EASTLAKE CITY COUNCIL REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES APRIL 22, 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 7:03 p.m.
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
ATTENDEES
Members of Council in attendance were Mr. Hoefle, Mr. Licht, Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins, Mr. Evers, Ms. DePledge, 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, City Engineer Gwydir, CBO McReynolds, Police Chief Reik and Fire Chief Whittington. Service Director Rubertino was absent and excused.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Regular Council Meeting – April 8, 2014
MOTION: Mr. Licht moved to approve the minutes of the Regular Council Meeting of April 8, 2014. Mr. Evers 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: Before I begin my report – everyone on Council and the Administrators please speak into the microphones. A couple of people have approached me that they cannot hear us very well. I will do my part in making sure I have the microphones turned on. If we could concentrate on doing that it would be great.
This Friday there is the Safety Town fundraiser. The Mayor will be commenting on this.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: The next Council-as-a-Whole Committee Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 13, 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.
COMMUNICATIONS & PETITIONS
A fee waiver request was received from the Retriever for Ryan organization for use of the Community Center on Sunday, June 1, 2014 from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Ms. DePledge, would you like to comment on this?
Ms. DePledge: This is not official City business but obviously it is something very personal to me. My nephew is mildly autistic and he has juvenile diabetes and as he is getting older his math skills are not improving which makes it very difficult for him to do his calculations for his insulin and his carbs. We are putting together a benefit to get him a medical service alert dog and need to raise approximately $18,000. EPal has graciously decided to fiscally sponsor us by extending their 501C3 status to our organization and we are having a fund raiser on June 1st at the Eastlake Community Center. We hope everyone will come out and join us to support this great cause. My Dad never threw a bad party and my family’s motto is we are going to have a great party. You can come out and you will have a great time. We have some great prices – a five day, four night vacation to Cancun, a doggie bed of booze and hopefully an I Pad mini to raffle off. It should be a good time – we have great band and beer and wine sponsors. I appreciate your support and tonight we are here for a Motion for fee waiver for use of the Community Center as it is a non-profit organization. Mr. Evers, the Director of EPal, will make that Motion.
A communication was received from the Administration regarding State Issue 1, renewal of the State Capital Improvements Program.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: This was discussed in Council-as-a-Whole so if there are no objections a Motion will be made to add this to the evening’s agenda.
A communication was received from the Administration regarding re-appropriation of expenses for the period beginning January 1, 2014 and ending December 31, 2014.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: This is referred to Finance Committee.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Mr. D’Ambrosio: No Committee meetings were held.
FINANCE COMMITTEE – Ms. Vaughn, Chair
Ms. Vaughn: I will be scheduling a Finance Committee meeting for Tuesday, May 6th at 6:00 p.m. At that point in time we will be discussing the re-approprations for expenses for this year.
Legislative Recommendation
Legislation No. 04-22-(02)
MOTION: Ms. Vaughn moved to add Legislation No. 04-22-(02) to the evening’s agenda
Urging Ohio Voters to Support State Issue I, the renewal of the State Capital Improvements Program, on the May 6, 2014 ballot. Ms. Evers seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. Legislation No. 04-22-(02) is added to the evening’s agenda.
Fee Waiver Request
Mr. Evers moved to approve the fee waiver request from the Retriever for Ryan organization for use of the Community Center on Sunday, June 1, 2014 from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Mr. Licht seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas: Mr. Evers, Mr. Licht, Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins, Mr. Hoefle, Ms. Vaughn, Mr. D’Ambrosio
Abstain: Ms. DePledge
Motion carried. The fee waiver request is approved.
Economic & Community Development Council – Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins, Chair
Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins: We just had our ECDC meeting at 5:30 this evening. We had two guests join us from the Lake County, Ohio Port and Economic Development Authority – Mark Rantala, Executive Director and Peter Zahirsky, Coastal Manager. They came to give us some ideas and help us along with some of our economic development and the projects we are trying to work on. Their strongest suggestion for us was to get Vine Street together and have a complete rezoning rather than spot rezoning in order to make it easier to use and more attractive. There are a variety of suggestions they had. They said to have a list of all our available properties – industrial, store front so that they would have it on their web site and we could have it on our City web site. That will accelerate those properties being occupied. The Authority has its own web site – it is only a week old – lcport.org. It is enormous and has a variety of information including Eastlake. You can hit a tap on it and access our City web site where there is a lot of information about us. Also, on Saturday we worked together with the Port Authority and planted 134 tree seedlings. Thanks to E-Pal for being there – we had a lot of help – Ron Ironhorse, Councilman Evers, Councilwoman DePledge, Mark Cain from the Port Authority, about 10 kids from EPal and me. The kids split up between the adults and we planted the trees in about an hour’s time. The kids had a great time – we all did and thought about how we changed the park for the future and how fun it will be to watch the trees grow over the years. Hopefully the deer will not eat them. We had a great time and made a difference in our world.
