EASTLAKE CITY COUNCIL REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES JUNE 24, 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 7:15 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, Service Director Rubertino and City Engineer Gwydir. Police Chief Reik and Fire Chief Whittington were absent and excused.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Regular Council Meeting – June 10, 2014
MOTION: Mr. Licht moved to approve the minutes of the Regular Council Meeting of June 10, 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: Some people have a difficult time hearing the meetings. So we obtained some headsets. Mr. Bill Alford comes to our Council meetings and is very knowledgeable with electronics and speakers. He donated these headsets and his time to make things a little bit easier for us and some of our residents. We really do appreciate his help.
The next Council-as-a-Whole Committee Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 8, 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.
Is there a Motion to approve the 2014 Council Break?
2014 Council Break
Mr. Licht moved to approve, in accordance with Article V, Section 5 of the Charter of the City of Eastlake the suspension of the last meeting in July, 2014 and the first meeting in August, 2014 for the summer break. Mr. Evers seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. The 2014 Council Break is approved. The last meeting in July, 2014 and the first meeting in August, 2014 are suspended.
COMMUNICATIONS & PETITIONS
A liquor license transfer request was received from One Wellness, LLC dba One Wellness Pool, Volleyball & Patio, 34650 Melinz Pkwy., Eastlake to Force Indoor Sports Eastlake, LLC, Pool, Volleyball & Patio, 34650 Melinz Pkwy., Eastlake.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: The Administration or Police have no objections to this request. If there are no objections from Council a motion will be made to approve this request during the Committee reports.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Mr. D’Ambrosio: A Service/Utilities Committee meeting and an Ordinance Committee meeting was held. The first report will be from our Service/Utilities Committee – Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins?
SERVICE/UTILITIES COMMITTEE – Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins, Chair
Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins: I do not have a Committee report.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Is there any more than what you said during the Council-as-a-Whole Committee meeting?
Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins: Just as I said in Council-as-a-Whole Committee – everyone agreed this would be a benefit to our City and that we should go ahead and pass it.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: If there are no objections this will be placed on First Reading.
There were no questions of Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: We also had an Ordinance Committee meeting and as Mr. Hoefle was out of town Mr. Evers chaired the meeting – Mr. Evers?
ORDINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING – mr. Hoefle, Chair
Mr. Evers, Acting Chair: All members of Council were in attendance with the exception of Mr. Hoefle who was absent and excused. In attendance from the Administration were Mayor Morley, Finance Director Slocum and Law Director Klammer. We discussed the bee issue at length and decided at that time to move it forward. Since, I understand there have been some questions raised by Mr. Hoefle and they are very valid so he would like to move it back into Committee. I have no objection. Mr. Hoefle, if you would like to poll the Committee please do.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: I have no problem with referring this back to Committee.
Mayor Morley: The only thing I would ask is if you have specific questions that you forward them to me so we can possibly have the gentleman from the County come back.
Mr. Hoefle: I am in the process of compiling all the information and will get it to you.
There were no questions of Mr. Evers.
MOTIONS:
Legislative Recommendation
Legislation No. 06-24-(05)
Ms. Vaughn moved to add Legislation No. 06-24-(05) to the evening’s agenda granting permission from the City of Eastlake to the City of Willoughby to expend additional funds in an amount not to exceed One Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($150,000.00) with said total amount being Five Hundred Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($500,500.00) for the W-E WPCC 2014 Capital Improvements Project. Mr. Licht seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. Legislation No. 06-24-(05) is added to the evening’s agenda.
Liquor License Transfer Request
Mr. Licht moved to approve and send back to Columbus, Ohio with no objections the liquor license transfer request from One Wellness, LLC dba One Wellness Pool, Volleyball & Patio, 34650 Melinz Pkwy., Eastlake to Force Indoor Sports Eastlake, LLC, Pool, Volleyball & Patio, 34650 Melinz Pkwy., Eastlake. Mr. Evers seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. The Liquor License Transfer request for Force Indoor Sports, LLC is approved.
Contract Extension
Mr. Licht moved to authorize the Mayor and Director of Finance to enter into a two-year extension of the contract with Lake Business Products for copier service for the City Departments for the annual estimated cost of Twenty-Thousand Two Hundred Eighty-Two Dollars and Seventy Cents ($20,282.70). Mr. Evers seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. The contract extension for Lake Business Products is approved.
Additional Comments
Ms. Vaughn: Do we need an executive session at the next Council meeting to discuss the Union contracts?
