M IN U T E S
The Village of Evendale
Regular Council Meeting
September 14, 2006
The Village of Evendale held a public discussion prior to the regularly scheduled council meeting. There was no discussion.
The Village of Evendale held its Regular Council Meeting. The meeting was called to order by Mayor Don Apking. Upon roll call, the following council members were present: Mr. Bill Puthoff, Jr., Mr. Stiney Vonderhaar, Mr. Chris Schaefer, Mr. Doug Lohmeier, Mrs. Carolyn Smiley-Robertson and Mr. Jeff Albrinck. Also present were: Chief Fiscal and Accounting Officer, George Snyder; Village Engineer, James Jeffers; Recreation Director, David Nichols; Economic Director, Linda Fitzgerald; and Village Clerk, Michelle Ficke.
Mayor Apking presented the consent calendar. Mayor Apking asked for a motion to accept the consent calendar consisting of the August 10, 2006 Council Meeting Minutes; CFO Report for August, 2006; Tax Administrator’s Report for August, 2006; current Departmental Reports and Treasurers Report for August 2006. Mrs. Carolyn-Smiley Robertson asked that the minutes be amended to change the word “retail” to “office” in the sixth paragraph, first sentence of the minutes. A motion was made to accept the consent calendar as amended by Mr. Schaefer, seconded by Mr. Albrinck and unanimously approved.
Pat Stern from ICRC presented an update to council. Ms. Stern gave a brief update. Evendale’s franchise with Time Warner expires in 2009 and according to Federal Law they must start the renewal process. Evendale has 739 homes with Time Warner Cable which represents a 59% penetration level in the community which meets the national average of 60%. The council meetings can be viewed live. Playbacks of the council meetings can also be viewed on the internet by people with high speed internet connections on www.icrctv.com. They are available 48 hours after they are taped. People can click on which agenda item
they want to view and don’t have to sit and watch the entire meeting. Residents can go in and take classes the first Tuesday of each month and learn about putting together a video production. ICRC has granted equipment through their grant program to Gorman Heritage Farm for their use. This helps increase the programming that goes onto the system. They will hold focus groups with communities to do a needs assessment. Ms. Stern thanked Mr. Vonderhaar for attending all of the meetings and being an active member.
ICRC will produce a model ordinance as they did the last time. Evendale now collects 5% of the gross revenues of the receipts from Time Warner Cable.
Jeff Ficke and Barb Rohs gave a presentation on the Gorman Heritage Farm. Susan Spraul introduced Jeff Ficke to present the story of the success of the farm. Mr. Ficke recognized the staff, board members of the foundation and volunteers who were present at the council meeting. Over the last three years, 22,000 people have visited Gorman Farm. The farm has had 20,700 hours of volunteer time devoted to the farm which includes individuals, corporations who believe in what we are trying to accomplish at the farm. Mr. Ficke said they come before council to ask for continued support by way of the continued annual contribution, the capital campaign, and the support from the Service and Recreation Department who have been very supportive of the foundation of the farm in the past three years.
The three goals that were important in transitioning the farm to the Village and into the Foundation’s operations included to continue operating Gorman as a working farm, to provide educational opportunities and to continue to preserve and enjoy the historical component of Evendale’s History. The educational programs meet state standards and 2,380 children have been educated at the farm over the past three years. The partnership with the Evendale Historical Commission has been an advantage.
Over the past two years the Gorman Farm has taken in more money than was budgeted and has spent under what our budgeted dollars were to accomplish those goals and has been good stewards of the funds that have been granted through the Village and other sources.
Barb Rohs, President of the Gorman Heritage Farm Foundation, presented the vision for the future. The farm currently has almost 500 members and our goal is to implement a marketing plan to increase membership. 47% of the members are Evendale residents and 50% of the total is renewed every year. Corporate partners include Fifth Third Bank, General Electric and other corporations help fund us and provide volunteer support. Currently the endowment is $500,000 and their major goal is to grow the endowment to $7M dollars in order to sustain the farm.
