Invocation was given by: Dr. Jerry A. Burton, Pastor followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Approval of Minutes – March 24, 2008
Copley moved to approve, upon roll call; Copley-Yes, Russell-Abstain, Beaumont-Yes, Lapehn-Yes, Johnson-Yes and motion carried.

Workshop

a. Discussion of Cost Saving Measures for the Fire Department
Fire Chief Don Sweigert advised he submitted the annual report for the fire department at the last meeting and the department averages 3 minutes and 10 seconds out the door, which for a volunteer department was very good and they had 190 runs last year. Sweigert advised cost saving to him meant he had a $173,000 a year budget and he indicated he felt he was expected to cut it and he like the department heads before him explained there wasn’t really much in the budget to cut, but he would share information with Council and they could determine together if anything could be cut.
Council Member Richard Lapehn with regards to the budget advised he doesn’t look for cost cutting per say, but felt with energy expenses going up if he could maintain the budget in the same ballpark it would be cost savings.
Sweigert indicated in 2007 the Rittman Fire Department received grants totaling $72,800.00 and they were able to purchase a brush truck with the $25,000 forestry grant. Sweigert presented a pie chart of the 2008 budget with the largest pieces indicating 42% were wages, which was pretty traditional and 13% attributed to maintenance and 12% was utilities for the fire station. He advised maintenance and preventative maintenance was important. Sweigert indicated the five-year FD expense trend has remained relatively consistent with a slight decrease in wages over those five years. Fire Chief Sweigert advised the percentage of wages to total operating expenses ranged from 42% in 2003 to 30% in 2007. He advised the lengthy fires have diminished some, but MVA’s (motor vehicle accidents) were up significantly. He advised the percentage of FD expenses to total city revenue ranged from 7.95% in 2003 to 4.12% in 2007. Sweigert advised the fire department was a fairly inexpensive department to run.
Finance Director Mann indicated those figures probably were more indicative of the general fund revenue and not the total city revenue.
Sweigert indicated the five-year trend for utilities ranged from $12,000 in 2003 to $16,000 in 2007 and the fuel costs went from $1,600 to $3,500 over that same span of time. Sweigert presented a graph with an hourly wage comparison indicating a firefighter rate of pay ranged from $8.00 to $9.00 an hour versus other miscellaneous hourly employees whose rate ranged from $6.85 to $17.00 an hour. Sweigert advised 42% of the fire department budget were wages, but yet the firefighters were on the low side of the pay scale compared to the rest of the city. Sweigert presented a graph displaying the average hourly rate of salaried department heads with the EMS Chief estimated at $21.50/hour, Police Chief at $26.00/hour, Service and Utilities Directors at $24.50/hour, Recreation Director at $17.00/hour based on a 40 hour week versus the Fire Chief who works 25 hours a week at an estimated rate of $6.40/hour. He advised he wanted to point out there wasn’t much to cut. However, Sweigert advised there were ways to cut costs and they do have insulated garage doors, but the seals have been there since the building was built and needed replaced and there were other issues where the snow was coming in underneath the doors. Sweigert indicated he felt they could also save with an initial investment for high efficiency lighting fixtures and a high efficiency water heater, but the return on the investment would probably be three to five years. Sweigert advised he didn’t have time to do the research for those items and indicated he spend five hours preparing for this meeting and 15-20 hours preparing the annual report.
Lapehn inquired if the EMS building had an insulated bay door.
Boggs advised he believed the new door was insulated.
Lapehn inquired if the bay lights were on 24/7.
Sweigert advised there were four that are (on continuously). He advised he believed the current ones were state of the art for their time, but there were newer and better ones on the market today.
Council Member Lynn Beaumont inquired as to how many volunteer fire departments there were in the area.
Sweigert advised he believed just about everybody was volunteer except for Wooster City, Wooster Township was supplemented by volunteers and Orrville had a full-time Chief, but was all volunteer firefighters and Chippewa had a full-time Chief and there were part-time people on staff during the day.
Beaumont inquired if he knew the comparison as to how many hours those fire chiefs work compared to how many he (Sweigert) works.
Sweigert advised he would have to check, as around here all the chiefs were pretty much full-time.
Beaumont advised it was hard to make a comparison with his position than any other in the city because he (Sweigert) was a part-time employee. Beaumont advised he wasn’t disputing his graph, but felt it was hard to compare his working 25 hours a week as a part-time employee as opposed to (other department heads) that were full-time employment. Beaumont inquired if there was any comparison (Council) could make with his (Sweigert) salary to any other (similar) department in the area.
Sweigert advised he could check Marshallville and Creston, as they didn’t have a full-time (fire) chief. He advised Orrville, Smithville, Town and Country, Seville/Guilford and Sharon, were all full-time chiefs. He advised he could also check Kidron, as they were not full-time.
Beaumont inquired if he was able to get all his work done working an average of 25 hours per week.
