Invocation was given by: Sister Joan Rader, P.O. followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Approval of Minutes – March 10, 2008
Johnson moved to approve, upon roll call; Carey-Yes, Copley-Yes, Beaumont-Yes, Lapehn-Abstain, Johnson-Yes and motion carried.

Workshop

a. Discussion of Cost Saving Measures for the EMS Department
EMS Chief Andy Baillis gave a PowerPoint presentation which noted such things as the
EMS currently has 29 members with one full-time employee, some part-time supplemental employees and the remaining are volunteers. He advised the staffing levels have remained constant, but their call volume has increased 30%. Baillis advised they were consistently the second busiest 911 provider of EMS in Wayne County. He advised they cover 14.35 square miles of Milton Township in the City of Rittman with a population of almost 7,900 people with three advanced life support squads. Baillis advised they have an approximate annual budget of $400,000 annually and 68% of that was payroll costs. He advised the 2007 operating costs were the annual budget divided by the population and it was almost $50.00 per resident, which was half the area average. He indicated call volume in 2007 for Rittman was over 110 calls per 1,000 residents. Baillis advised in his opinion the City of Rittman was receiving a pretty good return on their investment and indicated in conjunction with the 2.3% property tax, contract fees and billing he believed those provided well for community.
Baillis advised he prepared a list of methods to reduce or limit expenses for the upcoming year as follows:

• Maintaining a CE training site. This allows for all members of Rittman EMS to maintain EMS certification at a limited cost (payroll cost only).
• Vehicle Maintenance and Replacement schedule. By following the departments’ plan, we can increase the years of service for each vehicle, and allow for a gradual replacement of vehicles.
• Station modification. By modifying the front bay door now, we can see marked savings the next time we purchase an ambulance, as it will not have to be specially designed to fit in the existing bay doors.
• Continued search for alternative grant sources. As an EMS only organization, we are limited as to the amount of funding available from FEMA. We are ever vigilant in our search for alternative funding sources.
• Conscious effort to limit the duplication of goods or services among city departments. Plan with other departments to limit this type of expenditures.
• Continue to monitor the trends in services and response and track expenditures to remain proactive in our delivery of services.
Baillis advised for their facilities use plan they look at today’s facility and project future
needs and where they were going to be in five years, ten years or more. He advised such projects include the remodeling of the kitchen to accommodate the updated staff, replace the original roof on the building (circa 1989), electrical upgrades and modify the front bay doors to accommodate future ambulances. Baillis advised for the future they needed to look at additional staffing as call volume would continue to increase as well as additional vehicles and additional storage with the vast amount of records they were required to keep and funding would continue to be a challenge.
Baillis advised this was a list of ideas that would help to limit and/or reduce operating
costs. He advised EMS cost service delivery would continue to grow and he pledged to maintain control over it.
Councilman Copley inquired as to when he felt they would need to expand to another facility.

Baillis advised he was still looking for a permanent place to house the third squad to maintain services as it was used as a reserve if one squad was being serviced they would still have two available, but at the present time they did not have an indoor facility to be able to do so. He advised they were looking at five years probably to find some solution although maybe not permanent such as using part of the fire departments facility and he would continue to look at ways to save costs.
Councilman Beaumont inquired as to where the records were stored now.
Baillis advised the actual EMS report records were stored at City Hall, but other training records were kept at the station.
Beaumont inquired if there was a possibility those could be put on microfilm.
Baillis advised they have started to keep some of the training records on a pdf scanned file to save space, but there was still quite a bit of materials and equipment and training tools to house.
No further discussion.

