REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES, SEPTEMBER 24, 2013
EASTLAKE CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
SEPTEMBER 24, 2013
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. Morley at approximately 7:07 p.m.
The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Ms. Vaughn.
ATTENDEES
Members of Council in attendance were Ms. Vaughn, Mr. Licht, Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins, Ms. DePledge, Mr. Hoefle, Mr. D’Ambrosio and Council President Mr. Morley. Also attending was Council Clerk Mrs. Cendroski.
Those attending from the Administration were Mayor Andrzejewski, Law Director Klammer, Finance Director Slocum, City Engineer Gwydir, Police Chief Reik and Fire Chief Whittington.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Regular Council Meeting – September 10, 2013
MOTION: Ms. Vaughn moved to approve the minutes of the Regular Council Meeting of September 10, 2013. Mr. Licht seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas: Ms. Vaughn, Mr. Licht, Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins, Mr. Hoefle
Mr. Morley
Abstain: Mr. D’Ambrosio, Ms. DePledge
Motion carried. The minutes were approved.
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COUNCIL PRESIDENT’S REPORT – Mr. Morley
Meetings Scheduled
Mr. Morley: The next Council-as-a-Whole Committee Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 8, 2013 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
Fee Waiver Requests were received from the Eastlake Women’s Club for use of the Community Center on Monday, October 14, 2013 for a Meet the Candidates event and Sunday, December 1, 2013 for an Evening with Santa Claus. Mr. Morley asked for a Motion to approve this fee waiver requests.
Fee Waiver Requests:
Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins moved to approve the Fee Waiver Requests from the Eastlake Women’s Club for use of the Community Center on Monday, October 14, 2013 for a Meet the Candidates night and on Sunday, December 1, 2013 for an Evening with Santa Claus. Mr. D’Ambrosio seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. The Fee Waivers for the Eastlake Women’s Club are approved.
An expenditure request was received from the WPCC for replacement of hot water heating boilers in its Service Building. Mr. Morley explained that this is an emergency request from the WPCC and was discussed during the Council-as-a-Whole Meeting. The funds come out of the existing replacement fund account. Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins will make a Motion to add this to the evening’s agenda as Legislation No. 09-24-(01) during the Council reports.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Mr. Morley: No Committee meetings were held.
WPCC Chair – Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins
Legislative Recommendation
Legislation No. 09-24-(01)
Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins moved to add Legislation No. 09-24-(01) 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 Thirty-Seven Thousand Six Hundred Dollars ($37,600.00) for the Replacement of the Boilers at the Willoughby-Eastlake Water Pollution Control Plant.
Mr. D’Ambrosio seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous
Motion carried. Legislation No. 09-24-(01) is added to the evening’s agenda.
RECOGNITION OF THE PUBLIC
Mr. Morley 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.
Anonymous Resident
Resident: May I choose to remain anonymous as I am going to complain about my neighborhood in general – particularly around my home.
Mr. Morley: Mr. Klammer?
Mr. Klammer: Sure.
Mr. Morley: That is not a problem.
