MINUTES OF MEETING OF
IRONTON CITY COUNCIL
Semptember 10, 2020
6:00 p.m.
A regular meeting of Ironton City Council was held on Thursday, September 10, 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. Kim Gabbard of Impact Church, and then the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The Minutes of the Strategic Planning Committee of August 19, 2020, and the Committee of the Whole Meeting of August 24, 2020, stood approved as submitted. Mack Anderson mentioned that the last Regular Council Meeting of August 27. 2020 was not on the agenda. The Clerk stated that she had five meetings to do but was out of town and was able to finish only two meetings.
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
Mr. Harvey said there is one invited guest tonight, Mr. Mike Holtz from MPH Hotel Group, and he asked Dr. Dingus to talk to Council about the hotel project that is going on currently and our Holiday Inn Express.
Mr. Holtz said he is present with his son, and they operate the existing Holiday Inn Express, and they are building the Suites by Marriott. He said he wanted to give a quick update on the Marriott construction. He said they had some delays because of COVID mostly because their window manufacturer couldn’t get the windows, but they now have them. He said they are expecting an early spring opening. He said it will have 108 rooms. He said it is his understanding that they are considering an additional tax on the hotels. He wanted to explain why he thinks that might not be a good idea. He said their guests are now paying 13.25% now in State and local taxes. He said their competitors in the Huntington pay 13%, and the Ashland hotels pay between 12.5 and 13.4%. He said they are lucky in their industry to have a company that checks and tracks all the occupancies in every State and the rates of all of the hotels. He said with that tracking, they can tell exactly how they perform and how they stand in the marketplace. He said with the COVID this year, they have had a pretty good setback. The industry standards that he just explained are down 29% year to date. He said the Holiday Inn Express is down only 12.8%. He said the Holiday Inn Express has been a No. 1 producer in the Ashland area in that market for at least the last two years. He said their customers today can shop the rates on line with all the various hotels, and it is easy for them to distinguish between the various hotels based on price, amenities, location, etc. They know that safety is one of the most important features for a guest—and then comes price, followed by cleanliness and friendly service. He said they are in an extremely competitive business and an extremely difficult industry right now. According to the company’s research, 8 in 10 rooms in this country today are empty because of COVID. He said the hotel industry has a 50% decline in revenues this year compared to last year because of COVID. He said 70% of all hotel employees have been terminated or laid off as a result of this, and they expect it is going to take 3-5 years to come back. He said his company owns and operates 15 hotels that are open, and 3 more under construction, and they are down $7.3 million of revenues in March compared to last year. Their average daily rates are down 10.9%. The comp set in the Ironton market is down 17.9%. He said it is obvious that they like the Ironton location when they travel to the Tri-State region, as they are the market leader at that hotel. He said they currently have about 21 employees at the Holiday Inn Express, and will have about 32 at the new Marriott. He would strongly encourage them to vote against this tax increase, as it will cost the community lost jobs and the hotel lost business. He said they work together with the City to make Ironton the preferred location for hotel guests coming to the area. He said they would like to continue this path and make Ironton even stronger as they look forward to the opening of the new Marriott in March.
Mr. Kline said he wanted to thank Mr. Holtz for joining them tonight, and he would like to thank him for his continued investment in our community. He said he is voting no on this for a lot of the reasons he just stated. He told him if he ever wanted to join Council again and talk about future developments, he is more than welcome. Mr. Haney also said he appreciates Mr. Holtz joining Council this evening. He asked Mr. Holtz if he knows currently what the County’s percentage is of the hotel’s excise tax? Mr. Holtz said for Lawrence County, the State tax is 5.75%, County tax is 1.5% and the other 6% is the hotel tax or whatever that entity is that has that set up, for a total of 13.25%. Mr. Haney said that 6% is being taken out by the Lawrence County Commissioners and he thinks the Port Authority. He said this isn’t necessarily that they want to increase more. They just want our fair share. He said when it all started, the County was taking 3%; it went along and went along, and the County took another 3%. So that left Ironton in this situation—either they’re going to come in and disrupt the progress and upset ownership, but all they want to do is get their fair share. He said the hotel is located in Ironton, and not located in Proctorville or South Point or anywhere else. He said our Police Department is going to respond to anything that happens there, not the Lawrence County or State Highway Patrol. He said if a fire happened, the Ironton Fire Department will respond. He said he thinks that the County is taking too much of a percentage for themselves and leaving nothing for Ironton. His first inclination was to see if the County wanted to work with them on this issue. And they got shut down in the past, and it doesn’t seem like they are open to this now. He said this isn’t necessarily to make life hard on Mr. Holtz, he is just fighting for Ironton’s fair share in this. So if the County would like to relinquish 3% and give it to Ironton, I would be fine with that. But if it comes down to it, he will be voting yes for the increase of 3%. But he appreciates Mr. Holtz’ investments here and appreciates him joining them tonight.
