Committee of the Whole

Office of the Clerk of Council City of Gahanna 200 South Hamilton Road Gahanna, Ohio 43230 Meeting Minutes Committee of the Whole Stephen A. Renner, Chair, Karen J. Angelou, Ryan P. Jolley, Thomas R. Kneeland Brian D. Larick, Jamie Leeseberg, Michael Schnetzer Kimberly McWilliams, CMC, Clerk of Council Monday, July 13, 2015 7:00 PM Council Committee Rooms CALL TO ORDER Tom Kneeland called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. ADDITIONAL ATTENDEES: Mayor Stinchcomb, Dottie Franey, Rob Priestas, Jennifer Teal, Joann Bury, Rory Gaydos, Anthony Jones, Troy Euton, Jeannie Hoffman, Joe Gergley, Diana Redman, Kim McWilliams, Jeffrey Spence, strategic planning candidates, Eric Miller, Andy Piccolantonio, Thomas Liszkay, Vinnie Tremante, residents, press. Present 6 - Thomas R. Kneeland, Brian D. Larick, Jamie Leeseberg, Karen J. Angelou, Michael Schnetzer, and Ryan P. Jolley Absent 1 - Stephen A. Renner PENDING LEGISLATION from the Director of Parks & Recreation on Big Walnut Trail Section 5: ORD-0072-2015 TO AUTHORIZE THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO CONTRACT WITH COLUMBUS ASPHALT PAVING, INC. OF 1196 TECHNOLOGY DRIVE GAHANNA, OHIO 43230 FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF BIG WALNUT TRAIL SECTION 5; TO SUPPLEMENTALLY APPROPRIATE $60,000; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. This Ordinance is being introduced and assigned to the Committee of the Whole. Kneeland introduced the pending legislation; Troy Euton, Director of Parks & Recreation, presented the project to include the history, alternatives that were looked at, planning and analysis, citizen concerns, and consequences of not moving forward with the project now; the Big Walnut Trail (BWT) is a top priority of Gahanna citizens as indicated in four separate surveys since 2006; Gahanna has received over 1.5 million dollars in grants to assist with trail construction; alternative alignments were shown (see attached powerpoint) along with the proposed plan for the BWT section 5; noted there is property highlighted that is privately owned and the owner of the property was on board with allowing the trail to cross on City of Gahanna Page 1 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes July 13, 2015 their property, but since have made other development plans; another alternate route crosses onto the boardwalk, which has shown to be very slick and not safe for future trail development; would have to rebuild it to replicate the boardwalk on section 3 which is very costly and time consuming; exploring another alternate route, the financial impact changes from $600,000 to over 1.2 million dollars; the sledding hill and golf course impacts are of concern to residents; the hill that residents call the "better hill" will be compromised while the other hill will still be an option; the golf course impact for the first 200 yards will be within the rough side of the fairway; the golf cart path would be impacted but there would be a standard four-way stop in place to manage; from a sustainability perspective we are currently struggling with the practice green; not confident it would remain with or without this trail project; it would be removed with this project; majority of staff does not believe this negatively impacts the golf course; do not believe there would be a negative financial impact; the southern sledding hill would be eliminated by the trail project because of the fence and the trail itself; the fence is a resident concern because of its level of attraction; the fencing is necessary for protection and to keep trail users safe; cannot build a trail near the golf course without some sort of protection, at least in the areas where it is imminent; showed a picture of a fence that is proposed to be built; noted the proposed fence would be all black; black tends to disappear and blend with the environment; you can see through the fence; the view would not be impacted; over the last week have talked with engineers and staff to try and mitigate some of the concerns but not redesign the trail; extending would impact the grant being received; have looked at areas where part of the fence could be removed; it is possible to reduce it significantly; if we cleared out trees to move the fence toward the north a bit and go through the trees; the sledding hill would stay primarily intact; that change would mean we are removing trees and need elevation work; typically go by ADA standards for the slope elevation; this option will move a section of the fencing back so it is not as close to the fairway as it is today and may mitigate the concerns golfers have with the fence; Leeseberg asked about the protection for the over-shots; Euton showed the areas where the fence would protect trail users from the number one and number three green; discussed removing a section of the fence that is around 150 feet that they do not believe is necessary; would want to keep the section of the fence behind the greens; would also want to keep the fence from the tee to the 200 yard point for protection; Leeseberg asked where the preferred area meets; Euton said it connects at Creekside Island; an area called the driving range is on property not owned by the City and we cannot control that; Kneeland asked what it would take to eliminate the fence all together; Euton said the option that allows