President of Council Marjorie Harlow called Council to order on May
5, 2010, 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 Diehl,
Emerson, Galster, Hawkins, Squires, Vanover and Harlow.
The minutes of April 21, 2010 were approved with seven affirmative
votes.
COMMUNICATIONS
Mayor Webster said I’d like to read a communication from Senator
Seitz concerning a piece of legislation we have on the agenda tonight. It reads:
“After reading the April 23, 2010 article in the Community Press concerning sex
offender notification, I wanted to let you know about Senate Bill 237, a bill currently
before the Ohio Senate Judicial Criminal Justice Committee, which is intended to correct
the Supreme Court ruling mentioned in this article. I am working with a sponsor to get
this bill ready for Senate Committee passage. The bill is attached for your review.”
“You are right to repeal your local ordinance as since 1999 much of that has been
taken over by State Law starting with Senate Bill 5 in 2003 which incorporated my bill
that requires community action notice within 1000 feet of schools and on through the Adam
Walsh Act of 2007/2008. Sincerely, William Seitz”
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE
- none
ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS
RESOLUTION R9-2010 “COMMENDING POLICE LIEUTENANT WILLIAM S. FIELDS FOR HIS DEDICATION
AND SERVICE TO THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE”
Mr. Vanover made a motion to adopt and Mr. Squires seconded.
Mr. Vanover said Lieutenant Fields has been a lead dog. He was also involved in the CSI
unit. Thank you.
Mayor Webster said it’s a bittersweet day for the City. We wish you a long and happy
retirement. Without looking at the personnel folder I would guess there is not a single
disciplinary action in there. There are not a whole lot of people who can say that.
Mr. Squires and Mr. Galster offered their congratulations.
Resolution R9-2010 passed with seven affirmative votes.
Chief Laage stated Brewster Rhodes who is the Regional Director for the Governor’s
Office is here to present an item to Lt. Fields.
Brewster Rhodes presented a plaque from the State of Ohio formally recognizing Lieutenant
Fields as he retires from the Springdale Police Department with thirty years of service.
He has brought proficiency and expertise through many challenging assignments. He has been
a tremendous asset to the State of Ohio and to the men and women who have had the
opportunity to work beside him.
Mayor Webster read a proclamation proclaiming May 9 to May 15, 2010 as
Police Week.
Lieutenant Fields and Captain Hafer accepted the proclamation.
Chief Laage stated Captain Hafer has served as Assistant Chief since
1999. He began in Springdale in November 1973. He has received several letters of
appreciation involving his excellent attendance record. He was nominated for a county-wide
police appreciation award in 2008 for improvement in police operations in reference to his
work on the license plate recognition system and street security program. Chief Hafer was
involved in a high profile arrest and received a letter from the Director of FBI.
Chief Laage said Lieutenant Fields has had an outstanding career in the
Police Department. He joined the department in 1980. Lieutenant Fields spend a lot of time
in Investigations. I wanted him in Investigations because of his ability to lead a good
unit and get the results. In 2007 he became Administrative Supervisor. While head of
Investigations he was involved in several high profile cases. He attended the FBI National
Academy training program. He has always been a good cop and good leader.
Chief Laage reported that police officers will participate in several
Police Week events in honor of the 116 officers killed in 2009. The Police Expo will take
place May 5 and 6. On May 10 a number of our honor guard will participate in the Greater
Cincinnati Police Memorial march and some officers will go on their own time and bike 300
miles from New Jersey to Washington DC. A number of officers will travel to London, Ohio
for the State memorial service.
Lieutenant Fields said I want to thank each and every one of you. It
has been a great ride. Since Day One the City of Springdale has been nothing but the best
employer I’ve ever worked for. That’s why I’ve been here thirty years. You
people make the difference so we can make a difference. I salute you and I thank you.
ORDINANCE NO. 17-2010 “REPEALING SECTION 134.18 OF THE SPRINGDALE CODIFIED ORDINANCES
AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”
Mr. Vanover made a motion to adopt and Mr. Galster seconded.
