Tallmadge City Council Regular Business Meeting (2013-2019)

REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:30 p.m. October 24, 18 1. CALL TO ORDER. Vice President of Council Sisak called the Regular Council meeting of Wednesday, October 24, 2018 to order at 7:30 p.m. 2. PRAYER: Silent prayer. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: 3. ROLL CALL: Mrs. Allman, Mr. Carano, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Ms. Tricaso – present. Also present were Mayor Kline, Dir. of Pub. Service Rorar, Dir. of Administration Cooper, Dir. of Econ. Development Weinberg, Dir. of Finance Gilbride, Dir. of Law Raber and Clerk of Council Burton. Mrs. Kilway and Mr. Donovan were excused. 4. MINUTES: 10-11-18 Regular Council Meeting minutes. Mr. Carano moved to adopt the Regular Meeting minutes of 10-11-18. Seconded Mrs. Allman. Voice vote 5-0. The Regular Council Meeting minutes of 10-11-18 were adopted by a vote of 5-0. 5. FINANCIAL REPORTS: None. 6. PUBLIC HEARINGS: None. Pres. of Council: There will be an Executive Session prior to adjournment of the Regular Council meeting this evening to discuss potential pending litigation. 7. COMMUNITY INPUT: Pres. of Council: Is there anyone in the audience that would like to address Council, please come forward and state your name and address for the record please. Jeff Ferguson, Superintendent of Tallmadge City Schools, 486 East Avenue, Tallmadge. I just wanted to take the opportunity; I know we have a resolution before Council today and I hope that Council will consider that as a continued sign of support for our school district. I also want to say that the opportunity in a town where every child that we educate within the 14 miles square; what a tremendous sense of pride we have here and a long history of the Tallmadge Schools is that they all come from within those 14 miles and that is a town that partnerships with the City and the Schools and that truly does make a difference in our students lives. You know the goal that we have for all of our students as they leave us; we talk to them about the three “E’s” and we ask that as our students work through the process we hope that when they leave us they are going to be either employed, enrolled or enlisted and a big part of that are the experiences and the partnerships that they get here in this town with the City in so many ways along with the businesses in the community. So I hope that the resolution that comes before Council today as a sign of support for Issue 4; I hope that you see to continue that support and you are able to endorse that. Thank you. Vice Pres. of Council: Are there any questions for Mr. Ferguson? No one responded. Thank you. 8. ANNOUNCEMENTS: We do have to discuss the liquor license application that we have been passing on from one week to the next and it is on “Turn up the Taste Catering LLC” doing business as a scratch kitchen catering. I guess, Rita; do we have an update on this? Econ. Developer: I spoke with the State I think it was last week or the week before and they have received all of the information they need from the Board of Elections and they are in the process of doing their research and then they will have to make a determination whether or not this precinct is wet or dry, but it is in their hands right now and so until we hear from that we really don’t have much to react to because we don’t know if it is permissible at this time or whether they have to go to the ballot. Mayor: But there is a deadline. We do have a deadline; or they do. Vice Pres. of Council: The 26th. I mean, what happens if we don’t take action? I guess that is my question. Dir. of Law: Then we don’t have a hearing. It would still have . . . they still wouldn’t qualify if it is not underlying “wet” then they wouldn’t be allowed to do that, so I guess the bottom line is whether or not if they are able to get either . . . it is a “wet” district and/or they are able to get it passed to have that. Vice Pres. of Council: And this is a hearing at the State Board of Liquor Control; this is not a hearing for us, so we have not in the past asked for a hearing at the State Board of Liquor Control? Maybe in this kind of precarious situation, it would be prudent; I don’t know. Dir. of Law: Sure. We can say yes. Vice Pres. of Council: Does anyone from Council have any input or thoughts on the matter? Mayor: Mr. Chairman, I really wouldn’t have a problem with that location doing what they are asking for, but if they are not legally allowed, as Megan stated, I think that the State would not issue the permit. I mean, you could ask for a hearing . . . Ms. Tricaso: But, if they are not legally allowed; why would we have a hearing? Mayor: Well, they would probably cancel the hearing. Vice Pres. of Council: Yeah, they would. It would eventually cancel. Mr. Carano: Can they resubmit depending on what the outcome of the State Board is? Vice Pres. of Council: It would have to go to the voters.  REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:30 p.m. October 24, 18 Economic Developer: They would have to do a petition and take it to the voters and get the precinct. Vice Pres. of Council: Yeah, it would have to get changed if it is not already a “wet.” precinct. Dir. of Law: If you would like, we can request the hearing and then in the event that we get new information available to us; we can ask to withdraw the request. I don’t know how long it takes before they set that. Mr. Sisak: Right. Dir. of Law: So we can just go down that path out of an abundance of caution. Mr. Sisak: Council; anybody . . . Dennis I don’t see you down there. Mr. Loughry: I was just trying to remember; it has been so long ago. I understand where Mrs. Raber is coming from in that there is no harm to ask, but we’ve not asked before and so I don’t know if that looks like you are picking on an applicant or not. I don’t know what is taking them so long to open. It still looks like it is a shell to me when I drive by, but . . . and I don’t know why it is so difficult to determine why it is “wet” or “dry”? To me, the Summit County Board of Elections should be able to give you that answer pretty quickly. So, I have been out of the loop for a long time and I don’t know why this is so hard to determine. Mr. Sisak: I agree. Mr. Loughry: But, I would always typically deter to the Law Director. I think we should request a hearing probably. Vice Pres. of Council: Does anyone else have a comment on that? Econ. Developer: I just wanted to say the one point to Mr. Loughry’s comment; it is a complicated process and I don’t fully understand it, but I have been trying to do it for the past three years trying to figure this out, but what I understand is that the Board of Elections cannot tell you whether it is wet or dry. What they basically do is they provide the history of the address and they give that to the State and then the State has to go through everything else and make that determination. I have tried very much to get a full list so I can have an understanding of the entire City and what areas are wet and dry and apparently I have a piece of it that goes back so far, but then there are areas that go back even further that I don’t have that information. For some reason it is more complicated than we would have imagined, but we just have to wait to hear what the State has to say. Mr. Loughry: Here is what I know historically. It was dry because years and years and years ago, Mr. Schipper did not want his plaza to have an establishment that served. His thoughts on that have changed over the years and he conveyed those to me when I was still working. Then we did redo the map; right, but I don’t know if the plaza now is included, but I do know that there would be no address within the plaza that no one every carried a petition to get voted on; I do know that. Mayor: Except the gas station, you can buy beer there, but not consume it. So they might be able to sell it there, but not consume like they are asking for. That is what is so difficult here. So the Board of Elections has to go back and look at every election going all the way back to see if that area was ever voted on. Vice Pres. of Council: So for the audience, and some of the students here; we have an application to sell alcohol. Previously it is unsure if this address is in a precinct that is allowed to sell alcohol and in addition this establishment is also asking to consume it on their premises. So that adds another kind of glitch into the application and that is why we are discussing why whether or not to have a hearing at the Ohio Liquor Board. Dir. of Law: Could I make this recommendation; if the issue is whether or not the underlying . . . I guess my question is is there any objection to it if it were permitted legally, and I guess, because I would ask you to just frame the motion that if we can find that out before the deadline that you give us an opportunity to try to decide. My understanding is that they would deny it and they can’t issue one to somebody who is not legally permitted to have it. So, if they get that Board of Elections information and it is going to be denied anyway, we don’t need to request the hearing. So, I guess if you could just frame the motion that . . . I guess I just need to know from you if there are objections to it beyond that issue. Mr. Loughry: I would not have any objections. Vice Pres. of Council: Alright. Do you want to say “so moved” on Megan’s motion? Dir. of Law: So I guess framing it that you will not request a hearing unless it is determined that the State does not automatically deny the application if it is not based on the Board of Election information whether it has been voted in as wet or dry. Does that make sense sort of? Mayor: Second! Ms. Tricaso: Do I have to make a motion on that or do I have to repeat that? Vice Pres. of Council: Yes. No; we will accept that as so moved and we will just need a second. Mr. Loughry: I’ll second that. Vice Pres. of Council: OK, we have a motion and a second regarding “Turn up the Taste Catering LLC” dba Scratch Kitchen and Catering. Madame Clerk; please call the roll. 2  REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:30 p.m. October 24, 18 Roll Call: Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Ms. Tricaso, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Carano – unanimous. The request for not having a hearing on “Turn up the Taste Catering” has passed by a vote of 5-0. 9. REPORTS OF SPECIAL COMMITTEES: 10. AGENDA ADDITIONS: Vice Pres. of Council: We do not have any reports of special committees this evening and we have no additions to the agenda. 