Ashland City Council
MINUTES FOR THE REGULAR SESSION OF COUNCIL
February 20, 2007
Council President Glen Stewart called the meeting to order at 7:00
p.m.
ROLL CALL
Ward 1: Robert L. Valentine Present
Ward 2: Robert M. Valentine Present
Ward 3: Ruth Detrow
Present
Ward 4: Paul Wertz
Present
At-large: Glen Stewart
Present
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
PRESENTATION OF MINUTES
February 6, 2007 Regular session
Moved by Detrow and seconded by Valentine W1 to approve the minutes as
received.
Ayes: Paul Wertz W4, Glen Stewart, Valentine W1, Valentine W2,
Ruth Detrow W3
In our agenda, we have included minutes from our Charter Review,
however, we do not vote on those since we are not in attendance. We
receive those minutes simply as a courtesy from the Charter Review
Committee so we will not be voting on those.
We are going to t o short on the minutes from the February 15, 2007 and
will be handled next meeting.
COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS FROM
THE AUDIENCE: We will accept comments or questions from
the audience on items that are not on the agenda this evening and what
I ask that you do, stand, give your name, your street address so that
our Council Clerk can get that recorded and make their comments.
Anyone like to start?
David Price, address 141 S. Countryside Drive, - We are here to address
the issue of sidewalks. There was a Resolution to pass a year or
two ago. An Ordinance was revised. We turned a petition in as you
know signed by almost 100 residents from Countryside opposing the plan
because we feel it is unnecessary, we feel it is not needed out there
and the residents don’t want it. In reference to a repair
bill down here somewhere down here somewhere on a side street, that
might be 2000.00, We are looking at 10, 20, 30, 40,000.00 dollars in
expenses out there. People who have corner lots like Dr.
Mayo’s, Dr. Wolf, and many others, Dr. Shin, The Barnes family, I
mean we are talking a tremendous amount of real estate and expense that
could be 20-30-40,000.00 dollars for something the residents
don’t want and feels it not necessary. When I circulated
this petition last fall, several of the senior residents out there, one
of whom are here tonight, Mrs. Strauss, mentioned that there was an
agreement made with the City back before it was annexed that the
sidewalks would not be required in Countryside and we dug and dug and
couldn’t find anything in writing out there. We did however
come across the gentleman who was the Mayor, Paul L. Chorpening between
1954 and 1957 and he is with us tonight he was also Judge. He
told me that while the City Council and the Mayor’s office did
not publish a finding , (the meeting was informal and took place at the
Country Club) forever and ever agreed with Countryside that we would
not have sidewalks. They were given assurances at that
point, that sidewalks would not be required, they are not necessary out
there, not needed. Residents felt the same way we do now that
they didn’t want them. About 80 years ago without
sidewalks, it has been functioning well throughout the development, it
is almost fully developed now, but there is still a lot of water too,
but there has been no need for them up to this point and once City
Council passes the Resolution requiring us to have sidewalks, that
wasn’t like I said, not a small bill. It is going to be a
tremendous amount of money for something the residents don’t want
and obviously don’t need. There hasn’t’ been an
issue out there where somebody has been hit by a car, no problems, in
fact the residents walk the streets, wave to the neighbors as they
drive by us and there are no problems and I want to ask Mr. Chorpening
if he would stand up and tells us what happened at the meeting that
took place back in the 1950’s. It was at the Country Club
because there was, the City Council Chambers were so small at that time
they could not accommodate the large group of people. So it was
at the Country Club and attended by City Council Members, He is the
Mayor and several residents from the Countryside Division, so I would
like him to stand and tell us anything that I have left out on
answering your questions about that meeting.
