City Council

City of Groveport 655 Blacklick St. Groveport, OH 43125 614.830.2052 www.groveport.org . Meeting Minutes Monday, May 10, 2021 6:30 PM Council Chambers City Council Mayor Lance Westcamp Council Members - Jean Ann Hilbert, Ed Dildine, Shawn Cleary, Becky Hutson, Scott Lockett & Chad Grashel City Council Meeting Minutes May 10, 2021 I. Call to Order by Mayor Lance Westcamp at 6:30 p.m. Staff Present: BJ King - Administrator, Jason Carr - Director of Finance, Casey Adams - Chief of Police, Jeff Green - Development Director, Ruthanne Sargus Ross - Clerk of Council Guests Present: The Guest Book is on file with the Clerk of Council. II. Moment of Silence The Mayor asked everyone to join him in a moment of silence. III. Pledge of Allegiance Lieutenant Joshua Short led the Pledge of Allegiance. IV. Roll Call Council Member Hilbert participated in the meeting via Zoom. A motion was made by Council Member Cleary, seconded by Council Member Lockett, to excuse Council Member Dildine from tonight's meeting. The motion carried by the following vote: Excused: 1- Dildine Yes: 5- Cleary, Grashel, Hilbert, Hutson and Lockett V. Approval of Minutes - April 26, 2021 The April 26, 2021 Minutes stand approved as submitted. #118-2021 City Council Meeting Minutes 4.26.2021 Attachments: City Council Meeting Minutes 4.26.2021.pdf Swearing-In Ceremony - Lieutenant Joshua Short Mayor Westcamp welcomed the family of Lieutenant Joshua Short for the swearing-in of the oath of office for his newly appointed rank of Lieutenant of the Groveport Police Department. After the Mayor administered the oath to Lieutenant Short congratulations were expressed all around. City of Groveport Page 1 City Council Meeting Minutes May 10, 2021 VI. National Police Week Proclamation Mayor Lance Westcamp read a proclamation honoring National Police Week and National Peace Officers' Memorial Day. The proclamation was presented to Chief Casey Adams. #119-2021 National Police Week Proclamation Attachments: 2021 National Police Week Proclamation.pdf VII. Business of Guests None. VIII. Ordinances and Resolutions A. 3rd Readings Ord. 2021-015 AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING CREDIT/DEBIT CARD CONVENIENCE FEES FOR PAYMENTS RECEIVED BY THE GROVEPORT MUNICIPAL GOLF COURSE Sponsors: Lockett Clerk of Council Ross read by title Ordinance No. 2021-015. A motion was made by Council Member Lockett, seconded by Council Member Hutson, to adopt. The motion carried by the following vote: Excused: 1- Dildine Yes: 5- Cleary, Grashel, Hilbert, Hutson and Lockett Ord. 2021-017 AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE ADMINISTRATOR TO ENTER INTO AN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT AND COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT AREA TAX INCENTIVE AGREEMENT WITH CA VENTURES RELATED TO THE PROPOSED ANNEXATION AND FUTURE REZONING AND DEVELOPMENT OF PARCEL NUMBERS 180-005225 AND 180-000279 Sponsors: Dildine Administrator BJ King requested Council to consider making a motion to amend this Ordinance by replacing the current parcels numbers with the new parcel numbers of 180-005408 and 180-005409. City of Groveport Page 2 City Council Meeting Minutes May 10, 2021 Clerk of Council Ross read by title Ordinance No. 2021-017. A motion was made by Council Member Hutson, seconded by Council Member Grashel, to amend. The motion carried by the following vote: Excused: 1- Dildine Yes: 5- Cleary, Grashel, Hilbert, Hutson and Lockett A motion was made by Council Member Hutson, seconded by Council Member Grashel, to adopt as amended. The motion carried by the following vote: Excused: 1- Dildine Yes: 5- Cleary, Grashel, Hilbert, Hutson and Lockett Ord. 2021-018 AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE GROVEPORT COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT CORPORATION (HEREINAFTER "GROVEPORT CIC") TO SELL THE PROPERTY, LOCATED AT 384 WESTPORT DRIVE IN THE CITY OF GROVEPORT, OHIO PURSUANT TO OHIO REVISED CODE SECTION 1724.10(B) Sponsors: Hilbert The Groveport Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) can offer the property directly to adjacent property owners on either side of this property. If those homeowners are not interested, the house will be put up for a typical real estate sale. The City will get an appraisal to find out the fair market value of the property. The sale would fall under non-tax revenue. Clerk of Council Ross read by title Ordinance No. 2021-018. A motion was made by Council Member Hilbert, seconded by Council Member Cleary, to adopt. The motion carried by the following vote: Excused: 1- Dildine Yes: 5- Cleary, Grashel, Hilbert, Hutson and Lockett B. 2nd Readings None C. 1st Readings Res. 2021-001 A RESOLUTION REGARDING THE NATURE OF SERVICES TO BE PROVIDED TO 48.94 ACRES, MORE OR LESS, PARCEL NUMBERS 180-005408 AND 180-005409, LOCATED IN MADISON TOWNSHIP UPON ANNEXATION OF SAID TRACT TO THE CITY OF GROVEPORT (SUNSHINE & SMOOCH, LLC AND JCD PICKAWAY FARM LLC City of Groveport Page 3 City Council Meeting Minutes May 10, 2021 PETITIONERS) Sponsors: Grashel Clerk of Council Ross read by title Resolution No. 2021-001. This Resolution was referred to the Committee of the Whole. IX. Reports A. Mayor - Lance Westcamp Mayor Westcamp thanked the City of Groveport and the Groveport Police Department for all the cards and prayers; his father-in-law passed away last week. You know you live in a great community when you get the support of the local people, the Police Department, the Administration and this Council. He and his family appreciated it, it meant a lot to them. The Mayor talked about the goals for the Police Department. With the promotion of Sergeant Short to Lieutenant Short and the retirement of Brian Thompson, the department has two open sergeant positions. The City advertised in-house giving any interested officers the deadline of Saturday, May 15, 2021. Chief Adams, Captain Blevins, Lieutenant Murphy and Lieutenant Short will go through the assessments to narrow the applications down to 4 to 6 candidates to bring before the Mayor. Once the two sergeant positions are filled, two patrol positions will open up. The paperwork is ready for the City to hire the two patrol officer positions lateral. The Department has 15 applications at this time. It has been fourteen years since an officer has been promoted to sergeant. Officers applying for a sergeant position will be put through an assessment by a panel of 3 to 5 individuals from outside the Groveport Police Department who are typically Chiefs of Police or Commanders from larger departments. The panel will assess through practical exercises; e.g. one’s ability to engage with the public, write a memo or a “that a boy” letter, and interacting with their officers in disciplinary and leadership matters. The exercises are based on the daily functions of a sergeant. Those sitting on the panel are given Groveport’s sergeant job description and apply those duties to the assessment exercises. B. Administrator - BJ King Administrator BJ King congratulated Lieutenant Short on his promotion. With Casey Adams being named Chief and Joshua Short City of Groveport Page 4 City Council Meeting Minutes May 10, 2021 being promoted to Lieutenant there is a lot going on in the Police Department. The City is ready to go with mosquito spraying. All the rain and rising temperatures will bring out the mosquitoes. The machines are ready to go and the City has all the supplies needed to start the program. The company the City buys its supplies from, Clark, asked if Groveport would be willing to use the garage facility for other communities to come through with their spraying machines to be calibrated. Brian Strayer and Walt Wagner are organizing the service with Clark. Mr. King will check with the spray suppler on what effect their product has on bees and get back to Council on the matter. #120-2021 Admin report to Council May 10 2021 Attachments: Admin report to Council May 10 2021.pdf C. Chief of Police - Casey Adams Chief Casey Adams thanked everyone for their support with all the transition going on at this time. Tonight is the Light Ohio Blue caravan event which former Chief Ralph Portier was named Grand Marshal. Chief Adams anticipates about 80 police vehicles coming through Groveport. Ralph Portier was astonished with the support shown at his retirement reception. All the changes in the Police Department has all the officers excited to finally see, (Casey Adams was the last officer to be promoted to sergeant 14 years ago), things moving in the department where they can now become leaders. Everyone is looking towards the future to who will take the Chief position when Chief Adams decides to leave down the road. Lt. Short will be a true asset mentoring and field training these new leaders. The Chief has been working with Mr. King and Personnel Director Sue Wadley on the promotional and hiring processes. He will not be able to do it all himself. Chief Adams needs Captain Blevins and both Lieutenant Murphy and Lieutenant Short. Chief Adams has gone around speaking to all the officers about what suggestions they might have to improve the department. Mr. Cleary raised the subject of officer training. He asked Chief Adams to look into the possibility of the Groveport Police Department having training credits in our Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy account from the guest lectures and instructional time provided by Chief Ralph Portier and Sgt. Brian Thompson. When budgeting for next year, the Police Department will need to make sure funds are available for officer training. Chief Adams is working with Sue Wadley and Seth Bowers on keeping the officers up to date on CPR and bringing training opportunities to Groveport so the officers won’t have to leave the City. City of Groveport Page 5 City Council Meeting Minutes