MINUTES OF MEETING OF
IRONTON CITY COUNCIL
August 26, 2021
6:00 p.m.
A regular meeting of Ironton City Council was held on Thursday, August 26, 2021, at 6:00 p.m. in Council Chambers. Present was Vice Mayor, Craig Harvey, who presided and members: Cleary, Haney, Kline, Pierce, Rist – six. Mr. Harvey said Mr. Hock had contacted him and said he had a previous engagement this evening
All persons stood for an invocation from Rev. Margaret Tyson of Quinn Chapel Church, and then the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Minutes of the Regular Meeting of August 12, 2021, the Strategic Planning Committee Meeting of August 17, 2021 and the Recreation Committee Meeting of August 17, 2021, stood approved as submitted. Mr. Haney said in the Recreation Meeting minutes, in the second sentence it states “Beth Freeman”, but should be “Beth Campbell”.
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
Mr. Harvey said they have an invited guest this evening, Jeremy Clay from LEDC, for a quarterly update. Mr. Clay said they have seen new demographic for the population for the County. He said in the last ten years Lawrence County as a whole shrank 6.7%, and the City of Ironton has shrank 5%. He said they have seen other communities like Portsmouth, which had a decline of 10%, and Huntington, which had a decline of 4%. He said they will get more demographical data about population density, ages, etc. to give them more of a snapshot of what’s taking place, hopefully in the next quarter. He said right now they are in partnership with the Lawrence Street project, with Ralph Kline and Dr. Dingus heading that project, looking at a sports complex and how they can develop that area. They continue to have progress meetings and planning meetings to get the design and layouts. He said they will come to Council in time for consideration of annexation of the property as they move forward. He said they have a tremendous amount of planning and work to do before they get to that stage. He said the LEDC has the USEPA Brownfield Assessment Grant, and they are currently tackling the Ironton Iron property with a large portion of that property. He said currently they have allocated approximately $60,000 for them to try to get the environmental vapor intrusion requirements and testing on the Ironton Iron property, which really inhibits its development there. He said in the last four weeks they have done two sets of testing because of the data they were seeing. He said they know from their preliminary testing that of the five locations, four tested extremely well and one did not. So they are looking now at trying to change the covenant on the property to limit it to a smaller section of the property instead of the whole 20-acre property that it encompasses. He said this project will last all throughout the year, because once they get done, they have already been in touch with the Ohio EPA. They have to pay the Ohio EPA as part of their fees and assessments, and they have a grant from the US EPA. So the US EPA has helped them with the State and the systems for the Ohio EPA director for them to roll in their consultants to review their data and help them come up with a solution to try to remedy some of those requirements that are interfering in the development of that property. He said they are also currently working with Jim Kratzenburg on his property, the former Dow Chemical property. He said it is still contaminated and has been contaminated for years, and they are looking to try to obtain some more grant funding from the State or the Federal Government to help with that clean-up. He said it is an extensive amount of funds needed to get that property to the next stage. He said they are currently working with the Mayor on three retail projects they are developing in the City, but they can’t go into any details on those projects. He said they have been very fortunate in the last couple of months with projects with leads, especially with the construction costs the way they are today. He said they do believe that all three projects are going to develop into fruition. He said they have to let the businesses announce that; and, hopefully, with the help of the Mayor, they will be able to get those announcements in the future once they get that far with due diligence and acceptance of the projects. He said the Mayor also asked him to touch briefly on the Brumberg building project. He said Ralph Kline still heads that project, as he has for well over a decade. He said they have been delayed tremendously with COVID. He said it really affected jobs tremendously because the elevator company shut down all plant production because of COVID. It is anticipated 6 weeks for them to complete the elevator work, and they are on the second week of those six weeks. He said hopefully, if everything goes well, in 6-8 weeks they should be finishing up with their contracts to get that project closed out, and then they will look at planning the next phases. But they will have the roof on, new windows, the new elevator and basic electric.
