Tallmadge City Council Regular Business Meeting (2013-2019)

REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. November 12, 15 1. CALL TO ORDER: President of Council Donovan called the Regular Council meeting of Thursday, November 12, 2015 to order at 7:00 p.m. I would like to mention that we do have an Executive Session following the meeting this evening. 2. PRAYER: Silent prayer. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE. 3. ROLL CALL: Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway, Mrs. Ray, Mr. Rensel, Mr. Sisak, Mr. Stalnaker, Ms. Tricaso – present. Also present were Dir. of Finance Shanafelt, Dir. of Pub. Service Esler, Dir. of Law Raber, Economic Developer Loughry and Clerk of Council Burton. Mayor Kline was excused. 4. MINUTES: 10-22-15 Regular Council meeting minutes. Mrs. Ray moved to approve the 10-22-15 Regular Council meeting minutes. Seconded Ms. Tricaso. Voice vote 7-0. The 10-22-15 Regular Council meeting minutes were adopted by a vote of 7-0. FINANCIAL REPORTS:  Fire Transfer in the amount of $200,000 to Council on 10-29-15.  SMR Transfer in the amount of $200,000 to Council on 10-29-15.  Police Pension Transfer in the amount of $60,000 to Council on 10-29-15.  Appropriation Report, Fund Report, Revenue Report, and Encumber Report for the period ending 10-31-15 to Council on 11-10-15.  Tallmadge Recreation Center Profit and Loss Report for the period ending 10-31-15 to Council on 11-10-15.  Income Tax Comparisons for the period ending 10-31-15 to Council on 11-10-15.  Revenue Comparisons for the period ending 10-31-15 to Council on 11-10-15.  October Financial Reports to Council on 11-10-15.  Maca Profit and Loss Report for the period ending 10-31-15 to Council on 11-10-15. 5. PUBLIC HEARINGS: None. 6. COMMUNITY INPUT: I would like to welcome all of the students here. You can tell we are running out of meetings for the year! It is nice to see you all. Tallmadge City Council meets on the second and fourth Thursday’s of the month for the Regular Council meetings. The preceding Monday’s are the Council Committee meetings. At the Committee meetings legislation is discussed thoroughly with Council deciding to adopt, amend, reject, hold or table the legislation. We do allow time for community input at this point in the meeting. Is there anybody who would like to address Council; please come forward and state your name and address. Jerry Feeman, 1068 Ledgebrook Drive in Tallmadge Highlands allotment. This past summer we had the Street Superintendent come around and identify some sidewalks that were uneven and needed to be replaced. Unfortunately, I had six, seven, eight, nine of them and I have no problem with replacing them except for one concern. This will be the third time they have been replaced since I moved in in 1988. My home was built and we moved in December 22, 1988. At that time Grovewood, in front of my street wasn’t completed, but Ledgebrook was many years ago and that was the Parade of Homes at one time. Then mid-summer of 1989, the developer, Max Seal finished the street on Grovewood and put the curbs and gutters in and sidewalks and the street trees. At that time I questioned Mr. Seal as to why he was putting the trees in and he said that it was a mandate by the City of Tallmadge to have street trees just to make it more attractive. I don’t think a lot of research went into those trees. Like I said, this is the third time that my sidewalks have been replaced in 27 years. I think that is excessive. So, what I did was I wrote a letter to the Mayor, Law Director and my Councilman and I will read it to you. “Our home was built in late 1988; the new addition of the Tallmadge Highlands Allotment. During the summer/fall of 1989, the sidewalks were installed. It was during the sidewalk installation that the City of Tallmadge mandated trees be planted along the devil strip. In 2006, many of those sidewalks were in need of replacement. The damage had been caused by the tree roots that were planted in the devil strip that the City of Tallmadge had mandated. The sidewalks were replaced at the shared expense of the homeowner and the City of Tallmadge. Nine years later many of the sidewalks again had been damaged by the tree roots of the 1989 mandated trees that were in need of replacement at the shared expense of the homeowner and the City of Tallmadge. As a homeowner, we do not agree with the continued expense to replace those sidewalks should fall to the responsibility of the property owner. Therefore, we are requesting that the City of Tallmadge incur the replacement expense of the $552, which was invoiced to us on September 15, 2015. My concern, and I know you guys can’t do anything tonight, and I will ask Megan whether it is tonight or tomorrow morning to be added to the Moral Claims Committee to consider this invoice. My concern of the street trees; the trees in the devil strip; Megan has mentioned to me on occasion that I can go ahead and cut those trees down. I think they are the responsibility of the City of Tallmadge to take those trees down and grind the stumps out at their expense; not my expense. Sidewalks should last much, much longer than 27, 28, 29 years. The other sidewalks around the trees are fine; they don’t have trees in front of them.  REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. November 12, 15 Mr. Feeman (Cont’d.) There is no problem; there is no issue. They are not even close to being replaced. They should last at least another 75 years. I guess that is my concern. I don‘t know what your thoughts are; I don’t know if any of you have experienced this with street trees and sidewalks, but I know in my neighborhood, we have had a tremendous amount of replacement. Pres. of Council: Are they the same sections of sidewalks again? Mr. Feeman: This is the same. I have three trees along the front and I have two trees along the side. It’s not reasonable to ask the homeowner to continue to pay for these sidewalks every six, seven, eight, nine years and so . . . Mr. Stalnaker: You are advocating to cut the trees down? Mr. Feeman: And grind the stumps out. Mr. Stalnaker: I have had a rotor person tell me that I can take the tree down, but those roots will continue to grow. It doesn’t stop the root growth. Mr. Feeman: I know. I don’t know . . . you know, in the early to mid-1980’s, Marty Adlesic was in charge of the “Tree Committee” for lack of a better word and we wanted to . . . in all of our new developments; we wanted to plant street trees in the devil strips, which I think is a great idea. I have two trees that are Crabapples that look great in the springtime for two weeks! If you go walk on my sidewalk right now, there is a good chance that you will fall because of the crabapples. That is another thing. Thanks. Pres. of Council: Can we ask Bryan, the Service Director . . . I mean it has to be happening all over the City. What is the normal procedure or have you run into this . . .? Dir. of Pub. Service: The ordinance for the sidewalks; it is the homeowner’s responsibility and we do have a program where we pay for half of the repairs. The street trees are actually the homeowner’s responsibility; the maintenance and care of those are the homeowner’s responsibility and not the City’s. Yes, they were put in by a new developer and they are not City trees; they are the homeowner trees. Pres. of Council: So they are permitted to take those trees out? Dir. of Pub. Service: They are permitted to take those down. Mr. Feeman: I was told by Marty, and this was many years ago, that I could not take those trees down because one is actually crooked. Dir. of Pub. Service: No, you can and I have the authority to allow that. Dir. of Law: If there is any nuisance condition created within that right-of-way then it is the property owner’s responsibility to abate that nuisance condition. If we are put on notice of the nuisance condition, we can abate it. If we were to take it down; we would assess the property owner under the current code to take it down. Mr. Feeman: These trees are small enough that I can take them down. They are not like some of the City of Akron trees that are 80’ to 90’ tall and 4’ in diameter. So, OK. Thank you. Dir. of Law: Just for Council’s edification, we actually had met earlier, within the last week or two and discussed whether or not we should be making changes to the Codified Ordinances with regard to the trees and we are looking at making a change to do a similar program with what we do with the sidewalks for those types of street trees; it would be more of a shared cost for the future. Mr. Sisak: Mr. President, I actually just had someone inquire probably within the month about the Tree Commission that used to be part of the City. I did ask Bryan and he said that it hasn’t been around for years. So, it is just kind of interesting that we have had two inquiries regarding trees, the Tree Commission, and tree lawn trees in the past month. Pres. of Council: Is there anyone else who would like to address Council this evening. No one responded. 6.A. ANNOUNCEMENTS: There will be a Board of Control and Investment Board Meeting immediately following the Regular Council meeting. 