Mr. D’Ambrosio: I think we may have an executive session before the Ordinance Committee meeting which will be scheduled to discuss the legislation on honey bees.
Mrs. Cendroski: Mr. Hoefle, will your information be put together for Mr. Klammer’s review and for the Mayor to send to the gentleman in the County in time to have an Ordinance Committee meeting next week?
Mr. Hoefle: Mr. Klammer, how soon would you need that information?
Mr. Klammer: I do not know without knowing what it is. I cannot imagine it is a big problem. I am out next week but I can certainly review it and give comments from where ever I am.
Mayor Morley: The Administration is fine with having the executive session before or at the end of the July 8th meetings for both the labor agreements and the appointment of a CBO. We have advised the CBO we interviewed that it will be the 8th. We have talked to the Police Unions. We are okay with the 8th – you do not have to have anything special.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: We will go into executive session at the end of the Council meeting because it may take some time.
Mr. Slocum: As it relates to the contracts – if there are questions before the meeting I am always available. I provided you earlier today with all the new contracts, the changes that were made and synopsis of everything.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Please, let’s do that – the contract is pretty thick – let’s try to get through it and ask any questions prior to the meeting so we don’t hold it up.
Mr. Slocum: In the back half of each section there are actual changes that were made. That should make your review easier.
Mayor Morley: Most of the changes on the contracts are the same for each unit.
Eastlake Port Authority – Ms. DePledge, Liaison
Ms. DePledge: At the June 11th Port Authority meeting they specifically asked me to thank the Mayor and Service Department and Mr. Rubertino for the excellent maintenance and care of the seawall. They said it has never looked better. They also wanted to thank the City and Council in general for the financial contribution. Every year we send them $6,000 and this year as with many entities they are struggling financially. They are very appreciative of the contribution.
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 Taubert, 371 Northcoast Point, Eastlake
Mr. Taubert: I want to bring up again – several of the condo owners at Northcoast Point would like to know what the City plans are for cleaning out Corporation Creek north of Lakeshore Blvd. now that CEI has given the City permission. Has the City any other plans to control the flooding as it has drastically affected the value of our property? A tax reduction will be the next thing we will be looking for. I doubt if I could find a buyer for my unit today. It was once worth $180,000 and I paid $160,000 for it. I don’t think I could even find a buyer. It is just a matter of time before 16 different units go to the tax department and get a reduction so our taxes are more realistic.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Thank you. I believe we answered the same questions at the last meeting.
Mayor Morley: We can go through them again. As I told Mr. Taubert before the meeting we started cleaning out parts of Corporation Creek. Our Service Director is looking for someone to remove some more trees. We have already removed some of the trees in Corporation Creek and we will continue to do that. We have entered into an agreement with the City of Willoughby to try to possibly patch into the retention pond they have off of Erie and we hope it will take care of some of those issues. We continue to do the catch basins and we continue to monitor especially when we know there are storms so we can be proactive in case of what we are seeing at both ends of town.
Mr. Taubert: Unless there is something significant done I don’t see how I can find a buyer.
Ted Beres, 36706 Lakehurst Drive, Eastlake
Mr. Beres: In the May 27th Council meeting Ms. Vaughn said there had been a discussion about the possibility of having prayer before the Council meetings but it was tabled because of controversy. I talked to her recently and she said that you did not want to offend someone else’s religious beliefs so it was a dead issue. I would like to try to resurrect it.
Ms. Vaughn: I did not say it was a dead issue.
Mr. Beres: Yes, you did.
Ms. Vaughn: I beg to differ with you. I said it was tabled.
Mr. Beres: Okay, let’s go on. You say you do not want to offend someone else’s religious beliefs. God is the one who is offended when we marginalize and ignore him. Before each Council meeting you say the Pledge of Allegiance and the words contained in it are “one Nation under God” but you won’t pray to that God. When you sing “God Bless America” why can’t you ask God to bless Eastlake? On November 5, 2013 a case was brought before the Supreme Court – two women in Greece, New York filed suit saying that prayer before their meetings was unconstitutional. The policy of Greece, New York was to let any resident volunteer to pray no matter their religious background which led to some very interesting participants. I would not endorse that way to do it but there are alternatives. The State House in Columbus has a Chaplin and the House and Senate in Washington have a Chaplin. On May 14th of this year the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Greece, New York saying that they did not violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment. In 1961 a cover story in Time Magazine asked a question “Is God dead?” The question was raised because of the rise of atheism and they have been busy over the years removing God from public buildings. God is dead in the minds of many but God is also alive in the hearts of many and God will prevail. Eastlake is facing a lot of challenges and Eastlake is going to need a lot of prayer. Thank you and God Bless You.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: I wanted to say for the record – it is tabled and we will have a discussion on it. We are waiting to have a meeting when all members of Council are present.
