Committee of the Whole

City of Gahanna 200 South Hamilton Road Gahanna, Ohio 43230 Meeting Minutes - Final Monday, August 26, 2013 7:00 PM Council Committee Rooms Committee of the Whole Ryan P. Jolley, Chair Beryl D. Anderson Karen J. Angelou Brian D. Larick Stephen A. Renner David L. Samuel Brandon Wright Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes - Final August 26, 2013 Present 6 - Stephen A. Renner, Ryan P. Jolley, Brandon Wright, Beryl D. Anderson, Karen J. Angelou, and Brian D. Larick Additional Attendees: Isobel Sherwood, Mayor Stinchcomb, Brandi Braun, Dottie Franey, Karl Wetherholt, Anthony Jones, Tony Collins, General Williams, Jennifer Teal, Chief Murphy, Shane Ewald; Press. ISSUES - From Mayor: Jolley called the meeting for Monday, August 26, to order; before we start on the agenda, would like to turn it over to the Mayor for a special announcement. Mayor said I received a letter today from Ohio Magazine; I will read the first part of it; "Dear Mayor Stinchcomb, Congratulations! I am extremely pleased to inform you that Gahanna has been chosen as one of Ohio's Best Hometowns for 2013-14 by the editors of Ohio Magazine. Gahanna will be featured in our November 2013 issue and we wanted you to be the first to know. We will be contacting media in your area as well as across the state with the news, so get set to be in the spotlight you so richly deserve." Mayor continued that it goes on to talk about our achievement is impressive because there are so many Ohio cities that are the best hometowns in America, but only one town is chosen from each of the state's 5 regions for this honor; this award recognizes that Gahanna is one of the Best of the Best; I was interviewed and knew we were in the running; want to thank all who were interviewed and especially the CVB for their efforts and for hosting the reporter when she came here and for making sure that she saw the best we have to offer; just thought good news should never wait. Wright said do you think, and this is a question I have been asked many times, once this honor is bestowed on us maybe we can replace the signs from 2007. Mayor said no; I never want to see those signs go away; I was going to talk to Service tomorrow; do not want to spend any money to do this but since we have a sign shop, maybe we can add this honor to our signs; I know the other award is a little dated but it was a National honor; we will take it down eventually, but people were proud of that designation and they will be proud of this one also. City of Gahanna Page 1 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes - Final August 26, 2013 ISSUES - From Director of Development: Supp. App. - Various Building Accounts Jones requested Council approve a supplemental appropriation for various building accounts. Jones said on another positive note, we have greatly exceeded our projected revenue in our building division; we have processed over 15.5 million dollars in new investments for residential and commercial; we had not processed a hotel in recent memory and they have some expensive permits; the plumbing department for the County is inspecting and getting us the bill and we have to pay them back; we are requesting supplemental appropriations for 5 total accounts that would divert the fees we collect and push them out to the individual contractors that we use to service the permits; we receive money in the account in order to accommodate this so it is no additional money out of our pocket but we have to have the authority to spend the money that we collect; we have worked really hard to anticipate as best we can and my team knows no more supplemental requests; I know these are not popular. Mayor said this is the good kind. Jones said yes it is the good kind; we are processing the additional investment we are receiving in our community. Jolley asked for questions; there were none. Jolley said so 5 ordinances; Sherwood said no it can all go on one. Recommendation: 1st Reading, no need to come back; 2nd Reading, Consent. ISSUES - From Clerk of Council: Authorize Lease - Microfilm Reader/Printer Sherwood asked for authorization to enter into a lease agreement for a microfilm reader/printer; on August 5 you passed a Motion Resolution authorizing us to pursue this and to transfer the funds necessary for the lease; this is needed so we can read our permanent records that are already on microfilm; the State has not changed the law to allow anything other than microfilm for permanent records; it is a used machine and we are entering a 3 year lease; we will own the machine after that; it is my hope that by the time this machine dies, our last machine lasted 20 odd years, that the State law will have changed so that we can do something else; you do have a copy of the City of Gahanna Page 2 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes - Final August 26, 2013 lease in your packet; we are asking for clarification on one issue and I should have that in writing tomorrow; verbally there has been an answer to