EASTLAKE CITY COUNCIL REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MAY 27, 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. Evers, Mr. Licht, Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins, Ms. DePledge, 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, City Engineer Gwydir, Police Chief Reik and Fire Chief Whittington.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Regular Council Meeting – May 13, 2014
MOTION: Ms. Vaughn moved to approve the minutes of the Regular Council Meeting of May 13, 2014. Ms. DePledge seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas: Ms. Vaughn, Ms. DePledge, Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins, Mr. Evers,
Mr. Hoefle, Mr. D’Ambrosio
Abstain: Mr. Licht
Motion carried. The minutes were approved.
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Special Council Meeting – May 22, 2014
MOTION: Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins moved to approve the minutes of the Special Council Meeting of May 22, 2014. Mr. Licht seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas: Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins, Mr. Licht, Mr. Evers, Ms. DePledge,
Ms. Vaughn, Mr. D’Ambrosio
Abstain: Mr. Hoefle
Motion carried. The minutes were approved.
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COUNCIL PRESIDENT’S REPORT – Mr. D’Ambrosio
Meetings Scheduled
Mr. D’Ambrosio: We had an open house. The Mayor was here all day along with Police Chief Reik, Fire Chief Whittington and Service Director Rubertino. It was sponsored by the Police, Fire and Service Departments. They had all their equipment outside – it as pretty cool. There was also a Beautification Committee – Ms. Vaughn headed this up – members of Council – Mr. Hoefle, Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins, Ms. Vaughn and a lot of other people were planting flowers. You have probably seen them.
The next Council-as-a-Whole Committee Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 10, 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
There are no Communications & Petitions.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Mr. D’Ambrosio: A Finance Committee meeting was held.
FINANCE COMMITTEE – Ms. Vaughn, Chair
Ms. Vaughn: You have all heard most of my Finance Committee report in the Council-as-a-Whole Committee meeting so I will not review everything I have already stated. But I would like to bring to your attention to two other items that we discussed under the miscellaneous section of the meeting. One of the items on the agenda was Income Increase: Options because we are going to have a deficit next year which puts us in peril of going into fiscal emergency. Therefore, we have to take action. We had a lengthy discussion with the options being levies – we have had nine levies fail so far; one large levy; a small levy; increasing the City income tax which would impact all working residents and not just the property owners; or, we could impose a decrease in reciprocity which would not require a vote of the people. That has been under discussion with nothing being determined as of yet. It seemed like the majority of Council that evening indicated they would be more in favor of placing an increase in the City income tax by .75% on the ballot. This does not appear on this evening’s agenda. I just wanted you to know what we have been discussing so if any changes or any decisions come up they do not come as a complete surprise. We also discussed the issue of praying before a Council meeting. This was tabled with no decision because there is some controversy involved. While Mr. D’Ambrosio mentioned the Beautification Committee I am not in charge of the Beautification Committee – my job was to try to get residents interested in this project. I will provide advice because I am a Master Gardener from Ohio State University and I can give technical information to everyone. But, we are very blessed to have two residents who have been coming to the meetings and have stepped forward to run the Committee with great success. That is Debbie and Rudy Linnich who live in Brookside. They are not here tonight but I want everyone to know how hard they worked. They, with other people, have been out there weeding and planting flowers. They have been out several times and need to be commended because they came forward as residents in answer to a request for residents to help bring the City back to what it once was. This concludes my report and I am open for questions.
Mr. Slocum: I would like to add one other thing regarding last week’s Finance Committee meeting. The other option you did not cover was the potential further cuts in operation.
Ms. Vaughn: I did not want to bring that up because I do not see how we can do it.
Mr. Slocum: That is the position of the Administration. That further cuts cannot be made. We already cut 1/3 of our work force 10 years ago and have made all the cuts we can afford to make.
Ms. Vaughn: I want to point out that we are running a very tight, efficient City operation. There is no room for any maneuvering. There is nothing left we can cut. Right now everyone is blessed with the services we do provide but that is right now – not next year. I am glad you brought that forward, Mr. Slocum.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: As Ms. Vaughn said, and we discussed this in the Finance Committee meeting, with the tax budget – how much was it – $800,000?
Mr. Slocum: Just a couple thousand dollars short of $800,000.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Just a couple thousand dollars short of $800,000 we are looking to be short in 2015. I don’t know how you cut almost $1 million. We have done it before but I think you can only do that once. We are looking at $800,000 in the hole for 2015.
