MINUTES OF MEETING OF
IRONTON CITY COUNCIL
August 12, 2021
6:00 p.m.
A regular meeting of Ironton City Council was held on Thursday, August 12, 2021, at 6:00 p.m. in Council Chambers. Present was Vice Mayor, Craig Harvey, who presided and members: Cleary, Haney, Hock, Kline, Pierce, Rist – seven.
All persons stood for an invocation from Rev. Eric Barnes of First Baptist Church, and then the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Minutes of the Regular Meeting of July 22, 2021, Planning Commission Meeting of July 29, 2021, Finance Committee Meeting of July 29, 2021, and Special Council Meeting of July 29, 2021, stood approved as submitted.
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
Mr. Harvey said they have an invited guest tonight, Kevin Wood from IBI. He said a while back Mr. Kline had asked that he come periodically or quarterly to the meetings and run through a quick update on all of the projects they are working on in the City. He said the first project is the sewer study, and that is in relation to the consent decree of the sewer project. He said that is ongoing with a due date of September 30th before a final draft of that report. He said they have been working on that for several months now. There have been flow meters installed in 18 different locations. He said they are going on the third month of those, and they have had some good rain events during that time, and they have been able to collect some good data. He said the report will look at the Waste Water Treatment Plant, both what it would cost to replace it with a new plant, as well as going in and checking every aspect of the existing plant and looking at what it would take to make improvements and upgrades to that plant. He said they are also looking at the Batham Lane area and the Phases 4 and 5 combined sewer/sanitary sewer collection system areas. He said lastly, the storm sewer water pump stations and the storm water drainage system from the US 52 area. He said the 5th Street Bridge Replacement project is also ongoing. He said there is a draft proposal for the next stage of planned development that Mark Dickess has, and possibly by the next Council meeting that may be before Council. He said next, the Third Street Water Line and Street Reconstruction project, the city received multiple grants totaling about $644,000 on that street reconstruction project, where there have been so many water line breaks. He said a stipulation of that grant is that the project be completed by the end of next calendar year, 2022. He said they have been working with the Mayor, the City and Ralph Kline on trying to obtain additional grants to leverage the grant that the City has that would help offset the cost of replacing that water line, which obviously the City would want to replace that water line before you rebuild the street above it. He said they are looking at how far north they could extend the project beyond just stopping at Lorain and taking it further north with an Economic Development Administration grant, as well as possibly some of the Ohio House Bill 168 money that Ohio included in the budget for water and sewer projects. He said he had a call with the EDA last week, and Ralph Kline was in on that call. He said they are continuing to work on those. He said the Mayor had requested a proposal to complete plans and specifications from the south end of the project at the bridge up to Lorain, and he has a draft which may also be in front of Council at the next Council meeting. The State Route 93 roundabout project is still ongoing as well. He said plans are well underway, and that is still slated on ODOT’s calendar to go out for constructions bids in 2022. He said they are working with Ralph Kline in looking at a potential third roundabout on Lawrence Street to help eliminate a couple of those intersections on 52, looking at what that might cost so they could pursue some potential funding for that project as well. He said the 5th item is the 1st and Pine Street project. He said one of the first things they worked on with the City last year was applying for an ARC grant to improve Pine Street from Third towards the river and 1st Street south in that commercial and industrial area. He said the City was successful and received a little over $200,000 in a grant and a local requirement of $87,000 in local funds on that project. He said that agreement is in place with the City. The Mayor has asked for a proposal to get plans put together on that, so that as well is in the works and they may see that in the near future. He said they are preparing technical specs and plans and working with Ryan Watts at the Water Plant and the Mayor on replacing filter media at the Water Plant, which is past due of being replaced. He said he knows that the City has bond funds set aside in the Water Department that would cover those costs. He hopes in the next couple of weeks to have that package prepared, including the bid documents, to present to the City for review so they can put that out to bid and get that project completed. He said the 7th item on the list is the income surveys. He said he knows they are aware, but he wanted to give them an update. They are looking at everything from Center Street south in the City; and through working with Ralph Kline, Cindy Anderson, the Mayor and others, they have determined that that could potentially be in an area where they could get income qualified for Federal grants—there are multiple CDBG and other Federal grants that can only be awarded to communities that were income eligible. He said they are working with the State, and it is a very methodical process. He said Terri from the Mayor’s office has mailed out the third mailing of randomized addresses that they have to mail these to. He said they have to make three attempts at each household to collect a survey. They need 400, and they have 208. The State only gives them a 6-month window in which to complete those, and that window will close on September 15th. He said another mailing will go out tomorrow or Monday, so they are in the final stretch. He developed a press release that he gave to Ralph Kline and the Mayor’s Office and to the Tribune, where hopefully they can help publicize this to make people aware of it, that if they receive this to please fill it out. He said it is completely confidential, and it is mailed with an enclosed self-addressed stamped envelope, and it goes to the IBI office. He said they