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 Banning, CMC, Clerk of Council Monday, November 23, 2015 7:00 PM Council Committee Rooms CALL TO ORDER Chair Renner called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Additional Attendees: Diana Redman, Sue Wadley, Anthony Jones, Jeff Spence, Chief Dennis Murphy, Rory Gaydos, Rob Priestas, Dottie Franey, Chief Brad Shull, Chief Fred Kauser, Matt Holdren, George Mrus, Joann Bury, Press, VFW Veterans, Mayor Becky Stinchcomb, Kim Banning, Shane Ewald, Shelia Vitale, Troy Euton, Mike Musser, Ken Shepherd, Ellen Zehner, Patricia Kovaks, Residents, Brian Metzbower. Present 7 - Thomas R. Kneeland, Brian D. Larick, Jamie Leeseberg, Karen J. Angelou, Michael Schnetzer, Stephen A. Renner, and Ryan P. Jolley UPDATES FROM THE FIRE DEPARTMENT 1. Mifflin Township Chief Kauser said they have had 863 EMS incidents, 136 involved motor vehicles; said they have been checking hydrants they have had a history with or any issues with; reminding citizens to service their heating equipment and be attentive to fireplaces; said to even watch those fireplaces for gas; heading into peak EMS call season for both fire departments; flu season will be kicking into high gear; said they conducted live structural fire fighting exercises; thankful to the police departments in managing traffic and communications; worked with fire companies from New Albany and City of Columbus adjacent to the Gahanna area who will respond to Gahanna if our department is unavailable; also attended the holiday lights event; thanked everyone for their involvement and support; said a property recently had water installed that have been without running water; exciting that they now have fire hydrants in front of their property; said have a new ambulance set to go in service as soon as staff permits; an ambulance today costs $204,000; said we average between 3-4 years service before they go into reserve status. 2. Jefferson Township City of Gahanna Page 1 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes November 23, 2015 Chief Shull thanked Council for the invite this evening; said they assist Mifflin Township; have only experienced about 6 events in the Gahanna/Jefferson area; have pushed toward a customer service way of thought over the last several years; believe customer experience is more important to them; had a couple incidents recently that they will be giving awards to two firefighters on December 14; got a donation to supply AED's; training is forthcoming for the entire township crew; said their car seat inspection program has taken off; said they are doing at least 1-2 a day; said only about 4% of people have their car seats installed properly; happy to provide that to their community; said they also are purchasing a new ambulance; thanked Mifflin for allowing them to participate in the live fire training; had an accident involving a school bus; said they were able to immediately put out information on Facebook with updates; had a lot of followers and were able to tell the public that there were no injuries; the parents had all been contacted at that point which minimized a negative situation. 2015-0384 Fire Department Updates ITEM FROM THE DIRECTOR OF PARKS & RECREATION 1. VFW Purchase, Lease Agreement and Supplemental Appropriation Euton said the request is to purchase the property; also asking to lease the property back to the VFW to use as they use today; is a 3-year purchase contract; idea is to preserve the corridor there and the green space; want to preserve the property along Big Walnut Creek; will also provide access for the Veteran's Park that is forthcoming; requesting the Mayor enter into purchase agreement and lease agreement for the property on West Johnstown Road; Kneeland asked how long this has been planned; Mayor Stinchcomb said this has been discussed for a number of years; funds have been set aside; said we have a number of veterans here tonight if there are any questions for them; Schnetzer asked if it was encumbered; Bury said it was encumbered in 2014 but not appropriated; Mayor Stinchcomb said it was approved in the budget; Bury said it was in the capital improvement fund; Euton said the appraisal occurred over a year's time; said the $350,000 appropriation was based on two different appraisals; Angelou confirmed it is now $425,000; Bury said we are appropriating for this first payment and two additional payments will follow in 2016 and 2017; Euton said the appraisal was done in February 2015; Ewald said we need to reflect the correct appraisal company in the document, said it still says Robert Weiler; said he would add the legal description to the property in addition to the overlay map; Larick confirmed there would be no impact to the properties taxes as it will now not be owned by the VFW; Ewald said City of Gahanna Page 2 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes November 23, 2015 they will be responsible for any overages for the property tax; Schnetzer asked what the immediate plans for the parcel are; Euton said the only additional cost we will bear is the maintenance of the grounds, providing snow removal; said they do it over there now for the swimming club; said operationally, that is the additional cost; in terms of revised transportation, said the costs of those improvements are in an estimate status only and have not been fully vetted; said there is a lot of planning that will need to occur; said we do not own property that will allow us to do anything different than we do today; we will need more traffic