b. Discussion of a Tax Abatement Schedule
City Manager Larry Boggs advised previously there was some concern regarding
residential CRA abatements and indicated he scheduled this workshop for that purpose. Boggs advised he was assuming the biggest issue Council had was regarding the residential abatements. Boggs indicated Tony Thompson was present if Council had any questions for him, as he was the one who applied for the CRA abatement for his planned new residential construction on Frederick Street. Boggs advised what he originally was trying to do was offer the CRA abatement package for residential for those lots in the floodplain which was legitimate in the Community Reinvestment Area zone. He advised with the floodplain regulations becoming more (stringent) and the higher cost of required flood insurance, he felt if the city wanted to see any type of continued growth in these areas they should offer some incentive to offset these higher costs to build in the floodplain. Boggs indicated this was the reasoning behind his bringing the residential CRA abatement before Council for approval (which was tabled). Boggs advised he didn’t know if Council was against residential abatements or if they wanted to reduce it as he was seeking their direction so he knew how to proceed.
Beaumont inquired as to the schedule for getting the floodplain maps redrawn.
Boggs advised there was a meeting scheduled the first part of April with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to go over the new floodplain map.
Beaumont inquired how long would the new map be in effect.
Boggs advised his understanding was the areas (considered in the floodplain) have probably expanded. He advised there was a preliminary map at City Hall.
Beaumont inquired as to the reasoning behind (the area being expanded).
Mayor Robertson advised he felt probably (Hurricane) Katrina.
Boggs advised he was told that the Hurricane Katrina issue has really put the government in a position where they were making more stringent laws on the floodplain areas and were really enforcing the law with banks to ensure these properties had flood insurance.
Robertson agreed and advised the insurance companies were brutal on anyone with property in the floodplain.
Beaumont advised it was his understanding there was no negotiations of those rates for flood insurance, as there were only three companies who sell flood insurance and it wasn’t like you could go out and shop around. Beaumont advised he understood it was difficult to own property whether commercial or residential in the floodplain area. He advised this was the reason he was wondering if our area would get any relief or whether or not they base our area upon flooding in the last few years or if it would make it even worse. He inquired if there was any history of flooding in the area that they base it upon when drawing the map.
Boggs advised no and when he went to a class last year on this issue he learned that dredging the ditch does not alleviate the designation of the floodplain areas. He advised he was told dredging wasn’t the answer as all it does is speed up the water flow and sends it on down to the neighbors faster and doesn’t alleviate the problem. Boggs advised the only thing they could do with Landis Ditch, and he wasn’t sure it would resolve the floodplain issue, was try to get some type of dry damn installed up north. Boggs advised he hoped to find out more information at this upcoming meeting and it was open to the public and there would be opportunity to ask questions before the meeting and he could ask if any of Rittman’s (designated floodplain areas) would be reduced, but he didn’t believe so. Boggs advised they want us to pass more stringent floodplain regulations and those were drafted waiting for the right moment, but he believed it would continue to be more costly and more difficult to build in the floodplain.
Robertson advised the floodplain was determined by elevation only and was not based on flooding history.
Beaumont advised he was just wondering when they were redrawing the map if they look over the last ten years as to what areas were flooded and what areas weren’t.
Boggs advised no, they just look at the elevation. He advised if you build in the floodplain you couldn’t build a traditional house with a basement. He indicated they were required to install “venting” to allow the water to flow through the foundation.
Copley inquired as to how many lots in the city they were talking about.
Boggs advised he believed very few. Boggs indicated the McElwee farm on the west side of Main Street could eventually be developed and it was in the floodplain, but was not eligible for the CRA tax abatement. Boggs advised the CRA zone was anything east of Main Street.
Copley inquired if there was anything in this area, which was more prone to commercial development as opposed to residential.
Boggs advised the only area he felt was more prime for commercial (development) would
