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11/01/2021 City Council MinutesITEM 1: CALL TO ORDER APPROVED AS SUBMITTED FAIRLAWN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 1, 2021 President Russell Sharnsky called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. ITEM 2: PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ITEM 3: ROLL CALL Present: Mayor Roth, here; Mr. Russell T. Sharnsky, here; Mrs. Maria Williams, here; Mrs. Barbara Potts, excused; Mr. Todd Stock, here; Mr. Philip Brillhart, here; Mr. Michael Detorakis, here; and Mrs. Kathleen Baum, here. Also present: R. Bryan Nace, Director of Law; Lieutenant Mark Schlegel, Police Division; Acting Fire Chief/Captain Rich Dobson, Division of Fire and Emergency Rescue Services; Bill Arnold, Commissioner of Zoning/Housing and Residential Chief Building Official; Ernie Staten, Director of Public Service; Mark Ludwig, Director of Finance; and Jacob Kaufman, Tax Administrator/Assistant Director of Finance; Laurie Beisecker, Director of Parks and Recreation; and Tonja Caldwell, Clerk of Council. Mr. Sharnsky: We do have a quorum present. We will follow the pre-printed agenda. For our visitors, there are copies available in the back of the room. At this time, could you please check to see that your cell phones or any electronic devices are placed on silent mode? ITEM 4: APPROVAL OF MINUTES Mr. Sharnsky: Our first item of business is approval of our regular meeting minutes from October 18, 2021. I believe everyone has received a copy in draft format. Are there any corrections or additions to the meeting minutes as they were presented? [There was no response.] If there are no corrections or additions, will the Clerk please call the roll for approval of the October 18, 2021 regular meeting minutes as they were submitted? Mrs. Caldwell: VOTE ON THE APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF OCTOBER 18, 2021: Potts, excused; Stock, yea; Brillhart, yea; Detorakis, yea; Baum, yea; Sharnsky, yea; Williams, abstain. Five yea, one abstention, and one excused on the approval of the October 18, 2021 meeting minutes. ITEM 5: PETITIONS, CLAIMS AND COMMUNICATIONS Mr. Sharnsky: Have we received any petitions, claims or communications since our last meeting? Mrs. Caldwell: Nothing at this time. Mr. Sharnsky: Thank you. Now we'll move on to our Reports of City Officials. We'll have our reports from the Administration. As usual, we'll begin with Mayor Roth. ITEM 6: REPORTS OF CITY OFFICIALS MAYOR'S REPORT, MAYOR ROTH Mayor Roth: Good evening Mr. President, Council, Cabinet and those in the audience tonight. Just a few things to report on. The last budgets to have to come before Council will be the Service Department and the FairlawnGig budget. I anticipate at your next committee meeting we'll be able to discuss those at length. In addition to that, we'll Pagel of8 Fairlawn City Council November 1, 2021 APPROVED AS SUBMITTED have a better look at the capital budget for this year coming up. So again, I would expect those to be subject to discussion at your next committee meeting. In your packet tonight, we do have a resolution honoring Lieutenant Mark Adams who retired last year. I would note that he's not here tonight as we can see, so I would ask that this be held in committee until a time when he decides if he wants to come in and personally accept it, or whether he just wants it passed and delivered to him. At this point, we don't know yet. The next thing I would like to call your attention to is, today being November 1 s1, it's the first day of what they call the Witness Tree. We started this I believe last year or the year before, but we moved the tree from where it was right by South Smith to down by the memorial where the three flags are in the park. As we all know Veteran's Day comes up on November 11th marking officially what started the end of World War I; the 11 th month, the 11 th day, at the 11 th hour. That's when the fighting actually stopped, but the Treaty of Versailles really wasn't signed until six or seven months later. Having said that, through the years our Country has honored Veteran's Day mainly marking those who have served and those who have passed in their service overseas or those who were wounded. Several years ago they started what they call the Witness Tree, and that's for veterans that returned that have the invisible scars that deal with issues that we can't imagine or