AGENDA 6-02-2015

MIDDLETOWN CITY COUNCIL AGENDA

TUESDAY, June 2, 2015

BUSINESS MEETING – 5:30 pm – COUNCIL CHAMBERS – LOWER LEVEL

1. MOMENT OF MEDITATION/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG

2. ROLL CALL

3. PUBLIC HEARING - Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) - Police

4. PRESENTATION- Miami Conservancy District’s 100th Anniversary Proclamation

5. CITIZEN COMMENTS, GUESTS, ORGANIZATIONS’ REPORTS

6. CITY MANAGER REPORTS

7. CONSENT AGENDA. . . Matters listed under the Consent Agenda are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion and one vote of consent. There will be no separate discussion of these items. If discussion is desired, that item will be removed and considered separately.

(a) Approve City Council Minutes: May 5 & May 19, 2015

(b) Receive and File Oaths of Office: Carley Berman, Ryan Holt, Ryan Montgomery, Ryan Roberts

(c) Confirm Personnel Appointments: Anna O’Hara- Part-time Bus Driver- Community Revitalization- Transit Nallelyt Gopar- Dispatcher- Public Safety- Police Michele McDowell- Secretary III- Public Works-Water Maintenance Michael Saltzmann- Computer Technician- Information Systems Mary Williams- Part-time Bus Driver- Community Revitalization- Transit

(d) Execute a lease/option to purchase City owned vacant lot located at 606 Crawford.

(e) Authorize a contract with A-1 Tree Service of Hillsboro, Oh, in the amount of $37,970.00 for the removal of tree and brush obstructions at the Middletown Regional Airport-Hook Field.

 

LEGISLATION

 

1. Ordinance No. O2015-36, an ordinance establishing a procedure for and authorizing purchases of asphalt by the City Purchasing Agent in 2015 and declaring an emergency.

 

2. Resolution No. R2015-23, a resolution authorizing the City Manager to submit a grant application and enter into a grant agreement for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant and declaring an emergency.

 

3. Ordinance No. O2015-37, an ordinance establishing a procedure for and authorizing a contract with Medicount Management, Inc. for ambulance billing service and declaring an emergency.

 

4. Resolution No. R2015-24, a resolution to make adjustments to appropriations for current expenses and other expenditures of the City of Middletown, Counties of Butler and Warren, State of Ohio, for the period ending December 31, 2015. (Appropriations Transfer- General Fund) (1st Reading)

 

WORK SESSION – CONFERENCE ROOM 2C- 2nd FLOOR EXECUTIVE SESSION Under the authority of O.R.C. 121.22 (G) (4) Preparing for, conducting, or reviewing negotiations or bargaining sessions with public employees concerning their compensation or other terms and conditions of their employment

What is the sale price of the lot to Ms Miller?

spiderjohn wrote: $40 PER WEEK for lawn service to a small vacant lot? How many of these vacant lots are we paying this rate to maintain?

That's what the lawn services charge for a small lot. Why not hire some high school kids at a lesser rate to cut grass. Or, ask Ms. Miller to negotiate a grass cutter for less per cutting and subtract her total cost from the price of the lot on sale day. Would save the city some money. How about the city soliciting the neighbor on either side of the city owned vacant lot to cut it for less than 40 bucks?

LEGISLATION 3:

$40 PER WEEK for lawn service to a small vacant lot?
How many of these vacant lots are we paying this rate to maintain?

We have hundreds of these empty lots all over the 2nd Ward.

Before the end of summer Mr. Adkins will be requesting more money from the greneral fund to pay the mowing bills on all these lots....Yep ya just got to love this great demo plan of City Hall 

Does anyone follow up that the job has been done in a timely and professional manner?
$40 for .25 residential typically gets a very attractive manicure---not an un-trimmed un-edged knockdown

Factguy wrote: No. City has contract, paid about every 30 days. Would agree pulling out Stihl trimmers and nice trim mower and blower with lawn striping is a 40 buck hair, LOL, lawn cut. Joe Hagen best in town, Sneider not bad either.

Speaking of lawn services.....next door neighbor, a young working girl with no lawn care experience hires Schneiders (sp?) Lawn Care to do her lawn. They use the 54 inch deck side discharge mowers and cut, trim and blow the lawn in about 15 minutes and then gone. Problem is, the side discharge mowers throw the long clippings on my lawn resulting in me getting my blower out and blowing the clippings back on her lawn where they belong. The boys at Schneiders have a block on a rope they can use to block the exit chute but apparently don't see a need to close the chute when they point the mower exit my way. Common courtesy would be the obvious here but I guess we can forget that, right.

Same situation on the other side of me with the elderly lady who hires a different "15 minutes and gone" lawn care service. Gotta get the blower out when they cut her lawn too. Dunno. Would most of you cutting grass blow the long clippings on your neighbor's lawn if you saw them out there routinely showing they like a nice lawn and put in a lot of time to maintain it?

Kinda inconsiderate, isn't it?

Factguy:

"My neighbor uses one referenced previously on .45 acre and the 0 turn has destroyed his grass, as they move at 6 mph, and then spin like a tank, destroying the sod (grass)."

I know what you mean Factguy. The older lady's lawn service uses the sit down 54 inch rider and the guy goes a hundred miles an hour across her lawn. At that speed, I don't care how sharp your blades are, you have got to be tearing out the grass rather than cutting it cleanly. Shows too as there are "white grass" rows among the greener grass rows when he is done. And the yard looks like a hay field that has just been bush hogged with all the clippings. They try to "lessen" the hayfield look by blowing the clippings around but all that crap on the lawn ain't good for it. Too much thatch buildup eventually. That ain't good either.

The Barrington thing looks like a good deal. The price of the four applications of Scotts for the year for the owner breaks out as such.....(for a 15,000 sq ft bag)

Early spring: Turf builder + Halts for crabgrass- about 62 bucks a bag

Late spring-early summer- Turf builder 2 for broadleaf weeds- about 45 bucks per bag

Mid-late summer: Summerizer (fertilizer + insect control_ about 60 bucks per bag

Late summer- fall: Winterizer (different mix of fertilizer to help the lawn survive the winter and help to a good start in early spring. About 50-60 bucks

A couple of hundred bucks just for the lawn treatment to start. This is our fifth house and I have followed this schedule in all five homes.

Do these guys treat for Emerald Ash Borer? If so, I have had one treatment so far and am looking to add another soon. Had another tree service do the first treatment to the tune of 150 bucks. The tree isn't dead but has lost a lot of foliage since it suddenly started dropping leaves 3 years ago. Has new growth though. A lot of ashes are dead around here. Seems to me that there are many trees of all kinds that don't have as much foliage on them this year. Harsh winters perhaps?

cool
great concept--good to know
maybe a folder here where business post their services and contacts?

I spoke to the individual who mows our neighborhood and they will post a brief write-up on the site this weekend. They originally started this as a small side business, which it still is, when they were all living in Chicago, in Barrington. Excellent idea on folder for services, and reviews here. Combine yelp and Angie's List type reviews. I use Angie's List routinely for medical references. On Barrington, they do really nice work. One of them was a groundskeeper at one of the pro baseball teams and they really aim to make a neighborhood's value go up by uniformity while taking the hassle out of calling one company for lawn, another for fertilizer, another for mulch, another for lawn bagging, another for now removal, all that. And they do it quickly. They do small numbers with high quality. Not a transaction where they bring in a 60 inch mower for a small yard. They use a Simplicity pacer 34 on my yard with a striper and make the diamond look like the Red's ball field. It really makes a difference.