that is to move the trail across the street and there are numerous private property driveways that would need easements; another alternative was along City of Gahanna Page 2 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes July 13, 2015 US-62 near the old FOP Lodge (409 E Johnstown Road) but there is not enough horizontal clearance because of the river bank erosion and the size of the right of way; from an expense perspective easements for each property owner was eliminated when the project was originally presented; Kneeland said with a project of this magnitude how many public engagement meetings have we had; Euton said there was an open house in 2007 when the plan was developed; there were about 40-50 people who attended; said the fence was not shown at that time; detailed plans have developed since then to move forward with the project; Leeseberg confirmed we are receiving a $500,000 grant if the project is completed this year; Euton said yes; if we cannot complete the project by the end of the year we can ask for an extension but we get point penalties which will impact grants in the future; this grant has already been awarded to us but we will get penalized for not completing the project in time; in the future we will receive less money toward grants because we will be lower on the list from point penalties; Jolley confirmed it was ten points for each six month delay; Euton said it would take at minimum another year to re-engineer and rebuild the project; would impact one cycle of grants; Schnetzer asked about the section to the west of the first and third green; asked if we changed that would the ADA would have a slope requirement; Euton confirmed; Angelou said traveling downtown on High Street there are bike paths along the street; asked if parts of Olde Ridenour Road could be designated part of the path instead of impacting the golf course; Euton said it is possible; Angelou said the safe route to school along US-62 near the old FOP Lodge would be possible to include; said connectivity to trails is important but so is the golfers who have been in the City for forty plus years; Euton said he would say no to both options; as we are discussing the BWT which is an off-road ten foot wide trail for all users, which include families who would likely not use a path on Olde Ridenour Road with young children; the trail is not specifically just for bicycle users; this is a regional multi-use trail that will be highly used; BWT plan goes from Morse Road to Pizzuro and is a five mile stretch; connects to the metro parks; believes we will have complaints in the future from trail users if we go that route; Jolley asked about traffic being heavy and fast along Olde Ridenour Road; our City Attorney Shane Ewald looked into this; asked for an update from when this was reviewed previously; Ewald said the original owner is somewhere in the UK and the company is out of business; found a transfer of interest to the City dated in the late '80s, early '90s and would have to go to court to revert it back; there was a problem with how it was signed; you could reduce the speed and would recommend speaking with the police department; Jolley said they discussed making the road one-way; Ewald said yes you could make it a one-way or restrict the type of traffic, as along as it is not permanently closed; Jolley said grant funding is important and needed but we need to reevaluate the City of Gahanna Page 3 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes July 13, 2015 project; Mayor reminded Council that when we discussed altering Olde Ridenour Road there was a high volume of complaints from citizens; Euton said we can plant along the fence but he does not recommend it; could also plant trees to hide Olde Ridenour Road; does not believe the fence is an end-all with the trail; need to look at other trails that have been built; professional opinion is that the golf community will be fine and it will not impact the play of the golf course; reminded everyone that when section 3 was built there was a resident concern about the trail going in near his backyard; just received an email from that resident several weeks ago that said he was wrong and uses the trail with his family on a regular basis; hoping Council gets the opportunity to hear from the citizens who do want the trails and not just the citizens who do not want this impact; Angelou asked if the Parks & Recreation Board supported the decision; Euton said it was not voted in favor of the project; said they are concerned about the sledding hill and the golf course impact; Schnetzer asked the costs of alternative B; Euton said just with the fence changes is around $50,000; cost neutral; option B still needs discussed with the contractor; need to have unit prices in place; Darrell Miller and Angela Fedak, traffic engineers with OHM Advisors were involved in the process; Larick asked what the path of the trail going south is; Euton said the section of boardwalk is in place that does not algae up and runs up to the US-62 bank and proceeds south; will eventually go under IR-270 with this trail; Larick asked east of cemetery, where does the property line end; a route going just to the east of the cemetery was by-passed; Euton said elevation is vastly different; did not look at the trail through the cemetery. RECOMMENDATION: Second Reading, Regular Agenda. 