ThisWeek Reynoldsburg 3/10 by The Columbus Dispatch/Dispatch Magazines

March 10, 2011

City council rejects union contract USWA will file unfair labor practices lawsuit against Reynoldsburg By DAVID S. OWEN ThisWeek Community Newspapers United Steel Workers of America representative Mark Shaw said Tuesday the union will file an unfair labor practice lawsuit against the city after Reynoldsburg City Council rejected an offer of a three-year contract for its 17 union members. During a special meeting Feb. 28, city

council voted unanimously (6-0, with Mel Clemens absent) to reject the offer, one that was prepared by Mayor Brad McCloud and ratified by the USWA on Jan. 28. The proposed three-year agreement included a 2-percent raise for the union members during the first year, the same amount the city’s nonunion employees received this year, McCloud said. For the next two years, there would

have been a wage reopener, McCloud said. “In other words, to be determined … we just agreed we would negotiate it each of the next two years and also said all of the health insurance benefits would be exactly the same as the nonunion employees,” he said. Shaw said the fact that council turned down the offer is a clear indication of an unfair labor practice that will bring

the two sides in front of the State Employee Relations Board. “It seems pretty elementary to me, if you offer us an agreement, a settlement, and we accept it and then you ultimately turn it down, that appears to be badfaith bargaining to me,” Shaw said. “Once we accepted their offer, bargaining is over. There’s no more to bargain over. We accepted their last offer … then they turn it down?” he said.

See UNION CONTRACT, page A2

Auditor’s program

Gregory leaving local SWAT team after 20 years

‘Measuring up’ important to commerce and economy By DAVID S. OWEN ThisWeek Community Newspapers

By DAVID S. OWEN ThisWeek Community Newspapers Reynoldsburg police Sgt. Jeff Gregory has stepped down after more than 500 missions and 20 years with the department’s SWAT team. Gregory, 48, said he is not completely retiring from the police force, but he is leaving the SWAT team because of the physical demands the job requires and because he thinks it’s time to allow younger officers an opportunity to join. “You reach a point where you have to consider your age, whether you’re an athlete or you do a job where it involves your physical health, and you have to look at the demands placed on a SWAT officer,” Gregory said. “You have to consider, am I still able to do this at the level that I should be able to do it? So at some point, you have to step aside.” Police Chief Dave Suciu recently presented Gregory with a Distinguished Service Award for his work with the SWAT team. “He done an outstanding job as leader of the SWAT team, doing a good job procuring equipment for the team, increasing their training and keeping them — very effective and professional,” Suciu said. “There’s a lot of extra time involved and you have to be willing to do a lot of call-outs. And there’s a lot of management involved with the extra duties. It takes a lot of extra effort.” Gregory officially retired from the SWAT team on Feb. 1, but will stay on for another few weeks while officer Ron Wright makes the transition to supervisor. The team currently has 11 officers but that number is expected to increase to 13 in the coming months. Gregory said he will miss serving on the SWAT team. “I have definitely enjoyed working in this community and will continue to serve,” he said. “I’ve certainly made a lot of friends here. It’s a good career. “The best thing that has happened to me is I’ve had a lot of opportunities with our police department, for training and joining the SWAT

“I am sure Reynoldsburg will face another board charge from us, and I think they’re trying to get out from underneath the three-year deal because of Senate Bill 5,” he said. Most council members indicated they opposed the contract because of its length. “We weren’t prepared for the three

By Eric George/ThisWeek

Reynoldsburg police Sgt. Jeff Gregory was recently presented with a Distinguished Service Award for his work with the city’s SWAT team. He is stepping down from the SWAT team after 20 years of service.

team, becoming a supervisor — I feel I’ve been lucky in a lot of ways.” Throughout his 20 years on the team, Gregory said he has been able to gain a lot of experience, specializing in such areas as sniper/marksman, chemical munitions/diversionary devices and as a tactical instructor. He said he has also had the opportunity to work on joint operations with other agencies such as the FBI, DEA, Ohio State Highway Patrol and other SWAT agencies. He said he joined the SWAT team not only to participate in taking criminals off the street but to stop drug trafficking and put drug dealers out of business. “I felt joining the SWAT team would give me a chance to fight back and make a difference,” he said. Gregory was born and raised in Jamestown,

