President of Council Kathy McNear called Council to order on October 5, 2006, at 7:00 p.m.

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

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

The minutes of were approved with six affirmative votes. Mr. Wilson abstained.

COMMUNICATIONS

Mr. Knox said Time Warner Cable wanted us to inform their viewers that the CW network will be on channel 20. As a result, channel 38 is being dropped. Right now you can get the CW network on channel 2 until October 17, then it switches to channel 20.

Mr. Knox said we have the annual letter from Time Warner Cable saying “the Federal Communications Commission’s Regulations for basic cable rates permits us to adjust rates annually for inflation, external costs and other factors. We will be adjusting our installation and equipment rates effective January 1. Our customers will receive notification of the rate adjustment thirty days prior to the implementation.”

Mr. Knox continued, we have a communication from the Board of Elections. Each person who voted in the last election should be receiving a card or should have received a card telling you what precinct you are in, and where you will be voting. You must bring an ID. There are several things that will suffice as a voter ID. I suggest that you check with the newspapers and advertisements you will be seeing on television. The Board of Elections has seen fit to change the lettering of the precincts. They have not changed the boundaries; however, the districts themselves have been re-lettered. For instance, the Beacon Hills and a small portion of Oxford Hills was J. It is now A. The Oxford Hills area used to be L and is now I. Precinct K has disappeared. Precinct D has expanded to the point that what used to be part of E is now D. We will have these maps available. Mary has one and you can call her or the Board of Elections to ask where you vote now.

Mayor Webster said it is my understanding that the Board of Elections is contemplating having someone at the front desk of the Community Center as soon as you go in, who will have a detailed list so if anyone wonders which polling place they belong to, that person will be able to direct them.

Mayor Webster read a letter from Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Shaffer, 39 Silver Maple Way: “Bouquets to all of you. Thank you for the great reminder that we are in the history book. Good things come with your good works.”

Mayor Webster read another letter from Thelma Lindner: “Dear Mayor Webster: Just wanted to tell you and your committee what a great job you all did in celebrating Springdale’s bicentennial. It was a great month and showed many, many months of planning for the events. Thanks for letting me be a part of it.” Mayor Webster said Thelma is the widow of Chuck Lindner and she very much appreciated being part of the parade.

Mr. Osborn asked is the map in electronic format so that we could put it on the website?

Mr. Knox responded I had to call the Board of Elections and received a paper copy. I can see if they can send us an electronic copy. Mr. Knox stated the change in the precinct lettering was not brought on by the action of any member of City government or anyone else associated with it. There will be a special item that only Precinct E will be voting on.

COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE - none

ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS

ORDINANCE NO. 68-2006 “ADOPTING SECTION 95.03 OF THE SPRINGDALE CODIFIED ORDINANCES REGULATING ILLEGAL DISCHARGES AND ILLICIT CONNECTIONS TO THE MUNICIPAL SEPARATE STORM SEWER SYSTEM (MS4)”

Mr. Vanover made a motion to adopt and Mr. Galster seconded.

Mr. Osborn said Chris Kinnard, a resident of our City who was at the last meeting, and formally ran the Environmental Section of the Mound Lab in Miamisburg, did take the opportunity to look through our ordinance and concluded that he didn’t really have any suggestions to make. I did invite him to look over our shoulder and give us some input when we get down to the actual regulatory efforts and setting internal policies.

Ordinance 68-2006 passed with seven affirmative votes.

ORDINANNCE NO. 69-2006 “AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CLERK OF COUNCIL/FINANCE DIRECTOR TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH DUKE ENERGY FOR THE INSTALLATION OF STREET LIGHTS ALONG STATE ROUTE 747 IN THE AREA OF THE RAILROAD AT-GRADE ELIMINATION PROJECT AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”

Mr. Vanover made a motion to adopt and Mr. Squires seconded.

Mr. Galster said the maintenance of the system is $390 a month. Is that in line with what we pay for other street lights?

Mr. Osborn said the actual maintenance operation charge is $15.61 a unit and the energy charge is $3.21 a unit for twenty-five units which comes to $470.50 a month which is consistent with what we pay.