Mayor Morley: We have had discussions and obviously we are not going to make any more cuts. We do not have anyone we can get rid of. If we start getting rid of more people – if we go to the ballot and a levy fails this time we will be really into more services than bodies. The bodies will leave but also the services. We do not want to become like the City of Cleveland when they call and ask when they are going to get to their street. We would do the mains if we had to get rid of more bodies and do the side streets in three or four days. We do not want to get to that point. I have told everyone here. Obviously if we have to do a levy we will do that but I believe we are moving in the right direction. I am trying to get our City going again but the loss of revenue every year due to outside sources is just not helping us. We have lost over $5 million dollars in revenue over the last six years. We cannot continue down that road. I will be working with Council to do what we have to do. Like I said – we will do cuts – it will not be a scare tactic or that we will sit here and say this will happen. Things will happen. We will not go into fiscal emergency. We will do what we have to do to run this City.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: I do not want to live in a City where these two guys – Police Chief Reik and Fire Chief Whittington – have to determine which 911 call they take first. We don’t want that. And if we have to make cuts – that is realistic – that could be what happens. I don’t want to live in a city that works that way. I don’t. That is my own personal belief.
There were no questions of Ms. Vaughn.
Economic & Community Development Council – Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins, Chair
Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins: We just had our ECDC meeting but unfortunately we did not have a quorum. But, we had a guest speaker come from First Energy, Martin J. Kuula, Senior Economic Development Executive. Basically we wanted to know if they have an economic development department maybe they could help us. He is in charge of our area. He told us a couple of things that were very interesting. He said that First Energy has a program that helps industrial corporations to help with expansion projects and things that would bring new jobs. He gave examples of where they have given money to actually help with expansions and things where they are not only going to create jobs but retain jobs. They are looking for help from other places. They would help along with other people helping a company. He will check with their real estate department at First Energy regarding the Erie Road Park project and the seawall. Also, they have an impact factor program called Impact Factor Plus – if a company is considering some kind of improvement they have a program that will give them a high level view on how that project will affect the entire community. So if they are looking for us to give them help they would evaluate what the project would mean to us altogether and we could call Mr. Kuula and we could put it all together. Also, they have a web site and we can put our available building sites on their web site as well as our own. They have another program I was really amazed at – Export Now. It brings our local companies into world trade. They partner with the US commercial service called Gold Key Services and make appointments so a company can see if they can do business in a foreign country and First Energy’s Gold Key Services will pay half the fee for the customer to do that. I thought that was amazing and am glad we had Mr. Kuula come and see us.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Thank you. Another thing I wanted to cover under the Council President’s report – we have mentioned fund raisers in the City. We have mentioned the Blvd. of Flags fundraiser, Safety Town and other fundraisers. There is one coming up June 1st – Retriever for Ryan. If Ms. DePledge would like to give details on this that would be great.
Ms. DePledge: Retriever for Ryan is this Sunday, June 1st from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Community Center. The Retriever for Ryan project is sponsored by the Eastlake Police Athletic League and tickets are $30 each. We currently have over $6,000 in prizes to give away. Our goal is to raise $18,000 for the cost of the dog. Ryan is my nephew and he is mildly autistic and has juvenile diabetes. We have been dealing with his autism always but with the juvenile diabetes – for the last six or seven years it was always our hope that his math skills would improve to the point where he would be able to do the calculations for his insulin, his sugar and carbs. That is just not happening and he is crashing. His sugar is going dangerously low – he has slipped into comas and in January he had a seizure. The dog will give him a 30-45 minute warning before any crash or spike and if his sugar goes below 80 or over 180 the dog will alert him. If he does not respond it will get another adult and if the adult is not available there will be a special phone in the home and the dog can dial 911. It is incredible. It is life saving. The dog will be able to go to school with Ryan and will help him with a lot of socialization issues and his peer interaction and help education the community about autism and juvenile diabetes. It is for a great cause and I hope you can come out. We have a great band that has donated all their time. We have a Cancun vacation to give away. Council purchased a mini IPad to give away. There has already been tremendous support so I hope you come out and have a wonderful time. We will let you know. Ryan has named the dog Cooper and hopefully he will be joining us by the end of July if we reach our goal. We appreciate any support.
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.