Paul L. Chorpening, 507 Jay Street – When he says to stand, he
does not realize how much effort it takes to stand. This, if you
have a couple of minutes, this is a wonderful time, last week I was up
at the courthouse and in that beautiful courtroom, and I was in there
for awhile. I worked with tremendous people and it was in here I
worked with tremendous people so It was quite an honor to be in both of
these places the last time. I hope all of these coming together
is not signaling something. But in any event go back 50 years,
1955, 1956, 1957 in there sometime, brought Countryside in then in a
year or two they brought in the fairgrounds. Through all the time
I was in as Mayor and through the years, sidewalks have been a problem
for probably every Council and Mayor and I think that the problem and
even myself and the constable when I was back there, it was more a
perception that what we thought was needed then what the people thought
was needed. I think that if you explored the history of this
community that you won’t see many demands from the people on many
of the streets for sidewalks. What you see, back when I was a
young boy, I have been on all of these streets, Sandusky, Claremont,
Ohio Street, King Road, Smith Road down to the Football field at Myers,
all the streets practically I’ve walked them. And the
infrastructure down around town you get complaints, it is more from
Walnut and Washington, and Liberty and Grant, Park, Chestnut and then
over on the other side of town, it’s the repair and
maintenance. That meeting back then, there was no specific
promise that they would never add sidewalks. No one could ever
promise that. You don’t know what’s going to happen in
25-50 years. They may not even have a Countryside, it may, the
times can change so fast, quickly, what they envision could be from the
balance of the light may or may not be. We had that meeting down
at the Country Club, that was an informational meeting, it was not a
regular Council Meeting. We didn’t have Council meetings
all over town, we had them at the old City Building above the Fire
Station but it was an information meeting. Those people out there
wanted to know what to expect if they came into the city. They
had problems and we had problems just as you are having problems you do
not like to get more tax revenue. We as a City have
problems. We wanted more tax revenue and they wanted to know what
they would get for that. Well they did not want sidewalks, that
was pretty plain right to begin with and did not want utility
poles. And at that meeting on the sidewalk issue, they were told,
in affect, not verbatim, but in essence, they were told that they would
not need sidewalks unless it became necessary. Unless at that
time, Council looking it over and we talked to the Police Department
about the traffic situation and so forth and unless there was some thru
street to bring traffic from the West or Southwest over through
Countryside to increase the flow of traffic, it didn’t seem that
it was necessary and at one time while I was in there, there was a
street proposed, not for there, but for the Children’s Home
property to Center Street. The traffic situation at that time was
very, very small and in reality it is small today. In the
1990’s, I had one of your traffic people in the Police Dept.
because of requesting a sign for a particular person about cutting down
the speed at the Countryside up there. The traffic study, to slow
the traffic down so the people turning in there, they did not want to
get hit. The study showed that there was not that much traffic to
be concerned about. My position here is, I don’t represent
these people, I live on Jay Street, I don’t live at Countryside
and never did. But I have been very familiar with that area for over 50
years and in reality there is no necessity for sidewalks out there. If
you ask the Police or Fire Dept. that it is not needed, I was more
concerned about the lighting out there because they had a lot of
break-ins all the studies that have been made with reference to
break-ins the more street lighting you have the less crime you
have. When I was in there I could only promise while I was in
there that there would be no street lighting unless they had
underground cable for electric and the Ornamental poles. One of
the things I want to address here is this maintenance of the sidewalks,
the people, the founders that originated the State Law on sidewalks and
streets were pretty wise, they did not mandate that the different City
Councils and the Cities put in sidewalks or put in streets, they gave
them authority to and that authority was to be used when it was
necessary to pave a street or cement to have a sidewalk and that law
provided in their wisdom, they did not state that every place had to
have a sidewalk. They said it might be that in certain areas you
only need one sidewalk, put it on one side and you could assess both
sides of the street. I have been through all of that many years
ago and I do not think one thing has changed; people have walked out
there, not just because it is Countryside, you go to East Commons, they
don’t have any. I lived up on Olde Post Road, I walked that
street clear up to the corn fields and they put some sidewalks down in
the courts and actually in one area it was really awful, a sidewalk
here and a guy has to jump up to get up on the next level.
