1. PRESENTATION OF AN AWARD OF DISTINCTION FROM THE AUDITOR OF STATE S OFFICE Lindsay Kuhn, North Central Regional Liaison

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1 MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AVON, OHIO HELD MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2018 IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE MUNICIPAL BUILDING AT 7:30 P.M. CHAIRMAN, CRAIG WITHERSPOON, CALLED THE MEETING TO ORDER PRESENT: Council Members: 1 st Ward Bob Butkowski; Council-at-Large Brian Fischer; Council-at-Large Tammy Holtzmeier; 2 nd Ward Dennis McBride; 3 rd Ward Tony Moore; 4 th Ward Scott Radcliffe; Council-at-Large Craig Witherspoon; Mayor Bryan Jensen; City Engineer Ryan Cummins; Service Director/Parks Director Mike Farmer; Planning and Economic Development Coordinator Pam Fechter; Law Director John Gasior; Finance Director William Logan; Clerk of Council Barbara Brooks The following items were considered in this Work Session: 1. PRESENTATION OF AN AWARD OF DISTINCTION FROM THE AUDITOR OF STATE S OFFICE Lindsay Kuhn, North Central Regional Liaison Ms. Kuhn advised she is present tonight on behalf of Auditor Dave Yost and it is an honor for her to be here this evening. She said the Auditor s Office audits a little over 6,000 government entities across the State of Ohio, but very few receive the Auditor of State Award. Ms. Kuhn stated even fewer, less than 5%, qualify to receive the highest achievement that you can earn from their office, which is the gold standard in financial reporting and that is the Distinction Award. She read a portion of the letter from Auditor Yost. Clean and accurate recordkeeping are the foundation for good government. The taxpayers can take pride in your commitment to accountability. The clean audit report means that your financial audit did not contain findings for recovery, material citation, material weaknesses, significant deficiencies or questionable costs. Ms. Kuhn advised the reason she likes to read that portion of the letter is to give people an idea, as often times citizens believe that you just crunch all the numbers and hope that everything reconciles and that is the end of the whole audit process. She explained there is so much more involved in terms of compliance and it really takes an expert at the helm that understands the day in and day out operations and working in concert with the elected officials and the Administration and the Finance Department and really listening to the constituents. Ms. Kuhn said she was honored to present the Distinction Award to Mr. William Logan, Finance Director for the City of Avon. Mr. Logan included Beth Raicevich, Assistant Finance Director, in the acceptance of the award. He advised this award is very nice to receive and it has been a few years since they received it last. Mr. Logan thanked Ms. Kuhn for coming to present the award. He thanked Ms. Raicevich and all of the Department Heads because a clean audit is not possible without our Department Heads following all the budgetary restrictions and all the other necessary requirements. Ms. Kuhn advised it is about being excellent stewards of taxpayer dollars and everyone working together and they appreciate it very much. 2. PRESENTATION REGARDING THE SIMPLE RECYCLING PROGRAM Sonny Wilkins, VP Municipal Relations, Simple Recycling Mr. Wilkins thanked Mayor Jensen and Council for allowing him to come before them tonight and talk about the Simple Recycling Program. He advised Simple Recycling s program is the highest impact environmental initiative that a municipality can implement at no cost. Mr. Wilkins said this program is no cost to the 1

2 municipality and no cost to the residents. He said what the program consists of is a curbside clothing and home goods collection and is operated 100% by their company. Mr. Wilkins stated there is no money collected and no operational requirements of the municipality. He said it is simple and easy for the residents to understand and to utilize. Mr. Wilkins advised it is not only at no cost, but it will actually generate a little bit of revenue for the municipality although that is not really the key to the program. He said the reason for the program is that even though you have places such as Goodwill and Salvation Army and other ways for people to donate these items, according to the EPA 85% of this kind of material is either incinerated or put in the landfill. Mr. Wilkins said that 95% of these items can be reused or recycled unlike other materials that are recycled such as plastics so it makes sense to keep them out of the landfill. Mr. Wilkins advised there are roughly 20 million tons of textiles that are thrown away so it is a huge problem. Mr. Wilkins stated in order to make it as easy and simple to recycle these items as it would be to throw them away, they mimic the current curbside recycling schedule that already exists in a municipality. The way that they do that is to