MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE MANHEIM TOWNSHIP BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MONDAY, MAY 24, :30 P.M.

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1 MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE MANHEIM TOWNSHIP BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MONDAY, MAY 24, :30 P.M. Roll Call: The meeting of the Manheim Township Board of Commissioners was held at 6:30 p.m., Monday, May 24, 2010 in the Municipal Building. Members present were: Commissioners Simpson, Downing, Flanagan, Casselbury and Martin, and Manager- Secretary Michael D. Rimer. President Simpson led all in attendance in the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Approval of Minutes: Commissioner Casselbury moved and Mr. Martin seconded approving the minutes of the May 10, 2010 Commissioners Meeting. President Simpson asked if there were any questions or comments from the Board. There were none. Motion carried unanimously. Payment of Bills: Commissioner Flanagan moved to approve the May 24, 2010 disbursements and to fund the appropriate accounts for the disbursements. He presented bills for the period ending May 24, 2010 from the General Fund in the amount of $107,892.46, from the Fire Protection Tax Fund in the amount of $47,230.74, from the Golf Course Fund in the amount of $7,991.57, from the Capital Reserve Fund in the amount of $33,315.35, from the Parks Capital Fund in the amount of $1,500.48, and from the Highway Aid Fund in the amount of $15,721.75, for a Grand Total of $213, Seconded by Mr. Martin. President Simpson asked if there were any questions or comments from the Board or the audience. There were none. Motion carried unanimously. Department Reports: Commissioner Martin reported on the new library building. The stone and roof are on. We anticipate receiving the building in July and opening it in September. There will be a golf outing June 7 to support the library. Golfers and hole sponsors are still needed please contact Mike Rimer or him. President Simpson added we are hoping to open the library September 13. There is a fundraiser gala on October 16 which is open to everybody; the School District will be catering it and there will be wine, beer and entertainment. Public Hearings/Presentations/Appointments: Presentation: Recommendation from Fields Committee Regarding Sports Groups Exclusive Use/Reservation Fees Assistant Manager Sean Molchany presented the recommendation from the Fields Committee regarding Sports Groups Exclusive Use/Reservation Fees. He said the Fields Committee met three times over the last five weeks to discuss the maintenance and the usage fees. The Committee was made up of representatives from the Manheim Township youth soccer program, the Manheim Township youth football program, the Manheim Township baseball program, the Manheim Township women s lacrosse program, and there were representatives from the Overlook Foundation, Manheim

2 Township Commissioners, the Park and Rec Board, Manheim Township staff and the Manheim Township School District. Mr. Molchany reported that one of the first items discussed was whether or not to build turf fields. The committee recommended unanimously to build turf fields. Synthetic turf fields allow two times more play than typical grass fields, they never need rested and are preferred over grass fields due to their durability and playability in all weather conditions. Mr. Molchany said the second issue discussed was determining the cost to maintain a synthetic turf field and a natural grass field. Thanks to Manheim Township s sophisticated tracking system, we were able to track down our 2009 costs for current fields such as the Foundation baseball fields and the fields at Skyline. The committee unanimously agreed that it costs Manheim Township $7,000 a field to maintain, which includes labor, material, grass cutting and equipment for the playing surface, not the areas outside the lines. They determined that maintenance of the synthetic turf fields would be about $3,000 a year. Mr. Molchany said they also discussed generating monies to defray the cost of building and maintaining the Weaver Road fields. They proposed an ongoing maintenance fee of $10 per participant per season which would be collected by each sports group starting with the 2011 season. This amount would be reviewed annually. Mr. Molchany explained how they determined the $10 fee. In 2010 there were 3,300 participants. Ten dollars per participant would generate $33,000. This would cover the projected maintenance cost for Weaver Road for a year (roughly $7,000 per field times 3½ fields, plus the cost of the maintenance for the synthetic field.) Mr. Molchany said they discussed several possible sources of recurring income. These include but are not limited to selling naming rights to the park and/or the fields, selling advertising throughout the facility as signage, profit sharing with the sports clubs of income produced by tournaments, and rental income from private groups using the fields. Naming rights were suggested to be valued at approximately $15,000 annually. This would be overseen by the Recreation Department with the participation of the Park and Rec Board. An accurate projection of income from signage will be developed in the coming months by staff and the Park and Rec Board, but the current estimate is $30,000. This could include signs on the interior of the fences, entrance signs and scoreboards. For 2011 they expect tournaments to generate approximately $10,000 and rental income from private groups would start at approximately $20,000. Mr. Molchany summarized that we anticipate generating close to $75,000 in 2011 and upwards to $100,000+ in future years, with the Park and Rec Department overseeing all income sources and monitoring any advertising in the park. With this proposal we re addressing the maintenance cost of Weaver Road and the cost of the capital that is outlaid for the construction of the fields this would be looked at 20 year amortization of roughly $70,000 to $80,000 a year. Page 2 of 10

