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 7:17 p.m.  

The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

ATTENDEES

Members of Council in attendance were Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins. Mr. Licht, Mr. Evers, Ms. DePledge, Ms. Vaughn and Council President Mr. D’Ambrosio. Mr. Hoefle was absent and excused. 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 and City Engineer Gwydir. Police Chief Ruth and Fire Chief Whittington were absent and excused.

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Regular Council Meeting – January 28, 2014

MOTION: Ms. Vaughn moved to approve the minutes of the Regular Council Meeting of January 28, 2014. Ms. DePledge seconded.

ROLL CALL:      Yeas unanimous

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, February 25, 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.

The Blvd. of 500 Flags is having a fund raiser. It was advertised in the Gazette and will be Friday, February 21^st at the Patrician Party Center at 6:00 p.m. The Blvd. of Flags is basically run by donations and it is run by the Veterans. This year we are having it at the Patrician and last year we held it at the Post but there were so many people we had to get a bigger facility. Mr. Dorsey at the Patrician has given the people a great deal and we are looking to have a lot of fun and we hope people can make it.

COMMUNICATIONS & PETITIONS

There were no Communications and Petitions.

 

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 Tuesday, February 18, 2014 at 6:00 p.m. I would like to invite the Mayor and Finance Director to attend. It will be an opportunity for all of Council to sit down and discuss our financial situation and come up with some logical, practical ideas to help relieve a difficult problem. I would appreciate it if everyone is there because it will be an important meeting. Two weeks after that I will schedule a meeting and at that point in time we will invite the Department Heads to discuss the individual budgets and prior to that I will be talking to Mr. Slocum and the Mayor. I will be making the following Motions:

Legislative Recommendation

Legislation No. 02-11-(01)

MOTION: I hereby move to add Legislation No. 02-11-(01) to the evening’s agenda

amending Chapter 155, “Employment Provisions and Compensation” of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Eastlake, specifically Section 155.01 “General Administration” subsection (d).” Mr. Licht seconded.

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

Motion carried. Legislation No. 02-11-(01) is added to the evening’s agenda.

Legislation No. 02-11-(02)

MOTION: I hereby move to add Legislation No. 02-11-(02) to the evening’s agenda Authorizing the City of Eastlake to Proceed with the Demolition of an Unsafe Structure(s) as listed in Exhibit A attached hereto and incorporated herein and located in Eastlake, Lake County, Ohio, and to request the Assistance and Cooperation of the Lake County Land Reutilization Corporation in affecting the same. Ms. DePledge seconded.

 

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

Motion carried. Legislation No. 02-11-(02) is added to the evening’s agenda.

Economic & Community Development Council – Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins, Chair

Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins: The Economic Development Council will meet on Thursday, February 20^th at 7:00 p.m. All are welcome to attend.

                              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.

 

Ted Beres, 36706 Lakehurst, Eastlake

Mr. Beres: I know we have had a terrific amount of snow lately. My concern is about residents who do not clean off their sidewalks. I checked the City ordinances and there is none that says a resident must clean off their sidewalk. I realize it is the resident’s responsibility and not the City’s. One of my concerns is for school children when they get off the school bus and have to walk in the street. A couple of weeks ago a Bedford mother was struck by a car while walking her child to school. She had to walk in the street because the sidewalks were snow covered. My other concern is for the mailman and delivery people. I spoke with my mailman today and he said that he cut delivery on one house for three days because it was too much for him to get to the mailbox. He said all the resident has to do is open their front door and reach into their mailbox. They don’t think what the mailman has to do to get to the mailbox. Also, what about an emergency? When the EMS has to get a stretcher to the front door and there is nothing but snow and time is of the essence. I know the situation is exasperated because there are a lot of empty homes and we have a number of residents who are up in age or have physical limitations. My neighbor is Bill Koshar and he has a rider snow blower so he is out there cleaning off our neighbors’ driveways and sidewalks. Not everyone has a neighbor like Bill Koshar. Those are the comments I wanted to make and remember that spring is just around the corner.

There was no one else who wished to speak.

 

LEGISLATION PROPOSED – First number will be 2014-002

                                                                        ORDINANCE NO.: 02-11-(01)

Requested by: Council                                   An Ordinance amending Chapter 155,

Sponsored by: Council                                   “Employment Provisions and Compensation” of

                                                                        the Codified Ordinances of the City of Eastlake,                                                                  specifically Section 155.01 “General                                                                                      Administration” subsection (d),” and declaring                                                                     an emergency.

