09/04/2001 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 9/4/2x01 youth concerns in our city. Councilman O'Grady said he felt that the school tax problem is the fault of the tern~ble system that State of Ohio has for school funding where the majority of the burden is placed directly on the shoulders of homeowners. He noted that it seemed Mrs. Clark may have been indicating instances of harassment of her teenage children. ff she could get him information of specific incidents, perhaps that's something that the Safety Committee could look at and work with the Police Department. Young people have rights too; and, if they are being infi inged upon, perhaps that is something that could be addressed. Bill Kelly, 4161 Canterbury Road, said he also has young children in the school system and at times he believes that the community doesn't appreciate them that much. But, when you get involved more and more with your government, you understand that there is give and take. That is one of the reasons why Resolution 2001-110 is on the agenda. You have to show the seniors that you work for them too. If this legislation passes in the state and prescription drug prices for senior citizens are lowered and seniors see that the people that were behind this issue are people with younger kids, the next time a tax levy comes up hopefully they will support it. You have to have give and take. He has young children and elderly in-laws, and he would like to see all of them taken care of. Toe Bouman, 23950 Lessner Road, said the police, with the full knowledge and permission of Prosecutor O'Malley, are illegally ticketing people for illegal right hand turns on Claque Road. He recently got a ticket for that and took pictures of the site and counted cars. He found an Ohio case which states that signs and traffic signals must follow a uniform standard-the same size and layout. The signs at Claque Road do not meet that standard. He brought this paperwork to court and Mr. O'Malley and several police officers agreed the signs were not legal. The police continue to ticket in this area. He feels that until this is resolved and new signs are posted, nobody should be getting tickets and those who have received tickets should have some recourse. Law Director Gareau said the non-uniformity of a tragic coirtrol device is a defense. Rather than ceasing to ticket, the action he would like to see would be to correct the sign. He is familiar with that intersection. You can't have more signs telling you not to turn right on red. There's a big one along the side which probably doesn't conform to the Ohio Uniform Traffic Control Manual and there's one up on the stanchion that runs across the street. He does not know if the city Traffic Engineer was ever made aware of the fact that the sign may not be in conformity, but it wouldn't take a whole lot to change it. He does not have a problem with that. He knows non-conformity is a defense that one can use. The city has had that issue raised before, even with just simply the height of a speed control sign. He was not aware that there were problems with the signs at Claque Road. This is something that should be brought to the attention of the Engineering Department and the Sign Department and get that corrected if in fact they are not in conformity. As to stopping the ticketing until the signs are corrected, the Prosecutor is not responsible for that. He cannot tell the police what to do as the police are part of the Safety Department. Safety Director Jenkins said it is his understanding that all the signs in North Olmsted meet the Manual for Uniform Traffic Devices. We actually go beyond the minimum that is required. Mr. Bouman said he felt the taw specifies size, it doesn't say you can make it bigger or smaller. Mr. Jenkins said he would check with the Traffic Engineer. 9 ~~ ,.