President of Council Marjorie Harlow called Council to order on May 2,
2012 , at 7:00 p.m.
The governmental body and those in attendance recited the pledge of
allegiance. Mrs. Harlow stated Mrs. McNear was on her way from the airport and would be
there shortly.
Mr. Vanover took roll call. Present were Council members Diehl,
Emerson, Hawkins, Knox, Squires, Vanover and Harlow.
The minutes of April 18, 2012 were approved with seven affirmative
votes.
COMMUNICATIONS
Mr. Vanover read an e-mail: “Dear Springdale City: I am writing
this letter to request longer hours for the fitness and recreational center. Full time
workers do not have enough time to utilize the facilities that we paid for with both our
tax dollars and membership dues. I understand that the economy is in a downturn and we
need to cut costs but perhaps you could find savings in other areas that don’t affect
the hours. Perhaps you could shut off the lights in places that aren’t used much,
turn off computers, unplug the gaming machines or keep the thermostat a few degrees hotter
or colder. I ask that you keep the center open until at least 9:00 p.m. I can provide a
list of people who would like to join me in a petition to extend the hours. Thank you for
taking the time to consider my proposal and I would be happy to speak to someone directly
about my ideas. Let me know your position on the matter or provide me with the opportunity
to have a meeting to discuss this further. Thank you Connie Papps, Springdale resident for
twenty-four years”
Response from Greg Karle, Community Center Director: “Hi, Connie,
Let me begin by thanking you for your input and suggestion to extend the operating hours
of the Community Center and Fitness Center weekday evenings. As you are probably aware,
the Parks and Recreation Department has been faced with significant budgetary cutbacks
over the last several years. Steps were taken over this period to reduce expenses by
reducing staff through attrition, minimizing capital purchases, elimination of a number of
special events and programs, and adjustments to lighting and HVAC to substantially reduce
energy consumption. Our goal was to minimize the impact on our residents and members to
the greatest extent possible. In 2011, however, still more budgetary reductions required
the layoff of a number of employees, reduction in operating hours and the elimination of
even more programs and services. Be assured that we are constantly looking for ways to
operate more efficiently and do more with our limited resources. I am hopeful that as the
local economy improves, many of the cuts and services in programs and operating hours can
be restored. Naturally, this is a high priority to me but in the broader picture, the City
is faced with additional needs and priorities in the safety services and personnel in
other departments that compete and must be prioritized against our needs. I would be happy
to meet with you to discuss to your proposal and answer any questions you may have.”
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE -
none
HAMILTON COUNTY SOLID WASTE DISTRICT –HOLLY CHRISTMANN
Mr. Parham said a resolution approving the update to the Hamilton
County Solid Waste District Management Plan is on the agenda tonight. We asked Ms.
Christmann who is the program manager with the district to come out and share the updates
to the plan and answer any questions you may have.
Ms. Christmann said the mission of the Hamilton County Solid Waste
District is to reduce reliance on landfills. We do that through waste reduction, reuse and
recycling programs. I am here tonight to seek your approval for our fifteen year Solid
Waste Management Plan update. The plan update is designed to meet the State recycling
mandates as well as meet the needs of our stakeholders which are the communities,
residents, and businesses of Hamilton County. While we’re required to write a fifteen
year plan, we are required to update it every five years. The plan outlines programs we
will offer over the next fifteen years and strategies for meeting those state goals as
well as documenting that there is a fifteen year capacity for Hamilton County’s
garbage. The plan is very similar to the plan we are currently operating under. We will
continue all of our most popular programs such as the residential recycling incentive
programs. This is where we give back $1,050,000 every year to Hamilton County political
jurisdictions based on that community’s recycling rate and the tons that residents
recycle. In 2011 the City of Springdale received a little over $10,000 for their recycling
efforts. Those funds are then used to offset any curbside recycling contracts, separate
yard waste collections programs, etc. Right now the highest rate we provide funding to is
25 percent recycling rate, which is an excellent recycling rate. That’s the highest
dollars per ton the community can receive. We are going to evaluate upping that to thirty
percent. We will continue all our popular events such as hazardous household waste drop
off program, computer and television recycling program, yard waste drop off sites. We are
going to look at communities that provide separate yard waste collection programs. When
our budget allows we’re going to give money back to those communities that provide a
yard waste collection program. We’ll be analyzing that on an annual basis when our
budget allows it. We’ll also provide fund to help communities collect tires. We are