Ordinance 17 -2010 passed with seven affirmative votes.
RESOLUTION R7-2010 “URGING THE OHIO SENATE TO ESTABLISH AN APPROPRIATE SEX OFFENDER
REGISTRATION AND NOTIFICATION LAW”
Mr. Vanover made a motion to adopt and Mr. Squires seconded.
Resolution R7-2010 passed with seven affirmative votes.
RESOLUTION R8-2010 “URGING THE OHIO HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO ESTABLISH AN
APPROPRIATE SEX OFFENDER REGISTRATION AND NOTIFICATION LAW”
Mr. Vanover made a motion to adopt and Mr. Squires seconded.
Mr. Hawkins said in Resolution R7 & Resolution R8, the first
whereas should read under the Ohio Revised Code Chapter “2950” as opposed to
“2590”.
Resolution R8-2010 passed with seven affirmative votes.
NEW BUSINESS
Mayor Webster said the flood zone was brought to our attention by Mr. Galster. We have two
flood zones in the City that have never had a baseline elevation established. We did a
pretty elaborate study in 1985 that involved a lot of the area around Princeton Bowl where
there was a lot of flooding. This is a continuation of that. At the time there was not a
problem there and there still is not a flooding problem but FEMA has informed these folks
that their homes and structures are in a flood zone. At least one lender has arbitrarily
said you will have flood insurance to the tune of $250 to $300 a month. So these
homeowners are hit with this out of the clear blue. As the documentation explains, there
are seven different properties involved, and a second flood zone around Howard Johnson and
the first Knolls Apartment Building. As far as we can tell, these are the only two that
have not had the baseline elevation established. It is something we can do with a purchase
order so there won’t be any legislation involved but I did want Council to know what
we are doing. I’d like to make a full disclosure and tell you one of the properties
is on the north side of West Kemper Road between Rose Lane and CVS that could potentially
be part of a redevelopment plan in the future. I own property that could also be part of
that plan. It could be construed that by doing this it could expedite the development plan
which would benefit the Websters. We have to do a survey for all nine property owners. Mr.
Shvegzda informed Council that a HEC-RAS study to establish base flood elevations in the
Zone A areas can be completed for a total cost of $14,000.
Mr. Galster said these are flood zones that FEMA generated many, many years ago. If you
want to challenge the validity of the flood zone you can have a survey done which shows
the base flood elevation is at this elevation and your property is above that; therefore,
you can get relief from the FEMA flood zone plan. The problem we get into here is that
these flood plains and these maps were pretty much drawn at random when originally drawn.
They don’t follow the contours of the land. If there is a low swale, they forget
about the low swale and they are going to keep rising up and hit the additional
properties. Unfortunately, when the maps were originally drawn, they were very random. The
relief of the property owner is to get relief from FEMA by having a survey done. The
problem is you can’t do a survey if there is not a base flood level established.
There is no way for these property owners to appeal to FEMA to get relief that their
houses are not in the flood plain. In order for a residential homeowner to do an
evaluation of this whole creek to get a base flood level that happens on their property, I
felt was a little improper. I think it’s a good plan to get all the flood plains that
have not been evaluated and have the flood levels established. If you look at your map,
Zone AE means that there has been an evaluation done. Zone A means there hasn’t been
any. When the individual owner tries to get relief from the government agency, it’s
extremely difficult.
Mr. Shvegzda stated we did double check with FEMA. The maps in the area were updated in
2005. There weren’t any additional studies done that they didn’t put into the
plans. Once the base flood elevation is determined, it will probably be obvious that some
are out. Some may not be out. This will give definition as to what this elevation is.
Mr. Thamann said one of the things I did not include was Mr. Shvegzda’s report for
the flood insurance rate map, Zone A. It breaks down the required tasks to prepare the
study and it also breaks down the cost for those two zones. One is Cloverdale to Grandin,
and the Glensprings stream. The total cost is $14,000 to do the studies which also
includes the Certificates of Elevation for all nine parcels involved.