Gary Radovanic, 280 Plymouth, Eastlake, OH
Mr. Radovanic: The City gardens. You don’t have enough workers. All of a sudden all you do is screw with an old guy. Half of them are retired down there. Most are seniors. And we cannot even plant. Four years ago for some reason we had be Willoughby. We are now Willoughby and anyone up there who wants to be Willoughby will never get my vote. We are Eastlake. We do things for Eastlake. You tell me you have problems. We have people that screw with us in the gardens. I have been planting in April before. Why can’t I plant in April with probably 75% of the people down there? You tear down the fences and don’t put them back up. You close it up. I can’t fix the fences in the wintertime. I will go down there to fix them – you can’t get past the barricades. You just take your big machines and tear everything up. You don’t always do what you say you are going to do. Two years ago you did not even roto till. We had no rain in the spring. I had scabs on my elbows because I tried to hold my tiller down. All of a sudden I have to wait until Memorial Day. Here it is Memorial Day – I don’t have my garden. Why? I know you don’t have enough people. There are places where these City workers should be – to do what they do after road work – they are not there. Even if it is relining a ditch that people fill with dirt. Oh no, he is just going to sit there and screw with me and my garden. There is no pride or integrity. That is what I grew up on – right out of the Marine Corp. The only thing you go lucky with is I worked with the other Chief too. You have the two best Chiefs I have seen since DePledge and Musser. Pride and integrity and loyalty – they trickle down. You put a damn there they don’t make it to the pond. In a spring you put a boulder there and force it into the bedrock – it don’t make it down. You have to turn the City around. Have pride, loyalty and integrity. I do know the Police and Fire Departments have that because I know both those guys very well. But, right now the City don’t have it. City workers don’t have it. And I don’t know how get the City workers. I am not asking anyone to kill themselves. Just stay busy. You don’t have to kill yourself. But, the thing is you shouldn’t be in my garden. No one wants you there. 90% of people don’t want you in the garden. We come with our own tillers and do our own work and pay $10 for water. I want my garden April 1st. Mark it out and leave us alone. You went and took half the gardens away. Where the older people want a half garden they cannot have a half garden because it is too much work. They make the gardens bigger. Everyone should join the gardens. If you want to take them over take them over. If you want to be Willoughby be Willoughby but you will never get my vote. Because we are not Willoughby we are Eastlake and we have to work within our means and what works for our City.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Thank you. I was not aware of some of the issues going on down there.
Mayor Morley: Mr. Rubertino and I were at the garden lots behind the soccer fields last week. Obviously, we have been working on the roads. Mr. Radovanic wants us to leave them alone and let the residents do as they wish.
Mr. Radovanic: I am talking about 80%-90% of the people who want you to leave them alone. It is not just me.
Mayor Morley: Mr. Rubertino has been working on it. It is just that we have not yet gotten down there to do some things.
Mr. Radovanic: When you destroy something – fix it.
Yvonne Marne, 272 Heather Lane, Eastlake
Mrs. Marne: I wanted to remark on an item I saw in the paper regarding something that Willowick is doing. They have an ordinance the Council passed concerning vacant homes. That the vacant home owners should register with the City and pay a fee yearly and every year after that it would be $50 more to a certain maximum cost. How would that work here in Eastlake? Are we doing something like that? Would that help our revenue? What about people who are not taking care of their properties – owners – fining them for shabbiness, neglect of cutting grass and so forth? I would like your opinions.
Mayor Morley: We have been working on property maintenance. The more I get involved with it I think the issue becomes – Tuesday’s we go to Willoughby Court and it is all for what you have talked about. The problem is once it goes to Court and is in the system – people would think it is done quicker – but it takes a lot longer. We have been dealing with demolishing houses since last October. It started out at 13 but we are now down to 5 houses because once they go through the Court system they get stopped. I have been talking to Willowick’s Mayor Bonde about their ordinance. Mentor just passed one. Painesville has one as well as Wickliffe. We are going to try to put all those together and present it to Council.
Mrs. Marn: comments could not be understood because speaker was not at the microphone.
Mayor Morley: We do what we can by ordinance. Some things can continue for over a year. We do send out landscapers to cut grass and do clean up.
There was no one else who wished to speak.
