Tallmadge City Council Regular Business Meeting (2013-2019)

REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:30 p.m. June 22, 17 1. CALL TO ORDER: President of Council Donovan called the Regular Council meeting of Thursday, June 22, 2017 to order at 7:30 p.m. 2. PRAYER: Fr. Mike Matusz, Our Lady of Victory Church, Tallmadge. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE. 3. ROLL CALL: Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway, Mrs. Ray, Mr. Rensel, Mr. Sisak, Ms. Tricaso – present. Also present were Mayor Kline, Dir. of Pub. Service Rorar, Dir. of Admin. Cooper, Dir. of Law Raber, Dir. of Finance Gilbride, Economic Developer Weinberg and Clerk of Council Burton. Mr. Stalnaker was excused. 4. MINUTES: 6-8-17 Regular Council meeting minutes. Mrs. Ray moved to approve the 6-8-17 Regular Council Meeting minutes. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Voice vote 6-0. The 6-8-17 Regular Council meeting minutes were approved by a vote of 6-0. FINANCIAL REPORTS: None. 6. COMMUNITY INPUT: Would anybody like to address Council this evening? Nobody rushes to the microphone. 6.A. ANNOUNCEMENTS: There will be an Executive Session prior to adjournment of this evening’s Regular Council meeting to discuss Pending Litigation. 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, DIRECTOR OF ADMINISTRATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Mayor: Thank you Mr. Chairman. I will start off with the Testa building next door to us. They are on the countdown now and so I think it is nine days and counting that they hope to get occupancy. So I hope that works out for them. There is a lot of work to do, but they are working; it doesn’t look like they are working around the clock, but there is a lot of work to do over there for them to open in nine days and I thank the Fire Department and the Fire Chief is here; Mike Passarelli. They are working with them trying to do what they can do and doing all kinds of inspections on a daily basis just to get them going, but the life safety issues have to be completed and the fire alarms, sprinkler system and elevator and stairwells for the entire complex have to be inspected. So they are busy working over there. Wally Waffle is beautiful inside. I am pretty excited for that. They are trying to be open by July 1st. That is also on the countdown, but that . . . the life safety has to be for the entire complex and just not Wally Waffle. Wally Waffle will be at the Heritage Commission next Tuesday along with Crimson Cup. Heritage is coming . . . or Wally Waffle is coming in for a fence for outdoor seating right in front in the patio area. It will allow a couple of tables along the front patio there and so they have to do the fence design because that was not approved and that would be subject to Planning & Zoning approving a modified site plan. So they are also on for Planning & Zoning, but Heritage is next week and Planning & Zoning is the following week and so we are going to let them come in to get the fence approved subject to that at Planning & Zoning. Speaking of Planning & Zoning, there are seven items on the agenda now as of today. It started off with three items and now we are up to seven items. At the end of the agenda we were asked for a Work Session between Planning & Zoning and Council if you wanted to join just to see the site plan update for the new school district; the Middle School site and with seven items on there I called them today and said that it could be 9:00 p.m. and by that time no one is really thinking about wanting to stay here and look at a site plan and so we offered 6:00 p.m. for anybody who wanted to come in just as an Administrative Work Session for the site plan. It would be a public meeting. It is at 6:00 p.m. if Council wants to come. The School District will be here with their architects and we will invite Planning & Zoning members who are able to come to that. Mrs. Kilway: 6:00 pm? Mayor: 6:00 p.m. on July 6th and then we will go into the seven-item agenda on Planning & Zoning. The Bob’s Big Boy site; I went through that today. The nail salon is very close to opening their doors. It looks pretty nice inside. They are doing some final touches; doing some drop ceilings in the middle sections and the floor is in and the new booths or whatever they do for the pedicures or whatever . . . I’m trying to act stupid! Just kidding. So with that, it is looking good and the Crimson Cup as stated earlier; they are also on the Heritage Commission for their signage for their cup design. The other ones are in the Building Department for planning for Sutton Bank and Planet Fresh. It sounds like they are on track. With that, there are a lot of things on the agenda tonight. I do request Ord. 55-2017; that is at 2nd Reading regarding the cars and you can clean that up and Item 15, Ord. 60-2017; that is a re-appropriation that Mollie will talk about which is a good re-appropriation; a good thing to have and she will talk about that. Item 16, Ord. 61-2017, OPWC Commission; it allows us to apply for a grant for sewer lining.  REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:30 p.m. June 22, 17 Mayor (Cont’d.) We did this last year. This is only authorizing us to apply. If we get it then we still have to come back to Council for different stuff and that deadline is coming up and we are asking for 1st Reading adoption on that. Item 18, Ord. 63-2017, is the health benefit ordinance as we talked about before. We are switching to Jefferson Health Care. It is a Council of Governments and in the contract, it requires us to have Council legislation to allow us to enter into the COG into the Jefferson Plan which I am asking for 1 st Reading adoption on that. End of report. Pres. of Council: Any questions? No one responded. Thank you very much. Dir. of Pub. Service: I have no report this evening. Thank you. Mrs. Ray: Wow, we were looking forward to like 30 minutes or 45 minutes or something! Pres. of Council: It has been a while. Mrs. Ray: It’s been a while. Pres. of Council: Alright, next up is Dir. of Finance. Dir. of Finance: Thank you. I did want to update Council; I did receive an e-mail from the Ohio Municipal League and R.I.T.A. today. The State Budget has gone into Conference Committee and the items that we have been working to get out are not out. I did, today, send mostly the previous e-mail that I had sent out to Rep. DeVitis and I also reiterated those points to all of the Representatives and Senators on the Conference Committee. They are still eliminating the throwback provision as part of the Tax Code and so if that remains; I would anticipate that that would have some negative effects on our revenue in 2018. What that exactly will be is hard to tell. I have made some guesses. R.I.T.A. sent a number around $300,000 and so it will be probably . . . that tax wouldn’t go into effect until 2018 and so it would be the 2019 collection year that we would probably start to see those revenues cut. In addition, they did make changes regarding the Net Profit Returns and they made it optional that businesses could opt-into having their State Tax Commissioner collect their Net Profit Returns and that would be a bargain basement price of 1% to the City and so businesses will now have their own choices as it is in the legislation right now; they will have the choice of opting in or out of the State Tax Commissioner collecting their Net Profit Returns or the City would collect it. If the State collects it, then it will cost the City 1% of whatever their Net Profit return would bring in. So, as I stated, I did send my concerns to the members who are on the Conference Committee and also I had sent stuff to our State Senators and our own Senator for this region and then the others touching us, so I guess we have a hope that maybe the Conference Committee will not be able to agree on those two items and bring together what the House and the Senate are proposing and maybe take them out and maybe deciding to explore them at a later time. So, just to give Council an update that that is what the State Budget is looking like right now. Mrs. Kilway: I just have a question. By allowing the Ohio businesses to choose which entity they want to submit their Net Profit Taxes; isn’t that going to be an administrative nightmare because the City is not going to know where the money is at? Dir. of Finance: Right and that is the argument that is being made is that by allowing businesses to choose who they want to collect their taxes . . . because if they choose the State Tax Commissioner; the State Tax Commissioner really becomes the taxing authority and we, as the City, will have very limited amounts of information that we will have access to. They did, the Senate did provide that they at least have to provide us with the tax payers Tax ID number and some other information, but it is likely that we will not have access to their total returns and the Tax Commissioner would have all the decision making power as to penalties, interest, filing and all of those items would fall under the Tax Commissioner and what they have also added is that if a business opts in; they have to make that opting decision for five years and so if they decide that they want the Tax