7. REPORTS OF SPECIAL COMMITTEES: None. 8. AGENDA ADDITIONS: None. 9. REPORTS OF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS: MAYOR, DIR. OF PUBLIC SERVICE, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE, DIRECTOR OF LAW AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPER Pres. of Council: The Mayor is not here; is somebody giving a report? No one responded. Dir. of Pub. Service: Thank you. The first round of leaf collections is complete. They have been to all three sections already. Every street has actually had two pickups. We have been able to make two pickups on each street and so the next round starts Monday and we expect, with the wind today, I think every leaf in town will be off the trees and so hopefully everybody will get theirs out on Sunday. The last of the ERTZ for the water meters will be installed tomorrow and so that project will be done. We brought in a private contractor today for the Akron Sewer meters. They calibrate those throughout the year, but we have brought in our own specialists to check those and make sure that they are being calibrated correctly. We did find out that even though they check for readings, the voltage output on them, and they come out correctly, they don’t do a zero test where they actually plug off the sewer to make sure that that does go to zero. So, we are in the process of doing that and I will let you know when we find out the results of that. With our large sewer bills, we are trying to do anything we can to reduce those bills. 2  REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. November 12, 15 Dir. of Pub. Service (Cont’d.) I have two ordinances in front of you tonight; Ord. 75-2015 is allowing the Mayor to request Federal funds from AMATS to repave Howe Road and make it a skinny street, which would take it down to three lanes with bike lanes and things. I would ask that that one be adopted at 1st Reading and the next one is Ord. 76-2015 and that allows us to participate in the connection of our Freedom Trail at the Portage County Trail in Kent and I would also ask that that be adopted at 1 st Reading. End of report. Mr. Rensel: Mr. Esler, regarding Howe Road; that wouldn’t require voter or resident input of those residents along Howe Road to see whether they are for or against doing that as they were when Howe Road was originally expanded? Dir. of Pub. Service: That was a State Project when it was last put in. All this is doing is allowing us to apply for it. We don’t know if we will get it and even if we were awarded it, because it is an 80/20; we are not sure that we would even do it. So, this is just allowing us to pursue it. Pres. of Council: And there are a couple of nice, new, shiny trucks out there that Bryan brought over. It’s too chilly to stand out there and look at them! Dir. of Pub. Service: I’m not offended if you don’t go out there and look at them. I can open them up if anybody wants me to, but those are the two new trucks that you purchased for us. There is a 2-1/2 ton that is one of our major snow control vehicles. It is probably one of the nicest ones that we have. It has a stainless steel roll-off bed similar to a crash roll-off truck and you pull the levers and it drops that bed off and they have a stainless “V” bed and they back up to it and hook onto it and it pulls it right out. This is the first one that was ever put in with a wobble stick to control the plow. It has a back-up camera that can be used to see the salt coming out. There are all new salt controls and it is a very nice truck. We went with Freightliners this time because we were having trouble with Internationals getting the warranty work done on them. A lot of other cities were going to Freightliners and actually it was less expensive. The one-ton is a heavy one-ton. It is called a 550 and we use that for parking lots, for paving and all kinds of things and we really appreciate you allowing us to purchase those. Dir. of Finance: Thanks Mr. President. I do have a brief report. By the end of October, we were 83% of the way through the year and I say that because you are going to hear 83 a bunch! The General Fund has collected 83% of the estimated revenue. The Income Tax is at 84% of the estimated revenue. It is however 5.8% ahead of last year. The General Fund Balance is just a little over $4.5 million. Local Government Funds; we are on a path to exceed our projections there. We have almost collected what we had expected to at this point or by October. Fire Fund has $473,752 in the balance. The Street Fund is at $531,312. The Sewer Balance is almost $1.3 million. The Water Fund Balance is a little over $2 million. Storm Water is at $275,862. That is my information for this evening. If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them. Dir. of Law: Just briefly, I just want