EASTLAKE CITY COUNCIL REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES AUGUST 26, 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 7:10 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, Service Director Rubertino, CBO Menn, City Engineer Gwydir, Police Chief Reik and Fire Chief Whittington.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Regular Council Meeting with adjournment into Executive Session – July 8, 2014
MOTION: Ms. DePledge moved to approve the minutes of the Regular Council Meeting with adjournment into Executive Session of July 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
Mr. D’Ambrosio: On September 7th we will be having our 9-11 Ceremony. The Mayor will comment on this.
Meetings Scheduled
Mr. D’Ambrosio: The next Council-as-a-Whole Committee Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 9, 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 communication was received from the Administration regarding requalification of the Urban County Status Request for Lake County.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Mayor?
Mayor Morley: This is the agreement we have with the Commissioners so we can continue to apply for the block grants. This year E-Pal was fortunate to get $10,000 from the block grant. This gives the Commissioners our okay to enter into agreement with the group that provides the grants and so we can continue to apply for them.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: I really see no need to have a committee meeting over this. If there are no objections this will be referred to the September 9th agendas.
2. A communication from Fire Chief Whittington regarding roof replacement at the Fire
Department.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: This is an issue that has been ongoing for quite a while. Are there any objections to referring this to the September 9th agendas? The money has been budgeted.
Mr. Licht: Do these funds come from the Fire Levy?
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Yes. Since there are no objections we will place this on the September 9th agendas.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Mr. D’Ambrosio: A Finance Committee meeting was held. Ms. Vaughn?
FINANCE COMMITTEE – Ms. Vaughn, Chair
Ms. Vaughn: This was discussed during the Council-as-a-Whole Committee meeting. Present at the meeting were Ms. DePledge, Mr. Licht, Mr. D’Ambrosio, Mr. Hoefle, Mr. Evers and me. In attendance from the Administration were Mayor Morley, Finance Director Slocum, Law Director Klammer and CBO Menn. We discussed everything and as I already indicated it was a relatively short meeting because as everyone had six weeks to review the information we had our questions answered before the meeting so it made it a lot easier for everyone. Everything appears on this evening’s agenda and all has been recommended to be approved.
There were no questions of Ms. Vaughn.
ECONOMIC & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT cOUNCIL – Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins, Chair
Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins: We had an ECDC meeting tonight before the Council meetings. The new Chagrin River Watershed Partners Director Heather Elmer joined us to introduce herself and review what we had been working on. We talked about the Erie Road park plan and reviewed the master plan. She suggested that we could possibly get grants and use some of the efforts we have already put towards the development – the master plan, planting of trees and so on – towards whatever match we may need to have. And, some of the grants she is talking about have no match. She said there is a Great Lakes Restoration Grant and they would provide us with pervious pavers for the parking lot areas and work on the stream restoration which is an important part. Also, we talked about the possibility of working with First Energy to get 2 or 3 acres at the top of the hill by the seawall for a restaurant because there is only one restaurant on the lake front in Lake County and that is in Fairport Harbor. Also, we talked about possibly having public access to the beach on the other side of First Energy. If you do not have a boat you don’t know about the beach but it is very nice and is a nice size and is really beautiful. Ms. Butler from Bryant and Stratton was there – Mayor, are you going to talk about their festival?
Mayor Morley: She is going to call me tomorrow. I guess they have had some hiccups so I need to send them to the right departments so they can get moving.
Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins: There is a possibility that Bryant and Stratton will have a festival on their property at the south tower at S.R. 91 and Curtis Blvd. They are also planning their sixth annual job fair on September 23rd and that is not just for college students but they are welcoming employers from all over the community and any member of our community to be a part of it. This concludes my report.
There were no questions of Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins.
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.
