ThisWeek CW 12/17/2015

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2015/12/14/canal-winchester-will-make-online-payment-option-available-next-year.html

Online bill payments will be available to Canal Winchester residents after the first of the year — for a fee.

Finance Director Amanda Jackson told council members that a new financial system that includes an online payment option for water bills has been implemented, and a processing agreement is in place which will include an additional convenience fee charged to system users.

“We’re starting to wind down the year, so we’re closing things out and getting things ready for 2016,” she said. “I’m happy to say we’re putting the finishing touches on online bill pay for utilities, so once it is up and running after the first of the year, we’ll send out notification to residents.

“The only fee passed on to consumers will be for online credit card or online e-check payments, but if they come in, they can pay in person, at the drop-box, or through the mail without any processing fee like they always have.”

According to Jackson, the fee to pay online with an e-check will be $1.50. Using a credit card for online payments of up to $100 will cost the customer a fee of $2.95 with additional fees for higher payments.The fee goes directly to the bank processor, Point & Pay, so the city never touches that part of the transaction, she said.

“The reason for passing on these fees to the customer is that the city can’t really afford to absorb another processing cost,” Jackson said. “I’m sure some additional people would do it without the fee but this is a way for us to deal with our increasing costs.”

Mayor Michael Ebert said he felt the convenience factor shouldn’t be covered by everyone.

“I think it’s more appropriate to charge it to the users instead of making everyone pay it as part of their water bills across the board,” he said. “There are nine different ways to pay the bills, so this is just one of them.”

By introducing the new payment options at the beginning of the year, customers will be able to take advantage of them in time for the February billing cycle.

Jackson said she believes these new options will cut down on the hundreds of delinquent utility bills that occur in every billing cycle.

“We’re hoping with the ability to just log on and pay with a credit card, some of these people who don’t get around to sending in a check or dropping off a payment will see they can just log on and pay it right there,” she said.

ThisWeek CW 12/17/2015

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2015/12/14/interurban-renovations-city-will-waive-competitive-bidding-for-project.html

The Canal Winchester Interurban Building renovation appears to have jumped the tracks, at least temporarily.

The historic building that served as a station along the Columbus Interurban electrified trolley system, connecting Canal Winchester to downtown Columbus and beyond, was scheduled to be renovated for meeting and event space and to open next spring.

However, the construction bid process netted only one response — and it was double the estimate for the project.

Construction Services Administrator Bill Sims told Canal Winchester City Council at its Dec. 7 meeting the single bid from J.S. Brown was technically submitted past the Dec. 1 deadline for bids and came in at about $180,000. The original estimate for the work, prepared by FMS Architects, was about $90,000.

The city had budgeted $150,000 total for the project before receiving the estimate.

“The bid was roughly twice the architect’s estimate and so obviously, we have concerns,” Sims said. “In talking to the architect and the bidder, I think we did have an underestimation, but definitely not by twice, given the small quantity of work.”

Sims said he believes the timing of the bid release so near the end of the year and the holidays, along with the bidder’s inexperience with public projects, caused the bid process to fail.

“The contractor that bid doesn’t normally work with public projects, which include things like prevailing wage and bonding issues, so we think they were a little nervous about expenses and built too much padding in there,” Sims said.

To try to keep the project on track for being completed in 2016, Canal Winchester City Council agreed to Sims’ request to waive the formal competitive bidding process so the city staff may negotiate a deal between a subset of contractors that have previously worked with the city.

“Like I’d said, I don’t think we were $90,000 off,” Sims said. “We’d budgeted earlier that we’d be at about $150,000.

“When we were talking to the bidder about the project, they had a lot of questions, so we might be able to get closer with someone else,” he said. “I think if we have the opportunity to go out and find folks who really do this type of work that’s up their alley, we’ll get a good product within our budget.”

Sims will have to return at a future meeting and introduce legislation to complete a new procurement process, which he stated he intends to do at the final meeting of the year on Dec. 21.

ThisWeek CW 12/10/2015

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2015/12/07/planning-for-the-future-haire-realistic-guidelines-focus-on-what-can-be-done.html

It could cost Canal Winchester up to $100,000 to hire a consultant to help update the city’s planning documents, but it’s something Development Director Lucas Haire believes is important to the community’s future.