Charles Tong, 1022 East 349th Street, Eastlake
Mr. Tong: I have been in the income tax preparation business for almost 20 years. I wanted to respectfully voice an opinion – I understand the need for an increase, however, I think a permanent .75% increase is very onerous and too much to ask. I think I am in the minority but I could support either a .25% permanent increase because when I look at Richmond Heights which has been in the news as another city in economic distress and with other issues and they increased theirs by .25%. Typically that is the kind of increase you see. Either that or I could support a one year increase of the .75% you are seeking. That would give the City a year to try to recruit new businesses to come to the City. I think to make it permanent is a very difficult thing to swallow. I think in 2004 we did a one year increase of .25%. I could go along with .75% if it was for just the one year. In my experience – we have a lot of Euclid residents that come to our office – with that high tax rate unfortunately most of the people do not pay the tax estimates on that difference and payroll companies – most of them – will not withhold the difference. So, even if it is passed there will still be an issue of trying to collect the money. There are a lot of residents in Euclid who are on payment plans over several years. That is something else we could be left with. Thank you for your time.
Mr. Slocum: The .25% the gentleman referred to was not an income tax increase – it was a decrease in the reciprocity credit that was allowed.
Bernie LeMay, 41 North Lakehurst Drive, Eastlake
Mr. LeMay: In 1954 our City’s Charter was adopted granting City officials to follow State laws in running the municipality. These officials are elected by the residents and population of the City and swear an oath to enforce the laws, ordinances and codes of the City. The residents in turn pay taxes and approve levies so the officials can run the City. With legal guidance City Council members have introduced revised codes to improve the City and comply with new State laws. These codes are for the safety, health and general wellbeing of the residents. The codes are intended to improve the quality of live and protect property value investments. In 1983 I invested over $100,000 in my home. I had it built on a cliff of Lake Erie. In 1994 I invested more money in the City to buy a faltering day care. That day care over the 20 years I owned it grew and employed over 20 employees. This added revenue to the City and also served countless families and drew younger residents to the City. In 2004 I purchased a home at 33921 Roberts Road for my son to raise his family in Eastlake. Again, in 2010 I invested in Eastlake for a home at 737 East 342nd Street for investment, rental income. I have deep interest in keeping the City of Eastlake an attractive community that will draw new residents that share my views in a growing community. I have not voiced any complaints pertaining to the last two properties on Roberts Road and 342nd Street but on the Roberts Road address on the left hand side facing the house there is a dog rescue home. The back yard is filthy and the house has a rotting wood overhang and disconnected gutters. The house should be condemned. The house on 342nd Street when looking at it from the right –the home next door has a jungle in the backyard. It has never been mowed, trimmed and is full of debris. The door entrances to the house are rotting. Those two homes should be looked at to keep our values in our City growing. I am a registered voter and supported and opposed some various levies as I have had the privilege. I did vote against the previous incumbent Mayor who had hired a building inspector – Chief Building Officer – who happened to have made a blatant lie to me about items he was doing for me. In May, 2011 – three years ago – my neighbor at 43 North Lakehurst Drive ignored the City codes and planted approximately 100 8-10 foot tall bushes blocking my view of Lake Erie and confining the aesthetics of my back yard. As a result the Lake County Auditor decreased my property value over $14,000. Since 2011 the weeds along the cliff in his back yard have grown so high as to dwarf the height of these additional bushes he planted and further decreasing my view of the lake. In addition professional landscapers he has hired dump debris over the cliff right next to my property line which causes foul odors. My request is simple. Enforce the approved City codes which you have sworn to enforce and have this resident comply with the laws of the City. Thank you.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Thank you. If you have specific addresses of these homes you can give them to us or the Mayor. Sometimes back yard issues – if they are not seen from the street – we have to go to the…
Mr. LeMay: I realize it has not been brought to your attention. Part of the reason is my son has said “I like the people next door and need to live next to them. Don’t make waves, Dad.” So, I haven’t. But, it does detract. On the rental property – nice people live there and keep to themselves…
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Get us some addresses and we will give them to the Building Department or forward them to the Mayor – however you want to do it.
