Regular Council Meeting Minutes from June 14, 2016
EASTLAKE CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
June 14, 2016
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 Ms. DePledge at approximately 7:05 p.m.
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
ATTENDEES
Members of Council in attendance were Mr. Zuren, Mr. Meyers, Mr. Kasunick, Mr. Spotton, Mr. Evers, Mr. Hoefle and Council President Ms. DePledge. Also in attendance was Council Clerk Mrs. Simons.
Those attending from the Administration were Mayor Morley, Police Chief Reik, City Engineer Gwydir, Finance Director Mrs. Schindel and Law Director Klammer. Fire Chief Whittington, CBO Menn and Service Director Rubertino were absent and excused.
Ms. DePledge: If anyone is recording this meeting as courtesy to the public will you please identify yourself so that the fellow attendees know that it is being recorded.
Angelo Trivisonno
Ms. DePledge: Mr. Trivisonno is recording both audio and video so be advised that your statements will be recorded not only by City Council but by a member of the public.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Regular Council Meeting –May 24, 2016.
MOTION: Mr. Evers moved to approve the minutes of the Regular Council Meeting May 24 2016. Mr. Spotton seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. The minutes were approved.
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COUNCIL PRESIDENT’S REPORT – Ms. DePledge
Meetings Scheduled
Ms. DePledge: The next Council-as-a-Whole Committee Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 28, 2016 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
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A communication from The Walter Drane Company regarding the May 2016 Codified Ordinances replacement pages.
Ms. DePledge: This was discussed in Council-as-a-Whole Committee and will be added to the evening’s agenda.
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A communication from City Engineer Gwydir to enter into a contract with A & J Cement Contractors as the lowest and best bidder for the Ridgewood Drive Pavements Improvement.
Ms. DePledge: This was discussed in Council-as-a-Whole Committee and will be added to the evening’s agenda.
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A communication from City Engineer Gwydir granting permission from the City of Eastlake to the City of Willoughby to expend funds for the implementation of the W-E WPCC Equalization Basin Rehabilitation Sewer Project.
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Ms. DePledge: This was discussed in Council-as-a-Whole Committee and will be added to the evening’s agenda.
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A communication from Finance Director Schindel to an application for funds through the Competitive Community Development Block Grant Program for a Rescue Squad.
Ms. DePledge: This was discussed in Council-as-a-Whole Committee and will be added to the evening’s agenda.
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A communication from Law Director Klammer to amend Section 1385.99 of the Codified Ordinances.
Ms. DePledge: This was discussed in Council-as-a-Whole Committee and will be added to the evening’s agenda and it will be placed on First Reading.
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A communication from the Law Director Klammer to amend Section 1387.99 specifically Subsection (b) of the Codified Ordinances.
Ms. DePledge: This was discussed in Council-as-a-Whole Committee and will be added to the evening’s agenda and it will be placed on First Reading.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Ms. DePledge: There was an Ordinance Committee’s held since our last Council Meeting. Mr. Hoefle?
Mr. Hoefle: Thank you Madam President. The Ordinance Committee did meet last Tuesday, June 7. Member from the committee were myself, Mr. Meyers and Mr. Spotton. Present from Council were Mr. Zuren, Mr. Kasunick and Mr. Evers. Council President Ms. DePledge was absent and excused. From the Administration were Mayor Morley and CBO Menn. We had one item on the agenda and it was to discuss a deer culling program. We had a resident that the Mayor has been working with and his name is Todd Vogler and he presented some information. The second meeting that we held was for information and information only. We were not voting on anything and we are still doing a lot of research on this topic. A lot of the information was that we were questioning the deer population in Eastlake, if a study has been done, the number of accidents that were deer related issues as far as the culling program, what kind of method that they would use, nuisance issues, and if any of the neighboring cities have any kind of programs. The only local city that is around here is the City of Mentor, which their cost is roughly $100,000.00 a year to operate the program. Then we were looking at the amount of acreage you would need and the distance from property lines. Mr. Vogler presented some information to us and other than that I believe that was everything that we talked about. We kept it in committee and we are still waiting for some additional information. Is there anybody else from the committee or Council…was there anything that I missed or anything else. Other than that that’s what we discussed and we kept it in committee. I would also like to discuss that there is also a community fund raiser called ME-YOWZA Fund Raiser for Eastlake Community Cats and it is this Saturday, June 18 from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at Two Bucks. A thirty dollar ticket includes a buffet, open bar, door prize, and various raffles.