Karen & Jim White, 243 E. Overlook, Eastlake
Mrs. White: We are here because we are really concerned about the flooding. We have been in our home for less than five years and we have flooded five times. I am horrified when I know it is going to rain and I think my husband should talk more. He has heard about hydro breaks in the catch basins – they seem to work in other cities. I do not know what to do. How do you sell your home if you want to? Who will want to buy it? We are here – is there anything that can be done? I guess it has been years. I used to live in a house for 18 years and I did not worry about water. I was on 6th floor and did not realize it has been going on for so long and I am really curious as to what is being done?
Mr. D’Ambrosio: I know there have been some areas where the Service Department has been cleaning a lot of sewers. Mr. Rubertino, have we been on East Overlook yet?
Mr. Rubertino: We have been up and down East Overlook. We checked every catch basin. We are not finding any debris blocking the catch basins. We checked the sanitaries. I even had the Mayor out there. We do not have an issue in the street that I can address that will resolve the issues. The individual issues with houses having water coming into the basements – I don’t have an answer. Is it coming back through the drains?
Mrs. White: It is – it is coming through the storm sewer.
Mr. White: Is it the volume on the street?
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Mr. Rubertino, is it an option if they were to expose their tees – do we still try to look at lateral lines?
Mr. Rubertino: If they are backing up sanitary wise we are happy to go out and run cameras.
Mr. White: I know there may not be a solution to it. I know the way stuff was built might not have been as well as it could have been. Has there been an overall determination as to why it is going on? I have had the City and a plumber look at it and we cannot come up with anything. It seems like the system is not able to keep up with the rain.
Mr. Rubertino: The amount of rain we have had recently?
Mr. White: Right.
Mr. Rubertino: We are getting tons of rain in a short period of time. I do not know anyplace that can handle it. We are used to rains that rain all day and are a drizzle that goes into a harder rain. But the rains we are getting – I cannot answer for the sewer issue as far as volume.
Mr. White: Would there be a way of looking into catch basins and hydro breaks – as the catch basins fill up they shut off and the water flows into the street. That prevents the water from getting into the system. You deal with it on the streets until it catches up. The City systems usually catch up pretty quick. But, the hydro breaks seem like they may be worth looking into. They don’t seem to be a bad price.
Mr. Rubertino: I am not familiar with them but will be happy to look into it. I am willing to come out there and camera. We are trying to get there. I wish I had an answer for you.
Mr. White: We have looked at it. It does not make any sense at all. If you guys could fix it you would.
Mr. Rubertino: We are there. Unfortunately, we are part of the group – the Mayor floods. We all want the issue resolved. If there is an ongoing issue at your house call me the next time it happens – I am 24-7. You can call me – I will be happy to go out there at the instance it is happening. It may be something underlying that we can look at and get repaired – it may not. But I am willing to come out there at that moment that it is happening to look at it. I will be happy to give you my name and number and we will try to help you as best we can.
Mrs. White: It is a group of us on our street – it is not just our house.
Mr. Rubertino: I am not sure I spoke with you myself.
Mrs. White: You were very nice and very helpful.
Mayor Morley: I spoke with her and then you went out and spoke with a couple of the neighbors.
Mrs. White: You were great and I appreciated that.
Mayor Morley: We are trying to be more proactive. Our Engineer Mr. Gwydir and I have talked about what you spoke about that Euclid is using. He is doing a lot of investigation. As I told you on the phone we are working with Willoughby to see if there is somewhere we can divert the water. That study as just started. We all don’t want to see rain. I especially don’t like to see rain – as you. The Chief’s don’t like to see rain because we have had issues with our guys going out in unsafe conditions. But we are working on it. We are trying to stay proactive and stay ahead of it. As Mr. Rubertino said – you can call us anytime. If there is anything you need give us a call. We are continuing to try to look at it. Are we going to ever solve the problem of it being over capacitated? We don’t know if that will ever happen. I have talked with Mayor Anderson of Willoughby. They priced what it would cost to replace everything in Willoughby – $100 million. I imagine it would be the same for us. In talking to our Engineer we can replace everything and still get flooded if we get the density of rain. But we are trying to stay proactive and have stayed in areas to make sure there were no blockages. Is there anything your contractor said that he sees?