seeing tires resurging as a problem to the waste stream. We’ll continue to offer
recycling programs to businesses as well as helping schools start recycling programs. One
consistent theme we heard throughout the public input process from communities, residents
and businesses is that they don’t hear enough about our programs. People who took our
program survey had no idea of all the programs we offer. We are going to start committing
to putting in more advertising dollars to let people know that these free drop-off
programs are available to get rid of problem waste streams such as hazardous household
waste and computers. I am happy to say we will meet through this plan all of the state
goals. The State of Ohio does require all districts to achieve a 25 percent residential
and commercial recycling rate and a 66 percent industrial rate. Our projects show that
Hamilton County will continue to meet and exceed those goals. We will also meet the
requirement of disposal capacity for waste that is not recycled. That’s through
landfills within Ohio, northern Kentucky and Indiana. We are funded through waste that is
disposed in municipal solid waste landfills that are located in Hamilton County. We have a
disposal fee and it is the lowest fee allowed by state law. For every ton of waste that is
landfilled at Rumpke from Hamilton County we receive $1 per ton. If it comes from a county
within Ohio but outside Hamilton County, we receive $2 per ton. If it comes from out of
state we receive $1 per ton. We project through our plan that we will keep this funding at
least through 2024. The last three years there is a change to our funding to a generation
fee because we don’t know what’s going to happen to the Rumpke landfill in
fifteen years. I provided each of you with a summary booklet that highlights what I just
talked about and I’m happy to answer any questions.
Mayor Webster said on page 7 you list recycling rates. Do you know what
percent of residents recycle in the City of Springdale?
Ms. Christmann said I can tell you the recycling rate for 2011 was
slightly over 13 percent so Springdale is right in the middle with all the other Hamilton
County communities. Thirteen percent is the percent of recyclables out of total waste
generated We don’t know how many residents are participating.
Mayor Webster asked do you think that is a good number?
Ms. Christmann replied, yes, it’s right in the average of all
Hamilton County communities and we’d be happy to work with Springdale if you would
like to see that number go up.
Mayor Webster said I was under the impression that the number of people
that participate in the residential recycling was 70 to 80 percent.
Mr. Parham stated 86 percent of our households participate.
Ms. Christmann said that is a spectacular number. A lot of folks are recycling. They just
don’t know everything that can go into that recycling bin or cart. You can recycle
almost any paper except paper towels or Kleenex. There is a whole list of things that can
go in that bin.
Mr. Hawkins said I understand you have to have sixty percent of the
communities ratify the plan. What is the time frame for that and what percentage have you
already gotten to ratify the plan at this point?
Ms. Christmann said we have to have jurisdictions representing sixty
percent of the population approve the plan. We also have to have the Board of County
Commissions and the City of Cincinnati. They have veto power. Our ninety day ratification
period started April 14 and it goes until July 13. We have received approval from the
County Commissioners, Sycamore Township, Madeira, Symmes Township, City of Reading and I
believe we got the City of Cincinnati today.
Mr. Vanover asked what is your definition of yard trimmings? We grind
up trees, shrubs and collect leaves in the fall.
We include all of that but we ask residents to leave the grass
clippings on the lawn. There is no need to have those composted.
Mr. Vanover asked did the fire at the recycling facility have an affect
on Rumpke?
Ms. Christmann replied they are currently shipping their recyclables to
their facilities in Columbus or Dayton. They are going to rebuild.
Mr. Diehl asked if everything remained equal, how long do we have for
Rumpke Landfill?
Ms. Christmann replied thirteen to fourteen years.
Mr. Diehl asked do we have a plan for years fourteen and fifteen?
Ms. Christmann said with the capacity analysis, we did we looked at
landfills in Northern Kentucky and Brown County.
Mrs. Emerson asked what would it entail if Springdale wanted to take on
the tire collecting?
Ms. Christmann replied just give us a call. We would work with your
Public Works Department, find out when they wanted it, bid out the service and they would
bring out a roll off.
Mrs. Emerson said I was reading in the literature Mr. Parham gave us
about compost bins. Do you provide that for residents and how do we start that?
Ms. Christmann replied we offered truckload compost bin sales for eight
years because you couldn’t buy a backyard compost bin at any retail store. We stopped
doing that last year because the private sector is now selling them. We have a philosophy
not to compete with the private sector. We are doing one-hour compost road shows. We teach
residents everything we know about backyard composting. We actually provide them with a
$20 coupon to buy a compost bin. We only have two retailers who were able to provide that
service this year. They have done spectacularly this year.
