REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING – MARCH 24, 2015
EASTLAKE CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
MARCH 24, 2015
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 7:56 p.m.
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
ATTENDEES
Members of Council in attendance were Mr. Evers, Mr. Licht, Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins, Ms. DePledge, Ms. Vaughn and Council President Mr. D’Ambrosio. Mr. Hoefle was absent and excused. Also in attendance 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. CBO Menn was absent and excused.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Regular Council Meeting– March 10, 2015
MOTION: Ms. Vaughn moved to approve the minutes of the Regular Council Meeting of March 10, 2015. Mr. Evers seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas: Ms. Vaughn, Mr. Evers, Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins, Ms. DePledge,
Mr. D’Ambrosio
Abstain: Mr. Licht
Motion carried. The minutes were approved.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
COUNCIL PRESIDENT’S REPORT – Mr. D’Ambrosio
Meetings Scheduled
Mr. D’Ambrosio: The Blvd. of Flags fundraiser is April 24, 2015. If anyone needs tickets they can contact our Sergeant-at-Arms Mike Rydzinski, Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins, Mayor Morley or me or get in touch with one of the Council members and we will get them for you.
The next Council-as-a-Whole Committee Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 14, 2015 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 WPCC regarding the purchase of a blower for the aeration system.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: This was discussed in Council-as-a-Whole Committee and will be added to the evening’s agenda.
A communication was received from the Administration requesting an amendment to Ordinance Chapter 125 “Department of Finance” regarding the sale of public property. This was referred to Ordinance Committee.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Mr. Hoefle has scheduled an Ordinance Committee meeting for Tuesday, March 31, 2015 immediately following the Service/Utilities Committee meeting.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Mr. D’Ambrosio: A Finance Committee meeting was held:
FINANCE COMMITTEE – Ms. Vaughn, Chair
Legislative Recommendation
Legislation No. 03-24-(04)
Ms. Vaughn moved to add Legislation No. 03-24-(04) to the evening’s agenda granting permission from the City of Eastlake to the City of Willoughby to expend funds in an amount not to exceed Forty-Seven Thousand Dollars ($47,000.00) for the purchase of one GE-Roots 1220 RASJ Whispair Blower for the Aeration System. Ms. DePledge seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. Legislation No. 03-24-(04) is added to the evening’s agenda.
Ms. Vaughn: The money has been put aside in a specific fund for the WPCC. The money is not coming out of the General Fund. The Finance Committee met March 17, 2015 with all members of the Administration present. Everyone from Council was in attendance except for one member who was absent and excused. It was an interesting meeting because every single Department was there and had the opportunity to explain what was going on in their Department. Mr. Slocum prefaced the meetings with the information on Moody’s and advised that Moody’s recognized the job management – which means Council and the Administration and how we have managed the operation with decreasing dollars. They said one of our biggest challenges – this is not us saying it but an independent party that rates all cities in the State of Ohio – is the lack of voter support. Where we recognize it the community will start to recognize it because this downgrade becomes a report card on the Community as a whole and its support for the City. That says it in black and white. Maybe the residents will get it now. We are not telling people we are in trouble but an outside professional organization that rates all cities is sharing that with us and we in turn are sharing it with the residents. As I indicated every Department Head was there and everyone explained the problems their department was having. I was glad to see two members of our community there who paid attention to what was going on and they figured out that we have a difficult job to do and we are doing the very best we can with what we have to work with. I will not be scheduling another meeting. On tonight’s agenda appears the motion I just made and the budget which is tight to the belt with a very small carry-over. The carry-over is what we are supposed to run the City with for the first three months of the year – it will be a little rough with just $4,000. We also have a resolution authorizing the City to enter into an agreement with ODOT for rock salt. This concludes my report.
Mr. Slocum: To conclude the item on Moody’s – I distributed today the Moody’s ratings. There are only two cities or villages in the State of Ohio that are rated lower than the City of Eastlake – Massillon and Maple Heights. Eastlake Cleveland we do not believe is rated anymore as we do not believe there is any debt. I would put them underneath us. We are at the bottom of the food chain. I think the report speaks for itself and we will be putting it on the web site for everyone to see. This is not our opinion – this is an independent assessment of this City by people who get paid to make this type of independent assessment.
Ms. Vaughn: It is rather embarrassing.
Mr. Slocum: It does not speak well if you are a resident in this City.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: I had wanted to say something during the Council President’s report – I want to thank the Mayor, Chief Whittington and the Fire Department, Chief Reik and Service Director Rubertino. During the thaw they were sending us text messages. My first message was received at 1:30 a.m. They let us know what was going on as far as the flooding. The communication was great and thank you for keeping us in the loop.
There were no questions of Ms. Vaughn.
