Regular Council meeting Minutes from August 23, 2016

EASTLAKE CITY COUNCIL

REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES

AUGUST 23, 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 7:­06 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, Fire Chief Whittington, Police Chief Reik, CBO Menn, Service Director Rubertino, City Engineer Gwydir, Finance Director Schindel and Law Director Klammer.

Ms. DePledge: If anyone is recording this meeting as courtesy to the public will you please identify yourself so that the fellow attendees know that it is being recorded.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Regular Council Meeting –July 12, 2016.

MOTION: Mr. Evers moved to approve the minutes of the Regular Council Meeting July 12, 2016. Mr. Hoefle seconded.

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

Motion carried. The minutes were approved.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

COUNCIL PRESIDENT’S REPORT – Ms. DePledge

Meetings Scheduled

Ms. DePledge: The next Council-as-a-Whole Committee Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 13, 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. Welcome back everyone.

COMMUNICATIONS & PETITIONS

A liquor license request from Walgreen Co., d/b/a Walgreens 13058, 35279 Vine Street, Eastlake.

Ms. DePledge: This was discussed in Council-As-A-Whole and will be added to this evening’s agenda.

A communication from The Walter Drane Company regarding the August 2016 Codified Ordinances replacement pages.

Ms. DePledge: This was discussed in Council-as-a-Whole Committee and will be added to the evening’s agenda.

A communication from Finance Director Schindel certifying that there are unpaid bills owed to the City of Eastlake.

Ms. DePledge: This was discussed in Council-as-a-Whole Committee and will be added to the evening’s agenda.

A communication from Finance Director Schindel to enter into an agreement and to expend funds from the Competitive Community Development Block Grant Program.

Ms. DePledge: This was discussed in Council-as-a-Whole Committee and will be added to the evening’s agenda.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Ms. DePledge: A Finance Committee Meeting was held since our last Council Meeting. Mr. Evers?

Mr. Evers: Thank you Madam President. The Finance Committee did meet before we went on break and there were a couple of items that were up for discussion. As announced by the Council President the one item will be moved back into the Finance Committee. We will be having a Finance Committee Meeting on Tuesday, August 30 at 6:00 p.m. I am asking that all members of Council to be present, Law Director Klammer, Finance Director Schindel, Service Director Rubertino, CBO Menn, the Fire Chief and Police Chief along with Mayor Morley.

Ms. DePledge: Mrs. Simons just advised me that the WPCC Meeting is that night at 5:30 p.m. Maybe we could move it to…

Mr. Evers: Move it to 6:30 p.m.

Ms. DePledge: Move it to 6:30 p.m.? Is that sufficient?

Mrs. Simons: Yes.

Ms. DePledge: Does that conclude your report?

Mr. Evers: That concludes my report.

Ms. DePledge: Mr. Zuren?

Mr. Zuren: Thank you Madam President. The Eastlake Economic Development Committee met today at 5:30 p.m. We had an outreach to builders, rehabbers, real estate agent broker to see if we could generate interest in our city. It was for the development with new construction or rehabbing our housing and investment in our city. I would deem it a success and we had about fifty attendees. We had a great discussion along with some future ideas. I think that it was a big success and that concludes my report.

Ms. DePledge: Are there any questions for Mr. Zuren? Seeing none Mr. Hoefle do you have any Motions this evening?

Mr. Hoefle: Before I give my Motions I would also like to schedule an Ordinance Committee Meeting for next Tuesday and for it to follow the Finance Committee Meeting. The discussion will be to reconvene with the deer culling that we brought up a few months back. Just to see where we are at on that.

Ms. DePledge: The Ordinance Committee will commence immediately following the termination of the Finance Committee Meeting.

MOTION

MOTION: Mr. Hoefle moved to approve and send back to Columbus, Ohio with no objections the liquor license permit request from Walgreen Co., d/b/a Walgreens 13058, 35279 Vine Street, Eastlake, OH. Mr. Evers Second.

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

Motion carried. The liquor license request was approved.

MOTION: Mr. Hoefle moved to add Legislation No. 08-23-(03) to this evening’s agenda an Ordinance to revise the Codified Ordinances by adopting current replacement pages. Mr. Spotton Second.

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

Motion carried Legislation 08-23-(03) is added to this evening’s agenda.

