EASTLAKE CITY COUNCIL

REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

The Regular Meeting of the Eastlake City Council was held at Eastlake City Hall, 35150 Lakeshore Boulevard. The Meeting was called to order by Council President Ms. DePledge at approximately 7:08 p.m.  

 

The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

 

ATTENDEES

Members of Council in attendance were Mr. Zuren, Mr. Meyers, Mr. Kasunick, Mr. Spotton, Mr. Evers, Mr. Hoefle and Council President Ms. DePledge. Also in attendance was Council Clerk Mrs. Simons.

 

Those attending from the Administration were Mayor Morley, Law Director Klammer, Finance Director Slocum, City Engineer Gwydir, CBO Menn, Service Director Rubertino and Police Chief Reik. Fire Chief Whittington was absent and excused.

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Regular Council Meeting –January 26, 2016.

MOTION: Mr. Evers moved to approve the minutes of the Regular Council Meeting January 26, 2016. Mr. Hoefle seconded.

 

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

 

Motion carried. The minutes were approved.

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COUNCIL PRESIDENT’S REPORT – Ms. DePledge

Meetings Scheduled

Ms. DePledge: The next Council-as-a-Whole Committee Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 23, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. The Regular Council meeting will be convened immediately following the adjournment of the Council-as-a-Whole Committee meeting. There is a Finance Committee Meeting scheduled for Monday, February 22, 2016 at 6:00 p.m.

 

COMMUNICATIONS & PETITIONS

1. A communication from Law Director Klammer for a resolution to enter into a Settlement Agreement with Robert Oliveri for the onetime payment of Thirty three thousand Dollars ($33,000.00).

   Ms. DePledge: This was discussed in Council-As-A-Whole and it will be added to this evenings agenda as Legislation No. 02-09-(01).

    

2. A communication from City Engineer Gwydir for an ordinance to amend Chapter 939.21 (j) of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Eastlake discharge Prohibitions.

   Ms. DePledge: This was discussed in Council-As-A-Whole and it will be added to this evenings agenda as Legislation No. 02-09-(02).

    

3. A communication from City Engineer Gwydir for a resolution granting permission from the City of Eastlake to the City of Willoughby to expend funds for Seven Hundred and Eighty One Thousand Dollars for the implementation of the Willoughby-Eastlake WPCC Outfall Replacement Project.

   Ms. DePledge: This was discussed in Council-As-A-Whole and it will be added to this evenings agenda as Legislation No. 02-09-(03).

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Ms. DePledge: A Finance Committee Meeting was held Mr. Evers would you like to make a report?

 

Mr. Evers: thank you Madam President. We did have a Finance Committee Meeting last week and all members of Council were present along with all of the Directors and the Chief’s and our new Finance Director. I am happy to report that all of our Directors keep a very close eye on their budgets. We couldn’t ask them to do a better job than what they have done. Sadly to report we have infrastructure problems. Each and every department has issues that need attention and repair and we don’t have the money to do it. That is the end of my report and I am open for questions.

 

Ms. DePledge: Are there any questions for Mr. Evers? Mr. Slocum?

 

Mr. Slocum: I would like to direct the residents to read the minutes from last week’s Finance Committee Meeting. The types of projects that we are not able to handle and the long term issues that will be facing the City because of our method of operation right now really needs to be understood. I thought that a lot of that really came out last week and I would really like to direct people to read the minutes of last week’s Finance Committee Meeting.

 

Ms. DePledge: Mr. Evers?

 

Mr. Evers: One final note we will be scheduling another Finance Committee Meeting to finish up the budget. We will be going over General Fund Expenditures and that will take place on Tuesday, February 16, 2016 at 6:00 p.m.

 

Ms. DePledge: Are there any questions for Mr. Evers or Mr. Slocum? There were no other Committee’s have meet since our last meeting is there any member of Council wishing to address the Chair? Seeing none we will move on to our legislation and there are some Motions that need to be added Mr. Hoefle would you be so kind?