3 Commissioner Downing asked if all the sports groups were involved with this fields committee. Mr. Molchany replied that only men s lacrosse was missing, but they ve indicated that they would be willing to participate. Commissioner Flanagan said it was previously proposed to charge an hourly fee to help pay for these fields and for the $250,000 that we spend every year on maintenance. Mr. Molchany explained that the fee schedule would still be in place for non-township affiliated groups. Commissioner Flanagan said the only real concrete commitment we have from youth sports groups that we re building these fields for at a cost of over $10 million dollars is about $33,000 a year, which is maybe the amount of maintenance for those fields. Mr. Molchany agreed. Commissioner Flanagan asked who would guarantee that the $15,000 for the naming rights is generated. Mr. Molchany answered that the Recreation Department and Margie (Director of Recreation) would ultimately be responsible. Commissioner Flanagan asked who would guarantee that the sale of signs throughout the interior would generate $30,000. Mr. Molchany said that Margie would be responsible. He said discussion took place with the groups that we would build in an incentive; for example, if a sports group sold a $500 sign they would receive $100 for their organization. Commissioner Flanagan said the only guarantee we have is $33,000. Mr. Molchany agreed. Commissioner Casselbury said to remember that these are non-profit groups. Commissioner Flanagan said we need to address these issues before we vote to spend over $5 million dollars in improvements for these fields. Assuming 40% of this land is used for fields, the debt service on that annually is $122,408. The debt service for the sports related improvements only will be $270,000 per year, so that means the total Weaver Road debt service for just the fields is $682,000. When we pull out just sports related, it comes to $392,000 a year. Commissioner Casselbury disagreed. Commissioner Flanagan said that means that we have a guarantee for a total cost of $392,000 in debt service and $33,000 in maintenance for a total cost of $425,000 a year. The $33,000 from the sports groups would amount to 7% of that figure, which means 93% would be guaranteed by the taxpayer. A 7%-93% split is not at all fair. Commissioner Downing said taxpayers have an expectation that the municipality should provide recreational programs and fields. He cited an example of residents who don t drive a car but pay taxes for highway improvements and snowplowing. There is an overall benefit to all residents in having sports and recreational programs whether they directly use them or not. Commissioner Flanagan agreed that taxpayers can and should subsidize some of this, but these numbers are extreme. He said we charge swimmers a user fee to go to the pools, we charge golfers a user fee to use the golf course and we charge people a fee to use the roller rink. Although we may subsidize all of those, it s not at a rate of 93% by taxpayers and 7% by users. President Simpson said she has no problems paying $30, $40, $50 a year in increased taxes to see that the kids in Manheim Township have fields and can play sports. She Page 3 of 10

4 explained that the Weaver Road 40-acre parcel is zoned R-2 which could easily be developed with 100 single-family homes, maybe more if they developed under some of the other Ordinances that permit a higher density of development, and the number that you use to calculate children in future growth is 1.5 children per house, so we re talking about 150 kids that potentially could live on this land. She said it is far more economical for the residents of Manheim Township to develop these fields than it is to take on the lifetime burden of educating 150 kids every year. Commissioner Flanagan said he thinks that is the best defense he has heard for this proposal. Commissioner Martin said he believes the Commissioners made a decision over a year ago to buy the property for athletic fields because these groups have been coming every year wanting more fields. He agreed with Mike that there is going to be a point in time when the taxes are going to have to go up. He said the same issues came up when we bought the golf course as these; do we want a big complex there that s going to congest the roads and congest the schools and don t forget the police, fire and all the other services that we provide. He said we will provide services here but there are also residents here and if we look at the person that we re going to be charging, those are the kids that are going to come back and live here and help pay for this tax too. He said sometimes we need to look into the future a little bit farther when we make decisions like this; he thinks this is the right decision because there is not going to be anymore land developed and this Township is going to continue to grow. Commissioner Casselbury said he thinks the fields committee did a very good job. He stressed that we must be careful not to put the burden solely on the shoulders of the kids to the point where some of these families won t be able to participate. We need to have some commitment involved in maintaining those new fields and also a buy-in as far as it s beneficial for them to go out and make this plan work so that the capital cost of building the fields is being paid back, and so that the pathways, playground and all those other things that we re putting on that park can be enjoyed by everybody. He said it s really a win-win situation where the clubs benefit too. He said in the worst case scenario, we could still go out and hire a company that would gladly do the marketing because there s a return on that. If the clubs get $100 for every sign they sell, they can recoup a lot of their fundraising costs. It s a win-win with the tournament tie-in too because we will have a beautiful world class facility to run tournaments, which bring people in who go to local pizza places and hotels and different restaurants. He said it s also another chance where we can have participation from our local businesses and other parents who have the means with signage or naming rights. Mr. Robert Bovie, 1957 Geraldson Drive, said he thinks $10 is way low. He feels the tax burden in this country is getting to be oppressive. In Manheim Township, a 2008 estimate shows about 23.6% of the people are over 65. He and his wife are fairly typical of those people over 65 and their retirement income has not increased in the 13 years that they re retired. He said in the 2010 budget it says that in 2004 the expense supported by fees was 36%; in 2008 it was 22.5% and now it s only 7%. He suggested having them pay 22%, that fee then would be $30. Page 4 of 10