Mr. Holtz thanked him for his comments. He said their customers don’t know where the money goes, and probably don’t care. They do expect the services that Mr. Haney mentioned, with the police and fire. He said it looks like the city tax in a lot of the areas is between 1% and 1 1/2%, but how it is split up, he doesn’t know. He said their position on the total tax and how it gets distributed is, quite frankly, none of their concern. But if there is a problem with the County and City, he thinks it would be a mistake to charge it to the guests, and then their guests end up going across the river to Ashland or Huntington, and then they lose all of it. Mr. Haney said he understands that. He just doesn’t think it’s fair to the citizens of Ironton to get nothing out of this and the County take the whole 6%. He said they would have no authority or legal accountability for those funds. He would like Ironton to have some say-so in what that money is spent for. He doesn’t think a hotel tax from an Ironton hotel should go for anything other than progress in Ironton. Mr. Harvey said he wanted to make a point of clarification. He said of that 6% the County gets, they do give us back 1%, which is about $20,000 a year; and if the City was to take 3%, they have expressed that they would not give us that 1%, which means the City would have a net total gain of 2%.
Mr. Haney said he found out that Mr. Cleary was on the Cemetery Board. He has received 5 or 6 calls about this in the last three days. He asked if there was any information he can tell these people about the grass not being cut? He said he doesn’t know if they know when the meetings are or if there are any meetings. Mr. Cleary said they have had a lot of complaints about the grass, and he has been up there personally looking at it and trying to figure it out. He said he knows they brought in a whole new crew, and they’ve made a lot of headway with it. He said their Trustee meeting for the cemetery is a week from today at 5:30 or 6:00 p.m. He said is on Facebook and anyone who wants to can come up to the meeting, and he will be happy to explain to them some of the circumstances involved and how it got out of control the way it did. Mr. Cleary said he wanted to ask Mack Anderson a question. He said he is on the Board up there, and some of them feel like at the cemetery that we’re having financial difficulties that are going to grow. And the other Trustees feel like the City of Ironton has some responsibility for funding part of the cemetery, and he thinks Council ruled on that where the cemetery is in the City of Ironton but is owned by the County, if he is not mistaken. He said they have never participated in any kind of the funds for the cemetery, they are always their own entity. He knows this issue of the funds up there is going to come up, so he asked Mr. Anderson if he could enlighten Council on how that operates, as far as the funding for the cemetery? Mack Anderson said it is a joint Township/City cemetery under State statute, which means that the Upper Township Trustees, where the property in located in the City of Ironton, the City picks a member, which is Mr. Cleary, and the Township Trustees picks a member, which he thinks is Craig Thomas. And then there is a citizen-at-large to make the third member, which is Joe Mason. He said each year the City Council and the three Township Trustees jointly meet to make up 10 people who choose those persons because it is a three-year term, and each year one of them is up for re-nomination. But that Board is a separate governmental entity that totally controls the cemetery and makes the rules about how much a grave, or how much it costs to open a grave or close a grave, etc. He thinks they have a perpetual care fund, which is supposed to be there and grow interest so that even when the cemetery is filled, they still have money to maintain it. But no, there is no legal obligation for the Township or the City to donate money to that Cemetery Board because it is supposed to be self-sufficient. Mr. Cleary said he thinks the perpetual fund typically runs about $1 million, which sounds like a lot of money, but if you sell the last 1,500 or 1,000 lots, or whatever they have left, that’s another place where they make money. He said eventually it could be living on the perpetual fund, but he doesn’t know how many years it would take for that to run out. Mr. Anderson said the ideal situation is when they have sold all of their lots, that the fund is large enough that the interest from it each year would take care of the expenses of mowing the grass, etc., depending on the what the interest rate is. Mr. Cleary said just to clarify what Mr. Anderson is saying so that all Council will be aware of it, is the fact that the City of Ironton and the Upper Township Trustees have no financial obligation to do anything up there, is that correct? Mr. Anderson said yes, that is correct. Mr. Anderson said he is not saying that they can’t give money to the cemetery, he’s just saying they are not legally obligated.
