Tallmadge City Council Regular Business Meeting (2013-2019)

REGULAR COUNCIL in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. February 14, 13 1. CALL TO ORDER: President of Council Poinar called the Regular Council meeting of Thursday, February 14, 2013 to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. PRAYER: Rev. Barry French, United Methodist Church, Tallmadge. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Mayor Kline. 3. ROLL CALL: Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Maguire, Mrs. Poinar, Mrs. Ray, Mr. Sarver, Mr. Stalnaker – present. Also present were Mayor Kline, Ass’t. Dir. of Finance Gilbride, Dir. of Law Raber, Economic Developer Loughry and Clerk of Council Burton. 4. MINUTES: 1-24-13 Regular Council Meeting Minutes. Mr. Sarver moved to accept the 1-24-13 Regular Council meeting minutes. Seconded Mr. Donovan. Voice vote 7-0. The Regular Council meeting minutes of 1-24-13 were adopted by a vote of 7-0. FINANCIAL REPORTS:  SMR Transfer in the amount of $300,000 to Council on 1-30-13.  Fire Transfer in the amount of $200,000 to Council on 1-30-13.  Fund Report, Appropriation Report and Revenue Report for the period ending 1-31-13 to Council on 2-7-13.  Tallmadge Recreation Center Profit and Loss Report for the period ending 1-31-13 to Council on 2-7-13.  Income Tax Comparisons for the period ending 1-31-13 to Council on 2-7-13.  January Financial Reports to Council on 2-7-13. Mrs. Ray moved to accept the Financial Reports submitted by Dir. of Finance Shanafelt. Seconded Mr. Stalnaker. Voice vote 7-0. The Financial Reports submitted by Dir. of Finance Shanafelt were accepted by a vote of 7-0. 5. PUBLIC HEARINGS: None. 6. COMMUNITY INPUT: Pres. of Council: Once again, I will welcome our Boy Scouts who were up here chatting and asking some questions and getting their homework done at the start of the meeting tonight. We are glad to have them here. This is our Regular Council meeting where we actually vote on the legislation that is before us. On Monday we met in committee and so we kind of got ready and we knew what we are looking at tonight and so once we get to the part of the meeting where we start reading the legislation into the record, which is the main goal and the main purpose of the meeting and we kind of start flipping through it kind of fast and you might say, wow, they really know what they are doing or do they know what they are doing, but we actually have been prepared and we kind of know where we are heading with our legislation tonight. We do offer a period of community input at this Regular Council meeting and now is the time if anyone wants to address Council; this is the time to do it. We do ask that you come up to the podium and tell us your name and address. Is there anyone here who has a question or comment or complaint for Council this evening? No one responded. 6.A. ANNOUNCEMENTS: The only thing that I have is that we will have a short Richardson Trust Fund meeting immediately after the Regular Council meeting simply to reimburse the fund. 7. REPORTS OF SPECIAL COMMITTEES: None. 8. AGENDA ADDITIONS: Ord. 46-2013 will become Item 14.A. 9. REPORTS OF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS: MAYOR, DIR. OF PUBLIC SERVICE, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE, AND DIRECTOR OF LAW. rd Mayor: First of all, save the date of April 3 . That will be a Community Safety Meeting at the Tallmadge High School. I initiated a task force from the Police Department which will be in conjunction with the school district to look at the safety of not only school buildings, but all rd City buildings, our parks and things like that. That is a confirmed date of April 3 at 7:00 p.m. We will have Judge Linda Teodosio will be speaking and members of Summit DD will be there and Children’s Hospital, Dr. Constantinou, will also be speaking. We are going to try to have the speakers take no longer than 45 minutes to an hour and then open it up to the public and just get public input and so it should be a good and informative meeting. th Also save the date of October 26 . You don’t have to write that down, but that is electronic recycling day. I know that everybody has been looking forward to that date. We are doing a collaboration again with the school district and we are going to get their green team and our team together and this year it will be in the high school parking lot unlike when we had it at the Rec Center where we had a mess there. This will give longer ways to have people stage through cars and more drop-off areas and then they can exit out the other side of the high school. This Friday night at the Tallmadge Rec Center; it is Family Fun Night. All are welcome. It starts at 7:00 p.m. Then I would like to congratulate Jack Sarver and his son for winning several events at the Show Choir. Jack should be very proud of his son. I heard quite a bit about it today from the school district and so Jack congratulations. Mr. Sarver: Thank you. I will tell him. Mr. Maguire: Tell us a little more. Mayor: Yeah, go ahead Jack.  