the question from the City Attorney regarding if the machine breaks down and is unfixable, they would work with us in every way possible so we are not making payments on unfixable equipment; we are working to get that in writing; because our current machine is not working, I am requesting a waiver and emergency. Jolley asked for questions. Angelou said when will you have the information back on this. Sherwood said I hope to have it tomorrow. Anderson said can you elaborate on the "as is" status and the condition that you know it to be in. Sherwood said it was used as a demo machine; it does not have many hours on it and it is relatively new; there are only 2 companies in the country that make these machines and even those 2 are not making many new ones; a new one would cost about $25,000. Anderson said do you know a year on this. Sherwood said no I don't. Anderson said but we are confident that it will last. Sherwood said I am confident, yes. Renner said when they say they will work with us; does that mean they will help us find a replacement machine; is that what you expect. Sherwood said that is what I expect; but if it is 2 years into lease, they may not be able to find one at that point; the reason we are replacing is because we can't get parts anymore for the machine we have; we went with something relatively newer so parts will still be available; he anticipated that parts for this machine even taking them from an older machine, should be available for the next 5 to 10 years. Larick said do we migrate everything to microfiche ourselves or do we send it out. Sherwood said we send it out. Larick said so this is just a reader. Sherwood said it is a reader/printer. Larick said and every municipality in the State has one or what do others do. Sherwood said some don't microfiche at all; they just keep the paper; some of our first microfilm is from handwritten books; our microfilm dates back for minutes and legislation to when we became a Village in 1860; we did not destroy the books; they are in fireproof storage. Wright said would there be a reason we would maintain those records for so long. Sherwood said it is State law for a permanent record. Jolley said do you mean as opposed to sharing with the Historical Society. Wright said exactly. Sherwood said we would still have to maintain our own copy even if we gave them a copy. Jolley said it does contain some pretty interesting history. Recommendation: 1st Reading with Waiver of 2nd Reading, Consent City of Gahanna Page 3 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes - Final August 26, 2013 Agenda with Emergency Language. Approve Mid-Year Codification Sherwood said when we approved the wards last year in November, I did not know that they were not going to be accepted by the Board of Elections when we did the codification in February; therefore the wrong wards got codified; so I have done a mid year codification with both sets of wards as we passed it; the ones that are current and the ones that will take effect in 2017; I wanted that done and posted on the website and in our Code with the correct wards; I am asking for approval of the mid year codification; no need for emergency or waiver. Recommendation: 1st Reading, no need to come back; 2nd Reading, Consent. Misc Discussions Teal said she sent in her update information about the City's audit which is not yet official; however Council does have the responsibility to determine and the opportunity to receive a post audit conference with our auditor should they choose to; for the determination of whether or not to do that, the letter gets signed off on by the Mayor, myself and the President of Council; since you are a captive audience I thought this would be a great time to ask which direction you would like to go; I can answer general questions about the audit; we can get the draft out in confidential format; I will say I am very pleased with the audit results; we went from getting our annual financial statements prepared by an outside contractor to bringing it in house with Bury doing the bulk of that work; to get a clean audit the first year coming in house, I am over the moon; the one item they did identify, I don't want to minimize it, but we have dealt with it and it wasn't an indicator of inappropriate activity; it was simply an oversite; I am pleased with it but certainly if Council would like to have the post audit conference with our auditor we can do that; I just need to give them that information. Jolley said can you refresh my memory with how much we are saving per year by bringing the preparation in house. Teal said $13,000. Jolley said can you elaborate on the procedural oversite. Teal said it was forgetting to include a line on a form; every year we appropriate a number of transfers out of the General Fund; interfund transfers; later in the year I bring forward an ordinance that reauthorize these City of Gahanna Page 4 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes - Final August 26, 2013 previously authorized