Mr. Harvey asked Mr. Clay if the Lawrence Street project with the annexation going to hurt them with their Capital Bill request, having two entities? Mr. Clay said at this stage it is not their intent to put that before the Board. Mr. Cleary asked, regarding the Brumberg building, if they got the roof totally replaced and all the bad wood structure that was holding it up has been replaced? Mr. Clay said yes. Mr. Kline said the spec building at the south end of town looks great, and he thought it was a great project. He asked if Mr. Clay sees any future demand for spec buildings for south Ironton or is LEDC just trying to develop something in the near future? Mr. Clay said it is their hope and intent to get the Ironton Iron property into a position to do that. He said, of course, with the environmental issues, it makes the property less bankable, and that creates a lot of obstacles for the property value wise and match wise. He said they still need 20% cash when they go for financing, and they typically use land for equity. He said that property currently in its value will not assist them in that process. He said it is their intent and hope to get that property cleaned up, and they do have a design for it already. Mr. Kline asked him if he had any tentative timeline as far as the design? Mr. Clay said they do not. He said they have to get to the environmental first. He said hopefully they will have additional clean-up activities, but they have to get the property completely cleaned off to help them make that property valuable. He said they know what they are looking for there for their concept, and they have a really good idea; but he can’t give any time frames, especially given their construction costs. The building packages were up 64% since the first of the year, and it is not good business for them to build a spec right now. He can’t get their money out of it, and therefore, they can’t continue with the spec building program. He said if they invest in a property that they can’t get their money back out of or turn, then they are stationary because they have all of their cash and equity tied up. So they have to be able to quickly turn projects to get the next project started, and they have to be careful and they can’t hit it at a time right now with their construction costs being so high. Mr. Haney said Mr. Clay said some of the land on that property is acceptable through the EPA? Mr. Clay said it will be. Mr. Haney asked if there was any way they could possibly pass along some type of ariel view of that property and give them an idea of property that is acceptable and property that is in danger? Mr. Clay said right now the covenant exists on the entire piece of property. He said they know the 5 spots that were identified in the clean-up previously. They know where those 5 areas are, they have tested those areas recently. He said of those 5 areas, 4 have been acceptable per the US EPA standards. He said their focus is to get that cleaned up and condense to one section that is hot. At this stage it is the whole property, so he can’t provide them a map. But it is their intent and their focus design-wise and plan-wise to get it condensed and keep the covenant and restrictions on this certain portion of the property. He said once they get to that stage, they will definitely certainly share. Mr. Haney said right now it would be considered one parcel? Mr. Clay said yes, and the covenant affects everything. Mr. Kline said regarding the new development of the counseling center on South 4th Street, he was trying to track down someone to discuss their operations or business plans for that facility, and the Mayor suggested that he talk to Bill Dingus about. He asked Mr. Clay if he had that contact. Mr. Clay said he does not have it handy, but he will get it and send it to him later.
Mayor Cramblit said he has a few updates. He said he submitted the communication that Mr. Harvey read to Council at the last meeting, and they did have the Andersons look over the bid package for the SBA cell tower, and they will go ahead with that as planned. He said he has been meeting with a group for the floodwall murals, and they met with a world-renowned artist that does murals all over the country. He said he wanted to bring it to Council. They are starting a fund-raising package; and instead of just throwing out a number to them, he told them that whatever they can fund raise, we would match 10% on funding these murals. He said he will give more updates on this as they start to move forward. They will meet with this person again in a few weeks, but it is moving along pretty well. He said when they were talking about part-timers in the