Tallmadge City Council Regular Business Meeting (2013-2019)

REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. August 25, 16 1. CALL TO ORDER: President of Council Donovan called the Regular Council meeting of Thursday, August 25, 2017 to order at 7:00 p.m. 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 Mayor Kline, Economic Developer Weinberg, Dir. of Pub. Service Esler, Dir. of Finance Gilbride, Dir. of Law Raber and Clerk of Council Burton. 4. MINUTES: 7-14-16 Regular Council meeting minutes. Mrs. Ray moved to approve the 7-14-16 Regular Council Meeting minutes. Seconded Mr. Sisak. Voice vote 7-0. The 7-14-16 Regular Council meeting minutes were approved by a vote of 7-0. FINANCIAL REPORTS:  Police Pension Transfer in the amount of $25,000 to Council on 7-28-16.  Bond Retirement Transfer in the amount of $100,000 to Council on 7-28-16.  SMR Transfer in the amount of $125,000 to Council on 7-28-16.  Consolidated Investment Portfolio for the period ending 7-31-16 to Council on 8-11-16.  Appropriation Report, Fund Report, Revenue Report, and Encumber Report for the period ending 7-31-16 to Council on 8-1-16.  Tallmadge Recreation Center Profit and Loss Report for the period ending 7-31-16 to Council on 8-10-16.  Income Tax Comparisons for the period ending 7-31-16 to Council on 8-10-16.  Revenue Comparisons for the period ending 7-31-16 to Council on 8-10-16.  July Financial Reports to Council on 8-10-16. Mrs. Ray moved to accept the Financial Reports submitted by Dir. of Finance Gilbride. Seconded Mr. Sisak. Voice vote 7-0. The Financial Reports submitted by Dir. of Finance Gilbride were accepted by a vote of 7-0. 5. PUBLIC HEARINGS: None. 6. COMMUNITY INPUT: Bobby McDowell, Representative for the 36th House District. He would like to introduce himself to Council and the Administration. Mr. McDowell did not make the meeting. 6.A. ANNOUNCEMENTS: None. 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 Mayor: Thank you Mr. Chairman. I apologize to Council for not taking the tables down. We had a regional AMATS meeting here this week. It is a sub-committee for policies and we are working on changing the policies of how to allocate money across the region At the next Council meeting I will have the final update of the gas aggregation and of course I will get that to Council. The Testa Project; if you have noticed the curbs went in from North Avenue all the way through the project out to Northeast Avenue. So their goal is to start putting asphalt down in that driveway coming up next week. It is probably in Bryan’s report that the curb string is up on North Avenue and that is a happy sight to see that string there because what that means is that all of the underground utilities are completed and so the actual road will start looking like something as we move forward. I received a few calls about what happened with the gas main. The gas main on North Avenue that was hit; a 6” gas main was hit at Bierce and North Avenue, which closed down North Avenue and so here again the trucks and the cars were going down the side streets and so those phone calls started up again, but we just had to detour the people around that break and then going off of North Avenue to Bierce was closed all night, but it is back open now. All is well that ends well, but it was . . . it was the contractor who hit it and he just accidently hit it. I would ask for your consideration of Ord. 62-2016, which is allowing us to get rid of some old vehicles for trade-ins on the new Police cars that came in and I thought we had the authority already to do it, but when Bryan found out . . . there are four of them on this list and we can talk about it later. End of report. Dir. of Pub. Service: Thank you. As the Mayor stated, finally the utilities are out of the way on North Avenue and so they have a small stretch of the storm sewer to finish up and they are stringing the curb line and next week the curb line should go in and in about two weeks they will do the asphalt on the southbound side and then they will switch over and start working on the northbound side and so we are very happy to see that. They have been working hard just to stay on schedule even though the utilities have been in the way. W e are really happy with the way they have been working with us for that. We accepted a bid from Pro Quality Land Development for the 2016 demolition of commercial structures in the amount of $67,000. Our out-of-pocket for this program will be for the Ten Minute Lube and we will have to pay half of the cost of that, which is $3,500 out of pocket for us.  REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. August 25, 16 Dir. of Pub. Service (Cont’d.) We will have a bid opening for temporary labor for our leaf collection program on September 2nd. End of report. Pres. of Council: What is the timeframe on the Ten Minute Lube? I have had a lot of questions about that. Dir. of Pub. Service: We are waiting on the signed contract to come back and then we will know better; we don’t have a date yet when that is coming down, but it should be very soon. Pres. of Council: 160 days; 120? Dir. of Pub. Service: I would think under 30 days. Dir. of Finance: I am happy to report to Council that I finally completed our 2015 Community Report. I was hoping to get it distributed during the summer break, but that just did not work out. The first year was a little bit more in depth than I anticipated, but with the help of my Assistant Finance Director and the rest of my staff; I am proud to say that is completed. It is posted on the City’s website on the Finance Director’s page if anybody wants to take a look at it and then it also will be distributed through the Tallmadge Express. They are trying to get it out the weekend of September 4th, but if not that weekend; it will be in the September 11th edition and distributed to every household in the City. End of report. Mr. Sisak: I notice that we have the Recreation Center . . . I don’t know if this was from you or from Bryan maybe . . . it was on our desk . . . it is a grid and I don’t know if it is a new grid; it just says Recreation Fee Grid, September 15, 2016. Dir. of Pub. Service: There are some updates to it. Those are the updates that have to go to Council. There is an ordinance for them. Mr. Sisak: OK. Great. Thank you. Dir. of Law: I have no report this evening. Mayor: We do have an Executive Session. Dir. of Law: Yes. Economic Developer: Thank you. I was just going to give a brief update on the Ripley Farm and Maplecrest properties. We continue to work with the developer who has extended his option on both of those properties and is continuing to do his due diligence and has talked to us briefly about some revisions to plans that are looking more in line with what we are hoping to achieve there, but we don’t really have anything definite that we have to announce; we are just sort of cautiously optimistic that we may be seeing something in the next few months. End of report. Mr. Rensel: Thank you. You stated a developer or plural developers? Economic Developer: It is the same developer who has the option on both of the properties. Mr. Rensel: On both properties; wow. OK. Thank you. Pres. of Council: I have a question about where the Big Boy site was. Is everything still moving along there? It seems like it has sort of slowed down. Mayor: I talked to Mr. Jaber who owns the property and he is definitely on his track; he is on track! On my track and on our track . . . it is progressing. There is someone there today working and so I was happy to see that. One person. Joe Viscomi, or the Mosholder Group is responsible to build the shell, but Tony Jaber is in control of the contract so the group is trying to get it completed on time and it has been a slow process for them and we would like them to move along a little faster. They were digging up some asphalt today. The curbs are about all in for that site. They would like to get that thing buttoned up real quick. The business owners for each unit are responsible to build out the inside themselves and I heard Sutton Bank has the built-out plans already in the Building Department and they may possibly be approved already. The same with Crimson Coffee Cup; they have the plans and they are ready to go, but they are waiting to get it buttoned up on the exterior. I think we are on track. You can see the steel next door. Mrs. Kilway: I had a question for the Economic Developer; are there any updates on Midway Plaza with the new owners? Economic Developer: No, they have declined to have any communication with us. In the beginning, once it was first announced that there was a new buyer, I contacted him and had very brief discussions, but he would not continue to answer questions and so I think that we are just not going to be seeing anything change significantly there. Otherwise, I would have thought they would have talked to us by now. Mrs. Kilway: That’s disappointing. OK. Thank you. 10. Ordinance 59-2016 At 2nd Reading. PLANNING & ZONING Amending Ordinance 40-2016 approving GIVE 2nd READING 3-0 and granting a conditional zoning certificate for special nonresidential development to applicant LTC Tallmadge, LLC on behalf of owner Yusef Khan Grotto 169 for operating a skilled nursing/convalescent care facility located at 619 North-west Avenue. Mr. Sisak: I move to amend Ord. 59-2016. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Roll Call: Mrs. Kilway, Mrs. Ray, Mr. Rensel, Mr. Sisak, Mr. Stalnaker, Ms. Tricaso, Mr. Donovan – unanimous. Ord. 59-2016 is amended by a vote of 7-0 and will remain at 2nd Reading. 2  REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. August 25, 16 11. Ordinance 61-2016 At 1st Reading. FINANCE Authorizing the Director of Public Service to expend from the Water Infrastructure Funds for emergency repairs to a portion of North- east Avenue waterline and providing for immediate enactment. Pres. of Council: Ord. 61-2016 is at 1st Reading and is assigned to the Finance Committee. Dir. of Pub. Service: I’m sure a lot of you remember last year when we had the water main break out here on Northeast Avenue. Akron’s two big lines from Lake Rockwell go through in addition to our line. Akron thought it was theirs and they hired a company to come in and excavate and try to find the leak and it ended up being our pipe that was leaking and we had them go ahead and make the repairs and unfortunately it was above the $50,000 threshold for bidding and we had to bring it back to Council and we got a bill from them and we tried to negotiate a lower cost and tried to get Akron to participate in it, but they weren’t