Tallmadge City Council Regular Business Meeting (2013-2019)

REGULAR COUNCIL in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. December 12, 13 1. CALL TO ORDER: President of Council Maguire called the Regular Council meeting of Thursday, December 12, to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. PRAYER: Silent prayer. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE. 3. ROLL CALL: Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Maguire, Mrs. Ray, Mr. Rensel, Mr. Sisak, Mr. Stalnaker – present. Also present were Mayor Kline, Dir. of Public Service Esler, Ass’t. Dir. of Finance Gilbride, Dir. of Law Raber, Economic Developer Loughry and Clerk of Council Burton. 4. MINUTES: 11-14-13 Regular Council Meeting Minutes. Mr. Rensel moved for the adoption of the 11-14-13 Regular Council Meeting minutes. Seconded Mrs. Ray. Voice vote 7-0. The Regular Council Meeting minutes for the 11-14-13 Regular Meeting were adopted by a vote of 7-0. FINANCIAL REPORTS:  Fire Transfer in the amount of $203,000 to Council on 11-27-13.  Bond Retirement Transfer in the amount of $118,000 to Council on 11-27-13.  Police Pension Transfer in the amount of $60,000 to Council on 11-27-13.  Appropriation Report, Fund Report, Revenue Report, and Encumber Report for the period ending 11-30-13 to Council on 12-2-13.  Tallmadge Recreation Center Profit and Loss Report for the period ending 11-30-13 to Council on 12-5-13.  Income Tax Comparisons for the period ending 11-30-13 to Council on 12-5-13.  November Financial Reports to Council on 12-5-13.  Revenue Comparisons for the period ending 11-30-13 to Council on 12-5-13. Mrs. Ray moved to accept the Financial Reports submitted by Dir. of Finance Shanafelt. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Voice vote 7-0. The Financial Reports submitted by Dir. of Finance Shanafelt were accepted by a vote of 7-0. 5. PUBLIC HEARINGS: rd Ordinance 96-2013 At 3 Reading. FINANCE Adopting a budget for various funds of the City of Tallmadge, Ohio, for current expenses and other expenditures during fiscal year ending December 31, 2014, appropriating the necessary funds for the administration thereof, authorizing trans- fers between funds, and providing for immediate enactment. Pres. of Council: We have a public hearing on this ordinance to approve the budget for next year. Is there anyone who would like to speak in favor of Ord. 96-2013 please come forward. No one came forward. Dir. of Law: Point of order Mr. Maguire. If you could state the time. Pres. of Council: The time is 7:03 p.m. Is there anyone who would like to speak in opposition to Ord. 96-2013? No one came forward. Second time; is there anyone who would like to speak in favor of Ord. 96-2013; please come forward. No one came forward. Is there anyone who is opposed to Ord. 96-2013? No one came forward. Third and final time; is there anyone who would like to speak in favor or Ord. 96-2013? No one came forward. Is there anyone opposed to Ord. 96- 2013? No one came forward. It is now 7:05 p.m. and I call the public hearing closed. Next, we will call on Kim Ray, the Chairperson for the Finance Committee. Mrs. Ray: I will call the Finance Committee to order; myself, Mr. Sisak and Mr. Stalnaker are present this evening. We do have Ord. 96-2013 before us which is the 2014 budget for the City of Tallmadge presented by Mayor David G. Kline. Mr. Mayor; do you have any comments? Mayor: I will comment once we get onto the record of the regular minutes, but this budget is ready to go. You did get an amendment to the budget that was e-mailed to everyone and that was in the “j” drive, or the “k” drive I think. There were a couple of changes that we talked about on Monday night; those were added. It is ready to go. Mrs. Ray: Committee; do we have a motion to amend Ord. 96-2013? Mayor: The attachment is not an amendment. Mrs. Ray: It wasn’t an amendment? Mayor: No. The attachment is the exhibit and this is part of it. Mrs. Ray: OK. So I guess we don’t need . . . I thought we needed an amendment. Mr. Rensel: Point of order. Didn’t we make . . . didn’t you make amendments after our meeting? Mrs. Ray: To the Exhibit? You may not have amended Ord. 96-2013, but you amended the budget, and so I was under the impression that you needed to amend the ordinance. Dir. of Law: We typically have not done that, but you could do it that way. Mayor: If you want to just make it . . . when we do it in the record, it will be the Exhibit dated this date. Mrs. Ray: Alright. That’s fine. So then we are polling then to adopt Ord. 96-2013. Mr. Sisak: I’m in favor. Mrs. Ray: Alright. Then we will 3-0 make a motion to adopt Ord. 96-2013. If there is nothing else, I will call the committee closed.  