12/03/1996 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Council Minutes of 12/3/96 ,~ Councilman McKay held a meeting with NOACA and ODOT to ask for additional safety barriers on I-480 at overpass locations and in the school areas to prevent such accidents. The Police Department compiled a detailed report of accidents for the past three years which was supplied to NOACA and ODOT. The Ohio Department of Transportation has replied that it cannot honor the request for the following reasons: • The use of concrete barriers at areas where they are not normally needed, such as side slopes, can create injuries where they otherwise would not have occurred. Concrete barriers are not foolproof and do have inherent dangers, especially when hit at sharp angles. • It appears that the existing protection and roadway features are doing a good job by keeping the accidents confined to the highway with minimum injuries. • Adding concrete barriers to the right side of the Interstate can cause more injuries, especially for those vehicles that would normally use the right side as a recovery zone. ODOT did say that they would continue to monitor the conditions along the Interstate. The city will also continue to monitor the situation. Mr. Burns, who has an interest in auto racing, suggested an innovation currently being used in that sport: sandtraps in the run-off areas to catch cars before they hit the wall. Mr. Limpert did not have a committee report but wished to discuss two issues. First, regarding the city leaf pick up program, he suggested that, in addition to the initial schedule of leaf pick ups that is mailed to all residents, the cable access channel be used as a weekly update. Second, he is concerned about the many power outages that have been occurring in the city and wondered if CEI's maintenance program is sufFicient. Mayor Boyle said he had discussed this problem with Council in the past, and the administration has met with CEI to discuss this problem. The city was successful in getting CEI to do some work in the Claque Road area that has been plagued with numerous power outages because of CEI's poor maintenance and lack of planning. This past weekend, there was a power outage in the Ranchview area and the city was not notified in a timely manner. CEI's cutbacks are hurting electrical power in the entire service area. Mr. Boehmer agreed that the past Sunday had been a bad day for CEI. The company maintains two trouble crews, one for the east side and one for the west side. The problem arose when the workers were not called out until several hours after the high winds began. Mr. Lind commented that he has been concerned with the many power outages in his neighborhood and is currently circulating a petition addressing this problem to the PUCO. If the problem is not resolved, he plans on looking at the possibility of withholding payments. He does realize that CEI is working at Claque and Lorain Roads, but he is preparing for the possibility should this work not solve the problems in this area. Mr. McKay noted that the residents in the Pebblebrook subdivision were without power for 12 hours on Sunday. Mayor Boyle is concerned about these power outages because reliable power is something that we have used to attract new residents and businesses to our city. Mr. O'Grady, Chairperson of the Intra-Governmental Relations and Legislation Committee: 1) The committee has previously discussed Ordinance 96-174, which deals with Ohio Senate Bill 118 that would mandate a family building code. The committee has received a copy of the bill, and further discussion on the legislation will be taking place. 6