Board Meeting Minutes, February 27, 2018
Commissioners’ Meeting
William F. Hutson called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m. with Adam Friedrick and Patricia G. Geissman present. The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer.
The minutes of the February 20, 2018 Public Hearing and Commissioners’ meeting were emailed in advance. Mr. Friedrick moved to approve the two sets of minutes; Mrs. Geissman seconded the motion. Roll call showed all commissioners voting AYE.
Highway Administrative Assistant Doug King presented and reviewed the following resolutions: (1) authorizing the Medina County engineer to advertise for bids for ODOT Item 422 single chip and seal of various county roads in Medina County; (2) authorizing the Medina County engineer to advertise for bids for ODOT Item 422 MC-3000 single chip and seal of various county roads in Medina County; (3) authorizing the Medina County engineer to advertise for bids for Item 405 bituminous cold mix resurfacing of various county roads in Medina County; (4) authorizing the Medina County engineer to advertise for bids for the 2018 Medina County Highway Department hot bituminous plant mixes; (5) accepting and awarding the bids for the 2018 Medina County aggregate bid for the Medina County engineer; (6) determining the necessity to close the intersection of Abbeyville Road (C.H. 47) and Neff Road (C.H. 128) on Thursday, March 1, 2018; (7) determining the necessity to close East Smith Road (C.H. 4) between Brook Run Drive (T.H. 746) and River Styx Road (C.H. 49) on Wednesday, February 28, 2018; and (8) determining the necessity to close River Corners Road (C.H. 27) between Spencer Mills Road (T.H. 77) and Chatham Road (S.R. 162). Mr. Friedrick moved to approve the eight resolutions; Mrs. Geissman seconded the motion. Roll call showed all commissioners voting AYE.
The commissioners reviewed the permits issued February 15-21, 2018.
Finance Director Mike Pataky presented and reviewed the following resolutions: (1) amending the 2018 Annual Appropriations Resolution by transferring appropriations; (2) authorizing the county auditor to transfer funds for Title IV-D services; (3) approving an agreement for pest control services for the Community Housing Impact and Preservation Program (CHIP) rehabilitation projects; (4) allowing expenses of the Adult Probation Department; (5) allowing expenses of the county engineer; and (6) allowing expenses of county officials. Mr. Pataky requested payment of the weekly bills in the amount of $559,823.79. Mr. Friedrick moved to approve the six resolutions and to pay the bills; Mrs. Geissman seconded the motion. Roll call showed all commissioners voting AYE.
Human Resources Director Holly Muren presented and reviewed a resolution approving personnel changes for the
employees under the jurisdiction of the Medina County commissioners. Mr. Friedrick moved to approve the
resolution; Mrs. Geissman seconded the motion. Roll call showed all commissioners voting AYE.
County Administrator Scott Miller presented and reviewed the following resolutions: (1) approving an agreement with Zuercher Technologies for the upgrade of the current 911 system to the Zuercher 911 system software; (2) approving an agreement with StudioTechne Architects for the assessment, programming and budgeting of various county capital improvements and the movement of various county offices within county facilities and the commissioners of Medina County; (3) approval of indigent defense service agreements with the cities and villages of Medina County; and (4) approving a sublease agreement and “Consent and Agreement to Sublease” between the Recovery Center of Medina County and C.F.K. Partners P.L.L. and the commissioners of Medina County. Mr. Friedrick moved to approve the four resolutions; Mrs. Geissman seconded the motion.
Mr. Hutson clarified that Zuercher was the successor to the former provider, EmergiTech. Mr. Miller noted that Zuercher purchased the EmergiTech software; they’re planning to phase the EmergiTech system out over a period of time. The Sheriff has been speaking to Zuercher about upgrading the current system. The upgrade with bring Medina County into compliance with the new 911 standards and we will be able to accept texts, photos, videos, etc. It will also meet the requirements being established by Ohio.
Roll call showed Mr. Friedrick and Mrs. Geissman voting AYE; Mr. Hutson voted AYE on the first, second, and fourth resolution and ABSTAINED on the third resolution due to his relationship with Westfield Center. All of the resolutions passed.