LEGISLATION PROPOSED – First number will be 2014-030
RESOLUTION NO.: 05-27-(01)
Requested by: Administration A Resolution authorizing and directing the Sponsored by: Finance Committee Mayor and Director of Finance to purchase through the State of Ohio Cooperative Purchasing Program from Statewide Ford Lincoln Mercury one (1) 2015 Ford Utility Interceptor AWD Sport Utility Vehicle for the City of Eastlake Fire Department for the amount of Twenty-Nine Thousand Four Hundred Sixty- Two Dollars and Fifty Cents ($29,462.50), said vehicle to include items attached hereto for a total amount of Forty-One Thousand Eight Hundred Eighty-One Dollars and Thirty Cents ($41,881.30), 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. 2014-030.
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RESOLUTION NO.: 05-27-(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 CT Consultants, Inc. for professional engineering services for the Corporation Creek Watershed Study for a total amount of Fourteen Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($14,500.00), 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. 2014-031.
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ORDINANCE NO.: 05-27-(03)
Requested by: Administration An Ordinance authorizing the Mayor and Sponsored by: Finance Committee Director of Finance to enter into a Tenth Amendment to the WPCC Joint Agreement with the City of Willoughby, 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: Mr. Licht moved to adopt. Ms. DePledge seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Ordinance No. 2014-032.
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RESOLUTION NO.: 05-27-(04)
Requested by: Finance Director Slocum A Resolution accepting the Tax Budget for 2015 Sponsored by: Finance Committee as presented by the Director of Finance, 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 Resolution No. 2014-033.
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ORDINANCE NO.: 05-27-(05)
Requested by: Administration An Ordinance amending Section 183.0501,
Sponsored by: Council “Rate of Income Taxable” of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Eastlake, 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. 2014-034.
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RESOLUTION NO.: 05-27-(06)
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.
There was no Motion to suspend the rules requiring separate readings and reading in full.
Legislation No. 05-27-(06) is placed on First Reading.
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. Thank you to the residents who came out tonight to this evening’s meeting. I would like to thank all the volunteers who stepped up to beautify City Hall. If you walk around City Hall you will see that was our first area of beautification – to try to make our City look a little better. We are going to start working on the corner of Vine Street and S.R. 91 and the other areas. Without resident volunteers coming to do this – if you go back to when the Council President was talking about the levy – we cannot become a City where we think our residents are going to volunteer to do our services for the City. We have to take care of our residents. We have to take care of the businesses of our City. We need to look ahead and try to work to improve our City and move forward but I do thank all volunteers. If you read the paper last week we had a Special Meeting. We are getting the pool open this year. I met with the YMCA and they are doing most of the funding. We had a business step up and donate $15,000 because the City could not afford $15,000 to open the pool. Again, we cannot continue to rely on businesses to come up every year and say here is $15,000. We cannot ask our residents to snow plow their own streets. We have to help ourselves. I believe we have helped ourselves enough out of the cuts we have made over the last five years. Again, I cannot emphasize – there is no more to cut. If we cut more bodies here – hopefully when you call the police can get there. There are not going to be scare tactics. After each levy has failed we have done what we said we would do – we cut. We are at a point – we have 101 employees here. We have 15 people in the Service Department that do sewer, streets and park and recreation. If we can’t keep up it is not that we don’t want to keep up it is because we are trying to set priorities. We are trying to take care of the gardens. When we get calls every day that we have holes in our roads we do send employees – that is the number one priority right now – roads. So, tentatively the pool will open on Father’s Day. We took the cover off today. The YMCA will start going in tomorrow to prepare it for the opening. They ordered the lift we need for the ADA compliance and that should be here in a couple of weeks. There will be five houses in the City demolished tomorrow – the ones we sent through the Court system. Representative Rogers contacted me on Friday. Our Building Department will put together a list of more houses that the County will pay to be demolished. We opened bids for concrete repairs today. Approximately 3.500 square yards of concrete throughout the City – some of the streets being Glen Drive, East 349th, East 341st, Waterbury, Ridgewood, Riverdale, Eastlake Overlook and Ridgewood. These are some very bad areas where they will take care of the intersections. The bid came in at $198,000 and we will be discussing it at the next Council meeting. Mr. Rubertino gave me a list today of all the asphalt roads we will have to try to contract out. We are looking at something we have not done before – our road crews usually do all the asphalt work but we are looking at contracting it out so we can utilize the people we have to continue to cut the grass and fix the other problems we have. We have over 200 catch basins that we have to repair with three guys. We will try to hire out the roads this year to free up those employees. I will be in Washington, D.C. from Thursday through Saturday at Congressman Joyce’s conference and hope to introduce myself so some of the higher up legislators to see what is out there to help the City. This concludes my report and I am open for questions
Ms. Vaughn: Just to clarify the record, Glen Drive is only being repaired from Iris to Route 91. We did receive a petition asking for the entire street to be resurfaced but that is impossible. It will be repaired at the intersection and from Iris and Glen to S.R. 91.