that we may not perceive, and when they come back to communities one thing is they need support. The tree was put out there with contact information on it, so if someone is suicidal they can call or reach out for help. What's sad is we average 22 suicides a day by veterans in the United States. It's been that way for several years. In the next eleven days, there's hanging of additional dog tags on the tree down there. It's by our veteran's group and our police officers are also present and Lieutenant Schlegel will add a little more detail to that. I just wanted to call to everyone's attention, and it is down there in the park. This year the Veteran's ceremony is on the 11th• We're still awaiting details to see what type of ceremony it will be. Other than that, I'll comment on legislation as needed and that concludes my report. Mr. Sharnsky: In addition to the Mayor's comments on Resolution 2021-052 recognizing Lieutenant Mark Adams for his service for the City, all of council has a revised draft of that resolution sitting at your place. The resolution was drafted a while ago and because of Covid concerns, it was not presented and since that time there's been some changes in Mark's life that they wanted to include in the resolution. That's the reason why you have a new copy. That' II replace the resolution that was originally put in your packet. At this time, are there any questions or comments from members of Council for the Mayor? [There was no response.] DEPARTMENT OF LAW, R. BRYAN NACE Mr. Nace: Good evening, Mr. President. I have no report this evening. Mr. Sharnsky: Anything further for Mr. Nace this evening? [There was no response.] Thank you, Mr. Nace. POLICE DIVISION, POLICE CHIEF TERRY WISENER (EXCUSED) Lieutenant Schlegel: Good evening, Mr. President and members of Council. To add on to what the Mayor addressed with our Memories Tree, we have sent officers down there every day to hang dog tags in memory of all those veterans and we do look forward to hopefully having a ceremony next Thursday. I will let the Mayor know about that and anybody is welcome to attend. Additionally, we had trick-or-treat last night. There were thankfully no incidents, there was definitely an uptick in the number of kids, and everything went really well. That concludes my report. Mr. Sharnsky: Anything further for Lieutenant Schlegel this evening? [There was no response.] Nothing? Okay, thank you. Page 2 of8 Fairlawn City Council November 1, 2021 APPROVED AS SUBMITTED DIVISION OF FIRE AND EMERGENCY RESCUE SERVICES ACTING FIRE CHIEF/CAPTAIN RICH DOBSON Captain Dobson: Good evening, Mr. President and members of Council. I would just like to reiterate what Lieutenant Schlegel said about trick-or-treat last night. It went very well and was conducted in a safe manner by everyone. That's all I have. Mr. Sharnsky: I just wanted to thank the Police Department and the Fire Department for their presence out in the community. We had a number of officers and probably most of your department out traveling around last night. I think the kids get a thrill. I think one of the EMS vehicles was handing out candy as well. Probably all of them, but the one in my neighborhood was. Anything further for Acting Chief Dobson this evening? [There was no response.] Thank you. BUILDING AND ZONING DEPARTMENT, WILLIAM ARNOLD Mr. Arnold: Thank you, Mr. President and members of Council. One quick announcement. Planning Commission that was scheduled for Tuesday, November 16th has been cancelled. There were no applicants for this month. That concludes my report. Mr. Sharnsky: Anything further for Mr. Arnold? [There was no response.] Thank you, Mr. Arnold. DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING, NICK SPAGNUOLO {EXCUSED) Mr. Sharnsky: Is there a report from the City Engineer this evening? Mayor Roth: Mr. Staten will be handling that in his report. Mr. Sharnsky: Mr. Staten? Mr. Staten: Good evening, Mr. President and members of Council. I'm happy to say that all pavement has officially been placed on Cleveland-Massillon Road. All the barrels should be off the road. Tomorrow there will be a little bit of striping that will go on and the rest of the week we'll look to do some concrete sidewalk and a little bit of curb work. For the most part, we'll be able to travel on all lanes. Considering the last two weeks, we've had quite a bit of rain to only be a day late on our proposed date for this. I think