Resident: Basically I live right around Willo-way Beach Park. I walk my dogs regularly. The state of the neighborhood – particularly right around the corner of Traymore and Lakeshore is embarrassing. There is a guy on that corner that has slide back car haulers – he has tow trucks – on the other end of Green there are two tow trucks. There is traffic going through and it is basically commercial. If you want to make it commercial that is fine but I will get involved with that and put some motor homes across street and have some brothel type things there to take advantage of it. That parking lot across the street is becoming a parking lot over night – the kids call it bootie call. There is a car that – other than last week – has been there every night this whole year. I have been a resident for almost 30 years and before that I lived in Timberlake and worked for a guy and had a magnetic sign on the side of my truck and I parked it in my parents’ driveway one night. The Council President or the Mayor and the Police Chief came to my house and said – you don’t do that around here – we are not Eastlake. That kind of hits home. At the time I was transitioning between Eastlake and Timberlake and now I am an Eastlake resident and I take a lot of pride in my homestead and a lot of pride in our area. I am proud to be a member of Eastlake. I went to school with you (referenced Mr. Morley). We go back a long way. Over the last weekend or so this house right around the corner from me put a trailer on the side of the house and there are lights on it all night long and there are people in it. They have parties going on in the back because apparently he is on call. This is a commercial venture working out of a house. At 6:30 a.m. I am listening to diesel trucks and smelling diesel fumes which are obnoxious – 6:30 Sunday morning these trucks are idling in the driveway. As I walk there are people who do it well – there are people with commercial trucks who park in their driveways and things are kept neat. That is not my complaint. My complaint is the area I live in. I know we are the lower class area of Eastlake even though houses across the street from me are ½ – 1 million dollar houses. The woman on the other side of the corner of Traymore is in her yard every single day working for hours – her yard is beautiful. These people on the corner do not even clear the culvert. Every time it rains – I have had your Service Director out to my house every time it rains. I did not bother him during the flood because I figured there were more important things to do. But, I have to go two and three houses down and clear the culvert of the leaves and things so my house does not flood. And, my house does flood – I was part of the flood too and I had the damage but that is not my complaint. I understand it – we had an emergency. But, all around – I want everyone to look at this and say we are Eastlake – we should be proud and not allow it to be – dare I say ghetto – dare I say white trash? I am looking at it – I am looking at it. Every time I walk – I cannot walk my dogs on Lakeshore Blvd. – it is dangerous so I have to go on the back roads. Every time I walk by this I just look at it and say – this isn’t right. I was going to take my dogs for a walk and I said – “No, there is a Council meeting and I have to go get this off my chest.” Thank you for letting me do this. I hope it does not end here.
Mr. Morley: If you can leave addresses so the Mayor can get on this…
Ms. Vaughn: Just so you are aware I got a call from one of your neighbors and I turned in a complaint to the Building Department today for that particular house and for those particular reasons you stated. We have a new CBO and he has been excellent and has got the Department up to speed and they will act on it promptly.
Resident: Just so everyone knows that was not me that called.
Ms. Vaughn: No, I did not say it was – you are not the person who called me and I told the person who called me that I would not use their name and I would keep it under my name. So if there are any repercussions it will fall back on me because I turned it in.
Resident: I help this poor woman because she is inundated and it is a shame. My yard is very pretty – it is very nice – I work hard on it. Hers just blows mine away and for her to have to try to sit on her porch and look at that. There are toys in the yard, drills in the yard.
Ms. Vaughn: Garbage.
Resident: Garbage. The culvert on the corner fills up regularly and half of it is their garbage.
Ms. Vaughn: Just give the Building Department a chance – they just found out about it today. I found out about it yesterday. They will follow up on it.
Resident: I appreciate it and I thank you folks.
Chief Reik: Is the car you were speaking of parked on the north side of Lakeshore?
Resident: Yes, the north side. The one I am really bugged about is at the corner of Lakeshore and Traymore.
Mayor Andrzejewski: Where is the car parked?
Resident: On the side back yard.
Mayor Andrzejewski: So, it is not in the park but by a house?
Resident: No, the car is not at that park anymore but there was a blue, Chevy Malibu there this whole year – but, I have not seen it. It is better for my blood pressure if I don’t.
Mayor Andrzejewski: If that car were to appear again it would be at Willo-way Beach park and not at the house?
Ms. DePledge: Thank you for caring.
Resident: It is as much for the other people as for me. We all have to live here and get along.
Mr. Morley: We appreciate you coming out.
There was no one else who wished to speak.
Council’s Appointment to the Zoning Board of Appeals
Mr. D’Ambrosio moved to appoint Janis H. Baylog-Tucker, 36343 Valley Vista Drive, Eastlake to the Zoning Board of Appeals for the unexpired term ending December 31, 2016. Ms. DePledge seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yes unanimous.
Motion carried. Janis H. Baylog-Tucker is appointed as Council’s representative to the Zoning Board of Appeals for the unexpired term ending December 31, 2016.
LEGISLATION PROPOSED – First number will be 2013-059
RESOLUTION NO.: 09-24-(01)
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
Thirty-Seven Thousand Six Hundred Dollars ($37,600.00) for the Replacement of the Boilers
at the Willoughby-Eastlake Water Pollution
Control Plant, and declaring an emergency.
MOTION: Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins moved to suspend the rules requiring separate readings and
reading in full. Mr. D’Ambrosio seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
MOTION: Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins moved to adopt. Mr. D’Ambrosio seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Resolution No. 2013-059.