hope to get the 400 surveys they need and then the result they need, which is at least 51% are low to moderate income. He said that will open the door for a lot of various types of grants in that area. He said Susan Dooley had asked him to help her to update the zoning maps, so they have developed a CAD drawing with those and provided a draft of that to her last week, so that will be wrapped up. He said he knows, according to Susan, that there have been some discussions going on about making some updates to the zoning maps, so this will allow Council to easily change those and have hard copies and electronic copies going forward. He said the last three items are funding-related. He said they spend a lot of time tracking all the State and Federal funding that is out there. He said they are pretty busy right now in that regard. He said he is sure everyone is aware of the Ohio House Bill 168 funds that he referenced earlier, and those are due to Pat Leighty’s office by the 23rd. He said they are looking to submit two projects to him for the City of Ironton—one is packaging some of the CSO projects related to the Consent Decree, and the second is the water line replacement project on South Third Street. He said, as they are probably aware, the City of Ironton and the Village of Coal Grove have been in discussions about Coal Grove potentially decommissioning their water treatment plant and buy bulk water full-time from the City of Ironton. He said those discussion are ongoing, but obviously, it would require that Ironton replace that water line. He said IBI is working with Coal Grove to replace most all of their water lines in town, but the one line that did not replace with that project is from the plant up to the interconnect with Ironton. Pat Leighty suggested that the two communities submit a joint application to him for that water line replacement. So they are working with those communities to get that done, and he will be presenting that tonight at the Coal Grove meeting. He said the 10th item on there is EPA sewer funds. The funding arm of the Ohio EPA is a huge source of financing water and sewer projects in Ohio. He said there are loans to every community from Columbus to Coal Grove. In the spring they accept nominations on water projects and in the fall, which is this month, on sewer projects. He said it is really critical to get projects submitted on that list, especially now with the potential Federal infrastructure package. He said back in 2009 and 2010 when that happened, with all of the water and sewer projects, hundreds of millions of dollars that came to Ohio were funded by the EPA on this program. He said they are planning to renominate the four projects to the EPA this month. He said last year they nominated a new (waste) water treatment plant, the Phase 4 and 5 sewer line projects and Batham lane; and they may add a couple of other things into that this year that they developed during this study. He said the last item is the Federal infrastructure funds, which they and everyone are tracking closely to be able to be prepared and take advantage of those if and when that does come about. He said lastly, in their packet, John had provided this list of all of the in-contract tasks that they are currently working on to show you what has been budgeted in each of these projects and where you are to date with those. He said he will close by saying he has really enjoyed working with the City this past year, everyone here has been great and he is looking forward to helping the City make some of the improvements that they would like to make in their infrastructure.
Mr. Haney said he appreciates all the work that Mr. Wood is doing. He said he knows the time sensitivity in turning these in, and asked if needs any legislation from Council to get those submitted on time? Mr. Wood said many times they will, but the WPCLF, which is the EPA nomination forms that are due this week, do not need a resolution, nor does the House Bill 168 need a resolution. He said one thing that he did not have on this list is the Ohio Public Works Commission. He said those are due this year in this district on October 1st, so they have talked about a couple of potential projects to submit on behalf of Ironton for that program, and that will require a resolution here in a couple of months. But they will be sure to get that to the City in time for them to act on it. He said depending what happens on the Federal level, who knows what may be required; but they will be on top of that. Mr. Kline said he also appreciates Mr. Wood coming tonight. He asked if Mr. Wood sees them falling in budget with all of these items they have on the list through the year? Mr. Wood said yes. He said all of the tasks 1-6 are actually part of their General Services contract with the City. So those are all just on an hourly as-requested basis. He said the bridge project obviously, that was the initial phase of design—that was a set fee. The next pending proposal that will be coming is within the original ODOT budget amount, and then the study is within budget as well. Mr. Kline said he sent an email a little while ago. The funding opportunity for FEMA, the brick building infrastructure. He said he knows they talked about that last fall, and he wondered if they could circle back around and use some of that flow data that he is using for the feasibility study.
Ralph Kline said he wanted to give Council heads up. He said there is a resolution on the agenda, but he didn’t send a letter or memo. He said basically it is a resolution authorizing the Mayor to send a request to the State to use CDBG income monies for some of the splash park equipment. He said there are three different handicapped items, and those are eligible activities for CDBG. He said basically they just have to get approval from the State, and the monies are collected here locally from previous projects. He said they are looking at $30,000-$40,000 on that. Mr. Harvey said that is Resolution No. 21-47. Nate Kline said he wanted to clarify that there will be no City dollars expense? Ralph Kline said no, this is all CDBG program income. Mr. Haney asked if the majority of the work is to make it more handicapped accessible, correct? Ralph Kline said yes, everything on these funds would have to go toward handicapped accessibility. He said they have received contributions from different organizations that are going for other improvements in that area, like the arch.