2015-0140 Supporting Documents from the Parks & Recreation Department ITEM FROM THE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE 1. Strategic Planning Facilitator Presentations Jennifer Teal introduced the strategic planning firms; said there is a huge impact and need for this path to take us from desires to measurable outcomes; asked three firms to come and present; senior staff met with each of these groups earlier today for about two hours each. Jeremy Stephens with Managing Results with Marv Weidner, CEO, said they are focused on results for customers; a company created in 1998; have worked with over 25 jurisdictions; now have over $37 billion dollars tied to results for customers; said our process is City of Gahanna Page 4 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes July 13, 2015 replicable; can go through the process over and over again and see results; Health Board of Franklin County (ADAMH) used their company and still use their strategic plan; have learned that if government focuses on results, those results are achievable; the right results are the experiences of the residents and the impact they receive from receiving services from the City; budget needs to align with results; employees need to feel they contribute to results; noted the City already reports performance and collects data; Weidner said we need to look at what the citizens of Gahanna and employees want to see; the real work starts when they start talking with residents; would also do a business round-table; one-size does not fit all and need to evaluate each topic individually; when a project plan is developed need to ask why we want a plan and what we want to see happen; prior to a planning retreat where Council will make decisions, each Council member would be interviewed; in a retreat the input is summarized; priorities are summarized; there then will be measurable, time-specific goals; strategic results are expressed as measurable customer plans; results will make it possible for the organization to focus on those results; implementation planning will then follow; a table was shown to show how information for managing and information for budgeting and reporting will be measured. Schnetzer asked if there were two opportunities for town hall meetings with residents; Weidner said that is what was proposed; Schnetzer asked what other options we will look at; Weidner said surveys via phone, newspapers, in the mail, and many other ways; will reach the community, that is the goal; there is still work ahead and we know we need public engagement; Weidner said strategic planning is a learning process; Jolley said they indicate asking the same question to the public and asked how it will inform us; Weidner said they've reached out to the citizens in other cities and there are over five billion dollars in development needs that the citizens were requesting; have found that if we ask this question we want to look at the next 5 years and see what is important; will then evaluate the priorities based on that knowledge; decide what is most important; not a general statement, it is a very specific statement about what we will change and what we will influence using city government; recommend it is revisited every two years to constantly move forward; Kneeland asked if they provide a tool-set to measure success; Weidner said absolutely; working on a dashboard system; Angelou asked what they did with ADAMH; Weidner said in one case, the staff believed the vendors were the customer; that is how they were measuring their performance; they completely missed the target; ADAMH results were from recovery; their next levy passed by over 60%; their story is now about the customer; the customer does not care about what we are doing, they care about the results they are seeing. City of Gahanna Page 5 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes July 13, 2015 Teal said we will now be hearing from Managing Partners; Amy Paul said they are located in Cincinnati; work with local government all over the country; understands that what works in one city may not work in this City; noted they helped Westerville with their success measures; they were successful; Jacquelyn McCray introduced herself; has a background in civic engagement; Paul said there are two other team members who will be available to help; have a lot of ideas about things that may work in the City; will design the proper measures after dialogue; discussed their need for understanding the performance of the city's project; will not conflict with other priorities and plans the City is working on; will identify current and future concerns; look at projections and trends internally and externally; will conduct community workshops; engage the customers, the residents, the business owners, the visitors; will engage members of Council in a strategic planning session in an interactive workshop; this is about setting direction so staff can carry that out in the coming years; will then prepare a strategic plan; develop and show what success looks like; will then prepare a implementation action plan; Montgomery BBQ is a client and was given a five year plan and when that five years was up they came back for another plan; were trained on techniques; engagement techniques will include virtual and physical town halls, surveys, focus groups, public forums to prioritize goals, public input and