MOTION:
MOTION: Mr. Kasunick moved to add Legislation No.:06-14-(01) to this evening’s agenda an Ordinance to revise the Codified Ordinances by adopting current replacement pages.Mr. Zuren Second.
Motion carried Legislation 06-14-(01) is added to this evening’s agenda.
MOTION: Mr. Evers moved to add Legislation No.:06-14-(02) to this evening’s agenda a Resolution authorizing the Mayor and Director of Finance to enter into a Contract with A & J Cement Contractors., the most responsible and lowest and best bidder, for the Base Bid for the Ridgewood Drive Pavement Improvements in the total amount of Five Hundred Sixty-Nine Thousand Seven Hundred Forty Dollars ($569,740.00).Mr. Hoefle Second.
Motion carried Legislation 06-14-(02) is added to this evening’s agenda.
MOTION: Mr. Spotton moved to add Legislation No.: 06-14-(03) to this evening’s agenda a Resolution granting permission from the City of Eastlake to the City of Willoughby to expend funds in an amount of Two Million One Hundred and Thirty-Eight Thousand One Hundred and Eighty- Five Dollars ($2,138,185.00) for the Implementation of the W-E WPCC Equalization Basin Rehabilitation Sewer Project. Mr. Meyers Second.
Motion carried Legislation 06-14-(03) is added to this evening’s agenda.
MOTION: Mr. Zuren moved to add Legislation No.:06-14-(04) to this evening’s agenda a Resolution authorizing and directing the Mayor and Director of Finance toFile an Application with the Lake County Planning Commission for Funds through the Competitive Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG), for the term of October 1, 2016 through September 30, 2017.Mr. Evers Second.
Motion carried Legislation 06-14-(04) is added to this evening’s agenda.
MOTION: Mr. Hoefle moved to approvein accordance with Article V, Section 5 of the Charter of the City of Eastlake the suspension of the last meeting in July, 2016 and the first meeting in August, 2016 for the summer break. Mr. Evers Second.
Ms. DePledge: The next two items are going to be placed on First Reading and they are Legislation No.: 06-14-(05) which is the Ordinance amending the City of Eastlake Ordinance Section 1385.99. Also Legislation No.: 06-14-(06) which is amending the city of Eastlake Ordinance Section 1387.99. These are placed on First Reading and we will raise them again at the next Council Meeting when our Chief building Official is here.
RECOGNITION OF THE PUBLIC
Ms. DePledge recognized the public input at this time; she 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.
Mary Hawkins, 37811 Lakeshore Blvd., Eastlake
Mrs. Hawkins: Good evening and thank you. For full disclosure I must state that my husband is Judd Hawkins and he is the Prosecutor for the City of Eastlake. I am not here tonight representing him. Judd and I are also the founders of the Eastlake Lacrosse Club, which after nine years has been recognized and it is going to be part of the Eastlake North Lacrosse Club for 2017. I am not here to represent the Lacrosse Club either. I am here representing Mary Hawkins and her neighbors. Just to give you a little bit of a background I have been an Eastlake resident for fifty plus years. My parents bought a house on Lakeshore Boulevard in Eastlake when I was two years old and they owned it for 25 years. When my husband asked me to marry him he jokingly said hey I bought this little cottage that’s on Lakeshore Boulevard in Eastlake. How do you feel about living on the lake? I burst out laughing and I said honey that’s going home and that’s what it has been. It’s our home our single family home. We purposely live in a community of single family homes. We took that little cottage and through blood, sweat, and tears and a whole lot of money we did a tear down rebuild. We have a beautiful home today. We were the first of three neighbors that did a tear down rebuild and converted little cottages or pieces of dirt. Because little cottages fell into the lake and we built them into beautiful homes that are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars each. One of our neighbor’s is here tonight and I will let her say more about her home. I must add my own moment about her home. I have been there a long time. Where she lives now there was a home and then there was a garage apartment. The home had to be demolished, because it was literally falling into the lake. When she bought it there was a garage apartment. The City of Eastlake absolutely positively did not let here build a home where a home had been, because it’s single family residence. She spent tens of thousands of dollars to attach her garage apartment to her new, beautiful, and very expensive home. She has never rented out her garage apartment, because it is zoned as single family home. She has had some house guests live there for a week or two in the summer, because they live in Florida. It is not a rental income for her and it has never been a rental income. It has come to our knowledge that the home on the other side of her is a rental income. There are three gas meters and three electric meters. There is someone who lives in a building that I literally can refer to as a shed in the lake yard. The other person I believe but don’t know for sure lives in the attic. The reason that I am here tonight asking City Council, the Mayor and everybody in this room is that the neighbor’s and I need your help. This single family home was purchased March of this year by a business establishment. Quality Rentals of Cleveland now owns the single family residence at 37825 Lakeshore Boulevard. This past weekend they rented it out, not the shed and not the attic over the garage, because they are already rented to two other distinct people. They rented it out to roughly twenty people for the weekend. I am sorry it is unacceptable. This is my home and I chose to live in Eastlake and I have been here for fifty plus years. Please help me, tell me what I can do, tell me who I need to talk to, tell me what needs to happen to enforce that we still live in the single family community that I am proud to be a part of. That is why I am here tonight. I have talked to several of the neighbors and unfortunately they could not be here tonight, but if need be we will show up. To show that we are concerned for our home values and we are concerned for our sleep. The lady next door her twenty year old daughter was home alone all weekend. She was concerned and she sent a text her mother, who was on a cruise ship, stating that there are police cars here and I don’t know what is going on mom.