Mrs. Emerson asked where do you announce those shows.
Ms. Christmann responded it is on our website and Facebook. We did
direct mail pieces to residents around the area where we are hosting them this year. If
Springdale is interested in us coming out, we just ask for them to help promote it to
their residents and provide us the space. I think the closest one to Springdale is in
Forest Park in mid May.
Mr. Squires asked do you differentiate color in bags for yards waste?
If I pick up my grass clippings I usually put them in the same bag as my regular garbage.
Mr. Parham stated there is currently no requirement to separate the
yard waste from the trash, but we do have a leaf collection program and chipper program.
Ms. Christmann said if you are throwing it away in your regular garbage
you don’t need to put it in a separate bag because it is all going to the landfill
but I do encourage you not to go to the extra work to bag your grass clippings. The
closest yard waste site we operate is at the Rumpke Landfill in Colerain Township.
Mr. Squires said you also mentioned newspapers and things that can go
in the red bin.
Ms. Christmann said you can do newspapers, magazines, junk mail, cereal
boxes, beverage cases, cardboard, office paper, pretty much anything you can tear.
Mr. Squires said often you will see a triangle with a 2 or 3, etc. What
does that mean?
Ms. Christmann said we tell people to ignore that. If it is a plastic
bottle or jug, just put it in your bin. The number is a system that the plastic industry
uses to identify their resin codes.
Mr. Vanover said someone did a show on all the weird things that show
up in recycling bins. Wouldn’t we be creating a bottleneck by sending stuff that they
aren’t capable of handling? I know plastic bags are an issue.
Ms. Christmann stated the plastic bags would get caught in the
machinery and shut it down.
Mr. Parham stated when the City renewed our contract with Rumpke, we
did have a representative from Rumpke come before Council. As I recall, there are certain
plastics that Rumpke doesn't take. Considering that Rumpke is the primary residential
hauler in the area, have you all engaged in discussions with them as to what the will
accept? Also, when you are increasing your advertising program, it would be very helpful
if we could educate the residents in all communities as to what exactly is acceptable to
Rumpke so we don’t create the bottleneck that they speak of sometimes. This could
insure that we put the proper things in for recycling and get the proper credit.
Ms. Christmann said we will really hit hard what exactly can go in your
curbside bin. Yogurt cups are a prime example. Don’t put those in your recycle bin.
We will hit what can be recycled and what can’t. Some people need that visual of what
can and can’t be put in.
Mr. Parham asked what tools are you going to use as you look at
expanding your advertising? Will you do fliers, newspaper articles, website?
Ms Christmann replied all of those. As much as we hate to create paper
we find that direct mail works wonderfully. We’ve worked with individual communities
to help them increase their recycling rates on a small scale and we find that direct mail
with a magnet that says exactly what can be recycled has been very effective at increasing
recycling rates. We are going to launch a county-wide campaign this fall. We will do
billboards, direct mail with magnets, Facebook, website, editorials. We will also ask the
communities to help us in their communities as well.
Mr. Parham said as you look at the funding mechanism for the yard
trimmings, as we indicated, we have very successful leaf collection and chipper programs
and we have our own compost. This is the time we are delivering mulch to the residents.
How will you arrive at measuring what we are producing and removing from the waste stream
to be able to give us credit for those situations? This is nothing we are reporting to
you.
Ms. Christmann said because you do have a compost facility here, you
are reporting to the Health Department, the cubic yards of material that are collected so
when we look at this funding mechanism , we’ll either look at it on a cubic yard
basis because that’s how most communities that have compost facilities measure their
material, or maybe we’ll look at a flat amount to each community. That is under
development right now.
ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS
RESOLUTION R3-2012
A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE UPDATE OF THE SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN OF THE HAMILTON
COUNTY SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT DISTRICT
Mr. Squires made a motion to adopt and Mr. Hawkins seconded.
Resolution R3-2012 passed with seven affirmative votes.
RESOLUTION R4-2012
RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE ADOPTION OF AN ALTERNATIVE METHOD OF APPORTIONING THE LOCAL
GOVERNMENT FUND
Mr. Knox made a motion to adopt and Mrs. Emerson seconded.
Resolution R4-2012 passed with seven affirmative votes.
PROCLAMATION
Mayor Webster proclaimed May 15 as Peace Officers’ Memorial Day.
He read a proclamation proclaiming May 13 to May 19 Police Week in Springdale.
Chief Mathis and Officer Kellon Lyons accepted the resolution.