Mr. Elam said this is a busy time of year for the Finance Department. He said they are going to have a Mayor’s Budget that will have be done by next month, an alternative tax budget, 5-year plan, then followed by a temporary budget and a permanent budget. He said to that end, based on 7 ½ months’ data, he would like to have a Finance Committee Meeting next week, if at all possible, to adopt the budget amendment that he worked on this week, or at least have discussion on it. He said that will give him the starting point in the preparation of all of the additional budgets. He said he thinks he knows where the numbers are going to end up, but he would prefer that Council look at it and give their input and possible recommendation. Mr. Harvey asked if it had to be a Finance Committee or can it be a budget workshop? Mr. Elam said whichever way they would prefer to have it. Mr. Harvey said because he doesn’t need a favorable recommendation out of it, correct? Because there is not an actual amendment? Mr. Elam said he has it prepared in an amendment format. He said it would probably need between 15 and 30 minutes. He said he will have it to everyone prior to the meeting so they will have an opportunity to review it and ask questions. Mr. Harvey asked Nate if next Thursday was agreeable with him? Nate said he was talking to Jacob about having a Strategic Planning Committee meeting on Tuesday to discuss DORA and food trucks. He hasn’t talked to Chris yet, but he was also going to ask for a Recreation Committee meeting also on that same day.
COMMUNICATIONS
Mr. Harvey said Mayor Cramblit is absent tonight, but he sent a communication as an update for the Council meeting tonight. Mr. Harvey read the communication to Council, and it will be included with the minutes of this meeting.
REPORTS – None
ORDINANCES
ORDINANCE NO. 21-45 – AMENDING THE PERMANENT BUDGET FOR THE CITY OF IRONTON, STATE OF OHIO, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 2021, AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY was given second reading.
Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Mr. Pierce, to suspend the rules and give Ordinance No. 21-45 third reading by title only and possible adoption. Mr. Harvey said also, in their Special Meeting of July 29th they had preceding Finance Committee Meeting that favorably recommended this ordinance. Motion passed unanimously, and Ordinance No. 21-45 was given third reading. Mr. Cleary moved, seconded my Ms. Rist to adopt Ordinance No. 21-45. Motion passed unanimously. ADOPTED
Mr. Kline moved, seconded by Mr. Cleary, to go into Executive Session to discuss litigation, with action to follow, with the Solicitor and Finance Director. Motion passed unanimously.
After a brief Executive Session, the Regular Council Meeting resumed.
RESOLUTIONS
RESOLUTION NO. 21-46 – AN EMERGENCY RESOLUTION TO ACCEPT THE MATERIAL TERMS OF THE ONE OHIO SUBDIVISION SETTLEMENT PURSUANT TO THE ONE OHIO MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING AND CONSISTENT WITH THE TERMS OF THE JULY 21, 2021 NATIONAL OPIOID SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT was read.
Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Mr. Haney, to adopt Resolution No. 21-46. Motion passed unanimously. ADOPTED
RESOLUTION NO. 21-47 – RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE APPLICATION AND UTILIIZATION OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT PROGRAM INCOME FOR SPLASH PARK EQUIPMENT AND IMPROVEMENTS was read.
Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Mr. Haney, to adopt Resolution No. 21-47. Motion passed unanimously. ADOPTED
RESOLUTION NO. 21-48 – A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF IRONTON TO APPLY FOR, ACCEPT AND ENTER INTO A WATER POLLUTION CONTROL LOAN FUND (WPCLF) AGREEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE CITY OF IRONTON FOR PLANNING OF THE WASTEWATER FACILITIES; AND DEDICATING A REPAYMENT SOURCE FOR THE LOAN was read.
Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Ms. Rist, to adopt Resolution No. 21-48. Motion passed unanimously. ADOPTED
RESOLUTION NO. 21-49 – RESOLUTION APPOINTING SAMUEL CRAMBLIT, MAYOR OF THE CITY OF IRONTON, OHIO TO THE DISTRICT 15 PUBLIC WORKS INTEGRATING COMMITTEE was read.
Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Mr. Hock, to adopt Resolution No. 21-49. Motion passed unanimously. ADOPTED
MISCELLANEOUS
Mr. Harvey said he would like to call a Finance Committee Meeting for next Thursday, August 19th at 6:00 p.m. Mr. Cleary asked if maybe a Committee as a Whole meeting would be better to do that? Mr. Harvey said Mr. Elam needs a recommendation so it has to be a Finance Committee Meeting. Mr. Cleary said maybe they could have a 10 minute Finance Committee Meeting prior to the next Regular Council Meeting to give it a favorable recommendation. Mr. Elam said that is fine with him. He said it is ready to drop right now, and he will probably have it sent out to Council after he leaves here. It was decided to have a Budget Workshop on August 19th at 6:00 p.m., and a Finance Committee Meeting on August 26th at 5:45 p.m. Mr. Hock said he would like to call a Strategic Planning Committee Meeting on August 17th at 6:00 p.m. to talk about DORA and food trucks, and invite Amanda Cleary and Abby Kuhne and the Solicitor. Mr. Kline said he would like to call a Recreation Committee Meeting on Tuesday, August 17th immediately following the Strategic Planning Committee Meeting to discuss the Youth League Organization.
Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Ms. Rist, to adjourn. Motion passed unanimously.
Minutes were taken by Marta Leach, Clerk.
In attendance: John Elam, Finance Director, Brigham Anderson.