Mr. LeMay: Mr. Klammer, did you happen to get Mr. Palmer’s message to call the attorney we had discussed in our meeting a couple of weeks ago?
Mr. Klammer: Mr. LeMay is one of the property owners who have a dispute over a fence. We spent some time – he came in – he followed up with Mr. Palmer but I know Mr. Palmer was out of town. I saw your most recent email to Mr. Palmer but because it was to him I just made a note of it in my head that you had made it to him expecting if he needed me to do something he would follow up. So, I know that you communicated with him and that he just got back into town.
Mr. LeMay: Did the attorney get called?
Mr. Klammer: I did not call the attorney – I was hoping that after the meeting things would find themselves a resolution. In all fairness Mr. LeMay was not all that unfair in the meeting. I was hoping we would find a resolution but sadly there are some things that are most difficult to resolve in a City and those are property disputes over fences and bushes. But,
Mr. LeMay was very pleasant and I appreciated that fact. Your email to Mr. Palmer just came this week. The other folks had proposed some resolution after the meeting too and I forwarded that back to Mr. Palmer hoping he could find the time to take it to conclusion. As I told all the them – of course I am not the Mayor – but, to the extent that they wanted my discretion – I am giving them discretion to put that on a “b” list because they have all kinds of problems – some the Building Department is working on – but, I did tell that to Mr. LeMay.
Mr. LeMay: It has been a long process. It has been three years. I was told January 1st that it went to the Prosecutor and it never did.
Mayor Morley: It did not – I spoke with the Prosecutor. I guess – and I talked to Mr. LeMay again last week and I have talked to the other residents at the other end of the street about the same issue. As the Mayor do I put someone in jail over bush disputes between neighbors?
That is where we are at.
Mr. LeMay: With the exception of the City codes.
Mayor Morley: I understand that – they are violating City codes. We were talking about trying to do some different things with our City – I could just read in the News Herald that the Mayor of Eastlake put two residents in jail over bushes. And that is what it will come down to. Once to goes to the Prosecutor do I put these people in jail when they don’t take care of the issue and I don’t know if going to the Prosecutor will make them take care of the issues on your street – I don’t know that.
Mr. LeMay: The City codes say fines versus jail – that a fine is imposed if you do not comply with the ordinance. It does not say anything about jail.
Mr. Klammer: I would have to look at it to know whether that offense carries a jail term. But, the point the Mayor made – and he has been frustrated – he says – what do I do? What I have explained to him and I think people inherently understand the reality but when they are in the middle of it sometimes they forget it – like a police officer who decides not to give you a ticket the Mayor as the chief conservator of the laws of the City has the discretion at times to say certain violations or disputes are a priority especially when we are in the middle of a Department that does not have a leader right now – has had its cutbacks over the years – that he has the ability to say I need to focus on bigger programs as does my Department. And I think that is the discretion he is using – not to say the problems are not important – but, I think even the people in the middle of this dispute know there are bigger problems. I will work with Mr. Palmer but candidly I have told the Mayor – this should not be his problem –
let me and Mr. Palmer work on it because he has other problems. I have said it to Mr. Palmer and was hoping he would find a solution. That may be too much to ask of anyone at this point. He will circle back to me if he needs something.
Mayor Morley: I spoke with Mr. Palmer about the issue at the other end of the street. My goal is – when Mr. Klammer sat down with the neighbors – that things could be solved. And I am frustrated because I look at it as neighbors do not have to like each other but they need to co-exist. That is what I am hoping will happen on these issues. I know it is a three year frustration for you – it is a six month frustration for me. I hope they can settle. I know Mr. Palmer was to talk again to those at the other end of the street. I think Mr. Talty has a lawyer and you have your permits with the fence and that is going back and forth. The other end of the street has its own issues and we are trying to work through both.
Mr. LeMay: What I have done with the fence permit I have done within the City code.
Mayor Morley: I agree. I am not saying you are not.
Mr. LeMay: What he is doing is breaking the code.
Mr. Klammer: The last thing I want to do is pile onto Mr. Talty because everyone who appeared was very pleasant but if I had to judge them all Mr. LeMay was the most reasonable, quiet, professional of everyone who appeared. I appreciate that. As far as not calling the Mr. Talty’s lawyer I got no impression from the meeting that if I could not convince him anyone else could. That is part of the reason it did not become a priority for my calling.