REGULAR COUNCIL in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. December 12, 13 Pres. of Council: So, the Finance Committee has recommended 3-0 to adopt Ord. 96-2013. I will entertain a motion to adopt. Mrs. Ray: I will make a motion to adopt. Seconded Mr. Sisak. Mayor: If I may, if I can indulge a little bit into going over some of the highlights of the budget. First of all, I would like to thank Dr. Pascarella for putting the budget together and working with the different Department Heads and the other elected officials; the Law Department and the Finance Department. I do think, and I know this is a good budget. All required fund balances are met and exceed . . . as a matter of fact, the General Fund Balance exceeds the Minimum Fund Balance requirement by $1.9 million. Salary increases for all employees of 2%. It also includes one new fireman, one new police officer, and part-time clerk in the Zoning Department, a new Clerk person at 210 Osceola and we will come back to Council amending the personnel package for that department. All the salaries in the Service Department, which used to be . . . and that is the Director of Public Service . . . it used to be half shared in the different enterprise funds in the Sewer Fund, Water Fund and the Storm Water Fund. All those salaries have been returned to the General Fund. The IT budget is up $90,000. This is a total of $178,000 over the past four years that the IT Department has increased their budget. There will be three new Police cruisers. The last payment for the lease for the Rec Center to the School District. A new Fire Department vehicle. $1.1 million capital improvements for the SMR Fund (Street Maintenance Fund) which includes $60,000 for the columbarium down in the cemetery. That is in the budget. $700,000 for new water meters will come out of the Water Fund and Sewer Fund. These are the new water meters that will go into the entire City of Tallmadge radio read system, which will help with efficiencies in that department. Storm Water; $200,000 in Storm Water to do miscellaneous and also a storm water study throughout some of the problem areas that we have. The General Administration is up $320,000 over last year. Part of that is City sponsored events; we will continue with the Concerts in the Park and actually enhance those. The land purchase for economic development along the West Avenue corridor and also Northeast Avenue. The demolition program; $30,000 for demoing of houses. The CDBG Block Grant is probably going to be the most impressive grant that we have received. It is matching grant, but it has a total of $140,000 that people could apply for and we will run the program for property maintenance to make your house upgraded with new paint, shingles, new furnace, work inside the homes . . . $140,000. So between the demo program and the CDBG money, that is almost $200,000 for property maintenance upgrades. So the survey that we have done over the past year . . . a big highlight on that was how do we take care of property maintenance and we are responding to that. The Historical Preservation Fund; we have another $30,000 that is put into that fund. Those revenues will be from the Tallmadge Historical Society to upgrade the historical sites throughout the City. So I do believe it is a good budget. I think there is some other room . . . there is some money in there that we are not encumbering and we told you before that we were going to come back for the potential . . . once we get the grant for the Fire Department for the cots; that will be a new encumbrance requirement of at least $40,000 to $45,000 for the three cots at the Fire Department. That will be at the very beginning of the year and so we just passed the budget and we are already amending it, but we are letting you know that up front. So, I think it is a great budget. I thank Council for their consideration of this and I will entertain any other comments that Council may have. Pres. of Council: Is there any other discussion? Mr. Rensel. Mr. Rensel: This is a tag team here! Mayor; where do we find the money that you decided you thought . . . or you would agree to appropriate for the maintenance up at the soccer fields? Mayor: Park Maintenance. Mrs. Kilway: Alright; where are we going to find that? What page on this amendment? I can’t find it. Mayor: Hang on; it’s close. It’s in there. I already made sure. I will give you the exact page. On page 22. Mrs. Ray: This doesn’t have page numbers on it. Mrs. Kilway: This doesn’t have page numbers on it and I don’t think it goes that far. Ass’t. Dir. of Finance: Are you looking at the spreadsheet? Mrs. Kilway: Yes. Ass’t. Dir. of Finance: You need to go to the Street Maintenance and Repair Fund. Mrs. Kilway: No, because this is in a Word form and not in an Excel form. Ass’t. Dir. of Finance: I wonder if only the General Fund has . . . Mrs. Kilway: Yeah, we don’t have all of the pages because I was trying to compare the booklet that we received earlier with this and I was having problems. Mayor: Are you guys logged into the system? Mrs. Kilway: Yes. Mayor: Go to open; go to the “K” drive; legislation; pending ordinances; and the document that says Exhibit A – Amended 2014. Mrs. Kilway: Yeah, but it is taking its time. 2  REGULAR COUNCIL in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. December 12, 13 Mayor: Slide it over and go to page 22. Mrs. Kilway: I see it. Mrs. Ray: It is on page 22 and that is the cemetery. Mayor: I will put this in the record. Mrs. Kilway: I believed you; we just couldn’t find it. Thank you. Pres. of Council: So, is there anybody else? Hearing no other comments, please