City Council

City of Groveport 655 Blacklick St. Groveport, OH 43125 614.830.2052 www.groveport.org . Meeting Minutes Monday, June 12, 2023 6:30 PM Council Chambers City Council Mayor Lance Westcamp Council Members - Jean Ann Hilbert, Ed Dildine, Shawn Cleary, Becky Hutson, Scott Lockett & Jack Rupp City Council Meeting Minutes June 12, 2023 I. Call to Order Mayor Lance Westcamp called the City Council meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Staff Present: BJ King - Administrator, Kevin Shannon - Law Director, Jason Carr - Director of Finance, Casey Adams - Chief of Police, Jeff Green - Development Director, Mindy Kay - 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 Chief Adams led the Pledge of Allegiance. IV. Roll Call Present: 7 - Shawn M. Cleary, Edward Dildine, Jean Ann Hilbert, Becky Hutson, Scott Lockett, Jack Rupp, and Lance Westcamp V. Approval of Minutes The May 22 , 2023 City Council Minutes stand approved as submitted. #115-2023 City Council Meeting Minutes May 22, 2023 Attachments: 2023.05.22 City Council Meeting Minutes.pdf VI. Swearing-In Ceremony: Chaplain Christi Hall and Chaplain Rick Jones Lieutenant Short said that this is an exciting time for the Police Department, as we have not had a Groveport Chaplain since the 1960s. He introduced Chaplain Christi Hall, who is currently with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and Chaplain Rick Jones, who is currently a Chaplain for the Madison Township Fire Department. Law Director Kevin Shannon then proceeded with the swearing in ceremony. VII. Business of Guests A. Columbus Metropolitan Library's Southeast Branch: Cindy Cawley City of Groveport Page 1 City Council Meeting Minutes June 12, 2023 Cindy Cawley introduced herself to Council and stated that this year the Columbus Metropolitan Library is celebrating its 150th birthday and Sesquicentennial year. She said the first public library opened in City Hall on March 4, 1873, just 8 years after the end of the Civil War. By 1907, funding was secured to build a standalone library on Grant Ave. where the current Main Library remains today. Demand of library services continued to grow and residents began asking for library locations closer to home. The first Southeast branch opened in 1991 on Winchester Pike and was the first “new” branch built since 1974.The current building opened in 2000 at 3980 S Hamilton Rd and we received a bit of a facelift in 2018. Currently repairs are still underway after flooding in December of last year, and we are excited to start off this fall with a refreshed look. To date this year, Southeast has issued nearly 1,500 new library cards, held more than 3,000 school help and reading buddies sessions, and has seen more than 48,000 customer visits. We are 2 weeks into our largest program of the year- our Summer Reading Challenge. Summer Reading Challenge encourages kids, teens and adults to read over the summer and helps to combat summer slide and reading loss. This summer CML has partnered with Groveport Madison schools: specifically Glendenning and M.S. South to provide outreach to students through a weekly visit by Rosie our book mobile. Knowledgeable library staff will help students to check books out that match their interests and nurture what we hope will be a love of lifelong reading. While you may hear about all about the great programs and support we offer to our younger customers, we also provide significant resources to our adult customers through free meeting and study rooms, tech support as well as Life Skill support through a partnership with GoodWill. I bet you thought faxing was a thing of the past- well not for the customers who visit Southeast. This is big business and faxing and scanning are always free! We continue to provide free covid test kits and recently added free pregnancy test though a partnership with CelebrateOne. In July the Southeast branch will host a special exhibit and discussion on Transportation in Central Ohio facilitated by Michael Wilkos from the United Way. We will explore transportation in Central Ohio and learn about historic modes of transportation and public transit issues today. The Exhibit will be up July 5-31, and the Discussion will be Saturday July 29 at 12p.m. We are hosting the Columbus Book Festival July 15-16 with 135 authors from across the country at the Main Library and Topiary Park. We also created these really cool passport books this year to encourage people to go around to other libraries and also to take part in different events throughout the city. She then informed Council that the library will be placing levy on the November ballot. The library will be seeking an additional 1.5 million continuing levy. The last time we were on the ballot was in 2010. She thanked Council for their time and said