MINUTES OF MEETING OF
IRONTON CITY COUNCIL
February 27, 2020
6:00 p.m.
A regular meeting of Ironton City Council was held on Thursday, February 27, 2020, at 6:00 p.m. in Council Chambers. Present was Vice Mayor Craig Harvey, who presided and members: Cleary, Haney, Hock, Kline, Pierce – six. Mr. Harvey said Ms. Rist had called him and told him she was sick this evening.
All persons stood for a prayer given by Father Huffman of St. Lawrence, St. Joe and St. Mary’s Churches, and for the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The Minutes of the Regular Meeting of February 13, 2020, and the Finance Committee Meeting of February 13, 2020, stood approved as submitted. Mr. Hock said he will have notes from a Strategic Planning Committee later, and Mr. Kline said he would have notes from a Recreation Committee Meeting. Mr. Harvey said they could list those in Reports and just read them if they don’t want to submit the notes.
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
Dennis Gumbert, Waste Water Superintendent, said they do have a clarifier (job?) sitting on top of the _________ as we speak. He said they are down there working now, and as soon as they can get the electrician back, they will get it hooked up and back in service. They are taking two with them. . . the bar screen, he has called three times this week but hasn’t got a reply back. He said the last he heard was the 1st of April, and these rebuilt drives are supposed to be back the 1st of April. Mr. Harvey asked him if he anticipated the completion of that by the end of April. Mr. Gumbert said no, they took the ______ drive back, and the one that they replaced they will bring those two back and will replace those two, then we’ll have two more to do. Mr. Kline asked about the thickener. Mr. Gumbert said it is sitting on the truck as we speak.
Darryl McFann, Cliff Street, said he has a complaint that he has been trying to get something done about for the last year between two different mayors and the City Police. He said Park Avenue between 4th and 3rd Street is a hazard. He said he is a commercial truck driver, and he comes into town to deliver furniture, and he has to be on that oncoming traffic to get down Park Avenue. He said the Chief of Police will not do anything about the illegal parking there. He said they’re parked halfway on the sidewalk and halfway on the street. He said they also run the stop signs in the school zone, and nobody is down there to stop people who are running stop signs. He said it was the same way over on 5th Street. Mr. Harvey said he is not going to let Mr. McFann address the Police Department without letting the Chief respond to him because he doesn’t think that’s fair. Mr. Harvey asked him if he had called the Police and the Mayor’s office specifically about his issue with his truck being able to turn between 3rd and 4th on Park Avenue. He said yes, he has. Mr. Cleary said most of the time he would agree with Mr. McFann, but he thinks there is a yellow strip right by the alley and then there are three or four parking spaces and people do put their right tire up on the curb. He said he thinks the biggest problem he is experiencing is the van. He said there is a sign that says No Parking Beyond this Point, and it’s all yellow; and the van sits there sometimes on the sidewalk. Mr. McFann said it sits in between two signs that say No Parking. Mr. Harvey said they have heard his complaint. Mr. McFann said, and you’re not going to do anything. Mr. Harvey said the premise that they are not going to do anything is wrong, because they only write the laws, they don’t enforce them. He said the people that do enforce them will be up to talk in a minute.
Mayor Cramblit said since the last he and Mr. McFann spoke, the Mayor said he had been working with ODOT on a loading dock for the business. He said they are a flower-delivery shop so they need a spot to take the flowers out. Third Street’s parking spaces are always full. He said also that he and Mark Dickess are working on a safe route to school passage in that neighborhood Mr. McFann is talking about because of people flying through there. He said they have had Police down there in the mornings. He said they are working on both issues, and he will let him know when they get an answer from ODOT. Mr. Haney said he completely understands Mr. McFann’s issue, but also, he appreciates the efforts of the Mayor trying to help this business out. He said the downtown was not really designed for today’s business plan, and the Mayor working on the loading/unloading dock should ease some of the traffic burden. He said they have to support businesses as well as citizens. He said he hopes the Mayor’s solution will give him some peace with that. Mr. McFann said maybe they should go from 4th Street at Spears’ office all the way to 3rd Street and put the No Parking sign. Mr. Haney said that is a State Route so anything that the Mayor or Council could do has to be approved by ODOT.
