MINUTES
The Village of Evendale
Regular Council Meeting
September 20, 2007
The Village of Evendale held a public discussion session 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: Mrs. Carolyn Smiley-Robertson, Mr. Stiney Vonderhaar, Mr. Bill Puthoff, Jr., Mr. Doug Lohmeier, Mr. Jeff Albrinck and Mr. Chris Schaefer. Also present were: Village Engineer, James Jeffers; Assistant to the Mayor, Jack Cameron; Village Solicitor, Tim Burke 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 Regular Council Meeting Minutes from August 9, 2007; CFO Report for August, 2007; Tax Administrator’s Report for August, 2007; current Departmental Reports. Treasurer’s Report for August, 2007. Mrs. Smiley-Robertson asked that the word “cities” be corrected to “suburbs” on page 4 of the August 9, 2007 Council Minutes. A motion to accept the consent calendar as amended was made by Mr. Vonderhaar, seconded by Mr. Albrinck and unanimously approved as amended.
Mayor Apking asked for a motion to remove the proclamation proclaiming October 3, 2007 as 4-H Progressive Club Day from the agenda since it will be read the night of October 3. Mr. Vonderhaar made the motion and Mr. Albrinck made a second to the motion and it was unanimously approved.
Aaron Mackey, Superintendent of Princeton City Schools, presented to Council. Also present were Fred Penzinger from Princeton City Schools and Tom Lindsey from Cole and Russell Architects. First Mr. Mackey presented statistics on performance indicators showing the percentage of performance indicators that were met consistently over the past few years. The performance index is 98.1, just 1.9 short of the rating of Excellent by the state. He also mentioned that the graduation rate has soared to 96.3% at Princeton High School. Mr. Mackey asked Council to support legislation to replace loss from state elimination of Tangible Personal Property Taxes, a loss of about $24 million/year to Princeton.
Seven of the eight new elementary schools are now open with the last one, Heritage Hill scheduled to open in 2008. He expressed the need for a new Princeton Middle School and High School because the buildings are fifty years old with poor air quality and safety and security issues and high maintenance expenditures. The HVAC systems are in constant state of repair causing a huge drain on the operation budget. Temperatures in the buildings can range from 60-95 degrees. The proposed plan is to simultaneously build both the middle and high schools. They would be one facility with shared use of gyms and auditoriums yet separated from one another. The middle school would open in 2011 and the high school would open in 2013. The bond levy if passed in March 2008 would add $166/year for $100,000 home.
Enrollment is up at Glendale, Stewart Elementary and Evendale Elementary this year. Mayor Apking said that property values increase with new schools and said that the new Evendale Elementary school is a state of the art school and Principal Robyn Wiley has done an outstanding job. There will be a ribbon cutting and open house on Sunday, September 30 beginning at 1:00 pm at the new Evendale Elementary School. All are welcome. Mayor Apking also mentioned that Steve Moore, an Evendale resident, is running for the Princeton School Board in the November election. There are five people running for three spots. Mr. Mackey thanked Mayor Apking and Council for their support.
Reports of Mayor and Council Committees
There was no Finance Committee Meeting – no report.
Doug Lohmeier gave the Recreation Commission Report. The pool is closed for the season, Halloween Fest is October 20. Residents can sign up at the Recreation Department. The Adult Services Adult Halloween Party is October 13th.
Mr. Schaefer gave the Fire, Engineer, Service Department, Gorman Farm Committee Report. Mr. Schaefer stated that an update on the ongoing projects is outlined in the minutes from their committee meeting that were distributed to council. Vicki Foster, Gorman Farm Marketing and Special Event Manager presented to council. Saturday, September 22 the commemorative marker from the St. Clair Chapter of the Daughters of the American Colonists will be placed at the farm with an unveiling ceremony at 10:30 am.
September 29 is the Great Outdoor weekend. There are various activities around the city such as geology, tree climbing, astrology and they are all free at several different locations. Go to www.cincygreatoutdoorweekend.org for more information.
