MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor Rousmaniere
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MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor Rousmaniere and Members of Council FROM: Doug Elliott, City Manager RE: Friday Letter DATE: November 22, 2019 _________________________________________________________________________ ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING Under the Oxford City Charter newly elected Council members take office on the third Monday after the election (November 25, 2019). The City will be holding an organizational meeting on November 26, 2019 at 7:00 PM at the Courthouse. At this meeting the newly elected Council members will be sworn in. Then, the full Council will go into executive session to determine who will be the next Mayor and Vice Mayor. Council members will also decide which City boards/commissions they wish to serve on. JOINT WORK SESSION A Joint Work Session between Oxford City Council and Miami University Officials was held Monday, November 18, 2019 at 5:30 PM in room 322 of McGuffey Hall. This meeting was a result of a Miami University presentation to the Oxford Leadership Group in May of 2019. Pres. Crawford and Dr. Creamer presented information on several Miami owned properties where public-private partnership opportunities exist. The properties include the Marcum Hotel Conference Center, Millett Hall site, Elm Street building, Miami University Airport, Fryman Farm property on Bonham Road, and the former Talawanda High School site. I requested this meeting so that City Council and staff can learn more about these opportunities, discuss any concerns, and explore ways for the City and Miami University to work together on these potential projects. The City and Miami University have a great working relationship. Both entities recognize that our futures are intertwined. I am looking forward to a productive dialog to further strengthen our working relationship. OXFORD PARKING AND TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY BOARD I attended the first meeting of the Oxford Parking and Transportation Advisory Board which was held on Monday, November 18, 2019. The agenda included election of officers, review of the purpose of the board, discussion of future meetings, and review of supporting plans and documents. 45 EAST BUILDING Building plans for the 45 East Building were presented to the HAPC and given final approval. The plan is for the building to be updated with a business on the first floor and a student apartment on the second floor. The greenhouse addition will be replaced with a same size addition level with the first floor of the main building. FOLLETT’S COOP BOOKSTORE BUILDING The Follett’s property requires environmental remediation which includes the removal of any underground fuel storage tanks and contaminated soil. The site is 110 East High St. and according to Benjy has received designation “..as a BUSTR Class C site. This makes the property eligible for an assessment/cleanup grant.” Benjy had requested that the City assist him in the redevelopment of this property by applying for an Abandoned Gas Station Cleanup Grant. Patriot Engineering (his consultant) is estimating an application of $250,000 for the cleanup. Apparently the grant does not have an application deadline and may be awarded at any time until the state appropriation is spent. According to the published guidelines, each fiscal year $4 million is appropriated. The Guidelines require that the City enter into a “Relevant Agreement” with the organization that owns the Eligible Property”. Chris and I have been finalizing documents to apply for this grant. The City will serve as a pass- through agency to obtain funding to complete the cleanup. City Council adopted a resolution to authorize the City Manager to apply for the grant at the last Council meeting. Assistant City Manager Weekly Report: November 18-22, 2019 Submitted by: Jessica Greene Communications: • The social media star of the week is the City E-News with 1.5K views. • Discussion with OPD on how to educate the public on the new Smart Meters. • Town and Gown photo shoot: Partnership with MU Economics and Community Development on Short Term Rental research. Special Projects and Meetings: • Work Session with Miami University. • City Council Work Session with HAPC and City Council Meeting. • BZA (in my quest to visit every board and commission!) • Panel speaker for League of Women Voters on the City’s actions on the Global Covenant of Mayors. • Meeting with Suzi Zazycki about Oxford/MU partnership on Climate Action Items and future task force. • Strategic Planning with the Community Improvement Corporation. • Discussion with local activists about pollinator gardens in Oxford, Ohio. Human Resources: • Presentation to Miami Career Services students interested in working in the public sector. • Hosted 3 Employee Benefits meetings for open enrollment. 