we did alright. Mr. Sharnsky: After the last few items that you just mentioned, does that finish the work for this year other than the landscaping which you'll pick up in the spring? Mr. Staten: No, they'll keep working. There're quite a few punch list items that they need to address. They'll keep working until the weather gets to the point where they can't, but all of those items have really been paid for up to this point. They're just fixing small issues and then as you said the landscaping. We do have the lights that will be on the west side from Elgin to 18. For those, we're waiting on the poles. The poles are supposed to be here in February, so we probably won't landscape anymore on the west side knowing that we would just destroy the landscaping with the new poles, so that landscaping will probably take place in the spring. The last item out of Engineering, we had three different AMA TS applications that we sent to AMA TS just to have them look at. If they agree to them, then you' II see legislation in front of you allowing the Mayor to sign those. Hopefully we get one of the three. One is Cleveland-Massillon with Summit County, the other one is Miller Road with the City of Akron, and the last one would be a trail from Ridgewood to the exit ramps at 77 to connect our multi-use trail all the way from Ridgewood down. That concludes Engineering. Mr. Sharnsky: Any questions or comments for Mr. Staten on the Engineer's report this evening? Page 3 of8 Fairlawn City Council November 1, 2021 APPROVED AS SUBMITTED Mr. Stock: Do those three go in the order of your desire to get them completed? Mr. Staten: We took the lead on the Cleveland-Massillon project, Akron's taking the lead on Miller Road, and Summit County Engineer is taking the lead on the trail. The trail will be three different jurisdictions. We'll pay the local share and then we're hoping to get federal money. The three would be us, Copley, and Summit County Engineer. Mr. Stock: Thank you. Mr. Sharnsky: Anything else? [There was no response.] DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SERVICE, ERNEST STATEN Mr. Staten: Out of the Service Depatiment, leaf pick-up started last week and there was a pick-up today. The rest of the Mondays in November are the leaf pick-up dates. I think we're going to hit it pretty decent. It seems like this coming week will be the heavy one. Trash bid, the compactor bid to remove our trash from the compactor opens on Wednesday. The last item is we will have a snow plow rodeo at the Service Department on Friday like we do every year. That kind of is our date to say that we're ready for winter and trucks are ready, so I think we'll have a good time. Mr. Sharnsky: I'd encourage Council members if you ever have an opportunity to attend that, you should. It's fun. Mrs. Williams: Is there a time for that? Mr. Staten: We'll start at 8 in the morning. We actually have the City of Norton coming to run and a few from Copley coming to run also, so it's always just a fun event. Mr. Sharnsky: It's a nice friendly competition. Mr. Staten: That's exactly right. That concludes Service. Mr. Sharnsky: Anything further for Mr. Staten? [There was no response.] Thank you, Mr. Staten. DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE, MARK LUDWIG Mr. Ludwig: Good evening, Mr. President. If it please Council, I have no report. Mr. Sharnsky: Any questions or comments for Mr. Ludwig this evening? [There was no response.] Thank you, sir. DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE, JACOB KAUFMAN Mr. Kaufman: Thank you, Mr. President and members of Council. I have no report this evening. Mr. Sharnsky: Anything further for Mr. Kaufman? [There was no response.] Thank you. DIVISION OF PARKS AND RECREATION, LAURIE BEISECKER Mrs. Beisecker: Thank you, Mr. President and members of Council. I also have no report this evening. Mr. Sharnsky: Anything further for Mrs. Beisecker? [There was no response.] That concludes the Report of City Officials. Page 4 of8 Fairlawn City Council November 1, 2021 APPROVED AS SUBMITTED ITEM 7: INTRODUCTION OF NEW LEGISLATION Ordinance 2021-050 Offered by Mayor Roth AN ORDINANCE APPROVING CHANGES AND MODIFICATIONS TO THE CITY OF FAIRLAWN PART-TIME EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY Introduce this into the Committee of the Whole Ordinance 2021-051 Offered by Mayor Roth AN ORDINANCE APPROVING CHANGES AND MODIFICATIONS TO THE CITY OF