October 5th is the Sunflower Gala catered by LaPetite France. The first ten tables of eight to sign up will receive a free wine and cheese hayride. October 6-7 is the Sunflower Festival from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm with musicians, equestrian training demos, storytelling, corn maze and pumpkin patch. Over 600 drawings of sunflowers from schools who have visited the farm will be on display. Jane Stotts will be available to sign copies of her book that outlines the history of Gorman Heritage Farm.
Mayor’s Report. Mayor Apking mentioned that the Neighbor to Neighbor picnic in Lincoln Heights Elementary School is scheduled for September 30th which is the same day as the Ribbon Cutting at Evendale Elementary. The number of people attending Neighbor to Neighbor has increased consistently over the past few years.
Mayor Apking asked that Council approve the expense of $24,000 to tear down the all brick homes on the Inwood and Reading Road properties. The Church property will be torn down entirely by the Village Fire and Service Departments because there is no basement and it is all wood and will burn easily. They will amend appropriation ordinance on the agenda this month for $33,000 for the demolition of all three properties. Council approved amending the appropriation ordinance.
Mayor Apking discussed the lighting at the Glendale Milford and Reading Road intersection. We will receive state grant money for traffic lights at this intersection. They would be on galvanized poles. If we want to upgrade the poles to match the new street signs and to be uniform with the entire Village we would need to spend $50,000 to $60,000 to upgrade the poles at the intersection. This is the center of the Village and it should be done right. In two years we will receive more state funds for lighting and plan to do the same thing at Cooper Road which would mean we would have to incorporate $20,000 - $30,000 into the future budget to upgrade the traffic light poles at Cooper. Mr. Albrinck agreed that we should do it right and spend the extra money.
Jack Cameron stated that if we plan to upgrade the traffic lights at the Glendale Milford road and Reading Road intersection the specs would have to be turned into ODOT before the end of the year. We need to tell the state that we want the upgrade and will pay the extra cost to do so. The money would be spent at the time of the project which is 2008-09.
Street Project update. The curbs on Lamarc Trail and Otterbein Road will be replaced. They have the first coat of asphalt down and Adleeta will be back on Monday, September 24 and start the curb work. These streets are being done in an effort to upgrade the infrastructure. It is less costly to maintain asphalt streets than it is to maintain concrete streets and we have the money now to replace and reconstruct the streets.
There was discussion on the Civic Center Building. Twenty percent of the total cost would go into handicap accessibility in bathrooms, etc. Fire doors would need to be installed as well and $90,000 to $100,000 would be required for Phase 1. We would then evaluate in 2008-09 and stop if there is not enough participation as anticipated. If there is enough participation then we would spend $150,000 to $200,000 for elevators and $75,000 to upgrade gyms and other rooms. Mrs. Smiley-Robertson wanted to know what the total cost would be. She said that the cost would be at least $500,000 and potentially $1 million for complete renovation. She also was concerned with what criteria will be used to evaluate success. Mayor Apking said if programs only have five people it is not successful. Ten to fifteen persons would be successful and thirty to forty
would be very successful. The Cultural Arts Commission would be the best ones to evaluate this.
Mr. Lohmeier suggested that we rent space to develop the programs and see if they are successful before be consider renovation of the Civic Center. Mayor Apking said that the Recreation Department could utilize some of the renovated space in the Civic Center. Mr. Albrinck said that he is not so much concerned with spending $100,000 to launch the programs as much as he wants to ensure that there are multiple uses for the space if the programs are not successful. He suggested comparing new construction with renovating a 100 year old building to ensure that they use the money wisely and appropriately. James Jeffers confirmed that the cost to demolish the civic center would be approximately $150,000 to $200,000 dollars.
Mayor Apking asked for a motion to approve spending $100,000 for Civic Center renovation. Mr. Vonderhaar made the motion and Mr. Schaefer seconded the motion. Mr. Vonderhaar, Mr. Schaefer, Mrs. Smiley-Robertson and Mr. Puthoff voted yes. Mr. Lohmeier and Mr. Albrinck voted no. $100,000 will be appropriated in October for Civic Center renovation.
Mayor Apking said that he envisions an open air facility or shelter house on the parsonage property for rental to residents similar to Reading’s Vorhees Park. It would include a shelter with plumbing that could be utilized by patrons of the pavilion concerts as well.
