City Council

City of Groveport 655 Blacklick St. Groveport, OH 43125 614.830.2052 www.groveport.org . Meeting Minutes Monday, January 8, 2024 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 January 8, 2024 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, Mindy Kay - Clerk of Council Guests Present: The Guest Book is on file with the Clerk of Council. Present: 6 - Edward Dildine, Becky Hutson, Scott Lockett, Jack Rupp, Jean Ann Hilbert, and Shawn M. Cleary 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: 6 - Edward Dildine, Becky Hutson, Scott Lockett, Jack Rupp, Jean Ann Hilbert, and Shawn M. Cleary V. Approval of Minutes The December 18, 2023 City Council Minutes stand approved as submitted. #001-2024 December 18, 2023 City Council Meeting Minutes Attachments: 2023.12.18 City Council Meeting Minutes.pdf VI. New Business A. Election of Council President Pro-Tem Council President Pro-Tem Hilbert thanked Council and staff for their support over the last four years. She thanked Council Member Dildine for his service on the Trees and Decorations Committee and CIC. She expressed her appreciation to Council Member Cleary for his service on the Cemetery Committee and for keeping our Cemetery as lovely as he does. She then nominated Council Member Lockett as President Pro-Tem and Council Member Rupp as Vice Chair. Mayor City of Groveport Page 1 City Council Meeting Minutes January 8, 2024 Westcamp stated that nominations are now open for President Pro-Tem. Council member Hutson nominated Council Member Dildine, stating this is his last term and should go out with a bang. Hearing no further nominations, Mayor Westcamp asked for a motion to close nominations. A motion was made by Council Member Cleary, seconded by Council Member Dildine, to close the nominations. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 6- Dildine, Hutson, Lockett, Rupp, Hilbert and Cleary Law Director Kevin Shannon informed the Mayor that the President Pro-Tem nominations can be voted on one at a time, or Clerk of Council Kay may call roll, at which time each Council Member may indicate which nominee they are voting for. Mayor Westcamp chose the option of calling roll, resuting in the following: Mrs. Hilbert voted for Mr. Lockett Mrs. Hutson voted for Mr. Dildine Mr. Lockett for himself Mr. Rupp voted for Mr. Dildine Mr. Cleary voted for Mr. Dildine Mr. Dildine voted for himself The Mayor congratulated Mr. Dildine and opened nominations for Vice-Chair. B. Election of Vice Chair Mr. Cleary nominated Mr. Lockett for Vice Chair and Mrs. Hilbert nominated Mr. Rupp. Mr.Lockett voted for Mr. Rupp, after which Mr. Rupp informed the Mayor and Council that he would like to withdraw. Council voted unanimously to accept the withdrawal of Mr. Rupp as a candidate. A motion was made by Council Member Dildine, seconded by Council Member Hutson, to close the nominations. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 6- Dildine, Hutson, Lockett, Rupp, Hilbert and Cleary Mayor Westcamp reopened nominations for Vice Chair. Mrs. Hilbert nominated Mr. Lockett, after which Mr. Lockett stated he would like to withdraw. A motion was made by Council Member Hutson, seconded by Council Member City of Groveport Page 2 City Council Meeting Minutes January 8, 2024 Dildine, to accept the withdrawal of Mr. Lockett as a candidate for Vice Chair. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 5- Dildine, Hutson, Lockett, Rupp and Cleary No: 1- Hilbert Mayor Westcamp opened the floor for nominations. Mrs. Hutson nominated herself. A motion was made by Council Member Dildine, seconded by Council Member Cleary, to close the nominations. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 6- Dildine, Hutson, Lockett, Rupp, Hilbert and Cleary Mayor Westcamp asked for a roll call vote, resulting in the following: Mr. Cleary voted for Mrs. Hutson Mr. Dildine voted for Mrs. Hutson Mrs. Hilbert voted for Mrs. Hutson Mrs. Hutson voted for herself Mr. Lockett for Mrs. Hutson Mr. Rupp voted for Mrs. Hutson The Mayor congratulated Mrs. Hutson and said he is looking forward to 2024. VII. Business of Guests VIII. Ordinances and Resolutions A. 3rd Readings B. 2nd Readings C. 1st Readings Ord. 2024-001 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING PART FIVE - GENERAL OFFENSES CODE, CHAPTER 505 ANIMALS AND FOWL, OF THE CODIFIED ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF GROVEPORT City of Groveport Page 3 City Council Meeting Minutes January 8, 2024 Sponsors: Hutson Attachments: Ord. 2024-001 Exhibit A.pdf This Ordinance was referred to the Committee of the Whole IX. Reports A. Mayor - Lance Westcamp Mayor Westcamp spoke about the Eastern Gas Transmission Pipeline that’s going in on 317 and expressed that he has concerns about it. He then invited Administrator King to speak about the subject. B. Administrator - BJ King Administrator King informed Council that he has been told no clearing or work will begin prior to January 15th. He said that he, City Engineer Steve Farst, and Public Services Director Brian Strayer are going to have a meeting with them to talk about the City’s concerns. The City has already expressed concerns