Sweigert advised he didn’t feel he was doing as good a job as what needed to be done. He advised he gets the fire reports done and the training done and he was usually at the station on Saturday completing the other stuff. Sweigert advised he felt there needed to be some more proactive stuff done such as inspections and he believed one of his captain’s have taken that bull by the horn, but there was additional stuff that doesn’t get done that was not a priority.
Beaumont inquired as to how he (Sweigert) felt the fire department was being run opposed to how it was being run before he took over.
Sweigert advised he wasn’t here so he couldn’t answer that.
Beaumont advised the condition of the department when he (Sweigert) took it over compared to what it is now.
Sweigert advised he felt the guys have made really huge strides and were really good people and they want to do what is right and he was merely the conduit. Sweigert advised he felt the previous (fire) chief did a fantastic job when he was first chief and he didn’t know what he did along the way. He advised these guys and gals have made great strides to make it a premier department once again.
Beaumont inquired if he (Sweigert) felt the city needed a full-time fire chief.
Sweigert advised no, he felt they needed a full-time Fire-EMS Chief. He advised he felt they could save money by combining the two departments. Sweigert advised he didn’t believe they needed a full-time Fire Chief unless he was a building inspector and they start an inspection program of the building and codes and the enforcement of those things, which was a decision beyond him. Sweigert advised they have to do certain inspections by state law of schools and pre-schools, but there were other things they should be doing. He advised currently there was an empty lot on Industrial Street with all kinds of shavings and pallets and should be dealt with as it was a fire code violation and there was an empty building at the square. Sweigert advised he has discussed this a number of times with the City Manager and he wasn’t around during the day, but these things needed addressed, but were not a priority because they weren’t hurting anybody.
Robertson advised there could be a job description written for a full-time position.
Sweigert advised there could be and he distributed such a job description.
Council Member Charles Copley advised he agreed with the assessment that there isn’t much cutting they could do with the fire department budget. He advised the fact that the wages were down he felt was a good testament to the fact there weren’t as many fires. He advised of course he would like to see even less fires although they had the equipment available in case there were, but it was best if they didn’t have any. Copley inquired of the fire chief if there was anything he would do differently to save the city money or provide an additional service to the city with little additional cost.
Sweigert advised personally he believed it would be the combination of the Fire and EMS Departments. He advised whether that was two or five years down the road he felt it made logical sense. He advised other municipalities that have had separate entities like this they combined the two. He advised currently he and the EMS Chief both belong to the International Fire Chiefs Association they get the same magazines and go to the same meetings. Sweigert advised he drives his personal vehicle and the EMS Chief drives his city vehicle. He advised there were some duplications and the added benefit to the city was if this were to happen they would put fire and EMS people on staff as opposed to just EMS people and you would provide a protection to the city during the day that most people who were volunteers were working outside the city (during the day). Sweigert advised he would help research it, as Chief Baillis and he have talked a number of times about doing that because that was his goal before he left that within two to five years they would have combined those two departments or at least get the process started.
Copley inquired as to how the 30 plus members of the fire department felt about an idea such as that.
Sweigert advised for the most part he believed as long as it was a thought out and logical process and they were all included in that process it would be a halfway decent process. However, Sweigert advised like anything else you were going to get 30 different opinions and 30 different ways to handle it and he felt it was the leaders job to focus the majority of the people in the right direction.
Copley advised he believed about half of them were on both departments already.
Sweigert advised about sixty percent were cross-trained.
Council Member Glen Russell advised he felt the Fire Chief gave a good report and he put a lot of time and effort into it and it was one of the better reports he has seen since he has been on Council. Russell advised he wasn’t here at the last couple of meetings, but from reading the minutes of the last meeting it appeared the fire chief was under scrutiny and was being put through a lot of stress. He advised he appreciates the fire department and as a past member of the fire department he knows what those guys go through and he felt they all have done an excellent job. Russell advised he felt (firefighters) stand above in the community and if we need them they are there. He thanked the fire department and the chief for their report. Russell advised if it isn’t broken don’t try to fix it and he felt the fire department was doing the best of their ability. He advised if someone was doing something wrong we would need to address it, but until we know that he felt they (Council) should let the departments and the chiefs in command handle their affairs.
Council Member James Johnson advised he agreed cutting stuff out of the fire department budget was hard. He inquired regarding maintenance of the equipment if it was safe to say those costs would drop again with the purchase of a new truck.
Sweigert advised they would still have preventative maintenance although they wouldn’t have as many emergency maintenance issues.
No further discussion.