Sidewalks are very important if they are necessary and I go back to
when walking on some board sidewalks downtown here and I just think on
the maintenance, you spend a lot of money on the streets and the street
is put in by a developer or it is assessed and if it is assessed it is
same requirements as far as the construction and when that street is
worn out, or it needs repair you use your Tax Gas fund from the State
and that does it. I was Mayor when almost all of these streets in
town were blacktopped for the first time. They were brick before
that. South Street just was nothing and College Avenue and all of
those were blacktopped and you have doing it ever since and you
don’t assess or charge those people anything. These
sidewalks are within the right of way and these ones down here on the
streets that I mentioned that really need repair and those people,
many, many of them cannot afford it. You don’t charge for
redoing the streets or maintaining the streets and these sidewalks are
within the right-of-way and it is a part of travel. It is the
same thing and they should be maintained free of charge for
repairs. It is the City’s trees that up-root the
sidewalks. So I am asking Council to re-think this thing because
these people don’t compare because they might have a couple of
bucks, may be they don’t have as much as they have on the other
streets, they may be in hock, you don’t know. But I had
another fella today that is in another area and the architecture is
beautiful, I didn’t mention sidewalks, he looked at me and said
you know I have been ordered sidewalks. Why do I need
sidewalks? No one out there to walk, they don’t drive there
and park. Sidewalks should be put in when they are
necessary and my advice to Council would be that you wait till the
people ask for those sidewalks and put them in when they sign a
partition to have them put in but the repair of them is your legal
obligation and you should be repairing them. It is easier out here then
it is back there, I remember that. I am not complaining, you are doing
a good job and it is a hard and difficult job but please everyone, I
implore you, not to make them mad of the city and say that we want the
sidewalks in if they are not necessary. There are legal
limitations. I don’t have a license anymore and don’t
take this as gospel, but if someone came to me from a litigation
standpoint on being ordered to put sidewalks in where in reality you
couldn’t support it, I would say that the ordering of it would be
set aside. That is my answer. I thank you for listening to
me. I wish you all well, cause this was a great part of my life
down here. I enjoyed my relationship with the city because it is
a wonderful one. Thank you.
Glen Stewart – Thank you for sharing your wisdom and your
thoughts with us this evening.
Ross Gill, N. Countryside Drive, Ashland Ohio – I would just like
to echo what Judge Chorpening said and I really don’t understand
the need for sidewalks, it is not a thorough fare, it is next to no
traffic, streets are very wide; and speaking personally, I don’t
want the expense of the sidewalk in my front lawn, I do not want it to
detract from the beauty of my front lawn and it would not be only the
cost of putting in the sidewalk but additional cost for removing
whatever might be in the way of the sidewalk, like trees, lampposts,
mailbox. It is really an expensive proposition for a lot of
people and I just don’t see the need for it whatsoever, but I
would like the water delivery to the homes out there a little bit more
consistent. It is always being dug up out there, we have brown
water.
Robert Studeny, 271 S. Countryside Drive – As I look around, I
came from a city that had sidewalks and it was very nice and it was
well planned, but the type of sidewalk situation we have here in
Ashland, the ones that where we need sidewalks is where we have all of
the soft Maples Trees, planted between the road and the sidewalks and
the sidewalks we have in so many places are more dangerous than not
having any sidewalk at all. And if the Council has money to spend
for sidewalks, lets repair the ones we have and not spend a lot of
money or spend the tax payers money on situations and things that we
don’t need in Ashland. There are plenty of sidewalks around
here that could use tax payers money to be repaired.
Ruth Strauss, 412 Woodhill Drive - I have lived here 50 years,
and I have no more traffic walking or driving, maybe every once in a
while in the morning I will see 3 delivery trucks in front of
somebody’s house doing repair work but that is about
all. When our children were small, our children played out there,
no accidents with youngsters on the streets. I cannot imagine
spending money for something that doesn’t make any sense.
Chris Jacobsen, 148 S. Countryside Drive – I would just like to
say, I don’t think we are asking for favoritism, I think there
are other areas of the community that have the same situation that we
do. There are areas where there are creeks and people
would require bridges, the dollars start adding up so you are actually
imposing not only a pretty significant upfront cost but I am sure the
county auditor is going to trail behind deem the project in improvement
and raise our property taxes on a continuing basis so I just ask that
you revisit the issue and amount of dollars we are talking about
because it is significant, at least place the issue before the voters
and otherwise I guess the only other course we would have would be to
have to try and create a petition to repeal the ordinance or vote
Council members according to the particular issue. I ask that you
revisit.
