April 2nd, 2018 Council Minutes
Once approved, a link to the official council minutes will be at the bottom.
COUNCIL MINUTES
April 2, 2018
St. Clairsville City Council met in Council Chambers on Monday, April 2, 2018 with the following present:
Tim Porter, Council President
Perry Basile, Council 1st Ward Jim Zucal; Service Director
Mark Bukmir, Council 3rd Ward Cindi Henry, Finance Director
Linda Jordan, Council-At-Large Richard Myser, Law Director
Beth Oprisch, Council-At-Large Jeff Henry, Police Chief
Mike Smith, Council-At-Large Don Smithberger, Superintendent of General Serv.
Tom Murphy, Planning & Zoning Administrator
MINUTES: Minutes of the March 19. 2018 were tabled until the next meeting.
CITIZENS HEARING: There were no Citizens present who wished to address Council
SERVICE DIRECTOR, JIM ZUCAL
The Part-Time person who is working in the Utility Office now is Debbie Caltrider. She has been working there about two weeks. She replaced Sue Black who resigned and left on good terms and is excited about her retirement.
I want to talk about two structures on St. Clair Avenue. One is the old water department building which we are going to renovate this year. I have met with Perry Basile We went down and looked at the building. It has a roof that we had tested and they are asbestos shingles. We have a company that is going to take those away and taken to the proper site. We are going to knock the red brick building down. The block building is in good structural shape. It actually had a tree come through the roof and was neglected for years. The guys still store water parts in there. We are going to put new glass block windows in it and new garage doors. They have already started on eaves, soffits and facials and a new roof on it. Those are the two buildings we are working on this year. Tom Murphy is going to help me out tonight and give a more extensive report on some of the buildings.
Perry Basile: When we were over there we talked about clearing some of the brush around there, is that still going to happen? Jim Zucal. This is independent of that, this is building renovation and is being done by Kline Restoration. Terry Pugh is working with a contractor to knock the red brick down for us. We do want to cut down some of the brush and we are going to use our own employees and maybe some of the prisoners’. Beth Oprisch: Did Junior Sports set up a meeting with you to talk about the contract and how the City and Junior Sports can work together? Jim Zucal: They did not.
MAYOR, TERRY PUGH:
Because of Roberta Mertz, Jim Zucal’s Secretary who has taken the lead on the new website, we hope to have it up and going by May 1st. Things are progressing. Our Web builder was in last week and went over the site with all the superintendents and had a sit down with Jim, Myself and Cindi
We met with Gulfport this past week about the nature trail. With just an off the cuff statement I made to them at a meeting about why don’t you keep your $5,000 and make a Nature Trail with us. They took it and ran with it big time. They already have invested $120,000 in material and contracts to complete this. It is a collaboration between the City, Gulfport and the Park. They brought the Boy Scouts into it as well. It is a real community project they hope to have it done by the middle of July.
POLICE CHIEF, JEFF HENRY No Report
FINANCE DIRECTOR, CINDI HENRY: No Report
PLANNING AND ZONING ADMINISTRATOR, TOM MURPHY:
As Terry mentioned that trail at Memorial Park has snowballed into even a better thing than we could have imagined. It is just over one mile, there two sections that are connected. The first section will enter off of Memorial Park, that is the section that hits on the first water fall. That then hooks up with the existing trail where they had their temporary water line. That ends up at the smaller water fall. The Boy Scouts are going to be involved. Their plan is to have around 70 Boy Scouts over a period of two days they will have an overnighter at Memorial Park. The Scouts will spread the mulch on the trail. We wanted it to be pretty bare boned that way it is easier to maintain. Beth Oprisch: Did thy decide on a name yet? Tom Murphy: There is no name yet but there will be a sign when it is decided.
Tonight there was a Planning Commission Meeting. The main item that is before City Council is the report to Council in regard to St. Clair Commons. The Commission did recommend to City Council the approval of that plat. There is an Ordinance before you but there are only five members present so it cannot be passed tonight but we do ask you to only do the first reading on that.
There was another matter before the Planning Commission but there is no action required on that. It was for Green/Corp Designs they received their final plan approval. It is a great project, Jeremy has been great to work with, and he understands the code and understands the requirements we have. Any plans he submitted were perfect.
