December 16, 2019 Council Minutes
Once approved, a link to the official council minutes will be at the bottom.
COUNCIL MINUTES
December 16, 2019
St. Clairsville City Council met in Council Chambers on Monday, December 16, 2019
With the following present:
Jim Velas, Council President
Perry Basile, Council, 1st Ward
Mark Bukmir, Council, 3rd Ward
Terra Butler, Council, 4th Ward Richard Myser, Law Director
Linda Jordan, Council-At-Large Tom Murphy, Planning & Zoning Administrator
Beth Oprisch, Council-At-Large Mike Troullos, Police Lieutenant
Frank Sabatino, Council 2nd Ward
Mike Smith, Council-At-Large
The meeting was called to order by President, Jim Velas who thanked everyone in attendance for coming in for the last meeting of the year.
Minutes: A motion was made by Mike Smith and seconded by Terra Butler to approve the minutes of December 2, 2019.
ROLL CALL:
Basile Yes Oprisch Yes
Bukmir Yes Sabatino Abstain
Butler Yes Smith Yes
Jordan Yes
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: Not Present
Mayor, Terry Pugh: Not Present
Police Lieutenant, Mike Troullos: Jim Velas: With Jeff Henry’s retirement in effect as of yesterday we will not have a Police Report.
Frank Sabatino: Just for the record I served with Terry Pugh on the Fire Board, on City Council, Council President and four years as Mayor and I would just like to express my gratitude and thanks for all Terry has done for the City and the Citizens of St. Clairsville.
Finance Director, Cindi Henry: Not Present
Planning and Zoning Administrator, Tom Murphy:
I just want to remind Council that there will be a public hearing regarding the update of the Zoning Map. That will be before the Planning Commission on Monday, February 3, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. Changes to the Zoning map will be proposed. All are welcome to attend. I would suggest that Council and the new Mayor sit down with me and I can kind of outline what those changes are.
Another thing I keep bringing up at the meeting is Census 2020. I meet with Amber Kolar she is their representative of the census in this area. We are kind of going over different things that are important. I have been through this before so I have quite a bit of knowledge on it. The City will be creating a link on the web site.
COUNCIL COMMITTEES
Finance, Mike Smith: We had a very short meeting. We talked about reports that we would like to see in the future.
Utilities, Frank Sabatino: I have no report but I was talking to Don Smithberger today and he is progressing very well from his surgery and hopes to be back shortly.
Police, Mark Bukmir: I would like to thank Jeff Henry for his years of service.
Street North Side, Terra Butler: We had a call from a woman that lives at 109 Richland Avenue. At the end of her driveway there is a washout of her culvert and she is having a hard time getting in and out.
Street South Side, Beth Oprisch: No calls about the South Side.
Safety, Terra Butler: No Report
Building and Grounds, Perry Basile: I got three estimates for partitions for the Rec. Center bathrooms. I figured we can have own guys install them too save a little bit of money. There are three stalls for the girls and three for the boys.
Planning Commission, Mike Smith: No Report
Fire District, Frank Sabatino: Due to everyone’s scheduling we met at 7:00 this morning and probably the best news I have to report to Council is our new squad car will be in next Tuesday. We ordered it in November 2018. Our next meeting will be Wednesday, January 15th, That is our regular meeting and our reorganization meeting as well.
Recreation, Linda Jordan: Bantam Basketball is in full swing. The Board would like to thank Colerain Golf Car Sales for the use of four Golf Cars for use in the Christmas Parade. The next meeting will be January 20th at 4:30 at the Rec. Center.
Park District, Linda Jordan: No Report, Next meeting will be January 13th.
ORDINANCES & RESOLUTIONS:
Law Director, Richard Myser: We don’t have any official legislation to act on tonight, however with the Service Director not being here Jim Zucal asked me to address an issue we had in the Police Department. As all of you know or maybe don’t know Chief Henry has submitted his resignation to the City effective yesterday, December 15th. As of yesterday we do not have a Chief of Police. Article 5 section 7 of the Charter Provides that the Service Director appoint the Chief of Police subject to the approval of Council. That is what our charter says. Given the unique situation we find ourselves in at this point, Jim Zucal is going to suggest to Council that instead of him appointing a permanent position for the Chief of Police that he simply make a recommendation to Council that we appoint an acting chief until the new administration gets in place until his replacement as Service Director takes office. At that time an official recommendation can be made to Council to replace Chief Henry. Mr. Zucal is submitting a letter to Council and he has already made a recommendation to Lieutenant Troullos that he be appointed Acting Chief until the new administration takes office. What that does is fills the position so the City has an acting Chief in the interim. That puts us into another unique situation. The Council takes official action either through Resolution or Ordinances, so when Mr. Zucal and I discussed this, instead of a Resolution which would require three readings, I am going to recommend to Council that they approve the recommendation and that they take action by simply a motion to be proposed and passed tonight. That is all I have. Beth Oprisch: I have a question. Is there really a need to make an official action before the new administration is in place? Mr. Zucal sent the memo so it is effective. Richard Myser: The Charter says that the Service Director will appoint someone to be approved by the Council. What he is doing is appointing Mr. Troullos as acting chief for an unknown period of time to be approved by Council through the action of a motion to approve his appointment. Beth Oprisch: I just don’t think that we need a motion, I think that as it stands, the memo is there. I am just not sure that we want to take any official action until I think the intent of his memo is to delay the appointment of the chief until the new administration. Richard Myser: He is appointing Lieutenant Troullos to be our acting chief and he is asking for Council’s approval of that vote to be done by motion.
Executive Session:
A motion was made by Beth Oprisch and seconded by Perry Basile to go into executive session.
ROLL CALL:
Basile Yes Oprisch Yes
Bukmir No Sabatino No
Butler Yes Smith Yes
Jordan No
Roll Call Vote: Four (4) Yes Three (3) No Motion Approved
Return to Regular Session:
A motion to return too regular session was made by Beth Oprisch and seconded by Mike Smith.
ROLL CALL:
Basile Yes Oprisch Yes
Bukmir Yes Sabatino Yes
Butler Yes Smith Yes
Jordan Yes
Roll Call Vote: Seven (7) Yes Zero (0) No Motion Approved
A motion was made by Linda Jordan and seconded by Mark Bukmir to appoint Lieutenant Troullos as acting chief of the St. Clairsville Police Department.
ROLL CALL:
Basile No Oprisch Yes
Bukmir Yes Sabatino Yes
Butler No Smith No
Jordan Yes
Roll Call Vote: Four (4) Yes Three (3) No Motion Approved
Jim Velas: As of this evening Mike Troullos is acting Chief of Police.
New Business: Mayor’s Report
The Mayor’s Collection for November was $2,130.00
A motion to approve the Mayor’s report was made by Beth Oprisch and seconded by Terra Butler.
ROLL CALL:
Basile Yes Oprisch Yes
Bukmir Yes Sabatino Yes
Butler Yes Smith Yes
Jordan Yes
Roll Call Vote: Seven (7) Yes Zero (0) No Motion Approved
The next meeting will be Monday, January 6, 2020 at 7:30 in Council Chambers.
There being no further business to come before Council a motion to adjourn was made by Mike Smith and seconded by Terra Butler.