Mr. Galster said an additional comment from a Planning Commission member, one of the few
green fields we have left is between SR 4 and Rose Lane area. Every time we have had a
developer looking to develop this site, a lot of time the density of that redevelopment
ends up being so tight it doesn’t get a favorable review from Planning Commission. A
lot of reason the density needs to get so tight is that they have this undevelopable land
because they can’t build in the flood zone. An additional side benefit is that we
will be able to accurately define where that flood zone is so that any future development
that may happen on that property would have a better use of the land without trying to
cram things in because so much of the land is undevelopable. The Mayor’s property is
in the general area but it is not in the flood zone so I don’t think there is any
conflict whatsoever.
Mrs. Harlow said many years ago a resident came to Council or BZA because they were being
charged for flood insurance. It was just a corner of their property that was in that flood
plain. The house was not in jeopardy of being there at all. Do we know if we have any
problem similar to this in that neighborhood?
Mr. Shvegzda replied we’d have to look specifically at where that property is but
I’m not aware of any.
Mr. Vanover said the tail of my property is in the flood plain. When this came up at
refinancing we signed a waiver with the lender because it was just a small ribbon in a low
spot. By this time we had had the 500 year storm in 1985 or 1986 and it wasn’t
anywhere near close. Since then we haven’t had to deal with that issue. It may depend
on the lender.
Mayor Webster stated it may depend on the lender but it’s my understanding that in
your case there has been an established base flood elevation. That makes it a lot easier
to get relief through FEMA. In this case, these two areas have not been evaluated.
Mr. Galster said if there is a base flood elevation established on your property and you
can show that your building is above that base flood elevation, which is the 100 year
flood, then you can get a map amendment from FEMA and be exempted from having to carry the
flood insurance.
Mr. Diehl said I understand that two people are going to benefit from this. Can we do harm
to any of the other seven properties?
Mayor Webster replied no. All we’re going to do is have survey work done and
establish some baselines, give that information to FEMA, get some records changed so these
people can get relief from this flood insurance.
Mr. Shvegzda said our attempt will be to define that elevation. Some will probably still
be impacted.
Mrs. Harlow asked if anyone has an issue with this please bring it to the floor tonight so
Administration will know what direction to go in.
Mr. Galster stated in the past we looked at redoing the big ditch by Perkins and putting a
culvert in. Will any of the survey work we are doing now allow us to not have to do that
survey work on that project that we’ve now pushed back in our budget?
Mr. Shvegzda said those plans are done.
Mr. Galster asked if those plans are done, wouldn’t you have needed to establish a
flood elevation for that?
Mr. Shvegzda responded that is in an area that has already been established.
Mrs. McNear said we have a transfer for a liquor permit at 11305 Princeton Pike. In
response to Mayor Webster, Mrs. McNear stated they are not open. I think they are just
trying to hold onto the permit. There were no objections.
OLD BUSINESS
Mrs. Harlow said I’d like to turn this over to Mr. Hawkins to
discuss Rules of Council. If we are not able to get this done this evening I would think
it might be more productive to schedule a meeting just to handle this. If it gets late I
will ask for a table and we’ll move it to next Wednesday night.
Mr. Hawkins stated we will go down the agenda. The first item regarding
Section 30.02 regarding committees was the initial thing Madam President asked us to look
into. We’ve also attached two pages of the Charter so you can see that regarding
Planning and Board of Zoning Appeals. All the appointments to standing committees are
determined by the president every two years when the president is elected except Planning
Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) which are controlled by the Charter.
Individuals are on those boards and commissions for a four year term. Except for Planning
and BZA those can be changed at the president’s discretion or with five affirmative
votes of members of Council. It’s the Rules and Laws committee’s suggestion that
based on review those things should remain as they are.
