Updated Roberts Lane expansion design presented at Hillsboro City Council meeting
Lead Summary
By
Caitlin Forsha-crforsha@gmail.com
Hillsboro City Council members and city administration continued discussion of the Roberts Lane extension and other infrastructure improvements during the Thursday, March 16 council meeting.
During his report, Hillsboro Mayor Justin Harsha gave council members and others in attendance a copy of the most recent design by engineering firm DLZ for the proposed Roberts Lane extension.
As previously reported, council voted in January to approve an emergency resolution to enter into a contract with DLZ Ohio Inc. for the design of the Roberts Lane development. The city has purchased a 69-acre lot for the expansion and worked to acquire funding to cover a majority of the costs.
“This is the latest layout,” the mayor said. “It will show you all the opportunities in our investment for the property and where the current road is going to be.”
As noted by Harsha, the updated layout shows space for new buildings and businesses, as part of the goal for the extension is opening up land for new development.
“This isn’t where the buildings are going to be — we have no idea what the developments will be,” Harsha said. “This just shows the usable land and how much we can actually fit and develop out there.”
For the road itself, Harsha pointed out a roundabout in the middle of Roberts Lane, while there is also a cul-de-sac in the middle of a potential development site.
“We did have to modify the route where we came out on Fenner Avenue because during environmental, there was a cemetery found,” Harsha said. “We had to do a little bit of modification there.”
The updated design can be viewed with this story.
Later in the meeting, finance committee chair Mary Stanforth gave a report on her committee’s March 9 meeting to review funding packages for the Roberts Lane extension, as well as the planned North High Street service line replacement and Beech/Railroad Street infrastructure improvements.
Stanforth had invited city grant writer and economic development coordinator Kirby Ellison to discuss a breakdown of all the totals for the projects as they currently stand and the city’s plans to repay loans for each project. (Read more about the meeting at: https://highlandcountypress.com/Content/In-The-News/In-The-News/Article/Hillsboro-Finance-Committee-briefed-on-infrastructure-funding-plans-Roberts-Lane-extension-a-doable-project-financially/2/20/88746.)
Council heard the second reading of the two related resolutions regarding the Roberts Lane extension Thursday:
• A resolution authorizing the SSD to apply for, accept and enter into a WSRLA agreement on behalf of the City of Hillsboro for planning, design and/or construction of water facilities and designating a dedicated repayment source for the loan; and
• A related resolution authorizing the SSD to apply for, accept and enter into a water pollution control loan fund (WPCLF) agreement on behalf of the City of Hillsboro for planning, design and/or construction of wastewater facilities and designating a dedicated repayment source for the loan.
Aside from Stanforth’s report, there was no discussion of the proposed legislation Thursday. Her committee plans to meet again to review the Roberts Lane extension funding before the April city council meeting.
At the recommendation of the finance committee, however, council suspended the three-reading rule and approved a resolution authorizing the SSD to apply for, accept and enter into a water supply revolving loan fund account (WSRLA) agreement on behalf of the City of Hillsboro for construction of High Street lead service line replacement and designating a dedicated repayment source for the loan as an emergency.
Council voted after hearing its second reading Thursday.
In February, safety and service director Brianne Abbott told council, “The legislation will allow the city to apply for and enter into agreement with the water supply revolving loan fund account for principal forgiveness, plus zero-percent interest loan, for the North High Street lead service line replacements. The project cost is $1 million. Fifty-three of the project will be principal forgiveness, and 47 percent of the project will be a zero-percent interest loan.”
Before voting Thursday, council member Jason Brown asked why council was being asked to pass the resolution as an emergency.
“To comply with the EPA,” Abbott said. “They are wanting to do a May loan, so we would have pass it as an emergency today to comply.”
For similar time constraints, council voted to suspend the three-reading rule and approve an emergency resolution authorizing the City of Hillsboro to prepare and submit an application to participate in the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Recreational Trails Program and the Clean Ohio Trails Fund for financial assistance for public recreation purposes.
After its first reading in February, Abbott told council that the city was requesting the legislation’s passage as an emergency in March, to comply with the grant application’s April 15 deadline.
Other legislation considered Thursday included the following:
• After hearing its third reading, council voted 7-0 to approve and adopt a resolution transferring parcel 25-35-001-067.00 — the former Hillsboro firehouse, at 108 Governor Trimble Place — to the Hillsboro Community Improvement Corporation.