be the Gish farm, which he previously reported to Council on the status of that (property).
Copley inquired if that (Gish) was also considered the floodplain area.
Boggs advised some of it was, some of it wasn’t.
Robertson advised he believed the lower part down by the creek, which was almost a third of the property.
Beaumont advised he just wished there were a way to not set a precedent that might come back and bite the city in ten years. He advised he wished there were a way to specifically designate on the record the lots they would give abatement and explain why they were giving abatement so that it would diminish setting a precedent for future developers to come in and buy the Gish farm and put in fifty lots and get abatements on those lots. He advised he didn’t believe they should allow such and he would hope the way they structure this (abatement schedule) wouldn’t cause that to happen. He advised it might be a long time after they were all gone and they should look forward with development in the city and this (Gish) was a good example of property that might be developed in the future.
Boggs advised he would agree that he wouldn’t want to give an abatement to land that was out of the floodplain in the CRA zone. Boggs advised he was assuming they were discussing new houses as no one on Council has said they have a problem with (renovation) like Wings & Wheels did with the apartment above their store, as their abatement was approved. Boggs advised he could try to plot out the floodplain area vacant lots (in the CRA zone).
Beaumont advised yes, lets specify how many lots we have (available). He inquired if it was realistic to say in the CRA zone that was how many lots there were and abatements would be for those lots only.
Robertson inquired if the Gish property was in the CRA.
Boggs advised yes.
Copley advised as of right now that property was Residential Estates or was it agricultural.
Boggs advised he believed it was agricultural.
Robertson advised when it was annexed in (to the city) it probably came in as an R-E.
It was clarified that the R-E zoning classification was residential estates/agricultural. They were the same designation.
Tony Thompson, general contractor advised he owns the lot on Frederick St. and it was three lots in (going east from Main St. on the south side) almost across from the old Main Way Market building and was already a residential zoned lot. Thompson advised his biggest concern was he was going to have to try to absorb the cost and this was an incentive for him and someone looking to purchase a home in this area with the cost of insurance. Thompson advised if it worked out and they sold this one they would consider others in this area and possibly tear down some of the older houses and build new and make this area more attractive for Rittman and more appealing to buyers. Thompson advised they have done quite a few homes in Rittman and tried to make the neighborhoods more appealing and they have done a lot of them on Erie Street. Thompson advised he would love to try to do something down there, but with this initial investment he felt he really needed some way to help absorb some of the costs like with a tax abatement. Thompson advised he hoped it would attract more people to Rittman who would live and do business here and that was a long-term goal of his. He advised he understood this tax abatement was a new thing and he believed everyone was wondering how it would all work out and help people in Rittman.
Council Member Lapehn inquired if all the homes on Frederick Street were required to carry flood insurance.
Boggs advised he didn’t know, but in the last few years he knew the banks could be fined if they didn’t make sure the homes with a conventional (mortgage) loan in the floodplain carried flood insurance. Boggs advised Jon Tousley ran into that problem as he was going to be charged over $1,000 a month for flood insurance for the old Main Way Market building, which he couldn’t afford. Boggs advised the only way they got around that (requirement) was some creative financing and they didn’t get a conventional loan.
Beaumont inquired if they knew how much the flood insurance would cost on a new house valued at $100,000 to $150,000.
Thompson advised he believed it was $600 to $750 (annually) per $100,000 value. He advised he didn’t know how much on the existing structures. Thompson advised all he was proposing to build was not even a 1,000 square foot home. He advised he thought it may be based on the square footage of the house, but the areas were zoned accordingly and those in the main floodplain areas were highest on flood insurance. Thompson advised he was required to carry flood insurance on his construction loan while building because this property was in the floodplain. Thompson advised Mr. Boggs was right that they have to install a “window” in the crawl space kind of like a vent, as they cannot restrict any kind of floodwaters.
