11/16/1999 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 11/16/1999 2) With regard to the crash barriers on I-480, he has been in verbal and written `, communication with Congressman Dennis Kucinich. Congressman Kucinich is working very hard behind the scenes to encourage ODOT to construct those barriers. 3) The administration is in the process of preparing the appropriations budget. On our way to becoming a premier city in the State of Ohio, we must maintain to the best of our ability the basic tripod: safety forces, services being provided to the residents and, something that we do not have any direct control over but certainly can help, the school system. Right now we have atop-notch safety force group, we have excellent city services and we have a superlative school system in place-the three S's, safety forces, services and school system. With regard to the safety forces, we are looking to construct a new fire station #2. However, in addition to these three areas, we must not lose sight of another area which is just as important to us and that is the quality of life in North Olmsted. What is the quality of life in North Olmsted? It can be broken down into three areas: cultural information, the Rec Center and ancillary recreation activities. With regard to the cultural information aspect, this town needs a community performing arts theater in combination with the library. This is of a high order of priority, and we are looking into this with a great amount of interest. With regard to the Rec Center, there are extensive repairs that are required to the facility-we have difficulties with the pool, the roof and the ice skating rink. All of these are going to require a large number of dollars, and we must work on getting those things taken care of. In addition to that, there are ancillary recreation aspects to consider. We have to really go out of our way to put into motion activities to take care of the other aspects. We should be looking at additional soccer fields, additional baseball fields, additional green areas. For example, we should be looking at a running track, a fitness center and a skate park. Therefore, in the appropriations budget, which is currently being prepared for Council's consideration, we are going to be focusing on these quality of life aspects. 4) In addition to bringing the leadership academy to North Olmsted, he plans on broadening the appropriations process. Heretofore, each division within a directorate prepared, in conjunction with the director, an appropriations budget. Of course, then the directors, the Mayor and members of the administration met to sort out where the monies should go. He would like to broaden the appropriations process by bringing into play all of the supervisors and bring them on board as a team as to where the monies are going and also let them interact on these expenditures. This will be done at one of the monthly supervisor meetings. This is very necessary because heretofore we have been following a "chimney concept." We need to open it up to have "cross-fertilization" take place. President Saringer announced that it was the Mayor's birthday. He was congratulated by everyone in attendance. Finance Director Copfer: 1) Council has received the September 1999 revenue and expense reports. 2) Council also received the quarterly investment reports for the first three quarters. The department's CBE student was able to take a manual ledger that is just kept on a daily basis and create an Excel spreadsheet to make it more useable information as it can be sorted by various data elements within it, which makes it much more helpful for her to manage. 2