FAIRLAWN FULL-TIME EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY Introduce this into the Committee of the Whole Resolution 2021-052 Offered by Mayor Roth and Council as a Whole A RESOLUTION EXPRESSING APPRECIATION AND GRATITUDE TO LIEUTENANT MARK J. ADAMS FOR HIS DEDICATION AND VALUABLE SERVICE TO THE CITY OF FAIRLAWN UPON HIS RETIREMENT FROM THE FAIRLAWN POLICE DIVISION Introduce this into the Committee of the Whole ITEM 8: PUBLIC HEARINGS Mr. Sharnsky: Item 8 is Public Hearings. We have none scheduled for this evening, so we'll get started on our committee reports beginning with the Committee of the Whole. ITEM 9: COMMITTEE REPORTS ON NEW OR PENDING LEGISLATION COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE CHAIR, RUSSELL SHARNSKY Ordinance 2021-048 Offered by Mayor Roth AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING AMENDMENTS TO THE CITY OF FAIRLAWN'S PLAN OF GOVERNANCE NECESSARY TO UPDATE THE GOVERNMENT AL ELECTRICITY AGGREGATION PROGRAM WITH OPT-OUT PROVISIONS PURSUANT TO SECTION 4928.20, OHIO REVISED CODE Expiration Date Public Hearing Accepted 1 SI Reading 2nd Reading 3,d Reading Hold Pass 01 10212022 NIA 1010412021 1010412021 1011812021 Ordinance 2021-050 Offered by Mayor Roth AN ORDINANCE APPROVING CHANGES AND MODIFICATIONS TO THE CITY OF FAIR LAWN PART-TIME EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY Expiration Date Public Hearing Accepted JSI Reading 2nd Reading 3'd Reading Hold Pass 01/3012022 NIA Ordinance 2021-051 Offered by Mayor Roth AN ORDINANCE APPROVING CHANGES AND MODIFICATIONS TO THE CITY OF FAIRLAWN FULL-TIME EMPLOYEE HAN DBOOK AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY Expiration Date Public Hearing Accepted JSI Reading 2nd Reading 3'd Reading Hold Pass 0113012022 NIA Resolution 2021-052 Offered by Mayor Roth and Council as a Whole A RESOLUTION EXPRESSING APPRECIATION AND GRATITUDE TO LIEUTENANT MARK J. ADAMS FOR HIS DEDICATION AND VALUABLE SERVICE TO THE CITY OF FAIRLAWN UPON HIS RETIREMENT FROM THE FAIRLAWN POLICE DIVISION Expiration Date Public Hearing Accepted I SI Reading 2nd Reading 3'd Reading Hold Pass 0113012022 NIA ********************************** Mr. Sharnsky: Will the Clerk please read Ordinance 2021-048 by title only for the third time? Mrs. Caldwell read Ordinance 2021-048 by title only. Mr. Sharnsky: Any comments from the Administration? Page 5 of8 Fairlawn City Council November I, 2021 APPROVED AS SUBMITTED Mayor Roth: This is a third reading on this piece of legislation. It's been before Council for a while. Unless Council has any other questions about it, I would ask for a vote tonight if possible. Mr. Sharnsky: There is a green energy provision in this as well. I looked at a proposal that my daughter received and $7.58/kWh was the proposal for green energy that someone had sent in the mail. I think ours is in the $3.00 range ifl'm not mistaken. Mayor Roth: If I remember, it's like $3.49. Mr. Sharnsky: Less than half. It seems like it's a good deal. Any other questions or comments from members of Council? [There was no response.] Hearing none, will the Clerk please call the roll on Ordinance 2021-048? Mrs. Caldwell: VOTE ON ORDINANCE 2021-048: Stock, yea; Brillhart, yea; Detorakis, yea; Baum, yea; Shamsky, yea; Williams, yea; Potts, excused. Six yea, one excused on the passage of Ordinance 2021-048. ********************************** Mr. Sharnsky: Will the Clerk please read Ordinance 2021 -050 by title only for the first time? Mrs. Caldwell read Ordinance 2021-050 by title only. Mr. Sharnsky: Is there a motion to accept? Mr. Sharnsky: Mr. Stock made a MOTION to accept, Mrs. Baum the second. Mayor Roth: The Law Director will be addressing Ordinances 50 and 51. Mr. Sharnsky: Mr. Nace? Mr. Nace: Yes. On both the handbooks, there are a number of issues that Mr. Kaufman and I have been working on for some policies that we need to update or change. We're still tweaking some of those policies. This is an item that I would expect Council would take some time with even though it does have an emergency clause on it. I would expect that we would take a number of meetings to discuss it. We're looking at procedures regarding overtime, also uniform policies, we're updating our leave policy, also policies regarding holiday and personal time, and we also might address our records retention policy in there. We still have a little work to do on that, so I would ask that you hold this in