b. Discussion of Street Improvements for 2008
Service Director Dave Simpson advised there was a question in a past meeting about the
cost of oil prices affecting the asphalt prices. He advised he thought he estimated the numbers pretty high last fall when he calculated $32 a ton to $45 a ton thinking it would certainly be a high enough number to estimate. Simpson advised he since made some phone calls and found out $50 a ton was a closer estimate and he revised his cost, which added about $5,000 to the cost of resurfacing Ohio Avenue and a few more dollars to the patch work on Ohio by the barbershop because of the increased asphalt cost.
Simpson advised the Motor Paving they bid as a commodity and those numbers have remained consistent and should be good to get the work done if they do these particular jobs.
Johnson advised he drove around (looking at the condition of the streets) and it was discussed once the weather heats up DeCourcey would really become a problem. Johnson advised whenever he drove Seneca Street however he about lost his in about three or four areas. He inquired if there was anyway they could consider Seneca Street. He advised he didn’t know if it was just a patch job or if it would have to be totally (resurfaced).
Simpson advised the volume of traffic on Seneca Street was not nearly the volume as DeCourcey or the other streets he proposed (College, Gish, W. Sunset [Rufener to DeCourcey]), but he felt if (Council approved) the DuraPatcher they could put in some patches that would hold up to the amount of traffic on Seneca.
Simpson advised he tried to base the list on those streets, which were the most traveled and these were almost all main roads although you may not think of Gish as a main road. Simpson advised a lot of people cut through on Gish and it was in terrible condition and really needed to be fixed.
Russell inquired of Gish if it could be fixed with the DuraPatcher.
Simpson advised they could but…He advised Gish Road was similar to the north part of DeCourcey Road in that it was motor paved 9-11 years ago. He advised motor paving was an asphalt emulsion and that emulsion has basically come away from the stone and the stone was pretty loose and in another year it would be all stone and it really needed to get the asphalt back into it.
Johnson advised he has noticed many streets and in the next couple of years felt they would need to do S. Main St. to the city limits. He advised this was the reason he felt they should focus on roads that absolutely need it this time around and see what they could get away with patching until they could get back (on schedule) as they were two years behind.
Simpson advised the rest of Ohio Avenue with the exception of Main to Fourth could go a few more years, but from Main to the city limits on Ohio Avenue it could use (a new asphalt surface). Simpson advised it was just that it was not as bad as the western part (Ohio Ave.) or some of these other roads. Simpson advised he believed with the DuraPatcher they could extend the life of some of these areas as the patching will last considerably longer than what they have been doing.
City Manager Boggs advised there were two issues Council needed to give us direction on and inquired if Council had any intention of putting assessments on the Ohio Avenue project. Boggs advised secondly, on Permissive Tax, they could increase it $5.00 as Orrville and Wooster currently do so. He advised it would solve all our problems, but give us a little extra (revenue) in future years for repairing the roads.
Johnson advised he believed if they were going to (pave) Ohio from Fourth to Metzger they were going to have to look at an assessment.
Beaumont advised he would agree as this (paving project) could basically wipe out our whole capital improvement funds and he didn’t know if that would be prudent. Beaumont advised no one wants to be assessed, but he didn’t feel the city was in a position where they could foot the bill. He advised looking at priority (streets) he felt they had to look at Ohio Avenue.
Johnson advised he believed it has been eleven years since Ohio Ave. was assessed. He advised what he was hearing from neighboring communities was the common practice was if they have to repave within ten years they didn’t want to assess again within that time frame.
Beaumont inquired as to the time frame for getting Ohio Ave from Fourth to Metzger.
Simpson advised it was only a three or four day paving job total, but it was a matter of when they would be able to go to bid. He advised if we do the assessment program it would probably the end of July until we could get to that point with the public hearings and notifications and ordinances and resolutions that have to be passed by Council.
Russell advised he didn’t believe anybody really wanted to be assessed, but he felt they really didn’t have a reason not to pave Ohio Avenue as he felt it was one of the worst streets in the city. Russell advised he didn’t feel it would be fair to not assess the people on Ohio Avenue and assess all those on the other streets they were planning on (paving). Russell advised he felt in order to be fair they should assess everyone.
Simpson advised the assessments in the past have always been on improved streets, which were those with curbs, gutters, storm sewers, etc. and the motor paving streets on the list were all unimproved streets. Simpson advised it would be a new policy of Council or the city to do assessments on those types of streets.
Boggs advised that was totally up to Council.
Johnson advised he didn’t want to see us drain our capital improvement money as they might have an emergency situation come up.
Boggs inquired if Council was telling him to bring legislation at the next meeting for assessments on Ohio Avenue as well as these other streets.
Johnson advised it was a long procedure and he felt if they wanted to get something done this year on these roads they needed to get started immediately.
Copley advised he agreed they needed to get the ball rolling and he agreed they needed to assess the portion of Ohio Avenue that was last done in 1997.
Boggs inquired if Council wanted him to bring (legislation) on all the proposed streets and they could make their decision on each at that time.
Johnson advised he felt that would be the appropriate way to do it.
Boggs advised the only one they might have a problem with was DeCourcey was half in and half out of the city limits. He advised he did have a conversation with the Milton Township Trustees that the city has a snow plow agreement (for DeCourcey), but they didn’t believe there was a maintenance agreement. Boggs advised they (township) might kick in some money on those unincorporated areas, which were the west side of the street. Boggs advised he would bring the legislation to Council and they could make a decision at the next meeting.
Russell advised he thought there was an agreement with Milton Township and that they have paid money toward paving.
Simpson advised they (township) have paid in the past for their portion of paving on that (DeCourcey) road. Simpson advised they (city) don’t have a written maintenance agreement with them (township), but part of Eastern Road was in Milton Township and part of Blough Road was in the City of Rittman and they have a written maintenance agreement where they take care of everything on Blough and we take care of everything on Eastern.
Russell inquired if they would be paving on DeCourcey from Sunset to Krabill or the whole length of the road.
Simpson advised all of it from Krabill to the cemetery, (the west side) would be half Milton Township.
Lapehn inquired as to how motor paving was different than chip and seal.
Simpson advised part of the stone and approximately three inches thick. He advised chip and seal was No. 8 stone ¼” to 3/8” and motor pave goes down with ¾” stone, 57- limestone and the top was choked with the No. 8 stone.
Lapehn advised you weren’t building those streets, just paving.
Simpson concurred and advised they would have to do some berm work especially at the driveway approaches.
Boggs inquired if Council wanted him to bring legislation regarding increasing the permissive tax.
Lapehn advised yes.
Russell inquired as to how much (revenue) that would bring in.
Boggs advised he would try to find out.
Johnson inquired as to how soon they had to get bids out to be able to complete the paving work this year.
Simpson advised he was assuming the work load would light this year as the State of Ohio doesn’t have much money to do many paving projects so he believed the contractors would be “hungry” and he believed they could bid as late as August and get it done if they have to and if they could live that long with Ohio Ave.
No further discussion.

