Committee of the Whole

200 South Hamilton Road City of Gahanna Gahanna, Ohio 43230 Meeting Minutes Committee of the Whole Nancy R. McGregor, Chair, Vice President Jamie Leeseberg, President Karen J. Angelou Merisa Bowers Brian D. Larick Stephen A. Renner Michael Schnetzer April Beggerow, MPA, CMC, Clerk of Council Monday, March 9, 2020 7:00 PM Council Committee Room A. CALL TO ORDER The Committee of the Whole meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. All members are in attendance. B. DISCUSSIONS: 1. ITEMS FROM THE DIRECTOR OF PARKS AND RECREATION ORD-026-2020 ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF GAHANNA, OHIO: Amending Section 151.03 Administration Chapter 151 Department of Parks and Recreation. Held in Committee. ORD-027-2020 ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF GAHANNA, OHIO: Amending Section 153.01 Creation Chapter 153 Parks and Recreation Board. Mrs. Ferrell presented the request for a code change to allow the Parks & Recreation board members to go from the ability to miss 3, to 4 meetings in a calendar year. Mrs. McGregor asked if that was a rolling 12 months. Mrs. Ferrell said it was a calendar year, January - December. Mr. Larick said that the way it is written in the code, it says 12 months, it doesn't define it as calendar year. He asked how often the boards met. Mrs. Ferrell said it was just for the Parks & Recreation Board, Landscape Board was amended to be an adhoc that only meets when there is an item to discuss. Parks & Recreation Board meets monthly. City of Gahanna Page 1 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes March 9, 2020 Mr. Larick said that the code was just confusing because it refers to both Parks & Recreation Board and Landscape Board. His concern was that if the board meets on a monthly basis, that's one meeting a month. He said he would be hesitant to approve the change. Mayor Jadwin said that it reads that it is a rolling 12 months. Mrs. Ferrell said that it can go back to Parks & Recreation board to be revised. Mr. Angelou asked why this was necessary. Mrs. Ferrell said it maintains a majority attendance, but allows for work, life responsibilities. Mayor Jadwin said that this was actually voted upon by the Parks & Recreation Board on March 14, 2018 by unanimous vote to align with Planning Commission and Council rules. It was never brought to Council. Mr. Schnetzer said it seems like a routine clean up and the ask would make this board consistent with other boards and commissions within the City. Ms. Bowers asked for the minutes of that March, 2018 vote. She said City Council has regular meetings 2 times a month and the Charter indicates that we have 4 consecutive or 6 in a 12 month period. Planning Commission also meets 2 times a month with the same requirements. Mayor Jadwin said that Planning Commission meets as needed, if there isn't anything on the agenda, they don't meet. Mrs. Angelou said but they could have 24 meetings. Mrs. McGregor said it seems not too much to ask to make 75% of the meetings. Mrs. Ferrell said that there are dedicated members on this board, this is just to give them that opportunity to participate without being penalized. Not to give them the opportunity to not participate. Mrs. Angelou said it should be kept at 3. Mr. Larick asked that the language be improved and then leave the City of Gahanna Page 2 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes March 9, 2020 debate up to Council. Ms. Bowers said that there is an appointment to this board who has yet to attend in two meetings and that the way it looked, potentially to other people, is that this was legislation being proposed to fix a problem for one specific person. She added, this is something (the minutes) is something that I would have liked seen attached to the agenda so we could have understood the position. Mrs. Ferrell said that the Board hadn't realized that this topic- their vote on this change was never adopted by Council. It was only upon review of the bylaws did they realize it wasn't done. This is why it was brought forward now. It is a housekeeping item that wasn't addressed when it should have been. Mrs. Angelou replied asked why the person in question hasn't attended any meetings. Mrs. Ferrell said that Wednesday of this week is the Parks & Recreation Board meeting and it is on the agenda to be sworn in. Mr. Leeseberg said he would defer to the City Attorney but he doesn't think that the first 2 meetings don't count as absences since he hasn't taken the oath of office. Mr. Mularski replied that is correct. Mr. Renner said that he did call about this issue and appreciated the explanation. He said that the minutes of the January and February Parks Board didn't accurately reflect the discussion of what took place, so it did leave more left to be desired about what was going on. Mayor Jadwin agreed and thanked him for reaching out. The Parks Board president said that they did have dialog and it wasn't put into the minutes because they voted on it previously. But the dialog should have been reflected in the minutes. Committee members asked for the two items to be held in committee and brought back with appropriate changes are made. Mrs. Ferrell shared about a project coming forward in collaboration with Herb Day- Creekside Island being designated as a Level 1 arboretum. They are doing preparation for that on the west side of the Creekside Island. More information will be provided to the public in the future. Held in Committee. City of Gahanna Page 3 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes March 9, 2020 2. ITEMS FROM THE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE ORD-028-2020 AN ORDINANCE AUTH O R I Z I N G A SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION - Various Accounts Mrs. Bury shared her request for supplemental appropriations. RECOMMENDATION: Consent Agenda. 