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MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - I'd like to welcome all of you to Massillon City Council for Monday, March 6, 2006. We have in attendance with us this evening: Mayor Cicchinelli, Safety Service Director Loudiana, Auditor Hamit, Community Development Director Aane Aaby, Housing Director Marilyn Frazier, Bob Zadell from the Law Director's Office Stergios, and Police Chief Williams. On the wall to your left are agendas for anyone who wishes to follow the meeting. Also under item #5 on the agenda is where the public can speak on any item that appears on the agenda and then under item #17 is where the public can speak on any item that does not appear on the agenda. I'd also like to remind anyone with a cell phone please turn it off or turn it very far down. 1. ROLL CALL Roll call for the evening found the following Council Members present: Tim Bryan, Kathy Catazaro-Perry, Jayne Ferrero, Chuck Maier, Ron Mang, Paul Manson, Dave McCune, Donnie Peters and Tony Townsend. Thus giving a roll call vote of 9 present. 2. INVOCATION COUNCILWOMAN CATAZARO-PERRY - introduced Joy Ellis to do the invocation for the evening. 3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE COUNCILWOMAN CATAZARO-PERRY - Chairperson of the Finance Committee led those in attendance in the Pledge of Allegiance. 4. READING OF THE JOURNAL COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - Madame Clerk are the minutes of the previous meeting transcribed and open for public viewing (THEY ARE) Are there any additions or corrections to the minutes. If not the minutes stand approved as written. 5. REMARKS OF DELEGATIONS AND CITIZENS TO MATTERS ON THE AGENDA COUNCILMAN MANG - I have this evening with us Marilyn Frazier the Director of Fair Housing with the city. Marilyn would like to make a statement. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - Okay, I was going to do after the public, but you would rather have her speak first. Alright, that will be fine. MARILYN FRAZIER - I'm the Housing Director for the City of Massillon. First, I would like to thank the Administration and Council for your continued support for affordable housing. Over the years the city has provided many opportunities for members of our community to purchase homes and housing rehab. That has been accomplished both through non-profit organizations such as Neighborhood Housing and Habitat for Humanity and also through the programs that the city offers. We offer a housing rehab program to assist low income families when they need repairs done to their homes and they can't afford it. We also have a home buyer’s assistance program. Through that program we have helped 142 familes in the city purchase homes. These families thought they would be able to obtain the American dream of home ownership and they probably wouldn't have had it not been for you all and the city administration and the program that we offer. Even though we're very proud of that program and you all should be very proud of it we know that there are people who can not afford to buy a house. I get calls every day from families who want to buy a house, but they are just not in position. Either their income or their credit or they know that they don't have the funds necessary to maintain the house. If you are all homeowners and I imagine you are you know that it takes a lot of money to maintain your own home. These people just are not in that position and it hurts me to have to tell them that. So on behalf of those families I's asking for your support for the affordable housing program that is on the agenda. Because I can tell you from personal experience from the people that I talk to every day that it is needed. We do need rental options; now these houses well I support all of the affordable housing low income tax credit proposals that are on your agenda. But I'm especially speaking on behalf of the families. Because that's the people that I talk to they'll call me they want to buy a house and then when I listen to their situation I know that it's just at this time its unobtainable dream. But these people they need a nice place, a decent place, a decent home to raise their children. They deserve that, they are contributing members of our community of society, but their just not quite there. This option, these houses that are before you tonight this program to support these houses is a good option for these families. They can either live in the house for 15 years and then buy it or they can some of them will move on. They will be ready for homeownership before the 15 years are up. They may end up coming back to us and participating in our program. But for the time being they still need a nice home to raise their family. They need the stability that a good home provides for them. It helps their children be better students and of course those students that stability also helps them become contributing members of society. So on behalf of the families that are not ready for homeownership but do deserve and need a good place to live. I'm asking for your support for the affordable housing that is being proposed by all the developers, but especially the ones Massillon Homes because it is for families. I attended the meeting a couple weeks ago that was hosted by Councilman Townsend and some issues came up that really need to be addressed and so what I would suggest that some that have two very successful, very active residents associations in this neighborhood that representation from those associates become a part of the development team to build these houses that way the concerns that people have can be addressed. So anyway that s my comments and I m asking for your support. CHERYL KRISTNER 2540 Harsh. I guess that s proposed for near Kaylynn which is about 2.5 blocks from where I live. I m concerned about the traffic. During football season especially traffic is very, very heavy up and down Harsh. I used to work swing shift and I could never sleep you know every football season. The high school being so close down the street the noise level is atrocious. I know there s been an ordinance passed about excessive noise, but everyday it makes my windows rattle if I m inside the house. I live on the corner Virginia and Harsh, there s a three way stop. Usually during the day people will stop in the evening and late at night they go up that street 50 mph and blow the stop sign never even look. So my concern is with heavier traffic and I m surprised there aren t more accidents. I myself have gotten almost hit there and other people also that I ve seen. You know you re pulling out of a side street and people down the road and don t even look. So my biggest concern about the housing development and I would like to hear more about it. I was unaware I would have been here at the meeting last Wednesday. You know the exact location and what it s going to be. But my biggest concern is traffic because there is already a lot of traffic on Harsh. Thank you. MARION PERKINS I live at 343 Beckman Avenue SE, Massillon, Ohio. I want to speak on Resolution No. 8 and Resolution No. 3 and Resolution No. 2. I ll do it First of all, I d like thank Mrs. Frazier for expressing her concerns and also her belief in housing for the 4th ward. But I thought there was an item on the agenda for city official’s reports from city officials. I think that was out of line with your agenda number one. Second thing is that I ll like to express my concerns that I had the opportunity this past week and last week to walk the 4th ward since I am a 4th ward residents. I feel that any discussion should be open to residents of the 4th ward especially tax payers in the City of Massillon. I heard earlier about letting the two housings associations meet on a special team. I d like to make it publicly that I d like to be part of that team and be informed of every meeting since I am a 4th ward resident and also a tax payer and also a voter in the City of Massillon. I d like to have that on public record; so there won t be a closed meetings that people can not attend. But the best thing about coming forward I had the opportunity to argue, cuss, fuss and look about at all the projects this past week. Also I had the opportunity to talk to a couple council people and also some of the builders of the homes and also some of the residents. I think all these projects is excellent projects and I have to rave my personal concerns over the future of Massillon and also I have to look at the benefits for our community. I m not for or against none of these projects, but I think that we need these projects because if you drive in the City of Massillon especially the 4th ward and look at some of the pictures like I did some of my old pictures that I have in scrap books and look at the future developments what s been going on in last couple of months especially with the new housing and the proposal of the senior citizens it s a no brainer that I support these projects. But again too I just don t want to be counted out and not be a part of process. It s fine that associations no. 1 or association no. 2, but you need the input of the residents to make sure that these programs and buildings go forward because whatever happens we have to think about the future of Massillon. I think that the City of Massillon and the officials over the last couple of years have done a tremendous job of developing in the city. We just have some people we got some people coming up from Dayton this week that talks about the community and what the City of Massillon has been doing and again too that s my own personal opinion. I do support all three of the projects, but again too whatever the city do or whatever proposal wins the state s approval it s still got to make that everybody is included in the process. The process has to get people involved or these projects can t go anywhere. So I would like to thank you for opportunity to speak. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - Mr. Perkins, if I could ask you ve referenced a closed or private meeting on Wednesday. What meeting was that? MARION PERKINS It wasn t a closed meeting it was a public meeting. (Oh, I m sorry I got the impression you said it was a closed a meeting.) No, I m saying any future meetings should not be closed. Also, the Mrs. Frazier brought up about the two associations. I m planning on purchasing a house in the 4th ward and I m working with the bank right now. But again too I do have some concerns, but like I spoke of early the concerns that I have out weigh the development of the future of Massillon. I d like to thank you for the opportunity to be here. MICHELLE HARRISON I m here for the housing project. I just received one of the houses on 903 Lawton Avenue SE, Massillon. I think the project is a beautiful thing I ve went through a horrible divorce and I wouldn t be able to get the house without the help of you guys and the project. So I think it s a great project and it s been a blessing to me and my son. Thank you. DIANE BARBOSA I live at 1440 Gibson Avenue SE. I m here speaking as a resident in the 4th ward, As a resident living right up the street or down the street from the NRP houses that are being built. They re nice houses I grant you that, however, we have enough in our southeast side. We have what 40 or 50 and they are nice houses and they are going to help a lot of families and I think that s a good thing. However, they re too close, they re going to lower the property values of our homes that are not low to moderate income housing. We need to spread them out, if the census tract involves the southwest side, northeast side, I d say let s go for it, let s do it. But we have enough in the southeast side of Massillon; we really do. We want, they want to eliminate the green space that we have and that s one of the attractions that led us to build in the southeast side on Gibson was that green space, the woods, the deer. If phase II goes the green space goes and a lot of us will go elsewhere. Because then we loose that attraction, we have an upgraded version of the projects. I m just going to be blunt and frank and I believe that that will happen because there s too many too close and we need to see how the phase I is going to go before we branch out on to phase II. See if phase I residents will keep up their property, do what they are suppose to do because there s going to be a transition period. There s going to be people moving in and moving out. There s going to be people that are going to take care of their property, there s going to be some that aren t because they are not going to be. They are not going to buy it. So we don t want to loose what we have accomplished in build up in the southeast section. We went a lot of years almost 50 years without a new home. Now we ve got bunches of new homes which is a good thing, but we don[t want them on top of one another. Thank you. DARLENE HARRIS - MURRAY My address is 223 Hawthorne Avenue NE. I am a city resident and I am also board president of ABCD and I m really here as a resident I grew up on the southeast side and I m also here as the board president. So my heart is in Massillon, I moved away from Massillon for several years after I graduated from college and I was very disappointed that when I moved back to Massillon I felt like I couldn t move back into the area that I grew up in which was in the southeast side. Both of my parent still stay there, my mother stays there on 16th Street has been there for several years. I grew on 3rd Street which was a very, very nice community and my heart was sadden when I looked and I saw what happened to my town. I am happy with my association with ABCD, I ve served on the board for almost 10 years now. I ve been very pleased with what has happened in the City of Canton. You know, we drive around Canton we think Massillon has some terrible areas, but Canton some areas are even equally as bad. But ABCD project has really, really made a difference in the City of Canton. I want to see that happen in my city. I m proud of Massillon, I work in Canton any time somebody says something about Massillon I am the first one to support my city. I love this city, I think all residents should have the opportunity to be a homeowner. When you are a homeowner you take pride in what you have and although I live on the northeast side now I feel like I didn t have the chance or the opportunity to you know really move on the southeast side. I did look but I could not find a home that I felt like that I would want to move into. The type of neighborhood that I would want to because of the lack of adequate nice housing. So I definitely support the resolution for community development I believe its no. 7 and as the board president of ABCD we do receive regular updates on what s going on with the project and we do have some other Massillon city residents who are on the board. So we are always vocalizing the concerns that we have and we do support the City of Massillon. Thank you. COLLIN FINLEY I live at 2507 Harsh Avenue SE. That s about a stones throw from the proposed senior housing that s being proposed to be built there. My purpose is to explain what that piece of property is like. How many on the council here have visited that piece of property on Harsh; raise your hand. What do you think about it any opinions? Let me explain how you would find it anyone who wants to view that property. You could drive from the high school east on Harsh; you d go up 1 hill and down as soon as you get down to the lowest point on Harsh Avenue and when you look to the right left the brush and weeds come right out to the edge of the road. It s the lowest point, it s the collecting point of all the drained water that flows from Lincoln Way down to the railroad tracks. All the water that flows from the west down the hill it ends up there. All the water coming the west flows down to that point. It s the lowest point on the road there. If you ever go by there never stop to look at that property because you re in danger of a rear end collision. People who walk there really risks themselves and having their life If you would stop if you could or if you walked along there and you stepped over about 4 feet off the road you could fall down 10 20 feet into a ravene. It s washed out completely when it rains it that water just rushes down. They want to build senior citizen housing there. I would say if I was going to build anything I d build houseboats and put in there. Dam up Harsh make a lake there that would be perfect for that. But for senior housing think when you people if you have to vote on the council here for this think of your parents would you want your mother or father to live in a place like that there. In the summertime it s a mosquito breeding place many years ago when they were building the high school the city promised to build a sidewalk out through there from the high school up to Kaylynn they never did it. I always wondered why I think its because they couldn t handle that they could build down in that low place there. A few years ago when my daughter was going to go to Washington High School I called up the high school and I said I know my daughter lives only a of a mile from the high school it s too dangerous for her walk along Harsh there to the high school she could get hit by a car. So the transportation advisor there said well we d have to look it over so in the meantime I knew they would do anything about that. So she got a ride from a neighbor that was going to work and left her off at the high school. Then a few days later I got a call from the high school transportation fellow said you re absolutely right that is a dangerous walk there he said we will provide transportation even though it was less than of a mile they were willing to provide transportation through that point. Not many students walk to high school on Harsh but every time I see go past my house and they re going down through that dangerous section there I say a prayer for them. When the football people walk to the football game and go down through there it s the same dangerous situation. Often times I ll see a young mother with her stroller pushing down through there I just hold my breath because she can t take the cart and jump off the road to avoid traffic. Also too traffic if you re driving on Harsh you re going east or west depending on if it s morning or evening that sun can come into your eyes and you re almost blinded there. So if there s anyone walking along there good-bye. I m very surprised that there hasn t been a accident there. If you check the police records you will find that almost every one of those accidents have occurred exactly right where they want to put that entrance into that senior citizen there. The fellow that wants to build that he said well, that s one of the advantages of that is that s a Harsh is a busy highway . He must be out of mind I don t know how that fellow I bet he bought that piece of property for a song and he wants to build and put our seniors on that piece of property there. It s a dirty rotten shame and he s probably carpet bagger that and oh by the way I checked the word condo apartments it s not in the dictionary. But the word condominium is in there; condominium means that the person owns the house sure that builder he wants them to own he wants sell and then scadoodle out of town. So what he doesn t have to be responsible for those poor people who live down there in the gully one hill one way, one hill the other way. What the old people need today they need exercise; they re going to get exercise they re going to have heartache trying to climb up one of those hills that goes to the east and goes to west. COLLIN FINLEY Okay, I ve got so many things, but I will cut it short there. I think I ve gotten my point across to you people. Also too by the way, if there s anyone in council here that would like to have a tour of this place my daughter also lives in the same neighborhood if you call me I would very like to conduct a tour and show you exactly that piece of property so you can better understand what your doing. Because you don t want to vote on this unless you re familiar with this piece of property. So with that all I ve got to say is that oh also too the fellow that sells this I think he never expected to sell this piece of property to a development I forget the name of the person there. But he kept 8 acres forever he s never been able to sell it. There s a couple other properties here and right close by on this property there s two other small lots that people have bought that s right here this piece here. There s two other lots, 2 or 3 but no one has ever built there. Why? They just can t figure out how to put a house up there. Also too there s 1 place where someone dug a foundation they abandoned because you just can t build a house there. I thank you for your time; I hope I ve given you some knowledge perhaps. ESTER BRYANT I reside at 1423 Walnut Road. I m here to speak on Resolution No. 8 and 2. I spoke several weeks ago when Tony had a meeting. I made the comment that the houses are built and I suggested that we simple work together. There were a lot of concerns that were voiced at the meeting. I stated that the houses are up. There s perhaps might be a problem or two, I was fortunate to have a home built by a builder that no longer builds homes