the former Assistant City Administrator’s position, makes it something that I am happy to be voting for and I think I mentioned that at one point filling that other position was not one that I felt comfortable with but somebody taking on more roles than those functioning like that does so I’m bringing that up. Mayor Stinchcomb: Brian and I have the same goals, but we look at things through a different lens. The problem that I have is that I believe that at the end of the year, at the end of the period, we will probably easily in retrospect be able to quantify the savings or efficiencies we have gained as a result of doing this. Where I have problems, and it is not that I don’t want to provide the information, I would absolutely love to provide the information, but I don’t have the crystal ball to be able to do that. I am not going to sit here and promise that we are going to save a hundred thousand dollars by doing this. Here is my problem, and it has been my problem all along, which has been said by several. We are a service organization, and I will say this, many times we do things that are not the most efficient or effective as they can be. I will still err on the side of having someone in finance talk to a senior citizen and answer questions about their tax forms even if takes an hour when it might 2.5 minutes. Sometimes what we do is not always the most efficient because we are a service organization. That is where I am having problems. I believe we should become more efficient, we can always be more efficient, but I’m more interested in becoming more effective. I am not promising that we are going to save money, what we are going to do is make the processes more efficient and be more effective. Hopefully those things will increase the savings. I think at the end of the time period I certainly think we can report to Council the efficiencies we’ve gained. But that is the challenge that I have with this. I'm really not certain about the undertaking of study which will take more than two weeks and how we can with any certainty. And Brian I know you’re shakin’ me off because you and I see this very differently. Without doing a study, I don’t know how we can, with any certainty, come up with the exact dollar amount of savings. I just don’t see it the same way. City of Gahanna Page 12 City Council Meeting Minutes March 2, 2015 Larick: A couple of things...First off, I want to make crystal clear that I have never asked for the specific savings to come, I believe and I firmly believe there is a million dollars in the City available. Let’s say I am wrong, let’s say it’s a half million let’s say I am wrong and it is a quarter of a million dollars, 250,000 dollars, if that’s the only opportunity, I am not even asking for that, I’ve asked for 100 thousand dollars, and some assessments that we can see of that available. All things pursued by any effective organization, government, service or manufacturing, none of those things were asked of at the mercy of customers. We are there all for the mercy of the customer. It is a better product that is delivered, it is a better experience delivered, it’s a faster service, it's more reliable, it is potentially at a lower cost. All of those things go hand in hand, they are never opposite of each other. We are simply going about this in a very, less than effective way and two weeks could get us a little further along. Jolley: I just heard my colleague Mr. Larick say two completely opposite things in the same statement. One that he never asked for detailed dollar figures, and then moments later asking for an analysis of how we would save 100 thousand dollars. Again, from my perspective from the very beginning, this has not been about performance measurements, data collection, and cost savings. For over a year we have been talking about long term planning, we have an economic development plan in the works that is going to need to be implemented. These are things that certainly for the long term future of this city are going to have millions and millions of dollars of economic impact. Positive and negative at some point. Can we also find additional savings in our operation. Absolutely. I have no doubt that we will as we have done over the last several years. But the purpose of this legislation, this ordinance, is to fund a backfill position identified by the administration as necessary to free up the time, energy, resources, whatever you would like to call it, of our Finance Director to engage in more strategic and tactical issues that Council has identified as necessary. We are the body that has been talking about pushing forward with planning. We are the folks that have been asking for more improvements. We are the ones, whether there was one of us or seven of us, that asked for reinstatement of some form of Assistant City Administrator. For us to then say, we don’t want that because it doesn’t meet what we said. We are the ones driving this bus and we’ve been talking about this for two months. The goal here is to free up time for the Finance Director’s daily operations so that she can focus on other priorities as identified mainly by Council, but also by the administration and whether we have a dollar figure on that or not at this moment is again, in my mind, immaterial because the things that we are looking at doing are long term, more strategic in nature, City of Gahanna Page 13 City Council Meeting Minutes March 2, 2015 and that’s what we’re trying to accomplish here with this backfill position of the Finance Coordinator. So I’m fully in support of the Mayor’s prerogative to organize her administration as she sees fit and if she believes and the administration believes that this is what’s necessary to free up that time for the Finance Director to take up these activities, I fully support it and I ask my colleagues to do the same. Thank you. A motion was made by Jolley, seconded by Schnetzer, that the Motion Resolution be Approved. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 5- Angelou, Jolley, Leeseberg, Schnetzer and Kneeland No: 2- Renner and Larick J. FIRST READING OF ORDINANCES: None. K. MOTIONS/RESOLUTIONS: None. L. REPRESENTATIVES: Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) - Larick/Kneeland Larick stated the next meeting is March 17, 2015, here at City Hall. Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) - Angelou Angelou said MId Ohio Regional Planning Commission will be meeting a week from this Thursday. I am also going to the Experience Columbus Luncheon; believe it is next Tuesday. Bd. of Education, Gahanna-Jefferson Public Schools - Jolley Jolley said I know I saw several of my colleagues and the Mayor, and many other community members at the Gahanna-Jefferson Education Foundation Annual Gala Saturday evening which was a fun Kentucky Derby themed event. Attendance was fantastic. Fund raising was fantastic. Food and drink was fantastic. The new venue at Easton Hilton was fantastic. I had a great time I hope everyone else did and I know the Education Foundation did and always does an exceptional job of raising money to support the fantastic schools in this community. So if you were able to make it out, you had a fantastic time, if not you missed out. I am going to try and go again next year. It is a wonderful, wonderful event. I’ve been attending those events since 2002 and that’s probably one of the best ones I’ve been to yet. A City of Gahanna Page 14 City Council Meeting Minutes March 2, 2015 lot of fun and a great benefit to our schools and our kids. Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) - Jolley Jolley said the next meeting won't be until next Thursday. M. OFFICIAL REPORTS: Mayor Stinchomb stated I just want everyone to know that the new spring/summer gateway from Parks and Recreations has been published and is now out and copies can be had here at City Hall, the Urban Education, the CVB and the Y and also at our Columbus Metropolitan Library Branch here in Gahanna. And then a final reminder, next Thursday March 12th I will be delivering the Annual State of the City Address at 7:00 pm at Middle School West, and importantly we will have an open house an hour prior starting at six, All of the departments will be setting up tables and will be available for conversations and questions that any citizen might have. So I urge you to come at six o’clock and engage the directors with any questions you might have and I hope everyone will attend. Stinchcomb continued by informing everyone Wednesday March 4th Annual Statewide Tornado Drill will occur; City will be participating; sirens will go off at 9:50 a.m.; we’ve asked that we, being the Emergency Management agency here, that in Franklin County, have asked that all government offices as well as many private businesses as possible participate in this drill when you hear the sirens go off at 9:50 on Wednesday. City Attorney Ewald stated I’d just like to thank our city employees for what they’ve been doing for the last couple of weeks. We’ve seen some of the worst conditions we’ve seen in Central Ohio for a long time. At night when we are sleeping in the comfort of our own homes, our safety services and our employees for the city are out doing a yeoman’s job so I’d like to thank them for their time and effort. I look forward to the snow going away sometime soon. City of Gahanna Page 15 City Council Meeting Minutes March 2, 2015 N. COUNCIL COMMENT Angelou thanked Dottie for service; try to get cars off the road for the snow warriors; not out of salt yet; attended Chinese students program; she received a necklace and lovely students; took the course to become a certified Tourism Ambassador; only Council member; challenge rest to take the course; wonderful opportunity; at the golf course; nice place to have it; is an exciting opportunity and as an economic driver, we are talking about jobs, jobs, and more jobs; asking that our Development Department do everything they can to bring in more money for this city; tax dollars for this city and jobs and that is what tourism is all about; making people feel happy and wonderful about being in this community and to want to come back; without tourism, you wouldn’t have as many hotels, retail, or truck drivers bringing in items; talking trillions of dollars nationwide; a billion dollars in our area. Jolley echoed ambassador training; very big business attracting those dollars. Rennner echoed Service Department thanks; snow warriers are wonderful; great to be taken care of; mentioned Chinese Exchange Program; Gahanna Jefferson schools has granted program for chinese students; parents pay some; students come from China to visit; Gahanna students will reciprocate. Kneeland only had one thing; it goes along with the streets, snow plowing and everything; great job; do we have a snow emergency policy; noticed recently, with the amount of snow we accumulated that the snow plows are having an ever more difficult time getting through these residential streets where people insist on parking their cars when they know that there is major snow. Stinchcomb said it is true and we certainly have the authority to issue a parking ban; hesitate because we have so many residents these days that have more cars than driveway in these neighborhoods; when you get in some of these older neighborhoods, even in my neighborhood, I have neighbors who have four car driveways and six cars so they literally have no place to put their cars; Grove City last week enacted their ban; it is something we always talk about and consider but at this point it is a voluntary program asking people; we get complaints; Franey and I were talking about a circumstance about a pile of snow in the front that we didn’t catch and that is because their City of Gahanna Page 16 City Council Meeting Minutes March 2, 2015 car had been there; so we certainly ask and find it much more helpful if people will move their cars whenever we have significant snow as it will certainly speed up our work as well as the quality of the snow removal. Kneeland said now that we’ve had a number of major events, and people that insist on parking their cars while the snow is there and will not move even after they’ve been asked, and have been plowed in three times, snow has crept out into the street beyond the centerline and it is getting dangerous when people do move them; how do we deal with streets that have large amounts of snow in the streets and the cars are now gone. You have ice and everything else. Stinchcomb said if you see something that severe, please let us know right away. Kneeland said I have been watching school buses having a very difficult time having to get through some of the neighborhood streets. Stinchcomb stated if you would let us know the specific places, we will certainly send another plow past. O. EXECUTIVE SESSION - to go into Executive Session under authority of Section 5.40(a) of the Council Rules of Procedure to consider the appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion, demotion or compensation of a public employee, official, licensee or regulated individual unless such public employee, official, licensee or regulated individual requests a public hearing AND 5.40(c) to confer with the City Attorney concerning disputes involving the City, and/or appointed or elected officials or employees, which are subject to pending or imminent court action. A motion was made by Jolley, seconded by Renner, to go into Executive Session under the authority of Section 5.40A of the Council Rules of Procedure to consider appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion, demotion, or compensation of a public employee, official licensee, or regulated individual unless such public employee, official licensee or regulated individual requests a public hearing and 5.40 C, to confer with the City Attorney concerning disputes involving the City, or elected officials or employees which are subject to pending or imminent court action. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 7- Angelou, Jolley, Leeseberg, Renner, Schnetzer, Kneeland and Larick Council rose to Executive Session at 7:39 p.m. Council rose to report City of Gahanna Page 17 City Council Meeting Minutes March 2, 2015 from Executive Session at 8:05 p.m. with no action taken. P. ADJOURNMENT Kimberly McWilliams, CMC Clerk of Council APPROVED by the City Council, this day of 2015. Thomas R. Kneeland City of Gahanna Page 18