President of Council Marjorie Harlow called Council to order on February 4, 2009, at 7:00 p.m.

    The governmental body and those in attendance recited the pledge of allegiance.

    Mrs. McNear took roll call. Present were Council members Danbury, Diehl, Galster, Squires, Vanover, Wilson and Harlow.

    The minutes of January 21, 2009 were approved with seven affirmative votes.

    COMMUNICATIONS

    Mrs. McNear said we have a letter from Time Warner Cable notifying us that are going to adjust the bundle DVR service rate from $4.95 to $6.95 and the standard DVR rate will be unchanged at $8.95.

    Mayor Webster read a letter from Ken Zinnecker, 497 Dimmick Avenue thanking the City for its excellent snow removal.

    COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE    -     none

    OPRA Awards of Excellence     -     Greg Karle

    Greg Karle, Parks & Recreation Director, stated Springdale won several awards at the Ohio Parks and Recreation Association Conference this past month. Every year the association recognizes innovation and excellence in programming, marketing and facilities. The competition is from small villages to large cities throughout the state. We won two superior awards in programming areas and we won a meritorious award in marketing. Mr. Karle said the major credit for the two programs we were honored for, 123 Swim and Experience Springdale, goes to Sharon Casselman and the marketing credit goes to Jackie O’Connell and Anna Breidenbach for The Scoop.

    Sharon Casselman thanked Council and Mr. Karle for their support.

    Mayor Webster said the senior programming is very productive and I am very proud of it. They are cost efficient programs.

    Mr. Danbury, Mr. Diehl, Mr. Wilson and Mr. Vanover offered congratulations.

    Duke Energy – Ken Toebbe and Marvin Blade

    Mr. Toebbe we talked at the last meeting about the conductor that had come down a couple of times on Mulhausser Road. The conductor does not have any signs of deterioration but we did identify a problem with a clamp. We have that clamp in fifty-two locations on that circuit. We have plans to eliminate that clamp starting tomorrow and it will take about two weeks to replace them all. We will do another inspection and repair of any other problems we see while we are in that area. That transmission that is feeding the substations in the area will be switched out to other circuits in the area and you will see no power outages.

    Mrs. Harlow said we also had a question about the telephone pole on SR 4.

    Mr. Toebbe said I have talked to the field supervisor and as I was coming up here I saw that they tied it up temporarily. It should be done by the end of this week.

    Mr. Danbury asked is there any way we can get an e-mail address instead of being on hold on the phone.

    Mr. Toebbe responded I have not been able to work on that.

    Mr. Blade stated we have a “Contact US” button on our web page. The e-mail goes to our webmaster so they can give that to the right person. A person should get a response in two to three days.

    Mr. Vanover asked can we backfeed if an outage occurs?

    Mr. Toebbe replied we believe that once these repairs are made that is the most reliable operation of all the transmissions in this area.

    Mr. Wilson said without power there is no e-mail. The phone line is still a concern. I want to emphasize that we need to emphasize the phones so you are not on an automated line for 15 minutes, then told someone will get back to you in fifteen days.

    Mr. Toebbe said I plan to talk to the manager of the call center.

    Mayor Webster stated the “Contact Us” screen is not to report a problem. It’s in case you want to communicate with these people.

    Mr. Blade said if a resident contacts a Councilperson, the City does have a representative that is assigned to the City. That is another way of communicating.

    Mr. Squires said a resident sent me a letter stating he sent you an e-mail on Thursday and did not get a reply until Tuesday. Has anything been done to speed that up?

    Mr. Toebbe said I have not had a chance to talk to the manager of the call center. I will talk to them and see what we can find out.

    Mr. Galster stated at the last meeting you said business owners could contact you for issues such as compensation for lost wages. Would that go through you?

    Mr. Toebbe responded those types of claims would go through our Claims and Risk Management Group. I don’t that have that phone number.

    Mr. Blade said it is an 800 number for a third party claims groups.
   
    Mr. Osborn said thanks for being so prompt in responding back to the City. I know the intervening ice storm had to take a great deal of your attention during that period. I have really been impressed over the last year with the way Duke has created a more sophisticated response to emergencies. I thought the storm we had in September was dealt with very professionally. You kept us involved with daily conference calls. You took information from us and provided us information on what your game plan was for that day. That two-way communication really helped us keep our elected officials and residents informed. How you have kept us informed during these emergencies has been very impressive.

    Mr. Danbury said I know you prioritize with these outages with hospitals, senior home facilities, etc. We have a large population of senior citizens who live in their own homes. If we were able to show you areas with a high number of seniors, could that put them on a higher priority list?

    Mr. Toebbe replied we tried to get the largest number of customers back on as quickly as possible. We get our transmission lines back in, our substations back in. Then we have our critical structures such as hospitals, infrastructures for the cities (water, sewer plants, etc.). We do have a list of customers who are on life support equipment at their houses and we do try to pay attention to that. When we’re in a major storm we can’t always follow that list completely.

    Mayor Webster said, Mr. Danbury, I think it’s very noteworthy to try to direct attention to a certain area but there is a real danger in that too because we have senior citizens scattered throughout the City. I would not designate a certain area other than the nursing homes. I think we should leave that to Duke.

    Mr. Vanover asked did you run into any problems during the power outage with generators hooked up improperly?

    Mr. Toebbe replied I don’t know of any generator issues in the Springdale area during either the last storm or the September power outage. In the September wind storm we did have three to four generators that were hooked up improperly and luckily we were able to catch them before the crews got out there to work on the lines. If a person does use a generator he needs to make sure it is hooked up properly and does not put our crews in jeopardy of being electrocuted.

    OLD BUSINESS

    Mr. Osborn said I have photos of the two clay models of our statues that are at the foundry. These are life size models that will be used for casting the final statues. I think they are just great.

    NEW BUSINESS

    Mayor Webster read a letter from Cecil Osborn announcing his retirement as of July 31, 2009.

    Mr. Osborn said I’d like to request legislation for two police cruisers under the Ohio Property Purchasing Program. The individual prices are $22,273 and are within our budgeted amount.

    Mr. Galster reported there was a special Planning Commission meeting on January 29th dealing with Thompson Thrift, 11580 Princeton Pike. That was approved 7-0. They will need a couple of variances needed.

    Mayor Webster said I was at that meeting and we are very excited about that Thompson Thrift project. We think it will eliminate a blighted area where the BP was but they are also going to pull in the old Tiffany’s Glass, Huntington Bank building that has been vacant for fifteen years. This is a giant step forward in getting the area rebuilt and I commend Planning Commission for their outstanding job working with the developer. It shows what can be done if everybody’s on the same page. I think it certainly conforms with what the KKG study indicated should be there.

    Mr. Vanover said they also acquired the leases on the Ponderosa Restaurant and Skyline.

    Mayor Webster said they are still in discussion but hopefully that will happen.
   
    MEETINGS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

    Veteran’s Memorial                 -     after Council tonight
    Planning Commission                     -     February 10
    Board of Health                         -     February 12
    Board of Zoning Appeals                     -     February 10

COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE        -      none

UPDATE ON LEGISLATION STILL IN DEVELOPMENT-    none

RECAP OF LEGISLATIVE ITEMS REQUESTED

Police cruisers

Council adjourned at 7:59 p.m.

                        Respectfully submitted,




                        Kathy McNear
                        Clerk of Council/Finance Director

Minutes Approved:

Marjorie Harlow, President of Council



__________________________, 2009