05/16/2000 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 5/16/2000 she is appreciative of the support of the people who came here this evening to talk about integrity and about the concern for this Council and what it takes to put your name and your reputation on the line no matter how passionately you feel about something. Council has done that, and she appreciates the fact that people have come here this evening to do the same on their behalf. Thank you very much. Councilman Miller: • Wished to join Mrs. Kasler and rest of Council in thanking all who came out this evening to show support and letting them know they have the integrity to make the right decision. They appreciate and recognize it, and it says something about mutual respect. Last night he indicated that the phone calls he received in response to the post card were more along the lines of, "what's the truth?". That says something about the person who wrote that card and the group it represents. They don't represent the truth. He would like to remind Mr. Ross with regard to some of his comments, when his children were growing up, he put the protector plugs in the electrical outlets to protect them from electrical shock. This situation is similar with the PLA. Also, he has a good size German Shepherd dog that has never bitten anybody, but he keeps it on a leash. So you take a few measures to protect your family, your neighbors, and in this case, the citizens. That's what the PLA does. He did not sponsor the ordinance because he has a strong objection to the $500,000 standard. He would like to have that eliminated or brought down to $250,000. He will continue to pursue that as best he can. That was his way of making his statement about bringing that limit down, but he will live with it if necessary. Joyce Goldstein, legal counsel for the organized building trades in Cleveland, Ohio: • Came here on behalf of the entire organized sector of the industry--both labor and management. She felt compelled to speak when she heard Alan Ross. She would like to point out that much of the presentation she gave to Council in the various meetings she attended has had to do with responding to inaccurate statements by the ABC. At one meeting, she went through the inaccuracies of the legal claims they had made with respect to whether PLAs were lawful or not in Ohio. That issue has now been resolved to Council's comfort as they are legal. She went through the factual issues when ABC challenged that PLAs resulted in jobs being over budget and behind schedule. Those claims were taken apart piece by piece to show they are factually inaccurate. The claims they have made about Council are factually inaccurate. About the non-union apprenticeship program, a Department of Labor Statistics study indicates that there are five union apprentices registered in Ohio for every one non- union apprentice. When you look at numbers who complete the program, the ratio gets even greater. The number of union apprentices who complete the program are far in excess of the non-union apprentices that complete the program. She hopes they will have the opportunity to be back in the future not just talking about PLAs but talking about responsible contracting. Of course in the last version of the ordinance, there was a piece on responsible contracting and it had a series of factors and requirements that the city should consider before awarding any contract regardless of size--also dealing with Mr. Miller's concern about the $500,000 threshold. That part was taken out, for a variety of reasons, and she hopes the current legislation does pass 12