2020-049 2019 Year End Report to Council Director of Finance Joann Bury presented the 2019 Year End Report. The report is attached to the minutes herein. Mr. Larick asked about tax revenue being 27% more than planned. Ms. Bury replied that there were plans for charges for services $308,000 and we brought in $304,000 which is 99% of the total planned but our income tax over produced by 27%. Mr. Larick asked that they happened to be about the same? Ms. Bury replied yes. Mr. Schnetzer asked about exempt properties and that after 3 years we can file for an exemption, I'm assuming that's with the County. Is that a state statute? Ms. Bury said she would provide that to Council. It is a state statute. Mr. Schnetzer asked general fund budget vs. actual, under expenditures, original. Ms. Bury it was that one month temporary. Ms. Bowers asked about grants being designated to their own fund, is that typical? Ms. Bury said yes, especially with federal, every federal grant must be accounted for in a separate fund. A lot of the state grants have the same requirement. Ms. Bowers asked if once the funds are used, does that fund get liquidated. Ms. Bury replied that most grants are reimbursements and most of the City of Gahanna Page 4 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes March 9, 2020 time the match is moved over, start spending, and reimbursement is requested so they'll hold a negative fund balance until we can get the rest of the grant reimbursements in and then they just zero out on their own. 3. ITEMS FROM THE DIRECTOR OR PUBLIC SERVICE AND ENGINEERING ORD-029-2020 ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SERVICE AND ENGINEERING TO ENTER INTO AN EXTENSION ADDENDUM WITH IRONPLANET dba GOVEPLANET FOR AUCTION SERVICES. Mr. Crawford presented the addendum to our auction service IronPlanet. RECOMMENDATION: Consent Agenda. ORD-030-2020 ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO CONTRACT WITH TARA NELSWONGER AND KAY M. SWIFT, FOR TEMPORARY EASEMENT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PERFORMING THE WORK NECESSARY TO CONSTRUCT A BRIDGE BY THE CITY OF GAHANNA, FRANKLIN COUNTY, OHIO, WAVING SECOND READING, AND DECLARING IT AN EMERGENCY. Mr. Moorehead presented that this was the last of 4 property owners that needed to renew the easement. The documents were submitted through the mail. This would extend that easement for 12 months. Mr. Larick asked that this go on the regular agenda because of the emergency and waiver request. RECOMMENDATION: Regular Agenda Waiver/Emergency. ORD-031-2020 ORDINANCE TO ADOPT THE THOROUGHFARE PLAN REPORT, JULY 3, 2019 BY CARPENTER MARTY TRANSPORTATION, FOR THE CITY OF GAHANNA, OHIO; TO AMEND SECTION 145.02 THOROUGHFARE PLAN, OF CHAPTER 145 PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CODIFIED ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF GAHANNA. City Engineer John Moorehead presented the revised Thoroughfare Plan. Said plan is attached to the minutes herein. Ms. Bowers asked why route 62 was not tagged as a principal arterial. Mr. Moorehead replied that it's a matter of traffic volume and use. Combination of how much traffic is travelling down the road and what the goal is for the road. Mayor Jadwin asked Mr. Moorehead to explain where the information is City of Gahanna Page 5 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes March 9, 2020 coming from and how the study was done. Mr. Moorehead replied that it is derived from current day traffic data. It is based on a direct count of traffic in the city and an evaluation of the uses. Mrs. McGregor spoke of the 2006 Plan that had many typographical errors. She asked why they can't get the names of the roads right. Mr. Moorehead said he can't speak for the 2006 plan, but that this is prepared by engineers and their focus is the data, so it's not ok, but that they're data focused. Ms. Bowers wants to know what the value of this is. There isn't anything pertaining to non-vehicle in this plan. Mr. Moorehead replied that the plan is to be used as a reference more than anything. In 20 years if there is a question as to how many lanes we may need on a roadway, or do we need right of way along a property. There are discussions on bike paths in the appendices. So basically, it is a reference document. Mr. Schnetzer asked what is a practical ramification of making these changes, specifically to the classification updates table and roadway classifications. Is this just an acceptance of reality? Mr. Moorehead replied yes, it is. Mr. Schnetzer asked what point would the average driver see a problem (ranked from A-F