5 Commissioner Downing said according to his quick math, the average citizen in Manheim Township subsidizes the entire Parks and Rec program at $30 per person, which he personally thinks is a pretty good deal. Commissioner Flanagan said the debt service for an average household for this park will be $48 for a $225,000 house, so that means if it was $30 before, it s now going to be $78, so we re going about 150% higher. Mr. Robert Hummer, 1024 Laureldale Court, Lititz, asked if the $33,000 maintenance is just for the fields or for the bathrooms and the snow removal. President Simpson said it is just for the fields. Mr. Hummer said with the amortization over 20 years they should keep in mind that these artificial fields may need to be replaced in as early as 12 years. Ms. Elizabeth Reister, 1000 Helen Avenue, wanted to make a couple of comments in support of trying to minimize as much as possible the taxpayers subsidy for these fields. She said her feeling in that respect is grounded in three things: historical precedent in Manheim Township, some bigger macro economic factors that are going on and a general market philosophy. Looking at historical precedent, the Township has a history of taxpayers subsidizing a certain amount of baseline recreation facilities, it also has a history of charging a premium for premium facilities and services, and she cited golf, the driving range, the rink, municipal garden plots, using the pool, paying for pool parties, using a pavilion, taking swimming lessons or water aerobics or going on a guided nature tour. So it follows that the synthetic turf field is a first class facility for which users and not taxpayers should bear the burden of the premium. As to her second point regarding macro economic factors, she thinks that if Manheim Township mirrors the rest of Lancaster County, one out of seven or eight people are out of work. She mentioned Brethren Village and that a huge element of the tax base is going to be going away. And finally a market philosophy as she listened to this dialog about 7% and 93%, if the youth athletic market can t support the synthetic turf field, maybe there really isn t a market for it. Ms. Debbie DeSha, 616 Courthouse Circle, a Parks and Rec Board member, said she did receive the presentation outline of what Sean presented earlier, and to her there is not enough meat to this document; there are a lot more questions than there are answers about moving forward as far as $10 a person participation. She said as a parent, it was $45 for her child to play basketball, baseball was $125 and football was $150. She asked where that money is going. President Simpson suggested she talk to the leadership of the sports groups. Mr. Larry Pulkrabek, 230 Eshelman Road, asked the cost of installing this synthetic field. Commissioner Flanagan said the cost is on the agenda tonight for $1,366,000 and that would not be site construction. Mr. Pulkrabek asked where the money will come from if you have to put a new field in every 10 or 12 years. He said the 7% is probably more like 4% or 3%. He feels the $10 is ridiculously low. The field committee was made up entirely of people from the fields a bunch of sports people who want to take the reward home to their teams. For $10 the sports groups of Manheim Township Page 5 of 10