committee and we can talk about it at our future meetings. Mr. Sharnsky: Any questions or comments at this time from members of Council? [There was no response.] Hearing none, we will hold this in committee. ********************************** Mr. Sharnsky: Will the Clerk please read Ordinance 2021-051 by title only for the first time? Mrs. Caldwell read Ordinance 2021-051 by title only. Mr. Sharnsky: Mr. Nace, I'm going to assume you have the same comments regarding this? Mr. Nace: Yes, that's correct. The exact same comments apply to this Ordinance 51. Mr. Sharnsky: I'd like a motion to accept. Mr. Sharnsky: Mrs. Williams made a MOTION to accept, Mr. Brillhart the second. Page 6 of8 Fairlawn City Council November 1, 2021 APPROVED AS SUBMITTED Mr. Sharnsky: Any comments from members of Council? [There was no response.] Hearing none, we will hold this in committee for discussion at future Committee of the Whole meetings. ********************************** Mr. Sharnsky: Will the Clerk please read Resolution 2021-052 by title only for the first time? Mrs. Caldwell read Resolution 2021-052 by title only. Mr. Sharnsky: Is there a motion to accept? Mr. Sharnsky: Mr. Stock made a MOTION to accept, Mr. Detorakis the second. Mr. Sharnsky: I know we're going to have a difficult time getting Mark in here. He's a pretty low-key guy and I could imagine we're going to have to drag him in here, but I really would like to see him in here to be able to present this in person. Mayor Roth: So would I, but that'll be his call. That's why I'd ask you to hold it in committee for now. Mr. Sharnsky: I think it's going to be a difficult task, but maybe Tonja can sway him into coming in. Any other comments? [There was no response.] Hearing none, we will hold this in committee. I'd like to set our next Committee of the Whole meeting date for next Monday, November 8th at 6:00 p.m. FINANCE COMMITTEE CHAffi, BARBARA POTTS (EXCUSED) Mr. Brillhart: The Finance Committee has no report this evening. MUNICIPAL SERVICES COMMITTEE CHAIR, TODD STOCK Mr. Stock: Good evening. Municipal Services Committee has no report this evening. PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE CHAffi, KATHLEEN BAUM Mrs. Baum: Public Affairs has no report this evening. SAFETY COMMITTEE CHAIR, MICHAEL DETORAKIS Ordinance 2021-045A Offered by Mayor Roth AN ORDINANCE AMENDING AND/OR SUPPLEMENTING SECTION 408.04 "TRAFFIC WAIVER SYSTEM" OF CHAPTER 408 "PENAL TIES" OF THE CODIFIED ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF FAIRLAWN EFFECTIVE JANUARY I, 2022 Expiration Date Public Hearing Accepted I st Reading 2nd Reading 3rd Reading Hold Pass I 2/19/2021 NIA 09/20/2021 09/20/2021 I 0/04/2021 I 0/1 8/2021 ********************************** Mr. Detorakis: Would the Clerk please read Ordinance 2021-045A by title only for the fourth time? Ms. Owen read Ordinance 202 l-045A by title only. Mr. Detorakis: Comments, Mayor? I think we're good to go. Mayor Roth: I'll defer to the Law Director. It's his night tonight. Page 7 of8 Fairlawn City Council November 1, 2021 APPROVED AS SUBMITTED Mr. Nace: I think we've had this for at least our fourth reading here, and unless there's any further questions I think we're probably ready to vote on this one. Mr. Detorakis: I' 11 call the order to vote. Mr. Sharnsky: Would the Clerk please call the roll on Ordinance 2021-045A? Mrs. Caldwell: VOTE ON ORDINANCE 2021-045A: Brillhart, yea; Detorakis, yea; Baum, yea; Sharnsky, yea; Williams, yea; Potts, excused; Stock, yea. Six yea, one excused on the passage of Ordinance 2021-045A. Mr. Detorakis: That does conclude the Safety Committee. INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE CHAIR, MARIA WILLIAMS Mrs. Williams: Good evening. Intergovernmental Affairs has no report this evening. PLANNING COMMITTEE CHAIR, PHILIP BRILLHART Mr. Brillhart: Planning Committee has no report this evening. That concludes the report of Planning Committee. ITEM 10: OTHER BUSINESS Mr. Sharnsky: Is there any other business to come before Council this evening? [There was no response.] ITEM 11: ADJOURNMENT Mr. Sharnsky: Hearing none, I would entertain a motion to adjourn? Mrs. Baum made a MOTION to adjourn; Mr. Detorakis the second. Everyone voted in favor. The meeting adjourned at 6:5 I pm. The next regular meeting of Council will be November 15, 2021 at 6:30 pm. Summer Owfn Recording Seor""etary Page 8 of8 Fairlawn City Council November I, 2021