06/06/2000 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 6/6/2000 The Scout Honorary Officials came forward and were recognized by Council, members of the administration and by all present. Mr. Fioritto introduced Mr. & Mrs. Scouting for 2000, Mr. Thomas Jecker and Mrs. Genevieve Fioritto. Mayor Musial presented proclamations to Mr. Jecker and Mrs. Fioritto. Mayor Musial congratulated the two honorary Mayors and presented them with North Olmsted patches. President Saringer congratulated the Scouts. The minutes of the Council meeting of April 18, 2000 were approved as written. The minutes of the special Council meeting of May 1, 2000 were approved as written. The minutes of the special Council meeting of May 8, 2000 were approved as written. Mr. Gareau moved to amend the agenda to advance Ordinance No. 99-54 to the head of the agenda. The motion was seconded by Mr. Nashar. Roll call: Gareau, yes; Nashar, yes; O'Grady, no; Miller, no; McKay, yes; Limpert, yes; Kasler, no. The motion passed with four affirmative votes and three negative votes. The agenda was amended to allow Ordinance No. 99-54 to be considered. (An ordinance creating new Chapter 177 of the Administrative Code of the City of North Olmsted entitled, "Project Labor Agreements" providing for Project Labor Agreements to be evaluated, negotiated and adhered to in the course of certain city building and other improvement projects, and declaring an emergency as amended.) Mr. Gareau moved to table Ordinance 99-54, and Mr. Nashar seconded the motion. Roll call: Gareau, yes, with comment that his position on this ordinance is rooted in what he believes to be the best interests of the residents. His position is about fiscal responsibility, government integrity, economics and fundamental fairness. It is not a position about the union cause or the cause of non-union construction workers, be they residents or not. It is not allied with those who have chosen to malign the characters of Council members. It is not a position of what is politically appealing. It is not a position of political paybacks as some people have accused. It is a position that is rooted firmly in his conscience. During the past twelve months, he has listened, researched, debated and sought counsel with his colleagues, neighbors, friends and family on this issue. In the dialogue, there was at all times a resonance that he found overwhelmingly persuasive--it is simple and it is clear. Those who have spoken have exclaimed it just simply isn't fair for government to exclude an individual merely because they do not belong to a favored organization. He agreed with that position and finds this ordinance to be fundamentally unfair because it needlessly excludes men and women in this community from the opportunity to work in their home city. He believes this ordinance needlessly turns its back on those folks who chose not to belong to a favored organization. He does not feel this is fair. The most unsettling aspect is the fact that the reasons in support of the ordinance were never made clear to him. First, it must be recognized that the Mayor has the inherent power to negotiate a project labor agreement any time he feels it is appropriate. He does not need this ordinance to do that. Second, the reasons offered by those in support of this ordinance were as follows: safety on the job, labor peace, quality construction, projects on time and on budget, prevailing wage and taxes being paid. He asked the Service Director to help in his research to find out how much of a problem this really was. In the past 10 years, there have been 140 construction contracts in the city and 131 were awarded to union contractors. Unions ~''*` received more than $61 million in work, making almost 92% of the work in the city 2