provide an orange bag that the items can be placed into and be set curbside along-side the recycling cart. A Simple Recycling vehicle will then pick up the bag of unwanted textiles. He noted the resident does not have to call for pickup and the items they accept are clearly marked on the bag. Mr. Wilkins advised when a bag is collected by Simple Recycling they will leave the same number of bags as they collected for the resident to use the next time. He said they will tie the new bags on the recycle bin and if there is no bin they will come closer to the house to find something to tie it to, but they cannot leave them in the mailbox. Mr. Wilkins stated the bags are free and any time a resident would like more than one they can go on their website at and fill out a form and request more bags. The website also allows you to report a missed pick up and they will get it within 24 hours. Mr. Wilkins said once Simple Recycling enters into an agreement with Avon there will be 2 separate postcards to go out to the residents. The first postcard will have the launch date on it and the directions for the program. Mr. Wilkins advised any time his company communicates directly with the residents of Avon the municipal staff will sign off on it first. He said they would ask for the City logo to be placed on the postcard and the first postcard should arrive 2 weeks prior to the launch date. A week prior to the launch date a second postcard will be received by the residents and will include 2 orange bags for their use in the program. Mr. Wilkins stated he would get a mailing list from the municipality and that is how they know all the eligible households. Mr. Wilkins advised just in the Cleveland market they have had 30 cities on board. He personally started with the company about 4 years ago and he said at that time in Dallas they had 11 contracts total and now they are in 11 markets and he has 150 municipal contracts and that number is growing quickly. He said their warehouse is in Warrensville Heights and their trucks go out in the mornings around 7:00 a.m. Mr. Wilkins stated the trucks collect the material and it goes back to our warehouse where it is weighed and from there the material will go into one of their 53 trailers and then sent out once each trailer becomes full. He said the trailer will take the material to one of their thrift store partners some of which are located in Michigan and Houston and they would sort through the material and decide what can be resold on their retail floors, which is approximately 10-20% of what is collected. Mr. Wilkins stated from there the material will come back to them and they will send it to one of the international exporters that deal with textiles. These international exporters are collecting items from Simple Recycling as well as Goodwill, Salvation Army and the like so they were receiving items from all sorts of organizations and they sort through the items and decide what is good for what market for best use. He said that represents approximately 50% - 70% of what is collected. Mr. Wilkins advised the last category is for what is called institutional rags and those are the items that cannot be reused in its current form and those are broken down into car insulation and the like and that would be approximately 10%. He said there is approximately 3% of true waste that cannot be reused. Mr. Wilkins advised they compensate all of their municipalities a penny a pound for everything collected. He said there is a report that is sent to each municipality monthly and it includes the total pounds collected and the rebate check is included. Mr. Wilkins explained it is very easy and simple how this program works. They have a standard template agreement and some things on the agreement are negotiable. He said what they are looking for is an exclusive agreement to collect the items curbside on the recycling day. All of the mailers in order to institute the program are approximately $2.50 per household and their company gladly invests in that and does 2

3 not include the trucks and the labor so the program is costly to them, but they feel it is going to be a long term program that the residents are happy with. Mr. Wilkins stated that some of the charities still send out cards that they are coming into the neighborhood and we do not oppose that because there is enough material to go around. He said one of the challenges he has had in some of the markets is perception of the impact on charitable organizations. Mr. Wilkins advised some of that perception is from fear of the unknown and some worry that if you opt for this curbside service that the material will no longer be brought to these charitable facilities. He stated that 85% of the material is already not making it to these organizations and these figures are from the EPA. Mr. Wilkins added that if the resident is someone who is already taking their material to the local church or some other charitable