04/03/2001 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 4/3/2001 2) An Easter Open House will be held at the Recreation complex on Sunday, April 8, tom, from 1 to 4 p.m. There will be skating, swimming, fun games, special demonstrations, great entertainment and costumed characters. Everyone is invited. 3) Springvale is having an Easter Brunch on Sunday, April 15, 2001. Price for adults is $14.95, and the menu includes roast sirloin of beef; honey-glazed ham, chicken, smoked kielbasa, pasta, and various other items. 4) Yesterday evening, he and school superintendent Norma Conner participated in a program sponsored by the Faith Communities Forum. The keynote speaker was Joan Brown Campbell. The Faith Communities Forum was organized in 1998 by Don Copeland and Greg Birney, along with interested North Olmsted-based clergy and lay persons. In the year 2000, the Faith Commwuties Forum worked on creating a Citizen's Pledge that was adopted by City Council and by the Board of Education through resolutions. This is meant to be a guide of human elements and characteristics that our community could attempt to achieve and promote to its public. His remarks last evening centered on Vision 2000 and Beyond, the North Olmsted Foundation and its purpose to the year 2075, the interaction of Vision 2000, which goes out to the year 2025 and the short-term planning for the years 2002 through 2005. The tie-in of Faith Communities Forum to the city's strategic planning is an attempt to extend the Forum's reach to include social strategic planning to achieve the goals of the Citizen's Pledge. Social strategic planning is the last building block in the strategic planning process. 5) Last week he, Finance Director Carne Copfer and Law Director Mike Gareau were in New York to make a presentation on the $10.75 million library bond issue and the $4.8 million at Springvale and city capital improvements of new debt and roughly $7 million of refunded debt. Three presentations were made: 1) MBIA, an insurance corporation; 2) Moody's; 3) Fitch. Accompanying the city offiicials were John Petty, of NatCity Investments and John Larson, bond counsel from Squire, Sanders & Dempsey. Substantially the same outline was followed for all presentations. John Petty made introductions and provided an overview of the debt issue. The presentation of the Finance Director covered the areas of the status of financials, the CAFRlPAFR, award for the year 2000; budgeting, the current approach, dealing with the slowdown in the economy; our assessed valuation; the general fund/budget stabilization fund; our sources of revenue; our debt policy; and future plans. Law Director Gareau centered on the areas of the land acquisition for the library, the consent decree, any significant lawsuits and employee negotiations. The Mayor's presentation covered in general such items as the economic development such as Dillard's and its current status, the status of the park-n- ride development and the $10 million bus garage. He also touched upon the city's abatement policy and how it worked along with the fact that the school system is made whole regarding any lost real property taxes due to abatement. In the housing area, it was noted that North Olmsted is a maturing city, but future extensive growth could come about only by annexation to the south of us. On the library issue, he noted as to how the Big Four Committee he formed was instrumental in helping the library issue that passed by roughly 55 to 45%. Also discussed was the Springvale Golf Course and Ballroom complex which was purchased in late 1994. Prior to 1998, there were only insignificant capital improvements made to the complex. It is important, as part of the city's planning, to insure that Springvale Golf Course remains competitive with surrounding golf courses and that the city maintains its pledge that General Fund money will not be used to support 2 .,~.