07/03/2001 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 7/3/2001 important that this be engineered now so that we can tie in the results with the major Columbia Road storm sewer project that is going to be taking place later this year. In addition to new larger sewers, we will also be adding testing tees to those sewers that residents can tap into to correct any backyard flooding problems. This can address the safety and health issue of misquotes, especially with the possibility of the West Nile virus heading this way. Councilman O'Grady commented on the committee report dealing with non-partisan elections. An issue has been made of the fact that as a Councilman he voted against this some six years ago. He stands 100•~o behind that vote. It is what he believed at the time. The vote took place on his second day as a Councilman. In the intervening six years, and the experience he has gained, his opinion has changed. He now believes that non- partisan elections for the City of North Olmsted are a good thing because we will not exclude anyone-primarily federal employees-and we give a greater opportunity to all of our residents. But that is not the question and shouldn't be the central issue. It doesn't matter what his opinion is with regard to non-partisan elections. The question is whether or not this Council is going to decide to let the people of the City of North Olmsted make up their own minds. Former Mayor Petrigac was in attendance and she pointed out that there had been three different charter review commissions that made the same recommendation. The charter review commissions appointed by Council have been recommending to the Council that they allow the people of the City of North Olmsted to decide for themselves whether or not they should have partisan or non-partisan elections. This Council again, with the idea of holding this ordinance in committee until after the general election, is making the decision not to let the people decide. That's where the decision should be made. Councilman O'Grady, chairperson of the Public Safety, Heahh & Welfare Committee: 1) He recently attended, along with Fire Chief Bak, the "Feel the Heat" academy which is designed to provide elected officials primarily with the opportunity to see what it's really like to be in the trenches as a firefighter. One of the experiences included getting suited up completely in protective clothing and crawling through a dark, smoky building to find a dummy, weighing 170 pounds, and bring it out of the building. Another experience involved practicing to remove an injured person from a car by using the "jaws of life" and other tools to cut the car apart. It was incredible to see the capabilities. As the legislative branch which makes funding decisions for the safety forces, Council should understand as much as possible about their real requirements and real needs. He strongly recommends other Council members attend this academy, and there is another session coming up in September. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION Dennis Lambert, 25057 Carey Lane. He was the chairperson of a charter review commission and has give testimony in another. The members were responsible people in the community. Ideas come and go through Council, and Council has the job to determine whether they have merit or not. Many of them come from fractional groups and special interests and it's tough to decide where those things come from. He noted that the sponsors of the Charter amendment, Councilmen Dailey, Limpert, O'Grady and 6 ~, wn,. - -:."N~nrarvaen:'Ri?4l^dlttk'L•~F+78vcca y.....