call the roll. Roll Call: Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Maguire, Mrs. Ray, Mr. Rensel, Mr. Sisak, Mr. Stalnaker, Mr. Donovan – unanimous. Ord. 96-2013 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. Mayor: Thank you. 6. COMMUNITY INPUT: Pres. of Council: At this time; would anybody in the audience like to come forward with any matter at all to discuss with City Council? Lloyd Williams, 382 Hillwood Drive, Akron. I live in Akron, but I work in Tallmadge. We are here as part of the Auxiliary and we are representing the Auxiliary today. We sent a letter to Council and the letter is here if any of you on Council don’t have it. Mayor: We never got it. Mr. Williams: What this letter is explaining are the tasks that we do. Also, we have here our police activities that tell you what we do if you are not aware of them. But, what we are here to say respectfully as Auxiliary Police Officers that the Council members have received the letter. We wanted to present answers and questions on the issues of moving the Auxiliary office forward from volunteer status to pay status. We have three of our Auxiliary’s that are being paid at this time; myself, Wiley Brooks and Sara and the problem that we are having is that we have gone from . . . we went from paid to volunteer and the volunteer isn’t lasting . . . it is making our ranks weak and we think we are viable to the City. For that very reason, we are coming to ask that if you can see it; that we are an asset that we would like to get the rest of the Auxiliary’s paid. It is a minimum amount of money. At this time this year thus far, the Auxiliary’s have been paid $20,000 approximately $20,000 this year for the three that are paid. For the volunteer hours that haven’t been paid would be the equivalent of $26,000 and that is roughly around $45,000, but if we need to bring our Auxiliary up to staff; we would ask for a total of $75,000 allocated to the Police Department to be able to facilitate the needs of our Auxiliary. I will pass these to you and that does it for us. Mayor: We will give it to Sue and she can copy Council. If you can provide the Administration with the copies . . . not now, but tomorrow . . . Mr. Sisak: Mr. President, do you know if the gentleman is willing to answer any questions? Pres. of Council: Would you come back up Mr. Williams? Mr. Sisak: I have a couple of questions for you sir. Have you spoken with the Police Chief regarding your requests or concerns? Mr. Williams: Yes. Before the letter was sent out, we spoke with the Chief. Mr. Sisak: OK, and what was the . . . Mr. Williams: The Chief said that he didn’t have the money to pay the Auxiliary; his budget was tight. Mr. Sisak: OK. Thank you. Pres. of Council: Does anybody else have any questions? Mrs. Ray: I do actually have a question for Mrs. Raber because I have some very short- term memory. We had an issue at one time, when I first came on Council, that all of our Auxiliary Police Officers, which we certainly do appreciate your service and you are very valuable to the City of Tallmadge; they were all paid and then I believe it had to do with the National Labor Laws that we had to move some of our Auxiliary Police Officers to volunteer status. Could you just refresh my memory and others on Council of what was the issue? Dir. of Law: I don’t want to get too much in depth about what that issue was, but it was pursuant to the Fair Standards Labor Act, you cannot volunteer for the same position that you are paid for. So there needed to be a clear line of delineation between a paid Auxiliary and a volunteer Auxiliary. Both were formed. How that is budgeted for and how that is allocated; that is not . . . that has nothing to do with that issue and so that . . . that is a separate issue from that. Hopefully that clarifies that a little. Mrs. Ray: So, how many then sir . . . how many total Auxiliary Police Officers do we have; we have three being paid and we have how many volunteer? Mr. Williams: I believe we have what six additional? We were . . . our full strength was at 28 at one time that were paid and we are losing members. I think that the volunteer has dwindled down and it relies . . . the City relies on us and we rely on the City and the community to be able to support our efforts and that is why we bring it to Council to make you aware of what is happening. The Chief is willing, but he just says that he doesn’t have the money. Mrs. Ray: How many total hours were volunteered this year by all of our Auxiliary members? Do you have that number? Mr. Williams: 26,000. There is a copy there and it shows you; I think it is 26,000+ or I mean 2,600+ not thousand; I’m sorry. 