willing to and so because it was above the $50,000 threshold; we had to come to you to get that approved as an emergency. Pres. of Council: Why didn’t we do that? Dir. of Pub. Service: Originally, we thought it was the Akron main that was leaking. Pres. of Council: I realize that. I remember when we were doing it. So we let them continue and fix the problem? Dir. of Pub. Service: They had the hole open and they located our leak and so yeah, we just said that while they were there; just go ahead and band it. 12. Ordinance 62-2016 At 1st 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. Mr. Stalnaker moved for the adoption of Ord. 62-2016. Seconded Mr. Sisak. Mayor: Mr. Chairman, as you can see up on the screen; these are the Crowne Vic’s and the Ford Taurus. These are old Police vehicles. We are trading them in on the two new Police vehicles that came in. These have been recycled and recycled and if you saw that white car that used to sit down here for the Building Department to drive; these are end of life. We get the best deal with the trade- in. Pres. of Council: Will these cars be put into service right away? Mayor: The Police cars? Pres. of Council: Yes. Mayor: They have to build them. So they have to paint the black on them and put the radio system in and the lights and all of that. Roll Call: Mrs. Ray, Mr. Rensel, Mr. Sisak, Mr. Stalnaker, Ms. Tricaso, Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway – unanimous. Ord. 62-2016 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. 13. Ordinance 63-2016 At 1st Reading. PLANNING & ZONING. Extending the Performance and Mainte- nance Guarantees for landscaping within Eastpointe Phase One Planned Residential Development and providing for immediate enactment. Pres. of Council: Ord. 63-2016 is at 1st Reading and is assigned to the Planning & Zoning Committee. 14. Ordinance 64-2016 At 1st Reading. FINANCE Appropriating additional amounts for the up-grade and replacement of the Police Department Tasers and providing for immediate enactment. Pres. of Council: Ord. 64-2016 is at 1st Reading and is assigned to the Finance Committee. 15. Ordinance 65-2016 At 1st Reading. FINANCE Appropriating additional amounts for Dis- patch services and providing for immediate enactment. Pres. of Council: Ord. 65-2016 is at 1st Reading and is assigned to the Finance Committee. 3  REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. August 25, 16 16. Ordinance 66-2016 At 1st Reading. COMMUNITY ISSUES/SAFETY Authorizing the Mayor to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding to amend an agreement with the City of Macedonia for use of the Macedonia City Jail facility and providing for immediate enactment. Pres. of Council: Ord. 66-2016 is at 1st Reading and is assigned to the Community Issues/Safety Committee. 17. Ordinance 67-2016 At 1st Reading. FINANCE Amending and supplementing Ord. 47-2016 to amend rates, charges, and fees for all recreational facilities and providing for immediate enactment. Pres. of Council: Ord. 67-2016 is at 1st Reading and is assigned to the Finance Committee. 18. Ordinance 68-2016 At 1st Reading. FINANCE Appropriating additional amounts for the City of Tallmadge phone system and providing for immediate enactment. Pres. of Council: Ord. 68-2016 is at 1st Reading and is assigned to the Finance Committee. 19. Ordinance 69-2016 At 1st Reading. COMMUNITY ISSUES/SAFETY Authorizing the Mayor to enter into an agreement with the County of Summit for the Juvenile Diversion Program and pro- viding for immediate enactment. Mayor: Mr. Chairman, I apologize; I forgot to give you this one for adoption. If you would consider this. Please talk about it. Pres. of Council: I would make a motion for the adoption of Ord. 69-2016. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Dir. of Law: This is just an awarding of a grant that we actually had gotten in for quite some time, but I think they attempting to clean it up and have a formalized agreement. It is not a lengthy thing, but it is basically just us accepting a grant from Summit County to assist and help offset costs associated with us running the Juvenile Diversion Program and so this is just to allow us to accept the $11,700+ that they are granting us and so if you are inclined to adopt that this evening, this just allows us to get that payment. Roll Call: Mr. Rensel, Mr. Sisak, Mr. Stalnaker, Ms. Tricaso, Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway, Mrs. Ray – unanimous. Ord. 69-2016 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. 20. Ordinance 70-2016 At 1st Reading. COMMUNITY ISSUES/SAFETY Imposing a six-month moratorium on P.H. ON 9-22-16 @ 7:03 P.M. granting zoning certificates for any building structure, use or change of use that would enable the cultivation, processing, or retail sale of medical marijuana and providing for immediate enactment. Pres. of Council: Ord. 70-2016 is at 1st Reading and is assigned to the Community Issues/Safety Committee. We will also set a public hearing for 9-22-16 @ 7:03 p.m. 21. Resolution 10-2016 At 1st Reading. COMMUNITY ISSUES/SAFETY A resolution approving the Mayor’s appoint- ment to the Summit County Board of Health and providing for immediate enactment. Mr. Rensel moved for the adoption of Res. 10-2016. Seconded Mr. Sisak. Mayor: This is a requirement. I didn’t realize that we needed a resolution. Our current person is moving out of Tallmadge and therefore, in talking to the Director at the Health Department, she asked me to find another person and I made a couple of recommendations and Patty Billow was available for this. The person does not have to be a doctor. They are looking for somebody in that field that is not employed with the City of Tallmadge already and so therefore, Patty Billow would be an excellent choice. She wanted to do it and she will do a fine job. Roll Call: Mr. Sisak, Mr. Stalnaker, Ms. Tricaso, Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway, Mrs. Ray, Mr. Rensel – unanimous. Res. 10-2016 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. 