Lapehn inquired if existing mortgages would be grandfathered in and not be required to carry flood insurance.
Thompson indicated any structure in the floodplain with a mortgage was required to carry flood insurance per state law.
Robertson advised he didn’t believe an old mortgage required the flood insurance.
Beaumont indicated every federally insured loan where the property was in the floodplain was required to carry flood insurance.
Robertson inquired if these (older loans) weren’t grandfathered.
Beaumont advised they couldn’t come to you in the middle of the loan and change it if it was just discovered they were in the floodplain. Beaumont advised if Mr. Thompson builds this home they would be granting the tax abatement not only to him as the builder, but to any subsequent owner of the property.
Robertson advised yes, for a limited period of time.
Lapehn advised if he was a neighbor on Frederick Street and sell his home the new person coming in would likely come to Council and say they had to go get this $150,000 mortgage and they want the abatement.
Robertson advised he believed the abatement they were offering was only on new construction.
Beaumont advised the reason he felt they had to be careful how they word this and how they do this. Beaumont advised they could set a precedent where a builder could come in in two years and say, “hey, he got it, what’s wrong with me”. Beaumont advised he felt it could be something down the road where they were tax abating significant amounts of residential properties by what they do today. He advised he felt they might be painting themselves in a corner for future Council’s. Beaumont advised he didn’t have a problem with Tony (Thompson) as he thought it was great as he believed a lot of people would have given up, but if you know Tony…Tony don’t give up.
Lapehn advised if someone didn’t have the abatement, they could buy a home on Frederick and put up a new 2-car garage and come to Council for the abatement.
Robertson advised they could only request the abatement on the garage. Robertson advised they couldn’t get the abatement on existing structures.
Boggs advised yes they could if they renovate in the CRA zone, they could request the abatement for ten years.
Robertson advised if Mr. Thompson were to significantly renovate an existing house he could qualify for the abatement.
Boggs advised he felt the purpose of the abatement was to take areas that were going downhill and revitalize them.
Copley advised there were two or three newer houses built behind the community church and he inquired if they were in the floodplain.
Boggs advised he believed one was in the floodplain and the rest were out.
The clerk advised she believed one or two houses at the very end of Beech Street were out of the floodplain.
Thompson advised he believed a third of the Gish farm, part of Thonen, part of Frederick and part of Beech Streets were in the floodplain, which he didn’t believe were too many.
Bower indicated they could include language to stipulate those existing lots in the R-1, R-2 and maybe C districts as this would rule out the Gish property. He advised it would then be for the handful of lots existing in the floodplain.
Robertson advised the probably needed to count the number of lots in the CRA zone which were in the floodplain area and see what they were talking about.
Beaumont advised they should word it in such a fashion there was no question as to what specifically area they were talking about and what they were trying to do.
Boggs advised he could try to bring that back to Council, although he didn’t know if he would have time before the next meeting, but he could start working on trying to give Council a map and an idea of what we were looking at.
Copley advised in the long run he felt the abatements would end up affecting the schools more than it affects the city. He suggested getting an opinion or input from the school board.
Councilman Carey advised the other side of that was that if nobody builds on those lots they don’t get any more money anyway.
Robertson agreed and advised it wasn’t quite a negative impact just no growth as they would still receive the property tax on the empty lot.
Copley advised that was assuming no one would build on that lot unless they could get the abatement, which may or may not be the case.
Boggs advised he was assuming Council has no problem with what they were doing with the commercial areas. Correct? He advised they have passed them all (to this point) and he just wanted to make sure.
Carey advised he had no problem with them.
Copley advised he felt any time they could promote business in the city it was good.
Beaumont advised he felt it was a benefit.
No opposition stated.
Boggs advised he would try to give Council an idea as to what they were looking at as far as the rest of the lots in the CRA zone.
No further discussion.

