October 2nd, 2017 Council Minutes
Once approved, a link to the official council minutes will be at the bottom.
COUNCIL MINUTES
October 2, 2017
St. Clairsville City Council met in Council Chambers on Monday, October 2, 2017, with the following present:
Jim Weisgerber, Council President Terry Pugh, Mayor
Mark Bukmir, Council 3rd Ward Jim Zucal, Service Director
Linda Jordan, Council-At-Large Jeff Henry, Police Chief
Beth Oprisch, Council-At-Large Cindi Henry, Finance Director
Jake Olsavsky, Council, 1st Ward Tom Murphy, Planning & Zoning Administrator
Frank Sabatino, Council 2nd Ward Richard Myser, Law Director
Mike Smith, Council-At-Large Don Smithberger, Electric Superintendent
John Tomlan, Council 4th Ward
The meeting was called to order by Council President Jim Weisgerber.
MINUTES
Minutes of the September 18, 2017 regular meeting were distributed to Council. A motion to accept the minutes was made by Mike Smith and seconded by John Tomlan.
Roll Call Vote
Bukmir Yes Sabatino Yes
Jordan Yes Smith Yes
Olsavsky Yes Tomlan Yes
Oprisch Yes
Roll Call Vote: Seven (7) Yes Zero (0) No Motion Approved
CITIZENS HEARING: There were no Citizens present who wished to address Council.
REPORTS:
Service Director: Jim Zucal
The 1984 water tank is fully functional now. It is safe and operational. We are looking for some big picture items for that eventually. I don’t think there is any immediate need to do any repairs. We did fix what was required on the emergency side.
We are crack sealing. Our contractor did come in today. Again he is letting us use his equipment and we are buying the material through State purchasing. We got a good start today with the Street Department on Hutchison and Woodrow Avenues. They did make some good progress today and we are very excited about that. It is a rubber product, it is an interesting process. I think it is a very worthwhile project and the employees like it. So we are going to continue that for at least another week or two.
We are doing some concrete work. We are finishing some of those storm sewer and related items and hopefully will have that done within a week or two. We are thinking of starting the Accu-Tab chlorination product. We are thinking of starting at the Water Plant. It will be a little more expensive than at the Wastewater Plant. The sales rep. from the company has met with the team here at the city many times in the last month or two. The finances are in order for the Water Plant in the $20,000 to $25,000 area, the Wastewater Plant will be more like $7,000 or $8,000. We are turning some things around on our quality at the Water Plant. We are going to implement safety in both of the areas. I am excited about that and we are moving forward. Frank Sabatino: I had a citizen call me last week and I referred him to Mr. Zucal and Mr. Brown. They took care of the problem in a timely fashion and we received a nice thank you note from the Citizen.
Mayor: Terry Pugh:
This past week was the AMP Conference and the Electric Department received two awards and I want to pass them on to Don Smithberger, Electric Superintendent. One was a safety award for transmission and distribution 23 years in a row. The second award is for system improvement honorable mention for the Ault Drive rebuild.
Last meeting I brought up a recommendation for a vacancy on the Recreation Board. At this time after talking with Lindsay, there are actually four people who sent in an interest for being on the Board but in the end the one that I am going to nominate and Lindsay feels very comfortable with is John Nemeti. I would like to ask Council for their approval of my recommendation. A motion was made by Beth Oprisch and seconded by Mike Smith to appoint John Nemeti to the Recreation Board.
Roll Call Vote
Bukmir Yes Sabatino Abstain
Jordan Yes Smith Yes
Olsavsky Yes Tomlan Yes
Oprisch Yes
Roll Call Vote: Six (6) Yes One (1) Abstain Zero (0) No Motion Approved
Police Report for September 2017
Calls and Complaints 235
Special Teams Call Outs 0
Accidents 15
Arrests 22
Parking Tickets Issued 37
Traffic Stops 44
Miles put on Cruisers 5,346
Gasoline Used 569.8 gallons
We have a tentative schedule for leaf pickup starting the 16th of October the Street Department will be picking up paper bags of leaves. Starting on November 6th they will be picking up loose leaves that should be raked within 10 feet of the curb, not on to the streets. The way it is going to work this year in the city is on Monday we are going to Ward 1, Tuesday will be Ward 2, Wednesday will be Ward 3 and Thursday will be Ward 4. Pending bad weather Friday will be used.
