TO:             City Council Members/Department/Division Heads

FROM:      Douglas L. Lewis, City Manager

SUBJECT: City Manager Update

Departmental Budget Review: Per my prior update, departmental budget reviews began on September 13, 2005. To date, we have reviewed the following budgets:  Housing/Zoning Department, Police Department, Fire Department (Stations 1, 3, 4), Water Department, Wastewater Department and the Finance Department. Once we have a final revenue projection, we will look at the overall requests and make funding decisions based on the City Council’s Goals and Objectives.      

East Conneaut Industrial Park:  The City of Conneaut was invited last week to submit an application for $365,000 in EDA funds for the construction of a road, lighting, water, sanitary and storm sewer lines for the 64-acre East Conneaut Industrial Park. In addition, staff has been working with Mr. Joseph Mayernick and Misty Tobias-Hejduk of The Growth Partnership for Ashtabula County to obtain the matching funding necessary to move this project forward.  

It is anticipated that it will take approximately three (3) months to complete the application process and obtain the necessary funding. If all goes smoothly, construction could begin as early as the spring of 2006. A press release was sent out by Growth Partnership last week – a copy was placed in your mailbox.  

Economic Development Breakfast: The City of Conneaut will be hosting the first annual Economic Development Breakfast on Thursday, October 13, 2005. The purpose of the breakfast is to attract new development by informing CEO/Presidents of companies/industries about what the City of Conneaut has to offer (i.e., land, incentives, quality of life, etc.). In addition to a brief presentation, we have arranged a tour of the CN Dock. Personal invitations were sent out to approximately 250 companies/industries located in Ashtabula County, Ohio and Erie County, Pennsylvania.   

Parrish Road Rail Grade Separation:  Staff has been working with Mr. Shawn Aiken of CT Consultants to identify the cost of improvements to accommodate truck traffic on either Brown Avenue or Stadium Drive/Maple Avenue. At this time, we are obtaining information so that we can evaluate the various alternatives and make a recommendation to the City Council.    

We have worked with Mr. Aiken to obtain some preliminary cost figures for the widening of Brown Avenue and the cost of creating a half moon at the north end of Hosford Avenue so that trucks could proceed down Maple Avenue from Stadium Drive. The half moon would enable trucks to go around a truck at the loading dock at Foseco. We are also working with Foseco to determine the cost of realigning their dock off Maple Avenue. Mr. Jeremy Wilkinson, Operations Director, informed me that they received a cost estimate from Hughes Roller Building Company.       

Mr. Aiken is putting together a cost to obtain easements along the west side of Brown Avenue. The easements will be necessary, if this alternative is chosen, to relocate the electric poles. Mr. John Roach, Public Works Director, is working up the costs to resurface Stadium Avenue and Maple Avenue, relocate the signals along US 20 to either Stadium Avenue or Brown Avenue, and reconfigure pavement markings (i.e., turn lanes) at Stadium Avenue.   

Once all the information has been assembled and evaluated by staff, we will conduct a public meeting to present it to interested residents along Brown Avenue and Maple Avenue. Upon obtaining their input, we will make a final recommendation to the City Council. It is anticipated that a recommendation will be forthcoming the last week of October and/or in early November. I do not want to make a recommendation without first obtaining input and evaluating all the alternatives.   

WWTP Improvements: The sludge holding tank is on schedule and has passed the water test.  Gravel has been hauled in for backfill. The pipe installation is continuing in and around the tank in addition to other work being done in that area. The old sludge furnace has been disconnected from the gas and sludge lines and will be removed next week. However, no work has been completed on the Woodworth Road and Dorman Road lift stations.   

Mr. Shawn Aiken of CT Consultants informed me that the current and anticipated change orders through September 16, 2005, total $55,100.00. Given that the 10% contingency for the project was $158,286.00, we are way below the contingency figure.  In fact, the total for change orders is 1.74%.  Mr. Aiken attributes this to the excellent contractors and the fact that there were few unanticipated changes to the project scope.      

Woodworth Road Water Line:  The Woodworth Road water line has been completely installed. It has been sanitized and is ready to begin tie-ins to customers in the area.  All customers should be tied in by mid October. 

Water Plant Operations: Operations at the Water Filtration Plant ran routinely with no problems for the two week period. The daily average for the week ending September 21, 2005 was 1.749 mg from low service pumpage and 1.697 mg from high service pumpage to distribution. The daily average for the week ending September 30, 2005 was 1.667 mg from low service pumpage and 1.606 mg from high service pumpage to distribution.   