ECONOMIC & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL – Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins, Chair
Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins: We had an ECDC meeting tonight. Heather Elmer from the Chagrin River Watershed Partners was there. She showed us a map regarding conservation in the area of the river. If we work with that map and I think it was ODNR – I am not sure – they would cooperate with us on some grants. We are also still looking at ways and options to increase our economic development and to increase our tax base. This concludes my report and I am open for questions.
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.
Stacey McGuigan, 36260 Valley Vista Drive, Eastlake
Mrs. McGuigan: I came here to listen to the information from the Auditor about the Performance Audit and I hope aside from the cost factor that this goes away. It really seems to have been an unnecessary distraction to the residents as something that may or may not be available or whatnot – it is a distraction. Obviously the cost alone made that decision for us whether we like it or not. If any of you have paid attention to what happens with the Auditor from the School Board perspective I can give you some examples. For Willoughby-Eastlake we were told to demolish all of our schools – fabulous – that would be fantastic – let’s go ahead and demolish the schools – a great recommendation. If that was going to be one of the things we needed to do for the audit to get paid for that was obviously not going to happen. They also told us out of thirteen schools we should only have one nurse. We have six now which is pretty disgusting if you think about it. I do not know why we have any frankly. To follow some of the guidelines the school district was given I am not even curious to see what they were going to tell the City because I am pretty sure it would be a waste of all of our time. As a resident I wanted to let you know my thoughts about that. Ms. DePledge, I appreciate what you said. I appreciate Chief Whittington. If we can get a little bit of time from anyone from Columbus who may go back and make a difference. You stated exactly what you needed to say. Our little tiny cities need help. If I walk away from this meeting tonight with anything it will have nothing to do with what the auditor said but it will with your heart and what you all have said. Thank you. Keep it up.
There was no one else who wished to speak.
LEGISLATION PROPOSED – First number will be 2015-025
RESOLUTION NO.: 03-24-(01)
Requested by: Administration A Resolution supporting and recognizing the
Sponsored by: Council Month of April, 2015 as Child Abuse Prevention
Month in 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 Resolution No. 2015-025.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
ORDINANCE NO.: 03-24-(02)
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, 2015 and ending
December 31, 2015, 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 Ordinance No. 2015-026.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
RESOLUTION NO.: 03-24-(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 the Ohio Department of
Transportation for Sodium Chloride/Rock Salt
to be procured for Summer Contract (Contract
#418-16) and/or a Winter Use (Contract
#018-16), 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. 2015-027.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
RESOLUTION NO.: 03-24-(04)
Requested by: WPCC Super. Gorka A Resolution granting permission from the
Sponsored by: Council City of Eastlake to the City of Willoughby to
expend funds in an amount not to exceed
Forty-Seven Thousand Dollars ($47,000.00)
for the purchase of one GE-Roots 1220 RASJ
Whispair Blower for the Aeration System,
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. 2015-028.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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: Welcome everyone. Thank you for coming out. I want to talk about the flood and how professional our Police, Fire, Service Departments and Dispatchers in this City are – they helped us get through all this. Chief Whittington and I were on the scene together most of the time. We had radio contact between the Battalion Chiefs, Dispatch, the Police and Service Departments. We did well. We are glad, obviously, that the river broke about 4:30 a.m. We were on West Island which was the area with most of the issues. The chucks of ice were about 2 ½ feet in depth x about 6-8 feet and they came all the way from the river to the street. We used the snow plow to remove the ice from the middle of the street and also did something we usually do not do – we went on properties and moved the ice chucks out of driveways because the residents would not have been able to get out of their houses. We received a letter from a resident this week who appreciated that we were there to help them. I want to thank our employees – they are great. We have been getting a lot of calls about Willowick Drive and potholes – and actually had NewsNet 5 show up to interview Service Director Rubertino and me about potholes. Of course, like every other city they interviewed we are aware of the holes and are working on them on a daily basis. I have been telling the residents – especially those on Willowick Drive – that we received a half million dollar grant with our cost being $250,000 to be taken out of the road levy fund. On April 7th Commissioner Moran, someone from NOACA, our City Engineer and I will be looking at Willowick Drive to see if there is any extra funding we can get to do more repairs this year on Willowick Drive. I spoke with Mayor Anderson about the ladder truck – they sent over the Memorandum of Understanding but there was still one issue – in our City anything over $12,500 has to go through Council. In the original document it was going to be the decision of the two Chiefs. I did not want to put that on the two Chiefs so we will add language that any major repairs have to go through me and the City Council. That should be coming in the next week or so. Willoughby’s Council will review and vote on it in the next few weeks. The budget is what it is with the $4,000. I appreciate everything our Finance Director does. I think a lot of our residents don’t know what he puts into trying to get our budget and looking at our numbers in all our Departments – and, working with me and our Directors to get where we are today. Besides our workforce one of the toughest job in this City has to be his. The Safety Forces of course is number one. As elected officials it is not that we don’t work hard but these guys give it everything they have. I am appreciative to the group of people who are behind me and help me get through every day. This concludes my report and I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Mayor Morley.