MOTION: Mr. Evers moved to add Legislation No. 08-23-(04) to this evening’s agenda a Resolution certifying that there are unpaid bills owed to the City of Eastlake, and authorizing and directing the Lake County Auditor to place these bills on the tax duplicate for collection of payment. Mr. Hoefle Second.

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

Motion carried Legislation 08-23-(04) is added to this evening’s agenda.

MOTION: Mr. Evers moved to add Legislation No. 08-23-(05) to this evening’s agenda a Resolution authorizing the Mayor and Director of Finance to enter into an Agreement and to expend funds from the Competitive Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG), for the amount of Seventy-Five Thousand Dollars ($75,000) for the term of October 1, 2015 through September 30, 2016. Mr. Hoefle Second.

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

Motion carried Legislation 08-23-(05) is added to this evening’s 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.

John Farwell, 36823 Lakeshore Blvd., Eastlake, OH

Mr. Farwell: I am happy to hear that we are going to continue the discussion around the topic of deer culling. I would like to address the City Council and the Members of the city tonight about what is going on from our prospective. To set some correctness of what our agenda is and what we are requesting on the say. There has been a lot of discussion around the deer population problem and what we are trying to do with it. There has been a discussion around a controlled hunt and the deer cull. There have been articles written in the Gazette. I am here tonight to provide some clarification around what the citizens of Eastlake are asking the City Council to act on. Number one we are not asking the city to spend any money that it doesn’t have. Number two we’re not proposing or suggesting that we hire individuals to come in and do a study to tell us that we have too many deer. The ODNR has already done that for each county in Ohio. That is why they allow hunting in the first place. Each county has its own limit per person. Number three is we are not suggesting or asking the city to hire individuals to round up deer and shoot them with AR15’s from a helicopter, like other cities in Lake County did to remove several hundred deer each year. This is commonly known as deer culling. That is not what we are proposing and I would ask that you refrain from calling this deer culling, because we will only confuse the public and scare people. Number four is that we are not asking the city to approve a control one time single event hunt for everyone to kill deer. That is not what we are proposing or suggesting that we do and I want to set that record straight as well. Number five is that we are not asking the city to allow people to hunt with guns in our city. You may or may not be aware but in the state of Ohio with a hunting license you are permitted to hunt anywhere expect where city laws and ordinances prevent it. During open hunting season we have several people hunting water foul on our northern border. You can legally go out on the ice or in the water and hunt if you want to that is state property. You can go to surround towns and villages that allow hunting. Eastlake ordinances prevent all hunting within the city limits. It made sense at the time but it is time to change. We are asking the city to allow archery hunting only, with extreme safety measures and restrictions. A little bit about archery hunting and if you don’t know an archery hunter I invite you to go out and meet them. They are rare and well respected group of conservationists. They are passionate about hunting, nature, preservation, safety and have a true desire to fill their freezers with food for their families and families in need of additional food. Personally I am not a hunter but I know several of them. I want these hunters to come to our city to help us before going to another city. It is happening in cities all around Northeastern Ohio. Deer have no predators of than the cars that we drive. They are strictly land locked in our city by our southern border of Route 2 and our northern border of Lake Erie and the river that runs through the City of Eastlake. They cannot escape and they will continue to multiply, destroy our property and bring disease such as lice, ticks and lime disease. We are asking the city to modify the city ordinances to only allow archery hunting. Here are a few restrictions that we have come up with and there are others but I will highlight five of them. Number one to approve tree stands with a minimum height restriction off the ground. This insures that arrows from archery hunters go towards the ground. Nobody in the city should be afraid of being struck by a hunter’s arrow. I can assure you and the city with the highest level of confidence that no hunter wants to shoot a human being. Number two is that all of our tree hunters have to pass an accuracy test at their expense to be approved to hunt. Number three is that all arrows must have a cell phone number of the hunter displayed on them. Number four is that hunter must have a cell phone report into the Eastlake Police Department prior to hunting. And number five is a minimum of three acres and up to five parcels with boundary restrictions to the neighboring property. The list goes on and our outstanding dedicated resident Mr. Vogler has presented a very restrictive and comprehensive plan to ensure safety. Unfortunately he could not be here tonight he is out serving and protecting our country as Federal Police Officer. The only thing holding this change up is City Council changing the ordinance. We can kick the can down the street another year or we can start now to thin the herd that continues to grow more and more. I am pleased to know that you’re continuing with the discussion. The citizens of Eastlake have elected each one of you to serve us the people. There are thirty one days until hunting season opens in the state of Ohio. The hunters are starting to pick their spots and we are losing out on a great opportunity to improve this city. Thank you for listening and I will take any questions that you may have.