Mr. White: comments could not be understood as Mr. White was not speaking into the microphone.
Mrs. White: It is not just for us because we have only been there less than 5 years. The people across the street – we have 4 or 5 neighbors – they watch our house when we are gone and know what is going on. They bring in our garbage cans. It is for everyone. And even the people that don’t flood are affected. Thank you.
Jean Jermakow, 33845 Willowick Drive, Eastlake
Mrs. Jermakow: I just wanted to say to Mr. Licht. Thank you so much. That was awesome and to me is an incredible recommendation and I look forward to working with you, Mr. Menn.
Peggy Parnell, 1186 East 362nd Street, Eastlake
Mrs. Parnell: I am right here with them. I have been there almost 22 years and have flooded five times. We have come to Council meetings before in the past. My husband has come. We have spoke. No offense to anyone but it is always the same thing – you are doing the best you can and so on and so forth. I put a backflow preventer on my house and have had my lines camaraed and they have gone through the storm and sanitary – there were no blockages. I am here to say there really needs be something done for these people. I was fortunate that I could pay to have work done to my house but not everyone can afford that. They are busy buying and refixing every time they flood. On my street it looks like there is something going on with the sewer – on the right side going up the street the road is collapsing. I don’t know if the storm pipes have holes in them. The City fixed the end because water was coming out of the pipe but it put a hold in my skirt.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Is it across the street from your house?
Mrs. Parnell: It is my driveway skirt. When driving down the road you can tell there is something going on.
Mr. Rubertino: I will be more than happy to come out and look at it.
Laura Gordon, 1169 East 362nd Street, Eastlake
Ms. Gordon: What perplexes me about the flooding is this problem has been going on for so long. Did Mayor Dan ever do anything about it or did he just leave everyone to rot for years? I will start with him because that is as far back as I can go. Did he not do anything? Is that what everyone is telling us – for all these years no one has focused on the problem because it seems like we are all trying to resolve it today? But this issue has gone on for 17 years.
Mayor Morley: What confuses us about all the streets – why is it two houses or three houses or five houses – why is it not every house? The way my brain functions is if it was the system I believe it should be every house – that is where I am lost at times and I have talked with our Engineer.
Ms. Gordon: In one respect I am lucky because I did not buy a home with a basement. So I cannot flood because of water but I can flood in other ways unfortunately. It seems to me that a problem that has been so devastating – I agree and don’t understand why the house next door to me does not flood and the house across the street doesn’t but the house four houses down will. I don’t understand – it seems like now we are talking – this has been an issue for years but has nothing ever been done or talked about – that is the sense I am getting.
Mayor Morley: I think they have always looked at the sewers and it comes down to the number I mentioned about Willoughby – $100 million. That is what it comes down to. I have a friend who lives in Lakeworth, Florida. They have a ballot issue on for vote tonight and placed a $68.5 million bond issue to tear up every one of the roads and fix every sewer. I mentioned this to our City Engineer and if they do pass it and spend all the money it is still not for sure they will not flood. I ask Mr. Gwydir – what can we do? He will never say and I will never say it will never happen again. Because we don’t know – with the 100 year rains that are every five weeks unfortunately or having 3 inches of rain in an hour – we were never used to that. The area where I live never flooded in 22 years of living there and now it is flooding. What has changed in 22 years – really nothing. That is where we are lost. We are trying to work with Willoughby to see if there are ways we can send water to other places. We are all residents and are concerned with where the water will go.
Ms. Gordon: It gets scary. I have to work with her too and what it is like a day of working with her when it is raining outside. It ain’t easy. I don’t have a basement but while I don’t have a basement and does not impact me that way it does still affect me because I have to watch them go through it time and time again. It is depressing to drive down the streets and watch people have to throw everything out. I don’t feel that it is an easy answer. I think a lot contributes to it. There are a lot of variables. But it feels like it has never been talked about.