3  REGULAR COUNCIL in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. December 12, 13 Mrs. Ray: Alright. Well, thank you and we certainly I believe would like to see a copy of that Mrs. Burton. Mayor: I do want to state and recognize the Auxiliary and thank them for the services that you do for the City of Tallmadge. I mean they are in the City every day doing something. If they are not transporting stuff up to the Stow Court or the Stow City Hall, they are out there in the middle of the road directing traffic in harm’s way and some of them are totally volunteers and I will . . . the Chief has not talked to me about it. I just received the letter tonight. I know that we just passed the budget and so the timing I think is a little bit off, but with that being said, I will talk to the Chief and follow up and I will let Council know when we reconvene. Mrs. Ray: Thank you. Mrs. Kilway: Thank you. Mrs. Ray: Thank you for coming to Council tonight. Mr. Sisak: Sir, I have another question. $35 a month; does that include any type of stipend for uniforms or anything? Mr. Williams: $35 is the stipend just for the uniform and it doesn’t include shoes, jackets or anything that you wear out or have to replace. Most of them live outside the City. Gas is at a high price and $35 doesn’t bring you in but two or three times. Mr. Sisak: Right. Thank you. Mr. Williams: Thank you. Pres. of Council: Would anyone else like to address Council? No one responded. 6.A. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Pres. of Council: Council was presented on Monday night with the proposed calendar for next year. Are there any questions or objections? No one responded. 7. REPORTS OF SPECIAL COMMITTEES: None. 8. AGENDA ADDITIONS: None. 9. REPORTS OF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS: MAYOR, DIR. OF PUBLIC SERVICE, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE, AND DIRECTOR OF LAW. Mayor: I will try to be very brief. First of all, I would like to thank the Tallmadge Street Department for the fine job that they are doing trying to pick up the leaves and I am sure Bryan will talk a little bit about that, but I just wanted to go onto the record. You know, we do receive a lot of calls with people upset. They are out with backhoes picking up leaves and we are doing the best we can. If I could control the weather, I wouldn’t be sitting here, number one, but we would not have that problem, but it is just unfortunate. The leaves never came down early; they came down real late and then the ground froze and they were switching the trucks back and forth three times already and we are supposed to have three inches of snow on Saturday. The Service Director . . . their work on the trash contract and all the work that they have done over the past year has been tremendous and I thank Bryan and his team for doing all of that work. Economic Development; real briefly and this is the year end stuff . . . you know we talk about the blights on the different spokes and that. Just to go down South Avenue; Sammie’s Restaurant, Planet Fitness, United Dental, AHEPA are all brand new and are doing well. North Avenue; the Testa project; you have legislation tonight to extend that project. We are meeting with them and you will see more things coming in front of Planning & Zoning and if nd th not for the Planning & Zoning January 2 meeting; it will definitely be for the February 6 meeting and so there is a lot of neat activity going next door. The urgent care; their brand new sign just went up today out front of the urgent care facility right next door. They are doing well. West Avenue; everybody complains about West Avenue, but right across from Delanie’s in the empty lot; that is sold is going to be a medical facility. Those plans are in the works. Sepentini Chevrolet is putting an addition on their spot. White Swan Cleaners put a big addition on and I just found out that whenever you take your clothes to White Swan, no matter if it is in Stow, Green or wherever; they are all delivered to Tallmadge to do the laundry and then they get shipped back out. So this is their home base. They are a great asset. Rocky’s Plaza; Blue Target opened up. Right Way Auto opened up. Martin Wheel has purchased the old Barber building. You will see legislation coming up very quickly; we just got the plat to vacate Sunrise. We had vacated a small portion of it and now we are going to vacate the whole thing. We are going to tear down that building to expand their building over that site. I am real excited about that project. On the Circle, Firehouse, Cortabello’s, the Venue, Igloo, Georgio’s; there are 100+ jobs down there and they are doing an excellent job and we are real happy there. The Bob’s Big Boy site; you will see a lot of activity coming up. The JEDD in Brimfield; you have $800,000 that have been brought in from that whole JEDD and half of it comes to the City of Tallmadge. 4  REGULAR COUNCIL in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. December 12, 13 This Saturday, the Tallmadge Police Department “Fill a Cruiser” is down at Giant Eagle and Acme and that is all day long. Please go down and visit them. Go in and buy some canned goods and fill that cruiser up to help the local Good Neighbors. The Tallmadge Fire Department; we just received our rating from ISO; they are the insurance agency that rates how our fire service is in town and what ISO means when you do your Homeowner’s Insurance or your business insurance; the lower the rating, the less it costs on your insurance. The City of Tallmadge will go from a 5 to a 3 because of all of the work that the Fire Department has done and through the Water Department and the Service