Mayor Morley: Yes. We were guessing the bid to be at about $300,000. The other bid we received was $236,000 and the one recommended is a company Eastlake has used before. After that is done we will use any money that is left for the asphalt and they will go out to see if there are any other concrete repairs we can do in-house.
There were no further questions of Mayor Morley.
FIRE CHIEF – Ted Whittington
Chief Whittington: I want to thank Council for their support and approval of the legislation tonight. I also want to thank the Mayor and Council and everyone who was involved in the employee lunch the other day. I know that everyone appreciated it and it was great to come together as a group. It was a very good thing. We had a good turnout for the open house. Chief Reik and I have goals and one of them was to start getting residents in to look at the operations of our Departments. I am always somewhat shocked to see the residents not coming in and understanding what we do in regards to our services. So when they get a chance to come in and talk to us that serves everyone. I appreciate everyone’s help. I know we are at a crossroad. A lot of times the decisions that you as elected officials have to make as far as putting levies on I know is driven by someone like me talking to you saying I need people to be able to do my job and protect people at a level they deserve. I want to make sure publically people know as a Fire Chief I am going to support you as elected officials to move forward with these levies and help people understand the importance of having them. I know Council President mentioned about making tough decisions. When we start cutting services what keeps me awake is things like what if we get rid of the boats and the water guys – who is going to rescue our residents who are out there in the lake? That is just one of the things I think about. We are at a crossroad and I don’t want the residents to think this is driven by the elected officials strictly or the Mayor’s office. It has a lot to do with me as a Director trying to manage my Department. We are still suffering from the cuts in 2012 – I am still operating without an Administrative Assistant and I am doing that job every day and I am trying to be the Fire Chief. I have rescue squads out and am going on their calls and by myself. That is what we do every day. And it is just not fair not only to our residents because they deserve more but also to myself and my partner. I want to make sure the residents know I not only support the Mayor but I support you in moving forward in trying to find ways to make this better. I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Chief Whittington.
SERVICE/UTILITIES COMMITTEE – Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins, Chair
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins, did you have to schedule a meeting?
Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins: Yes, we have a Service/Utilities Committee meeting June 3rd at 6:00 p.m.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: I will be out of town.
POLICE CHIEF – Larry Reik
Chief Reik: To address the Building Department complaints the last year we processed more complaints to Willoughby Court than we ever did before. It started a couple of Directors ago and it is a process to try to get to a resolution. When it does go to Court it slows things down. We have to try to get some immediate things done for the people who want things repaired but can’t due to finances or disability or something like that between our diversion program and Service, Police and Building Departments. We understand there are good people on both sides of some of these houses that are not being taken care of. It may not look like it but things are getting done. Regarding the open house I would also like to point out that Mr. Evers directed some of the PAL kids to help out with cotton candy and refreshments. It was refreshing to see the cooperation between the Departments and Directors, Council, and Mayor to try to put on something nice. I think we were up against something this year with the holiday weekend and I think we got some ideas for the next one. For those who went through the Police Station it looks like a small building but once you get in there you realize there is a lot more than what you would expect. I enjoyed giving those tours and having people inside there. The next two Saturdays there will be 5-K races. There will be a new run called the CRO-Run at the Croatian Lodge which will go S.R. 91 to Roberts and down Roberts to Beachpark – we will try to get a map on Face Book. The 5-K starts at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday and should not take that much time or cause disruption. I will have officers out there and I think traffic should be okay. Please be careful. The following Saturday will be the Captains Run. We have a meeting this week but it will be the same route as last year – Curtis, East 337th, Lakeland to East 361st Street and back to the stadium. It is typically not that high of a traffic area. Safety Town will be starting up on June 9th. Money that was raised by the people – Andy Allan and Sherry Brzeski for the most part – the whole area has been revamped. We have a new shed, the asphalt is down and the vehicles are in – it is really going well. We have a few more spots available. We are looking forward to getting this going and hopefully it will be a good thing for years to come. Finally, regarding the Chief’s comments about the levy – we are getting questions and it is amazing the things you hear out there – the perception versus reality. Whether we are struggling or at some point in our careers we are flourishing – Chief Whittington, Director Rubertino and I don’t have any problems with explaining why this costs what it does – why we need these people – with an apples to apples comparison with any city in the County. That is where the comparison can be made and not so much as in a shop environment or something like that. The employees are the most efficient they have ever been and it gets to a point where efficiency only takes you so far. You start wearing people down and the age starts coming into it. The guys and girls work for me and Fire and Service doing what they are doing but when we have an overdose like we did a few weeks ago and the Fire Chief is one of the medics on site and I am the police officer on site – that is a problem. Plus, at a time when either one of us would traditionally be working we are both there and responding across the street talking to a resident about there being drugs in the house across the street from them – that and transitioning when those people come out screaming and yelling and you are back in police and fire mode. Chief Whittington has never appeared to lose his passion for what he does and I still enjoy doing that stuff. Regardless we always see that kind of activity as a want and not a need. Right now there is a need when we send two guys to the hospital with the person who OD’d and my officers have to go somewhere else there are only two left. It is not a situation that other cities are in. If people have questions – if you hear a rumor have them call us. We can give them answers so when people make the decision knowing this is going to happen then that is their right to make that decision. I have nothing else to report and am open for questions.