COMMUNICATIONS – None
REPORTS – None
ORDINANCES
ORDINANCE NO. 20-10 – AMENDING THE TEMPORARY BUDGET FOR THE CITY OF IRONTON, STATE OF OHIO, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 2020 AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY was given first reading.
Mr. Cleary said this ordinance was given a favorable recommendation in Finance. Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Mr. Hock, to suspend the rules and give Ordinance No. 20-10 second and third reading by title only. Motion passed unanimously and Ordinance No. 20-10 was given second and third reading. Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Mr. Kline, to adopt Ordinance No. 20-10. Motion passed unanimously. ADOPTED
ORDINANCE NO. 20-11 – ORDINANCE RENAMING LINE ITEMS FOR FUND
42-00-8-0099-0054 and FUND 01-15-5-0099-0054 AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY was given first reading.
Mr. Kline moved, seconded by Mr. Hock, to suspend the rules and give Ordinance No. 20-11 second and third ready. Mr. Pierce asked Mr. Elam, regarding transfer vs. advance, on the transfer, the money cannot go back to the fund, and the advance allows interchange, is that correct? Mr. Elam said yes. Mr. Cleary said the way it is now, with an Enterprise Fund, we don’t take money out of there because it has an abundance in it and it stays there. He said if you have the authority to advance the loan money out of the Enterprise Fund into the General Fund or some other line item, then once it is advanced, you can put it back in the Enterprise Fund. Mr. Elam said the way it was explained to him is that the advances are used for like funds or from a General Fund to an Enterprise Fund. So he could advance from Storm Water to Waste Water or he could advance from Waste Water to Storm Water. He said he could also do an advance from General Fund to virtually any fund, as he understands it. He said this gives the ability to transfer back, whereas before, when they did a transfer, it hit and stayed there. He said it just allows it to go back and forth if the fund improves financially. Mr. Kline said he sponsored this after talking to Mr. Elam because he wasn’t aware when they did a budget amendment last year—he is not a big General Fund to Enterprise Fund transfer person because like he has said before, he thinks the Enterprise Fund should be enterprising and be self-sustaining. However, he said Mr. Elam thought there was a need to put money to that fund to satisfy some balance requirements on that. He said once you put it in there, you can’t take it back, from storm utility back to General Fund without the advance title on it. He said he would like to change it from transfer to advance in the event that Storm Water Fund comes to the point where it’s healthy enough that that advance could be recalled back to the General Fund. Mr. Pierce said Enterprise Funds can neither be advanced nor transferred, is that correct? Mr. Elam said an Enterprise Fund can be transferred to receive from the General Fund, but you cannot transfer from an Enterprise Fund to another fund. Mr. Cleary said for all the years he has been here, they have always kept Enterprise Funds self-efficient, and he has always voted to raise rates to keep them that way. He said he just has a problem because he doesn’t want to open up a door where if they get in a pinch somewhere else, we’ll just pull it out of the water fund, because a lot of these funds have a lot of money in them. He said because it is just one checkbook, he just really doesn’t want to open up the door to be able to do that. Mr. Haney said he sees what he is saying, but he thinks the language part of it is for them to be able to transfer it in and then if they come in under cost, they can transfer it back. He said he is not for taking money and throwing it everywhere anyway. Mr. Elam said he respects Mr. Cleary’s issue and question on that, however, he would like to point out that this is something that Council has to approve. So Council would see it before he would do it. He said it would have to be something that Council would approve to be done. And once again, it can go from Enterprise to Enterprise-like funds, or from General to Enterprise and then back again.
Vote on motion to suspend the rules and give Ordinance No. 20-11 second and third reading: Ayes: Haney, Harvey, Hock, Kline, Pierce – five. Nays: Cleary – one. MOTION FAILED TO SUSPEND THE RULES. Mr. Harvey said it will have a second reading at the next Council meeting.
ORDINANCE NO. 20-12 – AUTHORIZING A CONTRACT BETWEEN THE CITY OF IRONTON AND THE OHIO AUDITOR OF STATE was given first reading.
Mr. Cleary said this ordinance also was given a favorable recommendation in Finance. Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Mr. Kline, to suspend the rules and give Ordinance No. 20-12 second and third reading by title only. Motion passed unanimously and Ordinance No. 20-12 was given second and third reading. Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Mr. Kline, to adopt Ordinance No. 20-12. Motion passed unanimously. ADOPTED
ORDINANCE NO. 20-13 – REQUIRING VACANT PROPERTIES TO BE IDENTIFIED BY A PLACARD was given first reading.