Department for that high pressure district. It really saved Tallmadge. Every person in town st will see a little bit of savings on their renewal as of March 1 . I would ask you to adopt Ord. 96-2013, 100-2013, 101-2013, 102-2013, 106-2013 and 109- 2013 and I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year. Pres. of Council: Thank you Mr. Mayor. Are there any questions of the Mayor? No one responded. Dir. of Pub. Service: We have been able to do some things at the end of the year at the Recreation Center. We have upgraded the security cameras in there and are trying to finish up on that. We have been able to purchase some replacement equipment for equipment that we can no longer get parts for. Wayne Wilson has been working very hard on those and trying to keep them running, but it is just to the point that we can’t. We were a little bit concerned about Planet Fitness when they came in that we might lose a lot of members. We are down 48 Blue Adult Memberships from last year at this time. But, overall, we are up 519 memberships. We are about at the same place that we were last year as far as what we are bringing in. As the Mayor said, we have one to three inches of snow that we are expecting Saturday. We have plenty of salt for that. The trucks are all ready and it will be a very busy weekend for the Service Department down there. We also have three funerals that day and so there will be men working there and also on the roads. Leaf collection; we are continuing to do that. We are hoping that next week it is supposed to be in the 30’s and maybe some of the leaves will fall and we can get our regular leaf machines out there. The problem with picking up the leaves now that they are frozen; it is like a giant vacuum cleaner and those leaves go through a tube and hit an impeller that is hooked to a clutch. Well, when those big chunks of leaves hit that impeller, it breaks the clutches and so when we put those out there now, we are just fighting a losing battle. So we are picking them up. We have dump trucks and backhoes out and the larger piles we are picking up that way. Vehicle Maintenance – We are looking at updating the software that they use to keep all the records down there. Currently we are using a 20 year old DOS program. We are looking at a program that is going to automate a lot of the things that they do that they have to enter by hand now and I hope that I can get that in here right after the first of the year. End of report. Mr. Sisak: Mr. Esler; did you guys hire a mechanic. I know you guys had a Civil Service exam? Dir. of Pub. Service: Yes we did. He is a Tallmadge born and raised and he still lives in Tallmadge so far he has been a fantastic worker. Mr. Sisak: Good. Thank you. Ass’t. Dir. of Finance: Steve asked me to report back to you . . . I guess on Monday there were some questions regarding the City and limitations on our debt and how much debt we are allowed to carry. The Ohio Revised Code does limit how much debt the City is allowed to have and it is based on the assessed valuation of the properties in the City. There are two different levels based on un-voted debt and un-voted and voted debt combined. It is both a percentage of our assessed valuation. 5.5% of our assessed valuation for un-voted debt and 10.5% of voted and un-voted debt combined, which basically equates to an un-voted debt limit of about just over $20 million and a voted and un-voted debt limit of $40 million. Currently we have un-voted debt of approximately $9 million and so that leaves us with $11 million to $12 million for un-voted debt and $31 million for voted and un-voted combined and so we, in looking at it, are at about 45 to 50% of our un-voted debt limit. Mr. Rensel: Thank you Molly for that detailed description. I could follow that. I understand where you are coming from. However, based on councilmatic action back maybe 10, 12 or 15 years ago, we self imposed a debt limit in Tallmadge that was irrespective of the State Government. It was a simple number and it was a chart and it used to be that the Finance Department would actually publish it annually in their review or their summary of financial activity of the City. That was the number that I was looking for and I haven’t seen that for some time and I was hoping to be able to get that. I recall at the time, and that was some time ago that the limit was $9 million and that was self imposed so that we didn’t . . . the issue was in the past in the early 90’s and 80’s that Administrations would come and go and some would save and some would spend and then when you were elected, you would find yourself in debt and trying to figure out how you were going to get out of debt. So, the City Administration and Council collectively put their heads together and said that this has to stop and we will put a self imposed limit and that became part and that was actually voted in and 5  REGULAR COUNCIL in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. December 12, 13 Mr. Rensel (Cont’d.) it became part of the annual budgeting process so that we knew and that is the number that I was looking for. Ass’t. Dir. of Finance: I will have to do more research to look and