Ms. DePledge: So the police were called to the home that night?
Mrs. Hawkins: What can I do?
Ms. DePledge: I think that you are in the right place. We will talk to the Mayor and the Chief Building Official. We will go out and look at the property and look at the meters if they are visible from your property.
Mrs. Hawkins: Sunday morning I saw at least six cars. The neighbor’s told me that there were more like twelve or fifteen. I had gone out around noon so many of them had left.
Ms. DePledge: I saw the Mayor writing down the address and I did as well. I am sure that he will be in touch with CBO Menn and they will probably contact you. If you want to wait until after the meeting you could give your phone number to the Mayor or to me. We will make sure that this is investigated a little more thoroughly for you okay?
Mrs. Hawkins: Is further action needed on my part? I am the kind of person who never gives up. Just point me in the right direction. This is…our home.
Ms. DePledge: The Mayor will talk to you after the meeting and we will get more information. We will get your number and we will talk to you.
Mayor Morley: We will go through our Building Official Mr. Menn. I will get your number and I will have him give you a call.
Mrs. Hawkins: Thank you.
Richard Snyder, 37821 Lakeshore Blvd., Eastlake
Mr. Snyder: I have no disrespect for anybody, but we had a Nightmare on Elm Street Friday and Saturday night. We have a nun and a priest living there and there were twenty-two people living in a single family home. All night long it was kayos in there. I called the police the first night and on the second night I had to call them twice. The first night I didn’t sleep at all. I had to get up and go to work at 5:00 a.m. I have had seven heart attacks I don’t need another one. I built the house on the lake, because I love Eastlake. Mr. Ted Klammer who was a friend of mine he said to build a house in Eastlake you’ll love it. So we did and we built a beautiful home and we want to stay there. We don’t know what to do here, because it was a nightmare.
Ms. DePledge: Well we want you to stay and again if you want to leave your phone number with the Mayor. CBO Menn and the Mayor will look into it and they will get back to both of you.
Mr. Snyder: Thank you very much.
Gail Linda Snyder, 37821 Lakeshore Blvd., Eastlake
Mrs. Snyder: I lived in Fairport Harbor and because of Fairport Harbor and the incident that I had thirteen years ago I wanted to move to a safe place. I reviewed Eastlake, I went up and down the streets and looked around and found this piece of property in Eastlake. This was back in 2006 I decided to build a house. There was a coach house and I had to put in a breeze way, because they didn’t want me renting out the coach house. Either that or rip it down. I said no that I want to keep that coach house, because it was built in 1948. Built the main house and put everything together and I noticed right from the get go with the neighbor’s next door that something was going on. You have three gas meters and three electric meters you know that something is not right there. You let it go because you try to get along with your neighbor’s. On Friday night… and by the way I was the one that was robbed and beaten in Fairport Harbor thirteen years ago. Stun gun and tied up and left for dead. This is why I moved out of Fairport into a safer community. We have wonderful neighbors, but they are single family homes. I came home early from work on Friday and I noticed a girl walking through my property. I had my girlfriend on the phone and I told her to hang on and if something should happen I will call the police. She got down part of my driveway and I said what are you looking for? She goes I am looking at this house. I said you parked next door and I advise you to go back over there. She went back over there and then I noticed another gentleman joined her and at 12:30 a.m. we had to call the police. They were laughing and carrying on. You want your windows open when it is nice weather. We had the windows open and we called the police and they toned it down. I had a confrontation with one of the guys out there. He apologized, but when I woke up in the morning and got Mr. Snyder up at 5:00 o’clock and got him off. I feel back to sleep for forty five minutes and when I woke up there were about ten or twelve cars there. I closed everything up and put the air on and went to work. After work I went out to dinner and met Mr. Snyder, because he was very tired and he stayed at the store for a while to sleep. Then I came home and then it started. I counted twenty-two people in a single family home. You have two bed rooms and one bathroom. It was all night long and I told the police how would you like to live there? You can’t. It’s humanly impossible so somebody has to help us. This was our dream to have this home and to live in the city. But the dream is like a nightmare. I did talk to your Building Director and he is going to try and look into this. He said that he sent out a letter. The owner is Mr. Stats and he is out of Akron. He put the rental house…he has a company that was established February 9, 2016. Just so you know I did my homework. It is in his wife’s name. If they are going to do rentals every week that is crazy this is summer. You enjoy the summer on the lake and this is what we look forward too.