Sanitary Engineer Amy Lyon-Galvin presented and reviewed a resolution authorizing continued consulting work under an agreement with Resource Recycling System (RRS). Mr. Friedrick moved to approve the resolution; Mrs. Geissman seconded the motion.
Mrs. Geissman asked that this be tabled because she had some questions that she hadn’t been able to ask Scott Miller; the other commissioners agreed.
Amy noted that Mr. Hutson had asked about the status of the ongoing contract negotiations. There are upcoming scheduled meetings. Due to the complexity of coordinating two different contractors and fully vetting the proposals so that they feel very confident in making a further recommendation to the Board, she expected that a more concrete recommendation would be made in April.
Transit Director Michael Salamone distributed the Medina County Public Transit Report for January 2018. The total year-to-date ridership through January was 6,125 trips; this included on-demand ridership of 3,007 and fixed-route ridership of 3,118. There were 24 denials in January. In January, 327 clients were transported on the on-demand routes. The cost per trip was $16.62 and the cost per mile was $2.42.Mr. Salamone noted that in early January, they received a van and three buses; all were 100% funded through the 2017 OHIO Transit Preservation Partnership Program and are on the road. MCPT will be selling four of their older buses on Govdeals.com. MCPT has been given authorization through the 2018 OHIO Transit Preservation Partnership Program to purchase four more vehicles in 2018 that will also be 100% funded. Mr. Hutson asked how many total vehicles MCPT has. Currently, they have 11 vehicles that are five years old or older; there are 12 vehicles less than four years old for a total of 23 vehicles. He hoped to replace four to five vehicles a year because there were some years when no vehicles were replaced. The average mileage per vehicle is approximately 30,000-40,000 miles a year.
OSU Extension 4-H Extension Educator/4-H Youth Development Co-Director Morgan Domokos provided their quarterly update. In addition to working directly with individuals who seek research-based information from OSU and contributing to State teams, they have local programs. The Family and Consumer Sciences program area provided the “Real Money, Real World” financial literacy programs and spending simulations are underway for the 2017-2018 school year for 8th graders across Medina County. PNC Bank sends representatives to help with each simulation and they also provide bank checkbooks for the students to learn and practice check writing. At Brunswick middle schools, Cloverleaf, and Buckeye Junior High, “Real Money, Real World” is sponsored by the Brunswick Division of Police and Spencer Police Department FACT through MCDAC Anti-Drug Levy funding. OSU Extension will be providing monthly 101 classes at United Way throughout 2018; the classes are open to the public and free of charge. Contact the OSU Extension for more information.
In the Agricultural and Natural Resource program area, pesticide applicator recertification is ongoing across the State. Medina County’s class will take place March 1 to train those applying pesticides and fertilizers in safe and proper use. They will be teaching a good agricultural practices course on February 28 in Homerville to help produce growers grow safe fruits and vegetables. The Master Gardener volunteers held their annual spring workshop on February 24. Participants learned about incorporating native plants into their landscape. They will be offering new Master Gardener training in August for anyone interested in joining their efforts to educate the community in gardening, nature, and horticulture. New this year, training will be offered evenings. Anyone interested can find an application on their website, medina.osu.edu. The OSU Master Gardener volunteers will again partner with the Medina Housing Authority to offer instruction and mentorship to residents on how to garden in raised and container gardens. The popular Coffee Chats program has started again in 2018. The first Friday of each month, people can join Master Gardeners for discussions on specific garden topics. New this year, they’ve added a homeownership series that will cover common questions that come from homeowners including septic tank management, pruning trees, managing problem wildlife, and more. They are hosting a new farm workshop on April 28 to discuss farm business plans, marketing, managing risks, and more.
From the Community Development program area, they received a $12,000 grant from the USDA to spearhead the training and promotion of the Small Business Innovation Research Grants through the USDA throughout the State. They are working with Let’s Make a Difference to create community for Union Square children and to reach out to all of Medina. In the summer of 2018, OSU is working to bring STEM programs to the children who participate in the summer program; Community Development is assisting in finding and making connections with potential funders in the community. They are working with Healing Hoofs that partner children who have been physically abused with rescue horses. The children are mentored by an adult and taught to groom and care for the horses. This is a model that’s been used elsewhere across the country and is being brought to Medina County by Sharon and Bob Elderman. Community Development is assisting in finding funding sources and writing grants. Grant writing classes are being planned for April and May 2018. The Leadership Academy for 2018 was cancelled due to low registrations; they are working to establish a partner with a goal to hold another government-focused Leadership Academy in 2019.