to introduce a concept that I have been thinking about for a period of time and I wanted to bring it to Council’s attention and get input from you whether it is formally tonight, or informally; it doesn’t need to be this evening if you want to mull it over. I believe there is a need for us to maybe create an Advisory Board to kind of look at some of the frequent concerns based on frequent questions that come to my office on everything from chickens and whether we can keep poultry to other farm animals to things like the shade trees and things like that and have citizen input working with Council members and myself to try to look at some of our Codified Ordinances that maybe have not been reviewed in some time and trying to really kind of see if there are things that need to be addressed. I know Craig had brought up the issue with bows and arrows and we are looking at that one and so there are other things in the Code that I thought could either come from . . . we could create kind of an advisory committee just to kind of give us that citizen feedback up front before we amend the legislation and then come obviously before Council to discuss that and have further citizen input. I thought that might be a good tool to try to use to try to clean up some of these things and whether those issues come from you and I have kind of a running list of frequently asked questions that I get in my office and I thought it might be a good thing for us to contemplate doing. So, if you want to think about that and if you have names of people that would be good for that type of committee to just meet and kind of work through various issues and topics. That is what I am contemplating in the next few months. Mrs. Ray: It sounds like a great idea. President of Council: Questions or comments? OK. Thank you. Next up; Economic Development. Economic Developer: I will be as quick as I can. 17 East Avenue; that is the automotive building behind Mike’s Gas Station and it is leased. Actually Mike Bowers, the new operator of the Ten Minute Lube is moving his business from the Circle to there and so that is good for everyone. 3  REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. November 12, 15 20 South Avenue; that is Dr. Elliot’s, the podiatrist; the house or building behind the donut shop is for sale for $255,000. Portebellos, Firehouse and the Venue; all three businesses have been sold to a big restaurant operator that has Danny Boy’s and also has Cleats, Margaretville . . . they have closed Portebebllos to convert it into a Danny Boy’s that will open early next year. Presently they are operating the Firehouse as a Firehouse. They have . . . they bought the rights to do that and so it will either stay as a Firehouse or it will convert to something else in their chain as well and they are continuing to operate the Venue as the Venue. Mr. Jaber still owns the real estate, but he did sell the three businesses. Dr. Cadia, who owns the vacant land on West Avenue on the other side of the substation near La Mexicana and the property behind it; that land has been staying vacant because it was a legal requirement that they couldn’t do anything jointly until the Cleveland Clinic and Akron General merger was completed. Now that that is done, we are expecting something to happen on that property either next year or early in 2017. 125 West Avenue; the Steve Clark Project received I believe their final approvals and are moving forward. That will be a new, professional building that will be built at this point probably early next year. Novus Clinic was approved for an addition by Planning & Zoning. The Rocco property; was at Sheriff’s sale again. It was no bid; no sale at $600,000 for the second time and what typically happens now is that there will be another reduction appraisal, but people are now permitted to negotiate directly with the bank and directly with Mr. Rocco. There is interest in that site. Storetech that is presently located on Commerce Drive is going to build between a 30,000 and 50,000 square foot building on Crystal Parkway in Portage County/Tallmadge next year. Buckeye Gym celebrated their 30th Anniversary. Coffee, Tea and Poetry, which is a restaurant, lunch place on Northeast Avenue; we had a ribbon cutting for them. Jordon Power Equipment has the old foundry across the street and they received a grant through Mr. Sauner, and they are going to demo part of that building and then replace it with a much larger addition to make that facility larger. Heather Knoll had their new wing dedication. It is very nice. It turned out very nice. Reduction Engineering is one of our Portage County companies and they sold recently to