Ms. DePledge: I understand your complaints and as I said the Mayor is aware of them. We will get the Building Director involved and obviously the Police Department has already been involved so they are aware.
Mrs. Snyder: I did call before too and complained about the three gas meters and the three electric meters and what is going on here? I don’t have that. I was told in the beginning when I built my house that you could not have rental property there. They specifically told me that. I have had a couple of friends come up and they will stay for a week or so and that’s it.
Ms. DePledge: This is the first that is has been brought to our attention. We will do the work that we have to do to try and see if we can fix it. Is that okay for you?
Mrs. Snyder: Thank you very much.
There was no one else who wished to speak.
LEGISLATION PROPOSED – First number will be 2016-030
06-14-(01) ORDINANCE NO.:_________
An ordinance to revise the Codified Ordinances by adopting current replacement pages and declaring an emergency.
MOTION: Mr. Kasunick moved to suspend the rules requiring separate readings and reading in full. Mr. Evers second.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
MOTION: Mr. Kasunick moved to adopt. Mr. Evers second.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Resolution No. 2016-030.
06-14-(02) RESOLUTION NO.:________
A Resolution authorizing and directing the Mayor and Director of Finance to enter into a Contract with A & J Cement Contractors., the most responsible and lowest and best bidder, for the Base Bid for the Ridgewood Drive Pavement Improvements in the total amount of Five Hundred Sixty-Nine Thousand Seven Hundred Forty Dollars ($569,740.00), and declaring an emergency.
MOTION: Mr. Evers moved to suspend the rules requiring separate readings and reading in full. Mr. Hoefle second.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
MOTION: Mr. Evers moved to adopt. Mr. Hoefle second.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Resolution No. 2016-031.
06-14-(03) RESOLUTION NO.:________
A Resolution granting permission from the City of Eastlake to the City of Willoughby to expend funds in an amount of Two Million One Hundred and Thirty-Eight Thousand One Hundred and Eighty- Five Dollars ($2,138,185.00) for the Implementation of the W-E WPCC Equalization Basin Rehabilitation Sewer Project, and declaring an emergency.
MOTION: Mr. Spotton moved to suspend the rules requiring separate readings and reading in full. Mr. Meyers second.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
MOTION: Mr. Spotton moved to adopt. Mr. Meyers second.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Resolution No. 2016-032.
06-14-(04) RESOLUTION NO.:________
A Resolution authorizing the Mayor and Director of Finance to File an Application with the Lake County Planning Commission for Funds through the Competitive Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG), for the term of October 1, 2016 through September 30, 2017, and declaring an emergency.
MOTION: Mr. Zuren moved to suspend the rules requiring separate readings and reading in full. Mr. Spotton second.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
MOTION: Mr. Zuren moved to adopt. Mr. Spotton second.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Resolution No. 2016-033.
06-14-(05) ORDINANCE NO.:________
An Ordinance amending City of Eastlake Ordinance Section 1385.99 “Penalty”, and declaring an emergency.
Ms. DePledge: This is being placed on First Reading for this evening. It will be on the agenda for a Second Reading at our next Council Meeting.
06-14-(06) ORDINANCE NO.:_______
An Ordinance amending City of Eastlake Ordinance Section 1387.99 “Penalty”, specifically Subsection (b) and declaring an emergency.
Ms. DePledge: This is being placed on First Reading for this evening. It will be on the agenda for a Second Reading at our next Council Meeting so that we can have information from our Chief Building Official.