transfers; one was left off of that list; they do a test and pull a sample and because there are so few transfers, just missing one made it a high percentage; internally we have always operated from a number of documents; we have streamlined the process to avoid this; the budget document feeds that request for those annual transfers; so if it is included in the budget we can't miss it when we bring the transfers forward; so we shouldn't see that problem again. Anderson said I take it that anything identified from the past has been taken care of. Teal said absolutely; the primary issue that the auditors dealt with last year was the Disaster Recovery Plan; that had been completed in 2011 but not in time so we did hear about it in the 2011 audit; it was fully completed and met their issues; in the past few years we have made a couple of changes; one being the annual authorizations for the transfers; that is taken care of permanently now; the other was the blanket purchase order certifications; they didn't have issues with any of those items; they are taken care of. Angelou said you had mentioned if we wanted to hear the 2nd quarter update to let you know; I did not realize it was a "let you know"; I thought you were going to be doing it when you got back from vacation; I would like to have that. Teal said I have no issue doing that; I will say you will be hearing a lot from me; we are 2/3 of the way through the 3rd quarter; I don't want to not provide it, but I would be giving you information that is 2 months old when there is something newer. Angelou said that is fine; I would still like the one that is 2 months old; I also have a question about some transfers that were done this week; I was wondering why there was not enough money in the accounts for the salaries for pool people; it would have been clear how many hours they would work and how many people were involved and it appears that both pools had to have money taken out of maintenance and supervisors' accounts and put here; can you explain how that would happen. Teal said this year we lost one of our full time recreation supervisors; this was a full time position that would have covered a lot of responsibilities at those pools; as a result of not backfilling the position, the part time staffing was beefed up; the aggregate costs a lot less, but that was not the initial plan when appropriations were passed; Parks can answer any questions about the specifics of how that operated; in general it was an attempt to spend less money by filling that role on a part time basis instead of bringing in a full time person who would be here even when pools close. Angelou said that makes more sense. Angelou asked when did this upheaval happen. Collins said in the Spring of 2013 Kate Mattison left here to join the City of Dublin; we did not backfill her position; she was responsible for the swimming pools and the golf course. City of Gahanna Page 5 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes - Final August 26, 2013 Wright said since the 3rd quarter financials are coming out, would they be presented before the 2nd. Teal said no; I will present the 2nd quarter financials at the next Committee Meeting; then in 3 or 4 more weeks I would be presenting the 3rd quarter; I did provide a written report on the 2nd quarter that was sent out and is on the web; if there had been any questions or requests for that information in a verbal format, I would have presented it; once it went out I didn't hear anything until last Thursday. Angelou said she was just requesting it formally. Anderson asked the Mayor when did the Ohio Magazine reporter come and how did we get nominated. Mayor said they want us to wait until the magazine comes out; I believe the CVB did a lot of work getting this nomination; their processes are somewhat secretive until the magazine is published. Teal said I did not get a clear idea on the post audit conference ; is there a desire to have one. Jolley said having done them with the school district when we had multiple items, to go for just the one item, I don't feel the need; does anyone else; no one on Council wanted the meeting. Sherwood said one more item not on the agenda; Planning Commission last week approved a Final Plat for Phase II of Hannah Farms; it does not need a 30 day hold period so on next Monday's agenda it will be an ordinance for first reading; you don't have much choice here; the final plat is in conformance with the preliminary plat; therefore it needs to be approved; they have given all their parkland dedication; so it will be on for first reading, then in committee in 2 weeks; then on for 2nd reading; you will have the recommendation from Planning Commission in your packet this Friday. Meeting Adjourned. Della Brandenberger, Reporting Isobel L. Sherwood, MMC Clerk of Council City of Gahanna Page 6 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes - Final August 26, 2013 APPROVED by the Committee of the Whole, this day of 2013. Ryan P. Jolley City of Gahanna Page 7