organization, they are going to continue to do so even when our program is involved and often times it creates more awareness. Mr. Wilkins advised they have been doing this for approximately 4.5 to 5 years and they collect millions of pounds of textiles and there are millions of tons more out there and they would love to bring this program to the City of Avon. Mr. Witherspoon inquired if there are other surrounding cities that are involved in this program. Mr. Wilkins stated North Olmsted, North Ridgeville, Avon Lake and Westlake all participate in this program. Mayor Jensen asked as to the revenue that a typical city might receive by participating in this program. Mr. Wilkins advised Simple Recycling collects approximately.5 lb. to 1 lb. per household per month. Mr. Logan stated there are roughly 7200 households in Avon. Mr. Wilkins said if they were to collect.5 lb. per month per household, which equals 3500 lbs. and with a penny per pound paid to the municipality the City would earn a few hundred dollars per year. Mr. Wilkins noted that there is usually a fee for other curbside collection programs. Mr. Wilkins stated the average tipping fees for the landfill are approximately $60/ton and for every ton that is diverted, the City is not paying those tipping fees plus they receive the small revenue of the penny per pound collected so the true value is in the diversion. Mr. Radcliffe inquired as to how long Simple Recycling has been in the area doing this program with the other cities. He noted the map indicated they have most areas east and south all the way to Akron as far as the big cities. Mr. Radcliffe asked as to how long Warrensville Heights processing center has been around and how long has the Simple Recycling program been in these other communities. Mr. Wilkins advised they are a family owned business and are a third generation of collecting clothing and textiles. They are based out of Solon and they started in this area with the curbside program approximately 5 years ago. Mrs. Holtzmeier asked when their vehicles are driving around the community if they look like what is in the brochure and they are branded. Mr. Wilkins confirmed that to be true. Mrs. Holtzmeier asked as to how many vans would be in Avon on pickup day for a community of our size. Mr. Wilkins advised their vans can cover roughly 7000 households a day so one van could cover the whole City in a day. Mr. Wilkins stated they could adapt if Avon were to go to a 5 day a week refuse service as well. Mrs. Holtzmeier advised on the Simple Recycling website she noticed there is a form if there is a missed pickup. Mr. Wilkins confirmed such and said the form goes to the Customer Service Center in Cleveland and each morning all of the dispatchers receive a bag drop off and missed pickup list that have all the addresses on them. Mr. Wilkins explained the dispatchers load the addresses into the GPS units for the drivers so as they are going through their routes it sends out an alert that there are bag drop offs or missed pickups. Mrs. Holtzmeier stated it seems as if Simple Recycling has a simple to use template and business model that works and they serve most of the cities around Avon. She said she also liked how their website had a FAQ section that deasl with some of questions they were most likely to get phone calls about and the bag itself says what items they accept. 3

4 Mr. Wilkins advised he wished that he could say that no calls will come into the City but there will be some calls when implementing the program. He directed the City to send the calls to the Simple Recycling Customer Service number. Mr. Wilkins also noted the City would have direct access to him and the City could send him an and he would make sure the dispatcher is made aware of the situation. Mr. Butkowski asked if they are a 501(c)(3) or a non-profit organization for residents to receive tax write-offs from charitable donations. Mr. Wilkins explained no, they are a for-profit company and they try to make that distinction very clear. Mr. Wilkins advised when someone takes items to one of the charities they are actually donating, but when they fill one of Simple Recycling s bags and place it at the curb they are recycling. Mr. Logan pointed out that tax write-offs from charitable donations will be very minimal on the 2018 federal return and most taxpayers are not going to get that deduction any longer. Mr. Moore inquired as to what time frame they will be picking up items each week. Mr. Wilkins stated their van(s) would probably arrive in the City around 8:00 am and finish up around 3:00 or 4:00 p.m. on pickup day. He mentioned they start getting calls if their bag is not picked up by early afternoon. Mr. Witherspoon asked if Simple Recycling has the infrastructure to take care of Avon all in one day each week. Mr. Wilkins stated absolutely, they have 40 trucks at the Cleveland facility. Mr. Wilkins advised if they see a large volume of textiles coming