11/15/2011 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Council Minutes of 11-15-2011 ~. employees who are under the control of the Mayor that are making this decision - Wenger, Thomas and Farver. Ms. Farver is also involved in employee and labor relations in her job to a certain degree. She would also have to be part of the negotiation team if the city chose to do this in-house. Lambert said he spoke with Andrew Bemer about what Rocky River does with labor negotiations. Several years ago, Bemer did retain somebody as an advisor regarding negotiations. Since then, he has engaged in talks with the Police Dept. and they are not contracting out for a negotiator. Lambert says he finds it interesting that the City of North Olmsted is going to hire outside counsel even though Council has rejected it. Mayor Kennedy, Gareau and Farver will not have to do the work they need to do. They are leaving it up to somebody else at an extreme cost. Lambert asked the Mayor if Johnson, Miller & Schmitz or any of their associates contributed to his campaign. Mayor Kennedy said he doesn't know off the top of his head but it is a matter of public record. Lambert said he will look that up for Mayor Kennedy and Gareau. Lambert asked to what departments will the charges be appropriated because according to Copfer they are distributed to the various departments for whom the contracts are being negotiated. Lambert said Rocky River distributes the charges to the Law Dept. The money should be appropriated to the Law Dept. in North Olmsted for legal services. Gareau said to Lambert don't you think Ms. Copfer knows more about municipal accounting than you do? We have heard you talk about this repeatedly at different meetings. You know more about negotiations on the municipal side; you know more about municipal accounting than everybody sitting here. Lambert said I served as Vice Chairman of the Finance Committee. Gareau said twenty years ago? Lambert said Gareau has a vested interest in making sure the Law Dept. doesn't show any extra costs to he can go back to the public and tell them how cheaply he operated in the campaign. Gareau said to Lambert you sit here and impugn the integrity of Ms. Farver who is one of the hardest working people? You've impugned the integrity of the Mayor, the Finance Director and me. What is your agenda, Mr. Lambert? It's not about the public good. Believe me. You have an agenda. You come up to every meeting and do the same thing. Lambert said it is about the public good. Gareau said no, it's not. Lambert said he is suggesting to Carrie Copfer that the proper accounting method would be to appropriate to the Law Dept. Gareau said Copfer is an expert. When we go through the budget hearings, which I don't believe I have ever seen you at in all the years that I have been here, the costs of things are divided up all throughout the city. For this particular expense - what difference does it make? Because you don't like how I report my budget? It bothers you? Lambert said yes it does. Gareau said I'm glad to hear that. We do it this way because we are experts. You may not like it, but that certainly doesn't mean that you're right. Lambert said that's my opinion. Gareau asked Mr. Lambert if he asked Mr. McGinty or Mr. Bemer if they bill a separate rate on top of their salary for the hours they spend negotiating. That's an important question he should probably ask. Lambert said I wish I could answer that but my time is up. Mayor Kennedy said he did speak with Fairview Park. Their negotiations were not done in-house. It was an extra fee charged by that part-time Law Director, and it was around $25,000 which is a lot more than what North Olmsted pays Gary Johnson. When you say they did it in-house, you are absolutely misinformed. You have come up here and you continually misinform Council. The last thing we want Council to do is make statements based off of your statements. Gareau said the legislation Council declined was to dispense with the RFP process. The 6