From the 4-H Youth Development Program area, two Medina County 4-H members recently returned from a fiveday experience at the 2018 National Youth Summit on healthy living held at the National 4-H Conference in Chevy Chase, Maryland. They played an active role in representing the Ohio 4-H well. These youth facilitated the Community Change Game for a group of adults and youth from 15 states who were participating in Culture of Health Training sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. They met with health professionals at the Department of Health and Human Services. They shared the Ohio 4-H Health Heroes Medicine Cabinet project at the Summit’s opening session to more than 300 people from 32 states; they presented three sessions titled “What’s in Your Medicine Cabinet” to a total of 73 people who were attending the Summit. Additionally, they created and presented an action plan for a healthy living day camp on the Ohio State campus to be held on October 27. Medina County 4-H had a great turnout at an informational ice cream social earlier in January where attendees came to get the “whole scoop” on 4-H. They interviewed and selected 34 Medina County 4-H teens who will be planning the Cloverbud and Junior camps this summer; training begins in March. Enrollments are currently under way for Medina County youth joining the 41 4-H clubs.
Ms. Domokos distributed flyers that highlighted some of the information that was shared and another that showed the OSU Community Development blog that is available on-line. They currently have a job posting for an Office Assistant as a result of a recent retirement. Anyone interested can contact their office or visit the website to view the posting.
Commissioner Hutson presented and reviewed a resolution commending Tom Maupin for his 33 years of service with Medina County. Mr. Friedrick moved to approve the resolution; Mrs. Geissman seconded the motion. Mr. Hutson said that he’s had the pleasure of working with Tom for the past year on some facility projects; his knowledge of facilities and what’s transpired with them over the years is invaluable. He has a passion for maintaining them and keeping them in tip-top condition. He thanked Tom. Mrs. Geissman noted that when she started her position, there was a terrible snowstorm. A young man came into her office to tell her that her car was scrapped of all of the snow. She never has forgotten his eagerness to please and she’d watched him grow over the years. Tom noted that he had been in the building since he was nine years old. The Services for the Blind ran the canteen and he emptied trash for $2 a week – he felt that was a lot of money then. Now, he will try to learn to stop, take a vacation, do house projects, and then figure out what he’d like to do next. He said that it was an honor to serve the county.
Roll call showed all commissioners voting AYE.
Mr. Friedrick moved to go into Executive Session after the Discussion Session to consider the purchase of property for public purposes and to consider pending or imminent court action; the motion was seconded by Mrs. Geissman.
Roll call showed all commissioners voting AYE.
Commissioner Hutson noted that there were three people wishing to make public comment. He reminded that the time limit was five minutes.
Bill Thombs, 8189 Friendsville Road, Seville, stated that he wanted to speak about school safety. He apologized to Mr. Hutson because they spoke about what he thought was the problem in our country today. When two people talk about school safety, there are different opinions and each person places pressure on the other. It had been 19 years since the shooting at Columbine and nothing’s been done; it’s not acceptable. He spent 38½ in high schools with people that no one else wanted. He couldn’t sit back and not come to their support. Regardless what people say, we’re not using them, we’re supporting them. He had been through two gun situations and, fortunately, no one got hurt because students came to him with information because he encouraged open communication. He would like to support the students of the county and country in their efforts to policy and change on March 24, the “March for Our Lives”. The mission statement shows the high school students’ maturity: “We cannot allow one more child to be shot at school. We cannot allow one more teacher to make the choice to jump in front of a firing assault rifle to save lives of students. We cannot allow one more family to wait for a call for a text that never comes. Our schools are unsafe. Our children and teachers are dying. We must make it a top priority to save theses lives.”
Mr. Thombs asked the commissioners to resolve that March 24 in Medina County is a March for Our Lives day. He’d like to organize it on the Medina Square. It’s being done in Canton, Wooster, and Cleveland; other communities are also taking this step. He also asked that, since adults can’t solve the problem, that a taskforce be formulated to deal with safety in the Medina schools. A taskforce was formed and have spent hours and years regarding trash. The taskforce should be student-led; he spoke with school administrators and they would support the idea. Students take risks, it’s their future, they have no party ties, and they have no big money. He felt that the taskforce should also involve law enforcement, school officials, and political folks.
