February 24, 2011
City, IAFF may have found compromise If council, firefighters can’t agree, binding arbitration next on agenda By ANDREW MILLER ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Upper Arlington’s contract with its firefighters may be headed to binding arbitration if negotiations cannot produce a compromise. All 53 union members have voted to reject the current agreement. At the Feb. 7 city council meeting,
members voted 5-2 in favor of a new contract agreement between the city and the International Association of Fire Fighters local 1521. The initial agreement was based on the recommendations of outside and independent fact finder John Babel Jr. Council members David DeCapua and Frank Ciotola voted against the agreement, expressing concerns about
the ability of the city to afford pay increases of 3 percent for 2011 and 2012, and 2 percent in 2013. At the opening of negotiations, the union had asked for four percent increases each year. The agreement also included reductions in overtime pay from double-time to time-and-a-half and caps on pension and health care contributions. But at the center of the union’s con-
cerns, according to IAFF 1521 president Lt. Jim Mild, are issues surrounding past practices and minimum manning language. Mild explained that previous contracts have included language to protect past practices, some of which require maintaining specific staffing levels. The minimum manning language requires four firefighters per truck, which is in line
with national safety recommendations for both firefighters and victims, Mild said. The fact-finder’s recommendations removed that language from the current agreement. “There are recommended standards including a national standard of two-in See COMPROMISE, page A2
Honduras
UA chamber
Student helps provide clean water
Business expo to focus on area’s innovative efforts By ANDREW MILLER ThisWeek Community Newspapers
The Upper Arlington Area Chamber of Commerce will celebrate local innovative efforts in business at its annual meeting March 4. “The trajectory of business has changed forever,” said Becky Hajost, chamber president. In response to the current economic reality, the chamber — along with the city and the Community Improvement Corporation — has joined the central Ohio regional business retention task force. The Ohio Department of Development awarded regional grants to create a business crisis early-warning network. According to the ODOD website, the network will identify businesses that are at risk for layoffs and closures. Task force members re-
By GARY BUDZAK ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Caliche is a remote village located in the muddy, mountainous middle of Honduras. The 300 or so people who live there use milkylooking water collected a hole in the ground and a cement tank for drinking, bathing and washing clothes. Now, however, that water will become potable for about a third of those families, thanks to Upper Arlington High School senior Mitchell White. In January, White sold villagers more than two dozen Tulip Water Filters for $2.50 each (they actually cost White $15), the equivalent of a couple of weeks of work for the average person in Caliche. “When you sell something, they take more ownership of it, versus if it’s free, they don’t value it as much,” White said. At a medical clinic held in the village church, Spanish-speaking White demonstrated to the people how easily the filters worked by taking dirty water in a bucket and siphoning it to another bucket as 99-percent pure drinking water. He sold out of filters, and now has a waiting list.
spond by providing assistance to the business for accessing resources focused on job retention. Becky Hajost At this year’s third annual Upper Arlington Area Chamber of Commerce business expo and awards ceremony, slated for March 4, the focus of the keynote will be innovative efforts, such as the early warning network and Columbus 2020!, as ways to maintain and build economic growth in central Ohio. Keynote speaker Kenny McDonald, Columbus Partnership chief economic officer, is leading Columbus 2020!, a publicprivate partnership that, accordSee INNOVATION, page A8
Six from UAHS will go to state speech tourney By KATE HETRICK ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Just shy of perfection
By Andrea Kjerrumgaard/ThisWeek
Upper Arlington High School’s Brian Sullivan pulls down a rebound Feb. 18 in front of Dublin Coffman’s Christian Heine during their OCC-Central Division boys basketball game. The Golden Bears lost 55-49 in overtime to finish the regular season 19-1 overall. See Sports, page B1
See WATER, page A2
1980 UAHS grad is running for mayor of Knoxville By GARY BUDZAK ThisWeek Community Newspapers
An Upper Arlington native could become the next mayor of Knoxville. Marilyn Roddy (née Long) was born and raised in UA and graduated from Upper Arlington High School in 1980. She still comes back to UA to visit her parents, Nancy and Ron Long. But her home is now in Tennessee. After graduating from the University of North Carolina, Marilyn married Patrick Roddy and
they moved to his hometown of Knoxville, whose current population is estimated at 185,000. She taught for a while, but stayed home to raise their three daughters and became active in the com- Marilyn Roddy munity. Marilyn Roddy has been an at-large member of Knoxville City Council for more than six years. (At-large means she and two other members cover all of Knoxville, while the
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other six represent geographical regions of the city.) She chairs the city of Knoxville audit committee and is a member of the City Investment Advisory Board. Politics beckoned to Roddy after she took part in a program called Leadership Knoxville. “In 2003, all three of the at-large seats were going to be open seats (due to term limits),” Roddy said. “There was this real opportunity for fresh leadership to step up and bring some new ideas to the table. If I had to jump See RODDY, page A5
Chris Goddard, the head speech coach at Upper Arlington High School, says he sometimes compares speech and debate to what is perhaps its closest athletic equivalent, track and field. “Kids participate in individual events and points are added up,” he said. “To win team awards, you have to have people competing in all 12 or 13 categories, and they have to do well.” The UAHS speech and debate team placed fifth at the Feb. 5 Tarhe Trails district tournament, finishing .75 points behind Perrysburg High School. Six members of the team qualified for the Ohio High School Speech League state tournament, to be held at Whitmer High School March 35. “Winning is nice,” Goddard said. “But that’s not our main focus. If you’re trying to win, your goal is to be the best speaker in
See DEBATE TEAM, page A5 Bonnie is up for adoption at All Tails ‘R’ Waggin in Pataskala. Her brother recently found a home but she is still waiting. To see a video of Bonnie, visit www.ThisWeekNews. com. For more information on adopting Bonnie, visit alltails.com or call (740) 927-0555.
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the room, always. That’s really hard to do.” Instead, he defines success through the development he sees in each individual team member. Goddard’s coaching career spans 19 years, with 14 years at UAHS and five years at Gahanna. “We do it because we think the kids are going to learn confidence, they’re going to learn speaking skills, they’re going to learn lots of practical things they can use in life,” he said. Dan Ludlum, Cheri Theisen and Abbey Wood serve as assistant coaches. In recent years, the speech and debate team has had about 35 members, with around 27 competing at an average tournament. Goddard said participation has dropped overall, and that for several years, the team had closer to 50 members. “When I look back, the two main things I did in high school
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