Mr. LeMay: I was looking for a solution.
Mr. Klammer: Trust me, that is why we were there.
Mr. LeMay: I was looking for a solution. The two options I was given by two Building people when they were first planted and when I lost property value was – I could have them remove the bushes or I could have them let them grow up to the proper maximum height of six feet. I said I did not want them removed because then we would have a blockade fence and I would have an even worse view. I just wanted them maintained to code at six feet tall. Those were the two options I was given.
Bob Spangenberg, 1034 Eastlake Drive, Eastlake
Mr. Spangenberg: I want to address something about the Fire Levy. I had talked to the Chief after the last meeting and a few years ago I looked into it too. I discussed with him the possibility that maybe we should have a Western Lake County Fire District. The reason being is the cost of equipment is very expensive now and we have trouble with responding to emergencies. I for one – a lot of you know my Dad died from a result of a very bad accident – if it had not been for the quick action of the Eastlake Fire Department he would not have lasted as long as he did. That is kind of a subject with me and I think it is something we should look into. Things get very expensive and we cannot afford to lose people. I don’t know if it would help or not. Some of the Fire Chiefs don’t agree with it because they may think they would lose their jobs but in reality we have to look at things like that because things are getting very expensive. Thanks.
Mayor Morley: The County has a report they are reviewing. I don’t know if it will fly but they are in discussions and they are on their final few months. It started last year. The Chiefs have all met and have given all the data for the people they hired to crunch all the data. My personal opinion – not as Mayor – until the big people way up top start consolidating the lower ends … but, I understand what you are saying. It is something that has to be looked at but it is always tough especially for major change. We should be getting the data by January.
There was no one else who wished to speak.
LEGISLATION PROPOSED – First number will be 2014-037
ORDINANCE NO.: 06-24-(01)
Requested by: Administration An Ordinance amending Section 1145.02 Sponsored by: Ordinance Committee “Schedule of Permitted Buildings and Uses”, specifically subsection (a)(1), of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Eastlake, and declaring an emergency.
As there were no objections this item was referred back to Ordinance Committee with no action taken.
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ORDINANCE NO.: 06-24-(02)
Requested by: Administration An Ordinance enacting Section 505.15
Sponsored by: Ordinance Committee “Harboring of Honey Bees; Abatement”
of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Eastlake, and declaring an emergency.
As there were no objections this item was referred back to Ordinance Committee with no action taken.
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RESOLUTION NO: 06-24-(03)
Requested by: Administration A Resolution authorizing and directing the Sponsored by: Service/Utilities Committee Mayor and Director of Finance to enter into a
Memorandum of Understanding between the Lake County Board of Commissioners, on behalf of the Lake County Stormwater Management Agency, and the City of Eastlake, and declaring an emergency.
There was no Motion to suspend the rules requiring separate readings and reading in full.
Legislation No. 06-24-(03) is placed on First Reading.
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ORDINANCE NO.: 06-24-(04)___________
Requested by: Clerk of Council An Ordinance to revise the Codified
Sponsored by: Council Ordinances by adopting current
replacement pages, and declaring an
emergency.
MOTION: Mr. Licht moved to suspend the rules requiring separate readings and
reading in full. Ms. DePledge seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
MOTION: Mr. Licht moved to adopt. Ms. DePledge seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Ordinance No. 2014-037.
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RESOLUTION NO.: 06-24-(05)
Requested by: WPCC Super. Gorka A Resolution granting permission from the
Sponsored by: Council City of Eastlake to the City of Willoughby to
expend additional funds in an amount not to exceed One Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($150,000.00) with said total amount being Five Hundred Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($500,500.00) for the W-E WPCC 2014 Capital Improvements Project, 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. 2014-038.
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LEGISLATION PENDING (Placed on First Reading 05/27/2014)
(Placed on Second Reading 06/10/2014)
05-27-(06) RESOLUTION NO.: ___________
Requested by: Administration A Resolution Submitting to the Electors of the Sponsored by: Council City the Question of the Renewal of an Existing
0.5-Mill Tax Levy for the Purpose of Providing Fire Apparatus, Capital Improvements and Equipment
for the Fire Department, and declaring an emergency.
MOTION: Ms. Vaughn moved to adopt. Ms. DePledge seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Resolution No. 2014-039.