MOTION: Ms. Vaughn moved to suspend the rules requiring separate readings and

reading in full. Ms. DePledge seconded.

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

MOTION: Ms. Vaughn moved to adopt. Ms. DePledge seconded.

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Ordinance No. 2014-002.

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                                                                        RESOLUTION NO.: 02-11-(02)

Requested by: Administration                       A Resolution Authorizing the City of Eastlake Sponsored by: Council                                    to Proceed with the Demolition of an Unsafe                                                                        Structure(s) as listed in Exhibit A attached                                                                            hereto and incorporated herein and located in                                                                 Eastlake, Lake County, Ohio, and to request the                                                                   Assistance and Cooperation of the Lake County                                                                   Land Reutilization Corporation in affecting the                                                                    same, and declaring an emergency.

MOTION: Ms. Vaughn moved to suspend the rules requiring separate readings and

reading in full. Ms. DePledge seconded.

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

MOTION: Ms. Vaughn moved to adopt. Ms. DePledge seconded.

ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.

Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Resolution No. 2014-003.

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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: I want to thank Council once again for forgoing their raises. It does not seem like a lot of money but it does show at least that they understand the problem with the City’s financial situation. Thank you for the legislation on the demolition. I met with First Energy yesterday. They had an article in the paper over the weekend that they were starting to shut down April 15^th rather than the first quarter of 2015. That deadline came from the new law that goes into effect on the 15^th. They are ahead of making the generators for the grids and are looking at possibly this September for the plant to close. I asked if anything could change – any alternative in fuel supply – at this point there is nothing they can see. They said the energy costs there are too much compared to the other plants that are not coal fired. First Energy was going to try to convert to gas on its own but they say it is not cost effective. Mr. Slocum has talked to us about more lost revenue in the amount of $292,000 from the re-evaluation of the plant. We will look to see what else we can do to try to get more revenue in the City. Mr. D’Ambrosio mentioned the fund raiser for the Blvd. of 500 flags. Presently we have 250 tickets sold and our goal is 350. We have another week before the fund raiser. You can get the tickets through my office and from some members of Council and at VFW Post 3863 and VFW Post 678. I met with the Captains and EPAL and have secured April 12^th as a date for an Easter egg hunt which we have not had in the City for a long time. We are also in discussions with the Captains about the festival being held there. There is an outside group called Eastlake Alliance Helping Hands. Jeff Herron who was one of our Police Lieutenants is the President. This group is sort of like the Heart of Willoughby group and will try to have more events here in the City. I have met with the Chiefs and EPAL and we have tentative dates for Safety Town in August and are looking at an Open House for Police, Fire and Service Garage in May – just some things to show the residents that we are trying with limited resources to do some things to bring our City and community together. That was one of my goals and I know it is one of Councils also. I met with the Director of the MetroParks today and tried to think way out of the box by talking to them about taking over our swimming pools and our parks. That would relieve us of money needed to take care of the parks and relieve some of our people. They will look at our parks and talk about this with their Board. I am not really thinking that they will take over our parks and pool but they are willing to look at all of our parks and see if anything they can suggest for cost containment – things that they have done in regards to things they cannot keep up with money-wise and get back to me. I plan on meeting with the YMCA in regards to the pool. It is not in this budget. I spoke with a person today from one of our businesses who wants to look into corporate sponsors. When I gave him the number I do not think he thought it was that amount of money. In talking with Mr. Slocum if the City does not kick in anything in will be almost $100,000 in costs. I will sit down with him when he gets back from out of town and look at it. Mr. Slocum has distributed the budget. It is not looking real good. As Ms. Vaughn said we will start the process and see what we need to do cut down the expenses. This concludes my report and I am open for questions.

Mr. D’Ambrosio: Is April 12^th for the Easter egg hunt a good date?

Mayor Morley: It is a good date. We are doing some of the final touches. We will be on the field about an hour. They have a high school game at 11:00 a.m. and we are starting at 9:00 a.m. Once we get off the field we will go up into one corner of the stadium. It will be for Eastlake residents. We don’t have the extra people for a registration – we will ask for an ID to be shown.

Ms. Vaughn: Are you looking for volunteers to help?

Mayor Morley: Yes. We have secured one of the Easter Bunny’s helpers. We will get out information next month.

Ms. Vaughn: I am sure there will be a lot of people who want to help.

Mr. D’Ambrosio: Let us know if there is something you need from Council – we will pitch in on this.