REGULAR COUNCIL in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. February 14, 13 Mr. Sarver: The Tallmadge Show Choir competes statewide in show choirs and there was a competition in the Portsmouth Tri-State Show Choir Competition. There were ten schools there and Tallmadge is “B” Class. Schools are classed by student size and Tallmadge is a “B” Class and the show choir won their competition; they have to first place in their competition and then whenever they go to these competitions, they choose an outstanding performer for each school and then an outstanding male soloist and outstanding female soloist. My son Jake was the outstanding performer for Tallmadge and this is adjudicated; these are professional judges from across the country. He was the outstanding performer for Tallmadge and he won the male soloist . . . I am about to cry here . . . so he beat five Class “A” schools. Not every school has only one soloist. Tallmadge has one male soloist and two female soloists. Some of these other schools, especially the Class “A” schools; they will have two and three soloists and so he was up against maybe 20 other male soloists. Last Saturday, Cuyahoga Falls had the Cuyahoga Classic, which is a show choir competition up there and they had 12 schools and of those twelve, ten were different; they nd had not been against these ten yet this year and so Tallmadge placed 2 in Class “B” and Jacob once again was the outstanding male soloist for the competition and there were probably 30 soloists up there on Saturday and so needless to say; I am pretty proud of him. Thank you for recognizing him. Mr. Maguire: Jack; what is a show choir? Mrs. Ray: It’s like Glee on steroids! Mr. Sarver: A show choir is a choir that sings and dances and has a routine. Mr. Maguire: Oh cool. Mr. Sarver: Yes, it is pretty exciting. Their next one is going to be in Solon on March . . it is nd rd on a Saturday; it is either the 2 or 3 and if you see in the paper; if they perform at the high school, which I think they are going to do coming up . . . if you have the opportunity; go watch them because these kids are really talented. I did not have any idea that Tallmadge had a show choir, number one and number two that these kids were as talented as they are. I have to recognize Jim Donovan because his daughter and his son are both in show choir and I think she is the female soloist; is that right. Mr. Donovan: Yes. Mr. Sarver: She is actually the one that got Jake starting singing about three years ago. She talked him into trying out for a community play and so it is a lot of fun. Mrs. Ray: It is a great deal of work as well. Mr. Sarver: He just got home five minutes before I left from show choir practice. Yeah, they work hard. Mayor: Mr. Maguire, the group that sang at the Chamber Christmas; that was that choir. Mr. Sarver: That was only part of them; there are . . . what is it Jim; there are 38 singers and 6 in the pit I think. There are more than 40 kids in the show choir. It is pretty cool. Mayor: Finally, I would ask Council’s consideration of Ord. 42, 43, 45, and 46-2013 and Happy Valentine’s Day to all. We also have tonight and I would ask for your consideration for the appointment for the Board of Zoning Appeals; Richard Schunk and Melanie Bushey. Both of their terms were up this year. I would ask for you to confirm them. Mrs. Ray: So moved. Seconded Mr. Maguire. Voice vote 7-0. Richard Schunk and Melanie Bushey are appointed for another term to the Board of Zoning Appeals. Mayor: On the Heritage Commission; Jeff Lock’s appointment is up and so is Bob Treichler’s. Jeff Lock has elected to stay on and Mr. Treichler elected to drop off at this time. Part of the Charter requirement, and this is a Charter requirement, there must be one person within the zone on the Heritage Commission. Jeff Lock is no longer in that and Jim Evans, the architect, is in the zone and he has elected to go onto it and so I would ask for the re- appointment of Jeff Lock and the appointment of Jim Evans for the term ending January 31, 2017. Mr. Maguire: So moved. Seconded Mr. Sarver. Voice vote 7-0. Mr. Lock is re-appointed to another term on the Heritage Commission and Mr. Evans has been appointed to the Commission. Mayor: I also had on here the Governing Board and Pastor David Zachrich will be the member from the Rec Center for the Rec Center Board, but that does not need to be confirmed. It is just an FYI. Ass’t. Dir. of Finance: No report. Dir. of Law: No report this evening. Economic Developer: Ground has been broke on the Dollar General Store on Brittain Road. We have strong interest in the rear of the Rocco property. We expect that to be another senior housing development; market rate though this time. There is also a strong interest in Erie Station Grille and Plaza Maya. They are two different entities. 