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.

ThisWeek CW 12/10/2015

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2015/12/07/canal-winchester-in-market-for-parks-department-software.html

Canal Winchester Public Works Director Matt Peoples is hoping to implement a new citywide software system to combine parks and recreation facility rentals, access passes and concession sales.

At Canal Winchester City Council’s Nov. 30 meeting, Peoples asked members to consider purchasing a new system as part of a proposed change in the legislation regarding how facilities are reserved and rented for use by the public and various organizations.

The new system could encompass the community center, Town Hall, the Interurban building, the pool and various athletic fields and park facilities.

“At the end of the pool season, we identified a need for some software there because our vendor is no longer in business and a couple of our (point of sale) systems aren’t working, so we’re interviewing some vendors and that will expand into all of our facilities, including the recreational fields,” he said.

According to Peoples, the current system installed at the pool only works for that facility, and does not directly connect to the city’s financial system, making it difficult to complete accounting functions.

“We’ve interviewed three companies so far,” he said. “It’s hard to find one company that does everything we do.

“We want to have membership management as well as the facility management and then throw in the point of sales system for things like the concession stands.”

Right now, the city’s planning and zoning department is responsible for maintaining reservations for the various athletic fields, something Development Director Lucas Haire said doesn’t make sense.

“We’re responsible for this function but don’t really have a system in place to do this and don’t have staff for it, so it’s getting more and more difficult to manage,” Haire said. “So there needs to be some updates to who’s responsible and the rules for rentals as well.”

Council asked that Peoples continue working with the city staff to determine the best product for Canal Winchester’s needs that can then be presented to council for approval.

Peoples hopes to have a new system in place by this spring.

ThisWeek CW 12/3/2015

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2015/11/30/aqua-ohio-flushable-items-can-block-sewer-lines.html

Some Madison Township residents learned the hard way last month that items marked “flushable” frequently are not. A sanitary sewer overflow occurred recently behind residences and a school near the Blacklick Estates water treatment plant.

Township trustee Gary McDonald said residents on Shoreline Court reached out after noticing liquid and debris around the sewage cap near their house. McDonald and Public Works Superintendent Dave Weaver inspected the site and followed up with Aqua Ohio to clear the obstruction.

Officials with Aqua Ohio then sent an email to the township on Nov. 10, advising that residents need to be a part of the solution in preventing sanitary sewer overflows. And when they do occur, the first call should be to Aqua Ohio.

Aqua Ohio representative Jeff LaRue said the company has a goal of “zero SSOs.” When an obstruction occurs, residents should notify the Aqua Ohio call center at 877-987-2782.

According to LaRue, the company has implemented a monitoring and preventive maintenance program that includes remote scouring along the 26 miles of collection lines in Blacklick Estates, which includes more than 600 manholes.

“When this scouring proves insufficient, Aqua uses mobile cameras to investigate the cause,” LaRue wrote in the email. “The most common culprits are grease and towels. It’s also not unusual for the cameras to discover bricks, stones, even 2-by-4s and oil filters in the sanitary system.”

Large blockages require the company to excavate and repair the lines, he said.

“Public awareness of what should or shouldn’t be put in the sanitary sewer is crucial … we truly regret the occurrence behind the homes on Shoreline and will pay special attention with the hopes of preventing future problems,” LaRue wrote.

According to Aqua Ohio, common items that sometimes are marked as “flushable,” but should not be put down drains or flushed in toilets, include: disposable diapers; tampons and tampon applicators; sanitary napkins; cleaning or facial wipes of any kind; bandages; cotton balls and swabs; condoms; medication; fats, oils or grease; automotive fluids; paint, solvents, sealants or thinners; poisons and hazardous waste; and pet feces.