CITY OF HIGHLAND HEIGHTS

MINUTES OF A COUNCIL MEETING

HELD: JANUARY 26, 2010

                                                                       

 

President of Council Mills presiding.

 

PRESENT:      Councilmen Hargate, Legan, Lombardo, Mastrangelo, Mills, Murphy, Stickan; Clerk of Council Buchak; Fire Chief Turner; Police Chief Cook; Service Director Evans; Recreation Director Ianiro; Assistant City Engineer Mader; Finance Director Ianiro; Law Director Paluf.

 

ABSENT:         Mayor Coleman arriving at 8:30 p.m.

 

ACTION ON MINUTES:   The reading of the Minutes of a Council Meeting held January 12, 2010 was dispensed with.  Corrections were requested as follows: On page 5, in the public portion, remove statement that Dante Citraro was also speaking for former Mayor Swanson; page 3, first line, change “test” to “text”; and on page 2, last paragraph, change “2400” tons to “4200” tons.  Miss Stickan moved to accept the Minutes as amended; seconded by Mr. Lombardo.  Ayes all; motion carried.

 

The reading of the Minutes of a Special Meeting held January 5, 2010 was dispensed with.  Mr. Mastrangelo moved to accept the Minutes as written; seconded by Mrs. Murphy.  Ayes all; motion carried.

 

DEPARTMENT HEAD REPORTS:

 

Fire Chief's Report:  Chief Turner reported during the month of December the Fire Department responded to 145 calls; the year end total for 2009 is 1847 calls.  The Fire Department is currently working on the annual report and hope to have that completed in the next two weeks.

 

Police Chief's Report:  Chief Cook reported Councilman Mills asked him to check into an ordinance prohibiting text messaging.  A copy will be forwarded to Council.

 

Chief Cook discussed the installation of “deer crossing” signs with the Service Director.  They are purchasing four signs and will be providing the locations.

 

Service Director's Report:  Service Director Evans reported as follows:

 

·                     At the last Council meeting he reported their salt supply was low and they had some equipment failures during the previous storm.  Most of the equipment is repaired and back in service and they have refilled the salt bin.

·                     At Miss Stickan’s request they did look at the sign for West Mill and Colony and it was incorrect so they have a new one on order. 

·                     Over 100 Christmas trees were collected for recycling. They were able to get out in between the storms to pick those up.  Some recycling credit will be taken on their report to the Solid Waste District folks.

 

Mr. Evans introduced Terry Killeen, Area Manager of External Affairs from First Energy.  He thanked Terry Killeen for looking into some recent problems.

 

Mr. Mills thanked Mr. Evans and Mr. Killeen for working through a problem and explained that he and Miss Stickan went out after the Christmas outage on Cranbrook and Stanwell and talked to most of the residents.  Most were frustrated but understanding.  The gentleman who was really mad was the one who had to smash his garage door window as that was the only way to get into his house.

 

Recreation Director’s Report:  No report.

 

Building Commissioner's Report:  No report.

 

City Engineer's Report:   Assistant City Engineer Mader reported the engineer’s office is looking into an Ohio EPA Grant for water quality, possibly for sites on the municipal complex to possibly obtain a matching grant. 

 

Finance Director's Report:  Finance Director Ianiro reported he did receive correspondence from the City of Lyndhurst this week regarding the expenses of the Lyndhurst Municipal Court.  Each year the City receives a reconciliation of the court costs.  Again Judge Bozza has done a tremendous job in balancing the budget and there will be no court costs reimbursement from any member city of the Lyndhurst Court.  The amount collected exceeded the amount that they expended.  Highland Heights is very fortunate to have that happen and again for this coming year there will be no court cost reimbursement.

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS: 

 

Safety & Service Committee:   Mr. Legan advised Safety & Service will meet next week at 7:30 p.m.  He has asked the Safety forces to meet to discuss capital expenses for 2010.

 

Mayfield Area Recreation Council (MARC):  No report.