she would be following up with additional information for the city to share with its residents. City of Groveport Page 2 City Council Meeting Minutes June 12, 2023 VIII. Ordinances and Resolutions A. 3rd Readings Ord. 2023-016 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING PART FIFTEEN - FIRE PREVENTION CODE OF THE CITY OF GROVEPORT CODIFIED ORDINANCES, CHAPTER 1519, FIREWORKS Sponsors: Lockett Attachments: Ord. 2023-016 Exhibit A Amended.pdf A motion was made by Council Member Lockett, seconded by Council Member Dildine, to adopt as amended. The motion failed by the following vote: Yes: 3- Dildine, Hutson and Lockett No: 4- Cleary, Hilbert, Rupp and Westcamp Ord. 2023-019 AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE ADMINISTRATOR TO ENTER INTO A LICENSING AGREEMENT WITH THE GROVEPORT HERITAGE AND PRESERVATION SOCIETY (GHPS) Sponsors: Cleary A motion was made by Council Member Cleary, seconded by Council Member Hilbert, to adopt. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 6- Cleary, Dildine, Hilbert, Hutson, Lockett and Rupp B. 2nd Readings Ord. 2022-045 AN ORDINANCE GRANTING A VARIANCE AS TO THE PERMITTED USES IN THE ESTABLISHED ZONING DISTRICT FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 4180 BIXBY ROAD, PARCEL NO. 185-000901, CURRENTLY ZONED RURAL (R), JIM VOORHIS, APPLICANT. Sponsors: Cleary Attachments: Ord.2022-045 Exhibit A.pdf Ord.2022-045 Exhibit B.pdf A motion was made by Council Member Cleary, seconded by Council Member Hilbert, to postpone indefinitely . The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 6- Cleary, Dildine, Hilbert, Hutson, Lockett and Rupp City of Groveport Page 3 City Council Meeting Minutes June 12, 2023 Ord. 2023-023 AN ORDINANCE ACCEPTING AND DEDICATING AS PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS THE WATER MAIN AND HAYES ROAD ROADWAY IMPROVEMENTS CONSTRUCTED IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE CA VENTURES, PROJECT SUNSHINE DEVELOPMENT Sponsors: Lockett This Ordinance was referred to the Committee of the Whole C. 1st Readings Ord. 2023-022 AN ORDINANCE APPROVING THE RECODIFICATION, EDITING, AND INCLUSION OF CERTAIN ORDINANCES AS PARTS OF THE VARIOUS COMPONENT CODES OF THE CODIFIED ORDINANCES OF GROVEPORT, OHIO AND THE DECLARATION OF AN EMERGENCY Sponsors: Hilbert This Ordinance was referred to the Committee of the Whole Ord. 2023-025 AN ORDINANCE REPEALING ORDINANCE 2021-018 (PASSED 5/10/2021), FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE ADMINISTRATOR TO SELL THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 384 WESTPORT DRIVE IN THE CITY OF GROVEPORT, OHIO PURSUANT TO OHIO REVISED CODE SECTION 721.03 AND THE DECLARATION OF EMERGENCY. Sponsors: Rupp A motion was made by Council Member Hilbert, seconded by Council Member Rupp, to adopt. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 6- Cleary, Dildine, Hilbert, Hutson, Lockett and Rupp Ord. 2023-026 AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE ADMINISTRATOR TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH GROVEPORT MADISON SCHOOL DISTRICT TO PROVIDE A SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER. Sponsors: Dildine Attachments: Ord. 2023-026 Exhibit A.pdf This Ordinance was referred to the Committee of the Whole Ord. 2023-027 AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE ADMINISTRATOR TO SOLICIT PROPOSALS AND TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH THE COMPANY OR FIRM THAT SUBMITS THE MOST BENEFICIAL AND/OR ACCEPTABLE PROPOSAL TO THE CITY FOR PLANNING City of Groveport Page 4 City Council Meeting Minutes June 12, 2023 SERVICES WITH RESPECT TO THE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF "AREA C". Sponsors: Hilbert This Ordinance was referred to the Committee of the Whole Res. 2023-004 A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE TAX BUDGET FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR 2024 Sponsors: Hutson Attachments: Res. 2023-004 Exhibit A.pdf A motion was made by Council Member Hutson, seconded by Council Member Dildine, to suspend the rules as to the three readings and the effective date. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 6- Cleary, Dildine, Hilbert, Hutson, Lockett and Rupp IX. Reports A. Mayor - Lance Westcamp Mayor Westcamp said hopefully, weather permitting, everything goes well for our Fourth of July celebration. He then thanked Bob Dowler and Lisa Zurbriggen at the Senior Center for putting on such a nice presentation of The Wizard of Oz. He also thanked the actor who played the Cowardly Lion, Council Member Lockett, for helping to sponsor the event. He went on to say the Senior Center did a wonderful job and it was very well attended. B. Administrator - BJ King Administrator King reminded the Mayor and Council that this coming Thursday the 15th is the open house for the new Medical Center from 11:00-1:00 behind the school’s administration building. He also reminded everyone that the Committee of the Whole meeting will be held on Tuesday the 20th due to the Municipal Building being closed in observance of the Juneteenth holiday on Monday. He also stated that the Air Show is taking place this coming weekend and that the new equipment at the Rec Center has received great reviews. It looks great and people are excited about it. What we replaced was twenty years old so it was long overdue. Mr. King went on to say that he, Chief Adams and Council Member Rupp had met with representatives of EMA to talk about disaster planning. He said that one of the topics of discussion he’s most excited about is public notifications that we can do through EMA if we come up with a tag word. We already pay City of Groveport Page 5 City Council Meeting Minutes June 12, 2023 for it so we might as well use it. We’d be able to send out notifications about public infrastructure projects, events, etc. people have to sign up for it, but it would be a great tool for us to have. We’re going to schedule a time to go down to their office and see how it works and what we can do with it. He said he looks forward to having further discussions with the Police Department, Community Affairs and the Aquatic Center. He believes there’s a great benefit in doing the public notifications. He concluded by stating that the street program in the municipal parking lot had come across some issues with soft soil but we were able to solve these issues and move forward with the project. C. Chief of Police - Casey Adams Chief Adams thanked everyone for attending Detectives Dalton and Sturgill's retirement party and send off last Tuesday. He said they were blown away by the attendance. He then said he attended the Elmont HOA meeting where they discussed their happiness with the First Thursday events. They feel like a part of the community by having these events in their neighborhood. He went on to say that Franklin County has been enlisting help from Detective Gilbert. He has assisted in the finding and apprehending of eighteen violent felons in the last week. He actually heard that Groveport PD was looking for an individual for a warrant on a DV and found out that the suspect had already turned himself in to Franklin County on his Groveport warrants. He is doing paperwork for the Sheriff’s department as kind of a payback for everything they’ve done for us over the last year and a half with all the search warrants they’ve executed for us and the relocating of an individual that was involved in a shooting up at the high school. He said they know Detective Gilbert and his work ethic and knowledge with computers when it comes to locating these individuals. Chief Adams then informed Council that he had a meeting with the Port Authority Police at Rickenbacker. He said they expect the jets for the Air Show to start flying in Wednesday evening or Thursday morning and then they’ll start practice runs Thursday afternoon around 2:00. The Blue Angels will be taking off daily and it’s a forty-five minute show. They said to expect traffic to pick up around 4:00 on Friday for the opening day of the Air Show. They also said rain doesn’t deter the Air Show as long as there’s no lightening. He added that there will be extra patrol cars out this weekend. Three warehouses have inquired if PD will be patrolling their area to which he answered yes. Mayor Westcamp asked Administrator King if we’ve contacted the empty warehouse on Hayes. He said we have. Chief Adams added that he had sent out a list to the local businesses with bullet points of things they can do and a lot of them appreciated it. Mayor Westcamp said it’s an excellent opportunity for people to park there and watch the Air City of Groveport Page 6 City Council Meeting Minutes June 12, 2023 Show and that it’ll be packed if they don’t. Mr. King agreed and said that one of the main concerns from Fire Chief Robinson was people parking along the streets and crowding in, causing streets to become full and impassable. He said that the volunteer workers will be patrolling around the area and trying to have people move if they’re creating a hazard. Council member Dildine asked if they have any authority to move people since it is a public easement. Mr. King said they have no authority whatsoever but the extra patrol officers that are out will be able to help. Mr. Dildine said that it is our responsibility to make sure those easements are clear for emergency vehicles to be able to get through. Chief Adams stated another point of concern brought up at the meeting with Port Authority was how dry the grass has been and the fear of people throwing cigarette butts and starting