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 Madam President. Welcome everyone to this evening’s meeting. I have just a few things this evening. On June 1 I was invited to a meeting with the Willoughby-Eastlake School’s. They gave us an update on the new school’s that they will be building next year and they are Eastlake North High and Longfellow Elementary School. They also showed us were they will be on the sites. Both of the old schools will be used until the new schools are built. They will be state of the art schools. They will be like the innovation school plus they will be two stories. Construction is supposed to start next year. If you would like anymore information you can go onto the Willoughby-Eastlake Schools website. They have some drawings on there. With the bond levy that was passed they are having renovation projects. For 2016 in Eastlake it is a roof replacement on Eastlake Middle School and Thomas Jefferson Elementary. I believe in the future they will have more community outreach meetings with Willoughby-Eastlake Schools to explain more as the projects begin. We did meet with them in February and this will be a lot of work for our Building Department to work with the contractors, the schools and our Fire Department. Today I meet with the Captain’s, Mayor Regovich and Mayor Margalis to talk about the 4th of July fireworks. It will be held on Monday, July 4th at Classic Park. The gates will open at 7:00 p.m. We are going to have some civic groups that will some tables there. If anyone would like to have a table there please contact me by June 21st so that I can work it through with the Captain’s. We are continuing to work on the catch basins and the roads. We are trying to keep up with the grass and lately we have been doing better on that. It is always a work in progress to keep it under control. Mr. Gwydir can discuss anything on the Ridgewood project if anyone has any questions on it. Safety Town started this week and I went over there yesterday and we had sixty kids and I will be at the graduation on Friday. I am looking forward to that. The pool is doing better this year with the YMCA running it again. We had a couple of road blocks on a bond with the kiddy pool and that should be starting in the next couple of weeks. It is a three week project from when they start it until the end. We are hoping to have that in by sometime in July. That concludes my report and I am open for questions.
There were no further questions of Mayor Morley
FIRE CHIEF – Ted Whittington
Chief Whittington was absent and excused.
There were no further questions of Chief Whittington
POLICE CHIEF – Larry Reik
Chief Reik: We have had several meetings amongst the Police Departments in Lake County about the RNC. We have reached out and we are a part of the planning that is going on out in Cleveland. We had a meeting with about 120 different officials from Columbus on up. The majority of the events that are happening out in Cleveland will happen out there with their personnel. We are trying to make sure that we are set up here as well as we can be. We will have the event at the stadium. It was more under wraps for people who are staying in Cleveland and Cleveland.com didn’t get that memo. If people want to be disruptive they will be. We have some protocols in place to try and handle most of the eventualities and we have more people to draw from. A lot of departments have some reserve personnel during that week so we will be set up with command centers and hopefully we won’t have to do anything. Last night we had some vehicle break-ins in the Garretts Cove Drive and Roberts Road area. Just to remind people that the cars that they entered were all unlocked. I think that there was maybe one exception and that was a Jeep with a vinyl top, but for the most part people enter vehicles that are unlocked. If you are going to leave your vehicle unlocked make sure that aren’t any valuables in it. If you have valuables or don’t want someone in your car keep it locked. Usually they will move on. This happened from Roberts Road and it extended into Willoughby. It’s just one of those things that happens in the summer, especially when some of the older juveniles get out. Periodically they will in…if they are staying with a family with three or four kids it is way for them to pick up a couple extra dollars for an IPad and so forth. It never feels good when you go out in the morning to see that whether they took anything or not. I feel that is the best way to prevent that.
There were no further questions of Chief Reik.
CHIEF BUILDING OFFICIAL – David Menn
Mr. Menn was absent and excused.
There were no questions of Mr. Menn.
SERVICE DIRECTOR – Nick Rubertino
Mr. Rubertino was absent and excused.
There were no further questions of Mr. Rubertino.
CITY ENGINEER – Tom Gwydir
Mr. Gwydir had nothing to report this evening.
There were no questions of Mr. Gwydir.
FINANCE DIRECTOR – Carol-Ann Schindel
Mrs. Schindel had nothing to report this evening.
There were no questions of Mrs. Schindel.
LAW DIRECTOR – Randy Klammer
Mr. Klammer: Thank you Madam President members of Council and Mayor. I would add to the Chief’s comments don’t leave your garage door opener in your car and leave your car outside with the door unlocked too. So they open the garage and they take your golf clubs. Not that I golf so it doesn’t matter to me. It has been a while since the decision on the strip club came down. I don’t know if we actually discussed that a Council Meeting.
Ms. DePledge: No.
Mr. Klammer: We were successful on the strip club. They denied their request and the law suit against us and the judgment was in our favor. Other than that I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Mr. Klammer.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:40 p.m.
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LAURA A. DEPLEDGE, COUNCIL PRESIDENT
APPROVED: ______________________
ATTEST: ______________________________________
TRACY M. SIMONS, CLERK OF COUNCIL