about screening for residents. Columbia Gas had sent over plans, some showing trimming and some showing total clearing. Mr. King stated he wants to know the extent of all of it, what it’s going to mean to residents, and what they will do to fix any issues. He said as soon as they have that meeting he will update Council. Mrs. Hutson said it would be going right through her back yard. Mr. King went on to say that staff agrees that it is not a good idea and want to suggest they move it to the other side of the road. Mayor Westcamp stated it would probably cost them more money to do that, but there’s got to be a solution. Council and staff further discussed the topic and concluded to voice their concerns, exhaust all options, and make sure the City is going down the correct legal path. Mr. Cleary suggested inviting them to come speak to Council, to which Mr. King said he would invite someone to come. Mr. Shannon suggested finding an avenue to file an appeal. He said usually that is the first thing you have to look at in a situation like this. C. Chief of Police - Casey Adams Chief Adams reported that last week he, Mayor Westcamp, Administrator King, Director of Personnel Joyce Myers and HR Generalist Annie Short attended interviews for a full-time officer’s position. There are a couple individuals we are looking at, and they still have a lot of hoops to jump through with background investigation. Hopefully we will be able to announce our new hire within the month. Mayor Westcamp added that when applicants are making a lateral City of Groveport Page 4 City Council Meeting Minutes January 8, 2024 transfer, we get a lot of experienced people. He gave kudos to everyone involved in the interview process. Mr. Dildine said it’s getting to be a very hard pool to pull form. Chief Adams stated he and Lieutenant Short had reached out to other departments such as Hilliard and Grove City and they’re having the same issues we are in finding candidates to hire. He went on to say Hilliard is even pulling a lot of their new hires out of Cleveland PD. Everybody’s trying to think outside the box to get hires. Mr. Dildine said it’s getting just as bad on the fire department side. The applicant pool is getting smaller and smaller. D. Director of Finance - Jason Carr Finance Director Carr stated that Council had approved Ordinance 2023-035, which is the credit card Ordinance transitioning us to a new company called Paya. He said we’ve sent out two mailers notifying residents. It did go into effect January first. We’ve had a couple questions about how the portal works but overall there aren’t too many complaints or issues. He said any questions can be forwarded to himself or Accounting Clerk Jason Cooper. Mr. Dildine asked if residents need to go into the system and re-signup for auto pay. Mr. Carr explained that through the portal itself, the convenience fee for credit card payments is now 3%, which is lower than the old rate. If you choose to pay online still, it’s a $1.50 flat fee by ACH. However, if you’ve signed up for ACH through us before, that has not changed and there’s no fee for that. He went on to inform Council that W-2 forms have been mailed out. E. Director of Law - Kevin Shannon F. Development Director - Michael Loges G. Council Members - Jean Ann Hilbert, Ed Dildine, Shawn Cleary, Becky Hutson, Scott Lockett and Jack Rupp Mr. Rupp suggested that the City acknowledge and pay respect to interdenominational holidays, other than the ones we currently do. He said he’s not sure how we would identify those, because there are a lot of interdenominational holidays throughout the calendar year. Academia seems to categorize the various holidays into three categories. They are listed as special worship, work restricted, and meaningful. He suggested maybe using those to identify the holidays. He said it would be worthwhile to investigate interdenominational holidays in respect to our growing and diverse community. Mr. Shannon said staff would look into it, and it should come in the form of City of Groveport Page 5 City Council Meeting Minutes January 8, 2024 legislation. Mr. Rupp added that he will be attending a school board on Wednesday and will give a report next week. Mr. Dildine gave thanks for his newly elected role. He then reported that the Trees and Decorations Committee met just prior to Council. He said Mr. Clinger was re-elected as Chair and Mrs. Keller was elected as Co-Chairperson. He said Mr. Strayer is working on the Tree City Application Summary and that he will forward it to Council. He then spoke about the Commemorative Tree program that was discussed. He said the Parks Department is doing an inventory of all the parks to see where trees may need to go and what type. Once that is done it will go before the trees and Decorations Committee for final approval.Mrs. Hilbert asked about benches, to which Mr. Dildine explained commemorative benches will be on a separate policy. H. Clerk of Council - Mindy Kay X. Standing Committees XI. Other Business XII. Adjournment Council Member Cleary made a motion, seconded by Council Member Hilbert to adjourn at 6: 55 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 6