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LEGISLATIVE
COMMITTEE MINUTES
FEBRUARY 11, 2008
Municipal Council of the City of Vermilion
Municipal Complex, 685 Decatur Street, Vermilion, Ohio 44089
In Attendance: S. Holovacs, F. Ostrander, B. Brady, M. Rossini, H. Strickler, D. Roth, J. Gabriel, G. Fisher, Mayor Anderson, D. Squires, C. Schmidt, W. Hamilton, B. Kish, C. Howard
Call to Order: J. Gabriel, Chairperson, RESOLVED THAT this Legislative Committee comprised of Heidi Strickler, Vice, and Barb Brady, Member does come to order.
TOPIC ONE: EMPLOYEE RELATIONS COMMITTEE/COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT
B. Brady said that she wasn’t aware these two committees existed but F. Ostrander chose to put her in charge of them, so she is guessing that he researched them or he wouldn’t have chosen a chairman. She said if he felt strongly in appointing a chairman, then he would fee strongly that these two committees would exist. F. Ostrander stated that he had said they should get rid of these committees since they haven’t met for years and B. Brady said no because she wanted to do them. B. Brady said she would take this responsibility. She said so many problems over the past couple years have been employee relation types of questions, so she feels the existence of this committee makes sense, but she didn’t understand why F. Ostrander would have assigned a chairman if he felt it didn’t exist. F. Ostrander said this was discussed when they talked about the rules and he said he didn’t see any value in these committees, but B. Brady did. G. Fisher noted that these committees have always continued on every year but the issue had never been addressed about their existence. B. Brady said she feels responsible for these committees since she was given them. She thought it made sense since they are looking at changing health care plans and union contracts are being negotiated. F. Ostrander didn’t think it had a lot of value because employee relations have union contracts that address most of those issues. B. Brady said there are non union employees as well. She said they have a streets, buildings & grounds committee and a health and safety committee, and yet the biggest asset which is the employees don’t have a committee that covers it. She said it is up to council to decide what to do about these committees.
F. Ostrander asked the clerk to provide a copy of the charter that establishes these committees so everyone can review them. This issue was referred to next month’s meeting.
TOPIC TWO: WATERCRAFT/DUI LEGISLATION
G. Fisher reported that the DUI laws are updated by the Walter Drane Company annually. She said the watercraft ordinance is a work in progress. B. Kish said any time they write a citation the money is not going to the city but rather the State of Ohio, so if this is a local ordinance then the city can start collecting the money. He said this ordinance needs to be done before the boating season.
TOPIC THREE: Storm Water Ordinance 2007-102
C. Howard stated that he submitted revisions to council. J. Gabriel asked D. Squires if he was comfortable with the new wording under “Exception” as far as the terms. C. Howard said this was a revision they recommended so that council has the final say. He said he would recommend that the city doesn’t get involved with owning the basins, but let the developer or property owners maintain it as opposed to the city being responsible for it.
F. Ostrander that some sort of character symbols showed up throughout the newly revised ordinance. C. Howard didn’t know what this was and thought the clerk would have to update it. G. Fisher asked the engineer for his revised recommendations. C. Howard said that Lynn Spanski has the revisions. F. Ostrander asked how they could define the revisions. C. Howard said they could define them in red. He said he gave all the handwritten changes to the city. D. Squires said he could have Lynn Spanski go through the changes and highlight those revisions.
This issue was referred to the February 25 Utilities meeting.
TOPIC FOUR: Leadership Lorain County (Sample Resolution)
Mayor Anderson reported that the Leadership Lorain County Class of 2008 is studying the impact of regionalism in our area. This year’s Leadership Class has taken the initiative to apply for a grant to study the potential impact of regionalism on our county. Lorain Leadership would like the City to sign a joint grant application for the funds to have the independent parties of Lorain County Alliance administer the grant and Lorain County Community College conduct a feasibility study to identify opportunities and advantages of regionalism in the county. They asked the city to sign a joint agreement by April 4, 2008.
F. Ostrander asked if they were looking at regionalism in Erie County. Mayor Anderson said that Erie County hasn’t looked at this grant, but each county is looking at regionalism in their own way.
B. Brady MOVED; H. Strickler seconded to recommend to Council to have legislation prepared in studying the impact on regionalism in our area. Vote 3 YEAS. MOTION CARRIED.