Citizens Forum
Randy Evans of North Street thanked the Fire Chief for his presentation. He advised he believed for a part-time underpaid chief he did an excellent job.

Old Business - None

New Business

a. Proclamation – National Telecommunicator’s Week
Mayor William Robertson proclaimed April 13 thru April 19, 2008 as National
Telecommunicator’s Week in the City of Rittman in honor of the men and women whose diligence and professionalism keep our city and citizens safe.

b. Ord. No. 7482 An Ordinance of the Council of the City of Rittman, Wayne
and Medina Counties, Ohio Authorizing the Municipal Manager to Enter into a Cell Tower Ground Lease Agreement with Verizon Wireless for Use of Cellular Services and Declaring an Emergency. First Reading.
Ord. No. 7482 was read on first reading.
Boggs advised he didn’t have a finalized copy of the contract as yet.
Lapehn advised they were looking at approximately $1,500 to $1,800 a month.
Boggs advised the numbers were pretty set, but the part he didn’t have finalized yet was the part that gives the city protection as they have police, fire and EMS city radios at this location. He advised they need an interference clause as well as the city doesn’t have an emergency generator and they (Verizon) agreed to supply us with our own. Boggs advised he wanted to make sure Council was behind this (project) and gave him the authorization to finalize this contract.
Lapehn inquired if the receipts would go to the general fund.
Boggs advised yes, unless Council wanted it to go someplace else.
Beaumont inquired as to how they came up with the $1,800.
Boggs advised during negotiations they asked him what the current contract amounts were for and he told them they were between $1,850 and $2,400 and they negotiated the cost. He advised these costs have dropped and he has received some pressure from other cell companies to renegotiate their contract. Boggs advised after doing some research he risked losing them by saying no and so far they haven’t pulled their cell tower. Boggs advised he wasn’t too concerned about interference as there was one at this location previously. He advised it would look similar to what was on the water tower currently.
Copley moved to place on second, all Yeas on roll call and motion carried.