 

Motions:

MOTION: Mr. Hoefle moved to add Legislation No. 02-09-(01) to this evening’s agenda a Resolution authorizing and directing the Mayor and Director of Finance to enter into a Settlement Agreement with Robert Oliveri for three workman’s compensation claims, for the onetime payment of Thirty Three thousand Dollars ($33,000.00). Mr. Evers second.

 

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

 

Motion carried. This will be added to the agenda.

 

MOTION: Mr. Hoefle moved to add Legislation No. 02-09-(02) to this evening’s agenda an Ordinance amending Chapter 939.21 (j) of the codified Ordinances of the City of Eastlake, Ohio, entitled, Discharge Prohibitions. Mr. Meyers second.

 

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

 

Motion carried. This will be added to the agenda.

 

MOTION: Mr. Hoefle moved to add Legislation No. 02-09-(03) to this evening’s agenda a Resolution granting permission from the City of Eastlake to the City of Willoughby to

expend funds in an amount not to exceed Seven Hundred and Eighty One Thousand Dollars ($781,000.00) for the implementation of the Willoughby-Eastlake WPCC Outfall Replacement Project. Mr. Evers second.

 

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

 

Motion carried. This will be added to the agenda.

 

RECOGNITION OF THE PUBLIC

Ms. DePledge recognized the public input at this time; she reminded the speakers that there is a 3-minute limit for their comments; all comments are to be directed to the Chair and not include any personalities or individuals.

 

Neil Stein with the Lake County Captains

Mr. Stein: Good evening everybody and I am the former Assistant General Manager and now the new General Manager of the Lake County Captains. I have meet with numerous folks that are on Council in one way shape or form either at the ballpark or at different events. I have gotten to know the Mayor and the Police Chief for several years. I just finished my eighth season with the Captains last year before that I was in Toledo for eight seasons so I have been in baseball for a long time. Brad who was our former General Manager is heading out to Chicago to head up their Minor League Basketball Team for the Bulls. It is a D League team for them. He will be with us for about another week and a half and then I will be taking over. Again I have been here for a while and I knew Mayor Ted when he was still here. I know that the relationship with the Captains and the City hasn’t always been the best even prior to me coming here. Since Mayor Morley has come in it has been remarkably better and we have also had a really good relationship with Council. Mr. Rubertino has been great working and communicating with our operations personnel since he has taken over the Service Department. It is something that I plan on continuing to move forward. I just wanted to introduce myself tonight to a lot of you guys and to say hey we are here and we are part of the City. Obviously we are a tenant and one of your biggest buildings just down the road. In any way that we can help the City please do not hesitate to reach out to me either individually or as a group. We talk with Mayor Morley quite a bit and please do not hesitate to ask if there is any way that we can help we want to be an asset to you guys and we want to help the City in any way that we can. If be a hand to help bring new business to the City or if you have folks that you want to introduce to us and you think that we can help we are there to help. If you guys have any questions for me tonight or in the future please pick up the phone and contact us. I am sure that most of you have my email address or I could give it to you guys. I just wanted to take a minute to introduce myself and to say that we are here to help you guys in any way that we can and to continue the good relationship that we have had over the past few years.

 

Ms. DePledge: Are there any questions for Mr. Stein? Mr. Stein we are looking forward to working with you and we love the relationship that we have with the Captains. We love that you help support our community and look forward to working with you and continuing to make Eastlake grow and be success. Congratulations on your new job and I hope that you do very well.

 

Mr. Stein: Thank you very much.    

 

There was no one else who wished to speak.

 

LEGISLATION PROPOSED – First number will be 2016-002

02-09-(01)                               RESOLUTION NO: ___________                                                        A Resolution authorizing and directing the Mayor and Director of Finance to enter into a Settlement Agreement with Robert Oliveri for three workman’s compensation claims, for the onetime payment of Thirty Three Thousand Dollars ($33,000.00), and declaring an emergency.

 

MOTION: Mr. Hoefle moved to suspend the rules requiring separate readings and reading in full. Mr. Meyers second.

 

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

 

MOTION: Mr. Hoefle moved to adopt. Mr. Evers second.

 

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

 

Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Resolution No. 2016-002.