Mr. Kline said he has had a lot of people ask him about Trick or Treat this year and if that was going to go off, and he didn’t know if the Mayor had thought about that or was ready to make a statement on whether Trick or Treat was going to happen in the City? Mayor Cramblit said he is still waiting to see what kind of guidance comes out from health professionals on that, so he is not quite sure what that is going to look like.
Mr. Elam said he was curious whether anyone had any questions about the bond pay-off spreadsheet that he had sent out. He said that is a critical piece of legislation that would have to be addressed sometime soon. He said the dollar amount is the same, it’s just the pay-off time. He said it would be his recommendation to extend it to 10 years. He said they would not penalize themselves for paying it off early. He just wanted to bring that up one more time to say that that is important legislation that is time-sensitive. Mr. Cleary asked if that was on the agenda tonight. Mr. Harvey said yes, it is, but it hasn’t been given recommendation by Finance because they had a Finance meeting scheduled for tonight, but the reason it was cancelled was because their Finance Director was out with a health issue, non-COVID related and will probably be in and out of the office a few more times related to his health issues. He said if Council is unaware of what happened to him, they are welcome to contact him yourselves, but he doesn’t think he should disclose what he is going through. Mr. Harvey said they will probably have to have a Special Meeting. He said Chris is going to bring something up under Miscellaneous about their next regularly scheduled meeting, and they could have a Finance Committee meeting prior to that and include this on the agenda to get it passed. Mr. Cleary said he and Nate and Craig are here, and they are the Finance Committee, so would it be possible to go ahead and give this a recommendation during the regular Council meeting since they are all here? Mack Anderson said he thinks they could go ahead and give it first reading, but before it is adopted, there has to be a recommendation, either favorable or unfavorable, from the Finance Committee. He thinks they need to have a Finance Committee meeting where they give a 24-hour notice to the public. Mr. Harvey said Mr. Cleary was confused like he is because they have run out of time in Finance before and they strayed from the normal order of business to go back into Finance, but it was called prior to, so that was a continuation of the Finance Committee; so he thinks that is what he was thinking.
COMMUNICATIONS
REPORTS – None
ORDINANCES
ORDINANCE NO. 20-60 – AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE REDEMPTION OF $286,658 OF WASTEWATER SYSTEM IMPROVEMENT BONDS, OF THE CITY OF IRONTON, COUNTY OF LAWRENCE, STATE OF OHIO; AUTHORIZING THE PAYMENT OF THE REDEMPTION PRICE AND RELATED COSTS; AUTHORIZING DOCUMENTS NECESSARY TO EFFECTUATE SUCH REDEMPTIONS AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY was given second reading.
Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Mr. Pierce, to suspend the rules and give Ordinance No. 20-60 second reading by title only. Motion passed unanimously and Ordinance No. 20-60 was given second reading.
ORDINANCE NO. 20-56 – REQUIRING COMPETITIVE BIDDING AND ESTIMATES FOR PURCHASES AND CONTRACTS AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY was given second reading.
Mr. Harvey asked the Mayor if he mentioned that this ordinance was time-sensitive? Mayor Cramblit said it was really time-sensitive last meeting. He said they have had all this money budgeted for whether it be equipment or vehicles, and with the current limitation that they have on it, it is not in line with the ORC. He said they are not able to negotiate very well because of the pricing on these vehicles. He said also, it is charging them $300 every time they put out a bid. He just thinks it is going things a lot easier for them to make it in line with the ORC because whenever they go to somebody to negotiate a price on something, you have them saying, well if I have to bid this out, I’m not going to be able to give you this price because I’m going to have to compete with everybody else as well. He said the limit is $25,000 right now, and the rest of the State is at $50,000, so it is putting them at a disadvantage in that sense when it comes to purchasing vehicles or equipment. He said it costs them time also. They have been out of a flood truck for three weeks now, and they could have bought that two weeks ago with that legislation passing. He said there were too many other needs that the City has to have to purchase this year, and he thinks that is fair to put theirs at the same as the State. Mr. Haney said the end of the year is creeping up on them, and they budgeted for a lot of things; and he thinks the Mayor is trying to get those things for the City and for the City employees. Mr. Haney moved, seconded by Ms. Rist, to suspend the rules and give Ordinance No. 20-56 third reading by title only. Motion passed unanimously and Ordinance No. 20-56 was given third reading. Mr. Haney moved, seconded by Mr. Hock, to adopt Ordinance No. 20-56. Motion passed unanimously. ADOPTED
ORDINANCE NO. 20-58 – ESTABLISHING A HOTEL/MOTEL EXCISE TAX PURSUANT TO ORC 5739.08(A) was given second reading.