Terry Baker, 407 South Countryside Drive – I was actually born
there and I reside there now. I am trying to figure in my heart
of hearts what is the reason, and someone to make it clear to me, what
exactly is the point, to what benefit to the community other than maybe
tax revenue, what benefit is it to us?
Joyce Pagano, 429 North Woodhill – I am relatively new to the
area, not quite 2 years. I love it here because Ashland is unique
and charming and I just can’t even imagine what sidewalks would
look like. What bothers me is my property I think would be about
impossible by any stretch of the imagination to even put a sidewalk in
because there are woods and a steep hill. It would take thousand
of dollars to even level it for the sidewalk so I felt probably down
the line if it came it wouldn’t effect me personally because I
don’t know how it would be possible but really driving in today
from an appointment, it is just so lovely. Why would you want to do
that? I want it the way it is. I walk a lot at night, I
work the night shift at Samaritan Hospital. I never had any
problem walking at night.
John R. O’Lear, 266 N. Countryside – I am new to the area,
we moved here less than 1 year ago. I don’t see a need for
a sidewalk. It is not a through street and the issue regarding
water delivery, I am very familiar with. In December, there were
3 water main breaks right in front of my house. From a practical
point of view, if a sidewalk is installed, it will have to be dug up.
Paul Chorpening - I wanted to suggest you are possibly looking
into issuing either general obligation bonds based on that 3 to
400,000.00 whatever it takes to repair the sidewalks. This is not
new sidewalks, just to repair sidewalks around the city on a regular
basis. General obligation bonds, formerly Renewable Notes for
maybe 5 years and secure that amount of money and pay it back out of
the auto and tax fund of the general fund towards the notes or bonds
and pay them off.
Jerry Gerwig, 228 N. Coutryside Drive- Basically everything that
everybody said is my comment, but one other thing I wanted to mention
was in the last week I probably talked to 10-13 people in the community
and told them about the situation and I think a lot of people in the
community would know that this exists. Not just from our area but
from other areas. What I thought for the amount of money al lot
of these people are going to have to spend, we vote on school
issues. This should be a ballot issue for a lot of those people
as well.
Glen Stewart – When this issue came up, it took us several months
to bring the issue to a vote on this Council and it is not like it was
hidden from anyone and as a matter of fact, there are rather old
ordinances that were updated. The ordinances, some of them have
been in place for several years. This is a not a hearing this
evening, it is an opportunity for all of you to make comments and make
us aware of your thoughts. This Council is a body, can make a
determination where we feel we need to go from here. I will not promise
you that there will be a change and I will not promise you that there
will not be a change. We have offered the opportunity and we have
heard from the majority if you are here this evening and it will be,
all of your comments will become a permanent record of our Council
meeting this evening. We record it and at the same time Valarie Bishoff
takes the notes to supplement the recording so all has been heard and
will be recorded and Council will work with it from this point.
Richard Wolfe – no comments.
Evan MacDonald, 231 S. Countryside Drive –I have lived here for 5
years and if you will check the sewer department’s records; every
2 years in your right-of- way from my home, a very large sinkhole
develops somewhere over the poorly maintained sewer system.
Sinkholes that are several yards wide and in one occasion swallowed a
child. When you put your sidewalk over that decaying sewer line,
how often are you going to have to come out and lay new concrete and
who is going to pay for that. If you want to put down a nice looking
sidewalk because you were just adding to the beauty of the
neighborhood, but I think it is rather foolish to cover something
up that you are going to have to dig up every couple of years because
you did not take care of what is
down in the ground first.
David Price - It seems, that I have known you for many months to
come to this vote and a lot of deliberation brought into it and a lot
of thought before you come with a 10 year plan and I understand the
issue of people down on Walnut street having a problem and why is
Countryside getting away from it. I know it took you many months
to deliberate this and I thank the public view but I don’t
believe you would spend City money on something people did not want and
that was not necessary, like you are making us spend money except we
don’t want and it is not necessary. I trust you would not
be that loose with the purse strings, but what you voted in is costing
us a tremendous amount of money. Some more than others. I wish
you would revisit it and go back and change what you have addressed
there at Countryside. Thank you.
