January 27, 2011
Hilliard City Council
Roberts wonât run for re-election By GARY BUDZAK ThisWeek Community Newspapers Councilman Tim Roberts wonât run for a third term, he said after the Hilliard City Council meeting on Jan. 24. âIâm officially not running for reelection,â Roberts said. âIâve been on eight years. I just think itâs time. Iâd like to see some new blood come in, too. Thatâs all. There are other things I want
to do. Itâs just time for a break.â Roberts, 53, said he wouldnât rule out seeking the post again in the future. His term expires at the end of the year. Tim Roberts Prior to the meeting, council members told visiting Boy Scout Troop 418 what they might ex-
Destination Hilliard
Legislation offers funding alternative
pect to hear. As they predicted, the meeting was brief, lasting only 14 minutes. Mayor Don Schonhardt was on vacation, legislation was light and council was jovial. The main piece of legislation council approved unanimously was an ordinance that would eliminate the payment of service credit to new employees hired after Feb. 24, 2011. Current full-time city employees who have been employed
more than five years will still receive an annual service credit ranging from $650-$2,060. When the ordinance was in committee, it was discussed that employeesâ salaries should be based on performance and not necessarily on length of service. Council also unanimously approved providing $15,650 in funding to the Hilliard Youth and Family Commission, subject to quarterly reporting by the
commission to council. The commission was established in 2001 âto facilitate youth development by empowering youth and adults to build assets and provide opportunities that enhance the quality of life.â Prior to council, the finance and administration committee met. It forwarded to council a resolution authorizing propSee COUNCIL, page A2
UPPER HAND
By GARY BUDZAK ThisWeek Community Newspapers Mayor Don Schonhardtâs first veto will have to wait until Valentineâs Day, and Hilliard City Council will have an alternative ordinance to consider if they canât override the mayorâs veto. Council needs five votes to override the veto. Don Schonhardt At its Jan. 11 meeting, city council approved by a 5-2 vote changing the percentage of the 6-percent hotel/motel bed tax that would go to Destination Hilliard, a convention and visitorâs bureau, from 25-percent to 50-percent. The other 50-percent would be placed in the cityâs general fund. On Jan. 17, Schonhardt sent a letter to council president Brett Sciotto declaring his intent to veto the ordinance. He cited six reasons for his decision because of âvery grave concerns I have about this legislation and its adverse impact on our community and its citizens.â It will mark the first time in his two terms as mayor Schonhardt has exercised his veto authority. Several council members and Destination Hilliard staff expressed their disappointment in Schonhardtâs decision. The veto was not considered at the Jan. 24 council meeting, but instead is expected to occur at the next council meeting on Feb. 14. Law director Pamela Fox said the matter canât be taken up until 10 days after the letterâs date. âItâs a statutory requirement,â Fox said. âWe will put it back on the council agenda,â council clerk Lynne Fasone said. She said it would be announced like âShall ordinance 10-40 be passed, notwithstanding the veto See DESTINATION HILLIARD, page A2
By Lorrie Cecil/ThisWeek
Max, a two-year-old cattle dog ,avoids being caught by 12-year-old Tammy Cole after stealing a glove while playing on the snow-covered tennis couirts at Roger A. Reynolds Municipal Park on Friday, Jan. 21. Max is owned by William Walke and his uncle, Bryan. Cole, her 11-year-old brother, Devin, and the Walkes had been at the park sledding and took some time out to play with the dog. Max enjoyed taking their gloves and being chased around the court.
Board to place 6.9-mill levy on May ballot By GARY BUDZAK ThisWeek Community Newspapers
The Hilliard school board unanimously approved putting a 6.9-mill levy on the May 3 ballot. âIâm sure there are some people out there who if we had a 2.9 or a 3.1 (mill levy), they would still be upset with us,â school board president Doug Maggied said prior to the 5-0 vote Jan. 24 at J.W. Reason Elementary.
âWe will work to sell our message and get people to understand where we are, whatâs happening and why we need a levy.â âOur effective operating millage is 40.73 mills,â district treasurer Brian Wilson said after the meeting. âThe 6.9 mills would go on top of this to be 47.63 mills collected on a permanent basis.â If approved by voters in May, the levy would cost a homeowner an additional $211.31 per year
in property taxes per $100,000 of value. According to the language of the boardâs resolution, the Franklin County Auditor certified the total current tax valuation of the school district is $2.4-billion and the dollar amount of revenue that would be generated by the 6.9-mill levy would be $16.7-million annually during the life of the levy, assuming that the total current tax valuation remains the same
throughout the life of the levy. However, Wilson said that the revenue would be $15.5-million because of anticipated 8-percent property value decreases. After the 35-minute meeting Jan. 24, Wilson said he would turn in the paperwork to the Franklin County Board of Elections the next day. The filing deadline is Feb. 2. See SCHOOLS, page A3
Dispatching services contract remains unresolved By GARY BUDZAK ThisWeek Community Newspapers
A contract for Norwich Townshipâs fire department and emergency medical dispatching services continues to be discussed with the city of Hilliard administration in letters and in meetings. Norwich trustee Larry Earman said the trustees were to meet with
council members in an executive session yesterday after ThisWeek went to press. The trustees sent Mayor Larry Earman Don Schonhardt a letter in December requesting a meeting about the dispatching contract, and during a
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recent special meeting, said Schonhardt had not responded. On Jan. 14, Schonhardt sent a letter to the trustees that said the administration had begun discussions on the matter in 2009, and the contract was signed by the trustees Nov. 18, 2009. Schonhardt wrote that during the previous arrangement for the dispatching services in 2003, âthe Township offered to pay for up-
graded dispatching equipment for use by the City of Hilliard and the Township, in exchange for a credit against dispatching service costs.â This arrangement continued through last year, Schonhardt wrote, accruing a benefit of $1,296,000 to the township, since the city charged the township the cost of one dispatcher instead of the four that are needed, at a cost
of $162,000 a year. Schonhardt also wrote that âthe City Administration agreed to pay the township 4.5 percent interest on its $6.4 million share of the facility costâ of the Joint Safety Services Building. He described those two actions âas a gesture of cooperation and support.â The letter closed by saying âthat the cost of dispatching services charged to Norwich Town-
ship is wholly consistent with the cost of similar services provided to Washington Township by the City of Dublin.â At last weekâs Norwich Township trustees meeting, trustee Mike Cope described Schonhardtâs letter as âpretty prickly.â Earman wrote a letter to Schonhardt dated Jan. 18. In it, he wrote, See CONTRACT, page A2
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