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LEGISLATION PENDING (Placed on First Reading 09/10/2013)
RESOLUTION NO.: 09-10-(01)
Requested by: Finance Director Slocum A Resolution accepting the Tax Budget for
Sponsored by: Council 2014 as presented by the Director of Finance, and declaring an emergency.
MOTION: Ms. Vaughn moved to suspend the rules requiring separate readings and
reading in full. Mr. D’Ambrosio seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
MOTION: Ms. Vaughn moved to adopt. Mr. D’Ambrosio seconded.
ROLL CALL: Yeas unanimous.
Motion carried. Legislation is adopted as Resolution No. 2013-060.
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
There was no Unfinished Business.
NEW BUSINESS
There was no New Business.
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS:
MAYOR/SAFETY DIRECTOR – Ted Andrzejewski
Mayor Andrzejewski: I want everyone to know that the dirt and grass – the ground up stuff from the Captains stadium was put at the soccer fields. There is a huge pile. We put it on the board on S.R. 91 yesterday and will put it on the soccer field tomorrow. It is available for Eastlake residents to use in their yards. The only restrictions are it is for Eastlake residents – no contractors or no landscapers. They have to pick it up on their own. Whatever is not used Mr. Semik will put into our gardens. The bike path is just about done and they will finish Stevens to Vine Street later this week or next week. They will do the three other streets that are scheduled for paving first and then finish the bike path. I may want to say a few words after Mr. Slocum’s report.
There were no questions of Mayor Andrzejewski.
LAW DIRECTOR – Randy Klammer
Mr. Klammer: Most everything has been submitted in writing. We are working through the issue with Timberlake – I provided an update on some of the capital improvement issues there and I hope to have a resolution to that today. I hope to finalize some thoughts on the sewer backflow preventers so I will get with the Mayor and provide you with my final thoughts on that – hopefully by the end of next week. I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Mr. Klammer.
FINANCE DIRECTOR – Mike Slocum
Mr. Slocum: The only thing I need to report is actually to clarify something that came out in the Mayoral election. Back in August I was asked by Councilwoman Quinn-Hopkins to prepare a schedule of the other special legal services we had within the City. I sent her a workbook and the first page contained as schedule which was not classified and that totaled $85,000+ for various venders. I then later took that plus some other expenditures that we had that was classified “special legal” and I prepared a schedule for her and when she published this in her election she indicated that the City had wasted more than $86,000 in legal fees since 2012 alone. I need to report that what the City has actually spent for all legal fees since 2012 was $27,000. $10,000 was for grievances and of that $10,000 $7,500 was actually to pay the arbitrators – it was not for our attorneys. Except for the one arbitration we had early in 2012. Since 2012 Mr. Klammer has been handling that and we have not had any bills for his legal services. We also paid in that time period money for the annual information returns which is a requirement of our bonds – in fact I will be filing one later this week as the deadline is September 30th. We had the monies for the levies and a retainer for services. The only other thing we spent towards Union in that time period was $1,260. We had spent a considerable sum for the negotiations in 2011 but since 2012 the only thing we have actually spent relating to employees is approximately $1,100. I did discuss this with Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins yesterday. She admitted the error where she picked up the information. But, I need to go on record that we have not been spending any money like that. That was not a fair representation. I am open for questions.
Mrs. Quinn-Hopkins: I want to say that we had a great conversation. I misread your chart – it was a mistake on my part. Please accept my apology. I will try to be a more careful reader in the future – so sorry.
Mr. Slocum: I know pretty much every member here has done it – if you are writing articles you can ask me before hand and if you ask me afterwards I will tell you if I agree or disagree or whatever going forward. That goes for all candidates – both elected here or trying to be elected. If they want to quote information I am interested in accurate information out to the public.
Mayor Andrzejewski: I…
Mr. Morley: We are not going there – sorry.
Mayor Andrzejewski: Wait a minute – I have a right to make a statement.
Mr. Morley: I told you last meeting and I have been very good about this – the political time for this meeting is not…
Mayor Andrzejewski: This is not political at all.
Mr. Morley: If it is to reiterate what Mr. Slocum said…
Mayor Andrzejewski: No.
