Tallmadge City Council Regular Business Meeting (2013-2019)

REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:30 p.m. September 27, 18 1. CALL TO ORDER. President of Council Kilway called the Regular Council meeting of Thursday, September 27, 2018 to order at 7:30 p.m. 2. PRAYER: Fr. Mike Matusz, Our Lady of Victory Church, Tallmadge. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: 3. ROLL CALL: Mrs. Allman, Mr. Carano, Mr. Donovan, Ms. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, and Mr. Sisak – present. Also present were Mayor Kline, Dir. of Pub. Service Rorar, Dir. of Administration Cooper, Dir. of Economic Development Weinberg, Dir. of Finance Gilbride, Dir. of Law Raber and Clerk of Council Burton. Ms. Tricaso was excused. 4. MINUTES: 9-13-18 Regular Council Meeting minutes. Mr. Donovan moved to adopt the Regular Meeting minutes of 9-13-18. Seconded Mr. Sisak. Voice vote 6-0. The Regular Council Meeting minutes of 9-13-18 were adopted by a vote of 6-0. 5. FINANCIAL REPORTS: None. 6. PUBLIC HEARINGS: None. 7. COMMUNITY INPUT: Pres. of Council: Tallmadge City Council meets on the second and fourth Thursday’s of each month with the Council Committee meetings starting at 7:00 p.m. followed by the Regular Council meeting. At the Committee meetings legislation is discussed thoroughly and Council decides to adopt, amend, reject, hold or table the legislation. We do allow time for community input at this point in the meeting. Is there anyone who would like to address Council at this time please come forward and state your name and address for the record. No takers tonight. OK. Thank you. 8. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Council, we have all been in receipt of a liquor application this afternoon for “Turn up the Taste Catering.” Since we did not have a lot of time to take a look at it, we will wait until the next Council meeting before voting on whether to hold a hearing if that is OK with everyone. It will give us a little more time to learn a little more about the company. 9. REPORTS OF SPECIAL COMMITTEES: None. 10. AGENDA ADDITIONS: None. 11. REPORTS OF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS: MAYOR, DIR. OF PUBLIC SERVICE, DIR. OF ADMINISTRATION, DIR. OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, DIR. OF FINANCE AND DIR. OF LAW. Mayor: Thank you Madame Chair. As you can see up on the wall there, Team Tallmadge did the walk down at Akron U for the Heart Walk and so I want to thank all of the members who attended down there. Between Tallmadge and everyone else there there were several thousand people and a lot of money was raised. But, I want to thank everyone for their efforts to help a great cause. Also, Phase 3 started next door today and so Fr. Mike will like to see the dirt moving around the yard again. They move it from one pile to the next and back again! It is the Summa building and they started the process today. End of report. Dir. of Pub. Service: Good evening. Real quick; we talked about the salt at the last meeting and we had the CUE bid and it was the Cargill bid that came in and you can see up there it is $79.82 and last year we were paying about $54 and so there is an increase. The problem is that on No. 2; they are not guaranteeing any deliveries until after January 7th and then No. 3; there was no guaranteed commitment. The CUE went out for a second bid and they got one from American Rock Salt and that price came in at $105 per ton and so it is a substantial increase. Over here is their kicker; they will deliver your complete order by November 30th and so the problem with that is if you are quasi full now and you can’t take the whole 3,000 tons because we don’t have the housing to store that amount; you are no longer allowed to stockpile on the ground anymore. The EPA doesn’t let you do that and so we can take about 2,000 of our 3,000 tons that we need to get through the winter with our current structure that we have. I reached out to an individual company and just asked them what would it take to get it and they gave us a $115 price and that is down there at the bottom and that price isn’t guaranteed and so that can fluctuate whenever it wants. So those are the choices there. They opened up a third bid today at 3:00 p.m. and I don’t believe that bid was very good because we never got any response from an e-mail from the CUE and so there are our options. None of them are very good. Mayor: Mike, how many tons of salt do we currently have in our dome? Dir. of Pub. Service: Right now we have about 1,800 to 2,000. Mayor: That should get us up through January, but as he has stated, if you can see there is no guarantee that we are going to get it. Mr. Sisak: What is our capacity? Dir. of Pub. Service: We have a dome that holds 3,000 and then we have an old dome that we abandoned and started putting topsoil in that we can . . . we plan on digging that all out and fill that and that can hold 1,400. So we can take our 2,000 that we can order and will be; I mean as full as it can possibly be and that sounds like that is the best case scenario. Mayor: We might have to do a re-appropriation before the end of the year at the $105 per ton.  REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:30 p.m. September 27, 18 Dir. of Pub. Service: Correct. Keep in mind that with the CUE there are 70 different governmental agencies on that and so from the universities to the City of Akron; I mean it is quite a bit and so everybody is in the same dilemma. Everybody keeps holding out because there are rumors that ODOT is going to do a contract now. I mean, at the end of the day; we don’t know any of that. Mayor: And one more item; we currently have $75,000 of the budget this year that is unappropriated for the purpose of salt. As you can see $105 per ton; and that is 200 tons and that is $200,000 and we have $75,000 of it covered, but it would require a re-appropriation if the CUE actually goes this way and we elect to go that way. Dir. of Pub. Service: Now, the American Rock Salt; why they want to deliver everything by November 30th is because they are out of New York and so once the winter hits; they are not coming down. They are not going to bring any salt. Mr. Sisak: What has been our average usage for the past say 10 years? Dir. of Pub. Service: Ten years; 3,500. Mr. Sisak: Per year? Dir. of Pub. Service: Yup. Mr. Sisak: And we currently have . . . Dir. of Pub. Service: 1,800. I am going to go on the low end. There again, that is tough, so anywhere between 1,800 and . . . Mr. Carano: So you are recommending that possibly cleaning out that one facility you have and get the American Rock Salt because it is guaranteed . . . is there a certain quantity that you have to commit to on that? Dir. of Pub. Service: We commit to the 2,000; still needing probably another 1,000 maybe and then we would hope that the Cargill bid would be real after January 7th. Mr. Carano: And then having a lower amount for Cargill; that won’t cause a problem; it will still be the same price? Dir. of Pub. Service: Yes, because they have already submitted that bid. So, at the next meeting I hope to come . . . We took a tree down today at the Circle that we noticed during the Circle Fest. All of those arrows are showing split branches and then on the trunk; it is split all the way down. It probably got hit by lightning at some point in the last year and a half to two years. A very dangerous tree. We had Davey Tree come out; a professional, and take a look at that and they said that it needed to be removed. So, if you hear any flak from anybody; yes, we took down another tree at the Circle, but obviously it was a dangerous tree and that is my report. Any questions? Mr. Sisak: Are you replacing any trees as you take them down? Dir. of Pub. Service: We are in hopes to. Mr. Loughry: Mr. Rorar; two questions, one, and you may have already reported on this and I may have forgotten, but where are we in the leaf program? Do we still have a leaf program? Do we still do that right? Dir. of Pub. Service: We do and we are getting the vacs moved up and ready to go. Mr. Loughry: I guess it is just a slow drop this year? Dir. of Pub. Service: Yes. Mr. Loughry: Secondly, I know that you and Rita are both working on this, but in my opinion, my opinion only probably; we cannot update our Zoning Code quick enough. 90% of the interaction I have with residents when they are questioning something is residential maintenance, commercial and industrial property maintenance and retail vacancy and the update of our Zoning Code will help us address all three of those issues. So, it can’t happen soon enough as far as I’m concerned. Dir. of Pub. Service: I think many would concur with you. Mayor: There is $100,000 in the budget for 2019 and we will award a contract for that purpose. Mr. Loughry: Thanks, Dir. of Administration: No report at this time. Dir. of Econ. Development: On the subject of the Zoning Code, so we have, as the Mayor has stated, budgeted that for 2019 and that will be approximately a 12-month process and so it is going to take some time. We received our proposals and have looked through all of those and have selected somebody and have made preliminary notification of whom we would like to have prepare that, but we are not ready to enter into any contract until the appropriation has been passed by Council. Mr. Loughry: Are we moving the Thoroughfare Plan to next year as well? Dir. of Econ. Development: I am working on that as well. End of report. Mr. Sisak: I have a question. Rita, on the business on Southwest Avenue; I know there was a meeting that had taken place; can you provide an update on that please? Dir. of Econ. Development: On 22 Southwest? Is that where you are talking about? Mr. Sisak: Horning Steel. Dir. of Econ. Development: Horning Steel. We met and discussed the conditions. I don’t know if there was any conclusion on that at this point, but the company is not really solid enough to put a lot of money into that property. I don’t know how far we are going to take that. Mr. Sisak: I don’t understand. Dir. of Econ. Development: There are a lot of property maintenance issues. Mr. Sisak: Oh yeah; there are 100 at a minimum. 2  REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:30 p.m. September 27, 18 Dir. of Econ. Development: Right and in other words, they probably would close their doors rather than try to put the money into that. Mr. Sisak: That was the feedback that I had got from the Zoning Department was they wanted to meet with the Administration. Are they tenants or do they own the building? Dir. of Econ. Development: I believe they own that building. Mr. Sisak: Is it a significant impact with the City; their income tax? Dir. of Econ. Development: I don’t know what they bring in. Mr. Sisak: I think that is where Mr. Loughry is going that you know we enforce things on the Circle and then you go a quarter mile down the road and we decide not to enforce it. I think that is kind of sometimes self-imposed unfortunately how we can turn a blind eye at something because it is not right on the Circle. I think enhancing the Zoning Code and just holding people to it; I mean, that building is a blight and it