August 20, 2018 Council Minutes
Once approved, a link to the official council minutes will be at the bottom.
COUNCIL MINUTES
August 20, 2018
St. Clairsville City Council met in Council Chambers on Monday, August 20, 2018 with the following present:
Tim Porter, Council President Terry Pugh, Mayor
Perry Basile, Council 1st Ward Jim Zucal, Service Director
Mark Bukmir, Council 3rd Ward Cindy Henry, Finance Director
Linda Jordan, Council-At-Large Richard Myser, Law Director
Beth Oprisch, Council-At-Large Mike Troullos, Police Lieutenant
Frank Sabatino, Council 2nd Ward Tom Murphy, Planning & Zoning Administrator
Mike Smith, Council-At-Large
Jim Velas, Council 4th Ward
The meeting was called to order by President, Tim Porter
MINUTES: Minutes of the August 6, 2018 meeting were distributed to Council. A motion was made by Mike Smith and seconded by Linda Jordan to approve the Minutes of August 6, 2018.
Roll Call Vote:
Basile Yes Sabatino Yes
Bukmir Yes Smith Yes
Jordan Yes Velas Yes
Oprisch Abstain
Roll Call Vote: Six (6) Yes One (1) Abstain Motion Approved
CITIZENS HEARING: There were no Citizens present who wished to address Council.
REPORTS:
Service Director, Jim Zucal:
I want to inform Council that we did have the two new employees start today. Daniel Elerick who lives on Overbaugh Avenue started in the Water Plant as an apprentice operator. Mathew Goletz who is a St. Clairsville Grad started in the Street Department. Both of them came with high recommendations. They bring the staff levels up where they should be. Daniel will be filling in while an individual employee is on medical leave. We are bringing the Street Department up to full employment so when Elsie leaves we will have another person on board.
I do want to inform Council that we did purchase a new street sweeper. It was on State purchasing. Southeastern Equipment came over and demoed it for us. It is a mid-range vehicle with all the modern performance. We thought mid-size for the hills and alleys. I am a proponent of when we buy something we are going to use it. I think it is great for our constituents, great for our city and great for public relations. We do have a cleaner city. We will clean curbs, gutters and streets. It also has a vacum attachment to pick up leaves. It was on the competitive bid program and the final price was around $158,000, we did get a warranty with it. It will be delivered this Friday. I am excited about that, our employees are excited and we are going to put it to use.
I want to show you some of the components that came out of the water filter at the Water Plant. There are three filters at the plant. The filters are in a concrete tank, they are relatively wide, tall and filled with sand and gravel. At the bottom there are pipes that circulate the water, the water is pushed through sand and gravel to purify the water then backwash. What we found out was the original filterer in the bottom we think came with the plant so we think it was in the 1930’s and has never been changed. There was a lot of decay, a lot of issues from age. I asked the contractor to bring us a sample of the pipe. The pipe is carbon steel. Our water is safe it is treated, it is chlorinated but that is what you have. Modern components today are stainless steel. It is just an old system we will have better quality, better purity, better taste as a result of all of this. Along with that came a price tag of over $30,000. There are two more filters to do along with other upgrades. Let’s continue to do the right thing for our city.
Mayor, Terry Pugh:
Police Report for July, 2018
Calls and Complaints 396
Special Teams Call Outs 0
Accidents 19
Parking Tickets Issued 39
Traffic Stops 167
Miles put on Cruisers 7,405.9
Gasoline Used 778.4 gallons
A thank you to Lieutenant Troullos for filling in for Chief Henry.
We got 3 inches of rain Friday night. We had a lot of the same problems throughout the city. Unfortunately some of the same people got flooded. We pretty much spent all morning going out to meet with people who called in. Some of the problems especially with the storm sewers. It is just old infrastructure down in the Bellview/Overbaugh area. We have had engineers down there
Over the last two weeks, they have been using a camera in the pipes. We have an idea where things are down there now and how bad things are down there. We are getting together a plan and see if we can get some grant money from the OPWC. The problem really starts at the Courthouse and goes all the way down to the stream at the sewer plant. We are talking millions of dollars. It is hard to fight Mother Nature.
Police Lieutenant, Mike Troullos: No Report
Finance Director, Cindi Henry:
I sent you Resolution No. 2018-24. This is a resolution that was put together by OPWC. It is what they require from us to obtain the $400,000 loan that will go towards the new water tank. This is the basic language that they require before they process the loan and get it in place. There is no emergency language in it but the sooner you pass it the faster it will roll, it is your choice.
I passed out Health Care projections of cost for you. There is about 6 pages, they are pretty mundane. We were issued a 19.9% increase initially. Our broker went back to the Company and the Company explained how much they lost on us as a vendor and they have now lowered it to a little over 15%. We have asked the FOP to reopen the contract because the stipulation was put in there that if it went over 10% few could do so. We will be moving on that in the future.
Planning & Zoning Administrator, Tom Murphy:
Last week there was a Board of Zoning Appeals meeting. There were two variances proposed. One was for 111 Lexington Drive to increase the fence height allowed by code in the back yard from 7 feet to 8 feet. That was approved by the Board. The second one was to allow for a new deck at 131 Crisswill Road to be up against the property line that was also approved.
Jim Zucal, Myself and Richard Myser have been working on the demolition of a home on Jefferson Avenue. There is a certain process we have to follow and now it is in Richard’s hands. He has been working on that.
I have been working with Whiteside, they purchased a lot approximately across from Kevin Ferren. It is near their body shop and they are proposing to utilize that for accessory parking area. They are working with the city creating a parking lot and storm water plan to make sure that problems don’t happen.
