Press

So my father emailed me a link this morning to an article in the Toledo Free Press, which I presumed mentioned something about me. Since I'm only a part-time politician, I always am a bit hesitant to see what I said if I'm quoted in the paper.

Luckily, the Toledo Free Press Article had to do with this blog.

Thanks for mentioning the blog, Lisa Renee.

2006 Fall Festival

On a lighter note, Sunday was the annual Sylvania Fall Festival, which was well attended, as usual. This was a great weekend in Sylvania, with the Northview-Southview Football game on Friday night (thanks to National City Bank for sponsoring a pregame party), a visit from dignitaries from Woodstock, Canada, our sister city, and of course the parade on Sunday.

Above is a picture of Molly Sadowski, from the Sylvania Twirling Stars. Molly is the daughter of a friends of mine, marching in the parade with hundreds of others from the Northerview and Southview bands, and other local orginizations.

Boynton Waterline

Last night the Utilities Committee, then Council itself, addressed a request from residents on Boynton regarding assessments for a waterline the city installed on Boynton this summer as a part of the road reconstruction project.

The residents were surprised to learn recently that the city was going to assess them a fee of $2,500 per household to recover the costs of installing the waterline. This would be consistent with city policy whereby property owners are assessed for the installation of a waterline.

When the residents addressed Council two weeks ago, the administration indicated that long-standing city policy was to recoup these costs from property owners. The rationale is that all residents that have water lines paid this assessment as a part of joining the city water system, and that if the Boynton residents did not pay this assessment, they would be treated differently than other property owners. I for one certainly understood the administration's position regarding this assessment.

However, the residents on Boynton indicated that they had been told by the city that they would not be assessed for the installation of the waterline. The residents pointed to the city of Sylvania's website which can be seen here. The website indicates that the residents were not going to be assessed for the improvements:

We are also planning to replace the existing pavement on Rodeo, Fifth, Worth, Candlewood, Pine Cone, Bog Hollow and the southern end of Tamworth and Weldwood. Also planned is the reconstruction of Boynton which will include curbs and a waterline.

This work should begin in May and be completed by mid-October. As with similar projects completed in 2003, 2004 and 2005, there will be no assessment to the property owners.

The residents indicated that they were more than happy to pay a tap in fee ($900), but that they felt misled by the city regarding the $2500 assessment.
When the issue was discussed by Council at last night's meeting, there was some heated discussion between the administration and Council. The administration felt that City Council was “pandering for votes” by waiving the assessment. I chalk this up to the heated discussion, but I wanted to state again why I voted to forego collecting the assessment from the residents, despite our doing so for other residents in the past.

My vote came down to the statement made by the City of Sylvania on its website. On our website we indicated that there would be no assessment for the waterline. While this was not a binding contract between the city and the residents of Boynton, it was enough of a promise made by the city to convince me to waive the assessment. If we as a city had not made this statement on our website, I would not have voted how I did, but the fact remains that we made the statement and now we must live with it. My vote had nothing to do with counting votes-it had everything to do with the City living up to the statement it made here to the residents of Boynton.

City Web Site

Council and the Administration continue to work on a plan for updating the City's web site. This is a large project, as it involves the web sites of the City, the Sylvania Municipal Court and the Sylvania Police.

Some of the goals we have identified in the two meetings held thus far are:

1. Develop a consistant look and theme to all three-essentially a branding for the City.
2. Identify what we want our "message" to be. This is a part of the branding of the City, and should fit in with the visioning process the City is currently working on. An example of this message can be seen on a web site we looked at from St. Cloud, Florida.
3. Create a web site that is "user friendly" for the community.

Point three is something very important to me. I believe (and all of Council agrees), that open government is good government. Any time a government tries to do something quietly, there is probably a good reason-the decision would not hold up to public scruinty.

Ohio's "Sunshine Laws" mandatae that virtually everything a local government does be done in public. The media serves the public by reporting on what a government does. Citizens can keep watch on their government by coming to meetings, looking at documents we are looking at, asking questions, etc.

Since we have a representative democracy, most decisions are made without the public commenting on the decision. But Sunshine Laws guarantee that there is public scrutiny of decisions we make. Every vote can be reviewed by anyone. This keeps elected officials accountable. If decisions are made in secret, without oversight, bad decisions will be made.

I believe that scruitny by both the media and by the public make me a better elected official, and welcome such scrutiny.