b. Ord. No. 7483 An Ordinance of the Council of the City of Rittman, Ohio,
Wayne and Medina Counties Authorizing the Municipal Manager to Enter into a Lease Agreement to Purchase a DuraPatcher Machine and Declaring an Emergency.
Three Readings. Ord. No. 7483 was read on first reading.
Boggs advised the finance director would like to amend the language in section one to include the language pursuant to the payment schedule as outlined in attached Exhibit “A”.
Lapehn inquired as to the lifespan of this machine.
Simpson advised at least fifteen years. He advised the training was part of the purchase price and when the company delivers the machine they schedule training time with our men on our streets with our new machine.
Lapehn inquired as to where they would keep the material with which to patch.
Simpson advised the stone they would keep in a pile and the emulsion tank was 300 gallons on the machine and should last 3-4 days of patching and then they would have to go to Wooster to pick up the emulsion.
Lapehn inquired if it couldn’t be delivered.
Simpson advised they had to go get it, as it had to be warm when it was transferred from one tank to another. Simpson advised this company does lease these tanks, which hold 3,000 – 4,000 gallons of material, but he didn’t feel it was something to consider, as the drive was only 20 miles away to pick up the material.
Lapehn advised they would have a full tank and say the first week of every month they would try to patch and use the material in the tank and then next month look again and see what needed to be done.
Simpson advised hopefully the machine would be used a lot more often in order to pay for itself. Simpson advised if we go through a tank (of material) in a week and a half and there were more potholes and roads to repair, we would go get another tank.
Russell inquired as to how soon they could get this (equipment) delivered.
Simpson advised 6-8 weeks.
Johnson inquired if the funds for this would be coming out of the capital improvements every year.
Finance Director Lucinda Mann advised yes.
Russell moved to suspend the rules and have second and third reading, all Yeas on roll call and motion carried. Ord. No. 7483 was read on second and third reading.
Johnson moved to amend section one to include the language pursuant to the payment schedule as outlined in attached Exhibit “A”, all Yeas on roll call and motion carried.
Copley moved to adopt as amended, all Yeas on roll call and motion carried.