TOPIC FIVE: Underground Utilities – Private Lateral Problems
D. Squires referred to correspondence dated January 8, 2008 from Underground Utilities. This is their proposal in assisting the city with addressing the private issues regarding illegal sanitary taps. This proposal is to assist the city in preparing legislation to address these issues. He said they did speak about this in committee and there was mixed feelings of whether or not the city should do this. He said he realizes this project is under $15,000 and the administration can move forward, however, as a courtesy to council he asked for a favorable nod to allow the administration to move forward. He said this all ties into the urgency to eliminate the VOL overflow issues.
S. Holovacs stated that he has no problem with this but wanted to know what the policy will be when they find an illegal tap and need to have it corrected. B. Brady said they need this as a driving force and they need guidance on how to get this done and resolved. She said they need to get the storm water out of the sanitary. H. Strickler said that Underground Utilities will help the city prepare legislation to put some teeth into this. She said she is a big supporter of this because they do need to have some repercussions. D. Squires felt this could be made enforceable because there is no choice.
TOPIC SIX: 16” Watermain – Vermilion River
D. Squires updated council on the repair project of the 16” river crossing watermain which has been completed. He said there is additional work required due to the high waters recently experience. It did wash away some of the backfill. He said the line is in service. He showed council pictures of the existing condition and repairs made to the line. The total bill came in at $16,344.
Secondly, he said the 12” river crossing watermain on the east bank of the river needs to be addressed at some point. He said the blocks are starting to fall on an 8” gas main, so he will be contacting Columbia Gas. However, there is a 12” watermain and if another river crossing goes down they will be in real trouble. He felt this needs to be addressed as soon as weather permits. He will get proposals to fix this and will update council. He noted that the third river crossing is at the water plant which they are isolating because they feel there is a leak there as well because they are producing a whole lot more water this year based on the last two years.
D. Squires said he would like to hire Underground Utilities to perform city-wide leak detection in the amount of $4,600. He feels with this study and Bramhall’s water distribution study the city will have a good handle on the city’s underground utilities.
TOPIC SEVEN: Review of Ordinance 2008-7 “Accessory Use or Building”
J. Gabriel provided council with amended language after having discussion with the building inspector about previous wording in the language. He said that the word permitted could get into a loop reference because accessory buildings are permitted. He said they used the City of Lorain’s code which is about as crystal clear as it can be. The amended language reads as such: "Accessory building" means a subordinate building detached from, but located on the same lot as the permitted principal building, the use of which is incidental and accessory to that of the permitted principal building on land occupied by the permitted principal building.
J. Gabriel said per code since it is residentially zoned you’re allowed to have a residence or church, or an accessory building to one of those two items.
H. Strickler MOVED; B. Brady seconded to recommend to council to amend Ordinance 2008-7 to reflect the above language. Vote 3 YEAS. MOTION CARRIED.
TOPIC EIGHT: Showse Park Outfall
C. Howard provided council with some facts before any assumptions were made about the Showse Park Outfall. He said this did wash out, but the facts are that the inlet that had fabric wrap on top of it was caked with about six inches of mud and hay. He said the water level built up where the junction chamber is and because the inlet was plugged the least resistance was found by the water, so it washed out the one side of the pipe, plus the grass had not taken so there is not stabilization of that area and that is why everything washed away. He said the contractor N&N Construction has been notified and they will correct this situation. They will also reseed and reshape it in the Spring. He said the inlet was clogged and the water level backed up. H. Strickler asked if this project was under warranty. C. Howard said the contractor will come back and take care of this.
B. Brady said that when she and Fred Kehl were out there he felt it was too high. C. Howard said that everything drains to this and it is only supposed to pick up a small area. He said it is not picking up everything on the south side of Edgewater. B. Brady felt some of the problem is a maintenance issue in the park because it was totally packed with leaves and woodchips. She said another concern from the residents was that the cement mesh is not protecting the beach very well and it’s causing the beach to be divided so that everything east is creating a gulley. C. Howard said all it is doing is dissipating the flow coming out. F. Ostrander asked if there should be another outlet on the south side of the street. B. Brady said there are two but they were plugged. She said the swale to them is not very defined.
On another topic, M. Rossini pointed out that Lorain was going to furnish the sewer to the South Amherst Quarries. He said in the paper it mentioned that the City of Lorain would like to be the forerunner of the regional sewer system and they are looking at doing 14 different districts. He said probably most likely they would see Ward 5 as something very assessable, being that they are going to run that line this coming year to South Amherst. Mayor Anderson said they will be looking at a regional storm water district initiative.
No further discussion was heard, therefore, Chairman Gabriel adjourned the meeting.
Next Meeting: March 10, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.
Note: Unofficial meeting minutes. Changes may be pending.
2/15/08
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