To that end, as we redesign our website, I want to make it more accessible to our residents (or the world, it is the internet afterall). I want to see our meetings digitally recorded and posted on the city's website as soon as possible. In fact, I believe the technology is there to allow us to stream a live audio feed of our Council meetings, if not video. This would allow residents to see the workings of their government witout leaving home, if they so choose.

In addition, some other improvements I hope to see include:

1. Posting a "digital" agenda and the Council packet on the web site before the meetings.
2. Linking our meeting minutes to specific ordinances . If our minutes refer to a document, that document should be available for viewing with a simple mouse click.
3. Creating specific web pages for city administrators and elected officials to post thoughts or updates on important topics. We currently do some of this (the Mayor's Message, updates on Monroe Street construction), but I want to see more communication enabled.
4. On-line bill payment. Currently the water bills are accessable on-line, but on payable on-line. There is no reason any city bill should not be payable on-line. We Sylvania Municipal Court is on the forefront of such a system and allows on-line payment (Judge Ramey and Clerk Bonnie Chromik are to be congradulated for making this and on-line dockets available before even the Toledo Municipal Court).
5. Easy communication between residents and the administration. Having a zoning issue? Fill out a simple form on-line to let the administration know. See a pot hole? Same thing. That does not mean residents cannot still call or stop in, but many people prefer to communicate by email.

If you have other thoughts, please let us know. Call or email me (johnborell@gmail.com) or other Council members.

Monroe Street Update

As reported in the paper this morning, and as you may have seen driving down Monroe Street at night, paving has begun on the project. We are in the home stretch! With the opening of the U.S. 23 ramps, by the end of the month, Sylvania should be much less congested.

Sept. 18 Council Meeting

Light agenda for Monday’s City Council meeting. Ironically, light agenda’s sometimes have a way of turning into long meetings. The agenda is not yet up on the City’s web site, and I’m not computer savvy enough to know how to link to a document like that. It should be up on the City’s web site tomorrow. Items of interest:

1. Discussion of the City’s web site. The agenda lists this as a discussion to links to member’s web sites, but I’d like to see a more general discussion on the City’s web site as a whole.
2. Discussion on community land use plan, prompted from a citizen’s letter.
3. Proposed ordinance related to denying a zoning change for the old Fazolli’s. Tim Horton had petitioned for a zoning change to allow for a 24 hour restaurant. This was denied by the Municipal Plan Commission and is likely to be denied by Council. We have no 24 hour restaurants in that area, which directly abuts residential neighborhoods, and should not.

If anyone has any questions regarding these or any issues, please email me at johnborell@gmail.com or come to our council meeting. We are starting at 6:00 p.m. with a committee of the whole meeting to discuss parks and the proposal from JJR regarding streetscape design.

2007 Budget-Financial Policies

A city's budget is complicated process. Below is a long explanation of one small aspect of that process-Financial Policies.

This week, the Finance Committee had its first meeting to discuss the 2007 budget. Unlike in the past, for the first time in setting a budget, Sylvania City Council is guided by Financial and Debt Policies that it enacted this year. (I do not believe these are posted on the City's web site. I'm going to ask that the City do this, but until we do, if you'd like a copy, please let me know and I'll email them to you right away.) The Financial and Debt Policies were drafted by John Plock, Finance Director, who did a great job consulting with the administration and Council to put together a written set of policies that both can use in the budgeting process.

The Policies set the frame work for the City's budget, both capital and operating. For example, the Policies call for the administration to present to Council a five year capital budget. In the past, when Council approved capital projects, it approved them on an "as needed" basis. The administration had an idea of what projects were upcoming, and when the administration thought it was time for a project, it sought approval from Council for that project.

At the beginning of the year, Council asked the administration to take a long term view on capital projects. This is an important step the City has taken for a capital project never stands on its own. Projects approved and funded today directly impact the City's ability to approve and fund projects next year and for several years in the future.

Realizing that a long term view was needed, Council approved Financial Policies that call for the administration to present to Council every year a five year plan for capital projects. This plan seeks information on each anticipated capital project over the next five years, the projected cost of each project, anticipated funding sources for each project, and most importantly, a prioritization of each project. Only with all of this information can Council make decisions as to which projects to undertake.

Take funding. Capital projects can be funded in many ways. Some, such as resurfacing neighborhood streets, the City pays for itself. Others, such as replacing the Main Street bridge over Ten Mile Creek, the County or the State may assist with. Many of the Parks projects are paid for with the assistance of grants from the State. When the City determines how much it must pay for a project, the City must determine where that money will come from. Options include cash from the Capital Improvements Fund, special assessments or bonds. The Financial Policies list factors the City should consider when determining whether debt should be used to finance a project.