COUNCIL COMMITTEES:
Finance, Mike Smith: No Report
Utilities, Frank Sabatino:
I would like to commend the Mayor, Jim Zucal, the city workers, the superintendents for staying on top of the infrastructure problems. We hear it all the time about where our tax money is going.
Police, Mark Bukmir: There will be a short meeting with Mr. Zucal tonight.
Street North Side, Jim Velas: No Report
Street South Side, Beth Oprisch: No Report
Safety, Beth Oprisch: No Report
Building and Grounds, Perry Basile: No Report
Planning Commission, Mike Smith: No Report
Recreation, Linda Jordan: No Report
Park District, Linda Jordan: They had an awesome Community Day. It was great to see so many people come out and take advantage of the pool and get a chance to look at all the improvements at the Park. The Board would again like to thank the citizens for supporting them.
The Park tomorrow will be holding a Yoga class in the water at 6:30 p.m.
Fire District, Frank Sabatino: The Fire Board met last Wednesday we had some personnel issues. Sometimes we have to remove a part timer. For whatever reason they are part time and if they don’t report for any on time duties they are removed. Some of these guys work two and three jobs. Next meeting will be September 19th at 3:00 at the Main Station.
ORDINANCES & RESOLUTION: Law Director, Richard Myser
We have three pieces of legislation tonight. 2018-23 is an Ordinance to authorize bids for an oil & gas lease. Jim Zucal: I was contacted by a gentleman from McDonald Land Services. This is a long narrow strip underneath the biketrail. It was missed in several go arounds. It is 1.901 acres. We are publicly going to advertise that. That is the intent of this legislation and it is only for that parcel of land. Richard Myser: There is emergency language in this Resolution so you can pass it tonight if you desire. Resolution No. 2018-24 this is the one that Cindi talked to you about. This is for the $400,000 loan for the water tank. Once again there is no emergency language in it but you could still pass it on an emergency if you want. Cindi Henry: The sooner the better, it is the loan, once we receive it they want you to start on the project and the payments will have to be forwarded at some point and the money will have to be in place at that point. Richard Myser: The next one is Ordinance No. 2018-25; this is one that Kathy is proposing, this is one that we do on a regular basis to authorize the reallocation of our ordinances. It is emergency language. Does it need to be passed tonight? Clerk: No I already have the new pages and it is already going on line, so it can wait for three readings.
Richard Myser: I don’t know if Council was aware but we were cited before the Ohio Civil Rights Commission by people named Gasperowich based on our stand on them cleaning up a piece of property that they own on Franklin Street. They thought that Tom was a little too aggressive, anyway they filed a complaint with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission against Tom and against the City. Saturday I got a letter from the Civil Rights Commission indicating that the case had be dismissed. Tom Murphy: Frequently when people get letters from the city many of them understand what you are trying to do and they try to comply, for others it is always someone else’s fault.
We are going to need to go into executive session tonight for two reasons. Number one is under section 121.22 (G) (2) it is to consider property for public use in the city. The next one is section 121.22 (G) (1) to consider matters relative to public employees.
There was presented and read to Council on its first reading by title only, ORDINANCE NO. 2018-23: ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS TO LEASE OIL AND GAS OWNED BY THE CITY OF ST. CLAIRSVILLE, OHIO.
There was presented and read to Council on its first reading by title only, RESOLUTION NO. 2018-24: A RESOLUTION DECLARING THE OFFICIAL INTENT AND REASONABLE EXPECTATION OF THE CITY OF ST. CLAIRSVILLE ON BEHALF OF THE STATE OF OHIO (THE BORROWER) TO REIMBURSE ITS CAPITAL PROJECTS FUND FOR THE NEW RESERVOIR IMPROVEMENT PROJECT (WATER TANK), OPWC PROJECT NUMBER CR24V WITH THE PROCEEDS OF TAX-EXEMPT DEBT OF THE STATE OF OHIIO. Jim Velas moved that the rules requiring Ordinances and Resolutions to be read on three separate readings be suspended and declaring an emergency; Mark Bukmir seconded the motion.
Roll Call Vote:
Basile Yes Sabatino Yes
Bukmir Yes Smith Yes
Jordan Yes Velas 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, RESOLUTION NO. 2018-24. a motion was made by Linda Jordan and seconded by Perry Basile that Resolution No. 2018-24 be passed by Council.
Roll Call Vote:
Basile Yes Sabatino Yes
Bukmir Yes Smith Yes
Jordan Yes Velas Yes
Oprisch Yes
Roll Call Vote: Seven (7) Yes Zero (0) No Motion Approved
Resolution No. 2018-24 was declared adopted.
There was presented and read to Council on its first reading by title only; ORDINANCE NO. 2018-25: AN ORDINANCE TO APPROVE THE 2018 REPRINTING OF THE ST. CLAIRSVILLE CODIFIED ORDINANCES; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.
Executive Session:
A motion was made by Jim Velas to go into executive session per Ohio Revised Code Section
121.22 (G) (2) it is to consider property for public use in the city. The next one is section 121.22 (G) (1) to consider matters relative to public employees. Perry Basile seconded the motion.
Roll Call Vote:
Basile Yes Sabatino Yes
Bukmir Yes Smith Yes
Jordan Yes Velas Yes
Oprisch Yes
Roll Call Vote: Seven (7) Yes Zero (0) No Motion Approved
A motion to return to regular session was made by Linda Jordan and seconded by Jim Velas.
Roll Call Vote:
Basile Yes Sabatino Yes
Bukmir Yes Smith Yes
Jordan Yes Velas Yes
Oprisch Yes
Roll Call Vote: Seven (7) Yes Zero (0) No Motion Approved
The Next Council Meeting will be Tuesday, September 4, 2018 at 7:30 in Council Chambers.
There being no further business to come before Council a motion to adjourn was made by Jim Velas and seconded by Mark Bukmir.