Regular Council Meeting Thursday, December 21, 2006 Mayor Dave France called the meeting to order. Roll Call: Robert Cochrun present, Jason Mattern present, Robert Martin Sr. present, Bob Gale present, Matt Parise arrived later in meeting, Thomas Bottorf present. Officials: Mayor Dave France present, Solicitor Christopher D. Becker present, Clerk Treasurer Mike Payne present, Administrator Walt Ziemba present. Moment of Silence Pledge of Allegiance Reading of Minutes Motion by Thomas Bottorf, second by Bob Gale to approve the minutes from the December 7, 2006 Regular Council Meeting. Vote: Robert Cochrun yea, Jason Mattern yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Bob Gale yea, Thomas Bottorf yea. Motion passed 5-0. Matt Parise arrived at this point of the meeting. Persons Appearing Before Council Greg Blazy, from the Jefferson County Regional Planning Commission, explained some of the projects his organization was currently involved with which included identifying Brownfield sites and revamping the Community Assessment Strategy. He explained why he needed each Village Council to enact the Jefferson County All Hazard Plan. Bob Gale asked that Council Members each receive a copy of the Hazard Plan before having the final vote on the Resolution to approve his request. Walt Ziemba told Council that the Planning Commission had been very helpful in obtaining CDBG funding for Sunset Gardens. Mayor Dave France presented the 2006 Christmas Lighting Contest winners, which were as follows: Residential Winners: First Place - Robert Burns, 109 Dana Lynn Second Place - Michael Hornyak, 330 Springdale Ave. Third Place - Jimmy and Darlene Bailey, 186 Teramanor Drive Fourth Place - Christine Antonelli, 189 Stardust Drive Mayor's Award: John Christopher - 209 Beechwood Blvd. Business Winners: First Place - Blessed Sacrament Church Second Place - Wintersville Trophy Shop Honorable Mention Residential: Norma Hewitt - 152 Meadow Road Frank Porco - 131 North Avalon Drive Albert Goddard - 241 Winters Drive Jerry Williams - 315 Springdale Avenue Honorable Mention Business: Scarlet & Grey Parkvale Bank Reading of Ordinances and/or Resolutions Ordinance 2006-36: An Ordinance setting the 2007 Permanent Appropriations for the Village was read for the third time. Motion by Thomas Bottorf, second by Jason Mattern to approve Ordinance 2006-36 Discussion on the motion: Matt Parise said that he would like the budget to reflect that the Thunder in the Valley donation should be restricted to a lower amount unless they were able to come up with $1000 in matching contribution from other political subdivision. Mayor Dave France said that this had been taken care of because Cross Creek Township had donated $1000.00 for the 2007 event. Vote on the Motion: Robert Cochrun yea, Jason Mattern yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Bob Gale yea, Matt Parise yea, Thomas Bottorf yea. Motion passed 6-0. Ordinance 2006-37: An Ordinance providing a 2% pay increase for all full and part time employees and Auxiliary police officers was read for the second time. Motion by Thomas Bottorf, second by Bob Gale to suspend the rules for the third reading of Ordinance 2006-37. Vote: Robert Cochrun yea, Jason Mattern yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Bob Gale yea, Matt Parise yea, Thomas Bottorf yea. Motion passed 6-0. Ordinance 2006-37: An Ordinance providing a 2% pay increase for all full and part time employees and Auxiliary police officers was read for the third time. Motion by Matt Parise, second by Thomas Bottorf to approve Ordinance 2006-37. Vote: Robert Cochrun yea, Jason Mattern yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Bob Gale yea, Matt Parise yea, Thomas Bottorf yea. Motion passed 6-0. Ordinance 2006-38: An Ordinance Appointing Chris Becker as Village Solicitor for a two year period was read for the second time. Motion by Bob Gale, second by Robert Cochrun to suspend the rules for the third reading of Ordinance 2006-38. Vote: Robert Cochrun yea, Jason Mattern yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Bob Gale yea, Matt Parise yea, Thomas Bottorf yea. Motion passed 6-0. Ordinance 2006-38: An Ordinance Appointing Chris Becker as Village Solicitor for a two-year period was read for the third time. Motion by Bob Gale, second by Bob Cochrun to approve Ordinance 2006-38. Vote: Robert Cochrun yea, Jason Mattern yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Bob Gale yea, Matt Parise yea, Thomas Bottorf yea. Motion passed 6-0. Bob Gale told Council