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SERVICE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL
CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2006
REGULAR MEETING
7:30 P.M.
8. OTHER BUSINESS. Mr. Hackworth stated at the last Council meeting the Economic Development Agreement that was in the Finance Committee was moved to Service Committee by the Mayor at the request of Mr. Fix. Mr. Hackworth stated members of Council would be given an opportunity to make a statement and then public comments would be heard. Mr. Hackworth stated Mr. Fix was not present as he was traveling, but he would try and get here as soon as possible.
Mr. Wisniewski stated prior to his presentation he would like to state that he is not advocating aggressive annexation policies nor is he advocating fighting with the Township. Mr. Wisniewski stated everyone has come to the conclusion that it is best to work with them cooperatively if possible. Mr. Wisniewski stated, however, he is in favor of working with them on a case-by-case basis and opposing this agreement does not mean that he or others do not want to work cooperatively with the Township as has been stated. Mr. Wisniewski stated further he is seriously opposed to making massive concessions based on speculations. Mr. Wisniewski provided a power point presentation (Attachment 1 to these minutes).
Ms Carol Carter questioned why it seemed this was being pushed through, and Mr. Wisniewski stated he did not know. Mr. Wisniewski stated he had looked at the agreement inside out and he has yet to find a good answer as to why this needs to get pushed through or it even needs to occur.
Mrs. Riggs stated she felt Mr. Wisniewski had done a very good job on his research. She stated this was the first time she had seen this information and she would also like to hear from our Director of Development and staff. Mrs. Riggs stated she did not feel the agreement was ready to be moved out from Service Committee and she felt Council needs to work collaboratively and continue to look at it from all sides. She stated she thought they need to work together and she would also like to invite the Township Trustees in to talk with them to present what they are looking for from the City. Mrs. Riggs stated over 87 percent of our school tax comes from residents and only 11 percent from businesses. She stated she felt the way this agreement looks now it is not the answer, but she did not feel we should stop talking. Mr. Wisniewski stated he appreciated Mrs. Riggs comments and he was not indicating we should not stop talking, that we do have opportunities with JEDDs, etc., to work together. Mr. Wisniewski stated he did not feel this was the agreement for our City, and he has no problem working on things on a case-by-case basis and he would encourage that. He further stated to hamper our citizens and to hamper our growth as a City, he did not agree with. Mr. Wisniewski stated he does want to work with the Township when it makes sense, however, there are time we may have to go head-to-head with them to protect our residents. He stated he is willing to fight the fight when we need to do it, but he agreed cooperation is imperative. Mr. Wisniewski stated he felt this agreement is a detriment and if this agreement is what has to be in place in order for us to work cooperatively, then it is time to let it go.
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Mrs. Hammond stated there has been a lot of speculation about how people feel about this, and she would like to make it very clear that no one has asked her how she feels about it. She stated, while she agrees that some kind of agreement needs to be made with the Township, she has never been 100 percent behind this particular agreement. She stated she was under the impression that it would be talked through and worked out and she hoped they would continue to do something of that nature.
Mr. Sabatino stated he is encouraged by Mrs. Riggs comment that she is not ready to move this out of Service Committee at this time. He stated he is having difficulty understanding why it was moved from Finance to Service and he did not think how it was done was right.
Mr. Hackworth distributed a handout (Attachment 2 to these minutes). Mr. Hackworth stated his handout details ten reasons why he does not like the way the agreement is written and also includes four amendments he would like to be considered for the agreement. Mr. Hackworth stated the City is spending about $21 million of state, federal, and local dollars to build the three-mile section of Diley Road. He stated that 42 percent of that road is in the Township, so we are paying about $3.4 million for the Township?’s share of the road. Mr. Hackworth stated in looking at the MORPC study, someone is going to have to commit to some huge road building projects, and since Townships can?’t take on debt, if the City were to enter into this agreement we would have to ensure that we would have enough income coming in to pay the debt on any road project.
Ms Carol Carter stated she agrees we need to work with the Township. Ms Carter stated Canal Winchester has an agreement with Violet Township on the Meijer store going in, and questioned if Pickerington got anything for our schools. Mr. Hackworth stated that was in the Canal Winchester school district. Ms Carter stated her question was if we agreed to this agreement and any other entity made an agreement with Violet Township, would we get anything for our schools. Mr. Hackworth stated we would not, and this agreement bars us from the existing CEDA within the Village of Canal Winchester. Ms Carter then clarified that both parties would have to agree if someone wanted out after the ten years, one party could not just withdraw. Ms Hammond stated it does say that, however, she thought that was still under negotiation by this Council.
Mr. Doug Blake stated he is a resident of the City and also is the current Chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission and a past member of the Board of Zoning Appeals. Mr. Blake stated he is not against any type of agreement with the Township as long as it is financially beneficial to both parties, and that both parties take the same financial risks. He stated as this agreement stands he did not see that. Mr. Blake stated further as he understands it, the City has the ability to borrow money and the Township does not, so how would the funds be brought in to do all the infrastructure, the sewer, etc., without the Township putting their fifty percent in. Mr. Wisniewski stated it would have to be shared and it would not be strictly upon the City?’s taxpayers, it would have to be a levy. Mr. Blake stated the City still has about 300 acres that have the potential to be developed commercially, and he looked at the quality of the commercial development that the City has done in the past three years. Mr. Blake continued there is no comparison with the quality of development that has occurred in the City and that in the Township. He stated the City has office buildings coming into the City, an assisted living facility, we are not
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going after big box stores, and he believed Planning and Zoning has been doing a great job in this. Mr. Blake stated Mr. Hansley has been recently hired as the Director of Development and ascertained that Mr. Hansley has not been involved in implementing this agreement. Mr. Blake stated he could not believe an agreement like this has been drafted without the Development Director?’s input. Mr. Blake further stated this is the most important piece of legislation he has seen and he asked Council members not to run this through without a long and thoughtful process.