Chief Mathis said I’d like to highlight a member of our staff, Kellon Lyons. He has
been with us four years and exemplifies the young people who are coming up in this career.
He is going on the Police Unity Tour next week to commemorate fallen officers. On a recent
detail Officer Lyons was dispatched to Beacon/Oxford Hills for a report of a person with a
medical emergency. He found a person in cardiac arrest, performed CPR on the person until
the life squad arrived. The person was eventually resuscitated and is with us today
because of Officer Lyons’ actions.
OLD BUSINESS
Mrs. Harlow said I would like to bring up the Charter Review recommendations that we had a
report on from Mrs. Matheny last Council meeting. Have any of you had a chance to look at
our boards and commissions and give this some thought? I’d like to open the floor for
discussion.
Mr. Vanover said this is an issue we have talked about before. I have no problem with it.
It makes sense. It allows the serving president to have maximum flexibility to staff
boards. I’ve spent eighteen years on Planning Commission. I enjoy it and like the
position. It’s a case where I’m getting a little long in the tooth and we need
to see others come in. This could get us out of the automatic reappointment process. I
think it handicaps us in the long term to allow others, the younger group to get in there
and serve. It also allows us to see different aspects, different commissions, etc.
Mrs. Harlow said we do have two members of the Charter Commission here tonight in case you
would like to address them.
Mrs. Emerson stated I am not sure I agree with this. My reasoning is that three of you up
here voted for this to be placed on the ballot in 2000. The rationale for that was that
you wanted continuity. You wanted experience. You wanted consistency. Now we’re
coming back to just opposite of that where you have the potential if this passes and we
put it out there. You’ve already put money from the City down to put that on the
ballot. The residents addressed it and spoke to it. Nothing has changed in any of these
procedures other than the comment for changing is the lack of flexibility the president
has and the interest in other Council members getting experience in other areas. With that
said, it’s not about the president and how much experience I gather up here.
It’s about the City and what’s best for the City. I believe by switching every
two years you have the potential of getting a whole new board up there and having no
experience being up there. As a resident myself, if I have to come before these two
boards, and have a whole new board that would be concerning to me. The same reason we have
two separate elections for the at-large and the district is so we don’t replace the
entire Council at one time. That is part of the rationale of Council people serving four
years and having an at-large and district. The Charter Revision also suggested that even
the residents be changed at two years also. This being my first term on City Council, I
was placed on the Finance Committee and I have no knowledge of finances. I’m a nurse.
Thanks to Bob Diehl, I was able to have several meetings with him and he was able to coax
me along. I’ve served two years and now my third year I feel I’m acclimated now
to actually be productive on that committee. I think that could be true with some of these
other committees. The only two committees that restrain the president are those two
committees, BZA and Planning which are the two most important committees the City has.
They control a lot of the changes that go on in the City so I’m not in favor of this
at all.
Mr. Knox said although it’s not 100 percent, most legislative bodies do not pass
legislation that will tie the hands of the people who follow them. By keeping this at four
years, if President of Council changes, that ties his or her hands. Secondly, there is
nothing to stop that person from reappointing the same people. I think it gives up a
little more latitude if we go to the two year.
Mr. Hawkins said I have some concerns as well. The Board of Zoning Appeals and Planning
Commission are the two boards that are most important in terms of the execution of the
City’s vision in how things are laid out, where things are laid out. It’s the
kind of thing where you want to have that continuity and consistency to make sure that
vision is executed over time. The concerns that have come up as to why it would be a good
idea to put this forward are valid points but at the same time, I don’t see they
outweigh the importance of maintaining consistency with those boards. I also think in
terms of flexibility of the president, the president has the ability to change any of the
other boards, and every two years will change one person on each of those two boards as
well. I don’t see the idea that the president’s hands are tied all that much. As
to the idea of experience, there is an opportunity to get experience in a variety of
boards and commissions. We have been fortunate to have Mr. Vanover and Mr. Galster on
Planning Commission for a number of years which has given the City great direction and
we’ve been well taken care of. The converse to that is that every four years they
were put back on that board, they didn’t have to be. The president could have said
I’m going to put someone else on there. We made a choice to do that multiple times.