6 get exclusive use and the right to reserve the fields. The idea of getting extra money is at the hostage of the sports groups; they ll decide whether or not you get it and how much you pay to the sports groups versus the Township. Margie will be running it, but the sports groups will be telling her what to do. He also raised the point that we re in trouble financially in the Township. What additional things this year are not going to be done because we don t have the money? He agreed that when we bought the property, the property was of value; it is a Manheim Township asset and that asset will only go up in value and it was the right thing to do. He said that sooner or later we want to have capital fields out there but if we haven t got the money, don t build it all in one year. Take another look at a two, three, or four year project. There are other things we re doing like building the library that will be for all the taxpayers. Commissioner Flanagan said the library is yet another example where the people who wanted it actually had to come up with a significant part of the money to make it happen. Commissioner Casselbury said we had a 3 million dollar option to put this project in and Mike alone voted against it, which forced us into this 10 million dollar option. The money has been borrowed and we re paying interest on it now. To timeline this down the road is ridiculous. Commissioner Flanagan said when we built Overlook, we had an agreement with the teams there that they would specifically pay a certain amount of the capital contribution and he sees no reason why we shouldn t be doing the same thing here. If there are that many people requiring these fields, then there s enough of a pool of resources to come up with significant contributions to pay for them. Commissioner Casselbury said that the original field committee recommendation was not to spend 10 million; the Commissioners went off and did that on their own. President Simpson said she agrees with Rick because she was on the original fields committee and we had a 3 million dollar solution and we would be playing sports there now. Mr. Andy Woolley, 217 Heatherstone Way, president of the Manheim Township Soccer Club, president of the Manheim Township Youth Sports Association, Overlook Foundation Board member, a kid who grew up here playing sports and a Township resident, said the Manheim Township Youth Sports Association is now a six-sport organization. One of the things he appreciates with the fields committee is it s a very eclectic mix. We gave you our budgets our income, output, line item expenses and where they go. This will add $16,000 a year to a $100,000 a year budget. Last year we were $18,000 short. The $33,000 might seem like a little bit of money towards a big project, but these are sports organizations that have been running at a certain level under a certain overhead structure, that now need to make adjustments. He encouraged the other sports organizations to participate because of the excitement about the Weaver Road project and the opportunity to be part of a project that can be purchased in dollars. We now have to reorganize which is why we put the Youth Sports Association together to come up with ways, but we can t guarantee anything. Many of our kids in soccer won t even see Weaver Road, but we get the benefit of other sports seeing Weaver Road a lot and the fields they leave behind for us to use to grow our program. We are really happy about this; this really forges a nice partnership going forward with our organizations in the Township. Page 6 of 10

7 President Simpson asked what he thinks the likelihood of success is going to be for the sports organizations to go out and sell advertising signs and run tournaments and do the things that hopefully are going to generate the funds that we need and are counting on. Mr. Woolley said we committed to it; we all agreed that those were realistic goals. President Simpson explained the history of the fields committee. Mr. Woolley noted that the growth of their tournaments is something they are really positive about. They found that just with the number of teams we had last year, it was a $100,000 community investment in restaurants, hotels, gas, etc., a great by-product of these larger tournaments. A gentleman in the audience said we should find out what neighboring townships charge their teams. Mr. Molchany said that most of them typically don t charge for usage; they charge for maintenance only and that would be municipal owned facilities, not necessarily schools which have their own fee structure. Commissioner Casselbury moved to move forward to have the staff prepare an agreement with the sports groups using the field committee recommendations for review and comment by the Park and Rec Board and Commissioners. Seconded by Mr. Downing. President Simpson asked if there were any other questions or comments from the Board of the audience. There were none. President Simpson said we definitely want to have this resolved by August or September to allow enough time for the groups to prepare. The motion passed with four yes votes and one no vote by Mr. Flanagan. Old Business: There was no Old Business this evening. New Business: Consent Agenda: Commissioner Downing moved to approve all items in the Consent Agenda. Seconded by Mr. Martin. President Simpson asked if there were any questions or comments from the Board or the audience. There were none. Motion carried unanimously. These items were: 2363 Oregon Pike Land Development Plan, Financial Security Reduction: authorizing the partial financial security reduction as permitted by Section 510 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code in the amount of $866,592.50, which represents the cost associated with a portion of the site improvements constructed at the time of the current request and as inspected by the Township Engineer. The amount of financial security being retained by the Township for site improvements less the partial financial security reduction is $1,440, Page 7 of 10

