COUNCIL AS A WHOLE COMMITTEE MEETING

                                                                    MINUTES

                                                                    TUESDAY

        JUNE 9, 2015

 

Council President Mr. D’Ambrosio opened the meeting at 7:00 p.m. 

 

ATTENDEES

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

 

LEGISLATION PROPOSED:

06-09-(01): Resolution: Submitting to Electors: 3.0-Mill Road Levy Renewal

Mr. D’Ambrosio:  We place this renewal levy on the ballot every five years to try to continue our road projects throughout the City.  It is just a renewal and we hope you consider it on the November ballot.  Mr. Slocum?

 

Mr. Slocum:  We use this levy as seed money for a lot of the OPWC grants we receive.  The Willowick Drive job is a $500,000 job with $250,000 coming from this levy and $250,000 is coming from a grant from the State that we were able to get. If we did not have this levy we would not be pursuing this project.  This levy is critical for the City.

 

Mr. D’Ambrosio: Yes, it is very important for the City. 

 

There were no questions or comments.

 

LEGISLATION PENDING:  (Placed on First Reading 05/12/2015)

                                    (Placed on Second Reading 05/26/2015)

05-12-(02): Charter Amendment: Article VIII, Section 3. “Mandatory Referral”

Mr. D’Ambrosio:  This Charter amendment is on third reading and amends Article VIII, Section 3. “Mandatory Referral.”  This is for rezoning. We would typically put rezoning issues on the ballot. This would first go through the Planning Commission and then come to Council. But, Council cannot approve a rezone as an emergency measure – it would have to go for three readings.  Mayor?

 

Mayor Morley:  When we discuss this over the next few months before the November election I want everyone to know that anything will still go through the Planning Commission and three Council meetings in case there is somewhere we okay a company to build and we have residents who are against it – they will have a voice in it.  The reason we are asking for this is we are handcuffed – especially at the Vineyards, where the WalMart is, and the Nike site the City owns.  We have had people come in and when they find out they need to go to the ballot for a rezone they back out of wanting to come to Eastlake. If someone would have to go to the ballot it could take between six to eight months.  A lot of the companies want to get moving – that is the reason for this change.

 

There were no questions or comments.

 

MISCELLANEOUS

Liquor License Transfer Request: Rishee, Inc. dba Beverage & Tackle, 35579 Lakeshore Blvd., Eastlake to Alasali, Inc., 35579 Lakeshore Blvd., Eastlake

Mr. D’Ambrosio:  This is a liquor license request but as Chief Reik has a concern about this – per our Law Director’s advice – if Council wishes we can approve this pending resolution of Chief Reik’s concerns. 

 

Mr. Klammer:  The Clerk came up with a creative idea – if we cannot get a resolution for the Chief we can check the box and request a hearing – just to at least let the business owner keep it open in case the problem is just clerical.

 

There were no questions or comments.

 

Designation: June 20, 2015 “American Eagle Day

Mr. D’Ambrosio:  This was requested by our Clerk – Mrs. Cendroski?

 

Mrs. Cendroski:  I requested Council to approve this designation. The American Eagle Foundation was established 30 years ago to bring back the bald eagle which was dangerously declining.  They were on an endangered species protection list. Since that time there are 15,000 nesting pairs in the lower 48 states.  The American Eagle Foundation’s headquarters is located in Pigeon Forge, TN and they take in only injured eagles or eagles that are human imprinted and cannot live on their own.  They also have a huge reserve at Dollywood with sections for nesting pairs of eagles and a section for other eagles as eagles are very social.  48 of the states have designated June 20^th as American Eagle Day as well as our Federal Government.  I am asking that Eastlake also designate this day.  My sister and I are attending the 30^threunion in Pigeon Forge next weekend and I wanted to take this resolution with me to present to them.  They do a really good thing. I think we have all seen Challenger, the eagle. He flies at the stadiums and events.  We toured their facility where I was within three feet of Challenger and also a big golden eagle.  If anyone gets a chance to go to Dollywood and see this and request a tour of the American Eagle Foundation facility it will affect you in every way possible.  It is an amazing thing. Thanks to them we are saving the American Bald Eagles.  And we have some of their eagles in Ohio.  An eagle they released into the wild was sighted in Ohio.

 

There were no questions or comments.

 

Resolution: Submerged Land Lease

Mr. D’Ambrosio:  Mr. Gwydir?

 

Mr. Gwydir:  As you may recall the WPCC outfall pipe into the lake requires repairs at the end of its diffuser section.  We talked about this in Committee and Council has passed a resolution funding the work.  When we work in the lake it requires a nationwide permit from the Army Corps of Engineers and it requires that we work under the permit.  As part of the approval to work under that permit we are required to have a submerged land lease from ODNR.  Upon researching this we found no submerged land lease existed – and ODNR could not find one even though the structure has been there for close to 50 years.  In order to make application to the ODNR for a submerged land lease to meet the requirement the body that owns the land adjacent to that must submit a resolution or ordinance that allows us to have that submerged land lease.  That is the legislation that is in front of you tonight.  It was further found during our research that Eastlake has the overland easements on the outfall pipe up to the lake’s edge so we are just picking it up at the lake.  The reason we are pushing this now is the job is scheduled for next summer and the approval for the Army Corps permit can go very quickly or can take months and months depending on what shakes out. We do not want to miss the window next summer for the work when the conditions on the lake are optimal so we ask this legislation be considered.

 

Mr. D’Ambrosio: The City will own the lease and the estimated cost is anywhere from $1,200 to $2,400 a year. Will we split that cost with Willoughby?

 

Mr. Gwydir: Yes.

 

Mr. D’Ambrosio: What is the length of the lease?

 

Mr. Gwydir: They run approximately 50 years from their inception.

 

Mr. D’Ambrosio:  And we cannot do any of that work we have been talking about without this submerged land lease?

 

Mr. Gwydir: Yes.

 

There were no questions or comments.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 7:09 p.m.

 

dac                                              

 

        

                                                                                      APPROVED:  ________________

 

                                                                                        DATE: __________________