Ms. Rist moved, seconded by Mr. Cleary, to table this ordinance and revisit it at a later date.
Ayes: Cleary, Kline, Pierce, Rist – four. Nays: Haney, Harvey, Hock – three. TABLED
ORDINANCE NO. 20-55 – AN ORDINANCE PERMITTING THE USE OF UTILITY TERRAIN VEHICLES AND ESTABLISHING CHAPTER 477.04, 477.05, 477.06 AND 477.07 OF THE CODIFIED ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF IRONTON, OHIO AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY was given third reading.
Mr. Cleary said he is not really in favor of this ordinance. He asked Mack or Craig, do you have to have a valid driver’s license in order to run these vehicles on the street? Is it in the ordinance? Mr. Harvey said yes, and it was also in their golf cart ordinance that way—16 years of age, driver’s license and insurance. Mr. Cleary said he thinks they are opening up for a lot of nuisance to have these running up and down the street, because it is not like a golf cart that runs 8 mph. He said these things run 60 mph and more. He asked Chief Wagner about the law, if they see someone running like that, to try to chase them? How do they handle that? Chief Wagner said they do have a policy and procedure on their pursuits. She said that was probably something they wouldn’t normally do, especially if someone had a passenger, but every circumstance is different. She said she can’t say that it would definitely be a more serious situation with a vehicle pursuit. Mr. Cleary asked if there was anything about the noise level? Mr. Harvey said when they first put it on there for first reading, he did some research about the average level of decibels that is put off by a UTV, and it exceeds 80, which exceeds a noise pollution anyway. So to handle that, because of Council’s concern about noise, they put a curfew on it at 10 p.m. through 8 a.m., and they are not authorized during those hours. Mr. Haney said he understands Bob’s concerns totally. He has done a little research, and what he has found out is if they are registered through the government to go on State-funded trails, he thinks they could go to the BMV and get a license plate for it anyway. He said he thinks this is one of those things that is going to happen regardless whether we take control of it or not. He said he thinks this is just for them to get ahead of it and maybe generate some revenue for the Police for doing the inspections for it. Chief Wagner said that after their last Council meeting, she did find out that Hanging Rock is already doing inspections, and there are people in Hanging Rock who do have those vehicles. She said unless Ironton passes that ordinance, they are legal in the City in Ironton. She said it is the same as the golf carts, just because they are legal in Ironton doesn’t mean they are legal in Hanging Rock or wherever. Ms. Rist said she will vote no on this. She thinks the Police have their hands full enough without having to deal with UTV’s. She said they have chased them for years, and she did it for 14 years, and it is nothing but dangerous. Mr. Kline said he would like to hear what the Mayor’s and Chief’s recommendations are before the final vote for adoption. Mayor Cramblit said based on what they talked about before, this goes into some of the plans out there at the Gateway Park, tying that altogether with Wayne National Forest, and that is something to keep in mind. He said that is looking ahead and why he would be for it, to bring that tourism and recreation here. He said it may need to be amended down to suit everyone’s needs, whether it be a time restraint or whatever. He said he just thinks for what the future plans are with tourism, that could tie into it. Chief Wagner said she is not opposed to it. She said as Beth knows and we all know, especially when it snows in the wintertime, they get ATV’s anyway. She said if this is something that is going to bring in tourism dollars and help the City grow, she is not opposed; but there are going to have to be some limitations, and we do have to realize that we have a problem with manpower and they try to enforce the best they can. Mr. Haney asked if they needed any more information before they vote on this, or is everyone happy with the information they have gathered? Or is anyone on the fence about it? Mr. Harvey said they have had three readings and have had plenty of time to gather information. Mr. Haney said he is going to go with the Chief, and if she thinks it is ok and she is not opposed to it, then that is who I am going to go with; because that is the department that is going