MINUTES OF AN EMERGENCY RAVENNA CITY COUNCIL MEETING

July 15, 2013

The Emergency Meeting of Ravenna City Council was called to order at 5:00 P.M. by Council President Francis Ricciardi. The clerk read the call to the Emergency meeting noting the purpose of the meeting is to discuss and/or act upon Ordinance No. 2013-132, authorizing the mayor to enter execute a discharge/forgiveness of Promissory Note and a Mortgage Release for the Freedom Secondary Track Line.

Upon roll call, Council members present were: Council members: Fred Berry, Bruce Ribelin, Scott Rainone, Sharon Spencer, Amy Michael and Jack Ferguson.

ORDINANCE NO. 2013-132: AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE A DISCHARGE/FORGIVENESS OF THE PROMISSORY NOTE AND MORTGAGE RELEASE FOR THE FREEDOM SECONDARY TRACK LINE CONTAINING APPROXIMATELY 7.22 MILES OF RAILROAD LINE THUS FORGIVING THE INDEBTEDNESS OWED BY THE PORTAGE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS TO THE CITY OF RAVENNA IN THE APPROXIMATE AMOUNT OF $177,882.00, AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY, was read for the first time, by title only.

Mr. Cimino said there is an agreement between the city and county regarding the transferring of five parcels of land to the City of Ravenna. One of those are at 1081 West Main Street, which is the Workforce Connection building. The second parcel deals with Cleveland Road, which is the former County Engineer’s site. There is also another parcel attached that was part of the Park District. They survey has been redone and they have created one parcel of land. The legal descriptions for those four parcels was not acceptable to the Tax Map office so they had to do a new survey. That survey is done. The two deeds have been created, one for the West Main Street, Workforce Connection property and the second one for the Cleveland Road property, the former Engineer’s office. The agreement that was entered into was that in return for the county providing us with those parcels of land, we, in turn, would forgive the original note of $194,888.00 that the county was to pay to us for the railroad property. What happened, apparently, at some point, they obviously stopped making payments on it. So there at this point, there is still $177,000.00 owed by the county to the city. As a result of that in order to forgive that indebtedness, the county is providing us with copies of these two parcels of land. Those two parcels of land are what needs to be transferred to us in return. In order for that to occur, we need to forgive the mortgage. In order for that release to occur, and show that it’s satisfied, the city has to pass an ordinance authorizing the mayor to sign the satisfaction of mortgage on behalf of the city of Ravenna. So then we would have met our due consideration and the county would have to transfer those two parcels of land to meeting their consideration of the agreement. What has happened, basically, is that Ohio Title is doing the closing on this and apparently when they went to review the deeds at the Tax Map, they found the legal description not appropriate. Now that it is completed, we have paid our one half of the closing costs which were $1,818.00 and the county now has to get their money in. They have not provided their money as yet. It’s his understanding from Mr. Masi that they are going to pay that into the title company by this coming Wednesday and we already signed our closing documents that we had at that point in time and have those at Mr. Masi’s office. Their documents are coming in, perhaps on Wednesday, also. On Friday, he got a call from Mr. Masi and he said he wanted to get a satisfaction of the mortgage signed by the mayor in order to complete everything. That’s the reason he’s asked for this emergency meeting tonight so that they can have a satisfaction of mortgage done for the mortgage we have against the county and that amount has now been satisfied and we did our end of the bargain and upon transferring of the deeds, the county will do their part of the bargain. That’s why they have to do this today.

President Ricciardi asked why do they have to do it today.

Mr. Cimino responded that he wanted to do it today because Mr. Masi tells him that the county is supposed to have all of their work done, as far as their money for the closing costs, and the documents to Mr. Masi by this Wednesday.

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July 15, 2013

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Mr. Cimino went on to say that this thing has brought about a lot of questions as far as why the delay; why the delay; why the delay?

President Ricciardi asked who is questioning the delay.

Ms. Michael said she has questioned it but she also stated she is on the advisory board for the Center of Hope.

President Ricciardi said he understands that but not the questioning of the delay. What is being delayed and by whom?

Ms. Michael said the grant for the Center of Hope, there is a time period this has to be completed. If not, that money has to be returned to the State. For them to get in and actually redo the Center of Hope, there is a time period that needs to happen in or they lose the money they have obtained.

President Ricciardi asked for an explanation as to what the Center of Hope has to do with this transfer.

Mr. Cimino said 1081 West Main is one of the parcels of land we’re giving to the Center of Hope.

Ms. Michael asked if the funds they are asking to forgive; they’re not funds that came out of the General Fund. That was grant money.

Mr. Cecora said that it was UDAG money.

Mr. Cimino said, as another item, he talked with Mr. Ricciardi earlier who was concerned about the evaluation of the properties. The county auditor indicates the property on 1081 West Main Street has a market value of $274,000.00 and the parcels of land that are now on Cleveland Road had about a $95,400.00 appraised value.

Ms. Michael said this has been going on for six or eight months and now this question is now being brought up. She hates to see the Center of Hope lose the site.

President Ricciardi said if they want to talk about this now, they can but he believes the city has an obligation to acquire as much financial dollars as they can given the state of finances, that they possibly can. They are forgiving a $194,000.00 loan to the commissioners in return for a couple of parcels of property. They don’t seem to be getting a whole lot in return for what appears to him, a fairly quick turn around of that property without exploring any other avenues.

Ms. Michael asked if it hasn’t been said previously that the city would never get that money back anyway.

President Ricciardi asked how do you optimize what you get back. You sell what you’re getting in return for forgiving that loan for as much as you possibly can. Isn’t that how you optimize what you’re going to get in return?