The city’s existing community planning documents date back to 1999.

Haire told Canal Winchester City Council at its Nov. 30 meeting the 1999 planning process resulted in the establishment of several planned development districts and a Community Economic Development Area agreement with Violet Township.

“We have our planned districts that have been very successful … but the biggest problem when looking at past planning documents is that most of them are based on data collection but not on implementation,” Haire said. “One of the reasons why comprehensive plans gather dust is that they’re not put together in a realistic setting. If we’re looking at planning, we need to focus on what is implementable.”

Council members asked Haire how they might pull together a cohesive plan with resident input for all aspects of the city.

“The last time we had any citizen input into what people expected from our community or what their goals are was 16 years ago, so that’s way too long,” Councilwoman Bobbie Mershon said. “We need to go back to the citizens and get their input and ideas of what the future of Canal Winchester is.”

City Attorney Gene Hollins said while the planned districts are pretty locked in by legislation and agreements between the city and the various developers, there are areas that might be considered for expansion.

He said the Public Works Department is looking at land to the west and south “where you may want to identify subareas that you need to hook up with the utilities programs so we can decide if we are going to be interested in developing that land or not.”

Haire said he’d recommend that officials begin by focusing on the planning documents already in place for the city’s historic area, and then build off that.

“With an area plan, you get people a lot more motivated and focused in when they can see results and they focus on the implementation and have more buy-in,” Haire said. Then they have ownership of getting it done.

“I suggest the Old Town area, as it’s the best plan we’ve got. It focuses on specific things we can do and says who is responsible for doing them.

“We’ve been doing some of these items piecemeal but we can focus further on this,” he added. “With any development, there’s a public process and so we’ll have focus groups of stakeholders, along with several public-input meetings. The downtown is the identity of the community, so focusing on this, even for people who don’t live down here, you have some ownership of what happens because everyone sees it as what Canal Winchester is.”

Two areas of specific interest brought forward by officials included the possibility of the city becoming responsible for the complex of historic buildings on North High Street and the need for a new community center and municipal building.

“We don’t have the resources to do this in-house with our small staff, so we’ll want to hire out for the planning,” Haire said. ” I’m thinking it’ll be like $90,000 to $100,000. We’re also starting to see a consistent level of growth again, which isn’t explosive, which is good because it allows us to plan for that as well.”

Council asked Haire to come back to them in January with cost estimates from area consultants to complete this planning work.

ThisWeek CW 12/10/2015

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2015/12/07/groveport-city-council-drury-resigns-cites-changes-in-opers-health-coverage.html

Longtime Groveport City Council member Donna Drury will resign her seat Dec. 15 with two years left in her term.

Drury has served on City Council for the past 14 years but said she is leaving office in order to maintain her retiree health benefits.

“I am a retiree from Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) and they have changed the way retirees will receive their health care as of Jan. 1, 2016,” she said in an email to ThisWeek. “OPERS has set up an HRA (health reimbursement account) for retirees and will deposit money in that account each month to provide reimbursement for our health care cost.”

The OPERS system classifies all elected officials as re-employed retirees and under new regulations, the federal government will not permit re-employed retirees to have an HRA. That means Drury would be ineligible for her HRA if she stays in her position on council.

“OPERS has a health care policy for re-employed retirees and after reviewing this policy I have found it is not accurate for my needs and I also have to pay the premium out of pocket,” she said. “My only choice is to resign my position on council to get a good health care plan with the HRA.

“I want like to thank the residents of Groveport for allowing me to serve them for the past 14 years. This was a very difficult decision to make because I will be leaving within two years of my completed term.”

Mayor Lance Westcamp said Drury has been a dedicated public servant who has done an “excellent job” as a member of council.

“She has worked great with the community representing the residents to share their concerns,” he said. “I would like to thank her for her years of service and wish her and Bill the best of luck in retirement.”

In regard to her tenure on council, Drury said that three accomplishments stand out in particular.