We have a tentative schedule of laying asphalt over at the Recreation Center next Tuesday. We are very hopeful that we can get this project done in a couple of days by the Township and the City working together. It will be a pretty large job like their Brokaw Road job. We figured somewhere around 480 tons of asphalt. It is going to be a real undertaking but everybody feels confident that we are going to be able to get it done.
Police Chief, Jeff Henry: No Report
Finance Director, Cindi Henry:
You have three resolutions tonight, 2017-45, 2017-46 & 2017-47. Number 45 is where I am transferring money from the General Fund to cover Police Department expenses & for the Recreation Fund for the same reason. Number 2017-46 is the County Budget, I only received it Thursday from the County. It is where we are accepting the rates that they are certifying for us for next year for budgetary purposes. Number 2017-47 is a new fund that is being established to receive the TIF funding along with the revenue and appropriations line items that were set up to go hand and hand with that according to our agreement. The first payment is due in December.
Planning & Zoning, Tom Murphy:
I attended the State Planning Conference this past week in Athens, OH. It was probably one of the better conferences that I have attended. One of the items discussed was wireless communications and right of ways which as we know has been pretty important here recently. The State law that was passed the end of 2016 or early 2017 where they basically said wireless communications could go on any pole, any rights of way and the city could have no control. It is in the process of being challenged, thrown out and reworked. It is a good thing for the city, it gives us back our control of our right of ways.
They talked a lot about Downtown Redevelopment Districts that may or may not be appropriate for us. It is something to look into. It is a way of rating a district and capturing tax dollars to improve our infrastructure. That is something we could look into in the future.
Another item to bring to Council’s attention, over the last few years it seems that many property owners have started to throw gravel down in their front yard and make a parking space. Our code does require a permit and does require ultimately residential paved parking. We frequently work with a property owner and they may need a year to establish a base but these particular property owners are not getting a permit, they have no plans to put down a hard surface. One areas that jump out that we have received complaints on is Woodrow Avenue. I try meeting with the property owner first some have been doing what we need some have not. On Stewart Avenue there actually are three property owners who basically have just thrown down gravel. Some are rentals some are not. My first step is always to work with them and see if we can iron it out and get a timeline on when they can get it worked out. If that does not work we pull them into Mayor’s Court. Where it gets a little bit difficult is there are older driveways that are gravel and have been established for years and are grandfathered in. The great thing with aerial photography now is I can go back a year ago, I can go back to 2011 or 2006 and see if someone established an illegal parking space.
COUNCIL COMMITTEES:
Finance, Mike Smith: No Report
Utilities, Frank Sabatino:
We had a Utility Meeting and Jim touched on some of the things that were discussed. I want to congratulate Don Smithberger and his crew for winning the safety award. Don Smithberger: I would like to remind the public not to put yard sale signs or other advertisement on the utility poles. It is dangerous for our workers.
Police, Mark Bukmir: No Report
Street North Side, Jake Olsavsky: No Report
Street South Side, Linda Jordan: No Report
Safety, Beth Oprisch: There was a safety meeting last Friday. The name of the Safety Meeting was “The new confined space standards for 2017”. There were about 20 people there.
Building & Grounds, Mark Bukmir:
Mr. Zucal was kind enough to bring in pictures of the city garage we discussed last meeting. The project is not done yet, Mr. Zucal is going to have the crews paint the building.
Planning Commission, Mike Smith: No Report
Fire District, Frank Sabatino:
The Fire Board met on Wednesday, September 20th. It is good to see my fellow Fire Board member Perry Jones here tonight. Robert DeFrank put a pretty nice article about the Fire District in the paper the 17th of September. We have Fire Prevention Week coming October 8th to 14th. The theme this year is “Every Second Counts”. The Fire Fighters will be visiting all the elementary schools in the Fire District to educate the children in fire prevention. An interesting plan for this year the Cumberland Trail Fire District will offer free home inspections. Next meeting Wednesday, October 25th at 3:00 at the main station.
Recreation, Linda Jordan:
Bark in the Park is this Saturday, registration is 1:00. Next Board Meeting is October 16th
Park District, Linda Jordan: No Report.