Kyle Jacobsen, 148 S. Countryside Drive - I want to thank my
neighbors, I work for the city schools and I know at levy time, a lot
of signs go up in my neighborhood and we get a lot of support from our
neighbor groups according to our levy’s and as it was pointed
out, that is miniscule compared to what we are talking about in your
cost of sidewalks and repairs of the sinkholes which I am quite
familiar with. I do walk those streets every morning, you
don’t see me because it is at 5:00 am and I am out there everyday
just so you know. Another concern, we try to clean our walks for
the postal carriers to get to our doors and if I am not mistaken I
thought there were rules about keeping your sidewalks clean when there
is weather like we had the last couple of weeks and I just think it is
not necessary and we have so many seniors in our development and I
don’t think the burden is necessary and my teenagers are not
going to be out there doing everybody’s sidewalk because our
corner lot would be a big enough burden.
Glen Stewart – Thank you for your comments. There will be
no decisions made on this, as it is not an agenda item this evening, it
falls under the comments. We have received your comments and we
received a hand written document that shares with us the kind of the
recollection of the meeting with the Mayor and Council at the Country
Club so that you are fully aware we also have copies of the petition
that was presented and I do have the letter that was sent to me by Mr.
Price and I responded to Mr. Price and I asked if there were any
documents that you could present that would support the agreement to
date I don’t think there is anything in writing. We went
through the document process up here, we did not find anything
here. I just wanted to clarify that. We have been in
communication, you have communicated with us and we with you and you
shared again with us this evening and we appreciate that.
Robert Valentine 1- They have communicated with me because I represent
Ward 1 and I had probably 2 or 3 calls and we have gone back and forth
and they have advised me they were coming down here and are going
to petition.
LEGISLATION
Ord. 12-07
Item (a) AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR OF THE CITY OF ASHLAND,
OHIO, TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
FIRE FIGHTERS LOCAL 1386, AFL-CIO; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.
Moved by Wertz and seconded by Detrow to invoke Section 113.01 of the
Codified Ordinances as the distribution of this Ordinance has satisfied
the requirements of said Section and that a further reading be
dispensed with at this time.
Ayes: Valentine W1, Valentine W2, Detrow, Wertz,
Stewart.
Comments:
We have had this legislation and this contract in our hands for
sometime. It is also basically a contract that we had shared with
us some weeks back. Are there any questions ?
Motion to pass on the first reading by Valentine 1, seconded by
Valentine 2 to invoke Section 113.01 of the Codified Ordinances as the
distribution of this Ordinance has satisfied the requirements of said
Section and that a further reading be dispensed with at this time.
Ayes: Detrow, Wertz, Stewart, Valentine 1, Valentine 2
Move to suspend the rules 3 separate meetings, 3 separate nights
Wertz, seconded by Detrow.
To invoke Section 113.01 of the Codified Ordinances as the distribution
of this Ordinance has satisfied the requirements of said Section and
that a further reading be dispensed with at this time.
Ayes: Valentine 1, Valentine 2, Detrow 3,
Wertz 4, Stewart
Move that the Ordinance be passed Stewart, seconded by Valentine 1
To invoke Section 113.01 of the Codified Ordinances as the distribution
of this Ordinance has satisfied the requirements of said Section and
that a further reading be dispensed with at this time.
Ayes: Valentine 2, Detrow 3, Wertz, Stewart, Valentine 1
We are rotating through the names.
Ord. 13-07
Item (b )AN ORDINANCE ACCEPTING THE DEDICATION PLAT OF SCOTT STREET IN
THE CITY
OF ASHLAND, OHIO; CONFIRMING THE DEDICATION OF THE
RIGHT OF
WAY SHOWN THERON; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.
Move to non-reading in full by Wertz, seconded by Valentine 1.
To invoke Section 113.01 of the Codified Ordinances as the distribution
of this Ordinance has satisfied the requirements of said Section and
that a further reading be dispensed with at this time.
Ayes: Valentine 1, Valentine 2, Detrow 3, Wertz, Stewart
Jim Cooper, City Engineer – This is a little bit different than
normal where we have a dedication plat in that we already own the
land. The reason we are doing this is because we are also
accepting the utilities, the water, the storms and the sanitary sewer,
and the curb and building in the street itself which was constructed by
the contractor and the subdivision developer so that is the reason it
is here.