The administration has not yet produced a five year capital budget, though John Plock said the administration is working on this. I for one am committed to working with the administration in what ever way is needed to get this in place. I would like to see this plan in time for Council considering and approving any 2007 capital projects. I will continue to monitor this, for it is a very important step in maintaining the fiscal health of Sylvania.

While for years, under Mayor Stough and former Mayor Seeney, the City was very well run without Financial Policies in place, Council determined that it was prudent to formalize Financial Policies to guide the administration and Council in the budgeting process. The formalization of these policies is one of the most important accomplishments of this Council. While many things we do are important in their own right for the here and now, the formalization of financial policies is something that will have a positive impact on the budgeting process for years to come.

Next week I hope to have an entry on another aspect of the policies-the City's budget reserves.

Open Government

Open government has always been important to me. As a "new" elected official (not quite three years), I've learned that any time government is reluctant to do or talk about something in public, there is usually a good reason-we are not doing something that we are proud of.

Luckily in Ohio, we have Sunshine Laws that mandate that virtually everything we do be done in an open meeting. Ohio law lets very few things be done behind closed doors-generally discussions related to employee matters, the buying or selling of real estate, etc. Even then, the actual decision must be made in public, where the public can question us about what we do.

In Sylvania, we are pretty informal about that questioning. If a resident, or anyone, for that matter, has a question, all they need to do is ask to be added to the agenda, or raise their hand, and we let them address the topic at issue.

Why is this important? Because everything we do involves public business.

Sylvania also tapes its city council meetings. Unfortunately, to listen to these tapes, a member of the public (not just a resident of Sylvania, anyone), had to go to the Sylvania Municipal building to listen to these tapes, or request them from the Clerk of Council.

Since the beginning of the year, Mark Bula, a new member of Council, has made digital recordings of all council meetings, and committee meetings which he attends, and has posted them on his website.

He is doing the city a great service. I've listened to them myself. I've talked to Mark about this, and this is something both he and I would like the City to do itself-post the audio of council meetings and committee meetings on the City's website as soon as possible.

Mark has talked to Mike Tansey, out IT director, about this topic, and I support this whole heartedly. I know most residents of Sylvania will never listen to a single meeting, but that's not the point. What's important is that the audio is readily available for anyone around the world to listen to.

That keeps us accountable to the public and let's the public stay as informed as they want. That means better decision making by us, when we make the decisions we were elected to make. I'd like to see this taken over by the City as soon as possible.

But this is just the first step the City can take in making government more accessible. But more on this later.

The point is that open government is good government. After all, as Abe Lincoln said, it's a government of, by and for the people.

Downtown/Monroe Gateway

Yesterday, the Streets Committee took a major step forward in developing a plan for Downtown and Monroe Street. The Committee recommended to the full Council that JJR, and urban design firmed from Ann Arbor Michigan be hired to present a plan for this area. More details will be forthcoming when JJR makes a presentation to the Council committee of the whole meeting on September 18, 2006 at 7:00 p.m.

I am very excited about this project, and I'm anxious to see their presentation to the entire Council. I'm sure many of you have seen empty storefronts on Main Street and old and decaying buildings on Monroe Street, and wonder what the city is doing to keep this key business corridor a vibrant part of our community.

I encourage everybody interested in this area to attend the council meeting on Monday, and look for more information regarding this project here and on the city's website.

Monroe Street Update

On September 12, 2006 I talked to Jeff Ballmer to get an update on the Monroe Street construction project, which looks like it is going to be completed about four weeks later than originally anticipated.

The original timeline called for substantial completion by the end of September, with final completion by mid to the end of October. That construction schedule can be found on the City's website here.

Accoring to Mr. Ballmer, the delay is the result of three events the City did not anticipate at the beginning of construction.

1. Weather delay due to the historic rains Sylvania received this summer.
2. The discovery of an unregistered underground gas storage tank from a former gas station.
3. A new waterline that was installed failed the first inspection. An investigation was required, but no abnormality was found and a second test showed no problems.

Certainly Monroe Street construction has led to some traffic tie ups this summer, but it looks like everything will be up and running by mid fall. If you wish any further updates, do not hesitate to call Jeff Ballmer at (419) 885-8965.