 

02-09-(02)                               ORDINANCE NO.___________________                                                                                                                                                                                           ORDINANCE NO._________________                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               ORDINANCE NO.:   ________________                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

An Ordinance amending Chapter 939.21 (j) of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Eastlake, Ohio, entitled, Discharge Prohibitions, and declaring an emergency.

 

MOTION: Mr. Hoefle moved to suspend the rules requiring separate readings and reading in full. Mr. Spotton second.

 

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

 

MOTION: Mr. Hoefle moved to adopt. Mr. Spotton second.

 

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

 

Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Resolution No. 2016-003.

 

02-09-(03)                               RESOLUTION NO.: ___________

A Resolution granting permission from the City of Eastlake to the City of Willoughby to

expend funds in an amount not to exceed Seven Hundred and Eighty One Thousand Dollars ($781,000.00) for the implementation of the Willoughby-Eastlake WPCC Outfall Replacement Project, and declaring and emergency.

 

MOTION: Mr. Hoefle moved to suspend the rules requiring separate readings and reading in full. Mr. Zuren second.

 

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

 

MOTION: Mr. Hoefle moved to adopt. Mr. Meyers second.

 

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

 

Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Resolution No. 2016-004.

          

LEGISLATION PENDING

There is no Legislation Pending

 

UNFINISHED BUSINESS  

There was no Unfinished Business.

 

NEW BUSINESS

There was no New Business.

 

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS:

MAYOR/SAFETY DIRECTOR – Dennis Morley

Mayor Morley: Thank you, Madam President. Welcome everyone to this evenings meeting. First of all I know that Council is aware for those of you who are in the audience this is Carol-Ann Schindel and she is our new Finance Director and she officially starts tomorrow. I will save all of my Mr. Slocum things for mid March. Mr. Slocum is going to stay on until March quite possibly till the middle of March. We look forward to Ms. Schindel coming in with her knowledge to help in any way that she can and maybe even find some money. I am looking forward to having her working with us. I know that Council brought up about the meeting for February 22 Finance Committee Meeting we will again discuss the Croatian Lodge taking over building soccer fields behind the Community Center. We sent update lease and Council has some questions and hopefully we will have a good meeting on that evening and I will invite the Eastlake Soccer League to see if they have any interest at all in working something with the Croatian Lodge. Over the years we have had numerous residents calling in about the deer population in the City. We have one resident who wants to step up and possibly try and get a program going and that meeting will be on March 30^th at 6:00 p.m. He will give an oversight to Council and the public. I am going to put some about it in my Gazette article so that the public can come out and attend. We have also had a preconstruction meeting this week on the Iris/Glenn/Freed Project with the Sewer Cleaning and the Cameraing and we are going to continue to do what we can with the Glenn/Bertha/Freed area. The StormWater Televising and Cleaning plans and keep up with the plan that we came up with last year. We have been getting some phone calls about income tax and we have been directing them to R.I.T.A. They have also sent out a list people who are inactive and who do not have to file this year with R.I.T.A. and I will forward that out. Any questions should be sent to R.I.T.A. I have also been in discussions with the YMCA to get ready for our lease this year. The YMCA has asked that they go out to surrounding cities and I told them that it would be okay. Just a little back ground the YMCA would like to go out to our surrounding cities and in 2014 we had forty four family membership and nine individual memberships and in 2015 we had thirty four family memberships and twenty seven individual memberships. We also had fifth grade Swim and Splash program that was sponsored by the YMCA that was thirty four dollars and it was paid by the YMCA. In 2014 they exceeded their budget by $3,000.00 and the 2015 they exceed their budget by $13,000.00. The YMCA also paid $6,000.00 to fix a pool pump motor and spent $1,400.00 to fix a pool heater and spent $850.00 to fix a pipe to turn the water on for the season and for repairs on the slide.   As we have said in the past between YMCA and Best Supply donating money there has not been any money that we have had to take out of the General Fund for the swimming pool. The membership hasn’t been what we thought that it would be so for us to keep this pool open that is one of the reasons why the YMCA wants to look outside the community. Once I get the new lease I will give it to Council. Also they are also going to be dropping the rate to $120.00 and the individual rate to $65.00 and there will be some more information on that in the next few days. I will put that in my article and they will possibly be up here to try and sell passes during the primary election in March. We did get a grant for $75,000.00 for a kiddy pool and we are still working on the plans for that and that will help membership also. Most of you know that I am the Chair for Municipalities for United Way and we are going to have a Chili Cook Off on Saturday February 27 at Eastlake North High School. Principal Chauby and I have been looking to get into North High between 12:00p.m. – 3:00 p.m. There is a cutoff date of February 19^th in you want to enter the Chili Cook Off. The Chief and I are also on Eastlake North’s Principal Advisory Committee and North High is going to be having an Expo on Wednesday February 17^th at 7:00 p.m. and I will be at the school on that evening with Principal Chauby. We did give them all of the address of the new residents to try and do an outreach. So maybe some of our new residents who aren’t aware of the school can come there for the night to see what North High offers. Most of you know that I am on the RNC Committee that is bipartisan-nonpartisan Lake County Group and we are have a nonpartisan debate watch party Thursday February 11^th at Malarkey’s in downtown Willoughby at 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. starts the watch if anyone is available they can stop in. That concludes my report and I am open for questions.