Meter Reading Made Easy: The Neptune Meter Reading Equipment approved by the City Council was installed the week ending September 23, 2005. This included the touch pad meter reading system. As previously stated, this will enable the meter readers to punch in the information and download it within the Water/Sewer Billing Department. Until this point, the information was written down and then input into the computer manually. Staff anticipates that the new system will save a significant amount of time within the Water/Sewer Billing Department.     

Marine Memorial Park:  Ms. Lori Lamer, Law Director, received the signed agreement to acquire property owned by CN that is adjoining Marine Memorial Park. In exchange for the property, the City of Conneaut has agreed to provide the labor and equipment to pave their parking lot off Day Street. CN will be paying for the materials for the project.  The project is scheduled to begin this week. Once the work has been completed, Ms. Lori Lamer will need to obtain final approval of the survey language from the County Engineer’s Office.  

Burrington Heights:  The Public Works Department is in the process of hauling clean fill to Burrington Heights in order to address the bank erosion problem caused by excessive stormwater. 

NIMS Compliance: The Conneaut NIMSCAST survey was recently completed.  It appears the City of Conneaut is 20% compliant with the Federal Standards. The following departments have 100% training compliance: City Manager’s Office, Law Director’s Office, Public Works Department, Health Department, Finance Department and Wastewater Department.  Congratulations!! 

Fire Chief Orrenmaa is responsible for overseeing this program. Staff, as well as elected and appointed officials, can expect a year of planning and training in crisis and disaster management as a result of this federal mandate.

Infrastructure Issues:  Mr. Craig Pierce, Wastewater Superintendent, has informed me that the City of Conneaut has experienced 17 sewer cave-ins to date.  Fortunately, 10 of the repairs were done with the help of the Public Works Department – thus saving thousands of dollars in costly repairs. However, with 3 months remaining in 2005, Mr. Pierce has requested a budget adjustment in the amount $7,000. He believes the $7,000 will be needed to address repairs and restoration through the end of the year.    

Clean Up From Storm:  The Public Works Department picked up limbs, debris and downed trees on Thursday, September 29^th following the Wednesday night storm.  They were called out at around 5:00 am to begin clean up efforts.  

Old Main Force Main Paving: On Wednesday, September 28^th, the Public Works Department and Wastewater Treatment Department worked together to pave the road cut on Old Main Road. The apron at the Eagles Club on Old Main Road was dug out and new concrete was poured this past week.   

Skate Park Property: As previously reported, Ms. Lori Lamer, Law Director, has received the deed from Norfolk and Southern Railroad for the skate park property. Before the property can be transferred, the County Engineer’s Office will need to approve the survey language in the deed.         

Police Calls/Citations/Arrests:  The week of September 16 through September 23, the Police Department logged 446 service calls and issued 50 arrests/citations. Among the numbers were 42 traffic stops, 34 registration checks, 24 suspicious activity calls, 5 juvenile complaints, 6 domestic situations, 11 animal calls, 8 disorderly conducts, 3 overweight/oversized vehicles and 4 OVI arrests. 

The week of September 22 through September 29, the Police Department logged 494 service calls and issued 66 arrests/citations. Among the numbers were 95 traffic stops, 51 registration checks, 28 suspicious activity calls, 14 juvenile complaints, 5 domestic situations, 13 animal calls, 10 drug possession arrests, 9 disorderly conducts, 8 assaults and two OVI arrests.  

Fire Prevention Month:  Lt. Sonny Heinonen is accepting donations through the month of October for the annual fire prevention week poster contest. The donations will be used to purchase bicycles as prizes. Last year, 45 bicycles were awarded to participants and Lt. Heinonen hopes to exceed that number this year. This years’ theme is “Use Candles with Care”.  A resolution recognizing Fire Prevention Month will be presented for Council approval on October 20, 2005. 

Covered Bridge Festival:  The Fire Department has cooperated in cleaning the Creek Road covered bridge by hosing it down to remove all the dirt. The Public Works Department has also begun cleaning up the area around the covered bridges in Conneaut. 

The Covered Bridge Festival is October 8^th and 9^th. This will be the third year Friends of the Conneaut Creek will be hosting the bridge. Friends will be providing entertainment and information in the form of Folk Singer Ed Winger and Ms. Amy Winger of the Lighthouse Preservation Society. Food will be available through the Charity Weiner Wagon – which will benefit the Friends of Conneaut Creek. 

Conneaut Historical Society Building:  Water and sewer service has been installed at the new Historical Society building site on Mill Street. This was a two-day project for both the Water and Wastewater Department. The project was completed as topsoil and grass seed were spread this week.  The total cost of materials was less than $1500.00.   