Street Department, Mr. Elam mentioned that their over-time budget in that was way over. He said he was working with John, and they have submitted $38,000 to FEMA for reimbursement, and they received $26,000 that will be put back into that fund. He said he knows that Police and Fire had quite a chunk as well for road safety, but the majority of that was Street Department for labor, overtime, etc. He said the pickle ball courts are moving along pretty quickly and looking very good. He said they had them go ahead and surface it, and he went ahead today and made the decision to go ahead and do the basketball court just like that also. He said it is going to cost them $7,000 to do that, and he feels like they can find that in multiple places. He said he thinks they will be very proud of what that looks like when that project is finished. He said he met with KYOVA a few days ago to discuss the paving project that they are working on. He said they were two weeks out from having all of the data that they have been working on. He said the Federal funds for KYOVA are not made available until 2024, so their paving project that they do internally is obviously going to have to follow in line with the bond restrictions. However, he and Kevin Wood, in talking with them, decided that the best thing they can do is a preliminary design of all the streets, which will cost $50,000, but it is going to give them the cost on each individual street and is also going to tell them which streets are eligible for Federal funding down the road. He said that way they can prioritize their paving on the roads that do not qualify for any type of grants. He doesn’t know how much Mr. Wood told them about the bridge project when he was here. He asked if he told them the common theme around construction these days, that the cost went up on that, about $300,000. He said he thinks that is a 5% or 10% match they have. . . they will see that number, he thinks it was about $400,000 or $500,000 they anticipated .. getting them the final cost estimate. He said he talked to ABM this morning, and all materials for lighting are in. They will start the project on September 6th, and they will be doing the Fire Department, probably the Water Department second. He said the City Building is going to be the tough one to tackle with all the Court, Finance, Police, Water, retail, etc. Mr. Harvey asked him if he said that before they can move forward with the floodwall murals, that you are meeting with the artist or somebody else? The Mayor said no, meeting with a group, and the group members are Rick Jansen, Joe Unger, Joe’s wife, Abby Kuhne and Amanda Cleary, Ralph Kline, Brad Bear and Marty Compton. Mr. Harvey said he was asking because in their last workshop, Mr. Pierce was talking about future things and was talking about a push towards getting some things with the arts; and when the Mayor talked about murals, he thought that tied in well, and if they get a chance to talk to that artist, maybe get Mr. Pierce involved because he has a passion for that. The Mayor said they are still working with them on deciding the route to go. He said they know they want “Welcome to Ironton”, and then it is up in the air as far as doing part of it as history, part of it as modern art, where people would come and take pictures from all over. He said that is all still being worked out. Mr. Haney asked if it was going to be restoration of any of it or is it going to be totally changed? The Mayor said with this artist, you are looking at the low end of $20,000, $40,000, $50,000, or $80,000 for these murals that he does. So they might just look at trying to do one or whatever they can fund raise. He said this artist has done all of Portsmouth’s murals. Mr. Haney said he was glad that the Mayor included the basketball court.
Beth Rist said she had Tonya and Mike Guy contact her from 1636 Carl Drive. She said they told her that they contacted the Mayor’s Office. They said the people who live across the street at 1640 live in Florida, and the trees are on top of the road and hanging over their cars when they are driving to their house. The Mayor said where they have had a lot of rain, the trees are starting to sink down, so they have had to trim quite a bit around town. He said they will get to that. Ms. Rist said another person contacted her on Facebook and everyone became involved in it. Karla Swartzwelder at 2439 South 8th Street contacted her. The Mayor said she contacts them about grass and over the winter about couches, etc., and they got that cleaned up. But he checked with Mark about the grass, and it is just now at the level of violation. But he said it has now been flagged.
