Committee of the Whole

200 South Hamilton Road City of Gahanna Gahanna, Ohio 43230 Meeting Minutes Committee of the Whole Stephen A. Renner, Vice President, Chair Brian Metzbower, President Jamie Leeseberg Karen J. Angelou Brian D. Larick Nancy R. McGregor Michael Schnetzer April Beggerow, CMC, Clerk of Council Monday, July 8, 2019 7:00 PM Council Committee Room CALL TO ORDER Vice President of Council Stephen Renner called the Committee of the Whole meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. All members were in attendance. ITEM FROM THE DIRECTOR OF PARKS & RECREATION MR-0021-2019 MOTION RESOLUTION TO AUTHORIZE THE DIRECTOR OF PARKS & RECREATION TO SOLICIT FOR BIDS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF TWO BASKETBALL COURTS AT SUNPOINT PARK. Mr. Barr: Seeking permission to bid basketball courts will exceed $50,000 we have the funds from the NRPA grant, the donor was actually Niagra bottling company, their corporate headquarters, so this is fully funded from them. One will be full size basketball court, we'll have it going cross court for pickleball courts, but do we make the other court where it's more grammar school appropriate where it's lower rim, not a 10 foot rim to shoot at so kids of all ages can enjoy the basketball courts and it won't be dominated by adults all the time. Mr. Leeseberg said that some courts have the full size, and the shorter rims would be on the sides. Mr. Barr responded that those details we don't have figured out yet but that there would be some kind of combination. Mrs. McGregor asked how far was it from the homes. Mr. Barr replied that it was about 100 feet away if not more. Mrs. McGregor asked if there was something keeping the balls from going into the bioswale. City of Gahanna Page 1 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes July 8, 2019 Mr. Barr said no, but depending on how much money left on the bid could go into fence. There is a 10 foot buffer between the edge of pavement and the bioswale. No lighted basketball courts, it is sunrise to sunset, but there are parking lot lights, but not enough to light courts. Mr. Leeseberg asked that it was a bioswale not a bioretention so it's grass. Mr. Barr affirmed and said that they will look at alternative concrete fleximat so that kids can't take stones and throw them and knock out car windos and lights. Mrs. Angelou asked if there are cameras out there. Mr. Barr said their were. Mrs. Angelou asked about a shelter. Mr. Barr said that would be part of the capital needs assessment for 2020. Court layout attached to minutes. RECOMMENDATION: Consent Agenda. 2019-0089 Parks & Recreation Presentation Q2 Update Mr. Barr presented to Council the Quarter 2 report of the Parks & Recreation Department (report attached to minutes). Discussed were summer camp enrollment, swimming pool memberships revenues to date, golf course revenue and Senior Center memberships. The P&R department also conducted a customer service survey that was discussed that included questions that addressed the department as a whole. They asked what could be done to improve overall service and what programs could we add. 144 citizens responded and the results were +90% of good or excellent. The report also included presentations from Natalie and Eric, aquatics leadership staff who spoke to Council about customer service at the swimming pools. Natalie, a pool manager stated that they've been more customer service focused and going out into the areas and speaking with participants. She shared her experience in addressing a parent and child in regards to the swim tests. She said swim tests are more stringent here than in other locales and that the expereince with this parent and child was positve and demonstrated how customer service makes a rough situation positive. The second presenter, Eric, presented about going out among the citizens at the pool and how they were excited and welcoming to have the City of Gahanna Page 2 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes July 8, 2019 interaction with staff. He told of a citizen that lost an item and how the staff helped her locate her phone by reviewing cameras and even advising her on how to keep her items secure in the future. ITEM FROM THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SERVICE & ENGINEERING ORD-0070-2019 ORDINANCE TO ACCEPT PINNACLE POINTE INFRASTRUCTURE; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. Mr. Crawford: Bringing forward one item tonight that is a request to accept infrastructure at Pinnacle Point Villas. Pinnacle Point is a single family residential subdivision that was platted in 2017 and constructed over this past year. The developer has requested that the appurtenances, specifically the water line, be accepted as public infrastructure. The subdivision meets the basic requirement for acceptance and the underground utility and roadway are complete and have passed all necessary inspections and testing. Mrs. McGregor: We passed a variance to allow private roads. When did that change. Mr. Crawford: It is private roads, this is only requesting acceptance of the water line. The road construction is complete, there is not going to be any more phase of construction. RECOMMENDATION: Consent Agenda. ITEM FROM THE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE MR-0022-2019 RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE TAX BUDGET OF THE CITY OF GAHANNA, OHIO, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING JANUARY 1, 2020. Ms. Bury: This is part of the process for getting the amount and rates for our property taxes. So this will be filed with the County and then the County Budget Commission will make a determination if we should receive all taxes that are levied and then this will follow up in October as you know with accepting the amounts and rates. It keeps the items that we moved for 2019 in the special funds and it moves all capital to the capital improvement fund. RECOMMENDATION: Consent Agenda. City of Gahanna Page 3 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes July 8, 2019 ITEM FROM THE DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES ORD-0052-2019 TO AUTHORIZE THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO A BARGAINING UNIT AGREEMENT WITH THE FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE (FOP), CAPITAL CITY LODGE #9, FOR THE PERIOD OF JANUARY 1, 2019 THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2021; FOR POLICE OFFICERS; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. Ms. Vollmer: I have the FOP contract for 2019-2021. This is a request for authorization for the Mayor to