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(Placed on First Reading 06/10/2014)
06-10-(02) RESOLUTION NO.: ____________
Requested by: Administration A Resolution providing for the submission to Sponsored by: Finance Committee the electors of the City of Eastlake, Ohio, the question of whether Ordinance No. 2014-035 passed June 10, 2014, amending the City of Eastlake Income Tax Rate shall be approved, and declaring an emergency.
There was no Motion to suspend the rules requiring separate readings and reading in full.
Legislation No. 06-10-(02) is placed on Second Reading.
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
There was no Unfinished Business.
NEW BUSINESS
There was no New Business.
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS:
MAYOR/SAFETY DIRECTOR – Dennis Morley
Mayor Morley: Welcome, residents. It is always good to hear the comments of our residents. The income tax is a big issue we are being told. Since it has been in the News Herald I have been getting a lot of calls on it. We understand that no one wants taxes raised. I will give an example – I get asked why can’t we have what Willowick has? I had Mr. Slocum run some numbers last year. The City of Eastlake collects 5-mills. The City of Willowick collects 18.5-mills and .25% Rita tax. I had him run my house – the City of Eastlake gets $259 out of the $3,100 I pay. That same house in Willowick would be paying almost $900. There is the difference when we are collecting taxes. Willowick’s Charter stated that they would never have to pay for their garbage. They put it on the ballot and the City of Willowick passed to pay for their garbage. I get it. We failed at 8 levies. We are not real optimistic that this issue will pass regardless of whether it is a year, a half year, .25%. And we understand that. We will do what we have to do to balance. It will come that we will lose more and more services. As I have said in the last couple meetings – they are not scare tactics but when we say we don’t want to raise taxes we have to have an alternative. And it is not just saying I don’t want to do this and we are done. We will find a way to balance our budget and unfortunately it is getting rid of people. People call and ask why their roads aren’t fixed – I never use the numbers we have – my response is we will do the best we can with the people we have. And it will just keep getting worse and worse and worse. I don’t want to become the City of Cleveland that says we will get to your side streets in three days when it snows. But, we are on that path. It is not a scare tactic. I will not be upset if the issue fails. We will do what we have to do to balance the budget. We opened bids today for Kalene Court and will be sending them to Council for the next meeting. We are working on the salt bin repair. You won’t see that but that repair alone is about $300,000 for a new salt bin because the salt bin we have is ready to fall apart. We are looking at advertising for bids for asphalt so we can fix some more roads. Last month we approved $198,000 to start fixing some of the cement streets. We put $600,000 in the budget this year for roads. $600,000 may seem like a lot but that is not a lot of roads can be repaired with $600,000. Good news – the festival is this weekend at the stadium – June 27th, 28th and 29th. The parade is on Saturday and we have almost 40 groups in the parade. Also, we combined with the City of Willowick – Mayor Bonde and I have gotten $9,000 in corporate sponsors and the Captains are paying the other half to have fireworks. Again, we did not have money in the budget but we cannot continually ask corporations and people to volunteer to run our City. It is great these people have stepped up so we can have fireworks for our residents. We continue to work on the roads and sewers. We opened up the swimming pool. The discouraging thing is – the swimming pool was a giant, hot topic last year and so far we have 28 passes sold to the residents of our City. We need to get that pushed so we can have the pool. Again, at the end if we don’t succeed I will feel very bad that we took $15,000 from a business and the YMCA will end up losing money because we don’t support some of the things we went after. We worked hard to get that pool open and right now we have 28 pool passes sold. That concludes my report and I am open for questions.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: At the Grand Opening wasn’t there 27 pool passes sold?
Mayor Morley: There was. I was the 28th. I probably will not swim but I bought a pool pass to back our City.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: So we have sold one since the Grand Opening.
Mr. LeMay: Could you put the address of the pool? I don’t know where it is?
What is wrong with the sign at S.R. 91 and Vine Street?
Mayor Morley: That is a long story but I will give you the short version. The sign has never really worked. It was purchased from a company in Pennsylvania and as I and Mr. Rubertino are finding out the agreement was if they were in the area they would come and look at the sign. Obviously they are in Pennsylvania so they are hardly ever in the area. We are looking to see what it would cost to try to fix the sign. I just don’t want to keep dumping money into the sign. We are debating on taking it out. We have had some people from NOACA tell us we should take it out. Those are two of the reasons you see the work on the corner of Vine Street and S.R. 91. We are trying to clean up the City and we are trying to make it look like the Walgreen’s corner where it is more manageable. Mr. Rubertino is going to get a couple more estimates on the sign. It is just one of those things that have not worked since we got it.