that the Sanitation Committee had met and was recommending to Council that the Sanitation rates for Apartment dwellers be reduced from $10.00 per month to $7.50 per month. He said that the annual reduction in revenue to the Village Sanitation Fund would be $810.00 per month. He said that the Village would be saving this amount in Landfill costs next year with the new contract with Dailey Refuse. Mike Payne told Council that this revenue reduction was not in the budget that was just approved but the landfill cost savings was included. He said that if Council wanted to give the apartment residents a break they should consider raising all rates except for those residents who live in apartments. He also reminded Council that the Sanitation Fund Balance was not sufficient enough to handle expenses and that this type of change in revenue may force the Fund into a deficit situation. He said that the auditors required the Enterprise Funds to be self-sufficient. Thomas Bottorf said he would not be in favor of this rate decrease since the budget could not handle such a decrease. Matt Parise said that the apartment residents took a large rate increase recently and that he would be in favor of this rate reduction, but acknowledged that the Clerk-Treasurer had been telling Council that the Sanitation rates needed to be increased. He said that the budget would just have to be monitored closely. Jason Mattern said that he was for a fair but practical billing structure for the Sanitation Fund. He said that he did not see a need to change the billing structure every year. Robert Martin Sr. said that the Village could not keep the rate structure the same every year. He said that the Village might see some additional savings in the Sanitation Fund through recycling efforts to help the budget. Robert Cochrun said that there will be savings from the recycling efforts next year and that the apartment residents needed a break. Thomas Bottorf said that the apartment tenants are those that needed a break and not the owners. He said that the Village is already seeing some cost savings due to recycling but that it would have to institute and ideal recycling program to see additional savings. He said that this matter should go to the Finance Committee to determine where the funds are coming from. Motion by Bob Gale, second by Matt Parise to have the first read of an Ordinance that reduced the apartment residents from $10.00 to $7.50 per month. Discussion on the Motion: Matt Parise said that the Village needed to be fair to the apartment residents. Motion by Thomas Bottorf, second by Jason Mattern to table the motion and wait to have the first read of the Sanitation Ordinance until the Finance Committee reviewed the Financial impact on the budget. Vote: Robert Cochrun nay, Jason Mattern yea, Robert Martin Sr. nay, Bob Gale nay, Matt Parise nay, Thomas Bottorf yea. Motion Failed 2-4. Vote on the Motion to have the first reading of the Ordinance. Vote: Robert Cochrun yea, Jason Mattern nay, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Bob Gale yea, Matt Parise yea, Thomas Bottorf nay. Motion passed 4-2. Ordinance 2006-39: An Ordinance Decreasing the monthly Sanitation rates for apartment residents was read for the first time. Resolution 2006-40: A Resolution enacting the Jefferson County All-Hazard Mitgation Plan was read for the first time. Reports, Announcements and Communications Mayor Dave France announced that Village Offices would be closed on December 25, 2006 for Christmas and that there would be no change to the Sanitation schedule since this was a Monday Holiday. Mayor Dave France said that the Village received a Thank You letter for the support of the Ray Laman Christmas Party. Administrator's Report Walt Ziemba said that he had enclosed the waterline bids for the Garden Drive/Meadow Road project in Council's packet and that the bids were less than the engineer's estimate. Walt Ziemba told Council that Spy Glass had made changes to their agreement to reflect the items that had been requested by Council regarding review of the phone bills. Motion by Thomas Bottorf, second by Matt Parise to authorize the Administrator to enter into an agreement with Spy Glass Technology to review the Villages phone bills for potential savings. Vote: Robert Cochrun yea, Jason Mattern yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Bob Gale yea, Matt Parise yea, Thomas Bottorf yea. Motion passed 6-0. Walt Ziemba updated Council on expenses incurred by the Village for the ODOT Rt. 43 project and also sent