Glen Stewart – All is in compliance with all construction
codes etc. and the final pavement is on.
Any other questions for Mr. Cooper?
Motion to pass Ordinance by Detrow, seconded by Stewart.
To invoke Section 113.01 of the Codified Ordinances as the distribution
of this Ordinance has satisfied the requirements of said Section and
that a further reading be dispensed with at this time.
Ayes: Valentine 2, Detrow 3, Wertz 4, Stewart, Valentine 1.
Move to suspend the rules 3 separate meetings, 3 separate nights by
Wertz, seconded by Valentine 1.
Ayes: Detrow, Wertz, Stewart, Valentine 1, Valentine 2
Motion for Ordinance to be passed by Wertz, seconded by Detrow.
To invoke Section 113.01 of the Codified Ordinances as the distribution
of this Ordinance has satisfied the requirements of said Section and
that a further reading be dispensed with at this time.
Ayes: Valentine 1, Valentine 2, Detrow, Wertz, Stewart
That concludes the Legislative portion this evening.
WARD REPORTS
Ward 2: Bob Valentine
(a) Appreciation:
Jerry Mack, Street Dept, took care of a call: Alley.
Ward 1: Bob Valentine
(b) Sidewalks:
Eastbrook; it dealt with waivers and my understanding is that there is
possibility to ask for another waiver. I think the deadline is March 2.
Waiver has been requested. Original waiver in 2003. There are two
houses by The Muffler House.
Ward 3: Ruth Detrow
(c) Fence on Property Line
Last Council meeting, the house where they are having a problem on
Arthur Street, I have gotten an E-mail from her also, Jim Cooper also
got an E-mail and Roger Gordon has written a letter today, same issues
apply, a private property issue. It is a difficult situation.
The Law Director, Richard P. Wolfe II, need to defer to him for the
legal aspects of this. We responded to her long ago and nothing
has changed, both of the issues she raises are between private property
owners and it does not involve the city. There is nothing as I
understand it improper about the location of the fence, and so it is
really not an issue for us at this time (Richard P. Wolfe, Law
Director).
Ruth Detrow: at the last meeting, it had to do with the fact that the
gentleman has added to his garage and did you every find a permit for
it?
Jim Cooper – he does not have a permit to my knowledge but he is
within the requirements of Code. We can send him a note.
Ward 3: Ruth Detrow
(d) The Ethanol plant.:
Public are educating us on Ethanol and receiving all sorts of copies of
articles and all sorts of interesting things about it and I appreciate
it, I am not complaining. Anyone who wants to add to that is more
than welcome.
Ward 4: Paul Wertz
(e) Appreciation
Just want to Thank the
Street Dept. for taking care of some smoke problems in my area.
Council At Large: Glen Stewart
(f) Appreciation
From my view point the Street Dept did a good job keeping roads cleaned
from all the snow. You served the community well.
Ruth Detrow: I had a lot of praise regarding the Street Dept
also, no complaints at all.
Robert Valentine 1- When you get into situations like with the snow
that we had, what is our role in enforcing it? Ordinance is within 12
hours after the cessation of the storm for sidewalks to be cleaned off.
Few complaints.
OLD BUSINESS:
Ethanol.
Glen Stewart -Ethanol is taking an inordinate amount of time because
there is a lot of interest and I share with you most of it is positive
with questions, how are we going to be handle water if we get this
facility and there is an ongoing attempt to try to get in to an
operating Ethanol plant and the reason for that is I don’t
personally need to understand how a plant operates, I would like to be
familiar with it and I am extremely interested in the periphery of that
plant and the neighbors that join as well as the community leaders
whether they be township leaders, county commissioners or city council
and I have to share with you to date as late as this afternoon, no one
was ready to receive visitors with open arms into their operating
plant. I am going to some other avenues to try and get some
rather large organizations, Ohio Corn Growers Association, they have a
tremendous interest and they do belong to a national corn growers
association. Unfortunately those people are all at an Ethanol
seminar in Arizona and believe it or not, the 3 calls that I made today
one of them was returned by a cell phone from Arizona and a plant
manager, a board member is away. One of our goals is to be able
to go to a plant not to learn how to make Ethanol but feel it, touch it
and look at it and ask questions. So there is a great amount of
interest and I too have a stack of information. I have had numerous
phone calls and welcome any information that I can gather because we
need to make an intelligent decision for our community if that
opportunity presents itself.
