Laserfiche WebLink
Minutes of the Regular Meeting of Council <br />Monday, October 16, 2023 <br />Page 3 <br />Please remember to vote on Tuesday, November 7tn. The polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 <br />p.m. <br />Also, we change our clocks and fall back effective Sunday, November 5cn <br />Open Portion — For Public Comment (5-minute limit imposed by Chair) <br />Derek McDowell <br />6543 Highland <br />I have two letters to read. One is from my wife and one is from me. My wife's letter is first: <br />I am writing to bring Council aware of the ongoing traffic issues we are experiencing on Highland <br />Road and to ask for a further solution as the current one is not working or sustainable. For the past <br />5 years we have experienced issues with vehicles not stopping for the bus while it is picking up <br />our children. The beginning of every school year, we contact the Police Department and an officer <br />is put on patrol at the Baptist Church on Highland Road for a couple of weeks. We will call the <br />Police Department again in the Spring when traffic gets bad again and they send a patrol. <br />Last March 2022, we had contacted the Police Department after a vehicle did not stop for the bus. <br />This time with the video from our security camera, the police again put patrol at the Church. A <br />week later again with video from our camera and with police now on patrol, a van did not stop for <br />the bus and the policeman did not pull them over. When I questioned why, they gave me multiple <br />excuses as to why and I went as far as debating the school bus law with the Mayor and the Chief <br />of Police. Those e-mail conversations have recently been sent to Council. <br />Section 4511.75 of the Ohio Revised Code says the driver of a vehicle upon meeting or overtaking <br />from either direction any school bus stopped for the purpose of receiving or discharging any school <br />child shall stop at least 10 feet from the front of the school bus and shall not proceed until such <br />school bus resumes motion or until signaled by the school bus driver. The law clarifies it is no <br />defense to a charge under this division that the school bus involved failed to display or be equipped <br />with an automatic extended stop warning sign. The law is extremely clear that if a bus is stopped, <br />a vehicle must stop. The Mayor and Police Chief agreed with this but further clarified that people <br />do not understand the law. As a result, the Chief is going to ask the school district to remind the <br />bus drivers to use lights. They are going to include it in the Voice of the Village which most people <br />traveling down Highland Road do not read as they are not residents. <br />When the 2023 school year began, again we ran into issues again with vehicles running the bus <br />while my children are getting on. We asked the Police Chief to take a zero tolerance stance on this <br />as our neighbor in Mayfield Heights has done and start giving citations. All of Council have been <br />included on his response. He wants officers to add discretion during traffic stops on whether the <br />lights are on or the stop sign has been extended which again is not in accordance with the Ohio <br />Revised Code. Police continue to patrol Highland Road during the school year but my question is <br />if we continue to have a zero tolerance policy, what is a police presence going to accomplish? <br />Since March 2023, only one citation has been given from a school bus incident on Highland Road <br />