I’m not passing judgment on whether that’s a bad idea or good idea but
that’s a choice that the president at that time made. Now we’re saying that the
idea of that president doing that at that time has put us in a position where we have
folks who aren’t equipped or don’t have experience to take on those roles. We
could change it to two years; who’s to say that we wouldn’t have a president who
would put someone on there again for another four. I don’t see that as a reason to
jeopardize the potential of the lack of execution of the City’s vision. If a Council
member wants to come off of that board or commission, I haven’t seen anything in the
rules that says they can’t come off of that. I think the reality is there are no more
indentured servants, no more slavery. If someone says I don’t want to be on that
board or commission, they can go to the president and say they don’t want to be on
that board or commission and come off of it. The president can put somebody else on there.
We’ve had that before. That is there and available. If someone says I’m tired of
this board or I’m not effective, that opportunity is there to change that at their
whim. I have grave concerns for the City’s vision being executed. These are long term
things. We had the meeting with City Council, BZA and Planning and we had some developers
that were coming in talking about Kemper and SR 747 and they presented this grand
presentation of potential redevelopment for that entire area, what it might look like in
fifteen, twenty, twenty-five years. If we’re constantly making changes and there is
not that continuity there, the odds of us achieving those visions and the odds of us
achieving things the Mayor has done and Mr. Vanover has helped with, Mr. Squires and folks
who have been up here for years in terms of changes that have happened around the City,
decrease drastically because you don’t have someone there to say, this is the vision
we have had, not just from a years ago, but four years ago, six or eight years ago.
It’s not to say just because someone is not on Council, BZA or Planning, he
can’t come back and give input and direction and pull folks aside who may be less
experienced, but it gets to be tougher to have that happen. That’s why I would be
against changing those terms at this time.
Mrs. Harlow said I did go back and asked Administration to pull what they could on the
Charter Revision minutes from February 22, 2000 and January 10, 2000 and there is not
enough information in the minutes to give us a real idea of the conversations that
happened in those meetings. The ordinance that was passed was Ordinance 62-2000. That is
where we did agree to change Planning Commission to be a four year term. In talking with
Charter Revision, I did not ask them to look at the other Council appointments in four
year terms, but I think it’s a pretty good idea if you consider the fact that new
Council people will be coming on, and quite often, we get new people to boards and
committees with new Council people being elected to our community. It’s totally up to
Council as to what they would like to do.
Mrs. Emerson stated the ironic thing about all of this is that what you all are
complaining about, the things that are happening that you don’t like, are the things
we took out to the residents that were a problem. I guess maybe the three people who were
here when that was put on can shed some light on why it was so important then and now it
isn’t, because it was important enough in 2000 to put it on the ballot and let the
residents talk about it and vote on it. Now you are going completely opposite. Maybe you
can shed some light on why it was important and now it isn’t.
Mrs. Harlow said I have looked at all the video tapes.
Mrs. Emerson responded but you all voted, Mr. Squires, Mr. Vanover and Mrs. Harlow. Do you
not know what you’re rationale was?
Mr. Vanover said in trying to resurrect the continuity there, the fact is rather or not we
voted upon it really is kind of moot because there are numerous, . . you can go to any
legislative body and there are issues voted on and sometime there will be an issue
retracting that. Mr. Hawkins was quoting the constitution. There’s a reason why the
Bill of Rights, all the amendments are listed. They are not taken out. The nineteenth
amendment stated Prohibition. That was a good idea at the time or so people thought.
Two-thirds of the country approved that amendment but it was taken back. The reason it is
left there is for us to remember where we made a mistake, where we got it wrong.
Mrs. Emerson asked where did we get it wrong? What is the negative? Because it is an
inconvenience to the president and because we are concerned about how much experience I
get up here. I don’t see any changes in the past ten years that make us want to put
it back. It must have been pretty important because we all voted, three of you voted to
put it on the ballot. There has to be some rationale on why you chose to do that and I
don’t see anything that has changed in that length of time that would want us to go
back to the residents and say, we were wrong there and we want to go back the other way.
Now things change, I agree with that, but you have not said anything about what has
changed or the need to go back the other way.
Mr. Vanover said in my point of view the change is in realizing conceivably, every two
years you could have a new person on BZA or Planning because you could have a change in
the Council makeup. The voters could inflict that. Because of the stagger, the
appointments end up overlapping periods. And quite honestly, I have enjoyed Planning
Commission. I’m one of seven. In looking at this and all of us, whether we’re on
Planning or BZA or any of the commissions, we’re charged with the vision of the City.
