09/21/1999 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 9/21/99 ;~,~, motorists using safety belts by 5%. The second grant is related to unsafe speed or fir assured clear distance, where the goal is to reduce the amount of accidents by 5%. The amount of the grants has not yet been released. It is interesting to note that when a violator is stopped, the police will have the choice of issuing a citation or giving the person a copy of a brochure indicating the danger that they are running into by not following the law. This will provide for better public relations and indicate to the residents and the people they stop more of a sensitivity with regard to the Police Department. 5) A letter was sent to Joseph Deters, the State Treasurer of Ohio, regarding the Linked Deposit Program. County Treasurer Jim Rokakis did meet with Mr. Deters about the situation. The cut-off point for the Housing Enhancement Loan Program was at 30%, which means a 30% appreciation over the last 15 years. For the last 15 years, North Olmsted has had an appreciation of 31.9%. We are right on the cusp, but that cut us out. Mr. Deters was asked to give serious consideration to at least a modest expansion of the program. North Olmsted is one of the communities that missed being included in Cuyahoga County's program. The criteria to be included in the Housing Enhancement Loan Program (HELP) was for a community to have an appreciation of housing values of 30% or less over the last 15 years. North Olmsted's appreciation of 31.9% over the last 15 years was high enough to exclude the city from the HELP program, yet low enough to show that we are experiencing the same problems as communities that were included: an aging housing stock, little new construction and the outward migration that results from the aforementioned. North Olmsted residents would greatly benefit from such a program. We have homeowners that are asking why they are not included in the low interest home improvement program as they would be able to do much needed improvements if their monthly payments were affordable. North Olmsted is not the only community that is in this predicament; hopefully, the program will be expanded to the next level which may qualify our city to participate. Law Director Gareau: 1) A number of months ago, he reported that the city and a contractor had been sued as a result of an excavation on Dover Center Road whereby a person who was walking fell into the excavation. Although this was turned over to the insurance company, we do have exposure because of a $30,000 deductible. The Law Department does keep a close watch on cases turned over to insurance counsel, and all settlements must go through the Law Department. More often than not, they will ask the insurance counsel to litigate the issue. This particular case was litigated to final judgment and the verdict was a defense verdict in favor of the city as well as the contractor. 2) We have just recently become active again on the Parcel E case. We have been trying for a number of months to make arrangements to have Mr. Dan Biskind's deposition taken. He is out of the country, and we are having a lot of difficulty having that arranged. But, on the other side, just this week depositions are being arranged for former Mayor Boyle, Mayor Musial and Councilman McKay. Tomorrow morning, we will have oral argument in the North Olmsted landholding case dealing with the declaration of our tree ordinance being unconstitutional by Judge Gravens in the Rocky River Municipal Court. 3) Last week the Law Department submitted what is termed as the annual audit report to the auditors regarding an update on the status of various litigation. 2