Committee of the Whole

200 South Hamilton Road City of Gahanna Gahanna, Ohio 43230 Meeting Minutes Committee of the Whole Nancy R. McGregor, Chair Brian D. Larick Karen J. Angelou Merisa Bowers Jamie Leeseberg Stephen A. Renner Michael Schnetzer Krystal Gonchar, MPA, Clerk of Council Monday, April 26, 2021 7:00 PM VIRTUAL MEETING Meeting Call-in Details: Tel- (513) 306-4583 Conf. ID- 153 265 273# A. CALL TO ORDER Chair Nancy McGregor called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. B. ITEMS FROM THE DIRECTOR OF PARKS & RECREATION: 1. ORD-0026-2021 ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING A SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION - Parks Materials and Supplies. Director of Parks & Recreation, Stephania Ferrell, summarized the attached report to council; stated that a supplemental is requested for money donated for memorial trees and for the dog park. McGregor asked if there are certain places where the memorial trees are planted. Ferrell said they can be planted all over, wherever the person identifies, but the arborist goes out to verify the species can be placed in those desired locations. Recommended for Introduction/First Reading on 5/3/21; Consent Agenda 5/17/21. 2. ORD-0027-2021 ORDINANCE TO AUTHORIZE THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO CONTRACT WITH STRUCTUREPOINT FOR PARKING LOT AND MULTI-USE TRAIL IMPROVEMENT DESIGN AND ENGINEERING; DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. Ferrell reviewed the items on the report to council; reiterated that she is requesting an emergency; Trapp Park, Meadow Green, and Price House are all in need of repairs. McGregor asked if Structurepoint will design the trail going through Trapp park. Ferrell said the engineer will evaluate the best way to widen the trail and make it ADA compliant; but also, for grading, an City of Gahanna Page 1 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes April 26, 2021 engineer design is needed. Bowers asked if this was competitively bid or exempted. Ferrell said this is for the proposal; for engineer and design; once proposals are submitted then they will be bid; is the first part of that project. Bowers asked how Structurepoint was decided. Ferrell said the project engineer had a request for proposal and 4 firms were identified. Angelou asked if Structurepoint was lowest and best. Ferrell said they scored the highest. Angelou appreciated that this was bid; is a transparent process. Recommended for Introduction/First Reading on 5/3/21; Consent Agenda/Emergency on 5/17/21. C. DISCUSSION FROM DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SERVICE & ENGINEERING: 1. Proposed ADA Transition Plan Mayor Laurie Jadwin stated that this is specific to the transition plan; a document legally required to maintain and have in place as a public entity; must identify areas in the city that may cause barriers to those with disabilities; look for non-compliant areas; no council action required; administrative in nature; want to present to council as this may be referenced in the future when discussing budget items; first shared on 4/7 virtually; set up an email to collect input from the public; extending feedback through end of week; this is not meant to be a step-by-step action plan; it is instead a higher level, overarching plan; introduced City Engineer John Moorehead. Moorehead said they have been working on this since August 2019; is one doc and one step required of public agencies through ADA act; working to finalize the plan; have had draft plans throughout the year; recently began working with Federal Highway Administration; plan is posted on the city website. This began as a self-evaluation; went through the city and looked at curbs, crosswalks, streets; that evaluation was the backbone of the plan; showed slide show (see attached); had concerns with cross slopes, not wide enough for pedestrians; sidewalks not level; some curbs did not have appropriate slopes; ramps need updated; building inspections referenced a check list; analyzed city buildings and signage. Some buildings had inaccessible doorways or non-compliant toilets to name a few issues. Push buttons at crosswalks were too high from the ground; some had no feedback once the button was pressed. Going forward, progress will be documented. The sidewalk plan is a maintenance method to get the sidewalks updated so that the disabled can traverse them. Larick asked about the feedback they have received. Moorehead said they have had over 20 responses on a variety of topics; compiling responses to those; issues covered a broader view of what the plan encompasses. Angelou said this is well done; having worked in that field, this is needed to help the disabled community; it is important to make people comfortable who would otherwise not be able to be a part of society. Jadwin said ; he has been City of Gahanna Page 2 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes April 26, 2021 working on this for 20 months; there was a grievance process that had to evolve out of this; this has gone through a dispute process; is important to meet the law, and go above to assist those with disabilities; Moorehead is the ADA Compliance Coordinator going forward. Angelou recalled transporting people in wheelchairs and going over bumps; said this is important. McGregor asked if there's a way to start with areas where there are residents with disabilities; would make sense to start there and work from there; for example, has a neighbor who has a disability. Moorehead said that is part of the benefit of having an ADA Coordinator identified; that gives the City a means to allow for that process; the overall process can be difficult, but using resident feedback from those who are using the features is helpful. 2021-0072 ADA Transition Plan: Self-evaluation Summary Presentation by City Engineer. * ADDED ITEM FOR COUNCIL DISCUSSION: Return to Chambers McGregor said that we had discussed in March, a plan to discuss further the return to chambers. Larick said the order to allow for virtual meetings runs through end of June; need to discuss a plan moving forward; have a few challenges to work through. Angelou said Franklin County is back to purple status; concerned about increase in cases. Jadwin said the emergency declaration in the state goes to June 30; unsure of the status of any proposals to extend; will meet with Franklin County leaders tomorrow and will be able to provide more details after. Kevin Shultz, IT Manager, said we are scheduled for 6/14 to begin installation of equipment in chambers; equipment was backordered. Larick asked Jadwin about her general thoughts on a full opening of city hall. Jadwin said they are open in a limited capacity. Looking at June/July depending on numbers, for fully opening. Larick said we should revisit this again at the end of May, at a Committee Meeting. D. ADJOURNMENT Adjourned at 7:37 p.m. City of Gahanna Page 3