05/18/2010 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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~`; Council Minutes of OS-18-2010 He thanked Carole Heyward and his Administrative Assistant, Annie Kilbane, for their hard work on this project. Councilman Brossard took a moment of personal privilege to congratulate all of the poster finalists. They all did a wonderful job and they should be very proud. He congratulated his neighbor and daughter's best friend, Elizabeth Fitzgerald. He told her parents they should be proud of her concept of diversity in North Olmsted. Finance Director Copfer: • The first quarter financial statements were given to Council last Friday. She is cautiously optimistic that the city is within the budget, which is critical. Discretionary spending is down as planned. • She is pursuing collections on a hotel since they have not paid since August 2008. She is following the process that the Code outlines. The first step is to make an assessment, which she did in January or February. They owe approximately $22,000 including the tax assessment, penalties and interest. • There was an article in the National League of Cities weekly update in April regarding the rating agencies moving to recalibrate cities' bond ratings. All three major credit rating services -Fitch, Moody's and Standard and Poor -were moving to rate municipal debt based on the likelihood of default which is what the standard is for corporate debt. Previously municipal securities had been rated on different scales than what corporation ratings were based on. The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act passed by the House in September, which is currently in the Senate right now, included bond rating parity in the financial services Bill as well. The two benefits for municipalities are many funds have guidelines that will provide a larger pool of people that can buy bonds, making it more competitive and provide better rates; and overall borrowing costs will be reduced. President Limpert took a moment of personal privilege on behalf of Council to offer his condolences to Councilman Barker whose father passed away the previous week. Councilman Barker thanked the Clerk, his Council colleagues, the Administration, employees, and residents for their help and sympathies. Councilwoman Jones, Chairwoman of the Building, Zoning and Development Committee: The BZD Committee met on Tuesday, May 18, 2010 at 7:15 p.m. Present were Committee members Jones and Barker; Council members Kearney, Brossard, Orlowski and Williamson; Council President Limpert; Mayor Kennedy; Planning Director Wenger; Safety Director Ritenauer; and guests. 5 ~w