Mrs. Harlow said when I took office this time it was very difficult to
move people onto committees because we have the at-large, we have the district. Had it not
been for Mr. Diehl coming to me months prior and asking to be removed from the BZA
committee and go to Finance, and Mr. Squires willingness to move over to BZA, I would have
really had my hands tied as to what committees I could place members on. None of us really
new about this document previous until the end of December. Mr. Parham has stated in the
absence of written policy we should adhere to what we have always done in the past. That
is, when a Councilperson was appointed to a standing committee, they had typically been
appointed for their term, so that was the procedure I followed when I appointed committee
members this past December. In the past, we looked at Public Works and Public Utilities,
and since Mr. Shvegzda writes the report, I felt like Mr. Shvegzda should give the report
because he was the only one who could answer the questions that the Council people had. I
think we may need to consider bringing that back and to define the scope of those
responsibilities. Under Public Works, that’s street, highways, sewer, sidewalks,
buildings, grounds, extension and repair of such services. We pay capable people to really
handle that for us but I will appoint two people from Council to be on that committee and
bring it back with a definition of their scope of responsibilities. I don’t want to
see anyone who is a Council member at a construction site with a shovel in their hand. The
reason I am thinking of bringing back Public Utilities is because of the electric
aggregation we have been talking about. The committee may not be very active right now but
possibly in the future, there may be some potential for electric aggregation. When we look
at this document, we have to look at when it was drafted. It was drafted in the late 1960s
and a lot of things have changed. Public Works and Public Utilities were probably two of
the most important committees you could sit on at that time because our city was growing
and we were putting in sewers and street lights and constantly having developers come in.
We are basically landlocked and anything we will be doing is redevelopment. We will bring
the committees back with a definition of scope of responsibilities. I also looked at
Public Welfare, Safety and Education. This is health and safety measures, legislative
matters pertaining to the Police and Fire Departments and items pertaining to the public
welfare or education. We have not had this on our standing list of committees for a long
time and I don’t really believe we need it. Welfare is handled by a state or county
agency. Safety is covered by our Police and Fire Departments. Education is covered by our
Princeton City School District. For Rules and Laws we have review initial draft of
ordinances before presentation to Council. In getting some history on this from the Mayor
I understand we didn’t always have the excellent Law Directors and legal counsel that
we have now. There was a time in our history when it was necessary for a committee to
review the ordinances before they were brought before Council. How do you feel about
changing the wording on this committee?
Mr. Hawkins responded the Rules and Laws committee as the two most
novice Council members did not know what this entailed. We now have more knowledge of what
has gone on in the past. We have a strong viewpoint that it needs to be there but we
wanted to bring it up because obviously it was something that had not been happening and
had not been happening before us because Council wasn’t aware of where this document
was. Now that the history cleared up why this was here, it is probably not necessary for
Rules and Laws to review all the legislation that will come before Council.
Mr. Galster said it looks to me like there are items that are going to
be tweaked. There will be items that need to be corrected for typographical and/or
identification errors. I don’t know that this work session is going to get us through
to the changes that you may desire for description of a certain board or committee. We
have the two newest members of Council working on this. I admire the work you have done
but it must have been monumental just figuring out where to start and not understanding
this document. My recommendation is that we have a small subcommittee that would recommend
the changes that you would like to have made. That can be an extension of Rules and Laws
or its own subcommittee, and get the typographical changes, the definition changes you
want and bring that back before the body as a whole to vote on. There is no way for us to
vote tonight to change things. There’s no way for me to object as an example to the
changing of the wording that you might want to have for Public Works definition, if in
fact, I don’t know what the change is. So I don’t know how much productive back
and forth we’ll have in reviewing this document until we at least sit down as a
subcommittee and come up with the actual changes that are requested.