Commissioner to collect for them; that business is . . . and the first year that they don’t like it; they are stuck for five years and so they wanted to kind of make people who do it have to stay so they don’t have this bunch of people going, oh we are going in and then going, wait; we didn’t like that and we are going out. So, if a business opts-in; they are in for five years with the State of Ohio. Mrs. Kilway: Interesting. Mr. Rensel: Can you just summarize quickly; what is the genesis of this legislative request in the State of Ohio? Mr. Sisak: Revenue. Dir. of Finance: This administration has been trying to take the control . . . I mean this goes back three or four years ago when where they wanted, as part of their campaign, to unify and make Municipal Income Tax simpler; they wanted to centralize collections. They wanted one person collecting all income tax and their argument is that it would make the State more business friendly, but I just think it just makes it more confusing. I don’t know . . . I don’t; operate a business so you know, I don’t understand, but they keep . . . they have taken away our Local Government Funds and are putting those back into the State and then now all of the sudden it is like, oh wait, we want to collect your Income Tax for you too and I just think for a cities like us; we are doing well. Our income taxes have rebounded and luckily we have been able to offset all of that Local Government cuts with you know . . . the economy and our businesses around here are doing so well. So, they claim it is to be more friendly to businesses and that we have a very complex municipal taxation system and that is their argument, but a lot of us do have centralized collection; I mean, we use R.I.T.A. and we 2  REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:30 p.m. June 22, 17 Dir. of Finance (Cont’d.) decided that you know we don’t want businesses going everywhere; we use R.I.T.A. who collects for over 300 entities. But, I think that is their basic argument is that it would, you know, spur economic development by . . . Mr. Rensel: R.I.T.A. collects it, but we still see that money. Dir. of Finance: Correct. Mr. Rensel: And if the State collects it; what happens? Do we see the money or . . . Dir. of Finance: We will see the money. They do have to give us the money and they will charge us a 1% collection fee, but the difference between what the State wants to do and what R.I.T.A. wants to do is that when we work with R.I.T.A. we are still in charge. We still . . . I still work with them and I still work with my taxpayers you know and we here have the final say on what we want to do with our Income Tax. I can see all of our tax payer’s information and I can help them and with the State doing that; they are basically saying we don’t want you to have anything to do with it anymore. We are going to take care of it and we will just let you know what or how much we collected. Mr. Rensel: Thank you. Mr. Sisak: I would potentially see problems with you doing the couple days here helping people file. Did you have any R.I.T.A. representatives or anything or was it just your office staff helping file and then when you guys did the . . . trying to get people in to kind of take care of their . . .? Dir. of Finance: No, actually R.I.T.A. sends out their representatives, but we do; I mean, we do . . . Mr. Sisak: But, I don’t see that happening with the State. There is no way. Dir. of Finance: Oh no. I mean, we do here; I make sure my staff . . . I mean, we all know how to do tax returns and so we help any resident who comes in. Mr. Sisak: But that level of service that we get with R.I.T.A. Dir. of Finance: Right, you won’t have that. No. OK, and then my last item is that I would request 1st Reading adoption of Ord. 60-2017 which is the appropriation ordinance. It is June and we already have more interest than we anticipated and so as the Mayor stated, it is a good re-appropriation and so I need that so that at the end of June I can take that interest and distribute it back into the General Fund and the other funds that get that interest for use. Currently, we actually had anticipated $45,000 and we are already at $61,559 and so basically we have seen rates go up about 40% of what our old CD’s were maturing at and so I think we will be in even better shape next year and so when you see the budget, you will probably see Anticipated Revenue in next year’s budget much higher. I am hoping we keep that pace and I am hoping we do see about $120,000 in interest this year. End of report. Dir. of Law: Thank you. You may have already seen the e-mail, but I did