capability than we have the option for today; said this was an opportunity to provide property and communicate with West Johnstown Road; Schnetzer said there is no current funding for Veterans Memorial Park; Euton said that is correct; said there has always been a vision for a park in that area; will be a great use for our downtown area; it does not have direct plans, it does assemble to provide that hole there; Angelou asked how the road impacts St. Matthews; Euton said that road goes through their property; said they have been talking with them for years on how their property will impact this property; said they are in discussions with their board to look at giving their property to the City in exchange for us providing what they have today in that area; Angelou asked when they purchased that property; Euton said it was not that long ago; said this does not benefit the general public at this time; we see it as an opportunity as the citizens getting more for what they pay for; will allow us to incorporate the property into the whole corridor; Leeseberg asked if we have easements for the roadway; Euton said not at this time; Leeseberg asked about the building plans; Euton said all details are in the lease agreement; Kneeland confirmed this is in the Parks Master Plan; asked if we could take advantage of any of the ball fields that are currently there; Euton said the ballfield would be under City control for use; said we have concerns to the structure of the ballfield; some poles need to be removed and light fixtures updated to be safe; Angelou said she believes Bexley got a grant for fields in the past, asked about that for this property; said parks are a good investment for the City but we have a large list of capital improvements that need attention immediately; said we had another large park purchase earlier this year; Euton said there are several grant sources that can help; one is the Clean Ohio Conservation Fund, another is Nature Works; said it can be looked into after the authorization of the purchase; Mayor Stinchcomb said they have been talking about this purchase for many years; said there will not be many more opportunities for park land purchase; said they have talked about both recent properties; said they have just gotten things in order to make these happen; Angelou asked if we can look into grant funding; Euton said he can do that; Jolley said just because an opportunity presents itself does not mean it needs to be acted upon; believes we rushed into a purchase of property on McCutcheon Road; having a hard time reconciling the City of Gahanna Page 3 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes November 23, 2015 two requests back to back; said there is no longer term plan of how to develop these parcels; supports the purchase of this land; said it is a strategic property that the City should own; said we technically have the money but have other resources that need attention; would also like to see if there is any grant money available; Leeseberg asked if we ever received an appraisal for the McCutcheon Road property; Euton said we did and the purchase was based on that appraisal. RECOMMENDATION: Introduced, Back to Committee on December 14, 2015. 2015-0351 Parks & Rec. Supporting Documents PENDING LEGISLATION - NEEDS AMENDED BY SUBSTITUTION ORD-0102-2015 AN ORDINANCE DECLARING THE IMPROVEMENT TO CERTAIN PARCELS OF REAL PROPERTY IN THE CITY'S JOHNSTOWN ROAD DISTRICT TO BE A PUBLIC PURPOSE AND EXEMPT FROM TAXATION; ESTABLISHING A TAX INCREMENT EQUIVALENT FUND AND PROVIDING FOR THE COLLECTION AND DEPOSIT OF SERVICE PAYMENTS INTO THAT FUND; SPECIFYING THE PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS DIRECTLY BENEFITING THE PARCELS; AUTHORIZING MAKE-WHOLE COMPENSATION PAYMENTS TO THE GAHANNA-JEFFERSON CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT AND THE EASTLAND FAIRFIELD CAREER & TECHNICAL SCHOOLS; AND AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION OF AN INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING AGREEMENT WITH MIFFLIN TOWNSHIP; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. Jones said the attorneys for the City and the Township have communicated; all questions have been answered; said he believes there should be a compliance and understanding of the agreement report back by tomorrow; is favorable of the terms; will bring this to their Township later this week; Kneeland confirmed this will be back on the regular agenda; Jones said will have documentation of their approval status if they do not approve; said it was communicated to him today that they were fine with the terms; will also be requesting an emergency to go into place by the end of the year. RECOMMENDATION: Regular Agenda. ORDINANCES INTRODUCED ON 11-16-2015 (the Dev & Parks Committee Recommended Consent Agenda on 11-9-2015 ) ORD-0129-2015 TO AUTHORIZE THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO CONTRACT WITH MEACHAM & APEL ARCHITECTS, INC., FOR PLAN REVIEW AND BACK-UP PERSONNEL; AND TO DECLARE AND EMERGENCY. Jones said ORD-0129-2015 to ORD-0132-2015 are contracts that are City of Gahanna Page 4 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes November 23, 2015 annual that we institute; request they have an emeregency to be effective by January 1; said ORD-0132-2015 is a unique request pertaining to a software; Kneeland asked if emeregency is required; Jones said yes in order for work to be encumbered after January 1st; said ORD-0132-2015 is for a software system implementation that will improve their department efficiency; funds