03/17/1997 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Regular Council Meeting 3-17-97 Page 3 repeating phrases she has heard from many individuals-not just in Mayfield Village but in Mayfield Heights and in Highland Heights. It should not be a situation where business goes on as usual pretending as though there is not a major problem, Because she thinks if it does and if people are not given the opportunity to be heard, the problem will double itself. Think of the situation even if the board should find a good superintendent which is very unlikely, at this point with the conflict here as it is-if they should find a good superintendent what is the situation going to be? What is his credibility going to be among the people of this community once they start functioning? She thinks it would take years to recoup and to build the king of trust that would be necessary in order to have a good functioning organization. Ms. Wele said of course she supports Mayor Rinker's resolution. She thinks it is a voice of reason; she thinks it is courageous of him to take a stand. She was impressed with him as a person and as a leader. She supports this resolution and urges you to do the same. She thinks it is one opportunity to call into question the kind of intimidating leadership she sees present in the Board of Education. John Graves, Highland Heights, said he is here to urge you to vote no on this resolution. First of all, to try to interject one elected body into another is inappropriate. It is just like if they were to try to pass a resolution to oppose their will on you you would resent it. They are a duly elected body just like you are. You have your responsibilities, they have theirs. But worse than that, they have alrnost a year to go. To try to say that they are a lame duck is like trying to proclaim you as a lame duck when you are up for election a year from now. You can't make any decisions- anything you do has got to be temporary. As far as the rancor in this community goes, there is a couple of reasons for that. First of all, everybody resists change. This man is changing. He said he personnally likes David Abbott as a person. Now that he has resigned, he thinks it is too late to try to give back. This is about having a temporary so a year from now they can sneak Dr. Abbott back and give him a raise. He thinks he has made some serious mistakes which has caused the community to be as divided as it is. One of the mistakes is to request a 52-classroom building costing 18 million dollars-and now the projection for the enrollment is going down which means that he wouldn't need that and they would be tearing buildings down. The excuse would have been we are modernizing anyway or whatever. That is a serious error. If an $18 million dollar error were made in industry, the man wouldn't have a chance to clean his desk out-they'd have his belongings at the guard house. Mr. Graves said he is not saying that is why the school board decided to-was unhappy with his performance-but why as a citizen he is unhappy with his performance. That is a serious thing. He wants a good education for all of our children and the best way to do it is not to waste money on nonsense. Put money in where it belongs and have chiidren get the best of all programs. He respectively urges Council to vote no and to stay out of it and let the duly elected body take its course. Bob Spector, Ma eld Heights, said he did not plan to speak but feeLs compelled to do so because of their interjection of other citizens from outside this Village. He supports wholeheartedly Mayor Rinker's resolution. He supports the children of the Mayfield School District. He does not support separate political agendas. He does not pretend to be a supporter or proponent of Dr. David Abbott. He does not stand here to tell you that he [Dr. Abbott] is a perfect person. The fact that he may have made a proposal to build a school that turned out to be