Mrs. Harlow replied I think you are right. I think it will take quite a
bit of work to take this document from the 1960s to 2010. That’s why I wanted to do a
work session. We have the gender issues, title changes, time of meeting. I’m all for
putting the time in and making sure we are all very comfortable with this and that we make
the changes that need to be made.
Mayor Webster said I’d like to make sure that all the committees
are accounted for and it’s clearly defined how those are filled, who’s the
appointing authority, are they elected by their peers. It may be redundant of things in
the Charter but I think it should be clearly spelled out and also the term of the
appointments should be spelled out, and a clear definition of what is a standing committee
and what’s a special committee. If we did nothing else with this document but cleaned
up the gender and changed the start time, that would go a long way to making this a great
document.
Mr. Vanover said in my sixteen years up here this is the first time
I’ve seen this document. Looking over Rules and Laws obviously things have changed
but the committee is operating the way it did when I sat on the committee. I think the
delineation of appointments because the numbers with four district people and three at
large, if the president is an at large person, then you are talking four and two. If
it’s a district person it’s three and three. The potential for turnover is there
every two years. It’s long overdue and I think it will alleviate anxiety and
criticism of anybody sitting in the president’s chair.
Mrs. Harlow stated when you don’t have something written down and
you don’t have it defined by term, then you do as Mr. Parham said, and fall back on
the past. I think this will make the job of the next person sitting here a whole lot
easier.
Mr. Galster said I just want to make sure there is a separation of what
Mr. Vanover is talking about. There is nothing in this document that deals with anything
about at large or districts as far as appointments to boards. That is a Charter driven
issue and I think it needs to be kept as a separate issue. There is nothing in this
document that addresses Planning and BZA, so if there is a desire to change that it would
be a Charter change issue.
Mrs. Harlow said it was not our intention to change that or to go to
the voters and ask for any change.
Mr. Galster responded this document is not tied to being district or at
large in any of its statements about district or at large personnel.
Mrs. Harlow replied it is not tied to that but when you have two
Council persons who are serving on those committees and they are on there for a four year
term, it ties your hands as to what you can do.
Mr. Galster stated if we change this document, and then if we want a
change about the at large and district and the four year term on Planning and BZA, that
would be a separate exercise we would go through, and if it that were changed, then we
could come back and change this again. I want to make sure we are only dealing with one
document at a time or otherwise we’re going to get awfully confused.
Mrs. Harlow said I have not heard of anyone making any recommendations
to any Charter or the term limits on the Charter at all.
Mr. Galster said then I think we are limited to a subcommittee limited
to three Council members and Administration. Perhaps you want Rules and Laws to spearhead
it with an extra Council person to rewrite it with everybody submitting whatever changes
they want to have considered by that committee so it can be brought before City Council.
Mr. Forbes stated to Mr. Galster’s point, you have to think and
recognize the distinction here between boards and commissions which are generally governed
by the Charter and Council committees which are set out in these Rules of Council.
It’s very easy to start talking about them interchangeably. They are not. Yes, there
are Council appointments made to Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals. Those
are commissions and boards governed by the Charter. You can talk about that but as Mr.
Galster pointed out, that’s a different process but for this exercise I think
it’s important that you just focus on the committees of Council and the rules state
what those standing committees are. It also talks about special committees and the ability
to do that. It’s at Council’s discretion but it either falls into one of the
existing standing committees or it’s appropriate to potentially create a special
committee for this topic. Let’s not get those things confused.
Mrs. Harlow asked if we were to create a special committee, how many
people should that comprise?
Mr. Forbes responded generally committees are made up of no more than
three Council members. If you have four then you have a quorum. I would suggest if you are
going to create a special committee for this topic, my suggestion is create the committee,
appoint the members and have an end date. Special committees go away when the job is done.
Mrs. Harlow said I’m not sure how to proceed with this. I
don’t want to negate any of the work Mrs. Emerson and Mr. Hawkins have done on this.