Mr. Wilson said we budgeted $100,000 for this and I notice it’s up $40,000. Did they indicate why there’s a change?

Mr. Osborn responded I think it was that we didn’t properly update that number. It’s been in place for five or six years. We kept carrying it forward on our budget.

Ordinance 69-2006 passed with seven affirmative votes.

ORDINANCE NO. 70-2006 “ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING A MASTER EQUIPMENT LEASE-PURCHASE AND SUBLEASE-PURCHASE AGREEMENT (THE “AGREEMENT”) AMONG CHASE EQUIPMENT LEASING INC., THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE, OHIO, AND LIFESPHERE FOR THE FINANCING OF THE ACQUISITION AND INSTALLATION OF CERTAIN TECHNOLOGY AND TELEPHONE EQUIPMENT; AUTHORIZING ACQUISITION SCHEDULE 1 UNDER THE AGREEMENT FOR THE ACQUISITION OF CERTAIN EQUIPMENT; AUTHORIZING A PUBLIC HOSPITAL AGENCIES AGREEMENT AMONG THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE, OHIO, HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO AND BUTLER COUNTY, OHIO; AUTHORIZING AN ESCROW AGREEMENT AMONG THE BANK OF NEW YORK TRUST COMPANY, N.A., THE CITY OF SPRINGDALE, OHIO, AND LIFESPHERE; AND AUTHORIZING OTHER DOCUMENTS IN CONNECTION WITH SUCH TRANSACTION AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”

Mr. Danbury made a motion to read by title only. Mr. Vanover seconded. The motion passed with seven affirmative votes.

Mr. Danbury made a motion to adopt and Mr. Vanover seconded.

Mr. Osborn stated the purpose here is to create a financing conduit process for Lifesphere so they can issue tax exempt debt that will have an affect on their interest rate. They will be able to save some money by doing this. We have done a similar issuance in the past in a hospital revenue bond for Lifesphere which is now paid off. There would be no obligation to the City for the retirement of the debt if there was a failure of Lifesphere to meet their obligations. The purpose is to assist Maple Knoll in replacing their system-wide phone apparatus. They can no longer get parts for the system. They are looking to replace all the phones in all their locations which includes locations in Butler County so both Hamilton County and Butler County need to be parties to this agreement. The City has no real jeopardy in this and it provides one of our major employers with an opportunity to help hold down costs.

Mr. Knox said the legal agency representing this had a public hearing notice published saying we would have a public hearing on October 18.

Mr. Schneider said the emergency clause is on the ordinance but we are having a second reading on October 18.

Mr. Galster made a motion to withdraw the motion to adopt and Mr. Vanover seconded the motion. The motion passed with seven affirmative votes.

This was a first reading.

Mayor Webster said I can’t find this in the ordinance but I think this is only for five years.

Mr. Knox said it is for five years and by allowing this to become a municipal bond which is allowable under the ORC, they get a better rate and expect to save between $40,000 and $50,000.

Mr. Schneider said I thought the terms were in here but I will check it and have it resolved before the next meeting.

OLD BUSINESS

Mr. Wilson said in reading the minutes of the September 20 meeting I noticed under Board of Zoning Appeals was a request for home occupation at 288 Kemper. We have this oversized barn that is now a commercial exposure. I wanted to ask the elected officials on that board to give me some insight as to why this was approved. I realize these are oversized lots and then we had the photographer because he had had an establishment on that street before. Now we have a pole barn that is probably bigger than the person’s home.

Mr. Squires replied this was not a five minute deal. It was carried over for four months. There are other oversize barns in the area. Only sixty percent of this barn can be used for business, and the hours of operation are restricted.