City Manager’s Remarks
City Manager Larry Boggs advised the recycling program was off and running and they have had two winners so far on the contest and they hoped to have a third tomorrow. He advised the recycling committee has met several times and they have applied for an $80,000 grant and if they were successful in all or part of this grant they would be able to add some equipment to help in recycling efforts.
Boggs welcomed Council Member Glen Russell back to the meeting who had been absent and advised he was glad he was back healthy and sound and he appreciated him.
Boggs advised the department heads would be starting work on their budgets and inquired if Council wanted each department head to come to present at the meetings individually or did they want to do the budget as a whole. He advised if Council wished it to be done individually they would have to start fairly soon around August or September.
Russell advised he felt it would be better if they did it individually and break it down by department.
Copley and Johnson advised they would prefer one (department) at a time.
Boggs advised they had a committee with union members and city employees regarding our healthcare insurance. He advised they were surprised this year to get some nice quotes, which would actually save money. Boggs advised he was hopeful to have a proposal at the next meeting and if they could get all the loose ends tied up and all the paperwork done they might save an additional months worth of healthcare insurance.
Beaumont advised the City Manager mentioned the Community Development Block Grant in his memo and inquired as to what happed.
Boggs advised the state has a new formula and don’t have as much money and the letter basically states any (entity) under a direct city (wouldn’t receive funding). Boggs advised they were listed as a direct city, but (Rittman’s funding) allotment was going to be under $30,000 and apparently anyone under $30,000 that money was put into the county pot and have to go after it the same as any other entity.
Beaumont inquired as to how much we received last year.
Boggs advised $33,000 and they have fluctuated under $30,000 once or twice over the last three or four years.
Beaumont advised so they were competing again for those funds.
Boggs advised he was assuming all the villages going after money…
Robertson advised anyone except Wooster and Orrville.
Boggs agreed and advised they get their own allotment (of funds) and we (Rittman) normally did too and it was basically applying for a program that previously only had to meet the criteria. He advised this year they would be in the midst of who had a better project and the most worthwhile. Boggs advised Simpson and he talked and the condition of the sidewalks on Fairlawn Avenue, which were a direct access to the schools, were atrocious and decided to go after that project. Boggs advised the grant applications have to be in by the end of the week and he was hopeful they would be able to show a good need for that money. Boggs advised he was also hopeful those on the CDBG Committee would also recognize the fact Rittman’s allocation went into that pot of money the county has a little more control over now.
Russell inquired if they could include Liberty Street.
Boggs advised he could, but he didn’t believe they would give (Rittman) any more money than they normally have been given.
Russell indicated he received a call and a couple families close to Main Street on Liberty Street would like to have a street sign for motorists advising them to slow down due to children playing in the area. Russell advised he believed there was a school sign that stated 25 mph and he reiterated a story of a child who was hit by a vehicle in this area. Russell advised he has noticed the last several months in that area there were parked cars and children crossing after school and so forth. Russell advised he thought the sign should be placed somewhere between Fairlawn and Main on Liberty Street. He advised it might also be a good idea for extra revenue to have a police cruiser in the area (during heavy traffic times).
Service Director Dave Simpson advised the city insurance company a few years ago advised them to remove every “SLOW - Children at Play” from the city because it was an extreme liability, as there was an ordinance on our books that refers to a play street and the fact that there was a sign posted that said “SLOW-Children at Play” (conveys) that the kids were allowed to play in the street and it was your (driver of vehicle) fault you ran into them. Simpson advised it opens up a liability. He advised the city received a second letter from the insurance company stating they weren’t going to ask us to remove them all, but to please not install any new ones and as the existing become faded and worn to get rid of them.
Boggs advised he wasn’t aware of that.
Russell inquired as to how they could protect the kids, as he didn’t feel any of them (children) were purposely playing in the street.
Mayor Robertson advised he thought the school zone sign would have more impact.
Russell advised his concern was if a ball goes in the street everyone knows what their (children) reaction (would be). He advised he felt they needed to slow the speed down a little bit and maybe that would help.
Boggs advised he felt they could legally post the school zone sign.
Russell advised he would hate to see someone get hurt.
Boggs advised he wasn’t aware of (the liability issue) Dave just mentioned. Boggs advised he would double check with the insurance company.
Russell inquired of the Law Director if he had any advice regarding this issue.
Solicitor Bower advised Mr. Simpson was right, as the city received a letter stating these signs be taken down or not replaced. Bower advised he felt the City Manager’s idea was good to give it more teeth and simply expand it into a school zone.
Russell inquired if it was the same for other insurances and other cities and advised he has noticed these types of signs in other cities and wondered if their (ordinance) reads differently than ours.
Bower advised there was some litigation as some cities were sued because there were not signs up and they received some large jury verdicts against the city on the theory the city was negligent in not posting it. Bower advised hence, we received the letter to let the signs die on the vine and don’t replace them or put new ones up because they would be inviting a significant judgment the insurance companies would have to payoff and they don’t want to payoff on.
Robertson advised they could install a sign stating school zone stating 20 mph between the hours of 8:00 am to 4:00 p.m.
Boggs advised it could only be enforced during school hours.
Robertson advised that was probably the worst time was school hours. He advised the reason he felt they were parking on Liberty was to pick kids up.
Russell advised he didn’t believe that was the case, but rather it was most of the time and with spring it seemed to be a lot of kids in that area. He advised that was the complaint he got from two or three families in that area and it wasn’t just school hours, but after hours.
Boggs advised and then there would be the summer. Boggs advised he would speak to the insurance company, but if they tell him the same answer he would hold off (installing such a sign) until they figure out something else.
No further comments.

a. Approval of Financial Report for March
Russell moved to approve, all Yeas on roll call and motion carried.