ORDINANCES & RESOLUTIONS
Law Director, Richard Myser:
This evening we have three Ordinances for the first reading. The Finance Director explained those to you. Ordinance No. 2017-45 is the only one that needs to be passed on an emergency measure.
There was presented and read to Council on its first reading by title only, ORDINANCE NO. 2017-45; AN ORDINANCE TO MAKE INTERFUND TRANSFERS AND REALLOCATIONS (SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS) WITHIN THE FUNDS FOR THE NORMAL EXPENSES AND OTHER EXPENDITURES OF THE CITY OF ST. CLAIRSVILLE, STATE OF OHIO, FOR THE PERIOD JANUARY 1, 2017 THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2017, AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. Linda Jordan moved that the rules requiring ordinances and resolutions to be read on three separate readings be suspended and declaring an emergency; Jake Olsavsky seconded the motion.
Roll Call Vote
Bukmir Yes Sabatino Yes
Jordan Yes Smith Yes
Olsavsky Yes Tomlan Yes
Oprisch Yes
Roll Call Vote: Seven (7) Yes Zero (0) No Motion Approved
There was presented and read to Council on its third and final reading by title only, ORDINANCE NO. 2017-45. a motion was made by John Tomlan and seconded by Linda Jordan that Ordinance No. 2017-45 be passed by Council.
Roll Call Vote
Bukmir Yes Sabatino Yes
Jordan Yes Smith Yes
Olsavsky Yes Tomlan Yes
Oprisch Yes
Roll Call Vote: Seven (7) Yes Zero (0) No Motion Approved
Ordinance No. 2017-45 was declared adopted
There was presented and read to Council on its first reading by title only, ORDINANCE NO. 2017-46; RESOLUTION ACCEPTING THE AMOUNTS AND RATES AS DETERMINED BY THE BUDGET COMMISSION AND AUTHORIZING THE NECESSARY TAX LEVIES AND CERTIFYING THEM TO THE COUNTY AUDITOR AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.
There was presented and read to Council on its first reading by title only, ORDINANCE NO. 2017-47; RESOLUTION TO ESTABLISH THE TAX INCREMENT FINANCING (TIF) FUND # 2918 ALONG WITH THE NECESSARY REVENUE ACCOUNTS AND NECESSARY APPROPRIATIONS AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.
NEW BUSINESS: Mayor’s Report
The Mayor’s collection for September 2017 is $2,960.50. A motion to accept the Mayor’s Report was made by Jake Olsavsky and seconded by Linda Jordan.
Roll Call Vote
Bukmir Yes Sabatino Yes
Jordan Yes Smith Yes
Olsavsky Yes Tomlan Yes
Oprisch Yes
Roll Call Vote: Seven (7) Yes Zero (0) No Motion Approved
CORRESPONDENCE:
St. Mary’s Central: The Clerk read a letter from Stephanie Harris requesting the use and closure of the North end of the National Road Bikeway and a portion of Hutchinson Drive on Saturday May 12, 2018 to hold the 3rd annual Spring into Shape 5K benefitting St. Mary’s Central. A motion was made by Jake Olsavsky and seconded by Mike Smith to approve the 5K fundraiser for St. Mary’s.
Roll Call Vote
Bukmir Yes Sabatino Yes
Jordan Yes Smith Yes
Olsavsky Yes Tomlan Yes
Oprisch Yes
Roll Call Vote: Seven (7) Yes Zero (0) No Motion Approved
Calvary Presbyterian Church: The Clerk read a note from Diane Senakievich requesting permission to have the Church’s annual Trunk or Treat on Sunday, October 15th from 2 p.m. to 4 pm. They also ask Council to approve the blocking of St. Patrick’s Alley between 1st Presbyterian and Calvary Presbyterian Churches from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. for the safety of the children. A motion was made by John Tomlan and seconded by Mike Smith to close St. Patrick’s Alley from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on October 15.
Roll Call Vote
Bukmir Yes Sabatino Yes
Jordan Yes Smith Yes
Olsavsky Yes Tomlan Yes
Oprisch Yes
Roll Call Vote: Seven (7) Yes Zero (0) No Motion Approved
Next Meeting: The next Council Meeting will be Monday, October 16, 2017 at 7:30 in Council Chambers
There being no further business to come before Council, a motion to adjourn was made by Beth Oprisch and seconded by Jake Olsavsky.