City council at a glance

As the June 2 meeting of Oberlin city council, all members present (David Ashenhurst, John Baumann, Scott Broadwell, Charles Peterson, Ron Rimbert, David Sonner, and Sharon Soucy), council:

New employee

* Heard police captain Clif Barnes introduce the police department's newest officer, Axel, a police dog. He said Axel and K-9 officer Marc Ellis recently returned from three months of intense training together. Ellis said in the three days he had been back on the job with Axel, the team had been used successfully three times, including finding illegal drugs two times.

Saving green by going green

* Heard a presentation by Daniel Gardner on the Clinton Climate Initiative. He said he and Oberlin College environmental studies professor David Orr made a proposal to the William J. Clinton Foundation to participate in a building efficiency retrofit program, which would allow existing building owners to make energy efficient improvements to their facilities and pay for the improvements with the energy savings realized by the improvements.

The program is currently being developed in large cities around the world, including Houston, London, Paris, and Tokyo. Gardner said the foundation asked him and Orr to develop a hybrid of the program for small cities, such as Oberlin.

The program would be offered to industrial, commercial, and institutional entities, but not to residences, due to the guaranteed savings that would have to be certified by an energy services company. Gardner said the program would work best with large-scale projects resulting in large energy savings.

The goal of the program, Gardner said, is to develop standards for energy-efficient retrofit products and to create an energy-efficiency retrofit market.

Solar-powered wind power

* Heard Sonner propose the city install a solar array on the pavilion at the Hamilton Street recreation complex before July 4. He said the array could showcase the city's sustainability effort when residents are at the recreation complex for the city's Independence Day celebration.

Soucy and Rimbert expressed concerns about the plan and the process by which it was introduced, during the time in the meeting when concerns not on the agenda may be brought to the attention of council. Rimbert said he was concerned about children throwing rocks from the parking lot on the solar array.

Oberlin Municipal Light & Power System utility services manager Doug McMillan said solar panels are in high demand, and no Ohio companies can give him a date on when they could be obtained.

Job descriptions, finally

* Voted 7-0 to elevate to emergency and pass on third reading an ordinance clarifying the process for creating and amending job descriptions. The final version of the exhibit which passed included provisions, suggested by Ashenhurst, to require council to approve by motion any new or amended job descriptions for department heads. City manager Eric Norenberg said emergency passage was needed because companion ordinances had already passed and two job descriptions were waiting for the process to be approved.

How many, how long?

* Voted 6-1, with Rimbert dissenting, to approve second reading of an ordinance to place a 0.2-percent, 10-year income tax levy on the Nov. 4 ballot.

The levy, which would raise about $500,000 per year, would be used for capital improvements, including part of the cost for expansion and renovation of the fire station. Soucy said she would prefer removing the fire station improvements from the levy and asking for a five-year levy for the other capital improvements. She said the city could place a second issue on the ballot, requesting a 0.1 percent income tax for 10 years to pay for the fire station improvements.

Finance director Sal Talarico said the bonds to pay for the improvements would likely be financed for 20 years, so the 0.1 percent tax would likely require renewal by voters. Rimbert suggested asking for .01 percent for 20 years to pay for the fire station improvements.

Talarico noted if both issues are placed on the ballot, the city could end up with an income tax between 1.7 percent, if both issues fail, and 2 percent if both issues pass. The city currently collects 1.9 percent, but a 0.2-percent levy to pay for wastewater treatment plant improvements, will expire at the end of this year.

Council asked law director Eric Severs to prepare an ordinance for the 0.1-percent, 10 year levy for the June 16 meeting.