Ohio. He said after he graduated from high school, he was interested in studying architecture and took a few classes at The Ohio State University in 1980. “That turned out not to be my calling so I left school and went from job to job to figure out what I wanted to do,” Gregory said. He ended up befriending a couple of Columbus police officers and was swayed toward looking at a career in law enforcement. In November 1987, he applied for a position as a patrol officer in Reynoldsburg and was hired by then-chief Jess Moore. Soon afterward, he enrolled in the Ohio State Highway Patrol Academy for training and started patrolling the streets. He was promoted to sergeant in 1999. See SWAT LEADER, page A2

Representatives from the Franklin County Auditor’s office gave fifth-graders at Waggoner Road Middle School a hands-on lesson last week about the importance of accurate weights and measures. The first week of March is National Weights and Measures Week, marking the time when former President John Adams signed the national weights and measures law into effect on March 2, 1799. Inspectors from Franklin County Auditor Clarence Mingo’s office volunteered their time March 3 to teach students about the importance of proper weights and measures and their role in commerce. “Americans seldom question the quantity statement on a package, the scale at a check stand or the gallons they put into their cars and even fewer would know who is responsible for instilling that confidence,” said Dave O’Neil, director of communications for the auditor’s office. He said the weights and measures inspectors’ purpose is to protect Franklin County’s economy and system of commerce for both consumers and merchants by checking accuracy. For example, they inspect and check accuracy at the gas pumps to make sure each pump dispenses an exact gallon of gas when one is purchased, O‘Neil said. He said every year, officials from the Franklin County Auditor’s Office conduct more than 8,500 inspections throughout the county. During the event at Waggoner Road Middle School, students used scales and weights supplied by the inspectors to perform various exercises. Fifth-grade math teacher Laura Weaver said the presentation was important to the students because they got a real world, hands-on activity that taught them about weights and measures instead just reading about it in a textbook. “We have to teach capacity conversions, like with pints, quarts, gallons and cups, and the different measures they do in the real world, like scales used at a grocery store to make sure they’re accurate,” Weaver said. “It’s very crucial they understand the measurements because it will be on their state testing.” She said the program offered by the inspectors “applies it in a hands-on way so that kids with different learning styles can understand it in their own way,” she said. See MEASURING UP, page A2

Spring is busy time for city’s code enforcement officers By DAVID S. OWEN ThisWeek Community Newspapers With spring just around the corner, Reynoldsburg’s code enforcement officers are preparing for their busiest time of year. Besides watching for high grass, city code officer Rick Keys said other violations on the rise during spring include overgrown trees, paint peeling off houses and vehicles parked on lawns. Both Keys and code enforcement officer Jim McClean work part-time.

Keys said the highest number of complaints at the start of spring involve high grass. “It’s not uncommon for us to write 20 or 30 grass violations a day during the months of March and April,” he said, noting that most offenders do cut their grass. City code says no lawn can have grass higher than six inches. Keys said if the grass is too high at an occupied property a notice is issued giving the owner seven days to get it cut. If the owner does not comply, the city will have the lawn cut by a parks and recreation employee or

private contractor and will send the bill sent to the property owner. For unoccupied properties, the city can cut the grass and send the bill to the owner, he said. Keys said it costs Reynoldsburg $8 an hour if city employees cut lawns. Private contractors are normally paid $50, plus a $75 administration fee. “Last year, we cut 337 lawns and we recoup those costs by billing the property owner. If they don’t pay, we do a tax lien, on the property,” Keys said. He said typically lawns that are not in

compliance mostly area at homes that are in foreclosure, which means the city may not get paid until the house is sold. Another code issue that comes up in the spring involves trees hanging over sidewalks or streets and paint peeling off buildings. “Through the winter, the paint begins to peel off,” Keys said. “Houses or buildings in violation are usually issued a notice with 28 days to comply.” Throughout the year, code enforcement See CODE ENFORCEMENT, page A3

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RICK KEYS city code officer