Mayor Morley: I have been talking with the other Mayors at our meetings – Mayor Anderson and Willowick’s Mayor Bonde. Willowick has tons more issues than we have. We are trying to look at a way we can tap into some money. I mentioned talking to the Governor and saying since there is a $900 million carry-over from all the other things – maybe we can start getting money from the state for infrastructure projects, sewers and the roads. One thing I have learned is government is slow.
Ms. Gordon: Government is slow but as you said – I was talking to people who live in a condo and the association is assessing money to try to deal with the flooding issue – even though they are on the second floor. I asked how can they make an assessment if they don’t know it can work. I know there are no easy answers.
Mr. Licht: You asked what has changed in the last 20 years. With the amount of new businesses and the amount of houses and the continuation of building more and more impervious areas it causes that stormwater run-off to increase. Our piping has been the same since 1960 but we have grown two-fold over the years. Until we are able to generate $100 million to replace all the pipes I do not know if there is a single solution. I know something Council has done – we recently joined the Lake County Stormwater Program which will look at businesses that have impervious areas and charge a little different for more money so we can try to generate a little more money. It will not be enough to fix all the issues but hopefully it will help generate a little more money for some of the things the Mayor is trying to do.
Peggy Parnell, 1186 East 362nd Street, Eastlake
Mrs. Parnell: When you were talking about why one house floods and another doesn’t – when I had a lot of work done the one thing the plumber said was that not every houses underground pipe are at the same level. Mine is lower than maybe the other persons and that is why certain people flood.
Mr. Licht: On that same point someone with a backflow preventer – and I am not saying this is the case in your area – but one person having a backflow preventer can cause the person next door to flood. It could be a combination of things.
Mrs. Parnell: My backflow preventer does not do that because he has flooded just as much as I have. She was asking has anything ever been done – I have been here 22 years – the very first flood they checked the end of our street and said the pipe on our street was bigger than the pipe making the turn and that was why we flooded that time and they corrected that issue.
There was no one else who wished to speak.
LEGISLATION PROPOSED – First number will be 2014-047
RESOLUTION NO.: 08-26-(01)
Requested by: Administration A Resolution authorizing and directing the Sponsored by: Finance Committee Mayor and Director of Finance to enter into a Contract with Zenith Systems, LLC, the most responsible and lowest and best bidder, for the Eastlake Senior Center Lighting Upgrade for the total amount of Fifteen Thousand Four Hundred Fifty Two Dollars ($15,452.00), 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. Mr. Licht seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Resolution No. 2014-047.
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RESOLUTION NO.: 08-26-(02)
Requested by: Administration A Resolution authorizing and directing the Sponsored by: Finance Committee Mayor and Director of Finance to enter into a Contract with Buckeye Pumps, Inc., the sole supplier, for the purchase of Three (3) Flygt pumps including labor and material for the total cost of Sixty Five Thousand Three Hundred Seventy-Eight Dollars ($65,378.00), 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. Mr. Licht seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Resolution No. 2014-048.
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RESOLUTION NO.: 08-26-(03)
Requested by: Administration A Resolution authorizing and directing the Sponsored by: Finance Committee Mayor and Director of Finance to enter into a Contract with Your Generator Connection, the most responsible, lowest and best bidder, for the purchase of one (1) Towable MG25FHI25KW Generator with Trailer and accessories including labor and material for the total cost of Eighteen Thousand Three Hundred Fifty Dollars and Seventy Cents ($18,350.70), said generator to be used for backup pump station emergency power, 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. Mr. Licht seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Resolution No. 2014-049.