In December, council voted to approve an emergency ordinance ratifying a lease/purchase agreement with the Paint Creek Joint EMS/Fire District, with the city “holding title to that” as of January, according to council president Tom Eichinger.
• Council voted to suspend the three-reading rule and to approve and adopt an ordinance establishing a tax increment equivalent fund (TIF) for the Patriot Public House.
The ordinance “declaring improvements to parcels of real property located in Hillsboro, Ohio to be a public purpose under section 5709.40(B) of the Ohio Revised Code, exempting such improvements from real property taxation, declaring certain public improvements to be necessary for the further development of those parcels and establishing a tax increment equivalent fund” passed as an emergency.
“The city is requesting suspension of the three-reading rule and passage by emergency on this piece of legislation per the recommendation of our TIF counsel that we're using on this project and to comply with timeline,” Abbott said.
As presented, “a portion of the improvements” for the parcels on West Main Street “shall be exempt from real property taxation” for 10 years, and “such portion shall be 75 percent of the assessed value of the improvements.”
The property owners “shall be required to make annual service payments in lieu of taxes,” with service payments to be “used to finance public improvements” including “the planning, design and construction of public street improvements … intersection improvements … the planning, design and construction of public parking facilities … the planning, design and construction of utilities … land acquisition; the demolition of buildings and spaces; the creation or enhancement of green space … the creation and/or enhancement of public service facilities; and the purchase of property rights of way and easements or other rights in property necessary for the completion of the public improvements listed above.”
• An emergency resolution to enter into a janitorial contract with Commercial Cleaning Services also passed by a 7-0 vote, following suspension of the three-reading rule.
In October, city administration presented emergency legislation seeking bids for a janitorial contract, as the city had been “without those services” since mid-September for buildings including the Hillsboro City Building, Hillsboro Police Department and Hillsboro Municipal Court. Abbott said at that meeting they believed a janitorial service, instead of hiring an employee, would save money. A motion to suspend the three-reading rule failed. Council later passed the legislation in November.
Abbott said Thursday that by using the janitorial contract instead of hiring an employee, “savings to the city will range from $7,000 to $36,600.” In response to a question from council member Jo Sanborn, Abbott explained the reason for the “large” range of potential savings is dependent upon where the employee fell on the pay scale and whether they accepted the city’s insurance.
“Legislation came forth a few months back, allowing us to go from an employee to a contracted service,” Abbott said. “We realized that savings going from that employee to janitorial services could be in that range.
“It's because we went from an employee to a contract, so the contractor will not get insurance, obviously. There’s a set contracted fee, but if we had an employee, we would have to offer health insurance, which is why the range is so large.”
In related action, council voted 7-0 to approve an ordinance making appropriations transfers in the amount of $28,500 in order to contract janitorial services.
The final piece of legislation approved was an amendment to a supplemental appropriations ordinance for a storm sewer construction debt payment passed by council at their February meeting. Eichinger said it was a “clerical change,” as auditor Patty Day said the only change was taking out the number of the fund where appropriations were made and changing it to “Collection System.”
Council also heard the first reading of three different ordinances to update the city’s code of ordinances to comply with the Ohio Revised Code, according to city law director Randalyn Worley.
Worley asked that the first one, an ordinance repealing and replacing sections 36.075 and 116.20 of the codified ordinances of the City of Hillsboro pertaining to the City’s lodging excise tax and registration, be placed in the finance committee for further review.
As proposed, the two brief sections of the city code will be removed and replaced with a new chapter, Lodging Excise Tax and Registration. The chapter includes sections on definitions; imposition of tax; exemptions; prohibition against false evidence of tax-exempt status; tax to be separately stated and charged; reporting and remitting; civil penalties, delinquency and late fees; records, inspection, destruction, auditing procedures; unlawful to prohibit inspection; failure to collect and report tax, determination of tax by Tax Commissioner; appeal; actions to collect; refunds; money received, where credited; additional rules and regulations; severability; discrimination prohibited; and penalty.
The legislation calls for a three-percent “excise tax on all receipts received by a lodging establishment for lodging furnished to transient guests,” with half of the funds collected going to the city’s general fund and the other half going to the Highland County Visitors Bureau.
• The second ordinance introduced is amending sections 32.100, 32.101, 32.102, and 32.103 of the codified ordinances of the City of Hillsboro pertaining to the City’s records commission.