in the plan). Mr. Moorehead replied about a D. E and F it's pretty evident there is a challenge. Mr. Schnetzer asked from an engineering standpoint, at which point would we revisit the intersection to consider some sort of an infrastructure improvement. Mr. Moorehead replied it's about the same threshold. Mr. Larick asked if there are any improvements being asked between 2017 and 2040 because some of the docs show improvements in 40 vs. 17. Mr. Moorehead replied that there are some assumptions and that is based upon information that Gahanna has already submitted to MORPC. City of Gahanna Page 6 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes March 9, 2020 There are a few improvements that we would like to do that we've put out there and they're on everybody's radar that if we were to receive grant funding and move them ahead, the would take place. Some of those would be Havens Corners widening, that's been planned by the county for some years and they don't have funds to implement that, so maybe on a 5-10 horizon that could occur. So there are some assumptions. Ms. Bowers asked if there are any upcoming projects or actions that they would like to take. Mr. Moorehead said there are things in the works but not based upon the plan. Mr. Crawford said there is an intersection improvement at Taylor Station and Claycraft in the works. Construction would occur in 2021-2022 depending on the design process. Ms. Bowers asked if there was any consideration for the Goshen Lane area. Mr. Crawford replied that Goshen is not. Mr. Renner asked about the safety evaluation of the top 5 streets but then the next slide is 6 streets. He wanted to have data of the South Stygler Road item. Mr. Moorehead replied that the first 5 are intersections on MORPC's list. These next 6 are roadway segments themselves. So these are collisions that occur outside the intersection area and causing issue where people are leaving the roadway or colliding.. He said he can provide more information. Ms. Bowers asked about how traffic studies obtained for a specific development or project, how they are either integrated into the plan or how the department would then take those into consideration when moving forward with a construction project. Mr. Moorehead replied that they do not necessarily get integrated into this plan. But this plan, is all reference points, a starting point of understanding how that developer's traffic study should be interpreted. When a study is submitted, it is put on file, and the data collected as part of this plan, would be passed along to a developer to use in their plan. This would be a source of information for them. Mr. Renner asked about the Goshen area, do we have data on the City of Gahanna Page 7 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes March 9, 2020 increased airport traffic. Mr. Moorehead replied that the report does include a volume of traffic projection from 2017-2040, so it does include how much growth is projected to occur there and we do have access to an ODOT database that does contain counts on West Johnstown over the years so we can see a trend line of what is occurring out there. But you’re right, there is more happening there. Mr. Renner asked if there is a way to put something together that would be great. When the bridge was being replaced people liked the lack of traffic. Mrs. McGregor asked about the extensions. One goes from Hamilton Road to Stygler, another is from McCutcheon to 62 where we just put our Big Walnut trail section number 4. Mr. Moorehead replied that those analysis were really focused on the idea of another bridge over Big Walnut creek have been around since the 70s, maybe before. It was requested before by my predecessor as to what would happen if we made a connection and the lines referencing where they would go are completely arbitrary. Mrs. McGregor said she objects to even a line there. Ms. Bowers asked about the Claycraft intersection, what kind of pedestrian usage has been studied along Taylor Station. Mr. Moorehead said that there is a master plan for trails that identifies a trail down Taylor Station Road as a goal of the city. Jefferson Pointe did put a trail section in front of their frontage and this proposed intersection change will have pedestrian accommodations to it. Ms. Bowers asked if there is a time frame projection along that stretch. Mr. Moorehead replied no. Ms. Bowers said that it's an important business district and there are pedestrians walking from bus stops and there aren't sidewalks along that route and she would like it to be on the city's radar that we are looking at that. Mr. Moorehead said we're building pieces of a system out there. In the 2020 Street Program, we're reconstructing Research and Blatt Road which is the eastern leg of this intersection and when we reconstruct City of Gahanna Page 8 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes March 9, 2020 those roadways, there will be sidewalks put back in. Mrs. Angelou said that West Johnstown Road doesn't have sidewalks either and that can be a nightmare. This requires an ordinance to amend the code and adopt the plan. Meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m. RECOMMENDATION: Regular Agenda. City of Gahanna Page 9