12/07/1999 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 12/7/1999 been followed for many, many years and I believe in it and I try to live by it when I may. When you serve two masters, you're required at times to make a decision between one over the other. When you make that statement and have to choose, sometimes there will be winners and sometimes there will be losers. The two masters in this instance are the job of administrative assistant to the Mayor and the job of fund-raiser for the skateboard park which will be built in the City of North Olmsted. The servant is Mary Creadon. She holds both titles. I would strongly suggest in the future that the fund-raisers do the fund- raising and that the job of administrative assistant is left to Mary Creadon to do. When a fund-raiser also serves as the administrative assistant for the Mayor, there will be questions about which master they are serving. Is she serving the City of North Olmsted or is she serving as afund-raiser for a private fund-raising group? The questions asked by Council this evening are justified. My concerns with these ordinances had nothing to do whatsoever with the persons who use as skateboard park or the skateboard park, when it would be built or where it would be built. In fact, nobody has asked me my opinion on whether or not I want it to be built. In fact, I have no objections to it. It will be a welcome addition to the community. Rather, my concerns had everything to do with the way this administration approached this matter. We heard discussions tonight about oral negotiations on a city contract, a city contract which has a value of $300,000. One of the biggest contracts I can recall in the recent past. Record keeping that I would say is something less than stellar. Matters discussed outside the contract. We discussed them, we told them what was there. The appearance that, if a city contract was signed, that a donation would be made to a private fund-raising group. Money tied to contracts bothers me. And when it appears that that may be the case, it needs to be investigated vigorously. Rest assured, my questions were not asked because I wanted to; my questions were asked because I had to. My job is to ensure that the city's best interests are being served by this agreement. The best interests are served when I tell my constituents that the city itself and its General Fund received the maximum benefit from a contract. Because I believe the administration mishandled this negotiations, I had a job to do with my colleagues and I did it. I vote yes this evening with the ordinance as amended because I believe that the contract is good. Who would say that a $300,000 windfall to the city-excuse me, $271,000 windfall to the City of North Olmsted, the other $25,000 isn't in there-is not a good thing for the City of North Olmsted. What the ordinance does as amended does what the administration should have done in the very beginning. You keep donations and talk of donations and giving money to the city away from public contracts. Had that been done in the beginning, the ugly specter that the contract was tied to money would never have entered my mind. It did, and the fault does not lie with this Council. Thank you, Madam President. My vote is yes." Roll call continued: Limpert, no.... Mayor Musial asked to be recognized by President Saringer. President Saringer explained a vote was being taken. Mayor Musial said that a point in time he wanted to be recognized to address Councilman Gareau's remarks. Mr. Limpert continued: no, with brief comment. "If the amendment makes other members of the Council feel better and more proper, then so be it. My own business experience and what legal information I can recall from my business law class is that, when a contract has been offered, it is to be held to by the party offering it unless acounter-offer is made. Since the contract as it was originally written was $75,000 better than the competition, the $25,000 additional, whether you want to call °° it donation, whether you want to call it part of the contract, but with the stipulation that it 13 E