Committee of the Whole

200 South Hamilton Road City of Gahanna Gahanna, Ohio 43230 Meeting Minutes Committee of the Whole Monday, February 22, 2021 7:00 PM Virtual Meeting Meeting Call-In Details: 513-306-4583 Conference ID: 122 529 939# A. CALL TO ORDER Chair Nancy McGregor called the Committee of the Whole meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. All members were in attendance. B. DISCUSSIONS 1. ITEM FROM THE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE a. ORD-0007-2021 AN ORDINANCE AUTH O R I Z I N G A SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION Director of Finance Bury presented her legislation. The report is attached to the minutes. RECOMMENDATION: Consent Agenda. 2. ITEM FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF TECHNOLOGY a. ORD-0008-2021 ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN A REVISED OPTICAL FIBER USE AGREEMENT WITH GAHANNA-JEFFERSON PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT FOR INDEFEASIBLE RIGHT OF USE (IRU); WAIVING SECOND READING; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. IT Manager Kevin Schultz presented his legislation. The report is attached to the minutes. Mr. Renner asked if the schools requesting the line going to the former building be closed or are these 2 new connections. Mr. Schultz said they are 2 new additional connections. Mrs. Angelou asked how they pay for this. Mr. Schultz said that for each fiber they have access to, they pay a bond City of Gahanna Page 1 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes February 22, 2021 repayment fee of around $437. The bond repayment is scheduled to conclude in 2028. Then they pay a per rata share for maintenance on each one of the assets they have access to in the amount of $63 per asset that they have access to. Mr. Larick asked if that was monthly or annual payment. Mr. Schultz replied it was an annual payment of about $16,500. Mr. Larick asked what original bond repayment was covering. Mr. Schulz replied that it was the original installation of the fiber. Mr. Leeseberg asked about CIC and running out of fiber, is this a dedicated line? Mr. Larick replied that these are not CIC lines. Mr. Leeseberg asked if the bond repayment fee falls off in 2028 once that is paid. Mr. Schultz replied that yes, it will fall off. Mrs. Angelou asked if we will be asking other businesses coming in and building to put in their own fiber as part of their development. Mr. Leeseberg said that he thinks the CIC would want to put that in and charge them for it. RECOMMENDATION: Waiver of Second Reading, Adopt as Emergency 3. OTHER DISCUSSIONS a. Returning to Live Meetings: Mr. Larick asked for thoughts from Council for returning to chambers. He shared that there are partitions in between seating spots at the dais but there are still issues of concern like COVID numbers and the emergency declaration. Mr. Schnetzer recommended this be added to the agenda a month from now to revisit because there are still uncertainties. Mayor Jadwin said that remote work and access will continue through March. City of Gahanna Page 2 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes February 22, 2021 Ms. Bowers said she urges consideration on how to allow constituents to participate in meetings virtually. b. Appointment to ESID Board (Energy Special Improvement District). Mr. Larick said that typically members are members of the administration or have roles within economic development. Mrs. McGregor asked how many people are on the board. There are 19 members on the board. Mr. Larick said that structurally, the Economic Development Director is a contractor vs an employee. He asked if any of the members of the current board of similar status. Mayor Jadwin said that the Economic Development Director can hold that seat until a permanent Director is hired. The request can be the role. Mr. Leeseberg said he had no issues with putting the Economic Development Director being put forward. The motion will be added to the Council agenda. c. Technology Overhaul Mr. Larick said he met with Mr. Schultz on the topic of cameras and his concern is a single event drives a single path of driving something rather than looking at the broader spectrum. He wanted to get the perspective of Council before moving forward and evaluate the use of CARES Act dollars for this project. He would like to be able to utilize the current tools to our best advantage. He would also like to see the dais be improved, possibly lowering it. The goal is to maximize interaction with the public. Mr. Schultz said that the first step is continuing the live stream. The second part is how to build upon that when back in the room. The longer we go not making a decision, the harder it will be when we return because there is a 90-120 wait because there is high demand. Mr. Schnetzer supports expanding the scope on the tech. It is time for an upgrade. Mr. Renner is in support and said in terms of priority, what needs to be done first? We do need to have another discussion about when we're going to be back in chambers and figure out the details of that. The tools City