“This goes back to an ordinance that was passed, I believe in the 1980s, that needs to be updated,” Worley said.
The amendments include outlining the members to serve on the commission, including “the chief executive or the chief executive’s appointed representative, as chairperson, and the chief fiscal officer, the chief legal officer and a citizen appointed by the chief executive,” as well as a secretary. The commission is to “meet at least once every six months,” and the legislation goes into more detail on their duties for reviewing the retention and disposal of public records.
• Finally, council heard the third reading of an ordinance amending section 39.20 of the codified ordinances of the City of Hillsboro pertaining to the City’s records request policy.
“The Records Commission recommended a records request policy back in 2021, which never made its way to council,” Worley said.
The legislation updates the current policy and includes definitions of public records, information on the city’s appointed records custodian and procedures for record requests, among other items.
In other discussion:
• Community enhancement committee chair Sanborn announced that her committee voted to take the first step toward plans for a possible pickleball court at the former Railroad Street park, as they are seeking bids to resurface the old tennis courts.
In response to a question from Stanforth, Sanborn said that the local pickleball group has agreed to help cover the costs.
The city has also received offers of volunteer help from several individuals and organizations, who have agreed to paint the fence and the basketball lines and rims. The administration also reported that new steps have been poured by the basketball court and that they are working on drainage problems.
• Civil service and employee relations committee chair Dan Baucher said his committee met March 9 to discuss comp time maximums and payout as well as the health insurance and overtime sections of the employee handbook. No action was taken, pending further review.
• During citizens’ comments, Herb Day asked “what happened” with a scheduled public hearing on the proposed DORA district.
“It’s canceled for the time being,” Abbott said. “There were issues with the timeline, so it had to be pulled.”
Day then said three times that the city’s DORA application was “filed with the state,” with Abbott responding each time that it has not. Day pointed out that under “communications” on the agenda, it says “DORA application filed March 10.”
“The application process requires the city to file it with the legislative authority, which is us, council,” Eichinger said. “It’s not filing with the state. It's filing here.”
• Also during the meeting, Abbott gave an “Imagine Hillsboro” update. Read more at: https://highlandcountypress.com/Content/In-The-News/In-The-News/Article/Hillsboro-City-Council-hears-Imagine-Hillsboro-report/2/20/88962.
During his report, Hillsboro Mayor Justin Harsha gave council members and others in attendance a copy of the most recent design by engineering firm DLZ for the proposed Roberts Lane extension.
As previously reported, council voted in January to approve an emergency resolution to enter into a contract with DLZ Ohio Inc. for the design of the Roberts Lane development. The city has purchased a 69-acre lot for the expansion and worked to acquire funding to cover a majority of the costs.
“This is the latest layout,” the mayor said. “It will show you all the opportunities in our investment for the property and where the current road is going to be.”
As noted by Harsha, the updated layout shows space for new buildings and businesses, as part of the goal for the extension is opening up land for new development.
“This isn’t where the buildings are going to be — we have no idea what the developments will be,” Harsha said. “This just shows the usable land and how much we can actually fit and develop out there.”
For the road itself, Harsha pointed out a roundabout in the middle of Roberts Lane, while there is also a cul-de-sac in the middle of a potential development site.
“We did have to modify the route where we came out on Fenner Avenue because during environmental, there was a cemetery found,” Harsha said. “We had to do a little bit of modification there.”
The updated design can be viewed with this story.
Later in the meeting, finance committee chair Mary Stanforth gave a report on her committee’s March 9 meeting to review funding packages for the Roberts Lane extension, as well as the planned North High Street service line replacement and Beech/Railroad Street infrastructure improvements.
Stanforth had invited city grant writer and economic development coordinator Kirby Ellison to discuss a breakdown of all the totals for the projects as they currently stand and the city’s plans to repay loans for each project. (Read more about the meeting at: https://highlandcountypress.com/Content/In-The-News/In-The-News/Article/Hillsboro-Finance-Committee-briefed-on-infrastructure-funding-plans-Roberts-Lane-extension-a-doable-project-financially/2/20/88746.)
