06/16/1992 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 6/16/92 Audience Participation (continued) by consigner usage. The service station owners do service the elderly and the handicapped if they display a handicap sticker and honk their car horn to alert the attendant. This service is offered at self-serve prices. Mr. Leonard expressed concern that this service is not available at service stations that have Duly one employee on duty. Mr. Kacirek said that most stations have two people working each shift. Fbe feels that this ordinance will cost the inc~pe- ent dealer more money to do business in this co~mau~ity. The dealers are working on a smaller profit margin than a year or two ago because of the cost of oil and the state of the economy. Mrs. Bahas asked. if the service station owners wmild agree to posting a sign informing the elderly arxi disabled that service is available. Mr. Kacirek felt that this would be an acceptable compromise. Mr. Lind said ~ thought that the State law that had been pas+~ed required service stations to post a sign instructing disabled drivers that service was available to them. Mr. Kacirek agreed that the requirement was part of the law; howwver, the sign requirement had not been strictly enforced. A gentleman speaking from the back of the room, (later identified as Otto Jurisek, 23370 Lorain Road), said that the law only required service to the disabled when afull-service pump was available. He felt that Council was trying to tell the owners how to run their businesses. Mr. Leonard responded that Council's intent was to assure that disabled citizens could get the same service as anyone else. Mrs, Saringer commented that she had contacted a small nxgnber of disabled persons to get their views on this matter and found that they do not have a problem getting service. Mayor Boyle stated that a copy of the State law would be obtained and then distributed to Council. In addition, he would ask Mr. Copeland, the city coordinator for the Americans with Disabilities Act, to research the law for any applications to this issue. Nancy Howe, from the law firm of Mansour, Gavin, Gerlack and Maros, spoke on behalf of the Shell Oil Co. It is the feeling of Shell Oil that this ordinance is not a good ordinance for policy reasons--it is not good policy to intrude into the business practices of corporations that are doing business in North Olmsted. She stated that requiring full-service will cost the consumer more moray in the form of higher gas prices. In addition, Shell Oil feels that there are service stations in the area that do acccgnnodate handicapped individuals. They feel that the imposition on the companies will ultimately be born on the consumer, and. that any benefits of this ordinance will be outweighed by the burdens on the companies and the higher gas prices. Mr. Nashar stated that he felt the independent dealers and company awned stations were doing an adequate job of serving the handicapped. Mr. Richard Bodmann, a supervisor with British Petroleum, also spoke in opposi- tion to the legislation. After questioning by Mr. McKay, Mr. B stated that disabled service is provided by all company stations where there are two people on duty. It is not provided where there is only one employee on duty. 6