Nate Kline said he did see the pickle ball courts and they look great. He asked if they could do something like a Grand Opening or a Grand Re-Opening and kick that off because pickle ball is kind of a culture, and there are a lot of people across the river that they could attract here if they could get the word out about it opening up. The Mayor said he spoke to Joseph Peyton today about it because he was doing a story on it. He told him that it is all coming along, but let’s wait until it is all ready, and he could come back and follow up on the story and see what has been done. Mr. Kline said he has had some residents ask whether the City will be able to start a notification system to let them know of something happening, a water break, boil water advisory, chemical spill, etc. The Mayor said that is something he would like to do. He said he thinks it is pretty expensive. Mr. Harvey said it depends on what system you use. He said if you use One Call, it is a brand name and is pretty expensive, but there are some others. He said Ohio University uses one that is relatively inexpensive. Mr. Kline said regarding the floodwall on the walking paths, when the contractor did it, the grade on it is different on the top. He asked if they need some sort of specialized equipment to maintain that or will our current mowers handle it? The Mayor said it really needs to be filled back, and that is something that Mike (Pemberton) is working on. He said they have the zero gravity mowers that they bought last year that work really well in the other steep areas, but that one is very steep. Mr. Kline said he didn’t know if there was any kind of specialized equipment that might be accommodating. The Mayor said they may have to look at doing that long-term, but he thinks the best option is to fill that grade if they can get the permit from the Corps. Mr. Harvey said it wasn’t designed to be like that, correct? The Mayor said he doesn’t know, but he has heard a lot of things about that project. Mr. Kline said he knows they are short-staffed on street employees, but he has also heard some concerns as far as markings from the curb back so cars can sit back from the curb so people can see turning in and out of streets. He said he has heard that on 5th and Ellison that they are parking too close on the side streets to the main streets, so if we could just mark those yellow. He said he thinks Judge Waldo and his crews may have done something at some point and marked those. The Mayor said they will get a grievance on that. Mr. Harvey said they had that discussion prior to the last time, and they were happy to have the help. He said he knows they are in a different position right now. . . The Mayor said they literally brought that up to him in a Union meeting. Mr. Harvey said they got their blessing on it the first time. The Mayor said at 5th and Park he always feels like he is risking his life each time he goes, and he knows there are a lot of spots like that. He said they have done it on some, but it is just as people point them out. Mr. Kline said he aggravates Mr. Elam all time about the 4th Floor. He knows the majority of what is up there is Finance-owned, and John is working on that. He said if there is an interest with the Mayor’s departments to clean that up, he thinks it would be worth the investment. The Mayor said he spoke to John a couple of days ago about a solution, and he thinks maybe bringing everybody in on a Saturday when no one will bother them then, and bring in the Chief because there is a lot of Police stuff up there. He said there is the Mayor’s stuff, Susan Dooley’s stuff, Water stuff, etc. Mr. Elam said it is hot up there right now. Mr. Kline said he knows it is going to be a job, but he does believe it is worth the investment and they will get a return on it. The Mayor said maybe in late October they can get up there and do that. Mr. Haney said he is sure that everybody has seen the trees being cut down on 2nd Street between Pearl and Elm. He has had so many questions and he has not been able to get close enough to see who is doing it. The Mayor said that was AEP, and they are cutting trees all over because they have to do maintenance on the lines. Mr. Harvey asked if they contacted the Mayor’s Office to give public notice? The Mayor said they did. Mr. Kline said he just got confirmation that they are live, and he wanted to know if the Mayor could emphasize that the Smartgov software is up and running. The Mayor gave the directions to get to that software.
Mr. Harvey asked if the communication that they received from the Department of Commerce, about Woodland Cemetery, was something they need to take any action on? The Mayor said he read that briefly in the minutes. Mr. Cleary said he was on the Board up there, and he brought some information in to share with everybody.
COMMUNICATIONS