are already appropriated to accomodate the request. RECOMMENDATION: Consent Agenda with Emergency. ORD-0130-2015 TO AUTHORIZE THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO CONTRACT WITH FEINKNOPF MACIOCE SCHAPPA ARCHITECTS, INC. FOR PLAN REVIEW AND BACK-UP PERSONNEL; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. See discussion under ORD-0129-2015. RECOMMENDATION: Consent Agenda with Emergency. ORD-0131-2015 TO AUTHORIZE THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO PERSONAL SERVICES CONTRACT BETWEEN THE CITY OF GAHANNA AND WILLIAM E. CONROY, II FOR ELECTRICAL INSPECTION SERVICES; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. See discussion under ORD-0129-2015. RECOMMENDATION: Consent Agenda with Emergency. ORD-0132-2015 TO AUTHORIZE THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO CONTRACT WITH THE DAVENPORT GROUP USA FOR BUILDING PERMIT SOFTWARE; AND TO SUPPLEMENTALLY APPROPRIATE $67,200; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. See discussion under ORD-0129-2015. RECOMMENDATION: Consent Agenda with Emergency. ORD-0133-2015 TO AMEND THE ADOPTED DEVELOPMENT FEE SCHEDULE AS REFERENCED IN CHAPTER 148, DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT; TO INCLUDE REVISIONS TO THE BUILDING FEES; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. Jones said this is an annual review of their department fee schedule; have compared with other municipalities; this is the last phase of their updates; Kneeland asked about the purpose for the emergency language; Jones said to begin on January 1; Larick confirmed the emergency is to account for the 7 days in January. RECOMMENDATION: Consent Agenda with Emergency. ITEM FROM COUNCIL MEMBER LARICK City of Gahanna Page 5 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes November 23, 2015 1. Kiosk System for Communication to Residents Larick said this is not a request at this point; just an overview and the beginning of discussion; said there is a lot of discussion on communication with the community; we do not have any captive audiences or mandatory email collections; said the schools have contact information, we do not have that; thought at the grocery store that everyone buys groceries; trying to build a concept that a screen could be maintained by the City; took his mother home in Florida and came upon a kiosk maintained by their local Sheriff's Office; said it was clearly identified as a governmental service; no bias to the company information provided; said the screens can be designed to give dedicated emergency information; said they can also give legislative information, like a zoning issue for example; can provide high level information; said someone can also scan a QR code and collect information; attached a packet of information for Council; also spoke with Lt. Spence on how the police could use this; said every grocery in Gahanna had one of these at their entrance, it would be roughly $40,000; said we do not have to get information from citizens to get information to citizens; spoke with a manager at the grocery store and they were interested; liked that it was electronic and not a bulletin board; would like to allocate the possible expenditure, not appropriate; best solution from his perspective that accesses each household; Angelou added libraries as well; Larick said we struggle with getting citizens to give us information to provide them updates; Spence added that they previously looked at a kiosk system like this in the past when they looked into online citizen reporting; said they are in use in a lot of agencies; said they have a lot of different applications; would be of value to them if they can provide the service of online citizen reporting; is a benefit to the City and the department as well as the business who provides it; provides foot traffic; they will also provide the data line to hook up the kiosk; will not pay a cellular line; Kneeland said they have one of these types of kiosks in their police department in Whitehall; people can input reports; Larick said he is asking for a champion on administration to possibly get a pilot and see what works best and how we can take advantage of it; Kneeland said he sees the opportunity with this; Larick said there may be ongoing funding with licenses or maintenance and data connection; said did not specifically talk about grant funding; said if safety issues are encompassing from this, potentially can obtain other grant funding; our City's Public Information Manager will champion this. 2015-0321 Council member Larick - Supporting Documents ITEMS FROM THE CLERK OF COUNCIL City of Gahanna Page 6 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes November 23, 2015 1. Governance Commission Recommendation Update Sheila Vitale, Governance Commission Chair, said they have been meeting about twice a month; said most of the Commission is here today; said they have read a lot and learned a lot; have two more meetings scheduled; will be providing a formal recommendation; said they unanimously reached a decision that the City remain a strong mayor form of government; said citizens are not ready for a change in governance based upon citizen involvement in this Commission, minimal support for ballot initiative petition in 2014, and minority of residents voting for mayoral candidate who openly supported the appointment of a city manager in his campaign; no problem has been identified that could be resolved by the change to a Council-City Manager form of government.Mayors have higher perceived status with