comments throughout the City website, and social media; noted that word clouds help to show priorities and those are used; also believe it is important to be visually attractive; showed logos they have worked on; the people that the City will be working with throughout this project know local government; also know what is important incrementally; said they survey their clients and the president follows up on everything in the end; committed to quality. Larick asked what the outcome looks like in terms of performance measurement; Paul said will vary and will be based on how the strategic plan is developed; another city used a dashboard, scorecard system; Montgomery is looking at business retention; whether or not they have met their business visits; financial measures are fairly straight forward; Larick asked about the structure of methodology; Paul said the leaders of the organization need to embrace measurement and use it on a regular basis and not just use it every six months or for certain reports; said to build it into staff meetings and one on one meetings; Larick asked about the methodology to get to those metrics; Paul said they work with staff to measure that and ask what they are measuring and where does the data come from; McCray said those questions are asked in their initial interviews; Kneeland asked if they get into business process; Paul said they can but it is not involved in this proposal; Kneeland asked if they engage with private sector; Paul said they are primarily government focused although they City of Gahanna Page 6 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes July 13, 2015 have worked with the private sector. Jamie Greene and Sarah Bongiorno with planning NEXT; based in Columbus; have a strong local and national reputation; local clients include MORPC, Columbus 2020, The Ohio State University; organized the aftermath in New York after 9/11; the approach would be to build upon the City's recent work, facilitate meaningful engagement, create an innovative action agenda, provide a foundation for results, and be inclusive and transparent; want to meet the range of interest with the community; structure the process in a way that is suitable; will begin by getting grounded by conducting interviews, listening and learning, with work sessions, and then finally adoption; will gather lots of raw input; said they had a good meeting with staff earlier today; want to note their philosophy is about a choice; need majority of the community to hear about this; Bongiorno said to communicate the strategy to Gahanna we will utilize the resources we have and will brand and identify the process; recognizes the importance to take it to the community; noted that transparency is important; will allow for ample lead time into the meetings; will conduct open meetings; will post the work; and will make engagement convenient; public involvement has two stages: generating along with analyzing and deliberating; believe strongly in face to face engagement but understands we are at a time where people like to interact through technology; Greene said their implementation will involve measurable outcomes, clear responsibility, budget organization, institutionalizing, and creating regular progress reports; understands there is a continuous monitoring that occurs and a continuous effort. Larick asked what their work with Upper Arlington was and when; Greene said it was in early 2000 and it was a community plan and a vision; continue to help them after the vision plan; Jolley asked about Westerville; Greene said there is an initiative currently called "imagine Westerville" that can be looked up; have been supporting them for the last 14 months; Jolley asked who is included on the steering committee; Greene said there needs to be a community identified group; would like there to be someone that everyone can relate to in that group; recommend we work with the staff to get that type of group; in Cary, North Carolina, they wanted to get new folks involved on their committees; came up with a plan that yielded 400 plus applicants; Angelou asked how they go about bringing people in that are not typically part of the process but could lend a good voice; Greene said there are people who are not comfortable speaking in front of others and some who are in leadership positions and don't make it priority; said their objective is making those people feel comfortable and needed speaking and bringing forward their ideas; City of Gahanna Page 7 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes July 13, 2015 need to create a general awareness and trust with new residents; believe strongly in word of mouth marketing; Kneeland asked what differentiates this company from the others in this arena; Greene said they are a relatively small group and they are just nine miles away; they are very passionate about what they do; they are familiar with initiatives around Columbus; said they have gotten great results; would like to see bigger opportunities happen outside of government relationships. Teal said from the staff perspective they have spent the day with these firms; anticipate the next step is hearing from senior staff; said she will reach out to Council after they have had a chance to sleep on the presentations; ideally would like to have a contract to Council in the next meeting or two; happy to answer any questions