Council heard the second reading of the two related resolutions regarding the Roberts Lane extension Thursday:
• A resolution authorizing the SSD to apply for, accept and enter into a WSRLA agreement on behalf of the City of Hillsboro for planning, design and/or construction of water facilities and designating a dedicated repayment source for the loan; and
• A related resolution authorizing the SSD to apply for, accept and enter into a water pollution control loan fund (WPCLF) agreement on behalf of the City of Hillsboro for planning, design and/or construction of wastewater facilities and designating a dedicated repayment source for the loan.
Aside from Stanforth’s report, there was no discussion of the proposed legislation Thursday. Her committee plans to meet again to review the Roberts Lane extension funding before the April city council meeting.
At the recommendation of the finance committee, however, council suspended the three-reading rule and approved a resolution authorizing the SSD to apply for, accept and enter into a water supply revolving loan fund account (WSRLA) agreement on behalf of the City of Hillsboro for construction of High Street lead service line replacement and designating a dedicated repayment source for the loan as an emergency.
Council voted after hearing its second reading Thursday.
In February, safety and service director Brianne Abbott told council, “The legislation will allow the city to apply for and enter into agreement with the water supply revolving loan fund account for principal forgiveness, plus zero-percent interest loan, for the North High Street lead service line replacements. The project cost is $1 million. Fifty-three of the project will be principal forgiveness, and 47 percent of the project will be a zero-percent interest loan.”
Before voting Thursday, council member Jason Brown asked why council was being asked to pass the resolution as an emergency.
“To comply with the EPA,” Abbott said. “They are wanting to do a May loan, so we would have pass it as an emergency today to comply.”
For similar time constraints, council voted to suspend the three-reading rule and approve an emergency resolution authorizing the City of Hillsboro to prepare and submit an application to participate in the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Recreational Trails Program and the Clean Ohio Trails Fund for financial assistance for public recreation purposes.
After its first reading in February, Abbott told council that the city was requesting the legislation’s passage as an emergency in March, to comply with the grant application’s April 15 deadline.
Other legislation considered Thursday included the following:
• After hearing its third reading, council voted 7-0 to approve and adopt a resolution transferring parcel 25-35-001-067.00 — the former Hillsboro firehouse, at 108 Governor Trimble Place — to the Hillsboro Community Improvement Corporation.
In December, council voted to approve an emergency ordinance ratifying a lease/purchase agreement with the Paint Creek Joint EMS/Fire District, with the city “holding title to that” as of January, according to council president Tom Eichinger.
• Council voted to suspend the three-reading rule and to approve and adopt an ordinance establishing a tax increment equivalent fund (TIF) for the Patriot Public House.
The ordinance “declaring improvements to parcels of real property located in Hillsboro, Ohio to be a public purpose under section 5709.40(B) of the Ohio Revised Code, exempting such improvements from real property taxation, declaring certain public improvements to be necessary for the further development of those parcels and establishing a tax increment equivalent fund” passed as an emergency.
“The city is requesting suspension of the three-reading rule and passage by emergency on this piece of legislation per the recommendation of our TIF counsel that we're using on this project and to comply with timeline,” Abbott said.
As presented, “a portion of the improvements” for the parcels on West Main Street “shall be exempt from real property taxation” for 10 years, and “such portion shall be 75 percent of the assessed value of the improvements.”
The property owners “shall be required to make annual service payments in lieu of taxes,” with service payments to be “used to finance public improvements” including “the planning, design and construction of public street improvements … intersection improvements … the planning, design and construction of public parking facilities … the planning, design and construction of utilities … land acquisition; the demolition of buildings and spaces; the creation or enhancement of green space … the creation and/or enhancement of public service facilities; and the purchase of property rights of way and easements or other rights in property necessary for the completion of the public improvements listed above.”
• An emergency resolution to enter into a janitorial contract with Commercial Cleaning Services also passed by a 7-0 vote, following suspension of the three-reading rule.
In October, city administration presented emergency legislation seeking bids for a janitorial contract, as the city had been “without those services” since mid-September for buildings including the Hillsboro City Building, Hillsboro Police Department and Hillsboro Municipal Court. Abbott said at that meeting they believed a janitorial service, instead of hiring an employee, would save money. A motion to suspend the three-reading rule failed. Council later passed the legislation in November.
Abbott said Thursday that by using the janitorial contract instead of hiring an employee, “savings to the city will range from $7,000 to $36,600.” In response to a question from council member Jo Sanborn, Abbott explained the reason for the “large” range of potential savings is dependent upon where the employee fell on the pay scale and whether they accepted the city’s insurance.
