09/07/1999 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 9/7/99 4) Police Chief Ruple has announced that there will be a police presence in the mall at no ;,,,,~ cost to the city. The mall will provide a desk and office to police officers for interviewing purposes when necessary. The police officers will not be there at all times; however, as they make regular rounds, they may get out of the car and walk around to make their presence known. Law Director Gareau: 1) The department has been doing a great deal of research with regard to the Chamber of Commerce case and the magistrate's ruling. Also, a thirty day extension to respond to the report has been requested. There is an extreme amount of interest in this case because of the fact that it deals with transferring the individual First Amendment rights of expression to the commercial aspect dealing with signs, which this city and other entities believe is totally inappropriate. The Ohio Municipal League, the Ohio Municipal Attorneys Association, the International Municipal Attorneys Association and numerous cities in the area have an interest in this case. They all recognize that, if the magistrate's opinion is adopted, it will render most communities, if not all, in the State of Ohio having ordinances dealing with signs to be unconstitutional. 2) He has met with NOMBL officials and the Mayor, Service Director and Safety Director to discuss the progress on the renewal of the five-year agreement with the Regional Transit Authority. There are still a number of items that need to be resolved before the renewal contract can be finalized. 3) He and the Mayor have signed a contract for the purchase of one of the properties in the industrial park where the proposed bus garage will be located. 4) The Law Department is attempting to negotiate with the Metroparks Board regarding above-ground retention so as to resolve some of the problems with flooding on Barton Road. A meeting has been set for next week for further negotiations. Finance Director Copfer: 1) Thank you to Jeff Herwick of First Star Bank, who is also a resident of our city, in aiding in the research for Resolution 99-103. This resolution asks the county to consider including our residents as part of the county Linked Deposit Program. Mr. Herwick spent a lot of time in doing background and research work and it is very much appreciated. 2) The 1998 annual audit has been substantially completed, and the post-audit conference and subsequent report issuance will be forthcoming in September. 3) The renewal notes and the new note for Springvale will be priced on September 14. The closing date remains September 23. 4) The July 1999 revenue/expenditure and encumbrance reports have been distributed to Council this evening. Council should keep in mind, as was discussed in her last report, that the budget revisions program does not work. The software vendor will not fix it because we will be converting to the 2000 version with which it is compatible and with which it has been proven to work. The department is currently tracking the budget revisions on an Excel spreadsheet so that we will not be getting any big surprises at the end of the year. Mr. O'Grady reported on the Vision Y2000 and Beyond Committee: 1) The committee has met and identified strengths and weaknesses based on the perceptions of the members that were present. The strengths that were identified were our recreation programs; our 2