New Philadelphia City Council Hides Behind Executive Session

Here we go again. At the New Philadelphia City Council meeting on Monday, June 13, 2011, the right of the citizenry to know what their local government is doing was hidden behind the curtain of secrecy called the Executive Session.

In this case City Council went into a closed door session to discuss the continuation of free water and installation of storm sewer services being provided to Tuscarawas Catholic Central High School (TCCHS) by the administration of New Philadelphia.

This all started a number of years ago when an agreement between a previous New Philadelphia administration and TCCHS. New Philadelphia High School received permission from TCCHS to use their football field in exchange for free water from the City. This in itself raised questions of propriety. Why did the City become involved in an agreement between the New Philadelphia City Schools (NPCS) and a privately operated Catholic School? Why did the City agree to provide free water to TCCHS as a lease payment for use by New Philadelphia sports teams. The NPCS is a separate governmental agency with no legal nor financial ties to the City. It has its own budgets, its own administration, sets its own agendas totally without the consent of the City.

About three years ago the State Auditor investigated the New Philadelphia Water Department. It found fault that certain individuals and businesses were receiving water at no cost. One of those was TCCHS which prompted the order by the State Auditor to meter not only TCCHS, but all locations where city water was being provided. In May of 2010, Mayor Taylor told TCCHS that the provision of free water to the athletic fields would cease and other arrangements would have to be made.

According to the minutes of the Safety, Health, and Service Committee, Mr. Rob Maurer Chairman, a proposal was made by Mr. Bob Martinelli, of REM Construction, to solve this dilemma by construction of a retaining pond and storm sewer, at the recommendation of Diversified Engineering, to alleviate a recurring flooding problem in Schoenbrunn Village. The retaining pond would be on properties of TCCHS. The storm sewer would run from TCCHS through property owned by Betty Heavlin and empty into Beaver Dam Creek. This project is needed, say city officials, following the lead of Diversified Engineering. But there is a question if the project will ease the drainage at TCCHS or solve the flooding at Schoenbrunn Estates. The problem is in the lay of the land. The natural drainage in the area was destroyed with the building of the football fields at TCCHS.

Martinelli proposed the City furnish all the materials for the project at a cost of $60,000. The City would then pay REM Construction $25,000 to do the work, REM picking up the remaining $125,000 cost of construction. For the $25,000 REM would install the storm sewer pipes, manholes, dig the retention pond, furnish the equipment, and perform whatever labor is required. The reason given in the committee report for a city payment of $25,000 to REM is that council approval is not required for an expenditure less than that amount.

A few years back, the Airport Commission wanted to paint some hangers at the New Philadelphia airport. In an effort to approve bids without consent of the City Council, the Administration split the project into two parts. One was the cost of paint, the second the cost of labor, neither of which alone exceeded the statutory limit of $25,000 set by the Ohio Revised Code. Together the cost of paint and labor for the project would require consent of the city council. When asked, the office of the Attorney General stated that a project cannot be broken into parts to get around the $25,000 cap. Everything connected with a project must, according to the Attorney General’s office, be lumped together to determine the total cost of any project and if that total cost exceeds $25,000 it must have the approval of the City Council.

The stated cost to the city for the project according to Maurer’s committee report is $85,000. The attempt to bypass the $25,000 spending limit is a violation of the Ohio Revised Code and its suggestion by a committee of the New Philadelphia City Council is disgraceful.

According to Mr. Maurer’s meeting minutes, land necessary to carry out this project has tentatively been granted variances by both TCCHS and Heavlin, as well as their approval for the project.

Lastly, in exchange for Martinell’s $125,000 contribution to this project, the City of New Philadelphia and TCCHS will enter into a negotiated fee for water and sewer usage at the football fields. At Monday night’s council meeting, the negotiated fee was reported by Mr. Maurer to be $1.00 a year for thirty years. Wow! What a deal that is for TCCHS. They have been getting free water for a number of years, who knows how much since it was never metered, but now they are going to start paying their fair share at a dollar a year?

To hide this, and other questionable issues concerned with this project, City Council went into Executive Session Monday night. The reason, given by Law Director Johnson, for the Executive Session was the purchase of property necessary for the storm sewer project, property purchases by the city are allowed to be discussed in Executive Session. But what property purchase was to be discussed? Mr. Maurer’s committee report states, “The storm sewer and pond would be on the Tuscarawas Central Catholic and Betty Heavlin Properties. Both Parties agreed to the plan…and both parties have agreed to give the City of New Philadelphia easements for the storm sew(er) construction and future maintenance.”

Why is REM Construction going to take a $125,000 loss on this project should it come to pass? Why is it important that REM get the contract on this project without competitive bidding?

What are the EPA considerations and how will Schoenbrunn Estates be affected considering its current flooding problems.

The citizen of New Philadelphia has the right to have answers to these questions, as well as others connected to this project. It is obvious that the Administration and City Council have no intention in allowing the citizen to become aware of their intentions. Ohio Revised Code 121.22 (http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/121.22) was enacted precisely to prevent such secrecy in government.

When government doesn’t want you to know what it is doing, is afraid to tell you the truth on matters which will effect you, you know there is something going on that is not to your benefit. If ever there was a warning that the New Philadelphia Administration and City Council needed watching this is it. Get informed. Get involved. If you have any questions or comments, call your City Councilman. If you need their telephone numbers check http://nptattler.blogspot.com/2010/01/city-officials-phone-numbers.html