a grass fire. He added that the large water buffalos that you can fill your water bottles up with on the tarmac have been lost and they were asking if anyone could donate some. Nobody has so far. D. Director of Finance - Jason Carr Finance Director Carr spoke about the AEP cost increase that will be taking affect in June. We have partnered for several years now with Meta Solutions which is an entity that contracts with school districts out of local governments. Through Meta Solutions we have a master supply agreement with Direct Energy whereas our electric through AEP is at a fixed cost. Although some may see a ten-cent increase per kilowatt hour, we won’t see that same impact because our costs are fixed. We have over twenty accounts with AEP. Based on the size of the account all the rates are a little bit different, but for budget purposes, it should not impact us like other entities may be impacted. Council Member Rupp inquired about our contract period. Mr. Carr explained that we have a couple Master Supply agreements that go through 2025. E. Director of Law - Kevin Shannon F. Development Director - Jeff Green Development Director Green Informed Council that he had spent the morning at Columbus State Community College with their small business development team. He said they were working out the details of the Basis of A Successful Business Startup Training (B.A.S.E.) program here in Groveport. They’re jumping on this with both feet. He said there were four people on the team today and another two who will be a part of it as well. The program is going to start here in Groveport at the Golf Course with two sessions. We were going to do City of Groveport Page 7 City Council Meeting Minutes June 12, 2023 it September 7th and September 14th but the road is closed for construction on the 14th. We’re still looking for another date. The program will be once a week for ten weeks and is one of the most intensive programs we’ve ever offered. We plan the first two sessions at the Golf Course to be big and then whittle them down after to maybe between nine and fourteen participants because they want to have a lot of one-on-one time with them. We also started talking about different things we could do such as loan programs, façade improvement programs, and different grant programs with the City partnered with the CIC. We want to come up with some pillars to support small business development within the community. He said it’s exciting to get back into this program and to have this partnership with Columbus State. He went on to say the final two leases for Rarey’s Port have been signed and are moving into the final part of design. There are two construction companies we will be receiving bids from. Council Member Rupp asked where the participants from the aforementioned program would be coming from. Mr. Green said they will all come from Groveport, in fact the program would prefer to keep it just Groveport. He then added that the City will be marketing the program pretty heavily and will most likely be doing a direct mailing to every household in the community. He added that we will do advertisements on social media and in the newspaper. He concluded by saying one of the nicest things about the program is it’s closely associated with the SBA. They have funds available and a program that incorporates crowd funding to help small businesses. G. Council Members - Jean Ann Hilbert, Ed Dildine, Shawn Cleary, Becky Hutson, Scott Lockett and Jack Rupp Council Member Rupp spoke about his meeting with Administrator King and Chief Adams at the EMA. He said that the EMA has a lot of experts there that can help us with development for disaster plans. Recently they’ve gone through some modifications and recommendations for planning for disasters. He said that one of the things Administrator King had reached out to them for was to take a look at our current plan and provide feedback on how we should modify it. He said we are the first community to reach out to Franklin County EMA to help us with that process and that is something we should be proud of. Council Member Lockett said he went by the pool Saturday morning and there was a huge crowd swimming. He said the Fighting Fish Swim Team was just amazing and the staff at the pool know what they’re doing even with people everywhere. H. Clerk of Council - Mindy Kay City of Groveport Page 8 City Council Meeting Minutes June 12, 2023 I. Standing Committees X. Other Business XI. Adjournment Council Member Cleary made a motion, seconded by Council Member Hilbert to adjourn at 7: 23 p.m. All in favor stated AYE, None Opposed. Motion passed. __________________________________________ Lance Westcamp, Mayor __________________________________________ Mindy Kay 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 9