MINUTES OF MEETING OF
IRONTON CITY COUNCIL
June 10, 2021
6:00 p.m.

A regular meeting of Ironton City Council was held on Thursday, June 10, 2021, at 6:00 p.m. in Council Chambers.  Present was Vice Mayor, Craig Harvey, who presided and members:  Cleary, Haney, Hock, Kline, Pierce – six.

All persons stood for an invocation from Rev. Steve Harvey of Sharon Baptist Church, and then the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of the Finance Committee Meeting of May 24, 2021, and the Regular Meeting of

May 24, 2021, stood approved as submitted.

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

 

Mr. Haney said Paul Roach, 7th and Wyanoke, had approached him and the Mayor about semi-trucks using 7th Street to get to one of the new commercial businesses.  Mr. Roach told him that there had been damage to neighbors’ lawns.  Mr. Haney said as they all know, 7th Street is not a truck route for semi-trucks.  He was wondering if maybe they could put up some signs on Park Avenue or Vernon Street to deter trucks from going down residential streets.  He said the issue may be their GPS’s telling these trucks to go that way, but as a truck driver, you should see that those streets aren’t necessarily the best for semi-trucks.  Mr. Harvey said this comes up at least once every three months or so from residents on 9th Street because the semi’s tear up the bricks—they come down Liberty Avenue/12th Street, and then they see the signs there at the stop sign that say “No Semi’s”, so then they turn and go down 11th, or 9th, or 7th street.  He said they have been battling this over and over again over the last four years at least, they have put up signs on the 141 exit and then at the stop light.  He said they sent out  memos from the Mayor’s Office (the last two previous administrations) to GTL Lumber and Vertiv and those industries at that end of town and asked them to please post them where they have deliveries—don’t follow your GPS, come in and use Commerce Drive from Coal Grove.  He said they have tried, but maybe it would be worth it if the Mayor could send out memos.  Mayor Cramblit said he had worked through Bill Dingus to communicate with them, but that was a year ago.  He said the issue they run into a lot is the Spanish speaking individuals who have a regular GPS just like anybody would.  He said Mike Pemberton said maybe they needed to put them on every street off Park Avenue and off Third Street and maybe have both Spanish and English language on there.  He said even the people who are dropping off their loads are probably not communicating verbally.  He said even if they can’t communicate verbally doesn’t mean they can read English.  Chief Wagner said this has been an ongoing problem.  He said she spoke to the Superintendent at ODOT, and he is supposed to get back with her.  She said she asked him for some signage on 52 eastbound and westbound, directing truck traffic to the Coal Grove exit going eastbound and westbound to the 93 exit.  She said if anyone else has any influence on District 9 at ODOT, she would ask that you also speak to them.  She said they have written several tickets across the truck route, but as everyone knows, they don’t have the manpower to just sit there.  She said she also has spoken to Mr. Roach and several other residents, and she does understand their concern.  She said last year they had some trucks stuck on a tree lawn up there, and they ended up having to call Cogan’s.  She said it is not something that they are not aware of, and they are trying to remedy it, but right now the remedy is not as easy as she had hoped.  She said she feels like if the signage was on 52 that says go to exit whatever up to Coal Grove and exit whatever down here at 93, that would eliminate the biggest part of their problem.  Mayor Cramblit said he could speak to Mike Dombrowski, who is the Deputy Director at District 9.

Mr. Haney said Kayla Brown, who lives between Vine and McGovney on 9th Street, messaged him before Memorial Day about a water leak and there was actually standing water in the middle of 9th Street.  He immediately contacted Brett Thomas, and he said he would check on it next week.  He said also Wayne Kidd, who lives close to Mr. Roach on 7th and Wyanoke, was complaining about high grass in his neighbor’s yard.  He said Mark Dickess and Susan Dooley took care of that last night in their workshop.  He said also, Lou Mains on 7th and Pleasant, had a neighbor with high grass; but Mark has already taken care of it

Nate Kline said Mike Pemberton posted a “No Trucks” sign between Park and Vernon on 5th Street.  He said it did seem like it did slow it down.  He said he thinks if Mike had some more “No Trucks” signs pointing that way closer to the red lights where people are looking, that might be a solution also on Park Avenue.

COMMUNICATIONS  – None

REPORTS – None

ORDINANCES

ORDINANCE NO. 21-35 –            ESTABLISHING WATER RATES FOR RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL WATER USERS FOR THE CITY OF IRONTON, OHIO AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY was given first reading.

