EASTLAKE CITY COUNCIL REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES, JANUARY 14, 2014
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 Mr. D’Ambrosio at approximately 7:02 p.m.
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
ATTENDEES
Members of Council in attendance were Ms. DePledge, Mr. Licht, Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins,
Mr. Evers, Mr. Hoefle, Ms. Vaughn and Council President Mr. D’Ambrosio. Also attending was Council Clerk Mrs. Cendroski.
Those attending from the Administration were Mayor Morley, Law Director Klammer, Finance Director Slocum, Acting Service Director Rubertino, CBO McReynolds, City Engineer Gwydir, Police Chief Ruth and Fire Chief Whittington.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Regular Council Meeting – December 17, 2013
MOTION: Mr. Licht moved to approve the minutes of the Regular Council Meeting of December 17, 2013. Ms. DePledge seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas: Mr. Licht, Ms. DePledge, Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins, Mr. Hoefle,
Ms. Vaughn, Mr. D’Ambrosio.
Abstain: Mr. Evers
Motion carried. The minutes were approved.
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COUNCIL PRESIDENT’S REPORT – Mr. D’Ambrosio
Meetings Scheduled
Mr. D’Ambrosio: The next Council-as-a-Whole Committee Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 28, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. The Regular Council meeting will be convened immediately following the adjournment of the Council-as-a-Whole Committee meeting.
COUNCIL COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS
Mr. D’Ambrosio: The Council Committee Assignments are as follows:
Finance Committee Chair: Donna Vaughn
Member: Laura DePledge
Member: Jeff Licht
Planning Committee Chair: Ken Hoefle
Ordinance Committee Member: Cindy Quinn-Hopkins
Recreation Committee Member: Kimberly C. Evers
Safety Committee
Service/Utilities Committee Chair: Cindy Quinn-Hopkins
WPCC Committee Member: Kimberly C. Evers
Member: Jeff Licht
Port Authority Liaison: Laura DePledge
Storm Water Management Committee Representative: Jeff Licht
Economic & Community Development Council: Cindy Quinn-Hopkins
CIVIL SERVICE APPOINTMENTS
Mr. D’Ambrosio: We received a request from Mayor Morley regarding appointments to the Civil Service Commission. I would like a Motion to approve the appointments of Stephen Komarjanski and Dan Matheke.
Civil Service Appointments
Ms. Vaughn moved to appoint Stephen Komarjanski, 742 Rural Drive, Eastlake, Ohio to the Civil Service Commission for the unexpired term ending December 31, 2015. Mr. Evers seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. Stephen Komarjanski is appointed to the Civil Service Commission for the unexpired term ending December 31, 2015.
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Ms. Vaughn moved to appoint Dan Matheke, 361 Bayshore Drive, Eastlake, Ohio to the Civil Service Commission for the unexpired term ending December 31, 2014. Mr. Evers seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. Dan Matheke is appointed to the Civil Service Commission for the unexpired term ending December 31, 2014.
COMMUNICATIONS & PETITIONS
A communication was received from the Administration regarding holiday pay for the Police Chief. This was referred to Ordinance Committee.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Mr. D’Ambrosio: No Committee meetings were held.
fINANCE cOMMITTEE – Ms. Vaughn, Chair
Ms. Vaughn: I would like to schedule a Finance Committee meeting for Wednesday, January 22, 2014. The Mayor and Finance Director are requested to attend. The other Directors and Department Heads do not have to attend. We will be discussing a review of last year’s budget and the 2014 revenues. The Department Heads and Directors will be requested to attend the next meeting.
ORDINANCE COMMITTEE – Mr. Hoefle, Chair
Mr. Hoefle: The Ordinance Committee meeting will be scheduled for Wednesday, January 22, 2014 at 6:00 p.m. prior to the Finance Committee meeting.
EASTLAKE PORT AUTHORITY – Ms. DePledge, Liaison
Ms. DePledge: The boat show is this weekend at the Cleveland Convention Center. The Eastlake Port Authority will have a booth so if anyone is planning on going stop by the booth and look at the literature about one of the finest resources we have available in our Community.
Economic & Community Development Council – Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins, Chair
Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins: The ECDC will be having a meeting this Thursday, January 16, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. Karen Tercek from the Chamber of Commerce will be joining us. All are welcome to join us.
Also, I would like to congratulate Chief Reik on being elected President of the Lake County Police Chief’s Association.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Congratulations, Chief.
RECOGNITION OF THE PUBLIC
Mr. D’Ambrosio recognized the public input at this time; he 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.
Chris, Lakeshore Blvd./Willoway Beach Park vicinity, Eastlake
Chris: I have talked to Mr. Evers and Mr. Licht. I was here three months ago about the information of the tow truck – it has actually gotten worse rather than better. I have been assured that action is being taken. So, on that note my complaint at this point is recently with the cold weather the guy goes out and starts the truck and leaves it running. It puts obnoxious air through our area. But, as I have been told action is being taken so I will let the wheels turn. I would also like to say thank you to Mr. Rubertino. I asked for some maintenance to be done on the culvert in front of my house to relieve the flooding and we did not have flooding this past thaw. With that being said thank you for the time. Congratulations to all the new faces and on your appointment Chief Reik. Have a great day.
There was no one else who wished to speak.
LEGISLATION PROPOSED – First number will be 2014-001
There was no Legislation Proposed.