Ms. DePledge: Thank you and are there any questions? I see none. Thank you for coming this evening and hopefully we will see you at the meeting next Tuesday. No one else has signed up to speak is there anyone else wishing to address Council? Seeing none we will move on.

There was no one else who wished to speak.

LEGISLATION PROPOSED – First number will be 2016-036

08-23-(01) RESOLUTION NO.: _____________

Requested by: Administration

Sponsored by: Council

A Resolution authorizing and directing the Mayor and Director of Finance to make a payment to the estate of Mr. Slocum, in the amount of Four Thousand and Eleven Dollars and Sixty-Five Cents ($4,011.65), for unused vacation time, and declaring an emergency.

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

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

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

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Resolution No. 2016-036.

08-23-(02) ORDINANCE NO.: ___________

Requested by: Administration

Sponsored by: Finance Committee

An Ordinance amending Section 184.06 (A) “Credit For Tax Paid To Other Municipalities,” of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Eastlake, and declaring an emergency.

Ms. DePledge: Legislation No.: 08-23-(02) is the Credit For Tax Paid To Other Municipalities and we are going to refer that back into the Finance Committee. We will not be reading that this evening.

08-23-(03) ORDINANCE NO.:_____________

Requested by: Clerk of Council

Sponsored by: Council

An ordinance to revise the Codified Ordinances by adopting current replacement pages and declaring an emergency.

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

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

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

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Resolution No. 2016-037.

08-23-(04) RESOLUTION NO.:_______________

Requested by: Finance Director Mrs. Schindel

Sponsored by: Finance Committee

A Resolution certifying that there are unpaid bills owed to the City of Eastlake, and authorizing and directing the Lake County Auditor to place these bills on the tax duplicate for collection of payment, and declaring an emergency.

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

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

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

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Resolution No. 2016-038.

08-23-(05) RESOLUTION NO.: ___________

Requested by: Administration

Sponsored by: Council

A Resolution authorizing the Mayor and Director of Finance to enter into an Agreement and to expend funds from the Competitive Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG), for the amount of Seventy-Five Thousand Dollars ($75,000) for the term of October 1, 2015 through September 30, 2016, and declaring an emergency.

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

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

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

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Resolution No. 2016-039.

LEGISLATION PENDING

There was 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 evening’s meeting. I would like to announce that on Sunday, September 11 at 1:00 p.m. there will be the fifteen year memorial service with the VFW and the American Legion. The Chief’s and I believe the Mayor of Willowick will be in attendance also. The Ridgewood Project that is through the OPWC will commence sometime in the middle of September. In talking with our City Engineer Mr. Gwydir we will meet with the resident’s of Ridgewood Drive when that project is…I believe you said mid September and it will be about a six to eight week project?

Mr. Gwydir: Six to eight weeks is correct.

Mayor Morley: A six to eight week project. I will let Mr. Gwydir talk about the possible new OPWC money for next year. I would like to thank Councilman Zuren tonight for setting up. He did a lot of the work in inviting all of the attendees to tonight’s ECDC Meeting. I think that it went well. We had an open dialog with some of the builders and with some of the flippers that were here that are looking at the cities more. They are builder friendly these days than in the past. I want to thank our Building Commission and I think that we are working with the people that want to come into our city. I would like to talk about that as everyone knows that all of our Director’s go above and beyond in this city. We’ve been having a tough time hiring a person in the Building Department. We’ve had four people turn down the job because it isn’t enough money. We are talking this week to try and find a Zoning Inspector. First we went with a licensed inspector that we couldn’t find at $22.00 to $24.00 per hour isn’t enough. We have had three people decline that position so we went to the lower zoning position of $18.00 per hour. The people that we’ve interviewed have declined because that isn’t enough money. We will continue to look. For the busiest part of the summer Mr. Menn has run the department all by himself. We are trying to hire the people that we can. With that it concludes my report and I am open for questions.