48 FT staff attended. • Launched employee benefits website: www.cityofoxford.org/employee Enjoy your weekend! Economic Development Department Director’s Weekly Report # 37 th nd From: Nov 15 to Nov 22 , 2019 Lowlight: It was the last official City Council meeting for, Mayor Kate & Councilor Steve Dana. Activities: • Miami/Media: I spoke with Bob Ratterman on eScooters. • Parking & Transportation Commission: I attended the first meeting of this group. • Miami/City Council Work Session. Dr. Crawford and Dr. Creamer presented the future of the university to City Council. This included both the future direction of the academic divisions as well as future on & off campus proposed and potential building plans. Bits & Pieces: (Some facts, some rumors, some information may change. Some items are reprints from the Oxford Community Development weekly report) Meetings: • City Council meeting: One item of EcDev interest was the City agreeing to host a grant application with the Ohio Development Services Agency for the removal of underground storage tanks at the old Folletts site at 110 E High St. In order for the site to be redeveloped, the underground tanks need to be removed. In 2020 we will see activity at this site. • Chamber of Commence meeting: • CIC meeting: The 2020 Economic Development Strategic Plan process has begun. Friday’s meeting was an important meeting. o The first order of business was the CIC Board added one more Miami representative, Randi Thomas, to the Board. This was done to create additional levels of cooperation, coordination and communication with Miami during this process. o The CIC Board then updated the prior Oxford area EcDev SWOT analysis. o The Board then identified and prioritized broad EcDev goals. o Then the Board identified and prioritized strategizes for the top ranked goals. For the January meeting, staff will take this information and begin to create implementation strategies for these goals. With the long term goal of creating a 2020 EcDev Strategic Plan which will be presented to City Council for approval. City of Oxford Finance Department Weekly Report November 18th through November 22, 2019 Accounting Activities Accounts payable checks have been processed this week. The 2020 Budgeted Appropriations, Transfers, and Advances Ordinances passed at the November 19th City Council meeting. The 2020 Fee Ordinance passed at the November 19th City Council meeting. Supplemental Appropriation Ordinance #8 passed at the November 19th City Council meeting. Supplemental has been posted and sent to the County. A Resolution to Request Advance Payment of 2020 Property Taxes passed at the November 19th City Council meeting. Supplemental Appropriation Ordinance #9 will be on the agenda for 1st reading at the December 2nd City Council meeting. The 2019 Year End memo instructions has been sent to department heads in preparation of closing 2019 and rolling the year to 2020. Utilities Activities Readings for December billing continues. Processed 462 DirectPay ACH payments for a total of $45,841.94. Processed 434 automatic credit card payments for a total of $36,309.50. Staff is working with service technicians to get additional radios installed that will read from the tower. We currently have 1611 active accounts reading from the tower. Training continues within the Finance and Utilities areas. Week ending 11/22/19 Programs/Activities Toddler Tuesdays program began Tuesday, November 5th. This program is free to attend, and occurs every Tuesday morning from 9-11am in the TRI Gym. It’s designed for toddlers ages 1-4 to run and play and use up some energy in the colder months. Parents are required to have a yearly TRI membership, but children are free as always! Program Supervisor, Director and Custodian repaired some fencing at Merry Day Park. New fencing was installed around the parking area off Michelle Drive at Merry Day Park. This is Kentucky 3-rail fence, the same as the fencing around the parking lot at Leonard Howell Park. Activity guide for October 2019 to March 2020 is available in-person and online (www.cityofoxford.org/flipbook). Sports Activities Youth Basketball – practice for grades 3-6 have begun. Practices for grades K-2 will begin after Thanksgiving. Sports staff are working on youth basketball events both at Talawanda and Miami to get our youth players some on-court recognition. Soccer, baseball and softball have all officially shut down for the year. Meeting with multiple contractors about new tennis/pickleball courts at the TRI Began renovation of OCP Field #4 into smaller fields. Fencing was removed, and new fencing will be installed later in November. Oxford Aquatic Center Ohio Parks and Recreation Association awarded the Oxford Aquatic Center with the 2nd Place Award in the state of Ohio for 2019 Capital Improvement Projects. It’s an honor to get some recognition for our hard work here in Oxford; it was a city-wide effort. Aquatic Center buildings / restrooms were winterized. Thank you to the Service Department for completing this work, as well as winterizing the concession stand and restrooms near the ball diamonds. Splashtacular was on-site in late October to repair some rusting issues on one of the play units. Winterization with Patterson Pools was completed on 9/24. Wilcon was on-site last week to work on punch list items.