BWC – Workers Compensation: The Ohio Worker’s Compensation Oversight Commission voted not to concur with the Ohio Bureau of Worker’s Compensation’s recommendation to grant a one-time dividend on upcoming employment premium bills – even with a $606 million surplus balance. As a result, the bills covering January 1 through June 30, 2005, employers will be required to pay their full premiums. However, since we have met the qualifications of Drug Free Workplace, we will be receiving a 15% discount beginning January 1, 2006.  

Conneaut Map Project:  The City of Conneaut has been working with City Map Project to develop a map of our community. The map project will work similar to the banner project in that City Map Project will be contacting local area businesses to obtain the necessary funding to produce not less than 5,000 copies of a new, detailed, full-color street map and resource guide.  

City Map Project requested a letter from the City Manager that will be sent to local area businesses on Monday, October 3, 2005. The marketing and advertising space is limited and will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis. Interested parties can visit the City Map Project website at www.citymapproject.com or contact them at (800) 933-3909.  

The goal of the project is to produce a quality map of the City of Conneaut and the surrounding area. We have a lot to offer in Conneaut and the map will enable visitors trying to locate various streets, businesses, restaurants and points of interest within Conneaut.  Participating businesses will be given copies of the map to distribute to patrons.  

Hazard Mitigation Grant:  Fire Chief Bim Orrennma sent a "Notice of Interest" to obtain grant funding through the 2006 Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program to the Ohio Emergency Management Agency.  The funding requests are based upon the Ashtabula County’s natural hazard mitigation plan priorities. The priorities for the City of Conneaut are as follows:

1.  Emergency power and communication equipment for critical facilities

2.  Tornado shelters in community 

3.  Bank stabilization of Conneaut Creek

4.  Vegetation management along the lakefront.

This is a first step and additional information will be required once they determine the level of interest in Ohio. We will keep you updated as more information becomes available.   

Conneaut Harbor Sampling Project:  The Corp of Engineers completed the sampling of the sand in and around the Port of Conneaut.  We will keep you updated as more information becomes available.             

ODOD Community Distress Grant:  Ms. Patricia Lines of Lines and Associates, Inc. received the summary of recommended communities for the FY2005 Community Distress Set Aside Program. The City of Conneaut was listed number 16 out of the 33 communities requesting funding. The top 10 applicants (5 cities and 5 counties) received $300,000 each.  Ms. Lines and I will be meeting with representatives from the ODOD to determine how we can increase our point value in order to obtain the funding.   

LeaderShip Ashtabula: This past weekend I attended the retreat for LeaderShip Ashtabula. The retreat was very beneficial in that it provided valuable information about leadership styles, communications and Ashtabula County in general. In addition, it provided an excellent opportunity to network with the participants and identify what the group thought would make the perfect Ashtabula County.    

Successful D-Day Event: The D-Day Re-Enactment held at Conneaut Township Park on September 17, 2005 was a great success and many compliments were offered by the spectators.  As a result, I would like to recognize and thank the Re-Enactors, Conneaut Chamber of Commerce, Conneaut Township Park, Conneaut Public Works Department, and the many volunteers for bringing this important event to the City of Conneaut.     

Raccoon Oral Rabies Program: The Conneaut Health Department distributed baits for the Oral Rabies Vaccination Program for raccoons on Thursday, September 15, 2005.  A total of 37 hours and approximately 117 miles were driven to distribute the baits. The areas not accessible to trucks were baited by walking the areas. The Conneaut Health Department thanks all those involved in the distribution.    

MARK YOUR CALENDARS -- UPCOMING EVENTS: 

Wild and Scenic River Designation Ceremony – Thursday, October 6, 2005 at 10:00 a.m. at the State Road Covered Bridge.    

Harvest Festival – October 7 and 8, 2005 at South Ridge Baptist Church. A flyer on the event was placed in your mailbox.   

Chamber Art Auction – Friday, October 7, 2005 at 6:00 p.m. at the Villa on the Lake. 

Covered Bridge Festival – Saturday, October 8, 2005 and Sunday, October 9, 2005. 

City Council Meeting – Monday, October 10, 2005 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers.  City Hall will be closed during the day in observance of Columbus Day.   

Economic Development Breakfast – Thursday, October 13, 2005 at 7:00 a.m. at the Conneaut Community Center for the Arts.  

Fire Prevention Week – October 9-15, 2005. Poster contest with this year’s theme being “Use Candles with Care”.    

Halloween Parade:  Saturday, October 29, 2005 from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.  

German Fest:  Saturday, October 29, 2005 at the Conneaut Human Resources Center

Trick or Treat:  Monday, October 31, 2005 from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.