residents, prospective businesses and regional bodies than do city managers, based upon input from Mayor Stinchcomb and other experts; mayoral veto provides checks and balances over actions of Council, and direct election of all three branches of government is fundamental to the American way of life; experienced City Managers have significantly higher salary requirements than current mayoral rate. Moreover, a City Manager could not be required to be a resident of Gahanna; lack of financial resources is the key problem impacting Gahanna; a change in governance structure alone would do nothing to address this challenge; converting to a different form of governance would be an expensive undertaking in terms of time, energy and money, and would remove the focus from important strategic initiatives as well as day-to-day operations; professional management is provided by experienced director-level personnel who are greatly sought after by other communities in Central Ohio. Jolley thanked the Commission for their work; looks forward to reading the full report; said it sounds well reasoned; appreciates looking at the actual goals; Larick thanked the entire Commission for their time. ITEMS FROM THE DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES 1. Renewal of the Wellness Agreement with Mt. Carmel Health Wadley said the first item is the agreement with Mount Carmel Health; said we are not asking for any emergency or waiver. RECOMMENDATION: Consent Agenda. 2. Central Ohio Health Care Consortium (COHCC) Trust Agreement Wadley said asking to enter into another agreement with Central Ohio City of Gahanna Page 7 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes November 23, 2015 Health Care Consortium (COHCC); said they have cost saving tools available; have been able to manage their costs with this agreement; funding has worked well for this agreement; Jolley said they did reserach a year or two ago to make sure this is still the right path for us; asked if there is still a three year term agreement; Wadley said yes, but we can pay a run-out cost to do an early withdrawl; Kneeland asked how many members are in the consortium; Wadley said ten currently. RECOMMENDATION: Consent Agenda. 3. Annual Salary Ordinances for 2016 Wadley said these salary ordinances speak to compensation and benefits to employees; asking for a 2% increase for non-bargaining unit employees; also asking for a re-class for two positions due to their change in duties; also anyone who works 30 hours or more, we have to now offer them healthcare benefits; said we have 11 individuals who qualify for it at this time; do not believe they will opt in but we are legally required to offer it; requesting emergency to be in effect by January 1. RECOMMENDATION: Regular Agenda with Emergency. 2015-0339 Human Resources Supporting Documents ITEMS FROM THE CITY ATTORNEY 1. Code Change - 331.34 FAILURE TO CONTROL; WEAVING; FULL TIME AND ATTENTION Ewald said have been working with the Clerk of Courts, the Police Department, prosecutors, and the magistrate; this code section deals with the intent of driving, like texting while driving; said we were over zealous when we put the consequences and language into place and is now leaving unintended consequences; want to focus on those who are not paying attention while driving; is now impacting those who fail to control; want to fully adjust the penalties. RECOMMENDATION: Consent Agenda. 2. Code Change - 335.12 STOPPING AFTER ACCIDENT UPON STREETS; COLLISION WITH UNATTENDED VEHICLE Ewald said the only change is in subsection B; would allow the magistrate to have discretion; will account for those who have an emergency; there can be extenuating circumstances. RECOMMENDATION: Consent Agenda. City of Gahanna Page 8 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes November 23, 2015 2015-0322 City Attorney Supporting Documents ITEMS FROM THE CLERK OF COUNCIL - con't. 2. Liquor Permits - Annual Renewal Banning said this is for the annual renewal of liquor permits; said the request is no objection for all renewals. RECOMMENDATION: Consent Agenda. 3. Codification - Cost Comparison Banning said we do not currently have a contract with our current company, Walter Drane; reached out to some other codification companies to compare prices and features; see a lot more features with Municode for a lesser cost than we currently have; said many other cities are changing to Municode; New Albany was recently inquiring about switching to them; do not need legislation just asking for permission; Ewald said the availability of the online updates being available immediately is a big thing; important for residents to be able to see things as they pass; Kneeland confirmed it will save a lot of money as well; impressed with Municodes website; asked if there is any cost to switch; Banning said no cost to change and they will reformat the code and send us new binders with the new code in the new format; said when we currently have changes, we get a word version copy on a CD; with Municode we will have them available to download in word version online; Angelou asked how long they have been in business; Banning said over 20 years. 2015-0360 Clerk of Council Supporting Documents DISCUSSION Banning said the Mayor's Retirement party is on December 17 and there is a scheduled Coffee with Council; there is also a Coffee with Council scheduled for Monday, November 30 at 6:30 p.m. in City Hall; Council confirmed will not reschedule for December. ADJOURNMENT 8:24 p.m. Kayla Holbrook, Reporting City of Gahanna Page 9