When we have a developer come in we are all given that opportunity for our input and are
charged with that. Quite honestly, I’m a district rep for District 4 but my concerns
from this point of view are not what are best for District 4 only, because I’m
looking at the welfare of the entire city. There have been things that have benefited the
greater that didn’t do a whole lot for my home district, and that’s part of the
problem when we get to the federal and state government with pork, because they are trying
to pull in the best deal for their people. We’ve thrown out the good of the entire
country. I think that this is, yes I’ve been there. Has it been a penalty? No, it
hasn’t. I enjoyed being there but I’m looking at, when you hit forty-five your
thought process changes and you start looking at things in a different way. You look back
at stunts you did as a kid and say that was fun at the time but it was really pretty
stupid. I’m looking at some of this and thinking, ok, I’ve been there but I have
penalized somebody else because I was on there and served. I pat myself on the back
because I think I did a pretty good job but there will come a point in time that myself
and all of us up here, there were people ahead of us in these seats and there will be
people behind us in these seats. I think that we can operate, work hard or work smart and
take in all of it. Has it been a mistake? I can’t say necessarily that it has but
sometimes there are more efficient ways of doing it. Just because I do the same thing all
the time in my work world, I’ve learned if somebody has a better wheel, I’ll
ride it. Their experience may have told them something that mine hasn’t.
Mrs. Emerson stated but you haven’t shown me that it’s better.
Mr. Vanover replied maybe you need some glasses.
Mayor Webster said my recollection is that back to the day we adopted the Charter in 1959
these terms were four years. I don’t think the 2000 election had anything to do with
the length of the terms. The 2000 election said you have to have one person from district
and one from at-large on BZA and Planning. From that day forth we have had a problem
because with that restriction in place, then all of a sudden, if you are an at-large
president, then you only have two other people. One has to go on BZA and one has to go on
Planning. So maybe neither one of these people are capable or have a desire to serve on
there, the Charter says they must go here, they must go here. Mrs. Emerson, I don’t
think we’ve sold anything to the community that now we have to unsell if we want to
continue like that. That ensures you that you will always have the person here. They have
to be elected by their peers to serve on these boards, but at least the warm bodies are
going to be here and I think it’s important to maintain one from district and one
from at-large on these boards. That’s the only thing we did in 2000.
Mrs. Emerson said won’t changing that every two years pull both of those people off
or am I not seeing that right?
Mayor Webster said there is a possibility that they will be pulled off but here again, Mr.
Hawkins mentioned Mr. Vanover and Mr. Galster and the length of time they served on
Planning. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that as long as the people are
doing a good job and there is no reason why they couldn’t get returned to those
committees. If someone is doing a good job they could get returned by their peers but
there is a lot more flexibility on where people can serve, not necessarily how long they
serve. I think how long they serve is going to be dictated by what kind of job they are
doing and what their peers think of the job they are doing. I don’t think that’s
going to change.
Mrs. Harlow said if I could interject something here, with the Mayor’s appointments.
The Mayor changes every four years so he/she has more of an ability to change than Council
has.
Mrs. Emerson said all the more reason to keep two of them stationary.
Mayor Webster said on the years when you don’t have a new mayor’s term you have
continuity there because the Mayor’s appointments, three on Planning and two on BZA
would continue.
Mrs. Emerson responded going to the two years, you have the ability of both the at-large
and the district being pulled off of that board. It would have happened this time. BZA
would have been a whole new board if this wasn’t in place.
Mayor Webster said you have the two mayoral appointments there.
Mrs. Emerson said but the two Council people would have been moved. And there’s a
chance if we had gotten a new mayor.
Mayor Webster said that’s true.
Mr. Diehl said let me say that Mr. Hawkins and Mrs. Emerson made some really excellent
points and I agree with a lot of the comments. I have some questions for Charter.
We’re talking about Council people but you also threw in do we want a two-year term
for the residents also. I’d like to know your thought process.
Mrs. Matheny, Charter Commission, stated we looked at a lot of different things as I
explained at the last meeting. The reason we decided the residents should be looked at
also is for similar reasons that we feel the Council people should be looked at. You have
a
resident who is on a board for four years. Two years should be ample time to evaluate that
person. If that person is not a productive member of the board, then you folks have a
chance to appoint someone who is. I think what people, some people, are missing is this is
just a possibility of change. It’s not you have to switch it. It gives everyone
flexibility.
Mr. Diehl said I served on four or five boards here. I can tell you it takes a year and a
half to get you really up to speed in what you’re doing so if you change it every two
years you have to go through a whole new learning curve again.
Mrs. Matheny said that’s fine, if you change it.