Mr. Harvey said this ordinance received an unfavorable recommendation from PUC this evening.  He said again, to recap, this is a schedule from July 1, 2021 through the year 2030 for a proactive approach to their water fund that is showing a deficit next year.  He said not only to fix the rate, but also to proactively fix their infrastructure underneath our city with pipes, valves, pumps, etc. that are vital to residents receiving clean drinking water.  And they, through the Mayor’s contact, utilized a firm, Rural Community Assistance Program, that independently evaluated their water and their infrastructure and took multiple things into account, including their current rates, including the current state of their infrastructure, including the median income of the citizens of Ironton and affordability index, which the State uses that same affordability index to determine grant eligibility.  He said they were under that affordability index, which is at 1.5%, and they were around .9% as far as their rates for water.  He said, as he mentioned in PUC meeting, he shared the frustrations of some with fees and raising rates, and he knows Mr. Haney was passionate about it in their earlier meeting and before he was ever elected, about rates; and he believes part of the reason for the frustration and irritation of our citizens for us raising rates is because it is done reactively, and it’s done to put a band-aid on a bleeding fund that is going into the red that is supposed to be self-sufficient.  He said they have not done that, and they, as a City Council, have the job to appropriate money.  He said over the years they have not been proactive in future forward thinking when it comes to replacement of failing infrastructure, when it comes to looking at a 5-year forecast, looking at the employees it takes to run those water distribution areas that EPA mandates that we are obligated to abide by, to take more personnel, to take redesign and take a look at their infrastructure and starting over in some instances.  He said all that said, RCAP analyzed all those things and presented them with what he thought was a good plan, that not only kept them from being in the red, but planned for those future things to replace, to stay on a schedule, to keep us in the 21st Century when it comes to their water distribution and delivering clean drinking water to our citizens without the daily worry of those pipes busting that are underground and us hemorrhaging  money from those things because they have failing infrastructure.  He said he knows this is the first reading for this ordinance, and he knows it is going to go through three readings, but who knows whether their citizens will watch this meeting or the third reading meeting; and he just wanted to sum it up.   Mr. Haney said to repeat a little bit what they talked about in the PUC meeting, was that they would like to take a deeper look into some of the current fees and the structure of some of those service fees and possibly come up with a creative way to lighten the blow or make it an off-set situation.  He said he would like to work with everyone and come to a compromise on that.  Mr. Kline said also, the Mayor is working on putting a link together where this investment would go and what it would be dedicated to.  He asked the Mayor if he could put that link to that ahead of time for people to view?  Mayor Cramblit said yes, he is putting it into a pdf and gathering everything.  He said it is a very large document of the schedule of changing out the assets and improvements.

RESOLUTIONS

RESOLUTION NO. 21-33 –           TO ADOPT THE INDIRECT COST ALLOCATION PLAN BASED ON 2020 EXPENDITURES was read.

Mr. Cleary said the Finance Committee gave this Resolution a favorable recommendation.  Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Mr. Hock, to pass Resolution No. 21-33.  Motion passed unanimously.

ADOPTED

 

RESOLUTION NO. 21-34 –           RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE SUBMISSION OF A COMPETITIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT APPLICATION FOR THE GTL LUMBER EXPANSION PROJECT was read.

Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Mr. Pierce, to pass Resolution 21-34.  Motion passed unanimously.  ADOPTED

 

RESOLUTION NO. 21-36 –           AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO A PURCHASE AGREEMENT FOR THE PURCHASE OF A VAC TRUCK AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY was read.

Mr. Cleary said this resolution did receive a favorable recommendation by the Finance Committee. Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Mr. Haney, to pass Resolution No. 21-36.  Motion passed unanimously.  Mr. Haney said he wanted to add to the minutes that the Mayor and the Village of West Lafayette negotiated the sale of their old vac truck for $85,000.  He asked if they needed to include using the ARP funds for that?  Mr. Harvey asked if that language was in it?  Mr. Kline said it is not in it.  Brigham said there will need to be a budget amendment coming later for that, right?  Because you can’t do it when the funds aren’t available.  Mayor Cramblit said the funds will be there by the time they pay for it.

Motion passed unanimously. ADOPTED

RESOLUTION NO. 21-37 –           AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT FOR THE PURCHASE OF 3 NEW POLICE VEHICLES AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY was read.

Mr. Cleary said this resolution was given a favorable recommendation by the Finance Committee tonight.  Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Mr. Pierce, to pass Resolution No. 21-37.   Mr. Haney said Mr. Kline brought up in the Finance meeting that this is allocated from the Police Equipment Replacement Fund and it is at no cost to the tax payers.  He said it is revenue generated from vehicle impound auctions.  Motion passed unanimously.  ADOPTED

MISCELLANEOUS

Mayor Cramblit said Council had allocated some funds for residential drop-off day for extraordinary items.  Tentatively they are looking at June 26th.  He said they will put some information out shortly about that on the City website.

Mr. Kline moved, seconded by Mr. Hock, to go into Executive Session to discuss contracts and real estate, with Council, the Mayor, Solicitor and Finance Director, with no action to follow.  Motion passed unanimously.

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Minutes were taken by Marta Leach, Clerk.

In attendance:  John Elam, Finance Director, Mayor Cramblit, Brigham Anderson