Mr. Harvey said they have the aforementioned Mayor Cramblit letter which was read at the August 12, 2021 City Council meeting. He said there is also the Department of Commerce letter regarding Case No. 2021-955, Judith Cornell vs. Woodland Cemetery. Mr. Cleary said in sitting on the Board, they get into a lot of different situations. He said it seems like issues at the Veterans’ area pops up more than anything else does. He said he has a letter dated September 15, 1920, which is almost 100 years old. He read this letter to Council. He read that “the Trustee of said Woodland Cemetery are to see to the perpetual care and maintenance of said plot”, which means we have to cut the grass, trim the trees, make sure everything is right. But then we get this new Memorandum for Record dated September 15, 1920, that says “the Trustees were to take care for the maintenance of the plots. The failure to maintain the plot Civil War period for over a month, the Lawrence County Veterans Commission voted on September 15, 2020 to hire Pritchard Lawn Care to handle the care and maintenance of the plots starting on September 17th. So the County Commissioners took that away from the Cemetery Board, and they hired their own people to take care of cutting grass, etc. He said it says the point of contact of memorandum is Tim Carpenter, Lawrence County Veteran’s Service Officer. He said if you read the lady’s letter attached, the last page had in her own writing what she was saying. He said this is all brought about because the Veterans are taking care of their own property, the Cemetery Board no longer takes care of it, or they have people hired to do it, and Tim Carpenter decided he was going to remove all of the flat Veterans’ markers, which was pretty handy for anybody cutting grass there because you don’t have to cut around them. He said a lot of those have sunk into the ground and covered with grass so you can’t even see them. So the Veterans’ Board decided they were going to put in these new ones. He said the Cemetery Board has had complaints about the new ones because they are taking all of the old original ones out, but they don’t know what they are doing with them. He said the new ones look really nice. He said the way he reads her letter, this lady is upset because she thinks that with those being Veterans’ plots, that they should have to contact all of the people who are buried there and get their blessing to remove those other plaques and put new ones in. He said Tim Carpenter says he will do what he wants. He said Mack looked this over, and he didn’t see anything where that property was actually deeded to them, that we may still own the property. He said personally he doesn’t think that the City of Ironton has anything to do with what this lady is talking about. He said she filed suit, and he assumes they will have to send them some kind of answer. Mack Anderson said it is either the Cemetery Board or the Veterans. He said the City or the Township itself has nothing to do with it other than being the appointing authority for that Board, but the Board runs the Cemetery. Mr. Harvey said those markers are purchased by the Federal government; they aren’t even privately purchased. Mr. Cleary said he thinks the new ones are too. Mr. Anderson said he doesn’t think they need to respond to it. He said this Department of Commerce letter was addressed to the City of Ironton and Upper Township, and says “The attached letter of complaint has been filed with the Division of Real Estate & Professional Licensing (Division) against you, as a cemetery operator. . .” ; but we are not the cemetery operator, unless we just want to respond and say we are no longer an operator. Mr. Cleary said that is why he thinks we need to make some kind of response so they do not start trying to file lawsuits. Mr. Anderson said he could write a letter back to them and say on behalf of the City and Township, the City does not operate it. Mr. Haney asked if that needs a recommendation to send the letter? Mr. Harvey said they just need a request from Council, and Bob made that request. Mr. Anderson said if they would want to vote on it, you could do that in Miscellaneous.
REPORTS – None
ORDINANCES
ORDINANCE NO. 21-50 – REPEALING SECTION 220.03(b) OF THE CODIFIED ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF IRONTON, OHIO AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY was given first reading.
ORDINANCE NO. 21-52 – AMENDING THE PERMANENT BUDGET FOR THE CITY OF IRONTON, OHIO, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDIG DECEMBER 31, 2021 AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY was given first reading.
Mr. Cleary said this ordinance was given a favorable recommendation from the Finance Committee this evening. Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Ms. Rist, to suspend the rules and give Ordinance No. 21-52 second and third reading by title only. Motion passed unanimously and Ordinance No. 21-52 was given second and third reading. Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Mr. Pierce, to adopt Ordinance No. 21-52. Motion passed unanimously. ADOPTED
RESOLUTIONS
RESOLUTION NO. 21-51 – A RESOLUTION RECOMMENDING FACE COVERS WHILE IN THE CHAMBERS OF THE IRONTON CITY COUNCIL AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY was read.
Ms. Rist moved, seconded by Mr. Cleary, to pass Resolution No. 21-51. Mr. Cleary said the way that is written, it is just recommending, not making a law. Mr. Harvey said that was correct. He said the body of the Resolution doesn’t say it, but it was their recommendation in lieu of a mandate. He said he wanted to make sure people feel comfortable and protected and also have something in place that might have a chance to pass. Mr. Haney asked if there was a capacity requirement here? Mr. Harvey said there is not, but that is why he mentioned social distancing in there. Motion passed unanimously. ADOPTED
MISCELLANEOUS
Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Mr. Haney, to receive, file and make a part of the minutes, the July 2021 financials. Motion passed unanimously.
Mr. Cleary moved, seconded by Mr. Haney, to ask Mack Anderson to address the Veterans plot issue. Motion passed unanimously.
Mr. Kline moved, seconded by Mr. Pierce, to go into Executive Session to discuss litigation, with Council, the Mayor, and Solicitor, with no action to follow. Motion passed unanimously.
Minutes were taken by Marta Leach, Clerk.
In attendance: John Elam, Finance Director, Mayor Cramblit, Mack Anderson.