from Avon and a single van was struggling to carry that load, he would dispatch other vans once they were done servicing their other areas to assist. Mr. Moore asked if the contract was set at 4 years or were they able to say they wanted to contract for 2 years to see how the program works out. Mr. Wilkins advised he did not want to negotiate the contract in this public forum, but the terms are negotiable. Mr. Wilkins stated 4 years is the standard template and recycling takes a large volume and in that first contractual period is pretty much where we are breaking even and they hope the City will want to renew after the initial contractual period. Mayor Jensen advised in their brochure they show acceptable items such as a basketball and tennis shoes and a small appliance and he asked if they will accept a small appliance because the list states they do not accept appliances, but the picture shows a small handheld appliance. Mr. Wilkins stated yes, and 95% of everything they collect is clothing and shoes, but there have been some areas in some of their markets where the municipality does not want us to take electronics or the like. Mr. Wilkins said it is important that the material can be picked up by one man so they accept nothing heavier than 50lbs. Mrs. Holtzmeier said some times especially during bulk pickup week the City has pickers come through neighborhoods. She asked if they ever have issues with pickers taking their Simple Recycling bags. Mr. Wilkins stated it is not a huge problem, but it has happened from time to time and they would most likely work with the City regarding the issue. Mr. McBride asked how long they have been in the Northeast Ohio market. Mr. Wilkins advised the family in general dealing with textiles have been in here for well over 50 years and as far as the Simple Recycling curbside program they have been here approximately 4 to 4.5 years. Mr. Wilkins stated he personally has been with Simple Recycling for 4 years. Mr. McBride asked for confirmation that Simple Recycling has contracted with cities for a full 4 year contractual period. Mr. Wilkins said yes, they were doing renewals and things of that nature now. Mr. McBride stated they will most likely want the names of some of those cities to which Mr. Wilkins indicated that could be provided. Mr. Witherspoon thanked Mr. Wilkins for his time. 3. ORDINANCE NO TO AUTHORIZE THE MAYOR TO PARTICIPATE IN THE LORAIN COUNTY TRASH AND RECYCLING CONSORTIUM Referral from Service Committee 4

5 Mr. Butkowski advised the Service Committee recently met with officials from the Consortium and today they met with officials from Republic Services discussing the current situation with our garbage service within the City. He said coming out of the Service Committee meeting last week (9/10) after meeting with the Consortium, the Committee agreed it might be in the best interest of the City to expend $5,000 to go through the Consortium bid process to see what type of program can be put in place to help save the City, and more importantly the residents, on the cost for their residential trash collection. Mr. Butkowski stated they currently estimate the potential savings to the City to close to a million dollars over the next 5 years by taking a look at what cost savings we can put in place and that is before there would be any financial benefit to the residents. He said the Service Committee brought it before Council as a whole to see if they agree to pay the $5,000 to be a part of the consortium bid. Mr. Butkowski noted he would be attending the Consortium meeting tomorrow (9/18) in Grafton and he would report back to Council his findings from that meeting. Mr. Gasior confirmed this legislation does not commit the City, but it allows the City to take advantage of the program if they so choose. Mr. Butkowski agreed and said if Council does not like the results from the bid, they would still be out the $5,000, but they are not obligated to stay with the Consortium bid and could go a different direction. Mr. Radcliffe stated the $5,000 provides us the opportunity to see what else is out there for residential savings in trash service. Mr. Witherspoon said Mr. Butkowski would know more after he attends the Consortium meeting tomorrow and could report back. Mr. Butkowski agreed and stated he received some feedback on what they as the City might be able to provide to that bid process so that they can tailor it more toward Avon s needs to make sure those needs are being met and he would be asking those questions to see what kind of answers they get back. 3a. ORDINANCE NO TO ACCEPT IMPROVEMENTS CONSTRUCTED BY PACIFIC RESTAURANT ENTERPRISES, LLC FOR THE INSTALLATION OF PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS ON DETROIT ROAD, SPECIFICALLY KNOWN AS THE TACO BELL TRAFFIC SIGNALIZATION/PAVEMENT MARKINGS PROJECT Mr. Gasior Mr. Gasior advised they were going to try to accept these improvements. Mr. Farmer will be sending out a routing sheet. He believed the bond is going to be in and we will have their money. Mr. Gasior stated that Mr. Cummins needs to check on the as-builts for this improvement and he believes Mr. Cummins is in communications with the parties, but still needed to verify some information. Mr. Gasior said if everything is ready to go by next Monday they could ask Council to act on the Ordinance. Mr. Gasior asked for confirmation that this acceptance is for a traffic signal. Mr. Cummins advised that is correct, it is the emergency signal and not a full traffic signal. 