He noted that March 14, the Women’s Walk March, is organizing a national walkout for students, teachers, administrators and communities at 10:00 for 17 minutes for the 17 lives lost. March 24 is the March for Our Lives at 10:00 in Washington, DC; he would like to do one at 10:00 on the Square of Medina. On April 20, there will be a national school walkout for the 19th anniversary of Columbine; he’s heard through parents that Medina students will leave and come to the Square and stay there.
Jerry Springer, 9817 Prospect Road, Seville, stated that he had over 30 years’ experience in trash. He used to belong to SWANA as the national sales manager and used to travel across the United States. In meetings, he said that he was from Medina County, Ohio and everyone recycles. No one else could say that, but we could because we had a plant and everyone recycled. Now, we want to build a new one and he’s for it 100%. The contracts are out and when it started out, they said they would look at the top two and if they didn’t match, they would be thrown out. Now he understands that they are looking at the top two combined; however, that’s not what the contract said. The county asked for a ten-year contract for running a plant, a ten-year letter stating that they had landfill space, and any lawsuits that involved them. They had total scores of 167 to 107. Entsorga of West Virginia are in a contract now; Amy made a comment the other day that they should work together. In their bid, they want to do one year, didn’t offer any landfill whatsoever, and they didn’t mention too many lawsuits. They have a lawsuit now in West Virginia; the plant they want to build is stopped because bills aren’t being paid and he understands that the general contractor just filed a lawsuit against the company and the county landfill health board. How they arrived at the scores, they bid every project. Entsorga of West Virginia is a very new plant and he couldn’t find anywhere where they operated a plant. He didn’t know how the scores were made. They have a company in Europe; their plants there are a lot different than ours. Another plant was Rumpke who is a very large corporation; at one time they were one of the top 100 trash haulers in the country. The same thing was asked and they gave answers but didn’t mention landfill lawsuits. They got high scores on safety. They had one individual killed in a shredder, one individual killed in a bailer, and they had one of the worst landfill catastrophes in the United States when the landfill fell apart. He looked at the other two – Envision ran the plant here for years and they scored the lowest. None of the other companies have run a plant equal to Medina County’s previous plant. He feared that if we get into a contract with the top two, one of them will file a lawsuit and we’ll never have a plant.
Mr. Springer said that he didn’t care who gets the plant, but we need a plant. He said that when the program was done years ago, safety was #1. He was concerned about the recycle bins; he said that those wouldn’t be necessary if a new plant’s built. The contents of recycle bins would be dumped on top of unsorted trash and would need to be sorted.
Mr. Friedrick stated that Mr. Springer had mentioned that Entsorga has stopped construction on a facility in West Virginia. Mr. Springer said that it was in a court document that the general contractor stopped them. Mr. Friedrick asked for a copy. Mr. Friedrick continued that Mr. Springer had said that the bid program that we have that the recyclables would be dumped on top of trash; that’s not accurate. There are a couple of different options, but if bins stay as part of the plan (they will until a new plan is written), those recyclables will be taken by the vendor into their single recycling stream. Mr. Springer asked why we were building the program to handle recyclables and paying someone to do that. Mr. Friedrick answered that the citizens of Medina County want mixed waste processing as well. Mr. Springer asked why there would be bins and then take the trash somewhere else. The number from the EPA is what Medina County does through the plant – not another plant. It doesn’t make sense to have bins when everyone else is getting their trash recycled through the most modern plant today. Surely, the commissioners would want all trash to come through the plant so they receive credit for it. Mr. Friedrick said that they receive credit for the recyclables from the bins; it just needs to be tracked. Mr. Hutson noted that different communities choose to do recycling in different ways. Mr. Friedrick agreed that there are people who want to be involved in recycling who aren’t content with putting things at the curb in garbage rather than trusting that a mixed waste processing option will remove all recyclables. There are folks willing to pay for curbside. There are folks that want to continue those drop-off bins if we go to a mixed waste processing option. Since Mr. Springer has been involved in garbage, he should understand that the drop-off bins, while not 100% recyclable, will definitely reflect much higher recyclables than a normal garbage stream. To sort those separately would produce a greater recycling rate for the county. Mr. Springer said that it would increase percentages, but also increase dollars.