I would like to table this, think about it and see if I want to add one more member to
work with the Rules and Laws committee or have a special committee, but all Council people
will have a voice in the document. I think we only have one Council person who
doesn’t use e-mail exclusively. I think we could work around Mr. Squires with copies.
I think we could get information out there and work through the document one area at a
time.
Mayor Webster said special committee members have to have the
concurrence of Council. To follow up on the point Steve and Jeff made about trying to keep
the documents separate, bear in mind it’s not just BZA and Planning spelled out in
here. It’s also the Volunteer Fireman’s Dependents Board which has a three line
description. It doesn’t tell how many members. It doesn’t say how long it should
serve. Without going through Charter I would think we would want to expand on this a
little bit. It mentions the Board of Health in here but nowhere in here or in
Council’s Rules is there a provision for a liaison from Council to Board of Health. I
think that’s a glaring oversight.
Mrs. Emerson said I’m just a little confused on the task you are
asking. It looks like in Rules and Laws you can make any moves of any committees at any
time, and you are able to make appointments to special committees with the concurrence of
the majority of Council. The other two committees you cannot. So the flexibility is there.
I’m confused if we’re not changing the Charter, how changing the Rules and Laws
will lighten up any flexibility for the president in the future.
Mrs. Harlow responded your husband sits on BZA. One of my openings
would have been BZA. I was not comfortable putting a husband and wife team on BZA. I
sought counsel from Mr. Forbes and he said there is nothing illegal about it, but is it
right. I don’t think it is. My choice was not to put you on BZA.
Mrs. Emerson said that would have been my choice also because I would
have declined.
Mrs. Harlow said I had to put you somewhere. I asked where you want to
go and I try really hard to use people’s strengths. But it came to a point that I
have people that I have to move forward and put into committees and I didn’t have
openings for them. I didn’t have much movement because in the absence of having a
document like this or having a time frame for the committees we did what we’ve always
done, four year terms. As Mr. Parham said, without written policy you fall back on
procedure and that’s what we had done.
Mrs. Emerson said as Rules and Laws states here, you can move people as
you choose.
Mrs. Harlow replied I can but we did not know this in December. We had
not seen this document. Even Administration did not know where this document was buried. I
did not feel it was right to take people who were sitting on a committee and move them
because new people came on.
Mrs. Emerson stated but you are allowed if someone requests to be moved
off a committee that’s supposed to be a four year term, you’ll take their
request also.
Mr. Hawkins said I think what Mrs. Emerson is getting to is in the most
general reading of the Rules of Council document, it’s indicating that appointments
to standing committees shall be made by the President of Council as soon as practical
after his election (which should be his or her election). Every two years we elect a
president. Every two years we have one person come off BZA and Planning and one person
stay. Besides those two individuals who stay on Planning and BZA, the president has wide
discretion to do whatever they want with regard to all the other committees and boards and
commissions. Now that we have this document, you now have that freedom at that point to do
whatever you want. I think what Holly’s touching on is that there probably is no need
to change that because we have uncovered that. Initially, I think the mindset was when
I’m appointing people to these committees I only have to work with folks that have
just been elected or re-elected to move around. That’s not the case.
Mrs. Harlow replied it’s not now. It was then.
Mr. Hawkins I said in terms of where we are going now, you have that
freedom. That seems like one issue that’s taken care of by discovering this document.
Everyone is up for grabs except that one individual on Planning and BZA.
Mrs. Harlow responded I think it would be a good idea to tie the term
in there for a two year term because the president is elected for a two year term. The
Council member would serve for the duration of the president’s term. If a president
decided Mr. Diehl, you can be on Finance this month but two months from now I’ve
decided I want somebody else on Finance. According to this document I have the right to do
that and I don’t think that’s something you want to get into. I don’t think
that would be productive for the City.
Mr. Diehl stated on the contrary, I totally disagree. If I’m on
the Finance Committee and am very inept, I need to get off.
