09/06/1988 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 9/6/88 _2_ Law Director Gareau reported: 1) Law Department is currently preparing for the Halleen Case dealing with the glare from the lights; it is scheduled to be heard next week. An expert has been hired who has taken pictures and readings at the scene and will testify on behalf of the city that there is a glare problem and it violates the. city ordinances. This expert is coming from Michigan, at a cost to the city of $1,500, so the Law Department will be closely monitoring the case scheduling to be sure of his court appearance date. 2) Has recently had three meetings with Lhe City of Cleveland and various sub- urban entities who have used the landfill in Garfield Heights; EPA is making a test case of this landfill with respect to the emission of methane gas. The landfill has not been in use since 1972; prior to that time, the City of Cleve- land and various suburbs paid to have their garbage dumped there and now the EPA is asking that they pay for not only monitoring but also correcting the problem; the payment for this could go on for the next thirty years. The City of Cleveland and the various suburbs hope to present a united front on this in order to deal with EPA effectively. Another meeting is scheduled for next weekend; will keep council advised. 3) Two cases have been filed against the city; both of them fall under the city's deductible; Law Department has been carrying on investigations with various city departments. One case is McCarthy versus the City of North Olmsted and deals. with a resident who was on her own tree lawn, broke her ankle, and has sued the city for $50,000. The other case is Hirz versus the City of North Olmsted and deals with an accident where a city snow plour hit the side of a van, causing damages; .this is a $125,000 prayer they have .asked for. Also, as pre- dicted at the last council meeting, a suit has been filed by Sunset Memorial Park appealing the decision of council, Another case,. the Drotter Case, with respect to heavy rains flooding a basement and causing damage to carpeting, will be heard next week in Rocky River Municipal Court. While Mr. Drotter has sued for $300, the amount is significant to the extent that it could create a precedent with respect to anyone having water damage when there is an inordin- ate amount of rain. 4) Law Director has prepared and presented the ballot language to the Board of Elections for the Crocker/Stearns Extension. This will be a "for" or "against" vote. Has attempted to be as clear as possible and presumably there should be no objection to the language as presented. Mayor Petrigac commented that she was in receipt of a letter from the Mayor of University Heights, one of the cities involved with the landfill, who has done some additional research. He will be setting up a meeting with the state legis- lators because the State of Ohio set up the landfills originally, sanctioned by the EPA at that time, and they are now asking the cities to pay the price for something the state had told the cities to do in the first place. Law Director Gareau commented that this is quite bothersome in that there is no statute of limitations. Waste, and how it impacts on the environment, is a national problem. Why should the City of North Olmsted be asked to pay for something that is a national problem when it was sanctioned by the EPA and the Board of Health. The people who collected the garbage, were paid to dump the garbage, and suddenly have vanished; North Olmsted and the City of Cleveland and other suburbs are being singled out at this time. Finance Director Boyle reported: 1) The Perry Nuclear Power Plant is opening and will start paying public utility personal property tax; they will pay Cuya- hoga County slightly over twenty million dollars. That is 1988 tax; City of North Olmsted will start collecting in 1989 with its share being around $345,000. This will be in additional revenues for next year according to .the County Auditor. Just received this report today and will be forwarding copies to council which show the breakdown to cities, suburbs, townships and villages in Cuyahoga County. ,.,,~~,.~ , .a ,.,, , .. .