and I had problems with my home. I m still having some I have known Mr. Dent for a number of years and he is still building homes. I took the opportunity this evening again to ride through where the new homes are built being built. I m impressed when they get them finished the street, the lawns and it is going to raise a good looking street and in the southeast section. If we work together Mr. Dent promised this some of the concerns that were voiced and he would not have been in business this long if it was not so. I ve known him for a number of years, I ve also been in Canton and some of the concerns that were voiced that might happen I don t see that there. I know on Walnut Road where I reside we have beautiful homes there and we take pride in taking care of our lawns and keeping things up. So I simply stated that because the homes are there and if you take the time sometime to ride around and see where they are and if with them being close together unfortunately when I had my home built I thought I could build it far back. But the laws have changes now where you have to build where they say so. So they re all up front. I would have liked to have my built back and have a beautiful lawn in the front. But the law says you have to build where you have to build them so they are all lined up together. I have a brother that lives in off of Brunnerdale and their homes are close to together too. Because that s just the that way it s set up anymore. Unfortunately, you know, you have to buy 2 lots if you want some extra space in there. So again my main comment is that I see an upgrade when I talk to people out of town or they come back are so impressed I said who would have thought that Massillon would have had 2 McDonalds . Because I raised in the time where we didn t have any of that. So many things that are here now that we didn t have/ So we re going, we re going and we re moving forward and even in Walnut Hills I was there for that open house and it has added valued that basically what we re trying to do. So again if we work together if there s a problem we can come like we re doing tonight voice your opinion ask someone get answers and get it taken care of. Thank you. CATHERINE SPENCER I live at 1334 1st Street SE. I was born and raised in Massillon. I think the southeast section is changing for the better. But I feel like Mrs. Barbosa we don t need anymore houses over there right now. Just get those filled and get everything done for them then build some more. I also want to comment on this senior citizen building that they re going to build on Walnut Road. At first I wasn t for it, but now I am for because I d rather have a senior citizen building up there than anymore of those houses. They are getting to close together back on 13th Street, Lawton, 15th Street. I would rather have a senior citizen building there. Also while I m here I d like to have our Councilman Mr. Townsend I saw in the paper last week where they were talking about the group homes on the corner of 11th and Lake. Also on the southeast side we have more that 2 on Woodland we have a group home on the corner Glenwood and Woodland then we also that s for bad children. Then on the corner of Johnson and Woodland we have a mentally ill group home. We don t need no more group homes on the southeast side. We got our fill. I d like to have that noted please don t anymore group homes on our side of town. Thank you. BILLIE MURRAY I m a senior citizen I live on Kaylynn Street, Massillon. I m here about the senior citizen building. Number 1, I would like to know which side of Kaylynn is it the north side of the south side? (it s on the south side) The sewer system up there has been compromised since they put in the (inaudible) on Kaylynn. So that s one of the main factors that needs to be addressed before they put anything else in there. I agree with all the people that have talked before the traffic is terrible on Kaylynn. As a senior citizen I certainly wouldn t want a building there. I wouldn t want to live in a building down there, because of all the reasons plus the fact that Mr. Finley brought up. It is a terrible area for drainage and it does get heavy drainage down through there in the spring and in the fall when we have the heavy rain storms. So I think you want to take that into consideration. Thank you for your time. WILL DENT - I m the president and chief executive officer of ABCD and we ve been involved with the development of 4 projects in Canton. We ve been involved with Massillon Homes I and we urge your support of Massillon Homes II. Our whole purpose and mission is been to help revitalize neighborhoods to up build neighborhoods. The start of new construction of affordable housing is just a start. It s only one component market rate housing follows, acquisition and renovation of houses follows, setting up a special fund to allow people who can t afford to fix up their houses follows. All of that is a part of revitalizing the neighborhood. The other part which is more important is the involvement of people. Because you have to deal with social ills whether they be crime or traffic or whatever it is. That comes from people being organized and I would say to everybody lives on the southeast area should join one of the associations. We will be open for meetings we don t have any closed meetings. We welcome input and that s when projects work good when there s partnership arrangement when the government, private citizens, residents, non-profit agencies, businesses all work together for the collective good of an area. Then we can build and revitalize areas. I say we can address all the concerns and issues of people now some of the things as far as the size of the lots and so forth we had to follow the building requirements. I ve been in Washington Square and Stonehenge and all of other developments and they have some of the same widths between their houses. So upscale developments have that issue also and I m not saying just because I m mad, but I m saying we re willing to work with the residents in the area to resolve any of the problems that you may have. We don t just put anybody in the houses; it s like you know we re just going and just let anybody that wants a house come in. It is a real in depth screening process the Ream Corporation manages those units and it s a you go through a screening process and the young lady that s involved she can probably tell you how long it took for her to get into the house. It s a screening process and we say to people we want you to think home ownership You re not coming in here to rent, you re coming to own and Canton we restructured the rents, lower the rents so people pay their own water bill. So they will begin to thing about owning their homes, we give equatity each year toward their purchase, they get a purchase option when they come in so they know that at the end of the 15 year period they buy that house at a below market rate. So it is a lease to own project, it s not a rental project. Sure there s going to be people move on, there s going to be people that use it as stepping stone which is good. They come in and they get on their feet and their income goes up and they may build a house some other place. That s good, but for the most part people are coming there with the goal and anticipation of owning their own home. So I urge you to support the second and third reading I think its Resolution No. 7 Massillon Homes II. Thank you. DAVE - 1269 Arapahoe SE. My concerns building more new homes; I think we enough. We think we need to see what goes on with these on 14th Street I m sorry 16th Street now. I also manage the apartments south of them. They re already using my dumpsters as they re building in there. They put some of the materials in my dumpsters already. I don t know what the tenants will end up doing. I m going to consider you know something you ve got to consider. But I think we don t need more houses. If we re going to do anything else we need to get rid of some of the dilapidated houses and put in new ones in them places instead of building another development. See how these work out first. They re not even using local workers you know everybody s from out around other towns coming in building these houses. We re not even getting our local people to build these things. All the wood that s coming in is coming from out of town on the trucks and they re unloading it. You would think they would use from around our area you know. I believe in buying from our area I don t go to Cleveland to shop I shop in Massillon when I can. So anyway that s some of my concerns. Thank you. GAYLE GAMBLE - Please excuse my voice I m a little ill tonight, but I thought this was very important that I be here. I live at 1400 Gibson Avenue SE. I m speaking tonight as a resident and only as a resident. First I want to thank Mr. Townsend publicly again for even bringing together a public meeting where we would know what was going on in our community. Because at the onset of this project there was never a community meeting for the residents. So I found out about it the first time just because I happened to be here for another concern at the time. But that s water under the dam, but I want to thank him for involving the residents and keeping us informed. Giving us the opportunity to speak on things. I m going to speak just from facts what development does to a neighborhood. I was involved and still am involved with an organization that saw the 4th ward as not having any new development in over 50 years other than public housing. That was in 1994, it took probably to 1995 late 95 or 96 before we were able to put together a project to benefit people for affordable housing. Because there was a lot of homework that needed to be done. We went to the neighbors, we actually used the models of people s homes in the neighborhood so that the houses that we proposed to build would fit in the existing neighborhood. From the back of her head I thought I saw her here tonight, but I don t know probably Audrey Snow because she was over nursing in Massillon Community Hospital for many years. She lives on 14th Street and her house she had a modest ranch and that was one of the houses that we used and then we looked at 2 stories because we wanted to make sure what we added to the neighborhood would benefit the existing neighborhood and fit in cosmetically. Just today I was speaking with my attorney to see what my house value was because I m really I don t want to be there anymore. I was alarmed to find out that the comparables that they use for my house the city would be very familiar with housing development on Forest that the city supported that is still standing not finished. We