4  REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. August 25, 16 22. ADDITIONAL ITEMS: Mr. Stalnaker: For the Law Director and maybe Dr. Cooper; I hear that with medical marijuana; I think I have read that the American Medical Association has never, never authorized marijuana to be used and I wonder where this “medical marijuana” is coming from? Dir. of Law: If I can answer that since it is the ordinance that I presented. It is basically to deal with the House Bill that was passed this summer and signed into law by our Governor that does now create a statutory medical marijuana definition in the Ohio Revised Code and does create a situation where the municipalities are going to have to deal with how we are going to handle that situation and so what is being proposed is a moratorium for six months that allows us to fully digest a very voluminous bill that has multiple implications and also make sure that when we do make changes to our zoning code that we are appropriately getting definitions in all the right sections and all the areas we need to make sure that we’ve addressed the issue the way that our City thinks that the issue needs to be addressed. So, this first step is to just have a moratorium and again many municipalities have started to do this. The medical marijuana dispensaries will not be up and running for about a two-year period is what most people are saying because it will take that long for the State licensing to get in place, but many municipalities just want to make sure that their position is clearly stated especially as it pertains to zoning. There is a provision in that law that does allow us to prohibit or limit the number of dispensaries and so we definitely want to explore all of those options. So that is what this is; it is to just make sure that we have adequate time to make sure that whatever direction we are moving in; we can put all of that in our code in an appropriate way. Mr. Stalnaker: Thank you. Mr. Rensel: Madame Law Director; we, meaning the City of Tallmadge has a zero tolerance policy for drug use? Dir. of Law: Yes, as an employer? Mr. Rensel: Yes, as an employer. Correct. Dir. of Law: Yes, we have a drug-free workplace policy and we will continue to maintain that. Again, that is a whole other area of the law that we will need to be contemplating. In addition, as Advisor to the Police Department, I will be addressing concerns with our Police Department so there are many implications to this. This particular ordinance is really addressing that zoning issue, but there will be other implications and we are looking at all of those and we are all trying to get up to speed as information is being pushed out and continuing education classes and other people are digesting what has been passed. Mr. Rensel: So, the fact that this law defines what medical marijuana is, for Mr. Stalnaker’s original question; the employer still has the option to go with zero tolerance? Dir. of Law: That is correct. It is still prohibited at the Federal level. Mr. Rensel: Good point; thank you. Pres. of Council: Is the six months adequate? Dir. of Law: We have an option . . . there is language in that moratorium that allows Council to extend that in the event that that is deemed to be reasonable and appropriate. Pres. of Council: Is there anything else? No one responded. We do have an Executive Session before we adjourn. Mr. Rensel: Mr. President, I move to adjourn into Executive Session. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Dir. of Law: You can state the reason on the record please . . . to discuss pending or imminent court action. Mr. Rensel: So moved. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Pres. of Council: All in favor. All voted aye. The motion carries. We don’t need a roll call for that. I have 7:27 p.m. Mayor: Just for the audience; we are going into Executive Session to talk about pending litigation and then we are going to come back and reconvene just to reconvene and not to do any more business and then adjourn. So you are done. If you need signature, Bryan or Rita can sign them for you. Pres. of Council: It is 7:45 p.m. and City Council is back in session. Do we have anything else to come before Council this evening? No one responded. 23. ADJOURNMENT: Mr. Rensel moved to adjourn. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Voice vote 7-0. The Regular Council meeting of 8-25-16 adjourned at 7:45 p.m. sb Approved: _____________________________________ __________________________________ Susan E. Burton James M. Donovan Clerk of Council President of Council 5