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August 18, 2008 MINUTES OF COUNCIL A regular session of Troy City Council was held Monday, August 18, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. in Council Chambers. Members Present: Clark, Douglas, Kendall, Kirkham and Schweser. Upon motion of Mr. Kendall, seconded by Mr. Clark, Mr. Harrah was excused from this meeting by unanimous roll call vote. Upon motion of Mr. Schweser, seconded by Mr. Douglas, Mr. Hutchinson was excused from this meeting by unanimous roll call vote. Presiding Officer: Martha A. Baker, President of Council Others Present: Michael L. Beamish, Mayor Patrick E. J. Titterington, Director of Public Service and Safety W. McGregor Dixon, Jr., Director of Law Richard L. Cultice, Auditor INVOCATION: An invocation was given by Council Member Douglas. INTRODUCTIONS. Rick Oak, appointed as MIS Manager effective August 3, 2008, was introduced. Tim Ray, appointed as Water Treatment Plant Superintendent effective August 10, 2008, was introduced. MINUTES: The Clerk gave a summary of the minutes of the August 4, 2008 meeting of Troy City Council. There were no corrections or additions to these minutes. A motion was made by Mr. Clark, seconded by Mr. Schweser, to approve these minutes. Motion passed by unanimous roll call vote. COMMITTEE REPORTS: Law & Ordinance: Mr. Kendall, Chairman, gave the oral report of receipt of transfer of liquor license for Submarine Tyme LLC, dba Submarine House, from the address of 107 E. Main Street to 14 N. Market Street. Utilities Committee: Mr. Schweser, Chairman, reported as follows: 1) Committee recommends legislation be prepared to authorize the Director of Public Service & Safety to advertise for bids and enter into a contract to replace approximately 700’ of sanitary sewer along Williams Street from Race Street to Scott Street at a cost not to exceed $230,000. Funding for the project is from unexpended bond proceeds for the SW Interceptor project, which can be used as this project is associated with the interceptor project. 2) Committee recommends legislation be prepared to authorize the Director of Public Service & Safety to advertise for bids and enter into a contract to replace approximately 1,450’ of sanitary sewer along Penn Road at a cost not to exceed $150,000. Funding for the project is available from that budgeted for the Heywood Lift Station, which does not need to be replaced at this time. 3) Committee recommends legislation be prepared to authorize the Director of Public Service & Safety to advertise for bids and enter into a contract for drilling Test Wells 20 and 21 in the East Well Field at a cost not to exceed $180,000. Reports signed by Kendall and Schweser. POWER POINT PRESENTATION. Mr. Titterington provided a power point presentation regarding the City of Troy Residential Refuse Program, especially: - Defining the “quality of life” enjoyed by Troy residents. - What quality of life features may suffer if the refuse fee is not increased. - What is some good news. A copy of the presentation will be attached to the original minutes. Mr. Titterington noted that in a survey of 34 area communities in SW Ohio, Troy’s cost for delivering standard quality of life services is third lowest among those surveyed. Regarding the definition of quality of life, he indicated the definition would include health, welfare and safety services, a premier partnership for economic development, outreach to bring in and retain business, an active downtown, events, a river corridor with great potential, and inviting and low cost recreation opportunities. He commented that refuse collection services is a basic service communities provide and can no longer be provided by the General Fund. He discussed other options including closed or sale of facilities, stopping funding to agencies, stopping partnership programs including those of DARE, and eliminating aesthetic enhancements. Mr. Titterington commented that sale of facilities would result in a one-time cost reduction that does not address the on-going costs of the refuse operation. He asked the question of the cost to the quality of life if any of the August 18, 2008 Page Two options are exercised, and further commented that not everyone uses every quality of life amenity, but they are used by the community. As far as good news, Mr. Titterington advised that based on monitoring of expenditures in the Water and Sewer Funds, and the current level of revenues, it has been determined that water and sewer increases can be deferred until after Jan. 1, 2009. Mr. Cultice said that without the kind of increase to the General Fund that would be generated by the proposed refuse fee schedule, that some other decisions will have to be made as were outlined in the presentation and those decisions would have to be made in twelve months or less. He further commented that he feels the refuse fee option is the better option going forward than any other options discussed; however, the decision will be Council’s. As a final comment, he stated that just reducing the expenses is not the answer; revenues are needed. COMMENTS REGARDING COMMITTEE REPORTS OR AGENDA ITEMS. Denny Wannemacher, 1335 Greenfield Drive, commended Mr. Titterington for his presentation, but stated he feels that whatever Mr. Titterington does not like becomes a subsidy to have a fee assessed. He stated he feels the City is in financial trouble because City pay scales have not been controlled, the health insurance benefit for City employees is more generous than any other employer, and the citizens have not received favorable pay increases and are facing increases in costs. Jim Palsgrove, 641 Carriage Drive, stated he did not know the City was in such deep financial situation, he recalls being told he would never be charged for refuse collection, the citizens have many additional costs, and there should not be a refuse collection fee increase. Mike Burkholder, 465 W. Staunton Road, submitted that a vast majority of people measure quality of life by their disposable income and the fees proposed eat into the disposable income. Jerry Stichter, 467 W. Staunton Road, urged Council to take the refuse collection fee legislation to a third reading. He commented that the bureaucracy wants to increase income, but the concerns of the citizens should be considered. Lester Conard,1210 S Clay Street, suggested the Hobart Arena be shut down (to save expenses). He also stated that any city employee that wears a tie and does not sweat should have a 25% pay cut. He compared the options presented in the presentation to a school levy that says the citizens must pay or something will be taken away. Mr. Conard stated he does not feel Troy is a friendly town any longer, that the citizens are