b. Finance Director’s Remarks
Finance Director Lucinda Mann advised Council asked for a breakdown of
what (monies) would be available for the street improvement project and if (Council) wants to use the Permissive Tax Funds available through the Wayne County Engineer, they need an ordinance to authorize the City Manager to obtain the release of those funds for DeCourcey and Ohio Avenue. Mann advised she didn’t know if Council wanted to use all of the Perm Tax Funds available or keep some back and use what is available in capital improvements. She advised she needed some guidance from Council as to what they wished to do. Mann advised she was assuming Council wanted to use some of the Perm Tax money and inquired if they wanted to have legislation prepared to authorize such.
Council was in agreement to have legislation prepared to release Perm Tax Funds from the Wayne County Engineer.
Mann advised they might want to have two ordinances specifically for the motor paving, which was already bid and part of the commodity bid. Mann advised they could use the money toward DeCourcey to do that portion. Mann advised when we know more about the bids for Ohio Avenue we could ask for more from (the Wayne County Engineer’s Office). She inquired if that sounded reasonable.
Council concurred.
Mann advised she was glad to see Mr. Russell back with us.

Council Remarks
Council Member Glen Russell advised he was glad to be back. He thanked Council, the Mayor and the city employees for the beautiful flowers sent to him while he was in the hospital. He advised it was going to take a little time to get back to full strength, but he was on the mend now and he appreciated all the thoughts and prayers. He advised he was glad to be here tonight and he thanked everyone for coming.
Russell advised he read about the proposed sewer line to the Apostolic Nursing Home and inquired as to where we stood with that (issue).
Boggs advised it wasn’t turned down, but a highly educational experience dealing with the Wayne County Planning Department. Boggs advised the area he proposed for the 201 Plan was defined from what they read on the Internet as what was part of the 208 or Regional Plan of Northeast Ohio and the 208 controls all the 201’s. He advised his definition of the 201 was an area in or outside the municipality that could handle sewer lines being run to our sewer plant. In other words, he advised it was an area that we (Rittman) were capable of serving…our plant had that capacity. Boggs advised some people in the county administration viewed it (Rittman’s proposed 201 Plan) as a license for high-density growth. He advised there was a lot of discussion at the meeting on the definitions and he agreed to go with the 201 extension, which runs along 57A to the Apostolic Nursing Home on Steiner Road at this time. Boggs advised the Wayne County Planning Department agreed they should review the 201 process and come up with definitions and criteria that any municipality or local government would have to go through to exercise a revision of the 201. Boggs advised he doesn’t look at it as something they failed in, but rather it was something the definitions were definitely different between our research and the Planning Departments research and he was hoping the process would become easier or at least more defined and every governmental entity will know what to expect the next time they propose a revision of their 201. He advised in talking with some other local governments there has been a lot of despair and confusion over this process and hopefully it would be (better) defined in the future. Boggs advised he didn’t believe it would be an easy task, but at least they were talking about it.
Mayor Robertson concurred and advised they did leave the door open that if they get a good definition we could then fit certain parts of that area into the definition and would be willing to reconsider.
Boggs advised he felt the big problem was they (Wayne County) look at it as prime farmland and some are afraid it opens the door for development and he disagreed. Boggs advised as he stated in the meeting the property owner has to want to develop and the city couldn’t force them to develop just as the farm bureau couldn’t force them to keep it farmland. He advised they (property owner) had to want to do something or not do something with their land.
Robertson advised Larry (Boggs) did a great job on behalf of the city and made it very clear and presented a strong case and he felt they had quite a bit of support.
Boggs advised he didn’t want to put the Apostolic Nursing Home and Church in the middle of politics. Boggs advised in the middle of the session he felt a couple of the commissioners said they were thoroughly confused about the definition of what a 201 Plan really was and he thought that says a lot as everybody was confused.
Russell inquired if there was going to be a committee that revises it.
Boggs advised no, there was a motion made to amend our (Rittman’s) 201, which he agreed to do, and it passed. He advised it now goes to NEFCO, which was the regional planning commission for Northeast Ohio. Boggs advised as he understands it since the Wayne County Planning Department has passed it was it could go to EPA for permits if they want to move that fast and NEFCO would look it over and if they didn’t see any problems it should go through without any problems. Boggs advised he has never been through those hearings so he didn’t know, but he was told that once the Planning Department in Wayne County it was…
Russell advised so he didn’t think the process would be as long…
Boggs advised they have been approved and the Apostolic Nursing Home has already had an engineer onboard. Boggs advised Cary (Metcalf, Utilities Director) and he to be safe want to have our own engineer review the process for the tie-in. Boggs advised he would say they would be getting started on this (project) this summer.