 

Ms. DePledge: Mr. Evers?

 

Mr. Evers: Mayor do you want to cover the Easter Egg Hunt Event?

 

Mayor Morley: I think that I brought that up at the last meeting. We also have between the Captains, EPAL and the City we will be having the Easter Egg Hunt on March 26^th at 11:00 a.m. The cost will be split between the City, EPAL and the Captains. So we are looking forward to that and hopefully…Easter is March 27^th and we did March 26^th hoping that the weather will be good. The last two years…especially the first year the weather was 75 degrees and last year it was 25 degrees and very cold. Hopefully we will get a good turnout. Thanks to EPAL and the Captains.

 

Ms. DePledge: Are there any other questions for the Mayor? Mr. Evers?

 

Mr. Evers: One correction it is not put on by the City of Eastlake this is Mayor Morley taking the funds from his pocket mainly to help us out with it.

 

Mayor Morley: Well we take it out…

 

Mr. Evers: It comes from his Safety Directors Fund which he has set aside for that.

 

Mayor Morley: It is still from the City of Eastlake.

 

Ms. DePledge: Did you want to address the Republic Waste situation with garbage pickup?

 

Mayor Morley: the Republic Waste situation is the first week we had 624 nonpaying residents and after that we were down to 411 nonpaying residents. We are hoping that every week that it gets better. Chief Reik and CBO Menn have been out and Mr. Rubertino along with myself have been fielding calls. We are working on that and we are hoping that the residents that owe pay up and that we don’t have any issues down the road. This week has been quiet but last week we had something going on everyday of the week. So we are hoping that it continues.

 

There were no further questions of Mayor Morley

 

FIRE CHIEF – Ted Whittington

Chief Whittington was absent and excused.

 

There were no further questions of Chief Whittington

 

SERVICE DIRECTOR – Nick Rubertino

Mr. Rubertino: Up until this evening I have been going out and checking to get ahead of the program on the road repairs that we are going to be looking at this year that we can make in house. I have also been doing a substantial count on Catch Basin repair that are inevitable and that will have to be done this year. I have three gentlemen out right now due to injuries so we are a little short handed and I hope that everyone takes into consideration during this storm that is going on now. The guys are out there and if you get calls feel free to give me a call but they guys are diffidently out there and we will follow the protocol that we have. We will keep it up the best that we can and I feel confident that they guys that are out there will keep ahead of the ball game. With that I am open for questions.  

 

There were no further questions of Mr. Rubertino.

 

CITY ENGINEER – Tom Gwydir

Mr. Gwydir: thank you Madam President, members of Council and Mayor. Thank you very much for passing the legislation regarding the Diffuser Piping. The pipe for the job is a very long lead item and you passing this is it is going to enable us to get this done this summer. With that I am open for questions.

 

There were no questions of Mr. Gwydir.