Mr. Bruce Englehart stated his questions were the same as Mr. Blake?’s, why was our Director of Development not involved in the most important document in this City. Mr. Englehart stated between the Director of Development and the City Manager we have forty years of experience, and our Mayor has allowed a junior council member to negotiate such an important document. He stated that should not happen.
Mr. Dave Nagle stated he would just reiterate what Mr. Blake and Mr. Englehart had stated. He further stated he firmly believed the City should not limit its ability to grow.
Mr. Tony Barletta stated he has been supportive of most council members for election to Council, but he finds himself agreeing with people he might not have supported before. He stated when he initially got involved with Council back in the 90s there was a lot of stuff going on and a lot of citizens got involved because things were being done that were not in the best interests of the City. Mr. Barletta stated for the past few years he has been able to sit home and not attend many Council meetings. He stated the more he hears about this agreement the more he thinks this is not a good deal for the City and it looks kind of one-sided. He stated it concerns him that the best interests of Pickerington be respected.
Mr. Dennis Boruszewski stated he is a member of the Board of Zoning Appeals, although he is not speaking in that capacity tonight. Mr. Boruszewski stated he also worked very hard to effect a change in our city back when the team for change was running. He stated to be honest, he also has been able to sit at home and not attend meetings like he once did, but from what he has been reading lately it is not flowing quite as smoothly as he thought it was. He stated from what he has been gathering, backroom meetings are starting up again, things are not taking place in public view, and that needs to stop and needs to change. He stated council?’s credibility is quickly fading in his mind when he finds out that things are not being done out in the open. He stated let?’s put it back out in the sunshine where it belongs, when you have meetings there should be minutes, and meetings are not supposed to take place in a barroom.
Mr. Sabatino stated he had received an e-mail from a previous council member who wanted to be here this evening, but had a previous commitment. Mr. Sabatino read an e-mail from David England into the record (Attachment 3 to these minutes.)
Mr. Sabatino stated he had also received a call today from another resident who stated if the Township is really and truly interested in cooperative economic development with the City why don?’t they propose something such as a CEDA in the Refugee Road area around the high school and commercial development around that.
Mr. Hackworth stated Mr. Fix was now present at the meeting and questioned if he would like to make a statement at this time.
Mr. Fix stated he apologized for being late, he was delayed in Houston by weather conditions. He stated his position is well known and has been well stated and he looked forward to continuing debate and continuing discussions with members of the public and
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with Council.
Mr. Hackworth stated he has questions about individual paragraphs in this agreement and he would like to go through the agreement paragraph by paragraph. Mrs. Riggs stated she thought a work session should be scheduled for all of Council to discuss the agreement rather than discussing it tonight and then having to discuss it all over again at Council. She stated she would like staff involved as they go through each paragraph, she would like feedback from them and the law director. She stated she felt it was important to have all of Council present.
Mr. Sabatino stated he agreed a Council work Session would be appropriate since everyone seems to be willing to continue to debate this issue and not move it out of this Committee tonight. Mrs. Riggs stated from her standpoint she did not see where anything would be moved out tonight. Mr. Wisniewski stated he would like to continue to work on this tonight, and if additional work sessions were necessary then they could be scheduled. Mrs. Riggs stated she had already received a lot of information tonight and she would like to have some time to review all of it.
Mrs. Riggs stated she would request a Council Work Session prior to Council on October 24, 2006, from 6:00 P.M. to 7:30 P.M. All council members present concurred.
Ms Gilleland clarified that everyone had the version of the agreement dated 10-3-06 as that is the most recent version of the agreement. Mr. Hartmann stated the revisions that were requested in the Finance Committee meeting have been included in this version. Mrs. Riggs stated, for clarification, staff had taken the agreement in its current form to ensure that legally it could stand as it was written. Mrs. Riggs further clarified staff had no substantive input into the agreement. Mr. Sabatino stated then that Mr. Hansley has been involved in working with the document, but not in creating any of the issues that it deals with. Mr. Hansley stated that was correct. Mr. Hackworth stated he does have questions about how much commercial can be developed in the area near US 33. Mr. Wisniewski stated one of the biggest reasons this agreement was supposedly going to go forward was for us to be able to develop commercially within the school district because people are sick of the high taxes and we want to develop commercially. He stated if we are going to start going out into areas outside of the school district to develop commercially, it will not benefit our schools, it will not lower our taxes; it may help out financially from a City standpoint or from a Township standpoint, but it is not helping our schools. He stated we can include whatever areas we want to, but what is going to be developed commercially within the Pickerington School District is what is going to help us with our taxes. He stated further the areas along 33 that are within the Pickerington School District have been defined as poor sites for commercial development. He stated he has no problem in making modifications to include other areas, but we cannot start selling it then as helping our school district. Mr. Sabatino stated in the past it has been stated that this agreement was designed to put us as equal partners with the Township. He stated he has an email from Mr. Arcari to Ms Gilleland and Mr. Yaple, dated 1-17-06, that has some things to be concerned about. Mr. Fix stated the equality talked about was on the financial end of it, the process that the Township goes through is vastly different than the process the City goes through.
Mr. Hackworth stated he has some issues with the infrastructure costs, and he has asked several times about the profitability of Canal Pointe and been told they are starting to
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