 

Park and Recreation Commission:   Mrs. Murphy reported a meeting was held January 21st.  Distributed in the Council packets this past weekend was a recommendation from Park & Recreation for the proposed recreation fee schedule.  Mrs. Murphy pointed out that the Mayor will be late tonight but he did indicate to her that he is in agreement with these fees.  She also stated that she is in agreement with these fees; they were both at the meeting last week.  It was a lengthy meeting and the Park & Recreation Commission and Mr. Ianiro made very diligent efforts to examine their fee schedule.  They are recommending an increase in fees and part of the reason for that is to help bridge the gap between the costs and the revenues for some of the park programs.  At the same time there was concern that these fees not be unduly burdensome to program participants.  Mrs. Murphy highly recommended that Council accept these fees as proposed.  Recreation Director Ianiro is here if anyone has questions.

 

Drainage Committee:  Mrs. Murphy reported a meeting was held at 7:00 p.m. this evening.  They review the proposed preliminary engineering study for the Highland Road Water Main.  There was concern because they don’t have the budget yet and they have this request for a preliminary study.  They wanted to ascertain what was included in the study and did receive answers to their questions.  The study would show potential locations for the new water main with estimates of cost and will analyze traffic maintenance and traffic congestion types of concerns.  It will be in a report form and will not be a plan per se.  It will help to determine potential funding sources for grants from the EPA and Issue I funding.  It has been recommended that this step be taken because future water breaks along Highland Road are not just potential, they are going to occur.  The Drainage Committee recommends that Council authorize the study for the sum not to exceed $13,000.  Another aspect of the study that they are exploring is partnering with Richmond Heights and potentially Mayfield Village as they too may be experiencing similar breakages.  Partnering with another city may help in terms of funding sources.

 

The Drainage Committee also discussed a residence at 6107 Wilson Mills Road with a septic system.  There are potentially 5 to 7 houses in that strip with septic systems.  The Service Director and City Engineer are going to see about the possibility of extending the sanitary sewer to those homes.  They will be talking with the residents and will be looking at possible funding.

 

Legislative & Finance Committee:   Mr. Lombardo reported a meeting was held this evening at 7:30 p.m. primarily to discuss the estimated income and expenses of the budget to see where they stand.  They also have the request from all of the departments for their capital needs. 

 

Mr. Lombardo also reported the Committee recommends that the Park & Recreation fees be approved as distributed.

 

Volunteer Firefighters Dependent’s Fund Board:  Mr. Hargate reported a meeting was held this evening to elect a President and Secretary for the Year 2010.  The Chairman is Pat Velotta and the Secretary is Tom Springer. 

 

Hillcrest Council of Councils:  Mr. Hargate reported it is planned that the next meeting will be at the end of February or the first weekend in March.  He will have more details at the next council meeting.

 

Planning and Zoning Commission:   Mr. Mastrangelo reported a meeting was held January 25, 2010.   Jean Buchak is doing double duty as Clerk; Susan Olson is in the hospital and may be out for four to six weeks.  In the meeting of January 25, 2009 the following matters were heard:

 

RTR Builders, Inc., 394 West Inverness Drive, Aberdeen Area “A”,  Discussion of Request to Relocate Garage Door Entry.  The house was put up and a drive has been installed incorrectly.  The original builder is no longer in business.  This matter was taken under study and it is being reviewed this with the Law Director.

 

Alpha Park Dog Kennel, Discussion.  This matter also will be further studied and discussed with the Law Director.  This has to do with Camp Bow Wow locating into Alpha Park.  They are looking to the Law Director as to whether this would qualify under a like and similar use.  If so a variance will be required for an outside pen.  Camp Bow Wow is a nationwide chain. They interview the dogs and owners.  There will be no retail sales.

 

 

Law Director's Report:   Law Director Paluf asked that employee compensation and personnel matter be added for discussion in the Executive Session this evening.

 

MAYOR'S REPORT:  Mayor Coleman referred to Item No. 3 on the agenda and thanked Swagelok for their contribution to the purchase of equipment for our Police, Fire and Recreation Departments. 

 

Mayor Coleman provided an update on the hiring of a Building Commissioner position.  They posted the position.  He has received several resumes and has started the interview process.  He will update Council with some of the details.