Future operation plans include four major seasonal events, educational programs, camp programs and adult educational classes. The Sunflower Festival is the biggest event and is coming up on October 13, 14, 15 which will include a Blue Jean Gala. Interns from all over the United States come to work on Gorman Farm. The trail system is being used and is in the works and will allow access for the residents of the Village during working hours. Mrs. Rohs acknowledged the farm’s partners which included volunteers, staff, board of trustees and GHF members. She also thanked the Village of Evendale for its contribution to the funding of Gorman Heritage Farm and for the overwhelming support from the Evendale administration, employees and residents.
Mrs. Rohs stated that they will be looking to outside sources to achieve the goals of fund raising. Mr. Albrinck asked why the Village should continue to fund you at the current numbers if the farm is operating at a profit and what will the additional monies go toward. Mr. Schaefer explained that there is a seven year plan to support the farm that was entered into and over the years the outside funding should go up and operating at a level below funding will help them toward self sufficiency but is not a justification during the seven year period to reduce the funding. The plan is based on that funding.
Jeff Ficke explained that the number one priority is the development fund. We have put most of our efforts the last two and half years into the farm itself and the internal operations and it took a little bit longer than we thought. The past two years will not be enough of a prediction and there could be a bump in the road coming up so the support at this level for the next period is very important for us. Mr. Vonderhaar praised the staff and board members for their countless hours of effort in making the farm a success. He also asked for a moment of silence for Stan Trossett and Mayor Apking’s mother who both passed away. A moment of silence was observed. Mrs. Smiley-Robertson complemented the farm on the amount of information that was presented to council for them to make a decision.
Mayor Apking commended all for the hours of hard work spent to make the Gorman Farm a success. He then thanked everyone for the kindnesses given to his family during the illness and death of his mother.
Chris Schaefer said his committee met and an engineering firm presented a general study report on Cooper Creek. They recommended placing large barriers in the creek to stop deeper erosion on the creek bed to slow down the flow of the water. The committee is still working on that. The committee also went over budget items and talked to the Gorman Farm folks about the material presented tonight.
The Branding Committee had a presentation from MDI, the branding group, and CIC and the Planning Commission are considering that and making a recommendation some time in October. Mr. Albrinck said that CIC had several questions that need to be addressed with MDI.
The Access Management Study experts presented the report and there were meetings with businesses about the specific recommendations in their areas. The plan is to have a public hearing in October and Edwards Kelsey can respond to the business owner’s questions as they arise. We still have to meet with the people on Inwood Drive and the proposal has been shared with the residents. We will have a public hearing on the Access Management Study and all of the effected people will have the report ahead of time. Mr. Albrinck and Mr. Schaefer have copies of the Access Management Report and council should have a copy of the report before the public hearings.
Mr. Albrinck said that Jack Cameron and Dick Shaffer met with six of the groups and Mr. Schaefer was going to meet with individual businesses to make sure they understood that we are trying to establish a plan to accommodate the anticipated increase in traffic.
Mr. Puthoff said that they met with the Police Chief and he reported we have 158 applications handed out and 138 were returned for Police Officer. This is an increase of 375% in the number of applicants over the last time that we hired police officers. A written exam was given August 26th to 67 applicants. 54 of those passed. A physical agility test was September 9th and 52 applicants were eligible to take the test, 24 failed and 15 did not attend.
Jeff Albrinck gave the Financial Report. Revenues were just over $1 million dollars, expenses were about $933,000. General Electric will receive $340 million dollars for the F136 joint strike fighter engine.
Mr. Lohmeier said the committee also discussed the Door to door solicitation ordinance. Chief Foust said that our current one is out of date. This should be on the agenda in October. Recreation Commission had a brief discussion on the newsletter. Residents noticed that the newsletter did not go out in July and August. People still look for it and expect it in print or on the website. Mayor Apking took responsibility.
Mayor Apking said that in two more weeks we will start black topping Carpenters Creek. We added Brinton Trail to the street projects and that also affected our budget.