There were no further questions of Mayor Morley

FIRE CHIEF – Ted Whittington

Chief Whittington: Thank you Madam President. Obviously the elephant in the room with removing the tax credit and I have been thinking about it the last couple of days since it came about. Honestly there is anger and frustration with that decision and it looms heavily on me. Wanted to really weed out why I have felt the way that I did so that when I presented it to you it wouldn’t be some type of rambling. The anger part of it is that I have met with each of you several different times this year to discuss the short comings in the Fire Department. The fact that I need an ambulance and when I have a fire truck that is in the station that I have to fill with air from an air compressor to use it. The most critical part is that next summer I will be losing three more people. I wonder in Mr. Zuren’s meeting today with these developers if you tell them that we are lying off more firemen next year, if that is going to draw people in. I know that from a political perspective that you guys hear from a lot of people. But I also think that you have an obligation to the Director’s and to the people that work here. This is a long time that this city has struggled. When we talked last time there was no indication from anyone that there was reservation. We discussed it openly. When I came in yesterday I was told that it is being removed and that is the anger part. I don’t know how many more time I have to sit down and paint a different way to you guys to let you know that the city is in bad shape. Look at the finance and when Mr. Slocum that got his report there were only two cities in the entire state that are worse than us when it comes to the Moody’s Report. If you look at what they’ve done…Maple Heights was successful in raising their income tax to 2 ½%. Masculine reduced their reciprocity. Those are the two cities that are worse than us and they actually had to make decisions like that. I am not sure if when we talk and I present it to you…I somewhat feel like I was ignored today. I don’t understand the complexity. Yesterday the Fire Department did nineteen runs. That includes three over doses again in the city amongst all of the other calls that we have to handle. We have six people on duty and how we handle that is one person in a car and jumps another call. We do that all day long. The prospect of going down to five people is ludicrous and dangerous. It should be something on the top of your priority every single day that you come to this job, because it is mine. The frustrated part of it is that I get an email that talks about you guys being unified on an issue. We put levies up last time and you guys weren’t unified on a levy. We put reciprocity up and you guys aren’t on the reciprocity. I am not sure what it is going to take to get you guys unified to get us back on track. That is your job and you guys are in charge of that. As a Director I have come to you more than once to let you know that we have critical things going on. I am not speaking for any of the other Director’s, but I can tell you that a building that was built in 1958, and the equipment issues, telephone system and leaking roof. The more that we let that go by the more critical it becomes. We are in a hole right now, because we have done nothing about this for ten years. That hole is very deep. Every time that we brush it off, delay it or put it back into committee that hole gets deeper and deeper. Eventually we’re not going to be able to get out of that hole. I don’t know what the answer is and I don’t know what you expect out of me anymore. I’m doing three jobs right now. I try to be the Fire Chief, the Department Secretary and I am also running squad again. I’m giving you everything that I’ve got. My anticipation or my expectation is that you are giving me all that you’ve got. That is my frustration…is that where we are at, at this point. I’ve told you and I can’t paint a grimmer picture that this is where we are at. Having said that I am open for questions as far as that and I am very open. I don’t go on social media and I don’t bad mouth you on it. I am very open to the public. I have always been open about the fact that I believe that reciprocity is the answer, because we have failed everything else. I am always accessible to you and any resident here. I will stand behind it and I have meet residents and explained it to them. I have showed them the issues. I implore you that if you are going to put this back in committee that is just not something that we are going to sit on. We need to make sure that we discuss this and I am telling you right now that I don’t know of another option. We are not going to pass a levy in this city. Nothing has changed with that and these resident’s don’t support levies here. I know from a political prospective that it is a tough decision. When I am doing nineteen calls and I’m making decision in the field they are tough decisions. I am dealing with life and death. You might get some resident’s that are upset with me, because of the decisions that I’ve made. I deal with life and death. When I go to someone’s house and I say that I can’t take you to the hospital that you want to go too, because we don’t have enough staffing. That is a life and death decision and it is a tough decision. That makes people angry and unhappy with me. I’m willing to do that because that is my job. I’m imploring to you as the Council in this city…you are going to have to make a tough decision. It may not be something that you want to do and it may not make everybody happy. Outside of that I am open for questions.

