01/19/1999 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 1/19/99 area and removal and disposal of debris. On behalf of the City of North Olmsted, Mayor Musial congratulated Ryan on becoming an Eagle Scout and presented him with a proclamation in recognition of his achievement. 2) Members of Webelos, Den 4, Pack 664 were introduced and invited to come forward, give their names and shake hands with City Council. The members are Robbie Hundt, Chad Richards, Ross Finney, Nathaniel Lieb, Sam Rutchick, Jed Rutchick (Tiger Cub), Gregory Wilkins, Danny Weber and leaders David and Karen Wilkins. Law Director Gareau: 1) Two lawsuits have been filed against the city: • Faia vs. the City of North Olmsted dealing with a Title 42, Section 1983 action that was filed in the Common Pleas Court against five police officers and a John Doe in the Police Department arising out of an alleged improper search and seizure of property at 5935 Burns Road on 1/3/97. This has been turned over to insurance defense counsel. • Link vs. the City of North Olmsted. This is a defamation of character action arising out of employment information given to Link's new employer. There was an error in the release of that information; and, upon learning of the error, it was immediately corrected. Mr. Link continued to work for the employer for three months but was eventually dismissed. This will not be turned over to insurance counsel as it is a baseless lawsuit. The Law Department has informed Mr. Link's attorney that we will file frivolous conduct against him if the suit is not dismissed. 2) A public records demand dealing with Parcel E litigation has been made to the Law Director and Clerk of Council. The Law Department will respond to the request as many of the records requested are not in the possession of the Law Department or Clerk. 3) New legislation dealing with the Law Department will be on first reading this evening. The legislation eliminates the positions of Law Clerk and provides for a second Civil Assistant who will be an attorney. Finance Director Copfer: 1) According to an article in a recent legislative bulletin from the Ohio Municipal League, the Ohio General Assembly has passed legislation dealing with bidding. Municipalities will no longer need to competitively bid items at the local level if those same items could be procured at a better price locally than can be gotten through participation in the state cooperative purchasing program. Additionally, there has been an increase of the municipal bid limit from $10,000 to $15,000. 2) RITA will allow cities that carry a 4% retainer to reduce the amount to 3% for 1999. The excess amount from the retainer is given back to the cities each year. However, RITA will have some significant capital upgrades this year so the refund may not be as large as in past years. 3) The November, 1998 revenue and expenditure reports were distributed this evening to City Council, the Mayor and the Law Director. 4) The audit report for 1997 was issued on Monday, January 11. There were eight findings. Some of these items have been resolved during 1998 and others are in the process of being resolved. ,~;: 2 I