sign the FOP contract also requesting waiver and emergency to allow the contract to begin immediately as the collective bargaining agreement expired December 31, 2018. In addition, the contract is retroactive back to January 1, so emergency waiver will allow the FOP members to receive their back wages and benefits. I've included in my report a summary of changes (see attached documents). One of the big items we were able to accomplish was a change in the promotional process that is occurring right now for Sergeant and Lieutenant with the incorporation of the assessment center. The assessment center is a real life test where the candidate has to interact with an actor where they might have to perform a public engagement meeting so that brings real life experience to the promotional process. Another accomplishment was a new procedure for overtime, how it is managed and given out. (wage details are attached). Vacation accrual, we've been able to change how vacation leave is kept. Prior to this contract it was a large administrative burden to myself and Joann's folks to find out how many hours our officers had, how much cashed out and one of the first things I had to do when I got here and it took me a few weeks to figure that out. We were able to get that in there as well as giving the Chief management authority to red line 10 days, so there's 10 days per year where members cannot take vacation. Changes in clothing allowance. All members will be carrying a division issued hand gun which will provide uniformity for the officers as well. Holliday hours they can either get paid out or put them into a comp bank which is regulated by FLSA and there are certain provisions where you can't deny somebody comp leave so we were able to move that into a separate holiday bank that has restrictions as to when that holiday can be used. Insurance, we were able to move that cap so if our insurance rates were to go up, they moved to a 10% cap. We were able to extend the probationary month for 12 months post academy, so those officers we hire that didn't have peace officer certification, prior to this they would spend 6 months at the academy, then 6 months’ probation, now they will be on probation for a year so we can ensure they have proper training. There was new language ordered for training and training officer in City of Gahanna Page 4 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes July 8, 2019 charge when a Sergeant isn't available and instituted random drug testing for all members. Mrs. McGregor asked about the policy for the handgun. Ms. Vollmer said that everyone doesn't carry a city issued handgun so the liability is less if they all carry the same gun. Mrs. McGregor replied that not everyone has the same size hand or can lift the same size. Chief Spence said that the idea was to get to one common platform and that they've been using Glock handguns for many years and with one platform, there is standardized training and parts, ammunition, and it saves money and time. Mrs. McGregor replied that not everyone has the same hand size, are females able to use the weapon chosen. Chief Spence answered that they are using a Glock platform, with different sizes. It will consolidate all of the parts and down to one type of ammunition and that will be cognizant of the different hand sizes. RECOMMENDATION: Consent Agenda. ITEMS FROM THE COUNCIL OFFICE 2019-0085 Liquor Permit Request #6971265 325 S. Hamilton Road, Polish Nail Bar LLC, dba Polish Nail Bar No objection from the Police Department. Liquor Permit Stands with no action taken. ORD-0069-2019 ORDINANCE TO ACCEPT AN APPLICATION FOR ANNEXATION OF 2.889 +/- ACRES FROM JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP, COUNTY OF FRANKLIN, STATE OF OHIO, TO THE CITY OF GAHANNA, OHIO (Mara L. Ziminski). Mrs. Beggerow stated that this annexation was the acceptance of an expeditied Type 2 annexation filed earlier in the year. RECOMMENDATION: Consent Agenda. 2019-0088 Discussion: Sanitary Sewer Policy Mrs. Angelou said we've had conversations with a constituent that was on a septic tank and had redone his home and driveway and then his septic tank failed and that it will be a lot more expensive. There was a pipe that he could have tied in to and his point was that nobody said that he had an ability to get access. She said that my thought on the policy would be to say that when anybody comes in, dealing with water or sewer that they be asked if they are on septic, then it would be an automatic ask. If they are, City of Gahanna Page 5 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes July 8, 2019 then telling them they may want to consider a tie in. He didn't know about it. Mayor Kneeland said that he had a conversation after meeting the constituent back in 2015-2016 when he did all that work and also had conversations with Mr. Crawford about this and there have been some changes we've been informed about from Franklin County Health where they're going to be more restrictive and force people to start tieing into sanitary sewer if it's available whether or not they're systems have failed or not. Mrs. Angelou said that if it was just on any and all permits, asking about septic and if so, then it can just be, not that they have to change it but that they need to consider it. Mr. Renner said that it is code that if a house is less than 200 feet away from the sewer main it has to tie in. He said that this is a thing he asked for years ago in prior administration that we need to know where the septic tanks are and why aren't we just telling these people to connect. The Board of Health duty is to enforce the Administrative Code that says what I'm talking about but this all goes back to the clean water act that is filtering down to the local level and we could get sued if we don't enforce this and get it done. Mrs. Angelou asked Mr. Crawford to look at writing something up. She said we probably don't even have that many septic tanks and you said maybe 200? Mr. Crawford said he didn't know off the top of his head but he believed there were over 100. Mr. Renner said that on a side note, Frankln County is being sued under this very same thing and it's now county wide and it's just a matter of time before it hits Ghanna and all the other burbs. It's a law firm out of Cincinnati, it's their forte, it's what they do. We're trying to fight back, working with Soil and Water and County Engineer's office but it's coming so we might as well construct whatever policy and get it done and get the awareness done now. Mayor Kneeland said we'll get something back. ADJOURNMENT at 7:54 p.m. City of Gahanna Page 6