Mr. Seman said that he agrees that this discussion belongs in the next meeting. This is to wrap up the real estate deal with the City and the transfer of the properties. He doesn’t think there’s any question about the fact that they want the properties transferred and clear up this debt. There are problems when they carry debt out of RLF funds. They have to take some action on them. Obviously, they don’t want to have to file for forfeiture and take over the railroad out there because then they will lose a lot of money because then it becomes our problem. He thinks they need to settle this part and worry about this other part.

Mr. Ribelin asked if the property on Cleveland Road is environmentally cleaned up.

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Mr. Cimino said there’s been a Phase I development on that. There has been a couple of questions raised. The county has been put on notice that they are responsible for the cleanup of that property. He’s been in contact with the State of Ohio and they’ve indicated that the responsibility for the cleanup will never pass to a subsequent property owner. That it will always be an obligation of the county, no matter if that property is transferred in the name of the city at this time.

President Ricciardi said you’d have to ask yourself how well the county meets their obligations; they’ve pretty much told us to pound salt with reference to the amount of money that is owed here.

Mr. Cimino said you can challenge that but as he understands it, he thinks it’s the attorney general who is now going to become involved as far as the county is concerned.

President Ricciardi asked if there are any findings with reference to this study; are there any environmental problems out there that they know of at the moment?

Mr. Cimino said he believes there are. There are issues out there that the state has indicated that the county has to move forward with a Phase II evaluation at this point.

Ms. Macomber said they are requesting a Tier I. Basically a Phase II will explain how far the contamination has migrated.

President Ricciardi asked what is the obligation that takes title to that property.

Mr. Cimino said the obligation is zero; based on their conversations with the state of Ohio. They will not come back against the city of Ravenna.

President Ricciardi asked if they have that in writing.

Mr. Cimino said there’s a state statute to deal with that.

President Ricciardi asked then there is nothing in terms of the conversations they’ve had.

Mr. Cimino said there’s a state statute that sets that forth. He has had conversations with the office down in Columbus.

Mr. Berry asked if there’s a timeframe the county will be working within to clean this up.

Mr. Cimino said he believes this thing has gone on for many years now as far as the directive to clean it. The directive has not been complied with.

President Ricciardi noted that they will be accepting a piece of property that they won’t be able to do a lot with until such time as the cleanup is performed; is that his understanding?

Mr. Cimino said as he understands it, in his conversations, they have moved this on; toward the end of this year, with the attorney general’s office continuing to pursue the requirements that need to be met in order for the property to be cleaned up.

President Ricciardi said he understands that but they can’t do anything with that property until such time as it’s cleaned up.

Mr. Cimino said as he understands it, the limitations would probably be that if money would be requested to be borrowed against that land, with that issue outstanding, the lending institution would not be interested in loaning money for development on that property with that issue outstanding.


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President Ricciardi asked how about if they are approached by someone who’d like to purchase the land.

Mr. Cimino said they have the ability to sell it. He thinks the same rule would apply. They could purchase it and as far as the liability or responsibility for cleanup would still rest with the county.

President Ricciardi asked what he’d suppose the value of that property is in terms of the real estate market with all of those environmental problems. Have they ever had these properties appraised before accepting them from the county in lieu of this debt? Have any of these properties been formally appraised by anybody?

Mr. Cimino said he’s given what the county says it’s worth through their appraisal system; $274,000.00 for the West Main Street property and approximately $95,400.00 for property on Cleveland Road. That’s what the appraised value is.

President Ricciardi said he doesn’t know about everyone else, but he’s feeling more and more like the county is getting the better end of this bargain. Does anybody see a need for an appraisal of the real estate before accepting it in lieu of this debt before releasing this debt?

Mr. Rainone asked if it’s part a larger master plan for that area.

Ms. Macomber responded in the affirmative. That’s what they talked with the commissioners about. The property on Cleveland Road is a lot like the property at White Rubber. Their intent would be to accept that property and then to turn it over to a viable industrial or commercial use. It will never be residential. It will never be looking to use the groundwater. It would be utilized for industrial or commercial use.

Mr. Rainone noted then this is more of a land banking strategy. How does the cleanup effect?

Ms. Macomber said the Tier I needs to be done by the county to identify just how much, if any, contamination has migrated. It’s a 3.5 acre parcel. It could impact a very small area. The Phase I did not indicate there was widespread contamination. It was kind of limited to one area. But until they do the Tier I and they are in the process of obtaining a second quote. She thinks it is the same as with White Rubber. The company was not willing or maybe not financially able to do the cleanup and donated it to the city with Family & Community Services being the end user, partner; she doesn’t think it would have ever been cleaned up without them going after the Clean Ohio money and using the government funding resources.

Mr. Rainone said then at the south there is the parking lot for the trail. What do they have to the north? Is that lot owned by the city?

Ms. Macomber said up until they get to the point where they go to the old Klein’s furniture. All of that was the former county engineer’s property.

Ms. Michael said the thing she does have a problem with is the deal with the One Stop building wasn’t even offered to the city. It was offered to the Center of Hope before the city ever got involved in it. They were told the county could not donate the building to them directly because of it being a non-profit; but if the city would get it, in turn they could give it to the Center of Hope. The current location of the Center of Hope is run down and not big enough. They serve about 160 to 170 meals a day. It was the perfect fit. The mayor was very accommodating for this to happen; to try to help the Center of Hope. He also sits on the advisory board. When they found all they had to transfer it from one point to the next point, the city isn’t even going to be owning the building. It doesn’t sit right with her, going back against that. It’s been going on for so long now.