UAC Community Bits: July 15 Highlights

COLUMBUS CITY COUNCIL

MEETING HIGHLIGHTS

For Immediate Release:

July 15, 2013

For More Information:

John Ivanic, (614) 645-6798

SUPPORTING BUSINESS INCUBATORS: Councilmember A. Troy Miller, chair of the Small and Minority Business Development Committee, has made it a budgetary priority this year to support a number of small business incubators around Columbus. Ordinance 1627-2013 authorizes the Director of Development to spend $75,000.00 from the City Council’s Jobs Growth Fund to support the “All Things Linden” business incubator to be located at the Clarence D. Lumpkin Point of Pride Building. The “All Things Linden” business incubator will provide an affordable, high-tech gallery retail incubator for Linden entrepreneurs to market their products and services in a highly-visible and easily accessible location, thus providing an innovative economic development opportunity without requiring a large initial investment of capital from the business participants. The incubator will be operated by the Greater Linden Development Corporation, a nonprofit community development corporation that focuses on economic development and has been serving the Linden area since 1994.

POWERING CITY VECHLES: In a continuing effort to be as environmentally friendly as possible, Columbus is about to construct a second compressed natural gas (CNG) station to provide fuel for the hundreds of heavy duty CNG-powered vehicles the city expects to have on the road in the coming years. Finance Committee chair Priscilla R. Tyson is sponsoring ordinance 1739-2013 to enter into a $4,577,100.00 contract with RW Setterlin Building Company to build the new fueling station at 2333 Morse Road. CNG vehicles produce significantly lower amounts of harmful emissions such as nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, and toxic and carcinogenic pollutants. Natural gas is a domestically available, inherently clean-burning fuel. Like the Groves Road CNG station opened in the spring of 2012, this station will be a public facility where consumers will be able to purchase CNG.

MORE STREET RESURFACING: Construction season is in full swing and that means the City of Columbus is aggressively resurfacing dozens of streets. Ordinance 1706-2013, sponsored by Public Service & Transportation Committee chair Eileen Y. Paley, authorizes the Director of Public Service to enter into a $10,347,499.92 contract with the Shelly Company for the Resurfacing 2013 Project 3, to repair and resurface 25 city streets and construct 198 ADA curb ramps along those streets.

MARYLAND POOL IMPROVEMENTS: Swimming pools are fun and safe places for families to cool off during the summer months and for children to learn valuable lifesaving skills that will last a lifetime. Ordinance 1711-2013, sponsored by Recreation and Parks Committee chair Zach M. Klein, will allow the City of Columbus to invest $4,012,500 million in 2008 voted bond funds for the renovation of Maryland Pool at Saunders Park on the Near East Side. The project includes the replacement of the current bathhouse and the addition of new slides and water features.

NEW POLICE AND FIRE FACILITIES: The Columbus City Council will consider two pieces of legislation that will help the City’s safety forces fight crime and keep residents safe. Ordinance 1653-2013, sponsored by Public Safety and Judiciary Committee chair Michelle M. Mills, allows the Finance and Management Director to enter into a $8,196,377 contract with Thomas and Marker Construction Company for the construction of a new Fire Station No. 2 at 222 Greenlawn Avenue. The new station, built in part with the proceeds from voter-approved bonds, has been designed to accommodate all of the equipment, apparatus, and personnel currently housed at the fire station along Fulton Avenue. After renovation of the Fulton Avenue site, the City will have two new engine houses to better serve the public. A second piece, ordinance 1638-2013, also sponsored by Councilmember Mills, allows the City to contract with Thomas and Marker for the construction of the Police Crime Lab at 770 East Woodrow Avenue. The Woodrow Avenue building was purchased several years ago and is now home to the recently renovated Columbus Police Property Recovery Room, which utilizes seventy percent of the building space. The Police Crime Laboratory has outgrown its current leased space on the campus of The Ohio State University and will be relocated to the Woodrow Avenue building. Housing both police functions in the same facility will save time and space and create efficiencies with evidence handling. This renovation will incorporate police functions such as a DNA lab, a dark room, an alcohol toxicology lab, Evidence Control, Firearms/Toolmarks testing, Latent Prints, Controlled Substances, Forensic Biology and Digital Forensic laboratories, and a drug analysis lab. The cost of the construction contract is $11,197,035.

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JOHN IVANIC

COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

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