Ms. DePledge: After we planted the trees we went to IHOP in Willoughby and the manager there was retired Officer Bill Gutowski’s son-in-law. He comped the breakfast for everyone and we owe a big thank you to IHOP in Willoughby. It was very gracious of them and the kids were rewarded for their good behavior. There was some applause going on in the restaurant and everyone was thrilled for the kids and it was great to see a local business step up and thank them for keeping the community nice. And the kids were surprised. If it was not for Mr. Evers and those EPal kids we would have been there for two days. They were the muscle and the backbone behind everything and did a tremendous job.
Mr. Evers: The kids did enjoy spending time with you, Ms. DePledge and Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins. They are a good group; hard working and hopefully we will hear a lot more about them in the future to come.
There were no further comments.
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.
Bill Alford, 59 River Drive, Eastlake
Mr. Alford: I spend a lot of time on the river. I have been on it already for weeks and I am sure you are all looking forward to it warming up enough for everyone else to get on. The one problem I have noticed over the years is that during this time of year and over the course of the summer there are a lot of people who dump their yard waste into the river. This is not a quick moving river and most of the season it just sits there in the river and I have noticed already this year that it is beginning to be the trend. Especially the back channel where there is no flow at all. I saw a woman with a beautiful house and yard with a crew cleaning out the back of the yard and dumping everything from the flower beds to the mulch into the river. I am sure this is something new that has not been brought up before – is there something we can do to keep the residents who live on the river from throwing all that debris in there? It happens – even someone will mow their lawn and just take it and dump it in the river so there is grass floating around and it looks horrible and is probably not good for the boats.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Chief Reik, is there something that can be done?
Chief Reik: I will look into the ordinance and be in touch. We will either have one that addresses it or I will speak with Council about getting something.
Mayor Morley: Please supply him with the addresses.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: If we don’t have something on the books for that it is something that we should address.
Ted Taubert, 371 Northcoast Pointe, Eastlake
Mr. Taubert: What, if anything, has the City done to solve the flooding problems at the corner of Lakeshore Blvd. and Erie Road – namely Northcoast Pointe Condominiums? And, why is there no curb on Lakeshore Blvd. so the water runs onto our property instead of staying in the street? And, why does water coming down Erie Road come into our driveway instead of staying on Erie Road? These things contribute to our flooding. Why does the City permit children in the trailer park to block corporation creek with a makeshift walkway to the big field when a simple wooden bridge would do the job?
Mr. D’Ambrosio: As far as the walkway – I did not know they had a temporary bridge. It is on Corporation Creek?
Mr. Taubert: I think it is. It wraps around the trailer park.
Mayor Morley: We will take a look at it.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: As to the flooding issues – I know a lot of them are being addressed.
Mayor Morley: I met with the Association and I know Mr. Gwydir has met with them. I know Mr. Klammer has talked to them because they have legal counsel for some other issues. I met with their Board and can reach back out to them. They were going to send me a power point presentation to give to Mr. Gwydir. They spoke about some of the issues with Corporation Creek. We have signed an agreement with First Energy to permit us to go into Corporation Creek because parts where we need to go into to clean up are First Energy’s property. So, we supplied them with our insurance policy to go back there. When the weather breaks a little we are going to go into parts of the creek and clean the spots and around the bridges where all the water runs. Mr. Rubertino and I were behind Corporation Creek off of Melinz. Once the weather gets better we are going to go into the creek and clean it up.
Mr. Taubert: It is my understanding that all the water that comes down the hill all the way back from the freeway into our property – all has to go into Corporation Creek to get to the river. Anything that blocks it will cause more flooding.
Mayor Morley: Mr. Gwydir is working with Willoughby’s engineer to work on something with Willoughby to deploy the water on Erie. We are aware of the problem.
Mr. Taubert: I know you are aware of it but I have not heard anything from our Association.
Mayor Morley: I will look up the dates when I met with them and I will send them another email to provide me more information. I actually have some information for them and they were going to send me emails so I could send them something about the railroad about which they had an issue regarding cleanup. They have an attorney so anything that has to do with the attorney I have him speak with Mr. Klammer.
Mr. Taubert: I have problems with some of those things. The attorney is the brother of one of the officers. The engineer is the brother of one of the officers. The President does not care about the flooding because she does not use her basement.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: That is an Association issue. As the Mayor has said, he will be in touch with them.