c. Discussion of Street Improvement Projects for 2008
City Manager Larry Boggs advised he would like to get some direction from Council. He
advised he would really like to purchase the DuraPatcher machine Dave (Simpson) described (at the last meeting). Boggs advised he believed this machine would do a very professional job in some of the chuckhole areas that need to be repaired. He advised one of his pet peeves with the city has always been that whenever they have a chuckhole it was filled in and then create a high rise on it and we still have a bump to drive over. Boggs advised we have been doing that for years and we need the equipment to assist us in leveling these out and make them better. Boggs advised he would like Council’s blessing to go out for bids on one of those DuraPatcher machines and he believed it would cost about $55,000.
Boggs advised he also believed they needed to do something with (the condition of) Ohio Avenue. Boggs advised he wasn’t sure of the time constraints, but inquired if they were looking at any type of assessments. He advised they also needed to get it scheduled or they would be “behind the eight ball” as all the other cities were getting this stuff scheduled and he felt they didn’t want to be totally left out.
Carey agreed something needed to be done with Ohio Avenue down by the square.
Finance Director Lucinda Mann advised at the last meeting she had given some notes to Simpson as to how much they had available in Perm Tax and Perm Tax II, which they could use on Ohio Avenue and the list provided to Council such as W. Sunset, DeCourcey, E. Sunset anything that was a main artery. Mann advised those funds would not cover the DuraPatcher, which they budgeted about $40,000 for capital improvements for the street department. Mann advised she hated to dig into the carryover balance too much, but at the most they could appropriate another $40,000 if they had to. Mann advised if they were looking at assessing Ohio Avenue since it was a main artery and there have been issues in the past about how much you would even want to assess those residents. Mann advised we just paved in 2002 on W. Ohio (Main to Fourth) and did we really want to go through the assessment process again. Mann advised it has only been a little over five years and she didn’t really know how much they would want to assess. Mann advised the assessment process was a series of different ordinances she believed three or four which had to be passed. Mann advised they would not collect on even the next year, as it would have to be sent to the auditor’s office by October or September.
Boggs inquired if those residents (W. Ohio) were assessed in 2002.
Mann advised yes and she felt if you tried to assess them again there would be (some opposition).
Lapehn inquired of the streets on the current list if there were any which could be delayed a year.
Mann advised this list was the 2007 list. She advised yes they could be delayed another year. Mann advised it was tough to know who to hold off on and there were no good answers. Mann advised she added up the 2007 list plus the minimum amount on W. Ohio, which came up to $183,500 and the DuraPatcher was another $57,000, which was $240,500. Mann advised she had available $191,000 with the Perm Tax and the Perm Tax II and budgeted capital improvement money. She advised with another $40,000 out of the carryover balance that would be $231,000 and they would still be short and would still have to cut somewhere and something was not going to get done unfortunately.
Robertson inquired if Ohio Avenue was patchable.
Boggs advised they could patch anything, but he felt it needed done.
Mann advised she felt it was too far-gone. She advised some of the holes were over 2 ½” deep.
Johnson advised Simpson also said they would need to do the south side of Ohio Avenue from the barbershop to the square.
Mann advised she was concerned the figures (Simpson) gave for the estimates, with the way oil prices were, could drive the cost up even more.
Boggs inquired if Council was in agreement they were not going to do any assessments on Ohio Avenue.
Carey advised he felt they shouldn’t assess Ohio Avenue.
Johnson advised with regards to Ohio Avenue we didn’t assess the whole street. Did we? Johnson advised we haven’t done anything (paving) from Fourth to Metzger since 1997.
Mann advised that’s right, as it was Main to Fourth in 2002.
Johnson advised they could assess the section not paved since 1997. He advised we would not be assessing the same people twice. Johnson advised he believed if they were looking at doing a lot of street repairs they would have to look at assessing. He advised he believed there were only two properties on Ohio Avenue they could not assess and they were on the east side going out of town.
Mann advised the problem was they needed to look at the fact they would not be collecting that money this year. She advised they might see a portion of it next year and the rest they wouldn’t see until 2010.
Lapehn advised he felt they needed to prioritize the list of streets and decide how does Ohio Avenue fit in to the existing list. Lapehn advised we needed to say this was the money we have to spend and these were the costs and the list breaks off at some point due to the cost factor.
Boggs advised he and Service Director Simpson would go over the list again and provide current price estimates and bring it back at the next Council Meeting.
Beaumont inquired if it has been determined what property owners were assessed.
Boggs advised he could try.
The clerk advised she had records of street assessments from past years.
It was noted, the cost of the assessment was based on the total cost of the paving and the city pays 50% and the resident pays 50% per linear foot of property which fronts on the paved street.
Boggs inquired if any Council Members wished to see a demonstration with the DuraPatcher or did they want to see what the cost of the streets were going to come in at first before they look at the patch machine.
Council was in general agreement to trust the Service Directors judgment on the effectiveness of the machine.
Lapehn inquired if the DuraPatcher was a year round machine.
Mann advised Simpson indicated it was year round.
Carey advised he felt when they make the list that Ohio Avenue pretty much needed to be at the top.
Boggs advised the latter part of the summer and into fall he believed they would start getting ready for Issue 2 grants and he felt they should look at Sunset as he felt that would be the next problem (street).
Beaumont inquired if he (Boggs) needed an answer tonight on the DuraPatcher machine.
Boggs advised they probably should look at what the cost of the roads came in at before they look at purchasing that equipment.
No further discussion.