Mrs. Harlow said of course, and I think you can do that with a recall
vote of five members of Council. I think a two year term gives the Council member an
opportunity to learn their job and then in two years I think it’s really important
that people switch up. Mr. Galster, I’m not saying this as negative to you at all.
Please do not take it this way. You’ve sat on Planning for sixteen years. I believe
you began as a resident. In these tough economic times I think you are the best person to
be sitting there. If a developer comes in here I don’t want to be trying to tell the
developer how many caliper inches of trees, how much parking he needs because I have no
experience with that. If the developer comes in to meet with Planning and people on
Planning Commission have experience then the developer is going to be that much more
willing to work with the City to develop properties that we have. But having you in that
seat for that many years, it also prevents another Council person from growing into that
seat. I think that’s something we might want to look at in the document also. I think
it’s really important that everybody have a turn.
Mr. Galster responded that’s not part of this document.
Mrs. Harlow stated no, it’s not. That would just be up to the next Council to decide
that. Do you see where I’m going? We all need to grow into the positions.
Mr. Galster said I understand while the experience is good it doesn’t create as many
opportunities of other Council members on those boards. A district person is the only
person who can replace me. It’s this board’s decision as a whole to make. I
understand that this is a document that a lot of Council people have not seen much of but
I just don’t want to make it seem that it’s been buried and never been before
the light of day because Ordinance 39-2003 was passed on October 1, 2003 by every member
of this Council except for the two new members. While it may not be used very often,
it’s not like it has been sprung upon us. It’s been there and we have made
adjustments to it in the past.
Mrs. Harlow asked to table this item this evening. I’ll do some
reflecting on it and bring it forward again.
Mr. Forbes said the only other comment I would make from a procedural
standpoint is that these rules are part of your codified ordinances so when it gets to the
point that Council is ready or considering any changes to this, you are amending the
codified ordinances. And also to Mr. Galster’s point, they have been part of the
codified ordinances since their inception. They’ve been in the code book.
Mayor Webster said that will take care of itself because every year we
have the codification brought up to date. If Council passes something the changes will
automatically get pulled in with the next update.
Mr. Galster said when you consider the names you want to consider for
the formation of the special committee, I think it would be extremely important to have at
least one member of Rules and Laws considered for any special committee that is formed
because of any research that has been done.
Mrs. Harlow said I totally agree. My dilemma was trying to figure out
the third person as I feel Mrs. Emerson and Mr. Hawkins should stay on the committee.
We’ll discuss this at our next Council meeting.
MEETINGS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Bike Safety Day
-
May 8 Planning Commission
-
May 11
Board of Health
-
May 13
BZA
-
May 18
Housing Committee
-
May 19
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE -
none
UPDATE ON LEGISLATION STILL IN DEVELOPMENT
ODOT agreement for traffic light upgrade
- May
19
Agreement with CLGBP for health insurance -
May 19
Accepting public right away –Thompson Thrift
- May 19
Princeton scholarship students resolution
- May
19
Mayor Webster said our City Administrator was at a City Manager conference last week. Due
to budget restraints he paid his own way. He said last year there were about 2200 at this
conference. This year there were about 600 and a lot of them paid their own way.
Mrs. Harlow said I believe I heard on the radio that there was a city managers conference
scheduled in Cincinnati and it was postponed for six months to see if the economy picks
up.
Mr. Galster asked will the health insurance agreement have an emergency clause?
Mr. Thamann responded it may have an emergency clause but we wouldn’t start the
program until August 1.
Mr. Galster said so we intend to have two readings.
Mr. Thamann answered I would have to double check to make sure how soon USI, who is the
broker for the Center for Local Government, needs that document but we think we can go
with two readings. If they tell us we have to do it sooner we may have to have an
emergency clause.
RECAP OF LEGISLATIVE ITEMS REQUESTED -
none
Council adjourned at 9:08 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Kathy
McNear
Clerk
of Council/Finance Director
Minutes Approved:
Marjorie Harlow, President of Council
__________________________, 2010