to be handling most of the duties of this ordinance. Mr. Pierce said he has gone back and forth on this himself. He said he knows that golf carts really don’t pose much of a problem, as long as they are operated under the guidelines. He said they have had some kids operating them and that sort of thing. He has been on the fence because down on the north end they have some fields and floodwalls, and he has seen these UTV’s, especially in the wintertime, doing the donuts and tearing up the grass. He said taking the Mayor’s recommendation and the Chief’s recommendation, he could be for this; but at the same time he realizes, although the two ordinances are very similar, there is a difference between the UTV’s and the golf carts. Mayor Cramblit said he feels like if this blows up in their face, and worse comes to worse, this ordinance could always be repealed or amended to satisfy the tourism part of it, whereas, the rest of the town is fed up with it being in that area. His main concern is just connecting everything together. Mr. Cleary said he is like Mike, and is so on the fence on this. He has seen them up on the CVS lot, and when we get an inch of snow, they are all over the place; and when the Police come, they shoot down the street, and there’s no way to catch them. But he can also see the other side of it, and he goes along with what the Mayor is saying. If it ends up being a real problem, he would be the first in line to repeal and do something different. He said he thinks at this point he is going to go ahead and support it. Ms. Rist said they can wait and see how much time the Police is going to have to spend on these vehicles out there after a month. She is still voting no on it. Mr. Haney said he respects that, and he knows that she has dealt with that before and did it for a lot of years. He said he respects her opinion on this. He said if it comes down to it, and they are dealing with a lot of employee hours, they can always tweek it or repeal it and change it to the way they want it. Mr. Haney moved, seconded by Mr. Kline, to adopt Ordinance No. 20-55.
Ayes: Cleary, Haney, Harvey, Hock, Kline, Pierce – six. Nays: Rist – one. ADOPTED
RESOLUTIONS – None.
MISCELLANEOUS
Mr. Harvey said he would like to call a Special Meeting for next Tuesday, September 15th to give possible adoption to Ordinance No. 20-60 and to have a Finance Committee meeting prior to that at 5:45 p.m. to give recommendation to Ordinance No. 20-60. Mr. Cleary said he heard some of the conversation before the meeting, but what is the idea of doing this next week? It can’t wait until the 24th? Mr. Harvey said Mr. Elam said it had some time sensitivity.
Mr. Kline said he just had a couple of updates. He said regarding the water meters and that purchase, he met with the Mayor, Kevin Wood and Brett Thomas, and they are working on putting that out to bid. Also re-evaluating the CARES Act dollars and how the final round would come in, and the funding on that is a little bit different than the first two rounds as far as the formula, and the State is going to distribute that. He said he also met with Kevin and Brett down on Etna Street to look at the Pickle Ball courts and the resurfacing of the surfaces down there. He said Kevin is going to spec that out and is going to be reaching out to Randy Lilly for that. He said that is part of the CDBG grant that they received for that park.
Mr. Pierce asked Mack Anderson if he had heard anything about the Pharma settlement? He said he knows they are approaching the original date and he didn’t know if there had been changes. He said he also sees Mr. Gumbert on here and wondered if he had anything to contribute this evening. Mr. Anderson said in response to the Pharma settlement, he hasn’t heard anything. He said they will have to check with Brigham because he was the one spearheading that for the City, and he doesn’t know if Brigham knows anything or not. Mr. Harvey said if Brigham does give them an update, keep in mind that that is litigation, and they would need to discuss in Executive Session. Mr. Gumbert said the Orchard Street lift station pump came in yesterday and they got it installed today; so that is up to full capacity.
Mr. Hock moved, seconded by Mr. Haney, to go into Executive Session with Council, the Mayor, Finance Director, Mr. Anderson and Dave Lucas Communication to discuss pending litigation, with no action to follow. Motion passed unanimously.
Minutes were taken by Marta Leach, Clerk.
In attendance: John Elam, Finance Director, Mayor Cramblit and Mack Anderson.