just want to announce that my Law Secretary, Amanda Medley, will be leaving. I am excited for her. It is for something that she wants to pursue; she wants to pursue her Graduate Degree and she is going to NYU to pursue a Music Master’s Degree and so it is actually very prestigious and I am very excited for her. So we have posted that and we will be advertising in the Beacon Journal as well as the Tallmadge Express and Cuyahoga Falls and Stow Century this weekend. So, end of report. Dir. of Administration: Thank you. I have no report at this time. Economic Developer: Thank you. I did have a list of items to report, but I think the Mayor covered everything, so end of report. Mr. Rensel: Rita; I do have a question regarding the Brimfield Plaza with the new proprietor on the east side. They are breaking ground. Do you know what is happening there? Economic Developer: Brimfield Plaza; I’m not . . . Mayor: The Cascades. That brand new . . . Mr. Rensel: Yeah, it’s in front of the Chinese Restaurant and they are digging up dirt and pushing it around. Mrs. Kilway: By Marshal’s. Economic Developer: I guess I will have to look into that. I didn’t know that. Mr. Rensel: Just a question. Thank you. 10. Ordinance 55-2017 At 2nd Reading. FINANCE Declaring certain City-owned vehicles to be ADOPT 2-0 excess and authorizing the Director of pub- blic Service to sell such equipment at public sale or trade-in and providing for immediate enactment. Mrs. Ray moved for the adoption of Ord. 55-2017 at 2nd Reading. Seconded Mr. Sisak. Roll Call: Mrs. Ray, Mr. Rensel, Mr. Sisak, Ms. Tricaso, Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway – unanimous. Ord. 55-2017 is adopted by a vote of 6-0. 3  REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:30 p.m. June 22, 17 11. Ordinance 56-2017 At 1st Reading. PLANNING & ZONING Amending Ordinance 46-2001 and Chapter 1189.05 of the Tallmadge Codified Ordi- nances relating to dining establishments serving alcoholic beverages. Mayor: Just for your . . . the map that was put on your desk tonight; if you look at that map to understand what that is; everything in yellow is the existing zoning. The green is the new request and the language below was a memo that was attached or detached before, but we added the language of what each one of those sections are including the existing yellow. So like the very first bullet point; all of Tallmadge Circle. As you can see, it is in yellow and it is all of the Commercial area; West Avenue from the Circle westerly to the corporate boundaries. That is in yellow and that was complete and so as you read each one of those down, you can see what is going on there. It is at 1st Reading. There is a lot to talk about. Pres. of Council: Ord. 56-2017 is at 1st Reading and is assigned to the Planning & Zoning Committee and I will set a public hearing for August 24, 2017 at 7:33 p.m. 12. Ordinance 57-2017 At 1st Reading. COMMUNITY ISSUES/SAFETY Amending Ordinance 49-2012 authorizing the Mayor to enter into an amendment to Automatic Aid Agreement with the City of Akron for Fire and EMS Services and providing for immediate enactment. Pres. of Council: Ord. 57-2017 is at 1st Reading and is assigned to the Community Issues/Safety Committee. 13. Ordinance 58-2017 At 1st Reading. FINANCE Authorizing the Director of Finance to enter into an agreement with the Ohio Attorney General for delinquent debt collection and providing for immediate enactment. Pres. of Council: Ord. 58-2017 is at 1st Reading and is assigned to the Finance Committee. 14. Ordinance 59-2017 At 1st Reading. FINANCE Authorizing the Director of Finance to enter into an agreement with Weltman, Weinberg & Reis Co., L.P.A. for the purpose of collection of municipal account balances and providing for immediate enactment. Pres. of Council: Ord. 59-2017 is at 1st Reading and is assigned to the Finance Committee. 15. Ordinance 60-2017 At 1st Reading. FINANCE Appropriating additional amounts and pro- viding for immediate enactment. Mrs. Ray moved for the adoption of Ord. 60-2017 at 1st Reading. Seconded Mr. Sisak. Roll Call: Mr. Rensel, Mr. Sisak, Ms. Tricaso, Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway, Mrs. Ray – unanimous. Ord. 60-2017 is adopted by a vote of 6-0. 