find that. Mr. Rensel: That is where I was going; I would like you to do more without elaborating anymore tonight because I don’t have a single piece of paper I can really reference that. Mayor: If I may, I was also on Council back when we did that and it was about 1995 and what we did was we put a minimum fund balance, and it had to be 25% of the operating, and that was what we had to guarantee and the budget that was adopted tonight has that in all funds, but the top debt ceiling was always based off of the formula and that is what is actually coming out of the CAFR. The debt limit . . . and when you say debt limit, just so you understand, it is not just Tallmadge, but it is anybody imposing taxes. It is the School Board; it’s the Summit DD; it’s the Zoo; everybody in Tallmadge cannot exceed the debt limit that is imposed by that number of the 10 mills combined both inside and outside millage. It is a little confusing, but it is just not us. Our debt limit is at $9 million and so we are never, and we never want to get to that, where we have to hit our debt limit. But, the one that was adopted, which you were there and I think Dennis was even on Council back then was the minimum fund balance requirement which is still . . . Mr. Rensel: That was there too, but if you speak with Jill Stritch; she will remember. She was very proud of that and we basically put our debt limit as a percentage of the total allowed and we would monitor that on an annual basis because the previous Mayor; Mayor Grimm had a lot of capital projects that he wanted to pursue. Back then it was the Community Center, and then it became the Rec Center and the concern was that . . . and the Fire Department had their issues and so the concern was that we would be spending more than we could handle. Of course, interest at that time was pretty high relatively speaking. Anyhow, Molly I am sorry, but there is more . . . Dennis; do you remember? Economic Developer: No sir that seems like another lifetime ago! Mr. Rensel: OK. Thank you Mayor. I appreciate it. Dir. of Law: Thank you very much. I am very pleased tonight to report and I think Dave kind of mentioned it briefly to you that we were able to work out a Direct Indictment Program with the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office. For many of you, you may not be familiar with that program at all, but I am going to just describe it very briefly so you understand what a benefit it is to the City. The Stow Municipal Court is the only court of the three municipal courts in Summit County that does not have a Direct Indictment Program. Both Akron and Barberton Courts have already done this since the mid 1990’s and essentially what it does is that working under the timelines set forth in the Ohio Revised Code, takes cases directly after an arrest and puts them through to the Grand Jury more directly and allows them to be screened and then put in front of the Grand Jury in a more prompt fashion that allows individuals to then get their initial arraignment downtown after an indictment and be bonded potentially out at a lower amount and so what that does is it saves on jail time and so there is a savings there and for the City of Tallmadge what it does is it saves on the cost of a preliminary hearing. For preliminary hearings, the City of Tallmadge has to have Officers there, many of whom are there on overtime and we also have to transport the prisoners and they have to be physically present for the preliminary hearing and about 95% of those preliminary hearings are actually waived rather than put on. So, all of that cost and effort that goes into the preliminary process is really typically for nothing more than an exchange of paperwork. This program will allow us to avoid the transportation costs and will allow us to not have to pay that overtime cost and it will allow jail space to be freed up and it will save us costs associated with that and as well as freeing up those Officers who otherwise are doing the transports such as the folks in the Detective Bureau to actually be able to be doing the detective work that they need to be doing. So, I am very pleased that were able to finally, after many, many, many years of going around and around about this to be the second city in the Stow Municipal Court to join in this program and so at this point it will be the City of Stow and the City of Tallmadge that are participating in the Direct Indictment Program and I think it is . . . it is going to be easily a $5,000 per year savings as a hard cost and that doesn’t include all of the intangible costs that I have already mentioned. I am very excited about it and happy to tell you that it has finally come to fruition. Thank you. I have no other . . . nothing else in my report. Pres. of Council: Well, that should help you out that you won’t have to go to send anybody to these preliminary hearings then correct? Dir. of Law: We will have to be up there for status hearings and we will need to be up there almost as much and so it is really not going to free up our office for that purpose. It does free us up that we won’t have to be doing the preparatory work for a preliminary hearing and it is also easier on victims who don’t have to appear for a preliminary hearing and take time off work that again, 95% of the time does not go forward and so it is really a win/win. Pres. of Council: Of the 5% that do go forward; what 95% of those they do bind them over; correct? Dir. of Law: Correct. 