don t know what s going to happen there, but they use the comparables from that development for my house and told me my house was worth $127,000. I ve been there 5 years, it s a 1600 square foot ranch and I ve done improvements to it. I was sick because if we ve taken a development by a local developer who build homes that were not up to the standards that we started in the 4th ward. In the involvement with the organization as we were building houses our board said let s set the standard so that anyone goes to build in our ward they will at least build to the standard. Not anything less than that, but I started out telling you how long it took us to get any new development. I m amazed at the urgency to start another development not having seen what has happened in phase I. Again, I m also devastated at the fact that my property value has already gone down. That sickens me as far as providing affordable housing I work for Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation also. So I understand the tax credits and the things involved to the development of the community. But I think the most important thing in development in the community is just that involving the people of the community. Unfortunately neighborhood association meetings will not have impact on property value. They can work together, they can talk they can sing, go to parties together, but it will not affect their property values. In 15 years these homes will be sold and I asked in the last community meeting and I was told that they will be sold at about $70.00 to $75,000 if my property value has already gone down with homes that are being sold for $140,000 and $150,000 when the market now has 50 houses being sold at $70,000 to $75,000 that becomes the new market for that neighborhood. So that means everybody s houses will be judged by the existing comps sales and in 15 years those sales will max out and I can be corrected if that s not what I heard, but they will max out at $75,000. So what we strove to do was present affordable housing that would involve equity. Homeownership is the greatest asset anyone can have it s proof and its better than stocks, bonds all of that. So what we did was build houses in people so people had equity when they moved in. It s public record so I m not saying anything that s anybody s personal business. When we built the first houses on Walnut Road we built those houses for $100,000 and I cried in my office. People called me up told me how crazy I was no one was going to buy a house on Walnut Road for $100,000. I said maybe not, so we went to area foundations and we got subsidy for those people. We gave them $30,000 if they were willing to invest in our neighborhood. So they bought a $100,000 house for $70,000 they re still there now, still fixing up their homes. Homes are beautiful on Walnut Road in addition to that we didn t want to see little row houses so contrary to I don t know what the law is now. But we purposely did staggering at setbacks so that the lawns would be pretty and they would have large lots. If you ride up there now they have taken great care of them. When we bought the land for Sinclair Village the reason that we didn t buy all of it is because some of it was had ducks and geese on it and so we did a phase I environmental study and it identified that all of that land was not the best place to build. Can you build on non-buildable land sure you can you just bring in fill and whatever you need to do so you can build on that land and by the time the houses start sinking into the ground you re gone. But the neighborhood will still be there. It s proposed to build houses right behind the neighbors on Gibson Avenue, they love the wooded area. Now those woods will be cut down and now in their backyard would be rental property. Because no matter how you call it it s rental property. If I can t own it today it s rental property no matter what my future intention is. At the end of the area where they propose to build they propose to put a retention pond one of my neighbors has come to me several times and complained about the water that they happened to spot back there which is why we didn t buy that land and how the mosquitoes gave there. She was asking me was there anything that I could do about that. Even though I m not responsible for people s individual homes their builder is responsible for that I care about the customers that I ve had. I ve been approached by Evergreen Homes, there s lots for sale in Sinclair Village I ve been approached by them several times to sell those lots. I ve promised by neighbors I don t care what the financial condition of Tri-County is we will never sell out. I don t want to get emotional but it bothers me that we started out to do something great in our neighborhood it s just going down. I said at the public meeting and I ll say again Will Dent was my business psych teacher he knows I have the utmost respect for him. I respect him as a man I respect his integrity I don t respect the project. I had the opportunity to build tax credit houses I never would do that because I knew what it would do to property values in the neighborhood. Also the senior development the proposed senior housing on Walnut Road we looked at that land and started to buy that also the cost of the development there was tremendous and there a huge drop off on that land. I don t know where they propose to put the site. Do we need houses do we need senior buildings yes we do, but can we have local minded people who care about the people that live in the City of Massillon to do all their homework before they propose to put buildings and housing up in our neighborhood. I have not heard I don t know if there s been a phase I environmental study done on that land. I don t know if there was a phase I environmental study done on the land adjacent to Sinclair Village. If there was one it would have told them that it s not the best place to build. Also I asked in the public meeting because someone brought it up the fact that ABCD already owns some additional lots. So I said did you already purchase these lots with the thought that it was just going to go through because of what s happening right now with all do respect to the 4th ward there s not a lot of us here tonight and that is why so much goes on in our ward that we don t like because unfortunately we just don t show up. Well I believe one person can make a difference and history will show you that it has. So I m going to show up every time I m very disappointed that my neighbors aren t here tonight. A lot of them don t understand the impact that it is going to have when their property. If there s been a phase I environmental done what is the urgency to put another project in other than the benefit to the people who are putting it in not the people that live in the community. Not to the City of Massillon because with all do respect many times I ve come before you and tried to explain how public dollars work and with affordable housing. Some of you have been interested some of you haven t, but to vote for something that you don t understand quite how it s going to affect the community I think we all need more information and more meetings before anything is just rushed through and passed. So I m going to ask for your consideration tonight know that my house has already dropped about $15,000, $16,000 in value. I ve kept it up and you know that s not how it s supposed to go. Your house is supposed to appreciate if you keep it up and add to it. But the house is only as valuable as the comparable sales in the neighborhood, comparable sales in our neighborhood because of the first allotment I m going to bring that up again... COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - Gayle, if I could again like I did with Mr. Finley we have no time limit but... GAYLE GAMBLE - I ll be finished in one second thank you sir. The first allotment that you supported is what s bringing our values down now. So please think long and hard before you make us want to leave the City of Massillon. Thank you. SYVESTOR MORGAN - I am the proud owner of a home on Walnut Road. I take pride in my house I ve been living there for almost 7 years now. I think that we as groups need to pull together and build some more homes. You ve got enough now okay, but you get those houses fill first then we ll go on. As far as the senior citizens we need that here in Massillon. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - We will be moving into the introduction of ordinances and resolutions. One of the items that will impact part of the discussion is the Mayor s Capital Improvement Budget. He will make a few comments here before we start our meeting. MAYOR CICCHENELLI - Every year around the same time it s customary that we the administration passes out a proposed capital improvement list. I think the key word is proposed; what you see in front in you is the largest capital improvement proposal ever given to council for consideration. It exceeds 1.8 million dollars what I tried to do is spell out some of the things that need to be done. I think if you look at the largest expenditure you will see that we re proposing to spend approximately $800,000 in capital improvement monies for street resurfacing. That will represent the largest expenditure for 1 year in the history of the city as far as dollars coming out of our income tax collections. That s $800,000 that does not include projects that are soon to be underway which include dollars that were set aside last year from example the capital improvement monies for last year. Those projects and that resurfacing will get underway shortly that not include our proposed CDBG budget which you will be getting next week for consideration. Which is asking for another $100,000 for street resurfacing; so we re proposing a total of $900,000 street resurfacing for 2006. Second on the list is the proposed 27th Street/Jackson Avenue widening project. If you go back and look at our previous year s budgets we have never and I repeat never included a specific project like issue 2 in the capital improvement budget. The reason for that is what we normally do for those projects depending on the percentage of the city share if we find alternative funding sources some dollars could come out of capital improvement, but other times those projects our local share could be paid out of vehicle license, municipal road or another revenue source. But because of the magnitude of this project and the cost that it is going to create for the city we had to put it in to show you the amount of the city share. You need to know originally this project was not going to funded by OPWC it was ranked 5th, 2 county