“Legislation came forth a few months back, allowing us to go from an employee to a contracted service,” Abbott said. “We realized that savings going from that employee to janitorial services could be in that range.
“It's because we went from an employee to a contract, so the contractor will not get insurance, obviously. There’s a set contracted fee, but if we had an employee, we would have to offer health insurance, which is why the range is so large.”
In related action, council voted 7-0 to approve an ordinance making appropriations transfers in the amount of $28,500 in order to contract janitorial services.
The final piece of legislation approved was an amendment to a supplemental appropriations ordinance for a storm sewer construction debt payment passed by council at their February meeting. Eichinger said it was a “clerical change,” as auditor Patty Day said the only change was taking out the number of the fund where appropriations were made and changing it to “Collection System.”
Council also heard the first reading of three different ordinances to update the city’s code of ordinances to comply with the Ohio Revised Code, according to city law director Randalyn Worley.
Worley asked that the first one, an ordinance repealing and replacing sections 36.075 and 116.20 of the codified ordinances of the City of Hillsboro pertaining to the City’s lodging excise tax and registration, be placed in the finance committee for further review.
As proposed, the two brief sections of the city code will be removed and replaced with a new chapter, Lodging Excise Tax and Registration. The chapter includes sections on definitions; imposition of tax; exemptions; prohibition against false evidence of tax-exempt status; tax to be separately stated and charged; reporting and remitting; civil penalties, delinquency and late fees; records, inspection, destruction, auditing procedures; unlawful to prohibit inspection; failure to collect and report tax, determination of tax by Tax Commissioner; appeal; actions to collect; refunds; money received, where credited; additional rules and regulations; severability; discrimination prohibited; and penalty.
The legislation calls for a three-percent “excise tax on all receipts received by a lodging establishment for lodging furnished to transient guests,” with half of the funds collected going to the city’s general fund and the other half going to the Highland County Visitors Bureau.
• The second ordinance introduced is amending sections 32.100, 32.101, 32.102, and 32.103 of the codified ordinances of the City of Hillsboro pertaining to the City’s records commission.
“This goes back to an ordinance that was passed, I believe in the 1980s, that needs to be updated,” Worley said.
The amendments include outlining the members to serve on the commission, including “the chief executive or the chief executive’s appointed representative, as chairperson, and the chief fiscal officer, the chief legal officer and a citizen appointed by the chief executive,” as well as a secretary. The commission is to “meet at least once every six months,” and the legislation goes into more detail on their duties for reviewing the retention and disposal of public records.
• Finally, council heard the third reading of an ordinance amending section 39.20 of the codified ordinances of the City of Hillsboro pertaining to the City’s records request policy.
“The Records Commission recommended a records request policy back in 2021, which never made its way to council,” Worley said.
The legislation updates the current policy and includes definitions of public records, information on the city’s appointed records custodian and procedures for record requests, among other items.
In other discussion:
• Community enhancement committee chair Sanborn announced that her committee voted to take the first step toward plans for a possible pickleball court at the former Railroad Street park, as they are seeking bids to resurface the old tennis courts.
In response to a question from Stanforth, Sanborn said that the local pickleball group has agreed to help cover the costs.
The city has also received offers of volunteer help from several individuals and organizations, who have agreed to paint the fence and the basketball lines and rims. The administration also reported that new steps have been poured by the basketball court and that they are working on drainage problems.
• Civil service and employee relations committee chair Dan Baucher said his committee met March 9 to discuss comp time maximums and payout as well as the health insurance and overtime sections of the employee handbook. No action was taken, pending further review.
• During citizens’ comments, Herb Day asked “what happened” with a scheduled public hearing on the proposed DORA district.
“It’s canceled for the time being,” Abbott said. “There were issues with the timeline, so it had to be pulled.”
Day then said three times that the city’s DORA application was “filed with the state,” with Abbott responding each time that it has not. Day pointed out that under “communications” on the agenda, it says “DORA application filed March 10.”
“The application process requires the city to file it with the legislative authority, which is us, council,” Eichinger said. “It’s not filing with the state. It's filing here.”
• Also during the meeting, Abbott gave an “Imagine Hillsboro” update. Read more at: https://highlandcountypress.com/Content/In-The-News/In-The-News/Article/Hillsboro-City-Council-hears-Imagine-Hillsboro-report/2/20/88962.