Ms. DePledge: Are there any questions for Chief Whittington? With that said Chief Whittington we are putting it back into committee. The main reason is because there some additional potential monetary ways to raise money or alternative ways to raise money. In fairness we have four new members and I want to make sure that they have an opportunity to be heard. That those additional revenue or potential revenue raising options are discussed, addressed and that they understand the potentials of success or not success. The idea was never…I am the one who made the decision to pull it and it was never pull it to kill it. It is to pull it to give everybody on this Council a fair opportunity to discuss it, to make sure that they are comfortable with it and that it is the best option or the only option or if it is the only option for our city. My instructions to those members is that if you are coming to this meeting come to it with an idea on how we are going to raise that revenue. We can’t pull this off the table unless we have something to replace it. With that we just want to give them the opportunity to be heard. It is a difficult decision and for some people it is a political decision. It is an unpopular decision and it is an incredibly difficult decision for some people. I think that out of respect for everybody that everybody should have an opportunity one more time to understand the significance of how the committee meeting works and where those conversations have to take place.

Chief Whittington: And I respect that.

Ms. DePledge: It is not to kill it.

Chief Whittington: Understand that when we left that meeting….

Ms. DePledge: I understand your frustration and you can look at the minutes of that meeting and every person in that meeting was polled. I share in your frustration in that as well, because we want to make it very clear…and because it is a difficult decision. The last thing that we want to present to the residents is that we’re not certain that this is the thing to do. The right thing or the wrong thing. We want to be unified and I want people to be together and I want it to be a unified front for the city. Please give us just a little more time. If we don’t move forward with reciprocity there will be better ideas on the table. That was the instruction.

Chief Whittington: Its more than just residents its employee’s. I have guys that over extent themselves every day. When we sit down and talk you can only imagine what goes through their head when decisions like this are made. When we sit down as a group and I say to them that the last time I met with Council this is the direction that we are going in. Let’s make ourselves available to them so that we can help them. The day before the meeting it’s pulled and now you can only imagine when I go back to the Union people and my people and I say that they’ve pulled it. That is frustrating, because these are the people who are on the streets doing the good work that we need done every day. I hope that you understand my frustration. It’s just another change of direction that doesn’t have any result. I’ve been in this city for eighteen years and I have dealt with several different types of Council. It just seems like brick wall after brick wall. I am to the point now where I need that equipment, but the prospect of losing more people…I know that there are a lot of Director’s around this table. That should be the greatest concern for the people that live in the city, people who work in the city and you as elected officials. The prospect of losing more firemen and I’m tell you right now we can’t handle the work load with three less firemen. I can’t handle it and I am telling you that right now.

Ms. DePledge: Thank you Chief Whittington. Based on that conversation are there any questions for either Chief Whittington or myself? Mr. Evers?

Mr. Evers: Chief Whittington I would like to thank you for your time and effort. I brought several residents over for a tour of the Fire House. It went along way with them. Thank you.

Chief Whittington: Absolutely it was my pleasure. I am always willing to do that.

There were no further questions of Chief Whittington

POLICE CHIEF – Larry Reik

Chief Reik: Chief Whittington always says that he doesn’t speak for all of us, but I think that he summarizes the thoughts. The only thing that I would add is that the frustration part of finally having something…we get asked all the time by our peers. How are things going there? For the most part it’s like when people ask you “how are you feeling?” Most of the time people don’t want to know anyway. We don’t like to over share and give in to chapter and verse, because we all live within our own bubbles. To finally have something on the horizon to shoot for and to start to make some progress upwards to some level of normal see. So that we can run our department’s…that is all of the department’s. We can’t find someone to work with Mr. Menn. That has nothing to do with him, because everywhere else is paying more. It isn’t even attracting enough jobs for people who are trained in those fields. That alone should tell us that “hey there is a problem here.” We’re not getting people to apply for the job. Or they do apply and then they find out what they are going to make and then they say that I can’t do it. I’m sure that we will talk more at the next meeting. For those that don’t know yesterday we had a homicide in the city. This is not personal or financially related unfortunately it is some that occurs. The person arrested the family member and it’s an unfortunate even. I appreciate all of the help from the Fire Department and with Chief Whittington specifically. It has just been…with that text and the response that you got it just came at a bad time. Nine squad calls and investigating a murder all at the same time. The one thing that we were both hoping for got pulled. It’s just bad timing on that part. Other than that I am open for questions.

Ms. DePledge: I wasn’t offended. Mayor Morley?