Curtis Perkins, 5604 Lafayette Road, Medina, stated that he is the president of C. Martin Trucking. He provided a background of the business, including that the company has been in business for over 72 years. He stated that over the past three years he had met with each of three commissioners one-on-one to discuss the future and viability of the CPF; all told him that their intentions were to reopen the facility at an affordable cost. The fiasco with the Medina County Central Processing Facility, led by Sanitary Engineer Amy Galvin and Solid Waste District Coordinator Beth Ramer, had gone on long enough. It had been over 4+ years since recycling had taken place at the CPF. The can had been kicked down the road for too long. Back in October 2017, the Solid Waste District put together this timetable:
November 20, 2017 Project proposals due from the four finalists
December 5, 2017 Notice of intent to negotiate; Mrs. Galvin will make her recommendation to the Commissioners and, if approved, start negotiations
January 2, 2018 A contract will be awarded to contractor to open and operate the facility
November 1, 2018 New services start at the CPF on a limited basis
January 12, 2019 CPF in full operation
As could be seen, the timeline was quickly going by the wayside. He was fully aware that government wheels turn slow, but he wondered why it has taken this long to get the facility up and operating. He asked if Mrs. Galvin and Mrs. Ramer were dragging this out because they have a different agenda not in sync with what the Commissioners requested of them. Maybe it’s time to make some leadership changes in at least one of those departments, if not both, and bring new players to the table. Bring someone in who respects the wishes of the Commissioners and the wishes of Medina County residents – to reopen the Medina County Central Processing Facility with similar operations that it was built and known for, a mixed waste processing facility.
With no further business to come before the Commissioners, the meeting recessed at 10:20 a.m.
Discussion Session
At 10:23 a.m., the Commissioners began the Discussion Session in the Commissioners’ Conference Room.
Architect Hiring
Scott Miller reported that a proposal from StudioTechne Architects was received. The Facility Task is looking at county buildings and perhaps the selling of the Professional Building that is old, outdated, and expensive to maintain. They would like to hire an architect to perform an assessment of space, look at different options, and develop a capital maintenance program for each building. The proposal amount is $198,000; that would give the County a good understanding of costs with expansion of certain buildings, a good understanding of what future capital costs will be, and give options as to how we could consolidate county operations into fewer facilities which will eliminate costs of maintaining those other facilities. Mr. Miller wanted to present a resolution the following week.
Mr. Hutson noted that a Facilities Taskforce meeting was going to be held that day at noon to talk about progression. He felt it would be helpful if the other Commissioners received the proposal to see the scope of work; Mr. Miller answered that they already had a copy. Mrs. Geissman stated that she read the proposal and it sounds like something that they should be doing. Mr. Friedrick said that the price tag was a red flag for him; there should be a zero off the amount. NOACA was doing some sort of study for $600,000; he voted against it. Nearly $200,000 to do our study is crazy. Mrs. Geissman noted that they had spent over $200,000 to draw plans, but that was for architectural plans, not an assessment. Mr. Miller said that the assessment isn’t for ideas entirely. Mr. Hutson said that it mostly would be analyzing what space we have and how we could better utilize the space to bring in other county facilities and consolidate them so that there was a potential to shed costs. The other thing needed is to look at this from a global
perspective. This facility is aged, obsolete and dysfunctional. There is 10,000 square feet of space in the auditorium that’s used a few times a year and is being heated, maintained, and all kinds of things to keep it in a reasonable condition. That space isn’t functional or put to its highest and best use. However, the cost to convert it is $300-400 a square foot. We need to start thinking about either replacing this building and doing something with the courthouse, what those things begin to look like, and how much it would cost. If we don’t have an idea of the possibilities and how they can begin to consolidate county operations and to make them more efficient, both here and at the courthouse, then we’ll continue to spend a lot of money maintaining things that are ancient dinosaurs.