ORDINANCE NO. 20-14 – ESTABLISHING THE MUNICIPAL COURT – SPECIALIZED DOCKET SUBSIDY FUND (FUND 88) AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY was given first reading.
Mr. Cleary said this ordinance was also favorably recommended in Finance. Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Mr. Haney, to suspend the rules and give Ordinance No. 20-14 second and third reading by title only. Motion passed unanimously and Ordinance No. 20-14 was given second and third reading. Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Mr. Haney, to adopt Ordinance No. 20-14. Motion passed unanimously. ADOPTED
AMENDED
ORDINANCE NO. 20-03 – ESTABLISHING SALARIES FOR NON-EMPLOYEES was given
third reading.
RESOLUTIONS – None
MISCELLANEOUS
Mr. Pierce said in their Finance workshop last week, Ryan and Brett from the Water Department proposed the need for new vehicles in a somewhat urgent manner, and he volunteered to go out and do some research and get some information. He said he provided Council with a packet of information this evening, understanding that we are under temporary budget at the moment and in order to do anything with this, they would have to have an amendment to the temporary budget. But in their discussions on Saturday, he said they talked about two trucks at about the $20,000 price range, and he came in with five quality vehicles, all of them well under that budget restraint. He explained that there were pictures of each vehicle in their packet, along with the details and the actual cost of the vehicle. He said they might have questions or need discussion on this. He said if they need to wait, the dealerships are fine with him calling them tomorrow. Mr. Haney asked if all of these trucks were flex fuel. Mr. Pierce said there was only one that wasn’t flex fuel. He said he test drove all of these vehicles, and he put them in order of what he felt were the most quality vehicles. Mr. Harvey asked if these two vehicles would be for the Water Superintendent and Public Service Superintendent. Mr. Pierce said yes, and actually, in the budget addendum handout that Mr. Elam passed out, it is listed in there and will be in the permanent budget. Mr. Harvey asked Mr. Elam if the Public Service vehicle could be divided over those four budgets. Mr. Elam said there were three areas that it came out of. He said in the budget as it is right now, all funds are in the black. Mr. Harvey asked Mr. Pierce if he would sponsor legislation to do that. Mr. Pierce said yes. Mayor Cramblit asked about vehicle #1, which has 140,000 miles. Mr. Pierce said he discussed that with the dealers of several of these trucks, and they agreed that these trucks would have probably a 5-8 year life the way we use them. He said they felt that they would easily get 250,000 miles out of the engine. Mayor Cramblit said the procurement rate from the State for a new vehicle was less than $10,000 more. He said how many years are they talking if they spend an extra $10,000 but it saves us for 15 years? He said at the State price, we would get a newer vehicle for not too much more with a lot more life on it. Mr. Cleary asked Mayor Cramblit if he could get those figures for them. Mayor Cramblit said they had provided that on Saturday. Mr. Pierce said in discussion on Saturday they were limiting the amount of money to be spent on vehicles, and that cap was $20,000 on these two trucks. Mr. Cleary said he didn’t have any problem with the mileage on any of these trucks. Mayor Cramblit said he was just thinking about the life span of the vehicles and how long they can extend it for a little bit more, and we might not have to purchase another one for another 15 years. Mr. Cleary said if they have that much in the budget, it might be worth looking at. Mr. Kline said he wanted to make a statement regarding the budget. He said he wanted to commend Mr. Elam—he gave us the preliminary budget two weeks ago. He said just looking at variances and material changes from 2019 amounts, and it also gave time for council members to take a look at it and listen to some of the Mayor’s requests. He said unfortunately, money wise, they were not able to meet all of the Mayor’s requests. He said he wanted to highlight in the budget the radio and tasers that the Chief has asked for. He said they provided some grant money for tasers and possibly coming up for March radios, and also a new vehicle for the Police Department out of their Equipment Replacement Fund. He said Mr. Anderson from the Prosecutor’s Office dedicated $1,000 for the radios and training for tasers for our officers if needed. He also mentioned upgrades to our Recreation Department. He said overall he thinks it is a good and fiscally responsible budget in his opinion. However, he said, in talking to Mr. Elam today, they are on a deadline because they have to