06/03/2003 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 6/3/2003 ,,, safety of the citizens of North Olmsted. The First Amendment states: "Congess shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging freedom of speech or of the press or the right of the people to peaceably assembly and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." Article X of the Charter of North Olmsted, provides for recall. The corrtents of the First Amendment were so important that they made it the First Amendment. So important that countless good and heroic persons have fought horrific battles and given their lives to protect those freedoms for all Americans. It is who we are. She has that right, and she takes that right extremely seriously. She will not tolerate interference, nor will she back down or be intimated by Mr. Jesse or his superiors. He may not like what she has to say, but he should defend and preserve her right to do so. It is guaranteed by our Constitution. Mr. Miller asked exactly what Mr. DiSalvo had asked her to do. Mr. Deis replied that he said her sign was not part of the landscaping and that Mr. Jesse had instructed him to remove it immediately. With that comment, she removed the sign from the soil. Mr. Miller asked if she had been asked to leave, and Mrs. Deis said she had not but she felt it was an interference with her right to peaceably assembly. Mr. Limpert directed his comments to the Law Director. He noted that freedom of speech as far as what was meant by the founding fathers was for political speech. However, the city does have ordinances as far as signs within the public right-of--way. Political speech would also be an election sign, and we as a city remove signs that are out between the sidewalk and the street because it is considered public property. Does this at all relate to each other? Law Director Dubelko said he did not think it does. As this is the first he has heard of this incident, he plans to talk with Mr. Jesse about it. He will provide him with appropriate advice on respecting the First Amendment rights of citizens. Amy Cornish, a former city employee. Ms. Cornish said she did not consider herself a Republican or a Democrat. During her nearly nine year tenwe in North Olmsted, she worked under both Republican and Democratic administrations. In the past, she has tried to stay out of political battles. Just prior to the last mayoral election, she remembers receiving a flyer from the Kasler campaign that made some accusations against the Musial administration. Within days of that flyer being distributed to the general public, many files were deleted out of a particular user directory. Personally, she does not know what was in those files. However, she was asked by her immediate supervisor to verify who had access to this specific directory. On the day of the last mayoral election, the Mayor sent out his own flyer denying the allegations raised by his opponent. Despite the fact her job was on the line, what she witnessed was enough for her to cast her vote for Mrs. Kasler. She sought out Marvin Stotz to sign his petition after the Mayor sent out similar literature denying some of the points made by members of the recall group. She is very disappointed at the direction this Mayor is leading the community and has joined the recall goup in an effort to help resolve this problem. While reviewing the past several months of Council minutes, she noticed an abundance of employees attending the Council meetings expressing their concerns about the fact the Mayor cut back staffing. Such cuts affected nearly every department in the City of North Olmsted. As a result, the entire community suffered as streets went nearly unplowed this past winter, children were forced to cross streets without a crossing guard, the Fire Department was severely understaffed, etc. Employees were told that the cutbacks were due to the state of our economy. At the December 17, 2002 Council meeting, a fire fighter questioned why the amount of the deficit kept changing. The Mayor advised him the deficit at that time was approximately $2.3 million. Roughly a month later, the Finance Director reported a carryover balance from 2002 at $1.3 million. Within a few weeks time, the city 12 ~.u,~x ~, _ .. , ..,,~ ._.~.~, ... .