a huge corporation out of Chicago which is called the Dover Corporation; sometimes that could be scary, but Dover is committed to keeping them there and in fact, investing and there will be some new employees there next year. East End Welding; we have been receiving a lot of phone calls because the owner of the real estate, Mr. Susong, also owns the property behind East End and he has been cutting down trees and just doing some clear cut for future development, but nothing that is on the radar right now and before we get together again, we will have had our Annual JEDD meeting. So, with that, and lastly I was appointed to the Greater Akron Chamber’s Community Improvement Corporation as their Treasurer. That’s the end of the report. Any questions? Regarding Ord. 72-2015; to answer Mr. Rensel’s question on different types of companies or different types of movement coming from a community to ours; the short answer is that it will be determined by what they are called. If it is a satellite or . . . so anyway, just remember with this ordinance that the intent is to cooperate and the intent is to negotiate community to community and then just use the parameters that are within the agreement as guidelines if you can’t get together outside of that agreement. Again, just give it a 2nd Reading today and then take your time and determine whether or not you think we should remain or if you think we should opt out. But, I don’t believe that it will impact us negatively for a one year period of time no matter what Council decides. Any questions? Mr. Stalnaker: Kim; are you satisfied on the flags? Mrs. Ray: Oh, at the Circle? The Veteran’s Memorial? Mr. Stalnaker: Yes. Mrs. Ray: Yes, I think we are going to put a little bit of money into the budget to handle that next year. Thank you Mr. Stalnaker. Mr. Stalnaker: If by chance you will be working on the budget before Monday; I see there is money in here for equipment replacement. I wonder if we could put money in for a PA system for the cemetery so when somebody speaks down there the people standing out can hear them and understand them because the present PA system doesn’t work. Thank you. Economic Developer: I made that note Mr. Stalnaker. We’ll make sure that that gets conveyed to Dr. Pascarella. 4  REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. November 12, 15 10. Ordinance 70-2015 At 3rd Reading. FINANCE Authorizing the Mayor to enter into a con- tract without competitive bidding and through the State Purchasing Program, or as authorized by R.C. 125.04(C), with Motorola Solutions for the purchase of radio equipment, software licenses, and related equipment and providing for immediate enactment. Mrs. Ray moved for the adoption of Ord. 70-2015. Seconded Mr. Sisak. Roll Call: Mrs. Kilway, Mrs. Ray, Mr. Rensel, Mr. Sisak, Mr. Stalnaker, Ms. Tricaso, Mr. Donovan – unanimous. Ord. 70-2015 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. 11. Ordinance 71-2015 At 2nd Reading. FINANCE Adopting a budget for various funds of P.H. ON 12-10-15 @ 7:03 P.M. the City of Tallmadge, Ohio, for current expenses and other expenditures during fiscal year ending December 31, 2016, appropriating the necessary funds for the administration thereof, authorizing transfers between funds, and providing for immediate enactment. Pres. of Council: Ord. 71-2015 is at 2nd Reading and will remain before the Finance Committee. 12. Ordinance 72-2015 At 2nd Reading. FINANCE Authorizing the Mayor to enter into an amended Memorandum of Understanding with the County of Summit and other poli- tical subdivisions for job creation, retention, and tax revenue sharing and providing for immediate enactment. Pres. of Council: Ord. 72-2015 is at 2nd Reading and will remain before the Finance Committee. 13. Ordinance 74-2015 At 2nd Reading. PLANNING & ZONING Amending and supplementing Ord. 110- 1991 approving and granting a conditional zoning certificate to First Apostolic Church for an addition located at 199 South Avenue. Mr. Sisak moved for the amendment of Ord. 74-2015. Seconded Ms. Tricaso. Dir. of Law: Mr. President, if I can just mention that there was a second amendment that was different from the first one you received on Monday. There were a few extra . . . some language inserted that relates to the actual specific plans that were received and the documents that were received and then clarification on an amendment in the Staff Report on that section and so I just wanted to bring that to your attention so you realize that. Pres. of Council: So that is all rolled into the current amendment? Dir. of Law: That is all rolled into the current amendment and since you didn’t vote on the amendment