Mr. Licht: It was brought up during discussions about the tax increase and Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins mentioned about bringing new businesses in – one of the things that I know you are doing but I think needs to be known by the residents is the steps you are taking – the proactive things you are doing in trying to bring in new businesses – talking with the Captains about bringing more things there – getting vacant properties put on the Lake County web site. I want to make sure that also gets related to the residents so they know the Administration is doing its part to try to bring more money into the City.
Mayor Morley: We are looking at some of the vacant properties off Curtis – trying to get a broker in so we can possible build something where the old NIKE site used to be – where our old JFK is. We have the Visitors’ Bureau at the Captains stadium that we are trying to promote. I think Mr. D’Ambrosio said it best – we can get 20 businesses in but it will not get us $800,000. I don’t want to pay anymore taxes just like you don’t and I think sometimes people believe that all of us up here don’t pay taxes – but, we do pay taxes. I get it from certain groups that is the easy way out for cities – to just throw it on the residents’ back. It is not that we are saying it is in – you are going to tell us if you want it or not. If you don’t we will adjust again. But, sooner or later we cannot adjust anymore. We are down to what everyone is saying. We can maybe have a policeman for 16 hours instead of 24. Those are not scare tactics. It will just be reality in the City of Eastlake.
Ms. DePledge: Just a few more points. The sign – there were complaints that it was too bright especially at night – driving by it was actually painful – I would turn my head away and other people would to. It was placed in the wrong place for safety purposes. We really do need to get it out of there. You also need to know about your Mayor. When you talk about bringing new businesses into the City – he has actually gone door to door, knocking on businesses and introducing himself to the owners, the President, and saying I am the Mayor – this is the City – what can we do to help you? I don’t think that has ever happened before by any Mayor in our City. He is certainly proactive and an excellent leader and someone I am certainly learning from as well. As far as the taxes – this tax issue did not happen overnight. It did not happen in a bubble. A couple of years ago the Local Government Funds were withdrawn by the State of Ohio and isn’t it $3 million a year that we have lost over the last 4-5 years?
Mr. Slocum: Five years ago we had General Fund revenue of $14.5 million – this year we are expecting under $10 million.
Ms. DePledge: We have lost millions of dollars. That is your State tax dollars that the State used to give to the City and they said we could not have it anymore. The State is keeping the tax dollars we used to get. You are still paying the same amount of taxes but it has been reallocated and the State has kept that money – it is not coming back to your local government. So, it is rolling downhill – the burden is rolling downhill and it is rolling onto all of us and we do have to find a way to respond just like you do in your own homes to balance your own budget and pay your utilities like for us to pay those things and pay our employees. We have to come up with something. We have gone to the residents 9 times and they have said no. The Mayor said we are not hopeful. This is a different approach that does not just impact property owners. We are hoping it has more appeal. But we have to come up with $800,000 and that is the bottom line. If you can’t pay your mortgage next year you go out and get second job – you take on a tenant – you would do something to balance your budget. That is the position we are in. We have to take some steps and move forward and it has to be long term because we are not getting those Local Government Funds back. They are not coming back in one year, they are not coming back in two years and we will continue to be squeezed and we have to come up with a long term solution.
There were no further questions of Mayor Morley.
FIRE CHIEF – Ted Whittington
Chief Whittington was absent and excused.
POLICE CHIEF – Larry Reik
Chief Reik was absent and excused.
SERVICE DIRECTOR – Nick Rubertino
Mr. Rubertino: Today I actually came with a list of things I was going to discuss but the Mayor has taken care of 90%. I appreciate that. One thing I would add – we are prioritizing the list for the concrete road repairs – where they will start. They are getting bid packages ready for the asphalt. We have started on catch basins – it is not moving rapidly due to weather issues this week. But, we are moving forward with everything on that basis. Tomorrow is the United Way and YMCA Day of Caring – they have approximately 12-15 people who will be in three locations – City Hall, Houston Fisher Pool, and the Community Center. They will be weeding, trimming, cutting grass, spreading mulch –anything they can do to help us get the beautification going. We appreciate that. This concludes my report and I am open for questions.
Ms. Vaughn: Are you going to have the 200 kids from the YMCA Day Camp again on Friday?
