Hillsboro City Council approves Roberts Lane funding resolutions; rejects emergency resolution for mowing services

Hillsboro City Council moved forward with plans for funding the Roberts Lane extension, while a motion to approve an emergency resolution for municipal mowing services failed by a rare 1-5 vote, during Thursday night’s council meeting.

Following their respective third readings and the recommendation of the finance committee, council voted 5-1 to approve two pieces of legislation for funding the Roberts Lane extension.

Approved, with council member Jason Brown voting no, were:

• A resolution authorizing the safety and service director to apply for, accept and enter into a water supply revolving loan fund account (WSRLA) agreement on behalf of the City of Hillsboro for planning, design and/or construction of water facilities and designating a dedicated repayment source for the loan; and

• A resolution authorizing the safety and service director to apply for, accept and enter into a water pollution control loan fund agreement (WPCLF) on behalf of the City of Hillsboro for planning, design and/or construction of wastewater facilities and designating a dedicated repayment source for the loan.

As previously reported, the Hillsboro Finance Committee met April 5 to do their final review prior to full council voting on the two funding resolutions for the project. The committee voted 3-0 to recommend passage of both resolutions, as committee member Adam Wilkin read the report to council Thursday night due to committee chair Mary Stanforth being absent. (Read more about the committee meeting at: https://highlandcountypress.com/news/hillsboro-finance-committee-signs-….)

As discussed in March, current estimates show the Roberts Lane extension to be a $10.4 million project, according to city grant writer and economic development coordinator Kirby Ellison.

The city has already secured $2.3 million from the State Controlling Board, while Ellison said that they have low-interest loan agreements from the state water pollution control revolving loan and water supply revolving loan in the amount of $3.7 million (for storm and sanitary sewers) and $1.2 million (for water), which is what was approved by council Thursday. The city also committed over $700,000 in American Rescue Plan Act dollars toward the project.

In his report, Hillsboro Mayor Justin Harsha informed council of the Highland County commissioners’ recent commitment of $750,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds toward the project, which was also discussed at the finance committee meeting.

“That was really good news, and we really appreciate that,” Harsha said.

Harsha said that he and public works superintendent Shawn Adkins also toured the property for the expansion Thursday. (As previously reported, the city has purchased a 69-acre lot for the project.)

“They put stakes in the center line where all the roads are going to be, so we walked the whole property and checked it all out,” Harsha said. “You can really see the potential for what's going to be out there in the available space. It’s going to be really nice, so I'm pretty excited about that.”

In other legislation:

• In a rare occurrence, a motion to suspend the three-reading rule failed, 1-5, after Brown spoke out against a proposed emergency resolution to enter into a contract for municipal mowing services.

Harsha said Weber Lawn Care and Landscaping submitted the lowest and best bid for mowing — which, according to Adkins, was $49,500 — and that they wanted to pass the legislation as an emergency as it is already time to start mowing.

Brown asked who handled the city’s mowing in 2022. Adkins said it was the public works department, and has been since the last time they bid out for mowing services in 2018.  

“We’ll say $50,000 — that is going to be cheaper than having the city workers do it?” Brown asked.

“Yes,” Adkins said.

Brown pointed out that the city has a dedicated parks maintenance employee at $25,000 and a line item in the budget for a second employee at $25,000.

“You’ve got two workers at $50,000 and another $50,000 to private hire a mowing company?” Brown asked. “If someone comes up to me and says ‘why does it cost $100,000 to keep the parks taken care of in Hillsboro,’ how am I supposed to answer that question?”

Adkins said the line item for a second parks employee was put in the budget to set aside funding in case estimates for mowing were “ungodly,” and that they were not hiring a second employee.

“It takes one full crew — there’s five guys plus myself — one whole day to mow Liberty Park, not counting the other parks,” Adkins said.

In response to more questions from Brown and council member Greg Maurer, Adkins said the bid includes all of Liberty Park, the Railroad Street Park, Crossroads Park and behind the firehouse, for 26 mowings from from May 1-Oct. 31.

“That’s an awful lot of money to mow for six months,” Brown said.

Brown then asked if the city had filled “job openings.” Adkins said they have hired for storm sewer positions. Council member Jo Sanborn asked if they could mow when their projects were “going to be finished.” Adkins said they are maintaining storm sewers, which is a “year-round project” and not affiliated with mowing.

“There’s 10 employees that take care of all the water, storms, streets, sewer and the parks right now,” Adkins said.

He said that they had contracted with other services for mowing prior to 2018, and before that the city also formerly had a group of four employees whose sole job was mowing the parks.

Brown asked if the city could hire another part-time employee at a lower cost than the contracting.

“Two people’s not going to get that mowed,” Adkins said. “There’s 69 acres just at Liberty Park.”

After the debate, Wilkin made a motion to suspend the three-reading rule. Brown seconded the motion, but voted no, as did everyone but Wilkin.