a set of Waterline plans to Sarah Wallace for review. Walt Ziemba told Council that he had included in their packets proposals for work to be done at the Leonard Avenue Building. Robert Martin Sr. said that the costs of the windows in the proposal seemed high. Thomas Bottorf suggested that the Finance Committee review the options concerning the Leonard Avenue Building. Walt Ziemba told Council that their packets included additional correspondence from Burbach Aquatics. Walt Ziemba asked Council what their wishes were concerning the selecting a "Citizen of the Year", since only one nomination had been received. Mayor Dave France suggested moving the nomination deadline back. Old Business Matt Parise asked that the Administrator submit a complete list of the telemetry costs to the County with the amount that the Village was requesting them to reimburse Wintersville. Council Members discussed what steps needed to be done regarding cleaning up properties at 131 Orchard Street and 95 Roberts Street. Chris Becker said he would talk to the bank about the status of the properties. Robert Cochrun asked that additional lighting be considered around the third house on Springdale Avenue. Walt Ziemba said he would send this request to the Power Company. New Business Robert Martin Sr. congratulated all those involved with the Ray Laman Christmas Party for another successful event. Bob Gale distributed information regarding committees of Council Members. Motion by Bob Gale, second by Matt Parise to amend Rule 5 regarding standing committees in the Rules of Council. Discussion on the Motion: Chris Becker told Council that the Ohio Revised Code permitted Council to select their own committees but that certain committees were the responsibility of the Mayor to appoint and that certain language in the rules needed to be included. He said that the ORC also required that the first meeting of each year was the time to select committee members. Thomas Bottorf suggested that any rule changes should be discussed at a rules committee meeting before being brought to the council floor. Vote on the Motion: Robert Cochrun yea, Jason Mattern nay, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Bob Gale yea, Matt Parise yea, Thomas Bottorf nay. Motion passed 4-2. Matt Parise said that he would like to see Council adopt a policy regarding approval of certain expenditures exceeding $500. Bob Gale suggested that if such a policy was put in effect that it included items that are outside of the budget that had been approved. Chris Becker said that he would work with Matt Parise on the language for such a policy. Thomas Bottorf told Council that Timet, where he is employed, has some surplus furniture that they are willing to donate to the Village. He said that he and the Administrator would be looking at the furniture to see if any of it could be used by the Village. Transfers Motion by Robert Martin Sr., second by Matt Parise to approve the transfers prepared by the Clerk Treasurer. Vote: Robert Cochrun yea, Jason Mattern yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Bob Gale yea, Matt Parise yea, Thomas Bottorf yea. Motion passed 6-0. Payment of Bills Motion by Robert Martin Sr., second by Robert Cochrun to pay bills as funds become available. Vote: Robert Cochrun yea, Jason Mattern yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Bob Gale yea, Matt Parise yea, Thomas Bottorf yea. Motion passed 6-0. Matt Parise asked the Administrator to request that Dailey Refuse list the tonnage on each of their bills sent to the Village. For the Good of the Village None. Executive Session Motion by Robert Martin Sr., second by Robert Cochrun to go into executive session to discuss pending litigation. Vote: Robert Cochrun yea, Jason Mattern yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Bob Gale yea, Matt Parise yea, Thomas Bottorf yea. Motion passed 6-0. Motion by Robert Martin Sr., second by Robert Cochrun to return to regular session. Vote: Robert Cochrun yea, Jason Mattern yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Bob Gale yea, Matt Parise yea, Thomas Bottorf yea. Motion passed 6-0. Adjournment Motion by Robert Martin Sr., second by Matt Parise to adjourn. Vote: Robert Cochrun yea, Jason Mattern yea, Robert Martin Sr. yea, Bob Gale yea, Matt Parise yea, Thomas Bottorf yea. Motion passed 6-0. Next regular scheduled meeting is January 4, 2007. Disclaimer: These are a draft of the minutes and not deemed official until approved by Council. Mike Payne, Clerk Treasurer Dave France, Mayor