Mr. Diehl said both of my Council folks made an excellent point. I’m in favor of
changing it but not for residents. I’m in favor of the residents being four year
appointments.
Mr. Knox said I was going to make two points and Mr. Webster and his daughter made the
points I was going to make. My memory that was jogged by the discussion is the same as
yours. In fact, the wording you used really got my mind going that if the President of
Council is either district or at-large, and when that person changes, it throws everything
out of balance and that’s why we went to the four year. The point that your daughter
made is that there is nothing that says you have to change people every two years. In
certain cases it would be a good idea. In some cases people would like to step down but
they wouldn’t like to do it in the middle of a cycle so they could do it at the end
of two years. That’s one of the reasons I favor this.
Mr. Hawkins said I think the biggest reason for this is about giving the president more
flexibility. We are talking about two positions and I would say the most thankless job the
president has is selecting people for the boards and commissions. I don’t know if
there is ever a time that everyone is happy. Marjorie, you have done a great job in trying
to make everyone happy but we’re never going to have a situation where everybody is
on the board or committee they want to necessarily be on. If we are talking about
flexibility for the president, we are only talking about two positions on two boards that
you can’t touch every two years. That’s all we’re talking about. I
don’t see that as a compelling enough reason to change the Charter. In terms of what
Mr. Vanover said, I’m happy that I have a few more years before I change my
viewpoint, we are all charged in carrying out the vision of the City. The one thing that I
think we can’t underestimate is that some of us have been on here for a long, long
time but we may have forgotten this. When you get on those boards and commissions, what
has happened in the past and the rationale for why we are doing what we’re doing, how
we laid things out the way we have, what precedents they are, are so important. The six
years I spent on Planning Commission before coming on Council, I looked to Mr. Vanover. I
looked to Mr. Galster. I looked to Mr. Okum, folks who had been on there and were well
experienced and knew why we were doing what we were doing and what the direction was. It
doesn’t mean that I can’t have input. I did but having folks who have been there
gives you folks you can ask why and what happened in the past, and it helps. You
can’t underestimate the value. It helps make sure we’re going in the right
direction. That consistency and continuity I think is a really big thing. The only thing I
would like to ask Mr. Parham, what does it cost for us to put something on the ballot to
change the Charter?
Mr. Parham said I don’t have an exact figure. In fact, I gathered the information I
had at the last meeting. Essentially, if there is a special election, all the costs for
that special election would be borne by the City of Springdale. If it is an election that
is part of the general election in the fall, those costs will be borne equally between the
City of Springdale and the school district, because typically there is somebody running
for office with the school district in the fall general election. I can’t tell you
the exact number. You are paying for the advertising costs, the tabulation cost, as well
as the costs for the individuals working the polls.
Mayor Webster said that’s assuming the school district had an issue on there. If you
went to the ballot this fall, the cost would be minimal. Sitting in the Finance
Officer’s chair, I don’t ever remember seeing an election cost over $3,000 to
$4,000. I don’t think we ever
had an election just for a Charter amendment either. If we had an election in August it
would probably be $10,000 to $20,000.
Mrs. McNear stated we did have some Charter changes since I’ve been Clerk of
Council/Finance Director but we didn’t have a special election. We waited for a
general election. Secondly, on the issue of this Charter change, nobody here who voted for
it is going to remember the exact conversations that happened twelve years ago but I do
know this was generated by the fact that years ago Randy Danbury was President of Council
and he was a district representative. When I moved into the President of Council seat as
an at-large member, that’s what really caused the problem of trying to assign people.
That’s what predicated this issue way back when, just to confirm why we made these
changes. I don’t think it’s merely making life easier for the President of
Council because as you said, it’s not an easy task to do when your hands are tied
because you have to put people in certain places.
Mayor Webster said that only came about in 2000.
Mrs. Harlow said I spent hours combing the minutes as well as the videos trying to figure
out the discussions that were surrounding this. There is not very much in the minutes at
all. That’s why I asked Administration to try to locate the Charter Revision
committee minutes and again, there is not a whole lot in those minutes either. I did ask
for future Charter Revision minutes that we have more detail so if someone is going to
look back on something ten to twelve years from now, they will be able to pull that and
have more information than what we have on this.
Mrs. Emerson said so the whole issue of this is for flexibility for the president and
experience for Council members. Is that what we are looking at?
Mrs. Harlow replied the flexibility for me. I do think the ability of Council people to be
moved into different committees can only be beneficial to them so they can have
experiences such as BZA, Planning and Finance.