“This will have to move over to a second reading next month,” council president Tom Eichinger said.

• After input from the mayor and various council members, a resolution regarding bids at the Railroad Street park was amended and passed as an emergency after its first reading.

In March, Sanborn, who is the chair of the community enhancement committee chair, announced that her committee voted to take the first step toward plans for a possible pickleball court at the former Railroad Street park, as they are seeking bids to resurface the old tennis courts. In response to a question from Stanforth, Sanborn said that the local pickleball group has agreed to help cover the costs.

The legislation was introduced Thursday night as “a resolution to solicit bids for resurfacing the city’s tennis courts.”

“I know we talked a little bit about in a meeting about the possibility of including the basketball courts and soliciting bids for that,” Harsha said. “I don’t know what council’s wishes were, whether they’d like to include the basketball courts and solicit bids for that all at the same time.”

Eichinger said if council made a motion to make the change and a majority approved the motion, they could “move forward.”

“I think the first thing that we talked about was if we were going to grant for the basketball [courts],” Sanborn said. “We don't know if we are or not yet, so that’s why we're not sure if we should include it or not.”

Eichinger asked if she had a cost estimate for the courts, and Sanborn said they didn’t. Harsha said they thought it made sense to have contractors look at the cost to resurface both courts, but “it doesn’t mean you have to go forward with it” if the bids are too high.

“I don’t think it would hurt to at least get a bid,” Wilkin said.

Wilkin made a motion to amend the resolution to add the basketball courts, which passed 6-0.

Eichinger said it would be fixed for “the second reading.” Harsha asked if council could also consider passing it as an emergency.

“There’s a pickleball group here raising funds, and they’re looking to move forward with that,” Harsha said. “The quicker we can get the bids out, the better off we’re going to be.”

Law director Randalyn Worley pointed out that if council is only wanting to solicit bids at this time — not award the project — then she would need to amend another part of the resolution that states that the administration would award the lowest and best bid.

“The important part is to get the bids out so we can come back to council,” Harsha said.
 
After a couple minutes, Worley provided an amended resolution, which was again adjusted after Maurer said language was unclear and made it sound as though both the tennis and basketball courts would be resurfaced for pickleball. Eichinger read the resolution in its entirety — including the reason for the emergency, “that it is necessary because of seasonal activities to get the bids in while we still can have work done” — before council voted 6-0 to suspend the three-reading rule and 6-0 to approve the legislation as an emergency.

• A resolution to authorize and direct the Safety and Service Director to enter into a grant agreement with the Ohio Department of Public Safety, Ohio Traffic Safety Office passed as an emergency, 6-0, due to “time constraints dictated by the terms of the agreement,” Harsha said.

As previously reported, the Ohio Governor’s Office announced last month that the City of Hillsboro received a $10,000 grant  through Governor DeWine's Drive to Succeed Scholarship Program and Youthful Driver Safety Fund. “Governor DeWine launched this community-based teen driver training scholarship program in December 2022,” the press release said. “The program was developed to allow eligible teenage drivers to attend driver training classes at no cost to their families.”

“This legislation will allow the city to enter into an agreement with the Ohio Department of Public Safety, Ohio Traffic Safety Office in partnership with Hillsboro High School, to provide teen driver training to low-income populations by providing localized scholarship programs,” Harsha said.

Council also voted 6-0 to approve a related ordinance making supplemental appropriations in the amount of $10,000 for the Drive to Succeed Grant.

• Also passed as an emergency (by a 6-0 vote) was a resolution accepting the material terms of, and authorizing and directing the mayor to execute, all documents necessary to participate in the settlement concerning the State of Ohio’s opioid litigation with distributors Teva, Allergan, CVS, Walgreens and Walmart.

“We're asking for the suspension of three-reading rule to comply with the state deadline of April 18,” Harsha said.

Brown asked how the funds will be used. Harsha said they are “to be determined,” but it will likely be “at the discretion of the police chief.”

“The settlement terms will come out of the actual lawsuit, and they will give us guidelines as far as a city, the same as any other municipalities and counties are involved, as far as what we can spend those funds on,” Worley said. “It will be very specific. We just haven’t gotten those yet. And that will be uniform across the state of Ohio.”

• Also approved were several legislative items introduced by the city auditor, including a resolution approving a “then and now” certification for a $6,409.80 payment to Distel Construction for phase three storm sewer construction, which passed as an emergency.

“We did not have a purchase order,” city auditor Patty Day said. “We were not aware of the bill coming to us, so that's why the then and now needs to be approved.”

Council also approved two other appropriations ordinances, each by a 6-0 vote:

An ordinance making appropriations transfers in the amount of $2,000 to pay for paint for a volunteer project painting the fence at the Railroad Street Park; and

An ordinance making appropriations transfers in the amount of $2,980.74 for a donation for supplies for the Liberty Park Veterans Memorial.