picking up the tab to make the City pretty for potential business and visitors, and people will come to Troy anyway. COUNCIL PRESIDENT COMMENT: Mrs. Baker commented that with two members of Council absent, it would not be possible to suspend the rules and adopt the legislation on the agenda. RESOLUTION NO. R-37-2008 RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SERVICE AND SAFETY OF THE CITY OF TROY, OHIO, TO ADVERTISE FOR BIDS AND ENTER INTO A CONTRACT FOR TWO NEW PACKER TRUCKS This Resolution was given first title reading on August 4, 2008. Given second title reading. RESOLUTION NO. R-38-2008 RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SERVICE AND SAFETY OF THE CITY OF TROY, OHIO, TO ADVERTISE FOR BIDS AND ENTER INTO A CONTRACT FOR THE REPLACEMENT OF SANITARY SEWERS ALONG PENN ROAD This Resolution was given first title reading. August 18, 2008 Page Three RESOLUTION NO. R-39-2008 RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SERVICE AND SAFETY OF THE CITY OF TROY, OHIO, TO ADVERTISE FOR BIDS AND ENTER INTO A CONTRACT FOR THE REPLACEMENT OF SANITARY SEWERS ALONG WILLIAMS STREET This Resolution was given first title reading. RESOLUTION NO. R-40-2008 RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SERVICE AND SAFETY OF THE CITY OF TROY, OHIO, TO ADVERTISE FOR BIDS AND ENTER INTO A CONTRACT FOR THE DRILLING OF TEST WELLS 20 AND 21 IN THE EAST WELL FIELD This Resolution was given first title reading. ORDINANCE NO. O-23-2008 ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 919.11 OF THE CODIFIED ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF TROY, OHIO AND IMPLEMENTING A RESIDENTIAL REFUSE PROGRAM AND ESTABLISHING FEES This was given first title reading on August 4, 2008. Given second title reading. PRESENTATION: Steve Dunn, Director of Public Television Communications, provided an update. Mr. Dunn addressed the type of programs offered through public access, including new programs featuring the Miami County Sheriff’s Department and the WACO history. He noted that the program with Troy Main Street won an award last year. Working with the City, organizations and churches, they are focusing on bringing more local information into homes. Mr. Dunn stated that the station has provided over 600 public service announcements to date for 2008, they continue to use a number of volunteers, they utilize equipment as long as possible through preventive maintenance, and they respond to a number of miscellaneous citizen calls for information related to video equipment. Mr. Dunn stated that the mission of PTCC is to “serve the community today for a brighter tomorrow”. COMMENTS OF THE MAYOR: Mayor Beamish commented about excellent recent events provided for the community: 1. The National Night Out event that was delayed until August 6 due to weather, but was very well attended. 2. The Festival of Nations event held on August 16, 2008. The event was very well attended. 3. The outstanding Mayors Concert on August 17, 2008, featuring the Dayton Philharmonic Concert Band. This concert had its largest attendance. The Mayor noted that the three events are the result of the efforts of a number of volunteers. He also commented that the city received an award from the Auditor of State for outstanding financial reporting. COMMENTS OF THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SERVICE AND SAFETY: Mr. Titterington stated that the City Engineer and office clerk have moved down to the Planning and Development area as a “one stop shop” to provide better service to the public. COUNCIL PRESIDENT COMMENTS: Mrs. Baker added her congratulations to the City and City Auditor regarding the award from the Auditor of State. August 18, 2008 Page Four COUNCIL COMMENTS: - Mr. Kirkham stated he felt the National Night Out event was a huge success, the volunteers were outstanding, and many of the vendors handed out twice as much food/beverage as they had the prior year. - Mr. Clark stated he hopes the presentation of Mr. Titterington helps to educate the people. He also stated he feels that what makes Troy such an outstanding community is the number of volunteers that step up when needed. He also commented that Council has options and the ramifications of those options needs to be considered. AUDIENCE COMMENTS: - Norbert McKee, 407 Indiana Avenue, stated he believes the City is inconsistent in how sidewalk is installed as he was required to have sidewalk placed 4” in depth and had to then fill in around the sidewalk, while in his neighborhood sidewalk has been permitted to be installed 2” in depth and be tapered so that they are difficult to walk on. - Denney Wannemacher, 1335 Greenfield Drive, commented that the City should be able to tell when people are permitting others to bring trash in from outside the City, there should not be any additional annexation or building, and he believes the City constructed a fire station on the west side of town knowing there was not good water pressure. Mr. Titterington attempted to explain that the City does not go through trash to try to verify that it all came from the address where the trash was placed. - Michael Burkholder, 465 W. Staunton Road, indicated that he feels the City should set up a special fund for trash collection so there will be accountability, that the fund would measure performance, without a separate fund there is no way to know if the monies are being used for the purposed intended, and not setting up a special fund is ulterior and not transparent. - Lester Conard, 1210 S. Clay Street, indicated he does not feel a trash fee is fair to senior citizens who generate less trash. He suggested there be a process for a senior citizen to show identification and receive a knock down. He indicated he feels Troy wants to do everything bigger and better, but it is not right to do that by getting into the pockets of the citizens, and provisions should be fair not just to visitors and industry. - Jules Klawon, 428 E. Main Street, stated the power point presentation (regarding refuse collection) showed all the reasons her family moved to Troy, they have lived many places throughout the country and have paid a fee for trash everywhere else they have lived, she has five children and the budget is tight but there are many quality of life items her family members enjoy, Troy offers great things so the family does not have to travel to enjoy these things elsewhere, and she feels the quality of life items offered in Troy results in community unity. Mrs. Klawon stated that in her opinion it is not unreasonable to ask that a trash fee be paid. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:50 p.m. _________________/s/_______________________ _______________/s/_______________________ President of Council Clerk of Council |