Citizens Forum – No comments

Old Business

a. Ord. No. 7481 An Ordinance of the Council of the City of Rittman, Wayne and Medina Counties and State of Ohio, Amending Sections 153.03, 153.07 and 151.01 (a) and Declaring an Emergency. Third Reading.
Ord. No. 7481 was read on third reading.
Lapehn moved to adopt,
Copley moved to amend section 2 as follows:

a) Firefighters, except the Fire Chief, shall be paid their appropriate hourly rate based on their level of education determined from time to time by council for training hours attended, not to exceed 13 hours per quarter per person.

b) For call-outs, Firefighters, except the Fire Chief, will be paid their appropriate hourly rate based on their level of education determined from time to time by council.

c) The Fire Chief shall be paid an hourly rate based on their level of education for call-outs that occur outside normal business hours of the city.

Copley advised this basically was to be consistent with other departments. He advised the
EMS Chief was paid for outside normal business hours and he believed this was what this amendment would do. Copley advised looking ahead he wanted to be careful that whenever the Fire Chiefs salary, if it ever does approach the EMS Chiefs salary, that they were consistent. He advised this was the purpose for this amendment.
Lapehn advised he needed some clarification as he has never served on the fire department and didn’t understand everything that takes place. He advised there was a training session where the department was working and it was a volunteer thing when they were called in for training. He inquired if they were paid their hourly rate.
Fire Chief Don Sweigert advised they were paid for one hour.
Lapehn advised so they could be there for 2 ½ hours training and if there was a call-out then they were paid their hourly wage to respond to that call.
Sweigert advised that’s correct.
Lapehn advised it could be 8:30 at night and they were in the middle of training and the tones go off and you (Fire Chief) were not paid an additional fee for jumping on (the fire truck) and taking off.
Sweigert advised he wasn’t sure he understood the question.
Lapehn advised he was a salaried individual.
Sweigert advised that’s correct.
Lapehn advised the firefighters are there for training and get paid for one hour and are (at the station) for 2 ½ hours and then the tones go off and then they get paid until the run was finished.
Sweigert advised the firefighters get paid for the call-out that’s correct.
Lapehn advised you (Chief Sweigert) go out with them and there was no bonus pay for your travel.
Sweigert advised currently how it has been since Chief Banfield was the chief was paid for emergency call-outs regardless of what time of day it was. Sweigert advised he (as chief) was not paid for training time. Sweigert advised so if that hour had expired and all the guys were paid for their hour and the tones go off for an emergency call then, if he (chief) were there he and all the other guys would get paid their current hourly wage based on their level of certification (for the call-out).
Lapehn advised and that was the discrepancy between the wage ordinance and the (codified) ordinance.
Copley advised the current codified states that he (chief) never gets paid basically.
Lapehn advised OK and inquired as to what was happening was outside the current codified ordinance.
Copley advised that was correct.
Lapehn advised he (Copley) was trying to clean it up and say the chief, as a salaried individual would never get an hourly wage for…
Carey advised during regular business
Johnson advised during regular city business hours
Copley advised which would be in line with the EMS Chief although their salaries were not.
Sweigert advised your salary ordinance was completely opposite with the codified ordinance even on the EMS Department. He advised they would have some corrections to make for that department as well.
Copley advised he intended on that if it was the wish of Council to pass this amendment. He advised he intended to request the adjustments accordingly.
Mann inquired from a payroll point of view just exactly what were the normal business hours of the Fire Chief. Mann advised as far as she knew he doesn’t have normal business hours.
Copley advised that was why he said normal business hours of the city, which was similar to what we state for somebody coming in who would need their water turned on. He advised he knew it was in the codified ordinances at some point.
Lapehn inquired if that was 9-5.
Copley advised he believed 8-5 was the normal.
The clerk advised City Hall hours were 8-5.
Johnson advised that was normal city hours.
Lapehn advised if the tones go off at 8:30 then he (fire chief) would be paid under your sample here, depending on his level of education, his rate of pay. He inquired if there was a list of his (fire chief) rate of pay.
Copley advised it would start at $8.00 an hour and (increase) based on his level of education.
Lapehn inquired if he (Sweigert) works any weekends.
Sweigert inquired here for the City of Rittman, as he works elsewhere.
Lapehn advised yes, for the City of Rittman.
Sweigert advised for the City of Rittman he was here a lot on the weekends and he puts in 20-25 hours a week basically. He advised some weeks were more some weeks were less it just depends.
Lapehn inquired if the weekends would not be part of the normal business hours.
Copley advised he would assume so, yes.
Lapehn advised so a call-out on the weekends would be the normal hourly…
Copley advised he believed the EMS Chief ordinance actually states outside normal business hours or weekends.
Beaumont inquired if this would be the first step in the cleanup process.
Copley advised yes.
Beaumont advised he personally didn’t have a problem with the wording as long as we understand the normal business hours were 8-5.