2  REGULAR COUNCIL in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. February 14, 13 AHEPA is scheduled to be completed in mid-June and since that is a HUDD Project, guidelines are most stringent for applications. Three months prior, they will place an ad in the Beacon saying that they are accepting applications and so they are supposed to let us know when that will happen. They have a waiting list now just to receive the applications. There is not a waiting list for people that are approved to rent. So, that is that. Mrs. Ray: I noticed that Petco opened on Saturday, but I didn’t see that there was a ribbon cutting or anything by the Chamber or the City. Economic Developer: They chose not to do that and the same with the sporting goods store; they chose not to. Petco is big and they just chose basically to do a big grand opening insert in the paper. There was one in the Beacon. Mrs. Ray: They are a very nice store. I noticed when I was out there this evening for dinner that the Famous Footwear sign is up. When do they plan on occupying that space? Mayor: We did hear by the end of the month. Also, a gas station is signed and there is another big box that is on the talk; that is very strong talk and that would be located between Kohl’s and the apartments; that big vacant field. They won’t disclose who that is at this point. nd 10. Ordinance 40-2013 At 2 Reading. COMMUNITY ISSUES/SAFETY Authorizing the Mayor to enter into a con- tract with the Tallmadge Little League, Inc. for lease of Mack Burleson Field and pro- viding for immediate enactment. nd Pres. of Council: Ord. 40-2013 is at 2 Reading and it will remain before the Community Issues/Safety Committee. st 11. Ordinance 42-2013 At 1 Reading. PUBLIC SERVICE Authorizing the Ohio Director of Trans- portation to complete the mowing of IR76 within the City limits and providing for immediate enactment. Mr. Stalnaker moved for the adoption of Ord. 42-2013. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Mayor: As you can see in Section 3, that the State shall assume and bear 100% of the improvement. So this is just a formality to allow them to be in the City of Tallmadge and to do the mowing. This is the first time I think that we have ever done this. Mr. Sarver: I have never seen this before. Mayor: I have never seen it either, but . . . Pres. of Council: I didn’t remember it either. Just dotting our i’s and crossing our t’s? Mayor: Yes. Pres. of Council: There is a motion and a second on the floor. Roll Call: Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Maguire, Mrs. Poinar, Mrs. Ray, Mr. Sarver, Mr. Stalnaker, Mr. Donovan – unanimous. Ord. 42-2013 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. st 12. Ordinance 43-2013 At 1 Reading. FINANCE Accepting a donation to the City of labor for masonry work on the garage at Fire Station 1 from Mike Blatt and providing for imme- diate enactment. Mr. Stalnaker moved for the adoption of Ord. 43-2013. Seconded Mr. Donovan. Mayor: I would just like, for the record, to thank Mr. Blatt. It used to be B&B Masonry which they have dissolved their company, but Mike Blatt, who is a Tallmadge resident, wanted to help out with the Fire Department and so he put the foundation to the building that they have in the back of the building that is part of that. When we got rid of the rescue truck; the money for that was used in the back there and so just for the record, I just want to thank Mr. Blatt for his donation. Mr. Stalnaker: Is Mike just working by himself now? Mayor: Yes. He just does little things. Roll Call: Mr. Maguire, Mrs. Poinar, Mrs. Ray, Mr. Sarver, Mr. Stalnaker, Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway – unanimous. Ord. 43-2013 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. st 13. Ordinance 44-2013 At 1 Reading. Extending the performance and mainte- nance guarantees for landscaping within Eastpointe Phase One Planned Residential Development and providing for immediate enactment. st Pres. of Council: Ord. 44-2013 is at 1 Reading and is assigned to the Public Service Committee. 3  REGULAR COUNCIL in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. February 14, 13 st 14. Ordinance 45-2013 At 1 Reading. PUBLIC SERVICE Determining the structure at 865 South Munroe Road to be blighted; authorizing the Mayor to enter into all necessary agreements pursuant to the Moving Ohio Forward Grant Program and providing for immediate enactment. Mr. Stalnaker moved for the adoption of Ord. 45-2013. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Mayor: This has been a project for us trying to get this house down for a long time. We are finally at that point. We have all approvals through the County and the Health Department to get this done. With the adoption of this ordinance, this will also coincide with the one on Ferguson; that is ready to go. As soon as we put this into the County, we have to wait ten working days and then we can start the demolition on this one and the Ferguson one. Mr. Sarver: Where is the one; where is 865? Mayor: 865 is right around the “S” curve and so heading towards Newton Street, it is that little house that sits in the back that has no toilet facilities and they have an out-house and no running water and no electric. Prior to that there were people living in it. Roll Call: Mrs. Poinar - yes, Mrs. Ray - yes, Mr. Sarver - yes, Mr. Stalnaker - yes, Mr. Donovan - yes, Mrs. Kilway – yes, Mr. Maguire – abstain; I have a conflict. I was the fiduciary of the estate that sold the property. Ord. 45-2013 is adopted by a vote of 6-0 with one abstention. st 14.A. Ordinance 46-2013 At 1 Reading. Authorizing the Mayor to apply with the County of Summit for Home Investment Partnership Funds and enter into a contract for the same and providing matching funds towards the Village at Town Center Project Project and providing for immediate enact- ment. st Mr. Donovan moved for the adoption of Ord. 46-2013 at 1 Reading. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Mayor: What this ordinance will allow us to do is to apply for Home Funds through Summit County of up to $300,000 and then the City of Tallmadge would match that through an economic development plan, which that ordinance has yet to come in front of Council. This does not really appropriate the money; this just gives me the authorization to apply for the loan and to go after the $300,000 and if that is granted, then the $200,000; I would have to come back to Council with another ordinance and to do some type of infrastructure and improvements to that property or something to do for the economic development and there will be another ordinance coming to Council in the future if things go through. I would like to thank the Law Department who worked very, very hard on this and also the Finance Department on this ordinance. I think this is a good ordinance and I think it is great for the economic development of what could happen next door to us. With that, I would ask for your consideration. Mrs. Ray: Explain to me the Home Investment Partnership Program. Mayor: The Home Investment Partnership Program is set up funds through Summit County and we would apply for that. It is like the CDBG. If anybody is familiar with the CDBG; the Community Development Block Grant; we would apply for this money and if it is awarded to us then the City of Tallmadge would have to track this money for the next . . or the housing; we would have to guarantee four rooms that meet that low to moderate income. Molly or Megan; if I say it wrong, but I think that is it. So we have to track it for a 20-year period to guarantee that that is done. Mrs. Ray: Can it be used for anything else other than senior housing; could any other project in Tallmadge currently be qualified for these funds other than the project next door? Mayor: It would have to be site specific . . . and that is what we would do is site specific for that one next door. Mrs. Ray: But, again is it specific to low income senior housing? Mayor: Yes. Mrs. Ray: So it couldn’t be used for any other economic development project within the City? Mayor: What this also does or guarantees is that the project would then be under the Davis-Bacon Rule or the prevailing wage for the Phase I of it. I did also get a commitment from the applicant and remember before when we were talking about that Carmen Development; would be responsible for the roadway going from South Avenue . . . or North Avenue over to Northeast Avenue; Testa Builders will now take that whole project. They will take all of that site and handle that site. This is actually Phase I; the senior credit building only. Mrs. Ray: Is this a one and done? We couldn’t apply then again for this Home Investment Fund through Summit County if there were additional funds available? Mayor: Sure we could. Mrs. Ray: OK, so as long as there are additional funds available and it is a qualifying project; you could apply more than once? Mrs. Ray: So, if we had another senior lender or builder who is building senior specific projects; we could apply for them as well if they requested it; is that true? Mayor: If they request it . . . yes. 4  REGULAR COUNCIL in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. February 14, 13 Mrs. Ray: And so then this also gives Testa . . . I won’t use this term . . . this will give Testa additional points with the Ohio Financing Authority? Mayor: I do believe that is correct. We did tame the ordinance down a little bit. We still have to come back to Council. This is the best that we could do for them. They did review this and so it is up to them to apply. Implement that one point or however many points they would qualify for. Mrs. Ray: And so then the City would be, if in fact that Testa Builders would receive the tax credit, then you receive these grant funds and the City would then be responsible for an additional $200,000? Mayor: Correct. That would come to you. There are a lot of models out there that we have been looking at. It could be a waterline going to that to serve both that building and the adjacent medical building. Mrs. Ray: So then it wouldn’t have to necessarily have to be $200,000 in cash; it could be $200,000 in cash or services so if the City were to put in the infrastructure . . . Mayor: That is how I see that happening. It won’t be us cutting a check to them; it would be us providing something; some asset. Mrs. Ray: I understand why it has to be twenty years. Mayor: That is part of the . . . Mrs. Ray: Investment Partnership; I understand. Dir. of Law: Right; the twenty years, just to specify; that language is linked to that $300,000 and the other is essentially a very flexible concept at this point. Mrs. Ray: It mentions in here that the project ownership either through a grant or zero percent deferred payment cash flow contingent loan . . . Dir. of Law: That is meant to modify the Home Investment Partnership Fund. So they apparently have a grant or this loan program we have been told and have since specified that it is going to come in the form of a grant if eligible if it looks as though what is available and what is left for funding purposes is going to be a grant and not a loan. Mrs. Ray: Not a loan? Dir. of Law: Correct based on telephone conversations. Mrs. Ray: Have you seen, Mrs. Gilbride, any economic or any financial projections for this project? I mean have we . . . you have Mr. Loughry? I mean are we even halfway guaranteed that this project is going to generate $200,000? I understand economic benefit of people shopping and drawing people to the area, but . . . Economic Developer: If what they project happens, happens; this will seem like a small investment. Minimum investment on Phase I and Phase II; they are projecting $35 million up to $50 million depending on what the medical investment becomes. But they have not given us a . . . but they do have a letter of intent on the medical which is encouraging. Mrs. Ray: OK. Thank you for answering my questions. Mr. Stalnaker: I see $500,000 and $300,000 . . . our total exposure is $200,000? Mayor: Correct. Up to $200,000. Dir. of Law: Up to $200,000 to be approved subject to approval of Council. Mr. Stalnaker: That is the maximum? Mayor: Yes. Mr. Sarver: So that means even though this says $200,000; nothing can be spent in this particular part of the project without it coming back to us? So we are Okaying tonight in just this particular part up to $200,000 pending us seeing what that $200,000 . . . how it is going to be distributed? Mayor: That is why I did not put a re-appropriation section in this ordinance. There are a lot of contingencies for this. They have to get approved through OHFA and then the County has to approve up to $300,000 for the home loan and then we match it up to $200,000. So there is a lot to go before . . . Mrs. Ray: Not that I give a fig what other communities do, but the projects that have been built in Cuyahoga Falls and there is one out in Hartville and there is one . . . I’m not sure, but there are several other projects of a similar nature; were there similar ordinances passed by those communities? Mayor: No. What Cuyahoga Falls; they did a lot of land stuff prior to the development. Brownfield; cleanup of that site; they did infrastructure putting roadways in and then turned the site over to Testa. Dir. of Law: There were land acquisitions involved. The City got involved with the land acquisitions, infrastructure improvements and they had grants for various cleanups and that sort of thing. Roll Call: Mrs. Ray – yes, Mr. Sarver – yes, Mr. Stalnaker – yes, Mr. Donovan – yes, Mrs. Kilway – yes, Mr. Maguire – abstain because of a fiduciary relationship. Dir. of Law: That fiduciary relationship is to the owner of the property. Roll Call (Cont’d.): Mrs. Poinar – yes. Ord. 46-2013 is adopted by a vote of 6-0 with one abstention. st 15. Resolution 6-2013 At 1 Reading. Extending the sympathy of the Council and the Administration to Todd Hurd and mem- bers of his family in the death of Donald D. Hurd and providing for immediate enact- ment. 5  REGULAR COUNCIL in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. February 14, 13 Mr. Sarver moved for the adoption of Res. 6-2013. Seconded Mr. Donovan. Voice vote 7-0. Res. 6-2013 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. 16. ADDITIONAL ITEMS: Just a reminder that we have to stick around for the Richardson Trust Fund meeting. But, we will go ahead and adjourn this meeting. Is there a motion? 17. ADJOURNMENT: Mr. Donovan moved for adjournment. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Voice vote 7-0. The Regular Council meeting of 2-14-13 adjourned at 7:37 p.m. sb Approved: _____________________________________ __________________________________ Susan E. Burton Linda S. Poinar Clerk of Council President of Council 6