8 Motions/Decisions: Motion: Adoption of Final Budget Calendar for the 2011 Budget Commissioner Flanagan moved to approve the 2011 Budget Calendar. Seconded by Mr. Martin. President Simpson asked if there were any questions or comments from the Board or the audience. There were none. Motion carried unanimously. Motion: Request Approval to Receive Bids for Traffic Signal LED Conversion 2010 Commissioner Casselbury moved to authorize proper Township officials to prepare specifications to receive bids for the Traffic Signal LED Conversion 2010 Project. Seconded by Mr. Martin. Mr. Rimer explained that this project will be funded by the EECBG grant program and will result in an 80% savings in energy use. In reply to a lady in the audience, Commissioner Downing explained the LED lights. President Simpson asked if there were any questions or comments from the Board or the audience. There were none. Motion carried unanimously. Motion: Request Approval of Manheim Township Medical Plan Commissioner Martin moved to ratify and approve the Plan Document for the Manheim Township Medical Plan, effective January 1, 2009 and amended and restated on February 17, Seconded by Mr. Flanagan. Mr. Pulkrabek asked what increase if any is involved with this medical plan. President Simpson said it is significantly less. President Simpson asked if there were any questions or comments from the Board or the audience. There were none. Motion carried unanimously. Motion: Recommendation from Parks & Recreation Board Regarding Selection of Consultant for the Recreation, Park, Open Space and Greenway Infrastructure Plan Commissioner Martin moved to approve the selection of Toole Recreation Planning in association with YSM and Sarcinello GIS and Planning as the firm to assist Manheim Township prepare its Comprehensive Recreation, Park, Open Space and Greenway Infrastructure Plan. Seconded by Mr. Downing. Ms. Margie Lewis from Parks and Rec explained the bid award and what this plan will include. Mr. Rimer said this was budgeted for this year. Ms. Lewis said they hope to have the plan completed by May of next year. President Simpson asked if there were any questions or comments from the Board or the audience. There were none. Motion carried unanimously. Motion: Bid Award for Weaver Road Site Improvements 2010 Commissioner Downing moved to award the bid for the Manheim Township Weaver Road Site Improvements to the apparent low bidders as follows: Page 8 of 10

9 1. York Excavating Company Inc. for Contract One, General Construction, in an amount not to exceed $2,713,475 which includes Alternate #4 as identified by the bid preparers, and 2. I & Y Construction, LLC, for Contract Two, Electrical Construction in an amount not to exceed $296, Seconded by Mr. Casselbury. Commissioner Flanagan wanted to make sure there will be no change order for any rock. Mr. Molchany said that is correct. Commissioner Flanagan asked if this includes fencing around all turf fields. Mr. Molchany said yes. Mr. Martin noted that this is also going to improve that intersection. President Simpson asked if there were any questions or comments from the Board or the audience. There were none. Motion carried with four yes votes and one no vote by Mr. Flanagan. Motion: Bid Award for Weaver Road Park Field House 2010 Commissioner Martin moved to award the bid for the Manheim Township Weaver Road Field House 2010 improvements to the apparent low bidders as follows: 1. Uhrig Construction, Inc. for Contract One, General Construction, in an amount not to exceed $269,800.00, 2. Shannon A. Smith Inc. for Contract Two, Mechanical Construction in an amount not to exceed $59,615.00, 3. TMI Commercial, Inc. for Contract Three, Plumbing Construction in an amount not to exceed $84,970.00, and 4. McCarty & Son, Inc. for Contract Four, Electrical Construction in an amount not to exceed $35, Seconded by Mr. Downing. In reply to Mr. Pulkrabek, Mr. Molchany described the field house. President Simpson asked if there were any questions or comments from the Board or the audience. There were none. Motion carried with four yes votes and one no vote by Mr. Flanagan. Motion: Bid Award for Weaver Road Park Synthetic Turf Field Construction 2010 Action on this item was tabled. This will appear on the agenda for the June 14, 2010 Commissioners meeting under Old Business. Resolutions: Page 9 of 10

10 Resolution : Planning Module for Charter Homes at Grandview Commissioner Casselbury moved to adopt Resolution approving the Planning Module for Charter Homes at Grandview. Seconded by Mr. Flanagan. President Simpson asked if there were any questions or comments from the Board or the audience. There were none. Motion carried unanimously. Resolution : Budget Amendment Commissioner Flanagan moved to adopt Resolution authorizing amendments and supplemental appropriations of encumbered and unencumbered funds within various budgeted line items of the 2010 General Fund. Seconded by Mr. Martin. President Simpson asked if there were any questions or comments from the Board or the audience. There were none. Motion carried unanimously. Ordinances: There were no Ordinances this evening. Acknowledgments: There were no Acknowledgments this evening. Other Business/Deliberations: Ordinance : Draft Ordinance Regulating On-Lot Sewage Disposal Systems Correspondence and Petitions: There was no Correspondence or Petitions this evening. Public Comment: Mr. Bovie said in looking at the 2010 budget, he came across the Sewer Fund and there is nothing for interest as a receipt in Mr. Rimer explained that it has been transferred to the General Capital Fund; those dollars are now being used to support the debt service of the bond. Mr. Bovie said there is a vacant lot at the northeast corner of Roseville Road and Fruitville Pike that for years has not been maintained at all. Mr. Molchany said it belongs to PennDOT. Mr. Bovie noted that the Worthington project is planted in crops and asked about its status. Adjournment: There being no further business before the Commissioners, Commissioner Martin moved and Mr. Casselbury seconded that the meeting adjourn at 8:19 p.m., with all in favor. Respectfully submitted, Michael D. Rimer Manager-Secretary Page 10 of 10