Mrs. Geissman said that she didn’t know whether she was ready to replace the Administration Building, but thought that there were ways to make it more functional. Probably 20 years ago, they looked at the auditorium and the high cost of what it would take to make it into offices; it was too costly. Also, there would likely be objections from the Arts Councils and those that use the auditorium. Even though it’s not used very often, it is a very good thing to have. The only other facility would be the high school and there is a usage fee. Keeping the auditorium is a gift to the community. Mr. Hutson said that it’s nice to have and agreed that we can’t afford to renovate that area and it doesn’t make sense to renovate it when we could build a new building for $150 a square foot. By the same token, he wasn’t sure it was a wise use of taxpayer money to continue to support a facility that isn’t put to its highest and best use for a small group of people. If we were to calculate our maintenance and operating costs for that and charge it back to those groups, perhaps the high school wouldn’t look so bad.
Mr. Friedrick agreed on the need for the assessment of the facilities. He didn’t think that $200,000 was worth spending to get whatever comes from that. He recognized that he wasn’t the duty expert on this. Mr. Hutson suggested sitting down with StudioTechne to fine-tune the proposal. Mr. Miller said that the proposal is fine-tuned now. Mrs. Geissman said that there are good people in our organization that should be able to define some of it. Mr. Miller agreed that they have good people. Mr. Hutson said that Tom Maupin is on the taskforce and Steven Bastean has also been participating. They’ve done a great job of measuring spaces, but they don’t have the expertise or the programs to do space planning and to look at how things can be brought in together. The taskforce needs help because no member has this sort of expertise or time to do this sort of specific planning.
Colleen Swedyk noted that she’d been on the Facilities Taskforce since its inception. While $200,000 is a lot of money, she is fiscally conservative and this really is, in her opinion, an expense that gives them efficiencies and cost savings. The Professional Building is a financial nightmare right now that is being bandaided. The money to be spent is a cost to go forward. Mrs. Geissman said that they’ve done some of these type of surveys and assessments in the past that has cost them a lot of money and they haven’t been one bit of help; that is a concern that she has. She also knew that it was something that needed to be done. We don’t have time nor the expertise on the Board to do it, but there are people in our organization that probably could look at some of this and probably come up with basically the same thing as an assessment. The last assessment that was done was absolutely not helpful at all; RRS presented a program all about California and their trash – that wasn’t helpful. We need to be careful about spending money on something we could do ourselves. Mr. Hutson said that he believed they had the people on the taskforce that are the right people, but they can only take this so far in terms of expertise and the ability to actually do space planning to see how we can better utilize this facility to get more people in it and to come up with projections on costs for changes, even changes in furniture design. He’s had conversations with Westfield regarding their plans and was trying to work out something with them. They’re going through a major renovation of their entire Westfield Center facility and will be getting new furniture and will have millions of dollars in Steelcase furniture that they’re going to get rid of. Mrs. Geissman noted that they gave some to Feeding Medina County not long ago. Mr. Hutson continued that if there was a way we could work something out with them, it would greatly increase our efficiency in terms of using space, but people and resources were needed to be able to plan. It’s not something where you can say give us a certain amount of desks, etc., and you throw it in a room and it works. It’s more complicated than that. That’s part of what the exercise is designed to look at. Mrs. Geissman asked if they would also assess what furniture was needed. Mr. Hutson said that they would in terms of space. Ms. Swedyk said that it’s also in terms of moving walls, electrical, heating ducts, etc.; furniture would be a small part of it. Mr. Miller said that there’s specializedfurniture for space savings and efficiency. At the Engineering Center, the counter has cubicles that have glass. Everyone can see the front counter, but they also have their own space. Mrs. Geissman asked if the Professional Building was part of the assessment. Mr. Miller answered that we want to sell that, but some of those departments that are in that building will need to be moved out into another area and we don’t know where to move them. We’ll also need to find space for the Ohio Extension Office.
Mr. Friedrick asked if anyone had looked at the ROI on any of this. Mr. Miller said that it will depend on what the study shows. Moving the Board of Elections would save $100,000. The Professional Building is $80,000 a year for the cost to operate it. Mr. Friedrick said that someone has to come up with a number of years where it makes sense; if it’s closer to five or six years, there needs to be discussion. Mr. Miller stated that there is a document that shows the operation costs of some of the facilities.
Stan Scheetz asked if there was an RFP for the assessment. Mr. Miller answered that this architect was someone used in the past and they’ve had extremely good luck with them and their costs are reasonable. They were also local to northeast Ohio.