Lapehn inquired if that was written anywhere.
Beaumont advised they could add “at that time” in case they ever change the hours (of city hall).
Lapehn inquired as to how this would change things from what they are now. He advised he didn’t know the (fire) chiefs schedule, as he had no idea.
Copley advised the original ordinance they were asked to pass basically said he (fire chief) would get paid any time of day, which would match the current salary ordinance. Copley advised he received some e-mails asking them (Council) to be consistent across the board. He advised which was why he kinda went back and looked at the EMS department because it was a similar organization. Copley advised in theory the Chief of EMS does not get paid during the day during normal business hours because he was being paid a salary. Copley advised at the current time the chief (fire) was not a full-time employee, but he was at the station occasionally during the day so, he was already at the station during the day doing work he was paid to do with the salary that he gets. Copley inquired if the tones go off during that time should the taxpayers really be paying somebody on top of their regular salary to go on the call regardless of how high that salary was. However, Copley advised when it was outside of normal business hours, when he (fire chief) was at home or it was midnight and he responds to a call he felt, just as the EMS Chief was paid, he (fire chief) should be paid for that, as it was outside of his normal business. Copley advised he felt basically it was a compromise between getting paid all of the time and not getting paid at all. He advised initially he was sticking with the original ordinance, as he was already getting a salary and he asked himself why did he (fire chief) want to get paid for the calls. Copley advised looking at the history and the fact we do-do that with the EMS Chief he felt it was appropriate to take that to the Fire Chief as well.
Lapehn inquired as to the hours he works.
Sweigert inquired at his real job or here (Rittman).
Lapehn advised he (himself) works for Rittman City Council and he didn’t know what (Sweigert) did outside of Rittman.
Sweigert advised for Rittman he usually works 20-25 hours a week.
Lapehn inquired if most of them were daytime, nighttime or weekends.
Sweigert advised most of them were at night or weekends. He advised last Sunday night he was here and he does spend a lot of time on Saturdays here (in Rittman).
Beaumont advised but those were not for call-outs.
Sweigert advised that was just getting paperwork done such as the year-end report Council had in their packets as well as other reports but they were not nearly as intense and time consuming as EMS reports as he (fire) didn’t have nearly as many runs as EMS. He advised until he was 100% commissionable (as an insurance agent) at his job he gets paid about $15.00 an hour whereas when he leaves this job, which he has done, to make runs he doesn’t get paid (from his full-time job as an insurance agent). Sweigert advised so if he decides to leave, the $8.00 or $9.00 an hour still did not hold a candle to his full time employment hourly rate. He advised that was assuming those instances were few and far between.
The clerk advised she wanted to clarify that for the Service and Utilities Departments their normal business hours were 7 am – 3 pm.
Mayor Robertson advised so the city offices were 8-5, but…
Lapehn advised that didn’t clarify anything.
The clerk advised it just gives you more to think about.
City Manager Boggs advised normal business hours could be dictated per department.
Beaumont advised they could add to the last sentence outside normal business hours of the city, which currently are 8 am to 5 pm Monday thru Friday.
Robertson advised he (fire chief) was currently being paid during regular business hours for a call-out as a compensation for him leaving his regular job.
Lapehn advised that was the incentive if you were going to leave your…
Sweigert advised because losing $7.00 an hour was better than losing the whole $15.00.
Robertson advised sure that was the nature of the job as most people who would hold that job would have another (full-time job).
Sweigert advised he was trying to put bread on his table and a roof over his head and he didn’t believe $8,000 a year (as fire chief) would cover it.
Lapehn advised perhaps no one who would feel called to be chief would think along these lines, but he felt some would be tempted to say during 8-5 they weren’t going to be there because they weren’t paid for call-outs (during that time). He advised they might schedule themselves to be there early mornings, late evenings and weekends so that when the call-outs come they were paid too. Lapehn advised he understood the point was to codify the salary position regardless of the fact the fire chief as far as monetary compensation couldn’t compare to the other two salaried chiefs in town. Lapehn advised but it was the principal of the thing he guessed (Copley) was saying that when he (chief) was on normal city hours shouldn’t be…if you were saying that so to speak.
Robertson advised like Cindy (Finance Director) says the fire chief doesn’t have defined regular hours.
Lapehn inquired if (Beaumont) added the hours.
Beaumont advised he was just going to add which currently are 8 am to 5 pm Monday thru Friday. He advised he would add it to as the last sentence to subsection c (on the amendment).
Copley indicated he didn’t have a problem with the addition to the sentence and it could be included as part of his amendment.
Copley moved to amend section two (above), upon roll call; Beaumont-Yes, Carey-Yes, Johnson-Yes, Lapehn-No, Copley-Yes and motion carried.
Lapehn advised the reason he voted no was he wasn’t comfortable with the comparisons.
Lapehn moved to adopt as amended, all Yeas on roll call and motion carried.