May 10, 2021 D. Director of Finance - Jason Carr Finance Director Jason Carr reported that the City is scheduled to receive 1.1 million dollars through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 which will be paid in two installments. Half in 2021 that should be received this month; The second payment to be received sometime in 2022. Today, the U.S. Department of Treasury released guidance on how the City can spend that money. Mr. Carr will work with Administrator King to determine the best use for those funds which would include loss of public revenue, infrastructure projects, streets, utilities (water, sewer and stormwater), items to address the general public health crisis and broadband. Administration expects to have a budget amendment sometime this year to identify how the City will use those dollars. E. Director of Law - Kevin Shannon Kevin Shannon was not present. F. Development Director - Jeff Green Development Director Jeff Green reported Administration has started the outreach visits to local businesses again. Mayor Westcamp, BJ King and Jeff Green visited with General Manager Glen Steinke with Franklin International. The same three visited Startech where Ted Wenger and Dana Garvey gave them a tour of the new facility. There were comments on how excited the company was to be here and they had a lot of good things to say about the City’s Building Department. A meeting is scheduled with Cultivate, an organization the City has been talking to about business development. Cultivate is interested is working with Groveport as it relates to the second floors of the two new buildings in the downtown district. The Groveport Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) has a meeting tomorrow morning where the Board of Trustees will have to approve the leases for the three tenants for the new buildings. The CIC will be the landlord for the tenants on behalf of the City. Some employees of the companies are using the City's recreation facilities. G. Council Members - Jean Ann Hilbert, Ed Dildine, Shawn Cleary, Becky Hutson, Scott Lockett and Chad Grashel Mr. Grashel congratulated Chief Adams and Lieutenant Short on their promotions, both are well deserved. Mr. Lockett also congratulated Chief Adams and Lieutenant Short, they City of Groveport Page 6 City Council Meeting Minutes May 10, 2021 have a very, very difficult job. The Police Department is something this Council takes a lot of pride in and the residents are well served. He agrees with Mr. Cleary that the department needs to stay on top of things like officer training. There is not much margin for error out there. Mrs. Hutson congratulated Chief Adams and Lieutenant Short. It is a difficult world out there and she wished them luck. Mrs. Hutson thinks Groveport has the finest. Mr. Cleary noted it was a pleasure watching Casey Adams grow up and he knows there is a guy at the end of Elm Street who is awfully proud of him too. Mrs. Hilbert stated that our first responders are the ambassadors to our community. She is very proud of what they do. Addressing Mayor Westcamp, Mrs. Hilbert added anyone who knew his father-in-law is experiencing loss as well. H. Clerk of Council - Ruthanne Sargus Ross Clerk of Council Ruthanne Ross congratulated Lieutenant Short and Chief Adams. She started working for the City of Groveport all those years ago under a Chief Adams and chances are she will go out under a Chief Adams. Mrs. Ross only expects great things from them. They were very young when she started working with them in the Police Department. I. Standing Committees Cemetery Committee Council Member Cleary reported that the podium is in place at the Groveport Cemetery and will be ready for the Memorial Day Ceremony. The new sidewalk will really help the community’s senior citizens and veterans. The Cemetery Committee is working on some other issues at the cemetery that will be addressed. There is a lot of pride and history in that cemetery. Memorial Day Ceremony Administrator King announced that the ceremony will be at 1:30 p.m. at the Groveport Cemetery using the new podium. The event will be similar to last year. The Hometown Heroes banners will be on holders during the event and will be placed on the Main Street poles after the ceremony. X. Other Business None. City of Groveport Page 7 City Council Meeting Minutes May 10, 2021 XI. Adjournment A motion was made by Council Member Hutson, seconded by Council Member Cleary, to adjourn at 7:08 p.m. The motion carried by the following vote: Excused: 1- Dildine Yes: 5- Cleary, Grashel, Hilbert, Hutson and Lockett __________________________________________ Lance Westcamp, Mayor __________________________________________ Ruthanne Sargus Ross, CMC Clerk of Council PLEASE NOTE: THESE MINUTES ARE NOT VERBATIM. A RECORDING OF THE MEETING IS AVAILABLE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE DURING REGULAR BUSINESS HOURS. City of Groveport Page 8