Comments Regarding CPF
Scott Miller stated that he couldn’t let the comments go that were made at the meeting. The Commissioners asked Amy, Beth and himself to come up with a mixed waste processing solution that was economical and would increase recycling in Medina County. They have several options and have only one chance to do it right, so they have to do their due diligence. Amy has been doing a phenomenal job of due diligence throughout the entire process. In Ohio,there’s one facility that does mixed waste processing and it’s a small company in Columbus that picks up the recyclables and sells the commodities. There are some mixed waste facilities, such as Vexor, that bring in the waste
and they do engineered fuel and they have customers that they serve. These are options that are being looked at. To criticize Amy and Beth for the job that they’re doing is inappropriate and absurd because they’re doing what they’ve been mandated to do. We don’t want to get into a ten-year contract and then five years from now, discover that we’re failing. The money being made is through the tipping fee, not through recyclables. We want to take as much waste out of the waste stream as possible. The comments made were inappropriate. There’s a lot of information being passed around that’s inaccurate. He’s looking forward to the time when this period of silence ends and they can present what they have. He thought that what they’ll have at the end of the process would be extremely exciting and would be a huge benefit to Medina County.
Mr. Friedrick said that the comments regarding Amy and Beth not doing what the commissioners have asked them to do is patently false. To Curtis’ point, it has taken longer; Mr. Hutson agreed. He said that they’ve done what the commissioners have asked them to do and it’s important that we get it right, even if it takes a few extra months; we shouldn’t make a rushed decision.
Mr. Springer said we’re spending nearly $200,000 to look at buildings and office space, yet the commissioners won’t spend a dime for an outside organization that is in the trash business. Amy’s not been in the trash business; she’s an engineer. Mr. Friedrick noted that Beth’s been in the trash business for a very long time. Mr. Hutson said that both Amy and Beth are important. Additionally, outside firms have been looking and helping with it.
Sanitary Update
Amy stated that they were working on bid documents for their sledge hauling operations for Liverpool, Hinckley
and Chippewa. A resolution would be presented the following week. Mr. Hutson asked how the Liverpool project was going. Amy answered that it’s coming along very well and that it would be a great time for a tour and update. The expectation right now was that the new digesters will be seeded with sludge and placed on line in the third quarter of 2018, which is according to the schedule. They’ve had some delays on some installations of underground utilities, but they’ve been able to shift other things in the schedule to keep them on the originally-anticipated target.
Medina City Finance
Mr. Friedrick reported that he attended the Medina City Finance Committee meeting the previous night. Sustainable Medina County asked the City of Medina to contribute to their baseline survey. The Finance Committee tabled the decision because they needed to look at information. Greg Huber had expressed the same legal concerns that the Commissioners had, although slightly different.
March 24 March
Mrs. Geissman said that they should make a decision on whether or not the Commissioners want to do as Mr. Thombs asked this morning to support and help get the March 24 march. She thought he said that he would organize it; the Commissioners could ask him to chair that and the Commissioners support it. She stated that she supports it.
Anything they could do to help resolve local problems would be helpful.
Mr. Hutson stated that he thought that the school safety issues, specifically, need to be addressed by the school superintendents. He would encourage Mr. Thombs to attend one of their superintendents’ meetings to discuss it when the superintendents get together with Will Koran. While he completely supported school safety, the object of the march was about gun control and that was the subject they are focusing on. When he spoke with Mr. Thombs Friday afternoon, he was very specific. The issue with a lot of the mass shootings is mental health and they must get their arms around funding for mental health and the interaction between mental health and law enforcement in terms of keeping track of folks that have issues. Mental health is where the focus needs to be. He thought that the entire process was fraught with emotion and the emotion needed to be taken out of it. He stated that we needed to sit down and figure out solutions. He didn’t believe that marches and demonstrations was a constructive way to try to drive to that end.
Mr. Friedrick said that he would agree with Mr. Thombs that since the shootings at Columbine, nothing had been done. But nothing’s been done because it’s been a political football since them. If someone were to come to him and say they wanted county money to arm sheriff deputies at the school, to him that’s a solution; that’s already done at football games, county fairs, etc. We’ve shied away from that in schools. The March 24 march wouldn’t put anyone closer to solutions. The focus should be more security at schools and focusing on mental health. He couldn’t support walkouts in the schools.