New Business - None

City Manager’s Remarks
City Manager Larry Boggs advised they held another recycling meeting last week and Dave (Simpson) and he along with Julie Dunn would be assisting them with a grant. Boggs advised they also have a new recycling committee member Dave Williams. He advised they have received some interest from the articles published in the newspaper and he plans on getting the contest started the first week in April if the Daily Record could give us a little “plug” they would be off and running.
Boggs advised April 9th at 3:00 pm was when they were scheduled to go before the Wayne County Planning Department to review their 201 Plan extension request in order to run the sewer line to the apostolic nursing home. He advised if anyone on Council could attend they could probably use all the support they could get if your calendars were free to let him know.

a. Finance Director’s Remarks
Finance Director Lucinda Mann advised originally the city’s cash audit was suppose to
start this week and the auditor’s postponed it and would be starting this coming Monday.
Mann advised she has a wedding to go to the last Friday in April and was considering taking a mini vacation and being out the following Monday (Council Meeting 4/28) and if Council had any objections to please let her know so she could plan appropriately.

Council Remarks
Council Member Richard Lapehn advised he felt Cindy (Mann) deserved a vacation. Lapehn inquired when the street information became available if they could have a pretty decent estimate on the money they have to work with. He requested it be broke down in Perm Tax I & II along with carryover balance money and capital improvement monies. Lapehn advised he received some comments about the good snowplowing as it was a brutal storm two weekends ago and he felt the city workers deserve our praise for their hard work. He advised he believed they were out there all night trying to keep up with everything and they did a good job despite the conditions. Lapehn advised that was a real credit to the city.
Council Member Darrell Carey thanked everyone for coming. He thanked Mr. Williams for volunteering to assist Mr. Boggs. He thanked Mr. Thompson for coming to Council to try and help straighten them out on this (abatement) issue.
Council Member James Johnson thanked everyone for coming.
Council Member Lynn Beaumont thanked everyone for coming.
Council Member Charles Copley thanked everyone for coming. He advised the survey on the refuse pickup (if Rittman did their own waste collection) he felt some of the numbers were higher than what (Rittman) would pay out for wages and would have less tonnage to collect. He advised he didn’t know how they could estimate tonnage as he looked at a few sources and it seemed to be a ton to a ton and half per household. Copley advised they (Orrville comparison) were looking at three trucks and when he brought this up a couple years ago they were looking more along the lines of two trucks.
Boggs advised he believed they said two trucks and a backup, as there would have to be some type of truck to pick up the recyclables, as they couldn’t be thrown in with the regular trash. Boggs advised one of the things they were trying to (acquire) with the (recycling) grant was a truck and if they look at doing this (trash pickup ourselves) we could phase it into that (program).
Copley advised the other thing he thought looked high when looking at automatic pickup trucks was they were looking at the ones with the arms on them.
Boggs advised the reason they were doing that was due to the costs of workers compensation.
Copley advised at the same time he believed those trucks were $50,000 more each as he looked roughly at it and they were between $125,000 and $150,000 per truck for a standard rear loader. He advised he felt some of the numbers looked a little bit high compared to what Rittman would be and suggested some of our (Rittman) numbers be put into the (proposal) to see. He advised if they were breaking even he felt it was well worth it as they would have more control over it than if we were contracting someone else to do it. Copley advised he didn’t expect (the city) to make money and preferred not to lose money, but breaking even was in his opinion good although he didn’t know how the rest of Council felt.
Boggs advised what scares him the most about the concept (of hauling our own trash) was the city would have no control over fuel costs or the fees for the landfill.
Copley advised they were (assessed) the fuel surcharge anyway. He advised in the past the city’s contract didn’t have the fuel surcharge and now it (fluctuates) based on the fuel prices. He advised he felt it was an item that wasn’t in our hands at this point either way even with contracting out. Copley advised even after we put our numbers in there it might not be feasible, but he felt they would have a better projection.
Mayor William Robertson had no comments.

a. Approval of Vouchers 48207 thru 48305 Including Then and Now
Certificates Copley moved to approve, all Yeas on roll call and motion carried.

Motion to Adjourn – 8:23 p.m.
Johnson so moved, all Yeas on roll call and motion carried.