Legislation not receiving a vote included:

• An ordinance amending sections 32.100, 32.101, 32.102 and 32.103 of the codified ordinances of the City of Hillsboro pertaining to the city’s records commission, which had its second reading.

• An ordinance amending section 39.20 of the codified ordinances of the City of Hillsboro pertaining to the city’s records request policy also had its second reading.

• Council heard the first readings of three related resolutions for low-interest loans for Beech Street improvements, beginning with a resolution authorizing the safety and service director to apply for, accept and enter into a Water Pollution Control Loan Fund agreement on behalf of the City of Hillsboro for planning, design and/or construction of wastewater facilities and designating a dedicated repayment source.

“This legislation will allow the city to apply for and enter into an agreement with the Water Pollution Control Revolving Loan Account for low-interest, one-percent, loans for wastewater facilities for the Beech Street project,” Harsha said.

A related resolution authorizing the Safety and Service Director to apply for, accept and enter into a Water Supply Revolving Loan Account agreement on behalf of the City of Hillsboro for planning, design and/or construction of water facilities and designating a dedicated repayment source for the loan.

This is also for low-interest, one-percent loan funding, according to Harsha.

The third resolution is authorizing the city to prepare and submit an application for the State of Ohio Department of Development Residential Public Infrastructure Grant for FY23.

The Hillsboro Finance Committee has already begun to review the funding plan packages for proposed improvements to water, sewer, storm and streets (curbs, gutters and sidewalks) for the area of Beech, Railroad and McDowell streets, estimated at close to $4 million ($3,946,991). As Ellison reported in March, the city is projected to have “more money” than needed to make the improvements.

All three items of legislation were placed in the finance committee for further consideration.

• Two pieces of legislation were also scrapped from the agenda.

An ordinance repealing and replacing sections 36.075 and 116.20 of the codified ordinances of the City of Hillsboro pertaining to the City’s lodging excise tax and registration, which had its first reading in March, was pulled from the agenda and did not receive a second reading. Eichinger said it is “still in committee, and we are waiting on some feedback on a few things.”

Also pulled from the agenda was an ordinance making appropriation transfers in the amount of $21,000 for mowing services for the park, due to council not suspending the three-reading rule to enter the contract for mowing.

In other business:

• 

Along with the update on the Roberts Lane extension, Harsha said in his report that he recently toured the new Fenner Ridge Apartment buildings, for which construction is nearing completion.

Harsha reported that the city issued 12 commercial and seven residential building permits in the past month. Construction of the new Marshall’s department store is also underway, he said.

Harsha also invited the public to attend the city’s second annual community cookout, scheduled for May 5 uptown at the old firehouse.

• Along with Wilkin’s report on the finance committee’s April 5 meeting, Brown reported on the zoning and annexation’s joint meeting with the Hillsboro Planning Commission on March 25.

“The purpose of the meeting was to give any input or thoughts on the Planning Commission’s suggested changes to various parts of the zoning codes, and on the signs,” Brown said. “Committee members agreed with all changes the Planning Commission suggested.”

Brown added that the committee will meet again once the proposed changes are finalized to determine “whether or not to recommend the changes to council.”

• Day asked to give a report at the end of the meeting, under new business. She said that her office is in the middle of changing several software systems, including payroll; a finance system that is the same as the one used by the tax office; and detailed budgeting software.

Day also spoke about planned changes for how the city handles fixed assets.

“Fixed assets, we currently are contracting that service out and will cost us about $10,000 a year,” Day said. “We're going to have fixed assets brought back in house. Some policies are going to need to be upgraded, but we'll hopefully implement that in 2024, because we've already paid for the process currently in 2023. It will be something that will want to start at the beginning of the year, so there’ll be more to come on that. That will be the last program that we update.”

Wilkin asked how much the software cost.

“It was budgeted for last year,” Day said. “It was under $20,000.

“It was in my budget. I didn’t have to ask anybody.”

Day also reported that the city is also starting their audit as well as budget planning; that she has been doing continuing education; and thanked deputy auditors Annette Black and Sally Chirico for their assistance.

• At the start of the meeting, council voted 6-0 to excuse the absences of Stanforth and safety and service director Brianne Abbott, both of whom were “out of town,” Eichinger said.

Eichinger also introduced acting treasurer Dawson Barreras, who attended the meeting and sat with Day.

Under communications, Eichinger noted that the city received a notification from the Ohio Division of Liquor Control for a liquor license renewal for the East Main Sunoco. Council voiced no objections.

Eichinger also told council that they had received a copy of the annual Hillsboro Municipal Court report from Judge Chad Randolph and encouraged council members to review it.

For more from Thursday's meeting, go to: https://highlandcountypress.com/news/citizens-divided-dora-proposal-cou….