Mr. Schaefer had a question about the budget and George Snyder explained that encumbered cash is total cash. That is how much cash we have in the bank. Unencumbered cash is free cash that is not dedicated to something else and there is nothing charged against this cash. That is how much money that is free and Council can spend as they see fit. In the General Fund, encumbered cash, that is all out cash, at the beginning of the year we had $14,475,000. Mr. Snyder projected that at the end of the year our encumbered cash will be $14,334,000 but we have another $500,000 that we will have committed at the end of the year. We will end up with free cash, unencumbered $13,834,000 based on General Fund numbers. Cash is dropping by about $450,000 for the year.
Mayor Apking presented Ordinance #06-46, ORDINANCE EXTENDING THE TERM OF THE LEASE OF GORMAN HERITAGE FARM TO THE GORMAN HERITAGE FARM FOUNDATION AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. A motion to read Ordinance #06-46 by title only was made by Mr. Puthoff, seconded by Mr. Albrinck and unanimously approved on roll call. A motion to suspend the second and third readings of the ordinance was made by Mr. Vonderhaar, seconded by Mr. Puthoff and unanimously approved on roll call. A motion to adopt Ordinance #06-46 as an emergency was made by Mr. Puthoff, seconded by Mr. Albrinck and unanimously approved on roll call. Mayor Apking declared Ordinance #06-46 adopted as an emergency.
Mayor Apking presented Ordinance #06-47A, ORDINANCE APPROVING AN AMENDMENT TO A PORTION OF THE FINAL PLAT OF SUBDIVISION FOR THE EVENDALE COMMONS BUSINESS PARK AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. Mr. Schaefer explained that Anchor resubmitted the plan for Fifth Third Bank to Planning Commission and the balance of the land will be split up into six other lots and this is the first of the six. The bank will be on the left of Inwood Drive as you face west. It passed 5-0 in Planning Commission. A motion to read Ordinance #06-47A by title only was made by Mr. Vonderhaar, seconded by Mrs. Smiley-Robertson and unanimously approved on roll call. A motion to suspend the second and third readings of the ordinance was made by Mr. Lohmeier, seconded by Mr. Puthoff and unanimously approved on roll call. A motion to adopt Ordinance #06-47A as an emergency was
made by Mr. Puthoff, seconded by Mr. Lohmeier and unanimously approved on roll call. Mayor Apking declared Ordinance #06-47A adopted as an emergency.
Mayor Apking presented Ordinance #06-47B, ORDINANCE DENYING AN AMENDMENT TO A PORTION OF THE FINAL PLAT OF SUBDIVISION FOR THE EVENDALE COMMONS BUSINESS PARK AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. A motion to table indefinitely Ordinance #06-47B was made by Mr. Lohmeier, seconded by Mr. Puthoff and unanimously approved. Ordinance #06-47B was tabled indefinitely.
Mayor Apking presented Ordinance #06-48, ORDINANCE APPROVING ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS TRANSFERRING FUNDS AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. A motion to read Ordinance #06-48 by title only was made by Mr. Puthoff, seconded by Mr. Albrinck and unanimously approved on roll call. A motion to suspend the second and third readings of the ordinance was made by Mr. Lohmeier, seconded by Mrs. Smiley-Robertson and unanimously approved on roll call. A motion to adopt Ordinance #06-48 as an emergency was made by Mr. Albrinck, seconded by Mr. Puthoff and unanimously approved on roll call. Mayor Apking declared Ordinance #06-48 adopted as an emergency.
Mayor Apking presented Ordinance #06-49A, ORDINANCE GRANTING MC MOBILITY A VARIANCE TO LOCATE A POLE SIGN WITH A SETBACK OF 10 FEET SIX INCHES AT 10691 READING ROAD AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. A motion was made by Mr. Schaefer and seconded by Mr. Vonderhaar to amend Ordinance #06-49A to remove the words, “9 FEET IN HEIGHT” from the title and to replace Section 1 entirely with the words “Council hereby grants the appeal in part allowing a setback variance of ten feet six inches and denies the appeal in part requesting a variance in height to nine feet.” A motion to read Ordinance #06-49A by title only was made by Mr. Vonderhaar, seconded by Mr. Puthoff and unanimously approved on roll call. A motion to suspend the second and third readings of the ordinance was made by Mr. Albrinck, seconded by Mr. Puthoff and
unanimously approved on roll call. A motion to adopt Ordinance #06-49A as an emergency was made by Mr. Lohmeier, seconded by Mrs. Smiley-Robertson and unanimously approved on roll call. Mayor Apking declared Ordinance #06-49A adopted as an emergency.