FIRE CHIEF – Ted Whittington
Chief Whittington: I hope I did not over speak my bounds earlier. I most certainly understand my position in this Community and this organization. I felt compelled to speak. If I overstepped by bounds I apologize. I respect each of you as well as my boss.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Not at all.
Chief Whittington: As far as the flood goes – I appreciate your thoughts. The Mayor is a very good guy and we meet regularly when the floods are imminent. I think there are a lot of things that go on behind the scene that do not get seen by the average resident. It is a tribute to the guidance I get from him and also the support we have from each other. Obviously West Island suffered the brunt this year and that ended up by the simple fact that the river did not make the second bend when it let loose. All in all what happened was anticipated and no one got hurt which is important. I appreciate you recognizing Pat Curtis. It was a pretty delicate situation and for him to be able to react like he did and get up to that front door and get that baby breathing again was a pretty important thing. I got their quick as I was in the neighborhood and by the time I got there the baby was breathing well enough for us to take him to the hospital. I appreciate what Pat did. I would like to point out to Mr. Klammer that you have another group of students here tonight who would probably be beneficial of the civics class you presented and the review of local government. This concludes my report and I am open for questions.
There were no further questions of Chief Whittington.
POLICE CHIEF – Larry Reik
Chief Reik: No one in this City speaks as passionately as our Fire Chief. He definitely has the sentiments of everyone here. I thank Council and the Mayor for allowing us to do our thing again tonight. I think it is important especially as things have decreased to have people step up. It is more important than ever to make sure they know they are recognized. A lot of time our day to day employees do not meet a lot of Council. That is good too. As far as the flood is concerned I am fortunate to have a mobile force on midnights that was able to assist with the flood and monitor what they needed. And the Fire Chief putting in the time he does and the Mayor participating in the process helps. Everything went smooth. I have nothing further to report and am open for questions.
There were no questions of Chief Reik.
CHIEF BUILDING OFFICIAL – David Menn
CBO Menn was absent and excused.
SERVICE DIRECTOR – Nick Rubertino
Mr. Rubertino: I agree with the Mayor and Chiefs. I have nothing new to add. I understand we do have a lot of issues in this Community but I am proud to be an employee and a resident. Hopefully we can keep going in the right direction.
There were no questions of Mr. Rubertino.
CITY ENGINEER – Tom Gwydir
Mr. Gwydir: I have nothing to report but would like to say I am equally as proud as Mr. Rubertino to serve the City. I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Mr. Gwydir.
FINANCE DIRECTOR – Mike Slocum
Mr. Slocum: Despite the Moody’s downgrade we did have one bank that is interested in refinancing our City Hall debt for the last three years of the debt. With the approval of Council I would like at the next Council meeting to have legislation drafted by Mr. Sharb. We will hopefully close this deal with your approval the middle of April. It will say us $20,000 over three years and $17,000 of that this year of that. We are not lengthening the contract. We are just cutting our costs. We save over $20,000 on the whole deal. If we do not have a Finance Committee meeting before that I would like to present it at the Council-as-a-Whole Committee meeting unless there are any objections. I am open for questions.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Does anyone have any objection to Mr. Slocum moving forward with this – it will not extend the time. This will be paid off in 2017 and we will save $20,000?
Mr. Slocum: 2017. And we will save $20,000.
Mr. Licht: What amount do we pay yearly?
Mr. Slocum: We are paying about $290,000 each year and will be able to cut it down by about $6,800 a year. We will structure it so we enjoy the savings this year. And, it will cost us less next year. We refinanced City Hall ten years ago and there was not call on the bonds. That is why we can do it this year and it still makes sense for us to do so. The bank that will be buying it is the same bank that financed the salt bin. They are comfortable with the City and does not care what Moody says. Thank you for the budget.
There were no objections to Mr. Slocum moving forward with this matter.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Thank you for all the work you do on the budget.
There were no further questions of Mr. Slocum.
LAW DIRECTOR – Randy Klammer
Mr. Klammer: I have my municipal government cheat sheet which I will pass out – courtesy of the Council and Mayor and I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Mr. Klammer.
Additional Comments:
Mr. Evers: Mayor, would you like to address the Easter Egg Hunt?
Mayor Morley: The Easter Egg Hunt is Saturday, March 28th. The gates open at 8:30 a.m. for Eastlake residents and is from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. The Easter Bunny will be arriving with Chief Whittington. We are calling for snow but will be there with the Easter Bunny and be ready to go. Thank you to Mr. Evers and E-Pal for packing the 10,000 eggs with candy.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:23 p.m.
______________________________________
JOE D’AMBROSIO, COUNCIL PRESIDENT
APPROVED: __________________________
ATTEST: _____________________________
DEBORAH A. CENDROSKI,
CLERK OF COUNCIL