 

FINANCE DIRECTOR – Mike Slocum

Mr. Slocum: Thank you Madam President. I distributed a packet to Council earlier today and we had a bid opening yesterday for the Housekeeping Items. I talked with Mr. Evers and hopefully we are going to get that added on to the agenda with the Finance Committee on top of the budget. This is my last meeting as your Finance Director and welcome Ms. Schindel. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Mayor Morley and his predecessor along with present Council and the previous Council. I have enjoyed working with all of you. With that I am open for questions.

 

Ms. DePledge: Mr. Slocum I have the utmost respect for you and I was disappointed when you retired and I was ecstatic when you came back. You have done tremendous work for the City and we are all very appreciative of it and we certainly understand the finances of the City than I think than before with anybody else. Your service is noted. Ms. Schindel I wasn’t sure if you wanted to address Council at all this evening but I wanted to give you the opportunity in the Finance Directors spot.

 

Ms. Schindel: I just want to thank you all for announcing me and I start work tomorrow.

 

There were no questions of Mr. Slocum.

 

POLICE CHIEF – Larry Reik

Chief Reik: I want to thank Council again for allowing us to do the swearing in ceremony. As many of you know that we have moved patrol to twelve hour shifts and the supervisors are still on eight hour shifts. The supervisors have covered days off and dispatch is on a six and two schedule for eights and patrol is twelve hour shifts. Everyone gets a little piece of everything it isn’t an ideal situation as far as pure accountability but we have a lot of flexibility up to this point. The supervisors do a good job keeping on top of the groups that they supervise. We are two and a half weeks into it so we really don’t have a good…so far so good. Some of the things that we found problems with like shift strength that we didn’t think of have been resolved. We know that it is going to be a process on both ends and they guys really want it. The happier and the more energetic they are the better the product and the better the contacts and the better everything. I am looking forward to seeing how it works out. With the RNC Lake County and Cuyahoga County Police Chiefs are in conversation and there is going to be a big draw from Sandusky to Cleveland. Most Lake County Departments including us will not allow any leave time during that week. We will have an extra guy or two to draw form.   The RNC or any National Convention when you get the approval…the City of Cleveland got fifty million dollars to help with security. They will back fill any cost that is incurred by the City. If we have a guy or two go out there they will pay the salary and benefits. We will not cover overtime but it will cover for the loss of our tax payers to the RNC. We will have our own draws with the Radisson and the stadium. So we will be monitoring that and we have a couple of volunteers for guys to try and get out there. I think that for North East Ohio it is all of our parts to try and contribute to make sure that it is a good and safe even. As far as the waste situation as far as good everyone that we have spoken to about it has had the problem resolved but one by the time we knocked on the door. So there hasn’t been any type of gripping as most people and they knew that it was coming and some people just don’t pay their bills until they are forced to pay them. So in working with Mr. Rubertino and the Mayor I think that it will get its self resolved and by this time next month I bet we will be down to just a hand full and we will go from there. If there is anything that comes up in your Wards or communities people can call them and go from there.

 

There were no further questions of Chief Reik.

  

CHIEF BUILDING OFFICIAL – David Menn

Mr. Menn: Good evening and I just want to let you know that I am trying to be a little bit more proactive this year with the BZA planning and the ARB Meetings. I am going to set up a bulletin board in our lobby area of the Building Department and we will try and post the Agenda’s and the Minutes of the meetings so people can come in and see them if they want. Just to let you know that the BZA Meeting for tomorrow is still on but the Planning Commission Meeting for this week is canceled because there is no agenda. There was no need for an ARB meeting for this month. I will try and keep you informed as best as I can when there is a cancellation.

 

There were no questions of Mr. Menn.

 

LAW DIRECTOR – Randy Klammer

Mr. Klammer: Thank you Madam President members of Council and Mayor. I have nothing to report and I am just thankful that Mr. Slocum will be around for another month or so and that way I could think of something nice to say about him. I am open for questions.

 

There were no questions of Mr. Klammer.

 

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:37 p.m.

 

 

           ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­                                               

__________________________________________

LAURA A. DEPLEDGE, COUNCIL PRESIDENT

 

 

APPROVED: __________________________

 

 

ATTEST: ______________________________________

                 TRACY M. SIMONS, CLERK OF COUNCIL