Mrs. Harlow said the number of employees is limited, no off-street parking, equipment trucks driven home by the employees. The applicant had been recently remodeling his home. He put quite a bit of money into that. He tore down a two plus garage that was deteriorating and he was keeping his business in Springdale. He also has a very large, oversized lot. We talked to the Mayor in regards to a possible overlay district. We knew that would not help this resident out. We talked to the Council president about this. There were other lots on Kemper Road that have oversize lots. BZA passed it 5-2. You won’t be able to see it from Kemper Road because of the screening unless you are actually pulling into the driveway looking for it. There will be nothing outside. All the equipment will be housed inside. The people who work for him would come around 8:15 a.m., pick up a trailer and leave. They don’t come back until they finish working at 5:00 or 5:30 p.m. We also looked at other residences where the owners operate businesses out of the home. I know in one instance there was a problem with employee parking in the neighborhood. This won’t be the case here. This gentleman invested in this community. He has been a long term resident of the community. He not being able to use his oversize lot and being held to the same accountability on his lot that I’m held to on a much smaller lot, just did not seem equitable to me. If you have that type of property you have made an investment.

Mr. Wilson responded my concern is that it’s still residential whether it’s five acres, one acre of one-third of an acre, and all of a sudden we have residential/commercial. What’s to prevent anyone with an oversize lot from saying I’m going to sublet my lot and open a pony keg.

Mrs. Harlow replied I don’t know if there is anything to keep someone from subdividing their lot if they have enough lot to subdivide. We ran into the same problem with a property in old Springdale. Another thing about Kemper Road is I’ve had two people call me and complain about the lights at the insurance agency. That’s also a business that we allowed to go in there.

Mr. Wilson stated my comments were not directed specifically to the elected officials but just to get an understanding that we are setting a precedent.

Mrs. Harlow said given what we had to work with we couldn’t do anything else.

Mr. Squires said Mr. Wilson, you served on that board with me and you know that every case is different. As far as precedent is concerned we don’t worry too much about that. Everything stands on its own merit.

Mr. Osborn said the closure of Progress Place is coming up either this weekend or the following weekend to allow completion of the grade separation project. Has that been defined yet, Mr. Shvegzda?

Mr. Shvegzda replied it’s more likely to be the weekend of October 13.

Mr. Osborn said I had something sent to the businesses in the area to let them know it is approaching. We’re not certain which weekend yet but we would let them know as soon as it was determined.

Mr. Galster said I have just a couple of clarifications on the home occupation issue. Once a lot is subdivided they would have to meet the lot size that is in the Zoning Code and most of those lots would not be able to meet that without a variance. The issue with the State Farm insurance agency; that is in a transitional zone and the light is to be contained within their property. It is a transition to the dentist’s office and the town center so it’s not strictly residential but if there are lights that need to be adjusted then they should be made to do so. The other issue of cars parking in the area of a home occupation, people from outside the dwelling, that was also a transitional district. I think we do have to be a little careful about home occupancy businesses that exceed the people who live in the household. I understand that they are not there to be part of the day but you will have rainouts and there will be times that they are traveling in and out. I have more of a problem with the overall size of the thing. It was double the previously approved buildings. I trust that the board did their proper evaluation and did their due diligence and came to an understanding of hardship and voted accordingly.

Mr. Vanover said for the closing on Progress we are going to post on Crescentville Road. I know when trains are running that gets used as a potential by-pass.

Mr. Osborn said I’m sure that’s the responsibility of the State of Ohio but do you have any information on the maintenance of traffic?

Mr. Shvegzda answered the detour will be via Crescentville to Centron. We’ll get with the project engineer and bring that up.

Mr. Vanover said we need a good barricade to head off people getting in there and then having to turn around and come back out.

Mr. Osborn said we may not be able to close that street off entirely as access is probably needed off that street to the side of International Paper, etc. They will get down to Progress and then be forced to go west again to Crescentville.

NEW BUSINESS - none

MEETINGS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Neighborhood Watch Picnic - October 7

Fire Department Open House - October 7

Planning Commission - October 10

Board of Health - October 12

Board of Zoning Appeals - October 17

Flu Shots - November 3

COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE - none

UPDATE ON LEGISLATION STILL IN DEVELOPMENT

Ordinance 70 - October 17

RECAP OF LEGISLATIVE ITEMS REQUESTED

Resolution on tax budget

Council adjourned at 7:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Edward F. Knox

Clerk of Council/Finance Director

Minutes Approved:

Kathy McNear, President of Council

__________________________, 2006