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Mayor Ronald A. D’Epifanio called the Council-Manager Briefing to order at 6:00 p.m. at the Fairfield Municipal Building, 5350 Pleasant Avenue with the following Councilmembers present:  Mike Snyder, Mike Oler, Steve Miller, Tim Abbott, Mitch Rhodus, and Tim Meyers.  Staff members present were Dena Morsch, Art Pizzano, Dennis Stuckey, Mike Dickey, Dave Crouch, Erin Donavan, Tim Bachman, and Rick Helsinger.

Countywide Radio Project Update

City Manager Pizzano stated the Butler County Commissioners put into place a sales tax to help fund the countywide radio project.  The system will ensure that everyone in the county will be able to talk to one another, especially in cases of an emergency.

Police Chief Mike Dickey introduced Oxford Police Sergeant Matt Franke, on assignment to Butler County to serve as project manager of the radio project.  He stated Fairfield has various aspects of the project as far as the dispatch center and antenna sites.  He stated the project is complex; it will cost the county over $35 millions dollars over a 20 year period.

Sgt. Franke provided Council and staff with an update on the countywide radio project known as Project 25.  The Project 25 radio communication system will enhance day-to-day operations for public safety organizations within Butler County. The system will also optimize emergency communications and interoperability.

Sgt. Franke provided a brief overview of the new trunking technology which will replace the conventional channel operation.  Sgt. Franke explained the central controller which will be shared by every jurisdiction in Butler County and up to 30 control channels on the system.  Project 25 offers Butler County:  technology based on a national public safety standard, the highest level of interoperability for field personnel, a network with uniform capacity for handling emergencies, cost-effective re-use of existing radio equipment, an implementation team with unparalleled experience, comprehensive system support, proven technology performance and phased implementation.

City Manager Pizzano stated once we get through the public safety phase of the project, the system is designed in such a way that should we decide to do it sometime down the road, we could add in other city departments such as public works and public utilities in order to communicate internally during a city disaster or emergency.  He stated the funding would have to be done locally and not through the county but the possibility is there for us to consider in the future.

Sgt. Franke noted that the system will be using the county fiber-optic system to connect to the dispatch centers which will save the county over one million dollars.

Property Maintenance Update

Tim Bachman, Development Services Director, provided a recap of property maintenance in 2006 and reviewed the number of cases (or violations) in 2004, 2005 and 2006. For the first quarter of 2007 (through 3/5/07), the city has had 106 cases—50 cases are active; 52 cases have been closed; and 3 cases are in court. 

Mr. Bachman stated in August 2006, the city hired a full-time zoning inspector to monitor the hot spots in the community in terms of multi-family which comprises over 850 units.  The inspector has reviewed those units and the news is that a majority of those are undergoing rehabilitation of the premises.  He stated a minority number will be appealing city orders through the Board of Building Appeals and the court process.

In terms of the process, Mr. Bachman stated there are two—reactive (tenant initiated/landlord initiated) and proactive (systematic approach).  He stated there are 7,984 multi-family units consisting of condos and apartment. He stated trailers are not included in this number since they are monitored by the county.  He stated the recommended city approach is to conduct a thorough review of every building exterior, with the theory being if the exterior is structurally sound and the premises is clean, the blighting influence will be removed or a lot less blighted than it was in the past.  Mr. Bachman stated Butler County is responsible for creating and maintaining a data base of registered properties.  He stated we will be using that data throughout the process along with existing software such as Impact Software and GIS mapping.

Mr. Bachman stated a letter would be sent to the building owner(s) or management company with a check list of things that need to be corrected.  The check list would be uploaded into the data base and violations sent from that information. Staff will work with particular violations in order to resolve them before moving on to the next area.  Mr. Bachman stated he anticipates a review of each building at least every 2-3 years.  Individual unit issues will continue to be monitored as reactive measures and that information will be added to the database as a unit issue.  He stated he will tract the staff’s effectiveness and will report the information back to Council in six months.

Mr. Bachman reviewed the checklist that the zoning inspector will be using when she goes out into the field.  He stated it covers everything from roofs and drainage to balconies and fences, etc.

The next topic discussed by Mr. Bachman was the issue of vacant properties (single family homes that are in foreclosure or vacant and/or abandoned for various reasons).  He stated the city will use the same contractors as last year in terms of grass cutting, etc. Last year, the city maintained 49 properties in Fairfield.  Most of those were single family homes and consisted of grass cutting.  Mr. Bachman stated one of the issues the city experienced last year was that residents would not call to report high grass or weeds.  He stated when the grass gets to be 3 feet tall; it is very difficult for the contractor to cut.  Therefore, Mr. Bachman urged everyone to promptly report these violations so that the process can be initiated as quickly as possible.

City Manager Pizzano stated staff realizes this has been a high priority of Council for quite some time and Tim and his staff are working hard to move us forward in this area.  He stated the resources provided by Council are being used diligently and wisely and is paying dividends for the City.  Mr. Pizzano stated Tim and his staff is having meetings 2-3 times a week to review the list of violations, case by case, to make sure there is follow-up and an appropriate level of oversight in terms of supervision as to how these cases are handled.

Tim Bachman stated the game plan is to visit every building within 2-3 years; have the exterior of every building reviewed and the information added to the data base.  He stated the list has been prioritized and staff is currently working on the hot spots in the community.  Mr. Bachman stated most of the people he deals with are cooperative.  He stated even with the caseload going up, the number of court cases has pretty much stayed the same in terms of percentage.

Councilmember Meyers suggested placing the top five issues in the residential newsletter to help residents understand what some of the issues are that needs reported to the City.

Mr. Bachman stated the information has been in the newsletter and will appear again in future issues.

On the proactive side, Mr. Pizzano stated the Building Division has sponsored the Home Expo for several years now which utilizes the talents of our inspectors.

Councilmember Abbott suggested inviting all of the landlords in Fairfield to a meeting in order to explain to them the importance of property maintenance and how it is a top priority of this Council.

Mr. Bachman stated every landlord would receive the City’s checklist so that they are aware of what we are looking at during our inspections.

Councilmember Meyers suggested sending the checklist in addition to inviting the landlords to a public meeting, especially to single family landlords.

Councilmember Miller stated from what he has seen city staff has come a long way over the last two year.  Staff is doing a great job and given the time and opportunity, they will be exactly where we want them to be and he is proud that staff has gotten this far in such a short amount of time.

Mr. Bachman stated the process is so positive among the zoning inspectors that Rick Helsinger, Superintendent of Building and Zoning, has taken it to the building inspectors so that we can have the same type of close out on our building inspections.

Adjournment

The Council-Manager Briefing adjourned at 6:55 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Dena Morsch
Clerk of Council