Mr. Taubert: No one wants to be President. I hope something gets accomplished.
Ted Beres, 36706 Lakehurst Drive, Eastlake
Mr. Beres: I am here as an advocate for the hearing impaired. As some of you know I do have a problem hearing you – and I am not alone. There was a lady at the last Council meeting who told me her husband is not coming because he could not hear you. She also has a problem. Especially with the women on Council, the men on this side and anyone standing at this podium. I have talked to a couple of men in the past and they said the same thing – that they have a problem hearing and they have not come back. I don’t know if microphones will make any difference – the Mayor is very clear tonight and I could hear him very clearly. But, I still have a problem hearing some of you. At the last Council meeting I was very upset because I could not hear what those two men were saying because I would have responded. I know the City needs revenue but not from enterprises that are, if anything, immoral. We seniors have the time and interest and want to be a part of the process but if we cannot hear what is being said we get frustrated and stay home.
There was no one else who wished to speak.
LEGISLATION PROPOSED – First number will be 2014-021
RESOLUTION NO.: 04-22-(01)
Requested by: Mr. D’Ambrosio A Resolution Proclaiming May, 2014 as
Sponsored by: Eastlake City Council Arthritis Awareness Month in the City of Eastlake, Ohio, and declaring an emergency.
MOTION: Ms. Vaughn moved to suspend the rules requiring separate readings and
reading in full. Mr. Licht 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. 2014-021.
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04-22-(02) RESOLUTION NO.: ___________
Requested by: Administration A Resolution Urging Ohio Voters to Support Sponsored by: Council State Issue I, the renewal of the State Capital Improvements Program, on the May 6, 2014 ballot, 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. 2014-022.
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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 would like to thank everyone who made the Easter Egg Hunt a success. We probably had over 700 kids at the stadium. Thanks to the Captains, EPal, the North High kids who were there from the Honor Society, Police Chief Reik, Fire Chief Whittington, and the Victims Advocates – I have not received one complaint at all. We are going in the right direction there. The Safety Town fund raiser is this Friday night and is sold out. The Chiefs have advised they are going to start the striping and painting the houses so we are ready for June. Thank you to everyone who sold the tickets and thank you to everyone who is involved. I spoke with Mr. Strand today – May 3rd is the tentative date for raising the flags at the Blvd. of 500 Flags. If you notice on the east side of the building poles are down. H&M Concrete is doing some community work for us at no charge. Sidley will donate the cement so we can line up the poles straighter. Mr. Strand will give me more information after their meeting Friday night. Road repairs continue. Mr. Rubertino is on vacation and when he gets back we will discuss where we are going with the road repairs. They are out with the cold patch. The new hot box should be in within a week or so and the asphalt plants will be open so we can make more permanent fixes. We will also sit down and talk about the parks – when we are going to start cutting the grass. It is too wet now so we have not been cutting too much grass but they have done some cutting on S.R. 91. This concludes my report and I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Mayor Morley.
POLICE CHIEF – Larry Reik
Chief Reik: As the Mayor said the fund raiser is Friday. The majority of the money this time around will be used to have everything seal coated, the fence repainted, and a new shed. They have purchased several of the motorized cars to use to teach the kids. This year we will get a lot of stuff done and the whole area will really look nice when it is all said and done. We have obtained either donations or material to cover the expenses by explaining the program. People and businesses in the City have been very generous – the office at the Police Department is filled with prizes. I unfortunately will be out of town and will not be able to make it but I am sure it will be a nice event. I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Chief Reik.
FIRE CHIEF – Ted Whittington
Chief Whittington: I hope everyone got the chance to see the Better Communities thing on Channel 5. I think Chief Reik and the Mayor did a nice job. We all know how important it is to get positive information about the community and to really try to present a positive image. They did a nice job. I have been working with the Mayor. He called a meeting yesterday with the representative from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and me. We are dealing with some orphaned wells on Erie Road and Admiral. The Mayor has given us direction as to things we need to be doing so I have been working with the representative. We have come up with names and think we have isolated where the main problem will be and what property it is. The State is contacting him to try to find out a course of action and tomorrow night we are meeting with some of the residents in the area for some questions and answers. The Mayor, the representative from ONDR and I will be there. Hopefully we are moving in the right direction with some of those issues in that area. We received a pseudo grant from one of the local boating agencies that is going to let the Fire Department have a rescue Jet Ski. There is no cost to the City. It is a program for cities that have rivers and lakes in their communities. It will be set up as a rescue and we will be doing training on it. The Chagrin Lagoons has always been gracious by letting us have a slip in the arena for our rescue boat so we will attach the Jet Ski there. It will give us a chance to get out on the lake much quicker during rescues. I have worked with the Mayor in this and there is no cost to the City. It is a new program we are going to try out. I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Chief Whittington.