4. REPORTS AND COMMENTS MAYOR JENSEN had no comments. COUNCIL MEMBERS: MR. BUTKOWSKI, WARD 1 stated if there is any other input from individual Council Members before he attends the Consortium meeting tomorrow to please let him know so it is included. He noted the meeting was at 5:30 p.m. to which Mr. McBride indicated he might attend as well. MR. FISCHER, AT LARGE had no comments. MRS. HOLTZMEIER, AT LARGE had no additional comments. MR. MCBRIDE, WARD 2 had no comments. 5

6 MR. MOORE, WARD 3 advised regarding the speed indicators that there were several that did not seem to be operating. Mr. Farmer stated there are a few that they are having some issues with and those are being worked on, but he believed the majority of them are operational. Mayor Jensen asked Mr. Moore to let them know which ones are not working and they would make sure they were on the list. He stated drivers must go over the speed limit to trigger the sign, but you should be able to see a blue light if it is working correctly even if you are under the speed limit. Mayor Jensen advised there was some issue when the signs were laid down that they got wet and those are to be replaced. He mentioned that a resident commented that drivers were slowing down when they saw the sign flash indicating they are effective. Mr. Moore advised regarding the texting while driving law that he loves it as it really raised his own awareness of texting while driving. He mentioned that it is amazing how many people continue to do it and he suggested a banner be installed alongside the road that would be more visible for drivers. Mr. Moore stated they should continue to raise awareness as much as possible, but he is amazed at how much of it he sees regularly. Mayor Jensen believed the State of Ohio is looking at making it a primary offense. Mr. Logan stated there was a notice included with the water bills. He said that it is his opinion that until someone gets ticketed their behavior may not change. Mayor Jensen confirmed the Police Department has written some tickets already that have come through the Mayor s Court. He noted there have been many warnings issued for that offense as well as he saw on the report that comes to him. Mr. McBride advised it would be nice to see those statistics. He also felt that the signs warning people not to text while driving are too small. Mr. McBride suggested it might need to be more of an ODOT style sign. Mr. Farmer noted there are No Texting While Driving banners along Detroit Road. Mr. Radcliffe felt they are making dents in the problem, but it is a time process. He advised it is a cultural shift that does not happen overnight. MR. RADCLIFFE, WARD 4 had no additional comments. MR. WITHERSPOON, AT LARGE had no comments. DIRECTORS/ADMINISTRATION: MR. CUMMINS, CITY ENGINEER had no additional comments. MR. FARMER, SERVICE DIRECTOR/PARKS DIRECTOR updated Council regarding the rapid flashing beacon crosswalk signs that the posts are approximately weeks until we can get them. He said once they are received, getting them put together and installed would be the easy part. MS. FECHTER, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT /PLANNING COORDINATOR pointed out there is a speed indicator sign on Nagel Rd. close to Detroit when heading north that is not operational. Ms. Fechter advised that Trick or Treat is on Wednesday, October 31 st and normally the children are out from 6:00 to 7:30; however, we have been contacted by a number of residents asking the time be extended. She stated this year we are going to try having the event from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. and see how it is received. Ms. Fechter said they will add the information regarding this time change for Trick or Treat to the City website as well as the City VIP texting listing and some possible newspaper coverage to get the information in front of everyone. She mentioned that almost every City in Cuyahoga County sets Trick or Treat for 2 hours, but we would be the first one in Lorain County. MR. GASIOR, LAW DIRECTOR congratulated Mr. Logan on receiving the award. MR. LOGAN, FINANCE DIRECTOR had no comments. 6

7 AUDIENCE: There were no comments from the audience. 5. ADJOURN: 8:17 p.m. There being no further business the Work Session of Council was adjourned. PASSED: SIGNED BY: Craig Witherspoon, Council President ATTEST: Barbara Brooks, Clerk of Council 7