There were no questions of Chief Reik.
SERVICE DIRECTOR – Nick Rubertino
Mr. Rubertino: I am new at this and short of defending my guys – it is offensive – you know what these guys have been doing. If you look at what is going on with the streets and around the buildings our guys are out there working. Twenty-three years I have been with this City and nine years ago someone disbanded the Recreation Department – that was not our choice. The gardens have always been controlled by the City. Four or five years ago they gave them to the residents and we had nothing but chaos and problems there. Are we a little behind – absolutely. Do we tear fences down – absolutely not. I am a little offended by that remark by the resident. I don’t know if that is my proper position today to do that but I would be happy to explain and justify what we do at the gardens and what we do throughout the City. You cannot come in here and criticize the workers that are here today for what they are doing above and beyond what has ever been done in this City for 10 years. The last Mayor disbanded the Recreation Department. We gave them an opportunity and certain people were given that opportunity to correct it. We don’t destroy the gardens. We are here for the residents and that is all of them and not just a few. It is really offensive to me. I apologize if that is not the correct thing to do but it does bother me. I would be happy to justify what we do and how we do it and when we do it. I apologize if I am out of order in doing that but that is where I stand with it. I am open for questions
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Thank you. I would like to say from my point of view and from what I have been seeing this year – I have seen a lot of difference going on in the Service Department. I did not know what was going on at the gardens. Mr. Radovanic, I am sure Mr. Rubertino would talk to you after the meeting if you want him to but, Mr. Rubertino, from what I am seeing a lot of work is getting done. You guys all volunteered to be here on Saturday for the Open House. I have never seen that before. At least half the guys were here.
Mr. Rubertino: There is not a call I have not answered in 24 hours a day since I took this position and there is not one I won’t. I am dedicated to this Community.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: I think you are doing a great job.
There were no questions of Mr. Rubertino.
CITY ENGINEER – Tom Gwydir
Mr. Gwydir: I have nothing to report but I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Mr. Gwydir.
FINANCE DIRECTOR – Mike Slocum
Mr. Slocum: Thank you for the change in the income tax ordinance. I think that was a long time coming. I have nothing else to report at this point and I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Mr. Slocum.
LAW DIRECTOR – Randy Klammer
Mr. Klammer: The only other thing on the property maintenance – we do abate properties when the grass is growing high but unfortunately that is out of pocket for the City. We do have a contract for that and abate the properties and put it on the tax bill and who knows how far down the road it is before we get reimbursed. I know that is always part of the budget. The Building Department has done a great job and Chief Reik is providing his staff member to help organize cases and get them to the Building and Tax Departments. They have done a lot more than they ever have. Since I have been here it has gotten better every year. It is a challenge. I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Mr. Klammer.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
Mrs. Cendroski: This is for the Mayor and Council and everyone else who pitched in – the employee lunch was really, really nice and a long time coming. We have not done anything like that it eight or nine years. It meant a lot to all of us. We do appreciate it. Thank you to Council for the support.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:50 p.m.
______________________________________
JOE D’AMBROSIO, COUNCIL PRESIDENT
APPROVED: __________________________
ATTEST: _____________________________
DEBORAH A. CENDROSKI,
CLERK OF COUNCIL