Mrs. Geissman said that Mr. Thombs mentioned that all of the schools are working together and coming up with solutions and that the march would be part of that. Mr. Hutson said that there’s a different purpose. Mr. Friedrick said that the marches around the county are gun control marches for the most part. The emotions and focus was on child safety, but he thought it was child safety with a gun control solution, not child safety on the table and figure out what’s best.
Mrs. Geissman agreed that it’s more of a mental health issue. She has four sons and a husband that belong to the NRA and they have all kinds of guns. They will have the march and she supported them. If he wanted to organize something with the schools and the Sheriff’s Department, she supported that. Mr. Hutson answered that if Bill Thombs individually wants to go out and do that, he’s fine with it. He’s not willing to support it.
Facilities Taskforce
Mr. Hutson noted that the Facilities Taskforce would be meeting that day at noon. They will continue to talk about the plans and try to get some ROI information for the next meeting.
Joint County/City Meeting
Mr. Hutson reported that the joint County and Medina City meeting would be held Monday, March 5, at 6:00 p.m. If there were items to include on the agenda, people were to let him know and he’d work with Mayor Hanwell on an agenda.
Executive Session
At 10:50 a.m., the Commissioners went into the Executive Session that had been voted on earlier. The Executive Session ended at 11:20 a.m.
Adjournment
There being no further business, Mr. Friedrick moved to adjourn the meeting; the motion was seconded by Mrs. Geissman. Roll call showed all commissioners voting AYE. The meeting ended at 11:20 a.m.
RESOLUTIONS PASSED FEBRUARY 27, 2018
18-0113 Commending Tom Maupin for his 33 years of service with Medina County
18-0114 Allowing claims and authorizing issuance upon the treasurer in settlement of such list of claims
18-0115 Authorizing the Medina County engineer to advertise for bids for ODOT Item 422 single chip and seal of various county roads in Medina County
18-0116 Authorizing the Medina County engineer to advertise for bids for ODOT Item 322 MC-3000 single chip and seal of various county roads in Medina County
18-0117 Authorizing the Medina County engineer to advertise for bids for Item 405 bituminous cold mix resurfacing of various county roads in Medina County
18-0118 Authorizing the Medina County engineer to advertise for bids for the 2018 Medina County Highway Department hot bituminous plant mixes
18-0119 Accepting and awarding the bids for the 2018 Medina County aggregate bid for the Medina County engineer
18-0120 Determining the necessity to close the intersection of Abbeyville Road (C.H. 47) and Neff Road (C.H. 128) on Thursday, March 1, 2018
18-0121 Determining the necessity to close East Smith Road (C.H. 4) between Brook Run Drive (T.H. 746) and River Styx Road (C.H. 49) on Wednesday, February 28, 2018
18-0122 Determining the necessity to close River Corners Road (C.H. 27) between Spencer Mills Road (T.H. 77) and Chatham Road (S. R. 162)
18-0123 Amending the 2018 Appropriations Resolution by transferring appropriations
18-0124 Authorizing the county auditor to transfer funds for Title IV-D services
18-0125 Approving an agreement for pest control services for the Community Housing Impact and Preservation Program (CHIP) rehabilitation projects
18-0126 Allowing expenses of the Adult Probation Department
18-0127 Allowing expenses of the County engineer
18-0128 Allowing expenses of county officials
18-0129 Approving personnel changes for the employees under the jurisdiction of the Medina County commissioners
18-0130 Approving an agreement with Zuercher Technologies for the upgrade of the current 911 system to the Zuercher 911 system software
18-0131 Approving an agreement with StudioTechne Architects for the assessment, programming and budgeting of various county capital improvements and the movement of various county offices within county facilities and the commissioners of Medina County
18-0132 Approval of indigent defense service agreements with the cities and villages of Medina County
18-0133 Approving a sublease agreement and “Consent and Agreement to Sublease” between the Recovery Center of Medina County and C.F.K. Partners P.L.L. and the commissioners of Medina County
All deliberations concerning official business and formal actions by this Board of Commissioners were conducted in an open public meeting this twenty-seventh day of February 2018.