Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

FINANCE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL
CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD
THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 2006
REGULAR MEETING
7:30 P.M.


OTHER BUSINESS: Mr. Wisniewski stated Mr. Fix had some information regarding a Memorandum of Understanding with Violet Township and Canal Winchester. Mr. Fix stated he has been working with the group that includes representatives from the City, the Township, Canal Winchester, and Mike Arcari and John McGory who serve all three entities in a development capacity. Mr. Fix stated initially they had addressed the possibility of Pickerington to enter the existing CEDA between Violet Township and Canal Winchester, trying to come up with a short term agreement on land that looks like it is going to be prime for development in our immediate vicinity, and creating a development area that will extend down to the Route 33 corridor from Route 270 down to Lancaster and include all the various governmental entities that would touch. Mr. Fix stated it became clear that there was not a desire on the part of Violet Township and Canal for the City to join an existing agreement that has been in place for about five years. He stated further the cost for us to do that would be more than he felt Council would be willing to pay. Mr. Fix stated after lengthy discussion it was determined that issue would be removed from discussion. He stated the group than began discussing a joint economic development effort. He stated Mr. McGory and Mr. Arcari had spent a couple of months putting together a report on the land that can be developed or should be developed, where it is located, what could be developed, etc., and he had provided that report to the Committee this evening. Mr. Fix continued there are some primary areas indicated where we should see some significant commercial development in the next 20 years. Mr. Fix stated he had requested, as a starting point, a draft Memorandum of Understanding be prepared that he could bring to the City to discuss, and the other entities could discuss as well. He stated he had received the first draft of that and he had provided it to the Committee this evening. Mr. Fix stated he would like feedback on the Memorandum of Understanding so he could take that back to the next meeting. Mr. Smith stated this memorandum only agreed to work together, we were not obligating to anything other than establishing a working relationship. Mr. Wisniewski stated, however, it did mean to a certain extent we would be expending time and money working on these things. Mr. Wisniewski stated he does have a concern as to what our priority projects are, and where we should be spending the majority of our time. He stated he did have a concern about this MOU when we do not have a clear direction or plan as to what we want to do or where we want to be in the future. Mr. Wisniewski stated he agreed there were instances where it made sense to work with the other entities, however, there are also situations where we should be working on our own. Mr. Sabatino stated he felt both Mr. Wisniewski and Mr. Fix had good points, and Council should take the extra time to discuss and determine what we want before we begin negotiating with other entities. He stated our representative would then know he had the support of Council going into the negotiations. Mr. Wisniewski stated he felt the reference to a joint parks and recreation district and the statement regarding any other issues decided by the joint working group.

More Finance

Mr. Wisniewski stated he felt we should focus our attention on what we actually want to do. Mr. Hackworth stated he felt there were a lot of issues included in this document that we have already dealt with, such as the Transportation Thoroughfare Plan, and we coordinated with the Township when we did that plan. Mr. Fix stated these questions were why he had requested discussion so he would know what issues to take back to the group. Mr. Sabatino stated he agreed Council needed to have this discussion and determine where they want to go with it. Mr. Sabatino further stated he felt Council needed to discuss it create the collective vision that our representative could present to the working group. He stated he felt the basic idea has merit, but Council needs to determine what direction we want to go in. Mr. Sabatino stated he felt we should schedule a work session for all of Council, not just a Committee, and it should be structured so that the appropriate decisions could be made. Mr. Wisniewski stated if everyone concurred we could schedule a Council Work Session at 7:00 P.M., just prior to the next Council meeting. Mr. Wisniewski stated his question would be if there were any other models where two cities and a township have successfully formed a CEDA, JEDD, or anything else. Mrs. Hammond stated she was aware of one and it has not been in effect very long. She stated she knew that the agreement was very long and convoluted and she was not sure we were ready for that. Mrs. Hammond stated further she felt a budget needed to be set on what we would spend on these JEDDs and CEDAs. Mr. Wisniewski inquired if this would replace the JEDD talks with just the Township alone, and Mr. Fix stated he did not know. Mrs. Hammond stated it was very frustrating because we don?’t seem to follow any order in doing these things. Ms Gilleland stated Mrs. Hammond was correct; we are most definitely in a reactive mode. She stated with JEDDs, however, you can only absorb commercial properties. Mr. Fix stated the point of what he had distributed tonight was to try to put together a long-range plan and put together a cooperative environment where we are not reacting to things, but actually have a plan, a marketing program, a real understanding of what is going to happen in each of these areas and how all three entities would mutually benefit from it. Mr. Sabatino stated he still felt all of Council needs to have a dialogue before any discussions with other entities so that our representative will know what we feel will serve our best interests. Mr. Wisniewski stated he felt the draft presented this evening was to generic in nature and a work session where everyone can discuss it would be appropriate. Mr. Wisniewski stated Finance Committee would request a Council Work Session be scheduled for June 20, 2006, at 7:00 P.M. for open discussion on the Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Pickerington, Violet Township, and Canal Winchester.
Mr. Sabatino stated he agreed with Mr. Hackworth and Mr. Wisniewski that until Council knew the specifics, they did not know if it were in the best interests of the City or not. Mr. Fix stated he was looking to see if cooperative economic development is something they are interested in doing. Mr. Wisniewski stated, as he understood it, the issue was if we agreed in the concept of forming joint economic development areas with Canal Winchester and the Township. Mr. Wisniewski stated he did agree with it if we were talking about the area along U.S. 33. Mr. Wisniewski stated he felt we needed to focus on this one point. Mr. Hackworth stated he agreed with the concept although he felt it should remain focused on this specific area.

Even more finance

Mr. Smith stated as he understood it, this would establish a formal working relationship specifically targeted to this specific area. Mr. Wisniewski stated he would like to see something included in the document as to how the task force would communicate and keep the various government entities up to date on what was happening.

The good of the community

It looks as if the City of Pickerington has run into a road block with the township. It appears this time out the township wants it all and they are not willing to budge. In 2001 the township excluded the City from ''their'' meetings with Canal WInchester and thus they formed a CEDA. This time out they will be finding other reasons to exclude Pickerington which isn't clear at the monment to me.

It appears that the trustees are out for revenge (either past grudges or new ones) and to stop Pickerington dead in their tracks no matter what is offered.

The question to thos ein the school district and the community as a whole is this good for the total of the Pickerington Community? Or is this about large land owners pulling the strings of the Trustees?