have their permanent budget by the end of March. He said that means they have to decide if this is the budget they want to move forward with. He said he thinks it opens the door for a lot of communication about how we want to move forward with the budget. Mr. Harvey asked if there was a budget workshop scheduled for Saturday so they can answer any final questions. Mr. Kline said he would leave it to their discretion, but it would have to have recommendation from Finance Committee. Mr. Harvey asked if they had a final discussion about this document. Mr. Haney said they went through it line-by-line. Mr. Pierce said they did, and Mr. Elam summed it up and went through it fund-by-fund and they all agreed with him. Mr. Elam said he wanted to point out something. He asked Mr. Anderson, if this would hypothetically go to the first meeting in March, if 5 of 7 people vote for it, then we really can’t suspend the rules to give it second and third reading, is that correct? Mr. Anderson said that is correct. Mr. Elam said that would say, at some point, either they are going to try to hit it the second meeting in March; but if 5 of 7 people would vote for it then, it does not go into effect for 30 days, which would mean that they would be operating a city with nothing. So they have to be very cognizant of their time frame in order to say, if it is 5 of 7, 5 of 7, 5 of 7, it would have to be passed by the 2nd of March. He said the other thing he wanted to say, which he has said many times, is that a budget is a living document and it can be amended. But he said they are going to have to look to make sure that there are 6 of 7 to suspend and/or vote for adoption, whatever day they chose that to be, so it can go into effect immediately without the 30-day waiting period, and he asked if that is correct. Mr. Anderson said yes, except he didn’t see any reason why a Special Meeting couldn’t be called. Mr. Elam said that is what he was alluding to is if that needs to happen, just keep that in mind on your calendars. Mr. Harvey said they have had to do that before, but it is unnecessary if there is no objection to the document as is. Mr. Harvey said he wanted them to be in compliance so he doesn’t have a problem with it. Mr. Pierce asked Mr. Anderson if they could do a straw poll vote to see how many of Council might be in favor of this. Mr. Anderson said no.
Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Mr. Haney, to receive, file and make a part of the minutes the January 2020 financials. Motion passed unanimously.
Mr. Pierce asked, just for his clarification, where do they stand on the truck issue? Mr. Harvey said he thinks he should move forward with legislation and people can express their opinion via vote. Mr. Pierce said because there is a time element involved, will they be having any special meetings? Mr. Harvey said he can call them, however, starting tomorrow he is going to be out of town for work until March 12th. So yes, he can call them, but he doesn’t know if they will have a quorum or be able to do anything within 30 days. Mr. Pierce said his issue is that they are holding these vehicles for us, and it is unfair to keep them dangling. Mr. Cleary said he would like to hear what the Mayor has to say about buying new ones, if they can afford to buy new ones. Mr. Pierce said he just wanted to know what to tell these guys. Mayor Cramblit asked him what the budget was that he was given on all of them. Mr. Pierce said $20,000 on the two trucks and $5,000 for the SUV and the other car. He said the SUV was for Susan and the car was for the Fire Chief. Mr. Elam said he has Mr. Harvey and Mr. Kline as sponsors for the 2020 Permanent Operating Budget and asked if anyone else would want to sponsor. Mr. Hock said he would sponsor.
Mr. Harvey said he received a Petition for Vacation of City Street/and or Alley for
216 North 2nd Street to the railroad, and he will be providing that to the Mayor to have a review for public utilities and then he can pass it on. Mr. Harvey said he would sponsor after the public utilities are reviewed. Mr. Anderson said it goes to Council first, then goes to the Mayor, and then comes back for an ordinance. Mr. Harvey said he and Mr. Cleary will sponsor it.
Mr. Kline said he would like to ask Mr. Hock to call a Strategic Planning Committee meeting and request that sometime within the next week or two to continue discussing vacant property accounts and a utility bill for those accounts. He said Mr. Anderson drafted some potential legislation, and he would like to review that and come to some conclusion as to how to move forward.
Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Mr. Kline, to adjourn. Motion passed unanimously.
Minutes were taken by Marta Leach, Clerk.
In attendance: John Elam, Finance Director, Brigham Anderson and Mayor Cramblit.