Mayor Apking presented Ordinance #06-49B, ORDINANCE DENYING MC MOBILITY A VARIANCE TO LOCATE A POLE SIGN, 9 FEET IN HEIGHT, WITH A SETBACK OF 10 FEET SIX INCHES AT 10691 READING ROAD AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. A motion to table indefinitely Ordinance #06-49B was made by Mr. Vonderhaar, seconded by Mrs. Smiley-Robertson and unanimously approved.
Mayor Apking presented Ordinance #06-50, ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO HIRE A PART-TIME EMPLOYEE IN THE RECREATION DEPARTMENT AND SETTING THE PAY RATE AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. A motion to read Ordinance #06-50 by title only was made by Mr. Schaefer, seconded by Mr. Vonderhaar and unanimously approved on roll call. A motion to suspend the second and third readings of the ordinance was made by Mr. Puthoff, seconded by Mr. Vonderhaar and unanimously approved on roll call. A motion to adopt Ordinance #06-50 as an emergency was made by Mr. Puthoff, seconded by Mr. Vonderhaar and unanimously approved on roll call. Mayor Apking declared Ordinance #06-50 adopted as an emergency.
Other items included:
Mr. Vonderhaar said that Blue Ash is going to develop the Blue Ash Airport into a Park. There will be an entrance from Glendale Milford Road and on Plainfield Road near Carpenters Creek. Blue Ash plans to purchase approximately 130 acres of the Blue Ash Airport property from Cincinnati and use the land to create a public park. The airport would be reconfigured on the remaining 100 acres and would remain owned and operated by Cincinnati.
Mr. Lohmeier said that council received a letter from Dave Harwood concerning the ash boring insect and recommended Planning Commission to address it. Mr. Harwood recommended taking planting ash trees out of the code for a while.
November 5th is the Town Meeting and Mr. Lohmeier recommended that we cut back on the Town Meeting booklet and suggested that we do not mail it, however, invitations will be sent to all residents. Mr. Schaefer expressed a concern of residents not receiving information because the newsletter is no longer sent out and we are considering no longer mailing the Town Meeting booklet. He also asked how new residents receive information.
Mr. Puthoff said that a monthly newsletter is important for residents to know what is going on in the Village because not all resident utilize the website. Mr. Schaefer said that Jack Cameron told council when we went to the updated website that the Town Meeting booklet would be mailed out every year as part of the plan to keep residents informed. If you remove the book, what then is the overall plan for communicating to residents.
Mayor Apking asked if council agreed that we contribute to the gazebo at Oak and Chester Road that Glendale, Woodlawn and Evendale would support and have built on the historical site of the Eliza House. Council agreed to allocate $2,250 to the project.
Mayor Apking said that Neighbor to Neighbor is Sunday, September 24 and starts at 1:00 and ends around 5:00. Everyone is invited to attend.
Mrs. Smiley-Robertson asked about the water tower on Glendale-Milford Road. Mr. Puthoff said that they need to take it down. Mayor Apking said we have to look to see if we can force them to take it down. Mayor Apking said he would have Jack talk to Doug Brendamoor about removing the water tower from his property.
Mayor Apking asked for a motion to adjourn into Executive Session to discuss property acquisition. A motion was made by Mr. Puthoff, seconded by Mr. Vonderhaar and unanimously approved on roll call. Council adjourned into Executive Session at 8:33 pm.
There being no further business to come before Council, a motion to adjourn was made by Mr. Lohmeier, seconded by Mr. Albrinck and unanimously approved. Council adjourned at 9:00 pm.
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Mayor
Attest:
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Village Clerk
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