MINUTES OF MEETING OF
IRONTON CITY COUNCIL
October 22, 2020
6:00 p.m.
A regular meeting of Ironton City Council was held on Thursday, October 22, 2020, at 6:00 p.m. via video conference. Present was Vice Mayor Craig Harvey, who presided and members: Cleary, Haney, Hock, Kline, Pierce, Rist – seven.
All persons stood for a prayer given by Rev. Jeff Cremeans of City Mission Church, and then the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The Minutes of the Finance Committee of October 8, 2020, the Regular Meeting of October 8, 2020, and the Recreation Meeting of October 8, 2020, stood approved as submitted, with one correction: Mr. Harvey said the Superintendent of Ironton City Schools name is misspelled. The correct spelling is Geletka.
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
Mr. Haney said he received complaints from several residents. One was a gentleman who lives in the south end up towards the lumber yard, and one was in the 1700 or 1800 block on South 3rd Street. He proceeded to read a letter to City Council from a gentleman, Bobby Neiman, of 1912 South 7th Street. Mr. Neiman said he was asked by his neighbors to communicate their concerns to Council. He said on October 18th he found out from two neighbors that workers at 1915 South 7th Street told them that a drug rehab facility was going in. Mr. Neiman said they live in a quiet working-class neighborhood with children who play and ride bikes not 5 feet from the porch of this house. He said they have seen the results of a similar facility that went in on 6th and Kemp a few years ago. He said the neighbors finally got that facility shut down. He said if this is the intended use at this address, they ask for Council’s guidance and help in this matter. The Mayor said he knew that a drug rehab center was going in somewhere. Mr. Harvey said Mr. Haney had sent an email that this wasn’t zoned correctly. He asked if that was something that Susan Dooley could follow up with? The Mayor said he guesses it is for Council to determine that first. He said it sounds like he was wanting some type of action. Mr. Harvey said it is not zoned appropriately for that according to the letter that Mr. Haney received back from the solicitors, so he thinks this ultimately comes back to Susan to be proactive and find out who is doing the construction and who is trying to set that up, and just tell them that it is not zoned appropriately. The Mayor asked Mr. Haney to please get that letter to him so he will have all of the information he needs. Mr. Kline asked if they had made any progress as far as going forward with the zoning permit? The Mayor said it looks like they need to add drug rehab houses on that also, but yes, they have been working on that diligently. Mr. Kline said he was happy to sponsor that when they are ready to do it.
COMMUNICATIONS – None
REPORTS
Mr. Harvey said the Mayor’s 2021 Budget, which they mentioned in the last meeting, is attached to this meeting’s agenda.
ORDINANCES
ORDINANCE NO. 20-67 – AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE ON BEHALF OF THE CITY OF IRONTON A COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF IRONTON AND THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIREFIGHTERS AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY was given first reading.
RESOLUTIONS
RESOLUTION NO. 20-68 – PERMITTING THE CHAIRMAN OF COUNCIL TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH DAVE LUCAS COMMUNICATION FOR THE PURPOSE OF LIVE STREAMING CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS was read.
Mr. Cleary said this resolution was given a favorable recommendation in the Finance Committee this evening. Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Ms. Rist, to pass Resolution No.
20-68. Mr. Harvey asked Mack Anderson, as a point of clarification, will that contract be passed along to Dave from you or does he (Mr. Harvey) need to forward that to him? He said the reason they are doing this resolution is because the Mayor carries out contracts, but because this is on behalf of the City Council streaming services, does he need to pass that along to him? Mr. Anderson said yes. Motion passed unanimously. ADOPTED
MISCELLANEOUS
Mr. Kline said he wanted to remind everyone that their second Regular meeting will be November 23rd, and not Thanksgiving Day, November 26th. Mr. Kline moved, seconded by Mr. Pierce, to receive, file and make a part of the minutes the September 2020 financials and the second 5-Year Forecast. Motion passed unanimously.
Mr. Pierce said he had a couple of questions. He asked the Mayor where they are with IBI and the feasibility study. Mayor Cramblit said they have pivoted in a different direction from the original feasibility study. He said they just spoke with USEPA and OPEA a couple of days ago. He said as of right now they are looking at potentially avoiding doing Phase 4, but they are pushing some time lines back on it just in case they don’t accept our Integrated Plan. But right now we have pivoted to integrated planning, which will allow them to not have to do Phase 4 and Phase 5, which is a pretty big deal because originally they were together about a $12 million project. He said with the integrated planning, what they are working on now, instead of just trying to address and check boxes for the EPA, they just want to do something that will be right by the citizens and will actually have a long-term impact on our City. He said when Mr. Pierce and Mr. Kline both joined him and IBI and the environmental attorneys, they had a big team. He said they looked at different things other than just storm water and overflows and things like that. They looked at flood pumps, etc. He said in the meantime, they have been looking at US 52 run-off that is causing a lot of problems in our system, and they have been looking at flood pumps and our combined systems; so what they have decided to do—and the USEPA and the OEPA really liked this—IBI is going to be going into this very holistic, robust feasibility study that is going to address US 52 run-off, our flood pumps, our storm/sanitary system, our combined systems, our overflows and combine this all into one feasibility study for our integrated plan that is going to maybe be drawn out for 20+ years to get this all fixed once and for all. He said it takes the burden off of us by not having to be forced to do Phases 4 and 5 today. He said that is where we are right now. He asked Kevin Wood if he was still on, and if he wanted to give a quick update about the time line. He said they were looking at somewhere around 9 months, and USEPA and OEPA seemed to like that as well. He said they were shooting for hopefully next October, but they would like us to push that up if we can. Mr. Wood said the Mayor pretty much covered everything, but they seemed to like that idea. He said from day 1 when he talked to the Mayor, he gave kudos to him for trying to take a different route in order to make this more pallable economically and otherwise for the City. But they seem to be on board with everything, so they are continuing to draft a review of the information that the City has provided, and they will be working to draft up a scope on this study that the EPA would like to see start yesterday. So hopefully within the next 9-10 months they can come up with something that can help them look in a more holistic fashion, not only one component of this, but their comprehensive system. Mr. Pierce said this sounds like a very well thought-out approach, so kudos to the Mayor, IBI and Kevin for coming up with this idea. He thinks this is the way to go. He said for them to feel free to include him in any meetings that they would deem pertinent. He said he has a deep interest in this so he will be glad to assist in any way he can.
Mr. Kline moved, seconded by Mr. Cleary, to adjourn. Motion passed unanimously.
Minutes were taken by Marta Leach, Clerk.
In attendance: John Elam, Finance Director, Mayor Cramblit and Mack Anderson.