Mr. Morley: What is it for then?
Mayor Andrzejewski: It is – how are we going to get the information to the hundreds and thousands of residents who were given the false information? How are they going to be given the right information in the form of a retraction? The harm is done, Dennis. People need to know the truth.
Mr. Morley: Mayor I am not going to sit here and debate. I have been doing good and being one of the candidates…
Mayor Andrzejewski: Just answer – how do the people who were given…
Mr. Morley: I do not know.
Ms. Vaughn: You can use Channel 12.
Mr. Morley: We could do the same thing here. I watch Channel 12 and see things that are said that I do not agree with because there is sometimes only half the information given. But, we are not going to do that debate here – that is all I am saying.
Mayor Andrzejewski: Fine, I’ll let the people know.
Mr. Morley: I am sure you will.
Ms. Vaughn: You can use Channel 12 – you always do.
Mr. Morley: There is not too much more you can say bad about me out there actually.
There were no questions of Mr. Slocum.
SERVICE DIRECTOR – Mike Semik
Mr. Semik was absent.
CITY ENGINEER – Tom Gwydir
Mr. Gwydir: Erieview is under way and is going well and fast. We are finishing up the drainage study now for East 332nd Street and Alva. I have been working with the Service Director on other minor drainage type of issues. I am open for questions.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: I was gone last week and was wondering if there were any updates on the prior storm related questions?
Mr. Gwydir: Yes. I have your email discussing matters concerning the Corps. I am following up on that – I am working into that and will discuss that further with you after the meeting if that is acceptable. We are trying to make some measured progress.
Mr. D’Ambrosio: Also, and I contacted the Mayor on this – thank you for getting those maps for Freed Drive showing where the sewers went. I had copies made and distributed them and the residents were happy with them.
Mayor Andrzejewski: I have also asked Mr. Gwydir to take a look at the solutions we proposed for – is it North or South Riverview? I keep forgetting.
Mr. Gwydir: North Riverview.
Mayor Andrzejewski: To check the price to see if it has gone up or down and report back to me so we can get with the residents in the area to see if they want to proceed with the solution we had six years ago. Mr. Gwydir is working on it and as soon as he gets it to me we will have a meeting with the residents and talk about that solution.
There were no further questions of Mr. Gwydir.
CHIEF BUILDING OFFICIAL – James S. McReynolds
Mr. McReynolds was absent and excused.
POLICE CHIEF – Larry Reik
Chief Reik: To the gentleman about Willo-way. If you or anyone else wants to submit – occasionally I get things on Word documents that are unsigned – that gives specific violations or things to look into we will do so. Sometimes people say in the entire City that too many people are parking over the sidewalk or something like that and it makes it more difficult to target where the problem may be. We do try to hit the quality of life issues but those have to come after some of the more priority things. If we have a targeted area to look at – I know the house you are talking about with the tow trucks. We have looked at it before – the last time the conclusion was it was not a business and the trucks were small enough to not fall within that range. But, we can look over it with Mr. McReynolds.
Resident: (comments could not be understood as speaker was not at the microphone)
Chief Reik: It is like the difference between the grass being 8 inches which is illegal and 6 inches which is unsightly. There are things I concur with you if they were next door they would be a bigger problem than if they are a neighborhood away. We can always address what is within the boundaries of the law. We will look into those things and sometimes it is an encouragement for the people to conform and try to make their neighbors a little happier so the Building Department and the Police Department are checking. But if you send something to my office or the Council without a name on it and it has specific areas to look at we will definitely look into those and try to get back to you if you wish. I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Chief Reik.
FIRE CHIEF – Ted Whittington
Chief Whittington: Thank you again for the swearing in ceremony. I am sure his family appreciated it. We appreciate – and I always want to thank the residents for supporting us on the Muscular Dystrophy fund raiser. It was a while ago but things were happening that were more important. We were real close to $10,000 again which is our target. I appreciate the residents supporting us in a charity we support. I am open for questions.
There were no questions of Chief Whittington.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:33 p.m.
______________________________________
DENNIS MORLEY, COUNCIL PRESIDENT
APPROVED: __________________________
ATTEST: _____________________________
DEBORAH A. CENDROSKI,
CLERK OF COUNCIL