of Gahanna Page 3 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes February 22, 2021 for engagement for Council members should be the next things. Tools for engagement for the public and how they'll engage with us should also be involved. We need to prioritize short term, medium term and long term. Mr. Larick said one is understanding overall cost. It appears that our funding limit is the CARES limit as opposed to additional cost at this point. Mr. Schultz said that the camera project, is not just simply for Council to be seen, but it includes the virtual element. Where other folks could participate via TEAMS. The whiteboard idea is secondary. The first phase should be the camera project, which is really more than that. The second part would be the projection system and then the third would be the reconfiguration of the MDM. The set up of the room would be a facilities issue that they would have to address. Ms. Bowers asked about developing rules or a written policy about the use of technology. Having clear rules and expectations helps facilitate fair interaction. Some people have access to participate by video and others don't and we need to address that issue. People should be able to present before Council in an equitable way. Mrs. McGregor would like to see the dais reworked. Mr. Crawford said it would be a complicated project but he could look into design changes. Mr. Larick asked if that would be something that could be covered by COVID funding. Mayor Jadwin said she didn't think it would but could be examined to be sure. Mr. Larick asked for the administration to evaluate that and advise them as soon as possible. Mr. Crawford said they would do what they can. Mr. Schultz said he should be ready next meeting with his details, the vendor was working on the quotes for the projection system. d. Code Enforcement Mr. Larick said we've had a lot of community interactions regarding code enforcement and asked the Mayor what the status was with code City of Gahanna Page 4 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes February 22, 2021 enforcement and where we want to get to. Mayor Jadwin said that Mr. Blackford will be overseeing code enforcement and they recognize there are challenges and opportunities with code enforcement and we will always strive to do better today than we did yesterday. Over the last 3 weeks, we've been able to peel some layers back and reexamine how it is operating. Mr. Blackford said there are probably 2 main concerns as they pertain to code enforcement. One is consistency and the lack of follow up. Lack of consistency being inconsistency of staff interpretation. When volume is up there are only so many officers that can handle the case load. The lack of follow up is something we own and is something we need to improve. Some challenges we have are due to staffing. We are in the process of trying to fill a full time officer and evaluating a departure and hope to have these posted soon. Workload is a reflection on our ability to have that proper follow up. We are evaluating standard operating procedures. Another challenge is that code enforcement deals with a wide variety of complaints. Some issues are more complicated, such as drainage. It is addressed in many different places in the code and it is inconsistent. The zoning code rewrite will help but there are other changes that need to be made. Mrs. McGregor said that people just want to make sure that their neighbors are held to the same general standards within a neighborhood. Mr. Larick said consistency is huge. Ms. Bowers said that the goal is voluntary compliance and thinking what are we doing for our neighbors. It's one thing to want everyone's yard cut at the same level, but do we lose some identity if we're too strict, or have a range of what's acceptable. She gave an example of a lady in another community had her butterfly garden cut down by the city. She is concerned about increases in calls, to encourage neighbors to talk to each other. Looking at compassion and empathy as well. Mayor Jadwin said that sometimes it's outdated code or conflicting code. Are there things that needed added that aren't in code, or that need taken out because its obsolete. These aren't often easy fixes and they need fixed in the best way possible. Mr. Schnetzer said he was happy to hear that we are staffing up. He asked if the system that we have needs to be evaluated, or improved. City of Gahanna Page 5 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes February 22, 2021 Mayor Jadwin replied that the software has been interesting, with information coming up missing when it is in the system, those are things that are being looked at. Adding to staffing will help tremendously. 2 people vs. 3 and 1/2 is a marked difference. Mr. Larick asked for a presentation again in the future. Mayor Jadwin would like to get staffing in place and offered to give future updates once staffing is in place and running. Mrs. McGregor asked for an update around the beginning of June. Mayor Jadwin replied that that would be reasonable. Meeting adjourned at 8:41 p.m. City of Gahanna Page 6