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ORDINANCE NO.: 08-26-(04)
Requested by: Finance Director Slocum An Ordinance to re-appropriate for the expenses
Sponsored by: Finance Committee of the City of Eastlake, State of Ohio, for the period beginning January 1, 2014 and ending December 31, 2014, 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. Mr. Licht seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Ordinance No. 2014-050.
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ORDINANCE NO.: 08-26-(05)
Requested by: Administration An Ordinance authorizing and directing the
Sponsored by: Finance Committee Mayor and Director of Finance to enter into
an Agreement for a Tax Incentive Grant with
The Kilroy Company dba Trust Technologies, 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. Mr. Licht seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Ordinance No. 2014-051.
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ORDINANCE NO.: 08-26-(06)
Requested by: Planning Commission An Ordinance authorizing the issuance
Sponsored by: Finance Committee of a Conditional Use Permit to Community
Bus Services, Inc., 34929 Cutis Blvd.
Eastlake, OH, 44095, 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. Mr. Licht seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Ordinance No. 2014-052.
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RESOLUTION NO.: 08-26-(07)
Requested by: Administration A Resolution Authorizing the City of Eastlake Sponsored by: Finance Committee 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. Mr. Licht seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
MOTION: Ms. Vaughn moved to adopt. Mr. Licht seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Resolution No. 2014-053.
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RESOLUTION NO.: 08-26-(08)
Requested by: Administration A Resolution authorizing and directing the Sponsored by: Finance Committee Mayor and Director of Finance to enter into a Contract with Chagrin Valley Paving, Inc., the most responsible, lowest and best bidder, for the 2014 Asphalt Pavement Repair Program for the Base Bid and Alternate Bid amount of Two Hundred Seventy-Two Thousand Nine Hundred Fifty One Dollars ($272,951.00), 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. Mr. Licht seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Resolution No. 2014-054.
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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: Thank you Mr. President and Council for passing all the legislation. Good evening, residents. It is good to see we have more residents than our usual three in the front row. They are always here and are usually the only three here. Some people believe we don’t like to have people come to our meetings. We do. We like to hear the good and the bad. As long as we all work together as a City we will move forward. On September 7th we will have a 9-11 Ceremony at the Blvd. of 500 Flags at 11:00 a.m. On September 30th – more information will be in the September Gazette – we will have a presentation which is being held in our communities and others on the heroin epidemic that is facing our City and other communities. We will have one of our residents here to talk whose son unfortunately passed away from a drug overdose at the age of 27 years. Our Victim’s Advocates will here as well as Chief Reik and Chief Whittington. We want to provide the signs of this issue. We received Ohio Public Works Commission money of $253,000 for the Willowick Drive slab replacement. Mr. Gwydir works on our grants to get us money. It is a $560,000 project and our part – the $253,000 – will come out of the Road Levy. The funding for the asphalt repairs which were approved tonight also comes out of the Road Levy. We continue to work on the roads and sewers. We received funds from our application last year for Kalene Court and our match is $78,000 – the work started on Monday. Regarding the roof repairs at the Fire Department – they have been a constant issue. Chief Whittington and Law Director Klammer will be going after the bond of the last contractor we had. The roof has leaked consistently since they repaired it – they made repairs here and there but they are working together to go after the contractor’s bond. Mr. Gwydir, Mr. Rubertino and I met with the Chagrin River Watershed Partners to try to find ways to look into this flooding in certain areas of the City – areas where we could install swales or retention basins. We had a good week last week for new businesses coming into the City and even got one that had a $2.1 million payroll. Mr. Slocum and I are talking with another company that may come in with a $1.5 million payroll. We have another machine shop that is thinking about coming to the City with another $1.5 million payroll. We also have some smaller businesses coming into the City. I have a resident helping me on her own time do economic development. We formed a letter to go to the areas where empty businesses are and are working with Lake County Economic Development to highlight all the empty buildings we have – either industrial or commercial – so we can get more businesses to come into the City. We continue to work on all of that. This concludes my report and I am open for questions.
Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins: I appreciate your sense of humor but you left five people out who come almost every single Council meeting. That would be the three fellows behind the front row and Mr. Beres and Mr. Alford. They are always here. So, don’t leave them out.
Mayor Morley: There was no slight intended. I appreciate everyone coming out and I know Council does.
There were no further questions of Mayor Morley.
FIRE CHIEF – Ted Whittington
Chief Whittington: It has been a pretty busy summer for the Fire Department since we last met. We supported County operations and Mentor – they had a large industrial fire. The County had a large fire at the Health Department and we were at the plane crash last night in Willoughby Hills. We are supporting our neighbors and there have been some smaller events with less tragedy in our Community where we reached out for some help. This weekend will be our MDA collection in front of the fire station. As a reminder that is a fund raiser we do nationally. Most fire departments will be out during that weekend. The money we collect from the residents all goes to the MDA. It does not support any functions in the Community or the Fire Department. Fire Marshall Futchi is our MDA leader and it is a passion for him. This concludes my report and I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Chief Whittington.
POLICE CHIEF – Larry Reik
Chief Reik: We fielded a lot of questions about the missing female that is being searched for in the national parks area by Boston Heights. We got involved because she is a resident of Eastlake. The last time she was see was out in the community so instead of keeping on bouncing the person who was concerned we started the ball rolling. Her car was found and they have a reasonable idea that she is in that area. Obviously as days go by it does not look as well as it did when it first came about. We are trying to take care of things on this end of town – we have received a lot of cooperation and try to do the same. We are still hoping for a good outcome. With school starting today please keep an eye out – the kids are getting on and off busses and there will be a lot more drivers out there.
There were no questions of Chief Reik.
LAW DIRECTOR – Randy Klammer
Mr. Klammer: Any of the law suits that were pending are still pending. There is one new little lawsuit related to one of the demotions – a stay order. I know that is disappointing to the neighbors. The last week has really been about demolition and trying to figure out the notice provisions and Mr. Menn bringing his staff up to speed as to how he wants to handle some stuff. It is coming together and hopefully this new round will run smoother. It is a lot of work for the staff to find out everyone who needs to be noticed and they have to go through things you would not possibly image to get it out. They did a lot without a CBO to supervise in the interim and I compliment them. I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Mr. Klammer.
FINANCE DIRECTOR – Mike Slocum
Mr. Slocum: I have some news I am not sure how to report. I had a meeting at the County last week – our local government share is going up next year by about $80,000. I think it is primarily driven by them making it more formula driven at the State level and as the State’s receipts are growing gigantically our share is growing. We will get a little over $1 million while a couple of years ago we got $1.8 million. So we are nowhere near where we were but there is going to be a little bit of improvement next year. Hopefully I can report on better stuff in the future. I am open for questions.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: I know there was a surplus in the State with all the cuts they made from municipalities. I did hear they were going to start giving some of the money back. Are they looking at individual cities?
Mr. Slocum: I have heard nothing more. The only think I have heard is dealing with the worker’s comp. That is going to be 60% of the 2012 premiums paid but not all of our stuff is actual premiums. Some of ours is repaying for actual benefits paid. We will get something but somewhere in the neighborhood of what we got last year. That is the only program.
There were no further questions of Mr. Slocum.
CITY ENGINEER – Tom Gwydir
Mr. Gwydir: We are continuing to support the Mayor’s initiative – he noted a couple of projects we worked on which are underway or will be underway. We are looking at the drainage as noted and are doing everything in our power to find grants, money and low interest loans to support improving the City’s infrastructure. I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Mr. Gwydir.