Jim and I met with Casey Coyne, he owns just shy of 2 acres just off of the end of Curtis Lane. He has an interest in building some new homes. It is not a huge parcel of ground but still we can get some new homes constructed.
Friday morning we received a phone call that the structure that Pizza Milano has plans to move into where State Cleaners use to be. The call was that some of the bricks had fallen out of the structure. We went ahead and taped it off, we contacted the property owner the property owner did come in his plan was to start work on the façade in May and plan to complete facade this year.
Beth Oprisch: Where are we with the new road across the highway? Jim Zucal: That was scheduled to be completed this fall but Shelly & Sands are quite a bit ahead so they are looking at maybe June or July. The letters are exposed that say St. Clairsville so they are ahead of schedule.
Tom Murphy: The Senior Suites are about 95% complete. They did receive their certificate of occupancy from the state. They do have people interested and have put money down to reserve a room. No one has moved in yet but it is getting very close.
COUNCIL COMMITTEES:
Finance, Mike Smith: No Report
Utilities, Frank Sabatino: Not Present
Beth Oprisch: Utility met tonight. Want to remind the public that there are pool meters available in the Utility Office. They can be checked out for 24 hours with a valid I.D. For people who are interested in a sewer credit during the period in use. Mike Smith: What was the problem with the power in the middle of the night? Terry Pugh: A transformer blew out and they had to replace it.
Police, Mark Bukmir: No Report
Street North Side, Jim Velas: Not Present
Street South Side, Beth Oprisch: No Report
Safety, Beth Oprisch: I had the opportunity to attend the Safety meeting on March 29th at the City garage. It was very good information. Kyle does a very good job. The presentation was on distracted driving. If you have the opportunity I suggest you attend…
Building and Grounds, Perry Basile: No further Report
Planning Commission, Mike Smith: No Report
Fire District, Frank Sabatino: Not Present
Perry Basile: I have looked into other cities that have community cleanup day so people can get rid of junk that is laying around in their yard or garage. Terry Pugh: Richland Township has a cleanup day on May 5th at the County Fairgrounds on Roscoe Road.
Recreation, Linda Jordan:
The Easter program went very well nearly 200 kids came out.
I also want to mention the amazing raise. Everyone knows several well deserving organizations that participate in that but we are going to ask for support for the Rec. center. We hope that everyone gives their donation to the Rec. Center.
We want to give thanks to the Belmont County Tourism, they gave the Rec. Center $2.600 grant.
Park District, Linda Jordan:
Jim Zucal: On the new trail I think it would be nice if the Park District would look at a name the trail contest. We would like to support Gulfport. So we need to work with them also.
ORDINANCES & RESOLUTIONS:
Law Director, Richard Myser
On your agenda we have for the third reading Resolution No. 2018-07. That is the Resolution that ordinarily would have been scheduled for the third reading tonight. I have the plat and all the procedures ready. Earlier this afternoon I was looking at that procedure, we have to wait until 60 days have passed. 60 days are not up until April 14th. I am going to recommend to Council that we not have the third reading tonight. We will wait and have our third reading on the 16th.
We also have on the agenda Ordinance No. 2018008. That is the Ordinance accepting the final plat of the St. Clair Commons subdivision. Tom wanted to pass it tonight but we do not have enough members to pass it on an emergency. It will be necessary to have a special meeting to pass this ordinance. The meeting was set up for Thursday, April 5, 2018 at 7:30 a.m.
There was presented and read to Council on its first reading by title only, ORDINANCE NO. 2018-08: AN ORDINANCE ACCEPTING THE FINAL PLAT OF THE ST. CLAIR COMMONS SUBDIVISION TO THE CITY OF ST. CLAIRSVILLE, OHIO AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY
NEW BUSINESS: The Mayor’s report for March was $2,247.09. A motion to accept the Mayor’s Report for March was made by Linda Jordan and seconded by Perry Basile.
Roll Call Vote:
Basile Yes Oprisch Yes
Bukmir Yes Smith Yes
Jordan Yes
Roll Call Vote: Five (5) Yes Zero (0) No Motion Approved:
NEXT MEETING: Monday, April 16, 2018, 7:30 p.m. in Council Chambers
There being no further business to come before Council, a motion to adjourn was made by Linda Jordan and seconded by Mike Smith.