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 to Council for approving the appointments to the Civil Service Commission. The Chief has been going back and forth over the last few months to complete his list to get a person to replace an officer who retired. I talked to Mr. Klammer today and I can swear-in Mr. Komarjanski and Mr. Matheke. Maybe they can get the wheels going on this issue so we can reduce the amount of overtime. I spoke with the Directors at our last staff meeting about the budget and I spoke with Mr. Slocum today. I am going to send in my wish list of things I would like to see in the budget and will talk to the Directors and get together with Mr. Slocum to see what we want to do with the budget for 2014. I received emails – now that we have had a little thaw we will resume doing leaf pickup where we missed and filling potholes. Those are the calls I have received over the last couple of weeks. Thank goodness we averted flooding from the thaw last Saturday – the river was pretty high. Unfortunately Willoughby was not that lucky. I attended a meeting with the Festival Committee last week. The Chair and I will be meeting with Mr. Klammer and Mr. Slocum. Yesterday, Mr. Slocum and I had a very good meeting with the Captains – about two hours – we discussed some of the issues – their side and our side. We will continue to meet to take care of some of those issues. This concludes my report and I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Mr. Morley.
POLICE CHIEF – Larry Reik
Chief Reik: I have nothing to report and am open for questions.
There were no questions of Chief Reik.
LAW DIRECTOR – Randy Klammer
Mr. Klammer: I did not get a chance to thank you for the reappointment Mr. Mayor and for Council approving it. I hope you all know how precious the City of Eastlake is to me and the Klammer family. I am just helping the Mayor get his hands around all the pending labor stuff – he his is picking it up fast. I know he has had some initial discussions set up with the FOP and is trying to get ahead of the contract negotiations. I am trying to help him as much as I can on any of the flooding solutions he is working on and trying to provide research. There are a couple pending pieces of litigation I emailed him on but nothing that is earth shattering one way or another. Congratulations to Chief Reik on his appointment to the Chiefs’ Association. I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Mr. Klammer.
FINANCE DIRECTOR – Mike Slocum
Mr. Slocum: We published the financials for the end of last year. We did end the year with a little over $800,000 in the General Fund. Our income tax collections were down from projections. Spending went down even further. The spending decreases did help. We only had one big item in the General Fund that we did not encumber anything. That was the repair at the Police Department for the bay doors – we put $40,000 aside and will still need it going into next year and maybe an additional couple of thousand. For next Wednesday’s meeting I will publish by Thursday my estimates with the revenues so you have a chance to review. I have a schedule that will show you all the revenues for the last five years so if you want to see where things have gone you will be able to do so relatively easily. I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Mr. Slocum.
CITY ENGINEER – Tom Gwydir
Mr. Gwydir: I have nothing to report. I would like to thank you for the privilege of being allowed to serve the City of Eastlake again this year. I am open for questions.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: It is our pleasure to have you. Thank you.
There were no questions of Mr. Gwydir.
ACTING SERVICE DIRECTOR – Nick Rubertino
Mr. Rubertino: I would like to reaffirm what the Mayor has said in regards to the continuation of the leaf pickup as well as filling of chuckholes – which appear to be many. The crews are out there twice a day getting that done. We are also cleaning the leaves out of the catch basins. As the resident, Chris, said we went to his house and tried to get that cleaned up as well. Those are aggressive efforts at this point. I am open for questions.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: I think the Service Department is doing a great job. With your filling in as Acting Service Director they have not missed a beat. I notice a big difference in a lot of areas. Thank you for all you are doing.
Ms. DePledge: I noticed the back yard looked awesome.
There were no further comments for Mr. Rubertino.
CHIEF BUILDING OFFICIAL – James S. McReynolds
Mr. McReynolds: Congratulations to Chief Reik on his appointment. This is a traditionally slow time of year in the Building Department – especially with the holidays and freezing temperatures. We have some projects breaking ground and if you like I can catch you up on the projects in process. We have a new house at 33504 Lakeshore Blvd. which is being completed as we speak and I am ready to issue an occupancy permit. The Rally’s on Vine Street originally had a completion date that has been pushed back to January 31st. I think that is optimistic and it will move likely be the end of February. They still have to pour concrete and put on a rubberized roof which requires heat. They should be ready in February. We had a meeting with Enpress – they are an Eastlake company that is relocating on Curtis Blvd. and will be taking over the old Eaton Building. We have been given preliminary approval through the Planning Commission to proceed. They plan on going ahead with their plan and are arranging financing at this time. This is a tricky situation – they have to have their plan approvals and permits in place before the financing is allowed – which puts them under a timeline and they need to get through the plan approval quickly. First of all they have to submit a plan – they it depends on the designer and if the designer is good and knows what he is doing they can go through the plan approval process. But, if there is a problem they have to come back to be approved and contact the designer. All this must be in place by March 20th to have their loan approved on the 27th. If that goes ahead they will start shortly. Two Bucks restaurant has approval from the Building Department. The owner is waiting for his liquor license to transfer and for the Heath Department. They are ready to go and I expect them to be open soon. This concludes my report and I am open for questions.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Weren’t you just honored by the BOCONEO group.
Mr. McReynolds: It is not as big of an honor as the Chief’s. It is the Second Vice President of the Building Officials Conference of Northeast Ohio and I represent Eastlake and will continue do to so – normally I will progress to First Vice President and President.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Congratulations.
There were no further questions of Mr. McReynolds.
FIRE CHIEF – Ted Whittington
Chief Whittington was absent and excused.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:19 p.m.
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JOE D’AMBROSIO, COUNCIL PRESIDENT
APPROVED: __________________________
ATTEST: _____________________________
DEBORAH A. CENDROSKI,
CLERK OF COUNCIL