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: Again, talking about tomorrow night; Beggar’s Night. It starts at 5:30 p.m. in Tallmadge and then the Street Dance is at 6:00 p.m. We are looking for volunteers to work that as we have in the past. So, please show up. We definitely would appreciate that. End of report. Mrs. Allman: The Street Dance is at 7:00 right? Mayor: 7:00 p.m. at the Rec Center. Cleanup starts at 9:00 p.m. Dir. of Pub. Service: Good evening; I have no report. Thank you. Mr. Sisak: When is the Leaf Program starting? Dir. of Pub. Service: It’s the week of November 4th I think. Mr. Sisak: And it will be a four-week pickup? Dir. of Pub. Service: No; it’s six weeks. Mr. Sisak: And it will be by precinct or by ward or . . . or by when the leaves drop? Dir. of Pub. Service: Yeah, they will try to get out to every . . . they cut the City in quadrants and so if they have got 7 crews out; they will send them out to the 7 and if they have 5 they will make the quadrants larger. Mr. Sisak: And then . . . great thank you. Dir. of Administration: Good evening. No report. Dir. of Econ. Development: Just a few brief comments on projects. Maplecrest is proceeding; I don’t know if any of you have been out there to see all the work that is being done. We should see the vertical construction sometime in the spring. I had a chance to also get an update on Ripley Farm. The developer has closed on the purchase of that and so they are definitely committed and maybe they will be closer to identifying a builder for the houses and any possible modifications to that site. They are looking at other possibilities as well to go along with that to compliment the housing. Also we are working with Waltco. They are currently occupying three buildings. They own two of them and are leasing a third from Speelman Electric. That lease is up in 2020 and so they really need to . . . and they are going to be vacating the building across the street on Northeast and so they really need to find a resolution to get more efficient and get everything under one roof and so we are going to be working with them over the next few months to see if we can help them and solidify some plans for moving forward. They have a lot of good employment here and it is a good company and so we really want to see what we can do to help them and maintain in the City or nearby. End of report. Dir. of Finance: Thank you. Just to update everyone, we have . . . my office has started doing training on our new software. We are in the process of doing webinars and training and that process will probably go through the end of this year and then we will see conversion probably shortly after the year closes, so hopefully we will be able to do . . . that is what I am pushing for with the software company. I would rather close our year on our current system and then start the new year on the new system. End of report. Dir. of Law: Thank you. In our community and in our schools, this is Red Ribbon Week and so the Police Department was able to partner with the PTA and they provided wristbands for the students that say Drug Free with Tallmadge PD and Red Ribbon Week 2018 and I was happy to participate as the Law Director this year in sponsoring bracelets that represented kindness for Unity Day which also stands against bullying and so I handed those out to all of the students in the elementary schools, the Middle School and then worked with Start Talking Tallmadge for the High School students to get those. I would also like to remind everyone that this Saturday is the next Drug Takeback and so we do those twice annually and it is a great time to clean out cabinets and get rid of all your unused drugs whether it is prescriptions or over the counter stuff; we will take it and it is a great way to make sure you don’t have those medications laying around the house. So we highly encourage people to take advantage of that. If you can’t get out on Saturday, just remember there is always a dump box in the lobby of the Police Department that you can drop them off at any time 24/7. So, thank you very much. 3  REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:30 p.m. October 24, 18 12. Ordinance 76-2018 At 3rd 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. Mr. Carano moved for the adoption of Ord. 76-2018. Seconded Mr. Loughry. Roll Call: Mr. Sisak, Ms. Tricaso, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Carano, Mr. Loughry – unanimous. Ord. 76-2018 is adopted by a vote of 5-0. 13. Ordinance 78-2018 At 2nd Reading. PUBLIC SERVICE Authorizing the Mayor to solicit proposals and award a five (5) year contract for towing services for the City safety forces and providing for immediate enactment. Vice Pres. of Council: Ord. 78-2018 is at 2nd Reading and will remain before the Public Service Committee. 14. Ordinance 79-2018 At 2nd Reading. PLANNING & ZONING Amending Ord. 67-2001 granting a condi- tional zoning certificate for special non- residential development to applicant/owner Jeffrey Postma/Eastwood Self Storage LLC for use as self-storage units located at 2007 Eastwood Avenue and approving and granting the same to Parcels 6009111 and 6009112. Vice Pres. of Council: Ord. 79-2018 is at 2nd Reading and will remain before the Planning & Zoning Committee. 