SERVICE DIRECTOR – Nick Rubertino
Mr. Rubertino: As per the report I have given you I will review a couple of things so the residents get an idea as well. We have repaired 4 catch basins at this point and have approximately 6 left to do. We continue to do pothole repairs as best we can depending on the day and the structure we have to work with. We will be back out with the hotbox within the next couple of weeks. We are preparing for leaf season. We are doing the best we can as we can to get everything going in the right direction. We have received a lot of calls about the condition of S.R. 91 and Vine Street. We are trying to keep the weeds down. Seeding season comes in the fall – the moisture in the colder air helps the grass seeds to get going. Patience in that is what I would request. Some of the dirt is there already and we will continue to keep that going in that direction. I am open for questions.
Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins: I am curious how we are doing with cleaning out Corporation Creek?
Mr. Rubertino: We have not addressed much in Corporation Creek. We have gone to the outflow of Erie Road and cleaned the entire area – I believe you know the resident on Roberts Road who has the issue. We spoke with him and have that cleaned out. We continue to monitor it. At this point we are not having an issue there and we are trying to keep the other situations we have under control. We are keeping an eye on it. We are not in there digging right now but we keep the culverts open and clear and try to keep up with it as best we can.
Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins: Maybe I misunderstood but I was thinking we were going to take equipment back there and dig out appliances that were left behind.
Mayor Morley: We have been doing all the mains. We look before and after storms. That is where we had the Watershed Partners looking. They have told us what Mr. Rubertino is saying. We are keeping the mains open. We have not gone in and dug a ditch or anything larger. We have been told to keep the mains open and that is what we have been doing. That is what has been helping us. The north and south river areas and the other areas have been doing good during the major rainstorms.
Mr. Rubertino: We have been on North and South Riverview. We are monitoring Corporation Creek and keeping up the areas that persistently have a problem. We have not dug because we have not seen the need. But we do monitor on a regular basis. Every rainfall the Sewer Department’s Mr. Boulton and Mr. Mastrocola go out and check the areas that we know are potentially the problem areas. We are keeping up with them. It is working in the right direction.
Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins: Thank you for that update.
Mayor Morley: The four of us – the Chiefs, Mr. Rubertino and me are in contact during storms and will pick spots – each in an area. We go to the spots we know will flood first and have been having the pumps out ahead of time. That has been helping.
Mr. Licht: A comment on the leaf pickup. As we get close to the leaf season pickup I know a lot of residents like to put them in their front yard. The City does its best to pick up all the leaves but every year it seems like there are some that get left out. Those do become a hazard. They blow into the street and get into the sewers. If you can bag your leaves it is a benefit. The leaf pickup for Republic runs through December 1st. I plead to the residents if you can bag your leaves please do so. If you can’t and you have to put them on your front yard be sure they are not in the street and on the treelawn. Your grass will grow back.
There were no further questions of Mr. Rubertino.
CHIEF BUILDING OFFICIAL – David Menn
Mr. Menn: I would like to comment about the staff. What I realized once I took over was that the staff was kind of working by themselves and I think they have done a great job. I look forward to working with them. I have already floated some new ideas with them and they seem very onboard with everything. As our Law Director said regarding the Land Bank – we have 11 houses on the schedule right now. It does take quite a bit of work so we are moving forward with the Land Bank which is a good program. We are also trying to do more advisories with people so if homeowners or contractors have concerns about projects or anything that may be happening just give us a call. We are always willing to come out and try to advise or see what the problem is and what can be done. I have noticed in the couple of weeks I have been here we get a lot of calls about recommending contractors. We cannot recommend contractors for work for anyone. That seems to be a popular phone call. We have a contractor registration list that we can give to people and we would like to see if we can eventually get it on the website. But we cannot recommend people at all. When they are registered all we are saying is that they pulled permits and registered with us but we are not endorsing them in any way. This concludes my report.
There were no questions of Mr. Menn.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:01 p.m.
______________________________________
JOE D’AMBROSIO, COUNCIL PRESIDENT
APPROVED: __________________________
ATTEST: _____________________________
DEBORAH A. CENDROSKI,
CLERK OF COUNCIL