about their experiences earlier in the day; Mayor Stinchcomb suggested everyone read the proposals thoroughly and take a look at the process from beginning to end. 2015-0135 Strategic Planning Supporting Documents ITEMS FROM THE DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT 1. Request to rezone 4.1 acre parcel at Olde Ridenour Road & McCutcheon Road to Suburban Office Jones said Planning Commission has approved two zonings; this one is 4.1 acres off Olde Ridenour at McCutcheon Road; currently zoned Restricted Institutional District (RID) and the proposed rezoning is to Suburban Office (SO); was originally zoned SO and property owners were forced to change by the City; they are no longer planning to be a church; property just south of this property is zoned SO; there was much discussion at Planning Commission of traffic; the proposed zoning allows for more uses; property owners have not committed to a particular use; senior living is of interest; Planning Commission had multiple workshops and ultimately recommended the rezoning to Council; Angelou asked if there were proponents or opponents; Jones said there were opponents initially; Schnetzer noted the intent is senior living; asked what the risk of ending up with another use is; Jones said the risk associated with higher volume of traffic would include an office; that would likely generate 444 daily traffic counts and senior living would generate 126; could go to single-family but would require different zoning; Schnetzer asked if there were any height restrictions; Jones said restrictions fall under FAA or parking ratios; would not be looking at a five story office building going in; Larick asked about the number of zoning changes without a project plan in place; Jones said he is not aware of the number right now; Kneeland said we want to make sure we protect that area; Jolley said City of Gahanna Page 8 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes July 13, 2015 the plan shows a future land use being single-family; Jones said it was then zoned SO and the plan was not as consistent; feels the neighboring property would be comparable for the area; said there is a park to the north; Jolley asked if there would be access from McCutcheon; Jones said he believes it will be only from Olde Ridenour Road except for emergency access. RECOMMENDATION: Public Hearing, 1st Reading. 2. Request to rezone 1.6 acre parcel at 5069 Morse Road to Community Commercial Jones said this is a small single-family parcel off Morse Road; applicant requests rezoning to Community Commercial (CC); plans to develop a veterinarian clinic; there was a lot of discussion within Planning Commission on this zoning; there was an easement that provided access for the housing next door; Kneeland asked if there was consideration for an overlay; Jones said he believes so but it was not recommended; neighbors were concerned there would be a kennel and there will not be; Kneeland suggests we would need an overlay; Jones said this was recommended to Council on June 10th; Leeseberg asked if there was concern in regards to traffic count for this property; Priestas said it looks like a low traffic generator plan that will be in place; will look more into it when they have a Final Development Plan; said they will then evaluate the ingress/egress; Kneeland asked what is on either side of the property; Jones said to the west is zoned CC, and to the east it is multi-family; Angelou asked if there were opponents; Jones said there were residents with concerns in regards to the kennel but they have since discussed that and mitigated concerns; Leeseberg said he lives across the street from the applicant's current dog center and he has never heard a dog; McWilliams said the applicant has worked out concerns with residents. RECOMMENDATION: Public Hearing, 1st Reading. 2015-0139 Supporting Documents from Development ITEM FROM THE DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES 1. Amendments to the Unclassified, Supervisory, Command and Part-time Personnel Ordinances Teal said she is speaking on behalf of Sue Wadley, Human Resources Director; noted the first topic is related to military leave; it was clear with a recent process that there is a need to get those sections up to code effective immedately and alter some of the wording; second topic is changing the sick leave payout; currently we provide 50% payout for sick leave for the first 1200 hours and 25% City of Gahanna Page 9 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes July 13, 2015 after that; proposing to reduce the payout for those who leave to 30% up to 1200 hours and 25% for the remainder, and increase payout for those who stay and retire with the city to 60% up to 1200 hours and 25% for the remainder; this is in an effort to reward the employees who stay with the city; there will also be minor wording changes throughout to help maintain the heading on the top of each page; requesting emergency upon passage; Jolley asked where the federal or state statues for sick leave fall; Teal said they are in place and that is that what we would default to if nothing in place, but most communities have a policy in place for their sick leave. RECOMMENDATION: Consent Agenda, Emergency Language. 2015-0137 Supporting Documents from the Director of Human Resources ADJOURNMENT 9:38 Kayla Holbrook, Reporting City of Gahanna Page 10