6  REGULAR COUNCIL in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. December 12, 13 Pres. of Council: Yes. It is kind of an exercise in futility. Good; I am glad to hear that that was finally accomplished. We will move on to the Economic Developer, Mr. Dennis Loughry and I think the Mayor has already stolen most of your thunder. Economic Developer: Stole my thunder, but I just want to let everyone know that obviously we were very busy both in 2012 and 2013, but we are really projecting to be real busy next year both in the City and in the JEDD. Obviously, when income tax is up as much as it was this year and the JEDD receipts are up, that lets us, or you do more things with the budget and provide more services. So, we are going to ride the momentum and we are also going to get the Comprehensive Plan updated. That is a major goal for next year, but Planning & Zoning will be very busy and then consequently Council will be busy with project next year. Thank you. Pres. of Council: Any questions? Mr. Stalnaker: They are digging down there by the lube shop down on West Avenue? Economic Developer: They are doing a Phase II on that property before the purchase of the land is completed. nd 10. Ordinance 98-2013 At 2 Reading. FINANCE Appropriating additional amounts and reducing appropriations in various funds and providing for immediate enactment. Mrs. Ray moved to amend Ord. 98-2013. Seconded Mr. Sisak. Roll Call: Mr. Maguire, Mrs. Ray, Mr. Rensel, Mr. Sisak, Mr. Stalnaker, Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway – unanimous. Ord. 98-2013 is amended by a vote of 7-0. Mrs. Ray moved for the adoption of Ord. 98-2013. Seconded Mr. Sisak. Roll Call: Mrs. Ray, Mr. Rensel, Mr. Sisak, Mr. Stalnaker, Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Maguire – unanimous. Ord. 98- 2013 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. nd 13. Ordinance 99-2013 At 2 Reading. PERSONNEL Clarifying and defining personnel benefits and policies for non-collective bargaining employees and providing for immediate enactment. nd Pres. of Council: Ord. 99-2013 is at 2 Reading and will remain before the Personnel Committee. nd 14. Ordinance 100-2013 At 2 Reading. PUBLIC SERVICE Authorizing the Mayor to apply for Federal Surface Transportation Program (STP) Funds programmed by the Akron Metro- politan Area Transportation Study (AMATS) for the Howe Road Pavement Replacement Project and providing for immediate enactment. Mr. Sisak moved for the adoption of Ord. 100-2013. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Roll Call: Mr. Rensel, Mr. Sisak, Mr. Stalnaker, Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Maguire, Mrs. Ray – unanimous. Ord. 100- 2013 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. nd 15. Ordinance 101-2013 At 2 Reading. PUBLIC SERVICE Authorizing the Mayor to apply for Federal Surface Transportation Program (STP) Funds programmed by the Akron Metro- politan Area Transportation Study (AMATS) for the Southeast Avenue Roundabout Project and providing for immediate enact- ment. Mr. Sisak moved for the adoption of Ord. 101-2013. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Roll Call: Mr. Sisak, Mr. Stalnaker, Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Maguire, Mrs. Ray, Mr. Rensel – unanimous. Ord. 101-2013 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. nd 16. Ordinance 102-2013 At 2 Reading. PUBLIC SERVICE Authorizing the Mayor to apply for addi- tional Federal Surface Transportation Program (STP) Funds programmed by the Akron Metropolitan Study (AMATS) for the North Avenue Improvement Project and providing for immediate enactment. 7  REGULAR COUNCIL in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. December 12, 13 Mr. Sisak moved for the adoption of Ord. 102-2013. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Roll Call: Mr. Stalnaker, Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Maguire, Mrs. Ray, Mr. Rensel, Mr. Sisak – unanimous. Ord. 102-2013 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. nd 17. Ordinance 103-2013 At 2 Reading. FINANCE Declaring certain City-owned vehicles to be excess and authorizing the Director of Public Service to sell such equipment at public sale or trade-in and providing for immediate enactment. nd Pres. of Council: Ord. 103-2013 is at 2 Reading and will remain before the Finance Committee. nd 18. Ordinance 104-2013 At 2 Reading. PUBLIC SERVICE Declaring that certain City-owned vehicles obtained through criminal forfeitures to be excess and authorizing the Director of Public Service to dispose of such vehicles in accordance with law and providing for immediate enactment. nd Pres. of Council: Ord. 104-2013 is at 2 Reading and will remain before the Public Service Committee. nd 20. Ordinance 106-2013 At 2 Reading. PERSONNEL Authorizing the Mayor to enter into a side- bar agreement with the Fraternal Order of