Any other comments or questions?
NEW BUSINESS
(a) Budget Update with Anna Tomasek and Mayor William Strine in 2 weeks.
MAYOR’S COMMENTS:
Not present..
MOVING RIGHT INTO WORK SESSION:
1)Brief update Mr. Cooper on the Water Development:
Jim Cooper – We talked to our consultants Burgess and Niple and
in about 3 weeks we will have a final report and the feasibility for
the Reservoir on the Riley property. Basically so far things look
favorable and they feel we can probably get 2 Reservoirs there,
possibly ½ billion gallons or more. From the discussion I
had they sounded very positive. There is a lot of sand and gravel
and they think there are possibilities there as far as being able to
get that Reservoir dug at no expense to the City.
There are short- term opportunities for water. There are 2 or 3
locations at least that we feel we can get some wells in and get
½ million to 1 million gallons in a rather short period of
time. With drilling and everything about 2 year time frame.
We are going to do some more testing and some other possibilities.
2)Housing Code/Maintenance-
The Blue Book, the 1, 2 and 3 residential units in previous Work
Sessions. Also a possibility we could go to an International Code and
it is about 20 pages. We could get more copies, and there is a
charge. Roger Gordon could order those. On the Web is a
copy of the complaint form Building and Zoning has and quite a few of
those have been received by Building and Zoning and when appropriate
Building and Zoning will be working with the Fire Dept. and the Health
Dept. to help take care of some of the problems as soon as the weather
gets better and the grass gets going and other things occur we will
have more need for this. We do have an additional man working for
Building and Zoning, Kevin Bentz. We can also have complaint forms in
the Council Office and the Mayor’s office downstairs with Julia
and other areas. But we do have that on the Web.
Ruth Detrow- Did you say International Code?
Jim Cooper – Yes there is an International Code and I was talking
to Roger today about it that he thinks if you do want away from the
Blue Book it might have many areas of the country in it.
Glen Stewart – Building Maintenance Code was given to me. Valarie
can make copies for Council. It is just to look at. I am not sure
how it compares to other codes you are speaking of but it may add
something to it.
Any more questions for Mr. Cooper?
Budget Update:
The Mayor shared with all of the Department Heads that Council may
approach you with some questions about specific updates. Council in
general is not, I would like to think we could handle this in the next
couple of weeks so that we don’t run into a crunch time, maybe we
could have the proposed appropriation request on the 1st Tuesday in
March and is certainly no necessary but it would be good if we could
get it behind us and I question the department heads. I
don’t know if any of you have contacted any of the department
heads, but the cover letter I put with Anna’s book and the Mayor
is okay with that. Then I personally have some questions that I
would like to speak with Anna and The Mayor together on the budget
overall and I will do that when the Mayor gets back. Are all of
you okay with the people to contact?
Anna Tomasek, Finance Director – I am available anytime for
Council in answering any of your questions.
Glen Stewart - Any general questions regarding the Budget?
Do you think it is possible to get it ready in the next couple of
weeks?
Any other questions for Council this evening?
Motion to Adjourn Glen Stewart, moved by Valentine 1, seconded by
Valentine 2
Ayes: Valentine 2, Ruth Detrow 3, Paul Wertz 4, Glen Stewart, Valentine
1
Adjourned at 7:55 p.m.
Moved by Valentine W1 and seconded by Valentine W1 to adjourn.
Ayes: Valentine W2, Detrow, Wertz, Stewart, Valentine W1
Council adjourned the regular
session at 8:03 p.m.
Submitted by
Valarie
Bishoff
Clerk of
Council
ATTEST: __________________________________Clerk of Council
Valarie F. Bishoff
APPROVED: ________________________________President Of Council
Glen P. Stewart