Council Member Richard Lapehn advised he wanted to second the remarks of Russell earlier regarding the Fire Chief, as he too felt it was a wonderful report and he appreciated all the time and energy he put into the terrific report. Lapehn advised he wanted to comment about combining the Fire and EMS Departments with one chief. He advised it sounded as if that was the direction that most (such departments) have headed.
Sweigert advised Seville was the most recent department to do so, as the Village of Seville owned the EMS and Guilford Township owned the Fire Department within the last couple of years they have combined.
Lapehn advised he could see how he wouldn’t want to duplicate services or jobs for both departments. He advised he felt we have such quality people in both departments in leadership roles. He advised it would be interesting to consider, but he would hate to lose quality people. Lapehn advised maybe 10-15 years down the road everything would be smoothed out, but in the meantime it sounded as if there would be some rolling in the water and he didn’t know what would happen from there. He thanked him for the suggestion and for his excellent report.
Council Member James Johnson thanked everyone for coming and he echoed the positive comments about the Fire Chiefs report. He advised maybe one day the city would follow the trend, as he envisions seeing it happen himself down the road.
Council Member Lynn Beaumont advised it was a very good report. He advised he totally agreed he was way underpaid, as there wasn’t any question about that.
Sweigert advised it wasn’t about the pay.
Beaumont advised he understood that and he still felt that was something, which needed to be considered.
Beaumont advised regarding the roads he felt it should be made crystal clear to all the citizens that we drive on the roads too and we understand the problem, but he felt they really needed to emphasize the fact we (the city) needed to be fiscally responsible. Beaumont advised they could very easily spend all of our capital improvement money and really have us in a pickle down the road. He advised he felt they also needed to emphasize that they were working towards trying to get these streets squared away.
Beaumont advised at the last meeting there was a major amendment proposed to a piece of legislation and it was passed. He advised he hasn’t totally researched it yet, but he wanted to let Council know if that happens again he would not vote on any legislation where on third reading they make a significant amendment. Beaumont advised he didn’t feel it was legislatively correct and he felt if they were going to change the tenure of the legislation he felt they should start all over again. Beaumont advised he would think if they were going to do that (add a significant amendment), his position would be that the legislation should be tabled until they get the proper verbiage in the ordinance. He advised the change they made the last time dealt with Chief Sweigert and how his pay was going to be computed and he felt that was a major from where they first started on that legislation. Beaumont advised looking back he personally felt it was wrong and he didn’t know if they (Council) would want to revisit that issue again with other legislation, but from his own perspective he will not vote on other legislation if they were going to be making major amendments especially when it was on third reading.
Council Member Charles Copley thanked everyone for coming. He advised as he promised he would do the pay ordinance (attachment) and he has looked at it over the past couple of weeks and look for inconsistencies between the pay ordinance and the codified. He advised he submitted to the City Manager and the Clerk his (proposed) recommendations so they could be put into ordinance form for the next meeting. Copley advised basically what he looked at was anything that had double language in the codified ordinance as well as the pay ordinance. He advised he replaced the double language with just a reference to the codified: that way in the future if there were changes Council wished to make they could make it in the codified and didn’t have to worry about going back to the pay ordinance and fixing it there. He advised it was his belief they shouldn’t have the same language in two spots so that it takes two ordinances to fix one thing. Copley advised hopefully they could have an ordinance in front of them at the next meeting and cover that (issue).
Mayor Robertson advised he wanted to remind people that on Wed., April 23rd Rails to Trails would be having their annual meeting at the recreation center here in Rittman at 7 pm. Robertson advised he was inviting a lot of people to come to it and he would like to continue to show Rittman’s support for the Rails to Trails, as he felt it would have a significant positive economic impact on our city. He advised it was a 2.5 million dollar project, which was pretty close to completion. He advised they were still looking for about $700,000 from the state. He advise it would be great if they had a lot of people turn out and get an update on the Rails to Trails and the newest set of plans were in the City Hall office if anyone was interested in looking at them. Robertson advised they were down to about four landowners they were still negotiating with for portions of the property, so they were getting pretty close to being a reality, which should be pretty good for us.

a. Approval of Vouchers 48306 thru 48424 Including Then and Now
Certificates Questions were asked regarding #’s 48366, 48354, 48359, 48393 and 48407. Copley moved to approve, all Yeas on roll call and motion carried.

Motion to Adjourn – 8:45 p.m.
Johnson so moved, all Yeas on roll call and motion carried.