Mr. Rubertino: They have not notified me when they will be back – they will be back. And it is approximately 200 five year olds to eleven year olds. If you can imagine an ant farm in front of City Hall that is what we have. It was humorous. It was okay. They accomplished a lot. It was funny to watch and they had a lot of fun. But, they did accomplish a lot.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: A lot of people have seen the work being done at S.R. 91 and Vine Street – I think it looks great – we are just going to plant grass?
Mr. Rubertino: We will have four beds – one on each corner. There will be smaller beds that are more maintainable. I know Mr. Hoefle has volunteered and takes care of one of the beds. Mostly it will be grass – what we can maintain. I am a tree lover and bought a house with many trees for that reason but those trees were becoming a nuisance. I think it looks really good opened up. Once we have some greenery in there and the beds are cleaned up with bushes and flowers I think we will be amazed at how really nice it will look. I think it is a good improvement.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: I do to. Thank you.
There were no further questions of Mr. Rubertino.
CITY ENGINEER – Tom Gwydir
Mr. Gwydir: I was pleased that the Kalene Court bids came in within $2,000 of the engineer’s estimate and part of that is being funded by the OPWC. Apparently T.C. Construction is the apparent low bidder – that has to be determined. But, he is doing the rest of the concrete work so that will make it a smooth job in the City. I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Mr. Gwydir.
FINANCE DIRECTOR – Mike Slocum
Mr. Slocum: In addition to the Kalene Court bid opening we had the bid opening for the Police garage door repair and I am not very happy to report that the bid came in about $20,000 – $25,000 higher than what we had expected. We are investigating right now as to how we will proceed. It is a perfect case of – we have deferred maintenance in this City that we don’t have the money to take care of. Why are we going for the dollars we are going for? This is a good example. That project has been out there for three years. And we have a roof on this building that has been out there for two years at least and every year we keep our fingers crossed that we will not get the major flood through our roof here and at the Service Department. We have air conditioning units. We do not have the money for the ongoing maintenance we need throughout the City. It is not just the personnel issues, and we have lost a tremendous number, it is not getting any cheaper as we go on year to year. The stadium – everyone knows we should not have built the stadium and I will be leading the line on that – however, it is ours. We are responsible for it. We have pledged – we being the previous Administration – our assets, tax collections for that stadium. It is nothing we can walk away from. But now we have an aging stadium. It is thirteen years old and it is showing some of its signs. And we have to – we are contractually liable – to keep that stadium up to snuff. Some of that is coming at a cost of us taking care of some of the other buildings here. I am open for questions.
Mr. Rubertino: He talks about the roofs. The Service Garage roof for approximately 8 years – if you walk in there on any rainy day – it is raining inside profusely. It is at the point that it is extremely bad. We have been dealing with that for many, many years. The roofs are an issue. In that building alone if you go in there on a rainy day it is raining inside as well. We have mechanics trying to keep equipment up and running – working on the equipment in that aspect as well as trying to keep it from rusting. It is an issue.
There were no questions of Mr. Slocum.
LAW DIRECTOR – Randy Klammer
Mr. Klammer: I try to advise the Council President. I am still disputing with the insurance company to provide coverage on the Belich dispute. There is a bit of a dispute that the Mayor is trying to find a solution to on the stadium railing height. It seems as though the railings were built according to the code and according to the relevant portion of the plans at the time but they have concern that some of the railings are too short. So, we have advised them in the meantime that we want everyone away from said railings and I have used my discretion to advise NORMA so they are aware of this issue and there is no question on coverage later on. I am working with Mr. Gwydir and C.T. Consultants –they are helping me a lot on this Getsy matter to find some solution on his house which is falling over the edge of the cliff. In working with the Mayor we have slowed some of the house demolitions. I am sure you guys are going to get complaints. It is nothing the Mayor did. An issue arose which required me to go back and audit all the files with Inspector Gallagher Bonvenuto and Inspector Palmer. I have to commend them because they have dug through everything to try to put it all in order. They have worked great over there. I told the Mayor to stop until I am comfortable everyone has received notice and we are doing everything right. It seems like we are getting on track but you will get complaints about why some houses are not coming down. Just blame it on the Law Department. I will be out of town starting Friday but I will see you all at the Fireworks. I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Mr. Klammer.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:14 p.m.
______________________________________
JOE D’AMBROSIO, COUNCIL PRESIDENT
APPROVED: __________________________
ATTEST: _____________________________
DEBORAH A. CENDROSKI,
CLERK OF COUNCIL