Police, Ohio Labor Council (Patrol Officers) and providing for immediate enactment. Mrs. Kilway moved for the adoption of Ord. 106-2013. Seconded Mr. Stalnaker. Roll Call: Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Maguire, Mrs. Ray, Mr. Rensel, Mr. Sisak, Mr. Stalnaker – unanimous. Ord. 106-2013 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. st 21. Ordinance 107-2013 At 1 Reading. FINANCE Amending and supplementing Ordinance 53-2013 to amend rates, charges, and fees for all recreational facilities and providing for immediate enactment. st Pres. of Council: Ord. 107-2013 is at 1 Reading and is assigned to the Finance Committee. st 22. Ordinance 108-2013 At 1 Reading. PUBLIC SERVICE Authorizing the adoption of the solid waste management plan for the Summit/Akron Solid Waste Management Authority and providing for immediate enactment. st Pres. of Council: Ord. 108-2013 is at 1 Reading and is assigned to the Public Service Committee. st 23. Ordinance 109-2013 At 1 Reading. PUBLIC SERVICE Determining the structure at 87 Southeast Avenue to be blighted; authorizing the Mayor to enter into all necessary agree- ments pursuant to the Moving Ohio Forward Grant Program and providing for immediate enactment. Mrs. Ray moved for the adoption of Ord. 109-2013. Seconded Mr. Stalnaker. Mayor: This is the house across from the Bierce’s parking lot. It is the green house as you are heading out of town where they have the fence company down there. The property owner did sign the document to allow us or requesting it to be demoed. The house is in deplorable shape. It is really unsafe to even go in that. This will allow us to start the process between now and the end of the year. The funds are there from the grant. Mr. Stalnaker: Something along this same line. I was talking to a real estate investor and he is going through a couple of houses here in Tallmadge and is very discouraged because there is mold three feet up from the basement floor on the rail as you are going down, but he looked at a house in Mogadore and of course, the banks are getting offers on these houses, but they ignore them. So in Mogadore, the Law Director notified the bank that they were going to destroy the home and the bank 8  REGULAR COUNCIL in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. December 12, 13 Mr. Stalnaker (Cont’d.) sold the house just like that. It is something to think about because we have a lot of vacant homes and there is one house right up the road here where the spouting is torn off of it and they raided the house and I can imagine what the interior of the house is because the picture window has been fogged over for a year and a half or so. That is something to think about. Maybe if we just notify the bank that we are going to tear the house down and then maybe they will take an offer for it. Roll Call: Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Maguire, Mrs. Ray, Mr. Rensel, Mr. Sisak, Mr. Stalnaker, Mr. Donovan – unanimous. Ord. 109-2013 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. st 24. Ordinance 110-2013 At 1 Reading. PLANNING & ZONING Extending the conditional use permit for 76 North Avenue and providing for immediate enactment. st Pres. of Council: Ord. 110-2013 is at 1 Reading and will be assigned to the Planning & Zoning Committee. Is there any other discussion? Mayor: I would personally like to thank Mr. Maguire for his service here at the City of Tallmadge serving as Councilman. I know we worked together for a long period of time and you have been excellent to work with and I think the constituents have been lucky with your service here. I know that you will do very well with your business here in town and if there is anything we can do here at the City to help you in your future . . . so great job. Mr. Maguire: Thank you Mr. Mayor. It has been an honor to serve on Council and all of the true, good friends that I have made here. I appreciate that. Mayor: Have fun in Florida! Mr. Stalnaker: Thank you for your leadership. Pres. of Council: Thank you Gene. Mrs. Ray: Mr. Maguire, I would like to say that you are the epitome of a gentleman and a business man and most certainly a council person and I personally and professionally would like to thank you for your leadership and your friendship and you will be greatly missed. Mr. Maguire: Thank you. Mr. Rensel: Mr. Maguire, we go back to Little League days when we first met with our children and with all the headaches that go with Little League. We’ve come a long way . . . Mr. Maguire: And then SUSA. Mr. Rensel: And SUSA and you are going to be missed buddy, but enjoy the warmth. Pres. of Council: Anything else to come before Council? Mr. Donovan: Thank you Mr. Maguire. I wanted to say thank you personally for all you’ve done and your efforts here and I guess for the last time together . . . Mr. President, I make a motion to adjourn! Seconded Mrs. Ray. Voice vote 7-0. The Regular Council meeting of 12-12-13 adjourned at 7:55 p.m. 25. ADDITIONAL ITEMS: None. 26. ADJOURNMENT: See above. sb Approved: _____________________________________ __________________________________ Susan E. Burton Robert D. Maguire Clerk of Council President of Council 9