Mrs. McNear said it’s not only beneficial for the Council people, it’s
beneficial for the City. It’s good to have new blood on the committees from time to
time.
Mrs. Emerson said I agree with that also. But with that said, we’re only talking two
boards here. We’re talking BZA and Planning. You can gain all the experience in all
those other boards because most of those people, when they serve on BZA or Planning, they
also serve on other commissions and boards too. There is room for experience and I think
that is important but not at the cost of continuity and experience on those two boards.
Mrs. Harlow said we have on the board Charter Revision’s recommendation that Council
consider making both the president’ appointments as well as the resident appointment
for every two years. I don’t know how you would like to handle those two issues.
Mr. Diehl said I don’t think we’re in a great hurry to do anything one way or
the other so we ought to table this for a month or two and think of all the ramifications.
When we get closer to election, then deal with it.
Mrs. Harlow stated you can’t really do that because you have to have it on the ballot
so many days prior to the election. Even if you were looking at the election this coming
fall, we’re pressing a deadline now.
Mrs. Emerson asked so would that be a special election?
Mrs. Harlow said it would be a general election in the fall.
Mayor Webster said in response to Mr. Diehl’s suggestion that you table it for a
month or two, it has to be filed sixty days before the election. It has to be filed
September 7.
Mr. Forbes stated the deadline to file is September 7. Council’s last regular meeting
before that is September 5. The other timing I would note is if you want to put this on
the November ballot you have to take action at least sixty days before the election but
not more than 120 days. One hundred twenty days is July 9. If you take action before that
window then you would have to have a special election. If you want it on the November
ballot, you need to take action between July 9 and September 7.
Mayor Webster said this is strictly from memory but I don’t think we’ve ever
passed a Charter amendment with an emergency clause. We’ve always had two readings
and given people ample opportunity to be heard. I think something this important should
not be done with an emergency clause, especially as much time as we have here. I
don’t think there’s a whole lot of time to have it tabled for two or three
months.
Mr. Knox said to that point, if we don’t do it this year there is an election the
next years. The delay would be a one year delay but it might be a good thing.
Mr. Diehl suggested we have the readings in June and July.
Mr. Parham stated you could have the first reading June 20 and the second reading July 18.
Mrs. Emerson said since you serve another year as president and we were all placed on
boards and committees and we do that every two years, what is the rush to put this on the
ballot this year when we could do it next year when it would really be an issue?
Mrs. Harlow replied there is no rush. We could put it on whenever Council chooses to put
it on. I would just like to have the issue addressed.
Mrs. Harlow said we will table this and discuss it at the first meeting in June and then
move forward either with an ordinance to do it and have it by our July 18 meeting or not
to do it.
NEW BUSINESS
Mayor Webster said I’d like to pass some photos around here. Next meeting we’re
going to have a proclamation for Public Works Week so I’d like to hold some of this
discussion until those guys are here. This is really a neat event that took place today.
Some of you may have seen this so that’s why I’d like to pass these photos
around. I happened to be walking through town about 12-12:30 p.m. today and I looked over
at the Veteran’s Memorial and there were about twenty-five people over there. We had
a group of volunteers from GE Aviation helping us put mulch down at the Veteran’s
Memorial. I think Jeff said they put down forty cubic tons of mulch today and it looks
marvelous. We’ve had a couple of other volunteer events that we can talk about at the
next meeting.
Mrs. Harlow said they picked an awesome project to volunteer for.
MEETINGS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Home Improvement Grant application acceptance
- May 1
Bike Safety Day
-
May 5
Planning Commission
-
May 8
Board of Health
-
May 10
Children’s Health Fair
-
May 10
Board of Zoning Appeals
-
May 15
Police Expo
-
May 19 & 20
Veteran’s Memorial Wreath Laying
-
May 25
Pool opens
-
May 26
Community Center closed, pool open
- May
28
Fall soccer sign ups, swim lessons, sailfish swim team
- now open
Mr. Thamann said the Drug Take Back Day was this past Saturday. It was
well received but the weather dampened the attendance. They took in roughly thirty-seven
pounds of various unwanted medications.
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE
-
none
UPDATE ON LEGISLATION STILL IN DEVELOPMENT -
none
RECAP OF LEGISLATIVE ITEMS REQUESTED
-
none
Council adjourned at 8:29 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Kathy
McNear
Clerk
of Council/Finance Director
Minutes Approved:
Marjorie Harlow, President of Council
__________________________, 2012