0113twA01AWV by The Columbus Dispatch/Dispatch Magazines

January 13, 2011

Bus drivers, mechanics OK tentative deal Two-year contract calls for 2.5% raise in first year, 1.75% in second year By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers

Westerville school bus drivers and mechanics voted to accept a tentative contract agreement with the district on Monday, Jan. 10. OAPSE Local 719, the union representing the Westerville school district’s bus drivers and mechanics, has been in talks with the district since last spring.

The local’s last contract expired June 30, but employees have continued to work under that agreement. Union members voted to reject the district’s last offer Nov. 15. At that time, the union and the district still had sticking points in negotiations, OAPSE Local 719 president Dale Grossman said, but the district had asked that its offer be put before union members. Grossman said the union did so, but

chose to make no recommendation to members as to whether to approve or reject that contract. “That’s part of the problem: We didn’t recommend it; we didn’t not recommend it. That in itself created confusion,” Grossman said. “When that got voted down, it didn’t surprise me because people didn’t understand.” At that time, Grossman said, the union had agreed to take the same basic con-

tract terms the district reached with its other three unions — a two-year contract with a 2.5-percent increase the first year and a 1.75-percent increase the second year. However, Grossman said, Local 719 also asked for a $100 tool allowance for each of its seven mechanics, who use their own tools on the job. The district wasn’t willing to meet that request due to budget constraints, he said.

“It got kind of ugly at one point. I got a little upset that the district was getting so hardheaded about $700,” Grossman said. “If you think about the cost of tools, especially mechanics’ tool, $100 isn’t going to buy much.” While it was somewhat of a matter of principle for the union, Grossman said ultimately, the union did not want to hold See DRIVERS, page A2

Robbins will continue as board president By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers

Westerville school board president Kristi Robbins was unanimously chosen to continue as president for another year. The vote came during the board’s annual organizational meeting Jan. 5. “I appreciate the opportunity to serve a second year. It’s an honor for me to do that,” Robbins said. Kristi Robbins Robbins was elected to the board for the first time in 2005. She served as board vice president in 2008 before being voted president in January 2009. Board members also unanimously agreed to keep member Jeff Gale in his position as vice

president. Gale was elected to the board in 2007. During the organizational meeting, the board also approved its meeting schedule for 2011. It will continue to meet in a work session, in which there will be discussion of issues but no voting, at 6 p.m. the second Monday of the month. Regular voting meetings will be at 6 p.m. the third Monday of the month. Meetings will continue to be held at different locations throughout the district, both to allow officials to highlight different facilities and to take meetings to residents in different areas, Superintendent Dan Good said. New this year, commencement will be on Memorial Day weekend. The 2011-12 school year will start early, in mid-August. Board member Kevin Hoffman said that

By Lorrie Cecil/ThisWeek

‘Messy’ allowed here

Two-year-old Liliana Piloiu laughs while she plays in shaving cream during the hands-on “Toddler Fun” class at the Westerville Community Center on Jan. 11. The four-week class is for toddlers and their parents and allows the children to get messy and have fun without making the mess at home.

See BOARD, page A2

OhioHealth approval excludes helipad, doubles northern setback By JENNIFER NESBITT

Groundbreaking expected by winter’s end

ThisWeek Community Newspapers

OhioHealth will be able to move forward with plans to add a 48,000-square-foot building with a full-service emergency department to its Westerville Medical Campus. Westerville City Council approved the proposed changes to the campus, at the corner of Polaris Parkway and Africa Road, in a 5-1 vote Jan. 4. The plan excludes a controversial helipad and increases the northern setback from the originally proposed 50 feet to 100 feet. The vote came after an hourand-a-half public hearing, during which dozens of residents of nearby Genoa Township neighborhoods voiced their objections to the expansion, mainly over concerns about the noise, traffic and crime they believe the emergency department would bring. Scott Armstrong said the expansion will have a negative impact on the quality of life for the families who live in the neighborhoods adjacent to the OhioHealth property. He said the emergency department will bring the noise and traffic of emergency vehicles, and emergency vehicles will be hazardous to the children who use bus stops on Africa Road near the OhioHealth entrance. “This is a square peg and a round hole. … It doesn’t fit here,” Armstrong told council before the vote. “You’re going to create

By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers

more problems with traffic, crime, property values.” Rick Shoaf, who lives directly north of the development, said his daughter is worried about the noise the emergency department will bring and her safety, because her bus stop is near the development. Shoaf said the plans presented by OhioHealth before it built on the site two years ago called for condos and an urgent-care facility, with no reference to a fullservice emergency department. With 21 undeveloped acres still on the 43-acre site, Shoaf said it’s unclear what OhioHealth will be asking to build in the future. “If you vote to approve this, they’re going to build, they’re going to put a lot of additional

money into the facility, and then two years from now, they’re going to have all these plans for things to the east,” he said. “They’re going to piecemeal it together. I believe they’re being disingenuous.” The expansion, Shoaf said, will bring down the values of homes in his neighborhood. “If this is approved, I’m going to lose sleep at night because the value of my house is going to go down,” he said. A handful of residents, including Mary Beth Ingram, spoke in favor of the expansion. Ingram said too often, people fear the unknown unnecessarily. “We are sold anxiety, worry and fear,” Ingram said. “We live in a culture of fear. We become

convinced that we are at danger at every turn.” She said residents do have some valid concerns about the expansion, but overall, it will bring OhioHealth care to patients in Westerville. Ingram said she otherwise has to travel outside Westerville to receive in-network emergency care. OhioHealth executive vice president and chief operating officer Robert Millen said it’s people like Ingram the company is looking to reach with the expansion. “There have been many people in the Westerville area who have raised issues over the need for this,” Millen said. When OhioHealth first looked at creating the Westerville cam-

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See EXPANSION, page A2 pus, officials examined how many of the people using other facilities were from Westerville, Millen said. He said they found 30 percent of adult patients in Columbus hospitals were from Westerville. “We were seeing people traveling great distances for their services from the Westerville area,” Millen said. “We knew there was a pent-up demand for services in

the Westerville area.” For OhioHealth patients, Millen said, the emergency department will allow for better consistency in care because physicians there will have access to those patients’ records and will be familiar with their doctors. A patient treated at St. Ann’s emergency room then transferred See COUNCIL VOTE, page A2

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