Mayor Morley: It’s not a question. I know that the Chief is passionate at what he does. I sent you guys out an email that we also had a chemical spill today. We had the County involved and we had nine Fire Departments helping us. We had nine people go to the hospital. We also had a Lake Health doctor that was on site at the chemical spill. I will say it bluntly that they have their butts handed to them every day. We’ve talked about that before they came to the position of reciprocity that I did ask for a Police and Fire Levy. I think that adds to the frustration, because we’ve missed the deadline of August 10. I’m not talking for them and we’ve talked individually since then. It is a tough decision that is going to have to be made and it’s not going to be a popular one, one way or the other. We have negotiations that are going to be starting in October. I have had two out of the six union’s approach me already and the negotiations start in October. We had one fireman leave and I don’t know if you are aware of that. The other two are at the bottom with the Safer Grant are looking for jobs. The other guy did take another job? The second one so we have a second fireman that is getting ready to leave. The problems that we have in hiring there and as Chief Reik said that we have one going on disability and three policemen that are retiring next year. The problem that these two have is that these people stay on a list and if Willoughby calls they are going to Willoughby and if Mentor calls they are going to Mentor. This is part of the frustration. The frustration is also on me because they know how I am with the whole reciprocity procedure. This is better than from the staff meeting that we had on Monday, but everyone is frustrated. The Director’s in this city go above and beyond for our residents. We’ve talked about what it is going to take to get a levy passed. I don’t think that we have found that answer yet.

Ms. DePledge: I think that was your question to Chief Reik?

Mayor Morley: Yes it was.

There were no further questions of Chief Reik.

CHIEF BUILDING OFFICIAL – David Menn

Mr. Menn: Basically the Mayor spoke for me about my frustration with trying to get people into my department. I strongly support Chief Reik and Chief Whittington for what they have said. I can’t say it any better than Chief Whittington.

There were no questions of Mr. Menn.

SERVICE DIRECTOR – Nick Rubertino

Mr. Rubertino had nothing to report this evening.

There were no further questions of Mr. Rubertino.

CITY ENGINEER – Tom Gwydir

Mr. Gwydir: thank you Madam President Members of Council and Mayor. As you are aware we have applied to OPWC for East 344th Street reconstruction. As it turned out they did not have the funds to allow us to proceed with that project this year. We did re-apply and we were advised that we finally made the list and we are within fundable range. I expect to be submitting a final application within the next few weeks and I will be approaching Council for legislation consistent with that application. Just a quick thing about Lakeshore Boulevard is that ODOT has advised that they expect that to be paved within the next couple of weeks with weather permitting. Other than that I am open for questions.

There were no questions of Mr. Gwydir.

FINANCE DIRECTOR – Carol-Ann Schindel

Mrs. Schindel: Thank you and just as an update because of our situation with Moody’s they do call us every year. We do a conversation and they want to read the financial statements and they want to know where we stand. We are doing that right now with Moody’s. Any update that we can provide to them in terms of the serious is something that they do take into account. I have nothing else to report.

There were no questions of Mrs. Schindel.

LAW DIRECTOR – Randy Klammer

Mr. Klammer: Thank you Madam President Members of Council and Mayor. Real quick the Belches dismissed their appeal. O’Conner’s was behind on their towing obligations to so we terminated that contract for the rest of the year and went to Vitalone’s. Then we will go through that bidding process, however we did that the last time around and we will start that over. It was under $12,500.00 so we made that determination. It piggy back on the Chief says and the other thing that we have forgotten in all of this is the stuff that the Mayor doesn’t have to do his job. It’s not even part of the conversation anymore. So we have this symposium that was great today. We have these people that came out and they are all excited about streamlining and having development plans and reaching out to developers. Those are all things that the Mayor’s staff should be able to do for him. An Economic Development Director who focuses on that everyday all day long. A Recreation Department that can answer problems for residents that complain that there aren’t recreation programs and it’s not easy to the recreation. More staff in the Building Department to deal with developers when we want to bring them in, and walk them through the city to show them opportunities in vacant properties. That’s not even part of the conversation anymore and we’ve looked to that to try and bring in additional revenue sources for city. So that ultimately we can solve the real safety issues that the Police and Fire need to make sure that everybody is safe. Those things work together. That’s fallen out of the conversation. It’s just a rich desperate situation that unfortunately is the new normal is not bringing in revenue. It needs to somehow become part of the conversation again. I am open for questions.

There were no questions of Mr. Klammer.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:­­46 p.m.

­­­­­­­­­­ __________________________________________

LAURA A. DEPLEDGE, COUNCIL PRESIDENT

APPROVED: ______________________

ATTEST: ______________________________________

TRACY M. SIMONS, CLERK OF COUNCIL

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