Finance Committee

200 South Hamilton Road City of Gahanna Gahanna, Ohio 43230 Meeting Minutes Finance Committee Jamie Leeseberg, Chair Brian Metzbower, President Stephen A. Renner, Vice President Karen J. Angelou Brian D. Larick Nancy R. McGregor Michael Schnetzer April Beggerow, CMC, Clerk of Council Monday, July 8, 2019 Council Committee Room *Immediately Following Committee of the Whole CALL TO ORDER Finance Committee Chairman Leeseberg called the meeting to order at 7:54 p.m. All members were in attendance. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION 2019-0087 Sidewalk Program Discussion Mr. Leeseberg said that awhile back Mr. Schnetzer brought up a proposal for a sidewalk program modeled after the Westerville program that they have. It's kind of a, put some seed money in and then as folks need sidewalk repairs they can take that money out and then pay it back with an assessment on their property taxes. So it kind of defers and gives them a way to pay it back as sort of a revolving loan and is another financing mechanism for folks to use to get our sidewalks fixed. Mr. Schnetzer explained the background going back 2-3 years, there have been residents that have expressed dissatisfaction with the condition of sidewalks many of which are not under the purview of the city. ORC says they are the responsibility of the property owner. He asked does the city have an appropriate role in facilitating the repair and maintenance in sidewalks in disrepair. He continued that right now, we don't need to flush out a program, but I wanted to take the temperature of my colleagues as to whether or not to pursue this any further. He stated that the City of Westerville breaks the city up into zones (originally 5, now 10) and their Service Department grades the condition of the sidewalks, determines the cost of the repair, notes that and the City picks up the cost if the damage is caused by a street tree, else the homeowner picks City of Gahanna Page 1 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes July 8, 2019 up the repair. There is a notification process, an allowance for the resident to pay out of pocket or the option to collect in arears by assessment. It is the assessment process that Mr. Schnetzer wanted to focus upon. He said the proforma (attached to the minutes) capital numbers (second row under years) are actual numbers provided by Westerville. The proforma gives a running balance which demonstrates and eventual pay back. He continued that he wanted to provide context for potential expenditure that the City could be looking at. Mrs. Angelou said that with Issue 29, they spoke to this and that this fits in very well with what we were asking for. Mr. Renner agreed and said he was surprised the numbers weren't actually a little higher than that. He asked how many people does this help. Mr. Schnetzer said that he believed that up through about 2007 was broken into 5 zones that he thinks were probably the same size and that now it's spread into 10 zones. He added that a couple of years ago he had some sidewalks raised as part of some driveway repair. They had a $350 minimum and wouldn't do the sidewalk itself but the driveway work helped. He wondered if a program might make it more worthwhile to residents to encourage repairs. Mr. Renner asked what would be the next step. Mr. Schnetzer responded that we need to get more information from Westerville on their program and meet with administration on feasibility to put together a formal program. Mr. Larick said he would be interested in a comprehensive evaluation to have an understanding where we are. Mayor Kneeland said we are working on replacing the City Engineer and have had conversations on the rating component because the rating process started years ago is something still used and was viewed as if issue 29 passed would be applied to curb ratings going forward. It’s something that will take a little time to ramp up. He said he would discuss the process with Mr. Crawford. Mr. Leeseberg said that if we tie this into the assessment of the street, when we're bidding the streets, we're bidding the streets, curbs, sidewalks and while we're out there looking at the utilities and everything else, we can have a better idea of what this whole thing costs. City of Gahanna Page 2 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes July 8, 2019 Mr. Larick asked if it would be reasonable to ask for input a month from now. Mayor Kneeland replied that they would start discussing it tomorrow and get something back within a month. Mr. Larick asked that maybe next committee an outline or project plan starting from nothing and showing all the things we have to figure out. Mayor Kneeland said that that would be the goal. ADJOURNMENT - 8:11 p.m. City of Gahanna Page 3