16. Ordinance 61-2017 At 1st Reading. PUBLIC SERVICE Authorizing the City of Talmadge to prepare and submit an application to participate in the Ohio Public Works Commission State Capital Improvement and/or Local Trans- portation Improvement Program(s) and to execute contracts as required and providing for immediate enactment. Mrs. Kilway moved for the adoption of Ord. 61-2017. Seconded Mrs. Ray. Mayor: Thank you. As you can see in the second WHEREAS clause; the Capital Improvement would be for Evergreen and Mark Drive sanitary sewer. So it is that quadrant. We televised and we came up with a game plan and that is a perfect one to line to stop infiltration. That is just an ongoing project that we always apply for. Roll Call: Mr. Sisak, Ms. Tricaso, Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway, Mrs. Ray, Mr. Rensel – unanimous. Ord. 61-2017 is adopted by a vote of 6-0. 4  REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:30 p.m. June 22, 17 17. Ordinance 62-2017 At 1st Reading. FINANCE Authorizing the Mayor to enter into a lease agreement with Tallmadge Grow, Inc., a Community Improvement Corporation for 333 Northeast Avenue and authorizing the leasing and subleasing therefor and pro- viding for immediate enactment. Mayor: Just to give you a brief update; that is the old Tallmadge Bowling Alley location. So Waltco Trucking would like to install a parking lot . . . you saw the signs on Northeast Avenue “For Sale” on the south side of the property. They are trying to put everybody on to the north side of Northeast Avenue so all of the parking that is back in the back will move over to that location and also part of the trailhead going into the Hike and Bike Trail and so we are working with Waltco to build that parking lot. We will design it and we will engineer it, but Waltco is willing to do all of the work to improve the parking lot and they even asked yesterday if they could put lights on there also and it would be overflow parking for SPAN Ministries. So, it is pretty exciting. They are looking at committing to stay at that location and so that just allows the CIC to go out and negotiate a lease. Pres. of Council: Mr. Mayor; were you looking at this at 1st Reading? Mayor: You don’t have to . . . all it is doing is allowing it to go into the CIC. Pres. of Council: Ord. 62-2017 is at 1st Reading and is assigned to the Finance Committee. 18. Ordinance 63-2017 At 1st Reading. PERSONNEL Authorizing the Mayor to enter into an agreement to join the Jefferson Health Plan, a regional Council of Governments, for participation in the Health Plan Benefits Program and providing for immediate enactment. Mrs. Kilway moved for the adoption of Ord. 63-2017 at 1st Reading. Seconded Mr. Rensel. Roll Call: Ms. Tricaso, Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway, Mrs. Ray, Mr. Rensel, Mr. Sisak – unanimous. Ord. 63-2017 is adopted by a vote of 6-0. Mayor: Thank you. 19. Ordinance 64-2017 At 1st Reading. PLANNING & ZONING Approving and granting a conditional zoning certificate to applicant, Individual Outcomes, LLC, on behalf of Owner, Eastwood Square Associates, for an adult day care facility that serves individuals with developmental disabilities at 586 South Avenue. Pres. of Council: Ord. 64-2017 is at 1st Reading and is assigned to the Planning & Zoning Committee. 20. Ordinance 65-2017 At 1st Reading. PERSONNEL Creating one full-time position of Planning and Zoning Manager; establishing the pay band and benefits therefore; abolishing one full-time position of Administrative Assis- tant/Zoning and providing for immediate enactment. Pres. of Council: Ord. 65-2017 is at 1st Reading and is assigned to the Personnel Committee. 21. Ordinance 66-2017 At 1st Reading. PERSONNEL Creating one full-time position of Deputy Systems Administrator; establishing the pay band and benefits therefore; abolishing one full-time position of Assistant Computer Technician and providing for immediate enactment. Pres. of Council: Ord. 66-2017 is at 1st Reading and is assigned to the Personnel Committee. 5  REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:30 p.m. June 22, 17 22. ADDITIONAL ITEMS: None. Mrs. Ray: I move that we adjourn for Executive Session to discuss Pending Legislation. Mayor: Litigation. Mrs. Ray: Litigation; I’m sorry. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Roll Call: Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway, Mrs. Ray, Mr. Rensel, Mr. Sisak, Ms. Tricaso – unanimous. Pres. of Council: It is now 8:00 p.m. and we will go into Executive Session. Pres. of Council: It is now 8:12 p.m. and we are back on the floor. Is there anything else to come before Council this evening? No one responded. 23. ADJOURNMENT: Mrs. Ray moved to adjourn. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. The Regular Council meeting of 6-22-17 adjourned at 8:12 p.m. sb Approved: _____________________________________ __________________________________ Susan E. Burton James A. Donovan Clerk of Council President of Council 6