projects for variety of reasons are not going to be done that then made it possible for this project to move up the list. But when it moved up the list the only dollars available was approximately 1.1 million dollars. Originally, we talked about a total project cost of 1.9 we re still projected estimated for that amount originally we asked for 1.4 million dollars as far as OPWC and then city and Perry would pay the rest. Well, because the projects that were eliminated for or most communities decided not to do those projects what became available from OPWC was 1.1 million dollars. When that happened that increased the local share and when it increased the local share by approximately $165,000 per community per City of Massillon, Perry Township. So now we re at $415,000 for our share and for Perry Township s share to this project. We because we did plans and engineering in house had a reduction of around $91,000. So in the corner, left hand corner you see the estimate for this project. You see the cash that is needed as we speak this evening; you see the incline service you see what Perry Township owes if the project comes in at the estimated cost at 1.9. Keep in mind, gasoline is going up, oil is going up, asphalt is going up so when we bid this project it could come in higher, it could come in at the estimate or it could come in lower. That s not anybody s fault that s just the way these projects are conducted. But I want to make it clear to you that the cost associated with doing this project is the highest amount ever, ever in the history of an issue 2 project for the City of Massillon. We have never spent that kind of money for a project. So you need to know that and you need to know that up front. If the project comes in higher than you got to if the project is to be done then you ve got to come up with additional revenue. I have spoken to Craig Chessler who is a Perry Township Trustee and I informed Craig late last week and by the way we just found this out last week in the middle of the week that the difference in the cost. I felt compelled to call them and let them know he is on vacation this week he is to come back from vacation and as a body they have to deliberate whether they want to do this project. It s a basic economics folks, do you want to spend those kinds of dollars to do this widening and rehab of this roadway. It s simply an approach that the more you submit these projects eventually projects are done so what s left are projects that will get funded. An alternative and I m not advocating that I m just telling you an alternative could be coming up with other revenue sources what I want to do is I want to look and see what the vehicle license the $5.00 vehicle license fund will get us it s approximately $12,000 a month, approximately I think $4,000 in there now. We probably will get around $12,000 a month so maybe that would allow us another $60,000. We also the State of Ohio will the tax the gas tax that s passed by legislatures an extra 2 cents a gallon that comes back and I think it s put in I believe our M & F Fund that goes into effect in July. Those are dollars that could be spent if council wants to for this kind of project. So those two revenues streams we can t use municipal road because we re going to do another project with that, but I just want to make you aware that we re 415 minus 91 and that s an estimate. But because of this council passing the resolution saying you want to do the project it s second on the list. We also I mean you can go through the list here we also need some additional equipment. Our street sweeper the one constantly breaks down its our advice to council we need to buy another one. Where at all possible we like to sort of lump some of our vehicles together borrow the money but in also that s fine like police cars and things like that. In this case I think we should pay cash in the long run it s cheaper. We re asking for additional cruisers you see on the list that we have to make the lease payments for the cruisers we bought previously we would like to again buy two cruisers and two detective cars and lease those this year. I think Mr. Loudiana has a couple of things to say about if president would be so kind to allow him to speak. Because the urgency of getting these cars made we need to get that going as quickly as possible to get that on the agenda and we have submitted that. The only items that are on this list that you folks are the ability to do legislation would be the street sweeper, the renovations of the #1 fire station and of course we ask for the 2 police cars and 2 cruisers. The other thing that we tried to do but I felt that I had to show council the amount of total money that is estimated cost for 27th Street. We always try to cushion this budget another words if you have 1.8 million dollars available you don t necessarily want to propose spending 1.8 million dollars. You never know what the future holds as far as the economy as all of us know so it s good to have a little cushion the cushion is little over $93,000 that s if we do everything on this list and if all these projects and equipment come in the prices that are on this list. But you need to know up front that sometimes things that are on this list don t get done for a variety of reasons. But we think its very important that we get these things done and proof of that is the amount of money that we proposing to spend. COUNCILWOMAN CATAZARO-PERRY - Mr. Mayor, I was told that there s a grant that we could have applied for the 27th Street Project to be included in this total. Do you know what grant that was and the amount of it and did we apply for it and if not why didn t we or where else should the money go? MAYOR CICCHENELLI - Yeah, the grant is the difference. The grant is 1.1 million dollars that is the grant that s OPWC see all the entire county is District 19. We go on a competitive basis the bulk of these dollars are paid for by the state that s where the grant monies are. But there s a local share for the community or communities involved. So the bulk of the money will definitely come the state which is a grant. COUNCILWOMAN CATAZARO-PERRY - So there s not an additional grant that we could have applied for this project? MAYOR CICCHENELLI - No, that s why we said consistently there s always important to have revenue streams and other roadway related funds. Because these are the projects and if you noticed if I ve never included a and we ve got some good size projects for examples we ve had Hills and Dales Road, Wales that was an issue 2 money. Harsh Avenue was an issue 2 when we resurfaced Harsh; Lincoln Way West was a partial was a combination of a lot of different funds together. We always said that these projects the big projects, the big ticket projects are the ones that we because of the small percentage that we have we have to come up because the bulk 90% of the money depended on what you ended up with. 90% of the money comes from the state, that s why you need additional dollars in those other funds. For example, vehicle license and this a perfect example, but now because of only 1.1 million dollars being available from the state the local share increase. Because the local share increases now you ve got to tap primarily capital improvement and if you want to do the project. COUNCILMAN BRYAN - Yeah, I have a couple. As long as we re on 27th Street did you say that it was just this week that you found out that the funding was only going to 1.1 million dollars? (Last week) Just last week, because I seem to remember somebody telling me that quite awhile ago. That it was only going to be a 1.1 million; we didn t know that for at least a couple of months? (No.) Okay. I heard from Steve Hamit before he left that the funding was cut and our share would have to be larger. MAYOR CICCHENELLI - Well, I think sometimes and I can t speak for people who are not here to discuss this. Whether it s 2 weeks or 3 weeks the fact of the matter is it was increased we know for a fact that the county knew about and informed us last week. It doesn t really matter to point fingers. Maybe he thought or assumed or thought it was going to be changed because some projects... COUNCILMAN BRYAN - He met with the township officials a couple weeks before he announced he was resigning. Did he to go over this? MAYOR CICCHENELLI - I don t know if he met with them. I think he talked to them, yes, he talked to them. They have a decision to make too and they should of course make their own decision on whether to spend $415,000 on this project. I mean that s a decision they re going to have to make. One other thing just FYI not to rain on anybody’s parade just FYI we’ve done an estimate of what it would cost to resurface 27th Street do no widening which takes a lot of property on the Perry Township side it’s been estimated at a $165,000 to resurface the existing roadway. That’s something food for thought because you need to understand that these things all cost dollars and you need to coordinate and prioritize. COUNCILMAN MANSON – Yes sir, you talking about a legitimate resurfacing or none of this skim coat thing that we discussed last year? MAYOR CICCHENELLI - We’re talking a legitimate resurfacing and if you want to know something I did mention that to Mr. Chessler that we would be willing to work with them and split the cost. So it wouldn’t even cost us a $165,000 that’s just an estimate that we share that with Perry Township. COUNCILMAN MANSON – How long before we know whether or not if Perry is ready to be involved in this? Do we have any idea at? MAYOR CICCHENELLI - He indicated that he would get on it immediately I think that’s going to be left up to them. I think what they have to do is go back and look at their budget what they have available per year in road resurfacing and determine if they want to spend as we speak $415,000 on this project. I mean that’s strictly economics where we’re at now. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - To explain to the newer members we will be excepting the Mayor’s proposed budget later in this meeting. But every item on here will have to be approved by its own legislation later on. So as Mr. Bryan and the Mayor has said this is a proposal it’s a road map. Mr. Mayor? SAFETY SERVICE DIRECTOR LOUDIANA – I just had two things. One, we are planning to conduct a tour of the sewer plant or the Wastewater Treatment Plant this Saturday I’m sure of the time. But if you want to email me Joe’s been out sick today and maybe tomorrow; we’ll know what time it will be. The other thing is I was kind of disappointed in the fact that the police cars were not on agenda for today, but I talked to Chairwoman Catazaro-Perry and she explained her thinking and possibly we’ll bring this up for a vote at a special meeting. I just want to reiterate to you how important it is to get this legislation passed. We have to have these cars ordered by the 17th or our next the next time we can get an order in is in August. Once we get the order in its 90 days till we get the car. We have 3 cars down with no motors, $2,000 a motor putting a new motor in plus other problems. So you can understand why I’m a little edgy to get this thing passed and I’m sure the chief would be glad to back me up on that. We have to give these people these police a cruiser to drive around in. The other cruisers their still running they’re in excess of 160,000 miles so I don’t know when those will go. So we have 2 coming and we’ve got these 4 we’d like order. Thank you. 6. INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS RESOLUTION NO. 2 2006 BY: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE COUNCILMAN MANG - As you remember at our work session L&W Associates decided to withdraw the letter of support for development out and near Noble Place. The reason for that being is that the land they felt was developable but the cost would exceed the rental that they had figured they would need. So I'm asking that Resolution No. 2 be brought forth for its question of passage with the idea of voting no. COUNCILMAN MANG moved to bring Resolution No. 2 for a vote, seconded by Councilman Peters RESOLUTION NO. 2 - 2006 WAS DEFEATED BY A ROLL CALL VOTE OF 9 NO. RESOLUTION NO. 3 - 2006 BY: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE COUNCILMAN MANG BYes, start with we need to amend Resolution No. 3 I think you have all have a copy of the amended resolution. What we're amending is the very last sentence on the first page. It now reads AMassillon Senior Housing is not targeted for any special needs population@ the correction that would like to make and is noted on the amended resolution Athe special needs population for Massillon Senior Housing will be seniors 55 and older@. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - Mr. Mang, is that the last clause of section 1, that will be final clause in section 1? COUNCILMAN MANG - That is correct in section 1. COUNCILMAN MANG moved for amendment to Resolution No. 3 - 2006, seconded by Councilman Townsend. COUNCILMAN MANSON - If you're amending it I don't see the emergency in here if you intend to act on it don't you need that in there to act on it tonight? COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - What we're amending is section 1 everything that follows after section 1 remains the same. I'm assuming that the original resolution had that language. If someone has that would they check? COUNCILMAN MANG - It does not the original resolution does not have that in there. But this resolution is up for its third reading anyhow. COUNCILMAN MANSON - I was just concerned that maybe amending it or leaving that out may force three readings its up to you guys. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER But council can suspend the rule with a vote which Mr. Mang will be asking for. COUNCILMAN MANG - Our intent was and still is to give it three readings. COUNCILMAN MANG moved for suspension of the rules and passage, seconded by Councilman Townsend. COUNCILMAN MANG - At this point then I would like to ask Tony Townsend who's the councilman for the ward for his suggestions and what he feels council should do with this piece of legislation. COUNCILMAN TOWNSEND - Well, most of us know that I held two meetings in the ward pertaining to the PIRHL Development and judging by the responses of residents who attended both meetings tonight I will be voting yes. COUNCILMAN MANG - You heard the recommendation of the ward councilman that is also the recommendation for the Community Development Committee. RESOLUTION NO. 3 - 2006 WAS PASSED BY A ROLL CALL VOTE OF 9 YES. RESOLUTION NO. 7 - 2006 BY: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE COUNCILMAN MANG - This Resolution No. 7 is having its second reading tonight. We also had some input from the seniors tonight regarding this NRP group. They've already in the process of building I believe 50 homes and they're looking to extend that to another 40 homes. I think it more than proper that I call upon the ward councilman to explain his thoughts and what his beliefs and what he thinks we should do. COUNCILMAN TOWNSEND - Well, the last meeting I held there were about 40 people there and they had concerns range from school overcrowding, overcrowding neighborhoods, stress on sewers, decline on property values, numerous vacant homes if tenants didn't make their rent, taking away green space, traffic, numerous concerns. Not many people showed up here tonight, but I still have the list of the people who were in favor I have the list of people were against; I have spoken to many people in the ward in person and by phone. The majority of the residents in ward 4 are not in favor of Phase II development of Massillon Homes. So tonight I'll be voting in support of the wishes of the residents in ward 4. COUNCILMAN MANG - Members of council I think the ward councilman put it pretty much squarely on our shoulders exactly how he feels about it. I guess what he's asking you to do is to look at it yourselves and if you want to support Tony he's more than happy to have that. But it's also an individual item. COUNCILMAN MANG moved for suspension of the rules and passage, seconded by Councilman Peters. The rules were suspended by a roll call vote of 9 yes. RESOLUTION NO. 7 - 2006 WAS DEFEATED BY A ROLL CALL VOTE OF 6 NO, 3 YES. MANG, MANSON AND FERRERO VOTED NO. RESOLUTION NO. 8 - 2006 BY: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE COUNCILMAN MANG - Yes, this piece of legislation came to council very late. Matter-of-fact, we basically introduced it to council at the work session last Monday evening. With the help of the paper the article was put in the paper stating that we would have a meeting at the high school on 7pm on Wednesday evening. I can tell you that it was well attended by council and by the developer beyond that that was the extent. I think we left at I don't know maybe 7:40pm at that point no one had shown up. After that Councilwoman Perry had felt that there was still a definite need to find out from these people she was afraid that they didn't see the newspaper or because of the day Ash Wednesday that may have made a conflict also. So she took it upon herself on Thursday to sent out approximately 40 letters at her expense to the residents that she thought would be affected and asked them if they had concerns about the project or questions about the project to be here this evening. As you know we had 3, 4, 5 people come to the microphone and just discuss their thoughts and ideas. At this point I'll ask Mrs. Perry thoughts. COUNCILWOMAN CATAZARO-PERRY - The phone calls that I did receive were all opposing the project. However, I have not made up my mind which way I am going to vote because I don't think we've heard enough from the residents in that area. What I would like to do is ask Councilman Mang if we could have another meeting on Monday maybe about 5:00 so that the residents can come and voice their concerns at that time. They also have my phone number on the letter they can give me a call between now and then and I'll have a better idea of how they actually feel. I do think it's a worth wild project, but it's not my neighborhood it's theirs and I want to make sure that they are happy with what goes in there. COUNCILMAN MANG - Mrs. Perry, I would certainly respect your wishes the timing I might be so it would have to be at 5:46 that we could have a full compliment of individuals here. But I would not have a problem asking for that. What you're asking me tonight to do is to give Resolution No. 8 - 2006 first reading. (Would you please?) Yes. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - Mr. Mang, may I ask this resolution involves an application that is due on March 16th so you would need to organize a special meeting next Monday if you wanted to vote on this. Is that what your intent is? COUNCILMAN MANG - Our intent will be to ask Council to have a special meeting before our work session next Monday evening. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - Okay, now is this informational meeting or a special council meeting? COUNCILMAN MANG - This will be a meeting to decide yes or no. COUNCILWOMAN CATAZARO-PERRY - At that time, that special meeting the residents will still have the opportunity to voice their concerns just as we always do is that correct? COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - If I might suggest. Go head with your 5:00 or 5:15 meeting with the residents then at 5:45 we can convene a special meeting to take a vote. That would be the third reading then for Resolution No. 8, you would have had 30 or 45 minutes to speak with the residents. Whatever council members wanted to show up could be there. How's that? COUNCILMAN MANG - It would actually be the second reading. I might ask does council have objections or other thoughts, the thought being Mrs. Perry wishes that the residents have every opportunity to address this issue like we given the other residents in the other areas the same opportunity. COUNCILMAN MCCUNE - Having been through this same type of situation I believe Kathy's doing the right thing in providing an opportunity for the residents to come and have their say. So I would support the special meeting. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - Alright, so we will have an informational meeting at 5:00pm, 5:15, 5:15 Madame Clerk would you please get the appropriate approval from three council members for a 5:45pm special meeting for second reading for Resolution No. 8. Can I see by show of hands now who would approve that special meeting, fine? So if you would make the proper notifications. COUNCILMAN BRYAN - Could I suggest that you leave the agenda open until possibly later tonight or tomorrow because we may want to add that one item that Safety Service Director Loudiana spoke about the purchasing the cruisers, appropriating the money for the cruisers. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - When we call a special meeting we have to specify exactly what will be discussed and only that can be discussed. So we will leave this open until the end of the meeting and if we do need to piggyback other issues we'll know by the end of the night. RESOLUTION NO. 8 - 2006 WAS GIVEN FIRST READING. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - Mr. Bryan, I'd sure like a motion for a 15 minute recess. COUNCILMAN BRYAN moved for a 15 minute recess, seconded by all. ORDINANCE NO. 38 - 2006 BY: ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITTEE COUNCILMAN MANSON - .first reading. ORDINANCE NO. 38 - 2006 WAS GIVEN FIRST READING. ORDINANCE NO. 39 - 2006 BY: PARKS AND RECREATION COMMITTEE COUNCILMAN BRYAN - As we discussed at the work session there was a misunderstanding or just a basically a lack of understanding. When Jay left on exactly how the purchase order system worked. So there weren't no blanket purchase orders requested by the department until after the bills arrived. This ordinance will recognize that and allow the Auditor to go ahead and pay these bills even though they were received and incurred before the purchase order was taken out. That's the best I can explain it if you need a better explanation I've got Craig is here and the Auditor is here. COUNCILMAN BRYAN moved for suspension of the rules and passage, seconded by Councilman Maier. The rules were suspended by a roll call vote of 9 yes. ORDINANCE NO. 39 - 2006 WAS PASSED BY A ROLL CALL VOTE OF 9 YES. ORDINANCE NO. 40 - 2006 BY: PARKS AND RECREATION COMMITTEE COUNCILMAN BRYAN - One of the rough mowers that's used down at the Legends has been in continuous use since the course opened. It's pretty well worn out. The other two mowers that this ordinance would enable us to buy would be used as trim mowers around the greens and the tees and they also would enable the staff to lower the rough heights in those areas which will also make play more enjoyable for us guys who can't hit the green and also speed play up. So if there's any questions like I said Mr. Immel is here I'd have him handle anything more technical than that except to say this was approved by the Park and Rec. Board at their meeting. COUNCILMAN BRYAN moved for suspension of the rules and passage, seconded by Councilman Mang. The rules were suspended by a roll call vote of 9 yes. ORDINANCE NO. 40 - 2006 WAS PASSED BY A ROLL CALL VOTE OF 9 YES. ORDINANCE NO. 41 - 2006 BY: RULES, COURTS AND CIVIL SERVICE COMMITTEE COUNCILMAN TOWNSEND - Yes, Mr. Immel spoke about this at the last work session. He discussed what we discussed was an increase in wages. Also he had mentioned the fact that he was eliminating a position pretty much that was what was discussed. COUNCILMAN BRYAN - I'd like to ask Mr. Immel to come and just put a little more detail on this for us if he could. CRAIG IMMEL - More detail. Basically, this is a revising of a pay scale that's been in affect for at least five years. I think it's very important to note that we don't intend to pay most of our staff this year anymore than what we have been starting them at for the last three years, four years really. It just gives us the flexibility down the road to perhaps hire an individual or two if their extremely well qualified at a slightly higher rate than what we currently are available to pay them. Again, it's just kind of upgrading the various pay classifications and we I don't have it right in front of me, but as we discussed at the work session; we eliminated a couple different lines actually one departmental line was actually reduced and it was just in hiring a new superintendent and analyzing our needs and what the current pay scales are we just felt they needed revised. COUNCILMAN TOWNSEND moved for suspension of the rules and passage, seconded by Councilwoman Ferrero. The rules were suspended by a roll call vote of 9 yes. ORDINANCE NO. 41B 2006 WAS PASSED BY A ROLL CALL VOTE OF 9 YES. ORDINANCE NO. 42 - 2006 BY: STREETS, HIGHWAYS, TRAFFIC & SAFETY COUNCILMAN PETERS - first reading. ORDINANCE NO. 42 - 2006 WAS GIVEN FIRST READING. ORDINANCE NO. 43 - 2006 BY: FINANCE COMMITTEE COUNCILWOMAN CATAZARO-PERRY - first reading. ORDINANCE NO. 43 - 2006 WAS GVEN FIRST READING. ORDINANCE NO. 44 - 2006 BY: FINANCE COMMITTEE COUNCILWOMAN CATAZARO-PERRY - This ordinance is to allow a decrease in pricing for Massillon residents and employees of the Legends Golf Course for the calendar year 2006, 18 holes from $2, 00 to $4.00 and 9 holes from $1.00 to $2.00. This we believe Mr. Immel stated at the work session that this would allowed for increased revenue because they believe it's going to be more of a positive for Massillon residents and employees of the Legends to golf; so in turn will increase the revenue. COUNCILWOMAN CATAZRO-PERRY moved for suspension of the rules and passage, seconded by Councilman Mang. The rules were suspended by a roll call vote of 9 yes. ORDINANCE NO. 44 - 2006 WAS PASSED BY A ROLL CALL VOTE OF 9 YES. 7. UNFINISHED BUSINESS - NOTHING 8. PETITIONS AND GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS - NOTHING COUNCILMAN MAIER - Mr. President, we have an Ordinance No. 45. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - Who all has an Ordinance No. 45? COUNCILMAN BRYAN - If I'm not mistaken I think it was prepared in case we wanted to add it to the agenda tonight. It was never added to the agenda. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - This is the change of the police age classification? Would you like to add that to the agenda? COUNCILMAN MAIER - It's under Rules, Courts and that would be up to Mr. Townsend. COUNCILMAN TOWNSEND - I would like to do first reading then. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - Alright, excuse me just one moment. Could I have a copy of Ordinance No. 45? Someone just had their hand up, Mr. Townsend? COUNCILMAN TOWNSEND - I have a question, could I do first reading; because it'sY COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - It's up to you whatever you would like to do. COUNCILMAN TOWNSEND - Could I add it to the agenda? COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - Well, yeah, first of all. We'll just by acceptance add it to our agenda we don't need to vote on that as such. It is at first reading you can do with it what you like. But I want to make sure that everybody has Ordinance No. 45? Raise your hand if you do not have Ordinance No. 45. Apparently we need about 5 copies. It might be appropriate if you wanted to ask the police chief to come forward and he can give you some guidance on that. COUNCILMAN BRYAN - Point of order and I don't mean to interrupt, but I'm uncomfortable with not taking a formal vote to add it to the agenda. First of all, I don't think I think we legally have to, secondly if this would become the subject of legal challenge which something like this could be then one of the things they would do is go back and look for some fault or defect in the way that it was passed. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - Point well taken, Mr. Townsend would you please make a motion toY We're following up with your question Mr. Mang. Alright, Mr. Mang? COUNCILMAN MANG - First of all, it should not be coming out of the Rules and Courts and Civil Service. The ordinance that we're appealing is Ordinance No. 68 - 1984 which comes out of Police and Fire. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - My recollection is that Mr. Maier was in the loop originally through email earlier in the week. I did think this was Police and Fire. Do you know it ended up in Rules and Courts? COUNCILMAN MAIER - No, sir I don't. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - Mr. Townsend, do you know how this ended up in Rules and Courts. COUNCILMAN TOWNSEND - No, I don't. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - Alright, I'm going to agree with Mr. Mang that this should come out of the Police and Fire Committee. Because it well hold on Mr. Mang. This is the result of getting things at the last limit. Obviously, we have some confusion so give us just a minute here to work through this. COUNCILMAN MANG - My second comment would be to add this to our special meeting next Monday. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - We'll hold all that first we need to get it on the agenda. Since it is in my opinion primarily something that should come from police and fire. Scratch out Rules and Courts and put Police and Fire Mr. Maier we need a motion from you to get it on the agenda and on the floor so we can discuss it. COUNCILMAN MAIER moved to bring Ordinance No. 45 forward on the agenda for tonight's meeting, seconded by Councilwoman Catazaro-Perry... Roll call vote of 9 yes to include Ordinance No. 45 - 2006. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - Alright, Mr. Maier, I think you read the same email as you did I don't know if everyone got it why don't you briefly outline what we're dealing with here. COUNCILMAN MAIER - What we're dealing with here is that the police chief would like to repeal a section of this that allows hiring up to age 70 I believe in which case that would go back to civil service law which would be age 21 to 35 which is basically what all other departments do around the state. I vaguely recall when this was put in years ago the list was very small and they raised the age limit at the time in order to get enough candidates for the police department. Having said that maybe I could call the police chief to the microphone and see if he has anything else to add. POLICE CHIEF WILLIAMS - Members of council, yes I have spoken to Civil Service Commission and this is my recommendation. First of all, I think you want to know that more than half of your police department at this point is over the age of 35. Just off the top of my head there's over 18 of us that's over the age of 40. There's only 44 officers on the police department. In order for us to continue our steps to become a progressive and professional police department we have to audit every process that we have and obviously hiring is one of the most important ones that we do have. Right now we really want to change this ordinance because right now I'll be I could potentially be confronted with a 55 year old man who's in excellent physical condition and does very well on the test. I don't want to have any age discrimination suits any of that nature. I think we need to be progressive as you said majority of police departments throughout the state have this state law. That's all we're asking is to repeal our current city ordinance one other thing I would like for you to be aware of is those of you who are not familiar with our retirement system actually police officers can retire at the age of 48. Right now I might have to hire someone at that age. Also we have what we call a drop program which is going to create very old police departments throughout the State of Ohio. Currently, right now I have 5 officers who ordinarily probably would be retired. But because of the lucrative incentives of the drop program these officers are going to stay a minimum of 3 