“I was privileged to be a part of the establishment of the recreation center, the purchase of the Links of Groveport golf course and the recent development of the GREAT program (Groveport Rickenbacker Employee Access Transit) that provides transportation to warehouse workers,” she said.

Drury said she has appreciated working closely with the city staff and believes the community is in good hands.

“Groveport has a great staff who has contributed to the many benefits given to the residents. The mayor and the council have the residents’ best interest in mind,” she said. “I would like to thank the residents for allowing me to serve them. It has been a great privilege to have been a member of the Groveport City Council.”

ThisWeek CW 12/10/2015

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2015/12/07/council-debates-funding-for-senior-transport-program.html

Councilwoman Bobbie Mershon raised questions at the Nov. 30 City Council meeting about how city funding for the Canal Winchester Human Services senior transportation program is being used.

Mershon said the $62,000 the city allocates to the program isn’t being used properly and financial reports from Human Services Administrator Penny Miller need to include more details.

The $62,000 is expected to cover all material, administrative and related salary costs for the senior transportation program.

“I want to know where the money is being spent,” Mershon said. “I want to know how much money is left over; she’s been taking the $3,600 out of the drivers’ fund for administration.”

Councilman Joe Abbott, who is one of two City Council representatives on the Human Services board, said Mershon should better familiarize herself with the program before making accusations about how funds are being used.

“We’ve figured out that it costs about $21 per transport trip and that seems very reasonable,” he said. “This is where I’m coming from: We agreed to give Human Services $62,000 to take over this program, and I think if you have an issue with it, you need to get more involved.”

Abbott’s term on council ends Jan. 1 and he suggested that Mershon should volunteer to take over his spot as a representative on the Human Services board.

“What I’m saying is that you can’t pay for scheduling rides … out of this money that has to go for senior transport drivers,” Mershon said.

Abbott refuted this comment, saying that the drivers are also handling some of the scheduling.

“If we want to micromanage the program, then we should’ve just kept it. If we don’t give them this money, then this program won’t happen,” Abbott said.

Miller did not attend the Nov. 30 meeting. When contacted on Thursday, Dec. 3, she said she found Mershon’s statements confusing.

“The senior transportation program has traveled in excess of 31,000 miles in the last year,” Miller said. “More than 3,000 one-way trips have been provided so that senior citizens can attend medical appointments, the grocery, the food pantry, a variety of personal needs, and social opportunities, including community center activities. Of those trips, more than 80 percent were provided to city residents. Senior transportation and several other partnerships we have with the city would not be possible without their support, which is why Mrs. Mershon’s negative comments are confusing.”

Councilman Steve Donahue asked Mershon at the Nov. 30 meeting if she was trying to cut the senior transportation program funds. Donahue said he believes it is “evident the money is needed.”

“At this point, I just want better reporting. We asked for quarterly reports. I want financial reports and the purpose of use so if she’s using this for drivers, I want a report stating the purpose of use of this money,” Mershon said.

Clarifications provided

Finance Director Amanda Jackson said Miller had provided clarifications to the city about the current report that she said shows the money from the city covers only part of the total program costs, with grants covering the rest.

“In the updated report, she listed out her actual expenses,” Jackson said. “She paid out $10,381 in drivers’ salary alone, which is more than we’re giving her for that line item, so she’s not paying a scheduler out of that.

“The $3,645 that she’s paying is under the $14,500 administrative fees that she’s always paid it from, so my assumption is that she’s covering the additional expenses through grants or other revenue sources,” Jackson added.

“Essentially what she’s trying to show is that she’s not spending the money we gave her for communication equipment or gas or other things on the drivers and she’s showing that she’s spending a lot more on administration than we give.”

Councilman Jim Wynkoop, also a member of the Human Services board, said he agrees that some of the reporting “could be better” but ultimately, he doesn’t “think it’s going to change any direction or how the spending is being made.”

Mershon agreed to work on developing specific reporting items she’d like to request from Miller.

Several other council members said she should be aware that additional reporting requirements could result in increased administrative costs, further decreasing the budget for providing services.

New representatives to Human Services will be selected in January when City Council holds its 2016 organizational meeting.