CHIEF BUILDING OFFICIAL – James S. McReynolds
Mr. McReynolds: I have no report this evening and I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Mr. McReynolds.
CITY ENGINEER – Tom Gwydir
Mr. Gwydir: Regarding the Mayor’s statement about Northcoast Condominiums – there has been a lot of activity working with CEI to be able to get into the property to get it cleaned out – we are set with that. I have been making communications with various folks at the railroad trying to get some action on the ditch along the backside of Northcoast Condos and the railroad right-of-way. We are also working as the Mayor mentioned to get a study going with Willoughby on what we can do to stop the water from coming down Corporation Creek so quickly. It is a measured approach. You just cannot jump in and do drainage fixes without understanding what is going on. We are trying to cover all bases from maintenance all the way up to the study and hopefully we will have some positive results. I am open for questions.
Mr. Licht: Did you receive confirmation from the County on whether or not they were going to replace the asphalt on Erieview?
Mr. Gwydir: Yes. They are starting this week but could not give us the exact date they will fix the hole. But, we expect it to be filled shortly. If it does not work out we can always back in through the contractor to see if we can get it done that way. But, I prefer to let the County do it. We are also talking to the contractor about restoration of the grass along the sides – that should be underway in the not too distant future.
There were no further questions of Mr. Gwydir.
SERVICE DIRECTOR – Nick Rubertino
Mr. Rubertino was absent and excused.
FINANCE DIRECTOR – Mike Slocum
Mr. Slocum: The County Auditor distributed the first half property tax collections on April 18th. We have always received that money in March. It is my understanding that the reason for the delay this year is that the State in their haste in discontinuing the rollback portions of the Homestead did not have the accounting in place to provide the County the numbers they needed to do the distribution. They finally came together but at a minimum of three weeks later than normal. I am happy to report that the property tax we did collect was at a higher percentage than what we collected last year. I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Mr. Slocum.
LAW DIRECTOR – Randy Klammer
Mr. Klammer: I have been working with the Mayor on the demolition program. There were a few hiccups but he is staying on top of it so it looks like we will meet the deadlines. I want to publically thank Mr. Miller, our Tax Administrator. There was a certain catering company for which there was criminal enforcement on and he has been working very hard to try to get some money for a few years. Today he was successful in getting them into a payment plan and a lump sum payment. I compliment him for his doggedness in that regard. I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Mr. Klammer.
MOTION TO ADJOURN INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION
Mr. D’Ambrosio asked for a Motion to adjourn into Executive Session for discussion of matters of the employment and personnel of James S. McReynolds.
MOTION: Ms. Vaughn moved to adjourn into Executive Session in compliance with Ohio Revised Code Section 121.22, “Open Meeting Law” for discussion of matters of the employment and personnel of James S. McReynolds. Mr. Evers seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried.
Mr. Klammer: The record already reflected that Mr. McReynolds is here this evening in his assigned spot. The section that talks about Executive Session for employment related matters does give an employee the right to request a public hearing. Mr. McReynolds and I talked about this earlier and we talked again with the Mayor right before Council to see if he wanted to have our discussion heard publically and he indicated he was not going to request a public hearing. I wanted to make sure there is a record of that and if he changes his mind he will let us know.
The meeting was adjourned into Executive Session in compliance with Ohio Revised Code Section 121.22, “Open Meeting Law” for discussion of matters of the employment and personnel of James S. McReynolds.
MEETING CALLED BACK TO REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
Ms. Vaughn moved to adjourn back into the Regular Council Meeting portion. Mr. Licht seconded. The meeting was called back to the Regular Council Meeting with Ms. Vaughn, Mr. Licht, Mr. Evers, Ms. DePledge, Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins, Mr. Hoefle and Mr. D’Ambrosio in attendance.
MOTION TO REMOVE JAMES S. McREYNOLDS AS CHIEF BUILDING OFFICIAL FOR THE CITY OF EASTLAKE
Motion: Ms. Vaughn moved to approve the Mayor’s removal of James S. McReynolds as Chief Building Official for the City of Eastlake. Mr. Evers seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. The Mayor’s removal of James S. McReynolds as Chief Building Official for the City of Eastlake is approved.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:41 p.m.
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JOE D’AMBROSIO, COUNCIL PRESIDENT
APPROVED: __________________________
ATTEST: _____________________________
DEBORAH A. CENDROSKI,
CLERK OF COUNCIL