needs to go away. Dir. of Econ. Development: I agree. Mr. Carano: Would you like to report on the bicycle ride that took place? Dir. of Econ. Development: So, last Saturday we had the Bike and Brainstorm. We had about 40 riders I believe on that. It was about a 5 mile ride up North Avenue, down Howe Rd., to Munroe and then down East Avenue, which was an exciting ride down East to the trail. It was really a successful ride. I think everybody really had a lot of good comments when we stopped and talked and there was a lot of good input in terms of conditions of what could improve the experience of riding and what the pitfalls were and so you know, I think all in all, all of those comments were taken down by AMATS. They were here to monitor this and to run this ride. Other than that, I don’t know if we are expecting a report back from them at this point. Andrea Kidder was really instrumental in putting this together. Fortunately it wasn’t too hot. It was nice and cool that day. Mr. Loughry: Both the Mayor and Rita; I thought the articles that were in the Express were from Gateway. There were two for sure on the JEDD; one from our perspective and one from Brimfield’s. They were both very well done and showed how important the JEDD has been to both communities and it is just going to continue to get better and so I want to thank you for your efforts in doing that. A lot of people don’t know what all goes on behind the scenes to bring a project like that to fruition. Dir. of Finance: I would just like to request adoption of Ord. 77-2018 tonight. End of report. Dir. of Law: Thank you. I would have had my longest report like ever, but I did my presentation in the other meeting. I would ask that if you have any questions, feel free to ask me, but I would ask for adoption of Res. 19-2018. Mr. Loughry: Mrs. Raber, your presentation earlier that was in our Committee of the Whole meeting; are we allowed to like insert that into the minutes of this meeting or . . . Dir. of Law: We can just say for the record that you can please refer to the Committee of the Whole minutes and that a Power Point presentation was given to address State Issue 1. Mr. Loughry: Thank you. 12. Ordinance 76-2018 At 1st Reading. FINANCE Authorizing the Mayor to enter into an agreement with Trans-Foam Inc. for a New Jobs Program Grant pursuant to T.C.O. 160.05 and providing for imme- diate enactment. Pres. of Council: Ord. 76-2018 is at 1st Reading and is assigned to the Finance Committee. 13. Ordinance 77-2018 At 1st Reading. FINANCE Appropriating additional amounts and pro- viding for immediate enactment. Mr. Sisak moved for the adoption of Ord. 77-2018. Seconded Mr. Donovan. Dir. of Finance: I would just like to state that luckily . . . I know I have been gloom and doom about our income tax, but our investments are doing great and I have been able to shift some money around due to the higher interest rates we are earning and as of the third quarter this year, we have already exceeded what we had anticipated due to the shorter term interest rates going up for me, so I am just happy that I can report some good financial news that our investments are doing well. Roll Call: Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Carano – unanimous. Ord. 77-2018 is adopted by a vote of 6-0. 3  REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:30 p.m. September 27, 18 14. Resolution 19-2018 At 1st Reading. COMMUNITY ISSUES/SAFETY Expressing opposition against State Issue 1 and providing for immediate enactment. Mr. Carano moved for the adoption of Res. 19-2018 at 1st Reading. Seconded Mr. Loughry. Mr. Loughry: Just for the record, note that we had a very detailed presentation that included a Power Point at our last meeting and so going forward for the record please look back to the minutes of that meeting . . . Committee of the Whole meeting. Pres. of Council: Thank you. The only thing that I would like to add on this issue is that I do think that we need to somehow some way get a plain text version of this issue explained to the public because I know a lot of people who read the first couple paragraphs of the issue and say, oh that looks good; let’s just vote for it. I think we need to get some education out to the media, hopefully the Tallmadge Express can do an article, but they are not here today so if we could get some information to them that would be great too. Mayor: Mrs. Chairman, OML (Ohio Municipal League) also adopted a resolution for this and the Summit County Mayors Association is working on one as are Summit County Mayors working on the same type of resolution. This resolution, I’m sure, will be looked at by many other communities to model it. Roll Call: Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Carano, Mr. Donovan – unanimous. Res. 19-2018 is adopted by a vote of 6-0. 15. ADDITIONAL ITEMS: None. Mr. Loughry: Mrs. Kilway, can I use this time to ask a question or to just think about something for the future for Mrs. Gilbride. The Fed raised rates this week and are expected to do it two or three more times next year as well and so typically we would want our investments to be short- term so we could reinvest at a higher rate and if we are going to incur debt to do it as soon as possible. I think you would agree with that. Dir. of Finance: Yes. Thank you. 16. ADJOURNMENT: Mr. Donovan moved to adjourn. Seconded Mr. Sisak. Voice vote 6-0. The Regular Council meeting adjourned at 7:58 p.m. sb Adopted: ____________________________________ ______________________________________ Susan E. Burton, Clerk of Council Carol A. Kilway, President of Council 4