Jack Cameron said that the residents have offered feedback on the color of street signs and Blue received 35 votes, Green – 27 votes and Black – 26 votes. Mayor Apking asked the Fire-Engineering-Service- GHF Council Committee to check into the cost per pole for new street signs if they are all installed in house. The Mayor also wants the light poles in the Village to be maintained internally to cut the $100,000 paid to Duke Energy yearly for maintenance on the lights. Mr. Albrinck asked the committee to also pick the color for the street signs. James Jeffers said that any color picked would have reflective materials used just like the highway signs you see that are brown, blue and green. All colors would be easy to read because of the reflective material as seen on the highway signs.
Mayor Apking presented Ordinance #07-51, ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE PURCHASE OF 1,500 TONS OF ROAD SALT FROM THE CARGILL CORPORATION AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. James Jeffers suggested that Council allow the optional $3.00 per ton for the addition of a piler if necessary to be rented. There was talk in years past about going together with Sharonville, Reading and Woodlawn to purchase a piler to share. That never happened. A motion to read Ordinance #07-51 by title only was made by Mr. Albrinck, 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. Puthoff, seconded by Mr. Lohmeier and unanimously approved on roll call. A motion to adopt ordinance #07-51 as an emergency was made by Mr. Vonderhaar seconded
by Mr. Lohmeier ad unanimously approved on roll call. Mayor Apking declared Ordinance #07-51 adopted as an emergency.
Mayor Apking presented Ordinance #07-52, APPROVING ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS IN VARIOUS FUNDS, TRANSFERRING FUNDS AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. Ordinance #07-52 was amended to add $34,000 to tear down the three properties owned by the village as line item 101.499.525.100 in Section 2 of the ordinance. A motion to read amended Ordinance #07-52 by title only was made by Mr. Albrinck, seconded by Mr. Lohmeier and unanimously approved on roll call. A motion to suspend the second and third readings of the amended ordinance was made by Mr. Lohmeier, seconded by Mr. Albrinck and unanimously approved on roll call. A motion to adopt Ordinance #07-52 as amended as an emergency was made by Mr. Vonderhaar, seconded by Mrs. Smiley-Robertson and unanimously approved on roll call. Mayor Apking declared Ordinance
#07-52 adopted as amended as an emergency.
Mr. Vonderhaar made a motion to Table Ordinance #07-53, ORDINANCE APPROVING A LOT SPLIT OF PEORPTY LOCATED AT 10400 READING ROAD, ALSO KNOWN AS THE VILLAGE CROSSINGS SHOPPIN CENTER AND ECLARING AN EMERGENCY. The motion was seconded by Mr. Puthoff and unanimously approved. Ordinance #07-53 was tabled until October.
Mayor Apking presented Ordinance #07-54 ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING MAYOR TO ENTER INTO CONTRACT WITH THE LOWEST AND BEST BIDDER FOR THE COOPER CREEK REHABILITATION PHASE I PROJECT AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. James Jeffers explained that the bids were more than ten percent higher than the engineering specifications. $75,000 was budgeted to work on Cooper Creek near Central Tool Rental. A dramatic change in scope of the project would be necessary to get reductions in the bids to $75,000. Mayor Apking suggested that the Committees look at this at their meeting and consider spending $100,000 this year in order to go ahead with this much needed work and then next year they would not spend anything on Cooper Creek. They had agreed to spend around $75,000 each year on creek work. This would be a solution. Mayor Apking asked Jack to meet with James
Jeffers and the Engineers ad Council Committees regarding this issue.
A motion to table Ordinance #07-54 until October was made by Mr. Puthoff, seconded by Mr. Vonderhaar and unanimously approve on roll call. Ordinance #07-54 was tabled until October.
Other items: There were no other items to come before Council.
A motion to adjourn into Executive Session to discuss property acquisition was made by Mr. Vonderhaar, seconded by Mr. Albrinck and unanimously approved. Council adjourned into Executive Session at 8:52 pm.
Council reconvened at 9:30 pm. There being no further business to come before Council, a motion to adjourn was made by Mr. Puthoff, seconded by Mr. Lohmeier and unanimously approved on roll call.
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Mayor
Attest:
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Village Clerk
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