15. Ordinance 82-2018 At 1st Reading. FINANCE Adopting a budget for various funds of the P.H. ON 12-13-18 @ 7:33 P.M. City of Tallmadge, Ohio, for current expenses and other expenditures during fiscal year ending December 31, 2019, appropriating the necessary funds for the administration thereof, authorizing trans- fers between funds, and providing for immediate enactment. Pres. of Council: Ord. 82-2018 is at 1st Reading and is assigned to the Finance Committee. Mayor: Thank you. This is it. We just printed it off at about 4:30 p.m. You will get . . . we will scan it in and send it out to you in a pdf, but we will also make copies and put them in your mailbox. I will say that it has been easy putting budgets together over the last 8 or almost 9 years. This is definitely one of the harder budgets that I have ever put together or the team that worked on this; all of us with the help of the Finance Director, the Administration and all of the Department Heads. It is a very lean budget, but it will do very good for the City. We will do streets; add a lot of good things to the City and keep us operating and keeping us very good for our budget. I ask you to take a look at it and feel free to give us a call and we have the public hearing on December 13th and then we have the Work Session at our next Council meeting on the 8th at 6:00 p.m. Mr. Sisak: Thank you for that reminder. Mr. Loughry: Can I ask the Mayor a question. Will that be on the website Mayor so the residents can look at it and provide us with questions if they have anything? Is there a place where the public can go look at . . . or is it typically not available. Mayor: I mean, it is still a working document until . . . Mr. Sisak: Until it is passed. Mrs. Gilbride; we use the Checkbook on-line? Dir. of Finance: Yes, I use the on-line Checkbook. I update that quarterly and actually all of the financial reports that Council receives; I actually do post monthly on my web page. Mr. Sisak: So maybe we could just ask that. Mr. Loughry: No, I’m fine; I just didn’t know if typically people had access so they would show up at the public hearing with a specific question. That’s all. Mr. Sisak: As the Mayor mentioned, we will set a public hearing for Ord. 82-2018 for Thursday, December 13th at 7:33 p.m. Is there any more discussion or commentary? No one responded. 4  REGULAR MEETING in Council Chambers @ 7:30 p.m. October 24, 18 16. Ordinance 83-2018 At 1st Reading. FINANCE Authorizing the Mayor to apply for the Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund Grant; and providing for immediate enactment. Pres. of Council: Ord. 83-2018 is at 1st Reading and is assigned to the Finance Committee. 17. Ordinance 84-2018 At 1st Reading. FINANCE Authorizing the Mayor to enter into con- tracts for the purchase of road salt without competitive bidding and providing for immediate enactment. Pres. of Council: Ord. 84-2018 is at 1st Reading and is assigned to the Finance Committee. 18. Resolution 22-2018 At 1st Reading. COMMUNITY ISSUES/SAFETY Expressing support for the Tallmadge City School District on Issue 4 in Summit County and Issue 5 in Portage County and providing for immediate enactment. Mr. Loughry moved for the adoption of Res. 22-2018. Seconded Ms. Tricaso. Mr. Carano: I would like to thank Mr. Loughry for pushing this resolution and I think it is important for a strong public education system not only for the children but for the parents of our community and the society at large. Having well-educated children in our community who can critically analyze information, make informed decisions; it is sort of the hallmark of our democracy so that education in itself is not necessarily just; it’s not just a jobs program; it is part of our system of democracy in having a well-educated public and my children haven’t been in school for 15 years, but I have always supported the educational system because I think it is an important part of public good and I think that the first public education school was I think in Boston in 1821 and so we have a long history of support for public schools and in recent . . . maybe less than 10 years or so, what has happened is that at the State level funding has been limited to districts and it is in my opinion; it’s a planned thing and it is an attempt to underfund public education so that things like charter schools and for-profit education can take its place, which personally, I am opposed to it. I think public education itself is a viable thing for our country as a whole and for our community. So as Henry Giroux; he is a noted educator said, “Public schools are at the center of the manufactured breakdown of the fabric of everyday life. They are under attack not because they are failing, but because they are public.” So, I just want to voice my support for the fact that our public schools that the funding that goes to them for our children and for the future of our country. That’s all. Thank you. Roll Call: Mr. Sisak, Ms. Tricaso, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Carano, Mr. Loughry – unanimous. Res. 22- 2018 is adopted by a vote of 5-0. Mr. Sisak: At this time we will entertain a motion to go into Executive Session for the purpose of potential pending litigation. Ms. Tricaso: So moved. Seconded Mrs. Allman. Roll Call: Ms. Tricaso, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Carano, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak – unanimous. Vice Pres. of Council: It is now 7:59 p.m. and we are entering into Executive Session. Vice Pres. of Council: It is now 8:07 p.m. and we have returned from Executive Session. 19. ADDITIONAL ITEMS: Vice Pres. of Council: Please remember the Budget Work Session on Thursday, November 8th at 6:00 p.m. prior to the Council of the Whole Committee meeting. 20. ADJOURNMENT: Mrs. Allman moved to adjourn. Seconded Ms. Tricaso. Voice vote 5-0. The Regular Council meeting of 10-24-18 adjourned at 8:08 p.m. sb Adopted: _________________________________ __________________________________ Susan E. Burton, Clerk of Council Craig B. Sisak, Vice President of Council 5