Mr. Licht: You mentioned the cost for the City pool being about $100,000. Where is that number coming from – last year it was about $55,000.

Mayor Morley: Don’t forget they were planning on about $30,000 from pool passes and if you add $30,000 to $55,000 that is $85,000. We need another $10,000 to fix the ADA requirements. That is the ballpark amount with no cost from us. We cannot say we what we will have from pool passes. The last 20 years they averaged only about $17,000. That is my starting point because with everything else you will see in the budget that money does not exist. I am going to try every avenue to try to get the pool open but at this point it is not in the budget.

Mr. Slocum: I would like to add – when you asked where the number came from – I did include $5,000 – $10,000 because the pool has not been used for two years. I do not know what we are going to find and I want to anticipate that we have something if we do find it that we will be able to get it fixed.

Mr. D’Ambrosio: Mayor and Mr. Slocum – well done. Thank you for thinking out of the box. You never know.

There were no further questions of Mayor Morley.

LAW DIRECTOR – Randy Klammer

Mr. Klammer: I mentioned some law suits last time – those two are still pending. We dismissed the Manor Park lawsuit challenging the ordinances in part because we are not enforcing it anyway. I have talked with their lawyer and the Mayor – it will not be a priority for the Mayor in the next few months because there are other things to worry about. I let them know we would not be enforcing it for the summer. That was the multi-family inspection. There was no consensus and no one was really thrilled about it anyway. It did no harm to the City. Other than that I am helping the Mayor with his day to day stuff and I thank Mr. Gwydir for getting his revisions to that ordinance. I am open for questions.

There were no questions of Mr. Klammer.

 

FINANCE DIRECTOR – Mike Slocum

Mr. Slocum: Regarding the budget I know everyone received it last week. If you have questions I have a phone and email and will be more than happy to go over what is in there and what is not in there. Just as an FYI we are in the process of dealing with the School Board on a renewal of the Senior Center lease. The lease expires the end of March and I talked with the Superintendant yesterday. We have a draft by taking the last lease and making some minor modifications which we presented to them. I am waiting to hear back from them. He anticipates bringing it to the School Board in March and I anticipate bringing it to you next month. There is no real dollar amount. I think it is $1 per year. I am open for questions.

There were no questions of Mr. Slocum.

CITY ENGINEER – Tom Gwydir

Mr. Gwydir: I have been working on the Mayor’s initiatives regarding flooding in the City and an ordinance here and there. I am open for questions.

Mr. D’Ambrosio: I believe we have a meeting next Thursday at 6:30?

Mr. Gwydir: Correct.

There were no questions of Mr. Gwydir.

ACTING SERVICE DIRECTOR – Nick Rubertino

                     Mr. Rubertino: There is still quite a bit of snow removal proceeding. We are presently        working on chuck holes. As you know it is a bumpy road and will continue to be that way.            We are diligently working on them. In this weather it is hard to take the cold patch out there.             Within 15-20 minutes we are not able to move it. We are diligently working on it and tying   to keep up. I am open for questions.

                     Mayor Morley: I was with Mr. Rubertino today and spoke with Ms. Vaughn. We are going to      have to look at Willowick Drive from the Willowick border all the way to Stevens – the area       around Mannering, Quentin, Waverly all the way to Stevens. They fix the holes with cold   patch and then the plows tear it up. We need to start trying to get the costs. Council may   want to review and submit the roads in their Wards that need repairs so we can look at them.

                     There were no questions for Mr. Rubertino.

                     CHIEF BUILDING OFFICIAL – James S. McReynolds

Mr. McReynolds: I really do not have a report but I would like to take the opportunity to publically tell Council how impressed I am by you giving up a portion of your salary – the Council and the Mayor who has given up a huge portion of his salary. I want to tell you how proud I am to work with people of our character. This concludes my report and I am open for questions.

Mr. D’Ambrosio: Thank you and we feel the same way about you.

There were no questions of Mr. McReynolds.

POLICE CHIEF – Larry Reik

Chief Reik was absent and excused.

FIRE CHIEF – Ted Whittington

                     Chief Whittington was absent and excused.

                     ADJOURNMENT

                     The meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:39­ p.m.

           ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­                                                ______________________________________

                                                            JOE D’AMBROSIO, COUNCIL PRESIDENT

APPROVED: __________________________

ATTEST: _____________________________

                 DEBORAH A. CENDROSKI,      

                      CLERK OF COUNCIL