 

In response to Mr. Mills’ inquiry regarding the part time building inspector, Mayor Coleman reported he is still working for the city and that he reports to the Mayor almost daily.

 

In response to Mr. Mills’ request for Newsletter dates, Mayor Coleman stated he will have that distributed to Council.

 

Commission on Aging;  Mr. Mills reported a meeting was held January 25th.  Emil Lucarelli was elected Chairman and Mary Velotta will be the Secretary.  The Free Tax Assistance Program for seniors will run from February 4th through April 8th in the Community Center on Thursdays.  Call City Hall for an appointment.  The following Commission on Aging Members will be representatives to the Tri-City Consortium on:  Emil Lucarelli, Clarence Brichacek, Rosemary Shannon and Ray Hrvatin.

 

Council President’s Report:  Mr. Mills asked that City email addresses be assigned for the City Prosecutor, City Engineer and Recreation Director.  Finance Director Ianiro will look into that.

 

STUDENT GUEST:    Caroline Fatica a student at Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin High School was present doing a class project.

 

ITEMS TO BE ADDED TO THE AGENDA:

 

            Motion to add to discussion in Executive Session discussion of personnel matters and employee compensation.           

 

A motion was made by Mr. Lombardo to add the above items to the agenda; seconded by Mr. Hargate.  Ayes all; motion carried.

 

MEETING OPENED TO THE PUBLIC:  No one spoke.

 

NEW BUSINESS:

 

MOTION APPROVING THE PARK & RECREATION FEE SCHEDULE FOR 2010:  A motion was made by Mrs. Murphy approving the Park & Recreation Fee Schedule for 2010, (copy attached); seconded by Mr. Legan.  Ayes all; motion carried. 

 

 

MOTION AUTHORIZING PAYMENT TO THE TRI-CITY CONSORTIUM ON AGINGA;  A motion was made by Mr. Hargate authorizing payment in the amount of $44,806 to the Tri-City Consortium on Aging which is one-half of the Highland Heights' share of the 2010 funding; seconded by Mr. Lombardo.   Mr. Mills noted that their funding has been cut by $50,000 however the Tri-City Consortium has not increased the city’s shares.  They will try to make up the difference through cuts and extra fund raising themselves.  Ayes all; motion carried.

FIRST READING PROPOSED RESOLUTION 1-2010:  Council listened to the First Reading in title only of Proposed Resolution 1-2010 which description is:  “A Resolution accepting the donation of Four Thousand Dollars ($4,000.00) from the Swagelok Company and declaring an emergency.”  Law Director Paluf recommended passage because the donation has been received.  Miss Stickan moved to suspend the Second and Third Readings; seconded by Mrs. Murphy.  Ayes all; motion carried.  Miss Stickan moved to adopt; seconded by Mrs. Murphy.  Ayes all; motion carried.

FIRST READING PROPOSED RESOLUTION 2-2010:  Council listened to the First Reading in title only of Proposed Resolution 2-2010 which description is:  “A Resolution establishing the terms, conditions and compensation for the Law Director’s services and declaring an emergency.” 

FIRST READING PROPOSED RESOLUTION 3-2010:  Council listened to the First Reading in title only of Proposed Resolution 3-2010 which description is:  “A Resolution establishing compensation and other terms of employment for the Police Prosecutor and declaring an emergency.”

MOTION TO ADJOURN INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION:   A motion was made by Mr. Lombardo to adjourn into Executive Session to discuss imminent and pending litigation, labor negotiations, personnel matters and employee wages in accordance with Section 4.05 of the Charter of the City of Highland Heights and Section 121.22(g) of the Ohio Revised Code; seconded by Mr. Legan.  Roll call on the motion:  Ayes all; motion carried.  Council adjourned at 8:30 p.m. and reconvened at 10:00 p.m.

 

ADJOURNMENT:   A motion was made by Mr. Legan and seconded by Miss Stickan to adjourn the meeting.  Said meeting adjourned at 10:01 p.m.

 

 

 

                                                                       

Clerk of Council

 

 

 

                                                                       

President of Council