more years and potentially up to 8 years just to reap the financial benefits. So what's going to happen regardless is your police departments is going to continuously age. We need some young officers out there because you realize who were dealing with. COUNCILWOMAN CATAZARO-PERRY - Chief Williams, if a gentlemen is just turned the age of 35 and say his wife was relocated for a job is the officer permitted to transfer into our police Department or would that be cut off for him as well. POLICE CHIEF WILLIAMS - Alright, first of all in the City of Massillon we do not have a lateral transfers. So that could be advantageous to departments that allow that where we could pick an experienced officer who may be a little bit older but he already comes with that experience. But in the Massillon Police Department you can not lateral transfer everyone starts at the bottom so to speak from a seniority stand point. COUNCILMAN MAIER - Chief, as far as this ordinance I would like to probably give it first reading tonight. Is there an urgency on this ordinance or can we wait until we have some discussion on this. POLICE CHIEF WILLIAMS - We'll for you understand the urgency and I'd also explain why it came in so late. Obviously, you all know we just recently appointed a gentleman to our civil service and now that the Mayor has given us permission to go ahead and put on a police test. That's kind of the logistics we had a civil service meeting and I met with the commission. I'd also just was able to meet with our Law Director this past Wednesday which immediately we then put this in the process and then I contacted who we thought was Tony Townsend who was rules and courts who we thought would have been handling this ordinance. So that's the reason for the delay. I would ask you all to I guess when what you're comfortable with, but to make this as expedient as possible because the sooner this is passed the sooner we can actually post for our police test. Then you understand the process this could be 3 to 4 months when we're actually able to hire someone. So we want to get this process going as soon as possible. COUNCILMAN BRYAN - I have a question, but not for the chief. I have a question for whoever might know and I think it might be the Clerk since she's down here everyday. Did the Law Director review this ordinance as it is written? COUNCIL CLERK MARY BETH - No, he did not. That's why I suggested the first reading. (Well, who did review it?) I emailed it to Bob Zadell. I didn't find this out until this afternoon about 3:00pm. COUNCILMAN BRYAN - I just don't think perhaps that it's properly written. So I would recommend that we give the Law Director a chance to look at it again before we actually pass it. PROSECUTOR BOB ZADELL - I think that's probably a good idea at this point. I would indicate that although you could put it forth for its first reading. If there are problems you know we'll just have to do it over. So I think that it should take long to take a look at it make sure that it's worded properly. Perhaps is it possible to get it into the special you are having a special meeting I don't know if it's possible to do it at that time. COUNCILMAN BRYAN - My opinion the second reading of this ordinance could be added to the special meeting agenda. It's been done before I believe. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - If we need to modify or amend the language we can do it at that point. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - Alright, Madame Clerk would you please add this to the agenda for our special meeting for second reading Ordinance No. 45. 9. BILLS, ACCOUNTS AND CLAIMS 10. REPORTS FROM CITY OFFICIALS A). MAYOR SUBMITS MONTHLY PERMIT REPORT FOR FEBRUARY 2006. - COPY FILE 11. REPORTS OF COMMITTEES COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - We will meet on the 13th Mrs. Catazaro has a meeting for 5:15 to discuss the Harsh Avenue project. We will have a special council meeting at 5:45pm. COUNCILWOMAN CATAZARO-PERRY - I move that we accept the Auditor's report, seconded by Councilman Bryan. Auditor's report was accepted by a roll call vote of 9 yes. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - It is officially accepted. Now Mr. Bryan and Mr. Mang can help me out here the reason we specifically make a motion and approve accepting the Auditor's report I believe that was part of the state audit recommendation a number of years back. Basically what that does is emphasizes the fact that you all have received the current financial information from the city and are expected to look at it every meeting. Is that pretty close to what happened Mr. Bryan? COUNCILMAN BRYAN - We had a, we get a recommendation every year from the State Auditor of things that they think we should do. That was one of the items it's beyond me why, but as long as it makes the State Auditor happy it's probably one of the easiest one we've ever had to take care. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - Alright, but officially puts everyone on record as having received it and hopefully digest it and understand it. 12. RESOLUTIONS AND REQUESTS OF COUNCIL MEMBERS COUNCILMAN MCCUNE - I was approached this week by a Mr. Hammer who was requesting that the city investigate the possibility of permitting another or a group of other cable providers into the City of Massillon. At that time I told him that I would bring it up before council and begin the process of seeing where that might lead. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - Alright, if you would like to do that verbally we can refer that to your committee since you're Chairman of Public Utilities. If you would like to put it in memo form that you're starting an investigation makes sure that we get a copy in the office. So at this point, consider it on your plate. COUNCILMAN MCCUNE - I will do so. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - Does anyone know when the where we are at in the contract with the cable company. We have no agreement? Alright. 13. CALL OF THE CALENDAR - NOTHING 14. THIRD READING ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS ORDINANCE NO. 26 - 2006 BY: FINANCE COMMITTEE COUNCILWOMAN CATAZARO-PERRY - It is my understanding that the city would like us to either table this indefinitely or vote no this, this evening. If I could ask for other council member's comments I would appreciate those. COUNCILMAN MANSON - Yes, at last week's committee session I said I thought maybe we should table it indefinitely. I think probably just to get it off of there it would be better to bring it forward for a vote and vote no. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - That would be my recommendation also is rather than having it hanging out there just recommend a no vote. Any other comments? COUNCILWOMAN CATAZARO-PERRY moved for a vote with the recommendation of a no vote, seconded by Councilman Mang. ORDINANCE NO. 26 - 2006 WAS DEFEATED BY A ROLL CALL VOTE OF 9 NO. 15. SECOND READING ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS ORDINANCE NO. 32 - 2006 BY: FINANCE COMMITTEE COUNCILWOMAN CATAZARO-PERRY - This ordinance is to have a step one of discovery phase of the computer hardware and software that the city has. We all are aware that the city is not connected; the departments are not connected completely. Some may be, but most are not. I do not see on the capital improvement list except for one area that we have a plan to improve this situation. So tonight I'm going to give this second reading and investigate this further. ORDINANCE NO. 32 - 2006 WAS GIVEN SECOND READING. 16. NEW AND MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS COUNCILWOMAN CATAZARO-PERRY - Upon receiving the capital improvement list this evening that I had requested last week. I understand that they were still working on this. I was called I believe last Thursday which would be March the 2nd to add onto the agenda 2 police cruisers and 2 sedans for the police department. I wanted to review the capital improvement list first I believe my committee members would agree with me that they would like to have seen that as well prior to tonight as this is a great responsibility that council has to approve this capital improvement list as far as completing it throughout the year. As the Mayor stated tonight possibly all these things would not be completed in 2006, but I believe we need to give council due time to review the list and prioritize the list. So I did not add the police cruisers or sedans on the agenda. That was in no way to undermine that there is an urgency to have this completed so that Mr. Loudiana can get those before August. So Mr. President, if we could add just the police cruisers onto the agenda for the special meeting Monday and then we can discuss the sedans at our work session. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - Okay, at this time you have a legislative request, but it's not been signed by the committee. COUNCILWOMAN CATAZARO-PERRY - The legislative request has not been signed by the committee as yet we can do that this evening. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - Alright, if you would do that get the proper signatures, the Clerk will then assign it an ordinance number and include that on the agenda for Monday. We will have three items Resolution No. 8, Ordinance No. 45 and whatever is going to be Ordinance No. 46 regarding the police cruisers. Mr. Bryan? COUNCILMAN BRYAN - On a separate matter, I just wanted to bring it up tonight I know it's been a long meeting. But the other day as I was driving around downtown I saw two Amish buggies and the horses tied up in the property by the Federal Avenue Pump Station there. That general area of Ohio Drilling and then later on I saw two under one of the viaducts tied up. That made me think about the email that we got last year and I really would like to see the City of Massillon find a place for these Amish buggies that would be an official place for them to park their buggies and it would be a safe place and there would be water for horses. You know they are people that come to our town and spend their money and I think that would be a great goal. If anybody in the Administration would like to work on that I would be glad to do anything I could to help. COUNCIL PRESIDENT GAMBER - Actually, I got the same letter today in the mail and I was going to assign that to our Streets and Highways Committees 17. REMARKS OF DELEGATIONS AND CITIZENS TO MATTERS NOT ON THE AGENDA 18. ADJOURNMENT COUNCILWOMAN CATAZARO-PERRY - I move that we adjourn, seconded by all. _________________________ ______________________________ |
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