before it wouldn’t be a second amendment. Roll Call: Mrs. Ray, Mr. Rensel, Mr. Sisak, Mr. Stalnaker, Ms. Tricaso, Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway – unanimous. Ord. 74-2015 is amended by a vote of 7-0. Mr. Rensel: Mr. President, excuse me, but did we mention to the audience that we meet on Monday and discuss this in some detail and that is why at the business meeting we are just approving the ordinances? Pres. of Council: Yes sir. Mrs. Ray: Yes we did. Mr. Rensel: Thank you. 14. Ordinance 75-2015 At 1st Reading. FINANCE 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 Rd. Pavement Replacement and Road Diet Project and providing for immediate enactment. Mrs. Ray moved for the adoption of Ord. 75-2015 at 1st Reading. Seconded Mr. Sisak. Roll Call: Mr. Rensel, Mr. Sisak, Mr. Stalnaker, Ms. Tricaso, Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway, Mrs. Ray – unanimous. Ord. 75-23015 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. 5  REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. November 12, 15 15. Ordinance 76-2015 At 1st Reading. FINANCE Authorizing the mayor to co-apply for Federal Transportation Alternative Program (TAP) Funds programmed by the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study (AMATS) with Summit Metro Parks to con- struct the Freedom Trail to Portage Trail Connector Project and providing for imme- diate enactment. Mrs. Ray moved for the adoption of Ord. 76-2015 at 1st Reading. Seconded Mr. Sisak. Roll Call: Mr. Sisak, Mr. Stalnaker, Ms. Tricaso, Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway, Mrs. Ray, Mr. Rensel – unanimous. Ord. 76-2015 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. 16. Ordinance 77-2015 At 1st Reading. FINANCE Declaring certain City-owned personal property to be excess/obsolete and autho- rizing the donation of said equipment to C-TEC, Career & Technology Education Center, with certain conditions and pro- viding for immediate enactment. Pres. of Council: Ord. 77-2015 is at 1st Reading and is assigned to the Finance Committee. 17. Resolution 16-2015 At 1st Reading. Extending the sympathy of the Council and the Administration to Susan E. Burton and members of her family in the death of Edward G. Sluss and providing for imme- diate enactment. Dir. of Finance: Mr. President, I am going to read this for Mrs. Burton. Extending the sympathy of the Council and Administration to Susan E. Burton and members of her family in the death of Edward G. Sluss (otherwise known as Big Ed) and providing for immediate enactment. Mr. Stalnaker moved for the adoption of Res. 16-2015. Seconded Mr. Rensel. Dir. of Finance: I didn’t know Big Ed, but from what I have heard about this guy; he was quite a man. He was a carpenter in Louisville and for the last how many years Susan . . . Clerk of Council: Thirty. Dir. of Finance: For the last 30 years he volunteered at the local school and helped the children open their milk cartons and helped them out at recess and just out of the goodness of his heart was out there every day. So I think he must have been quite a man. Voice vote 7-0. Res. 16-2015 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. 18. Resolution 17-2015 At 1st Reading. Extending the sympathy of the Council and Administration to Donna Cox and members of her family in the death of Ronald P. Den- holm and providing for immediate enact- ment. Mr. Rensel moved for the adoption of Res. 17-2015. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Voice vote 7-0. Res. 17-2015 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. Pres. of Council: I will make a motion to adjourn into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing a personnel issue. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Roll Call: Mr. Stalnaker, Ms. Tricaso, Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway, Mrs. Ray, Mr. Rensel, Mr. Sisak – unanimous. Council voted 7-0 to adjourn into Executive Session at 7:38 p.m. We will return to the Council floor when we are finished. Dir. of Law: For all of the people in the audience, when we come back, we will likely just be adjourning after the Executive Session and so you are not going to miss anything. Pres. of Council: It is now 7:49 p.m. and we are back on Council floor. Is there anything else to come before Council this evening? No one responded. 19. ADDITIONAL ITEMS: None. 20. ADJOURNMENT: Mrs. Ray moved to adjourn. Seconded Mr. Rensel. Voice vote 7-0. The Regular Council meeting adjourned at 7:49 p.m. sb Approved: _____________________________________ __________________________________ Susan E. Burton James M. Donovan Clerk of Council President of Council 6