05/20/2003 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of May 20, 2003 10) With respect to Councilman Miller's request regazding the Law Department's needs for the use of the old library building, the Law Department would need about 1,500 square feet. 11) There was an interesting First Amendment case recently decided by the Eighth District Court of Appeals involving civil litigation cases filed against the City of Cleveland and its police officers. One of the points that Judge Blackmon from the Court of Appeals made in her majority opinion was that it was very important that the Cleveland Police Dept. received sensitivity training with respect to First Amendment issues. It's important to keep track of these issues, and it's important that our departments get the training they need to handle these types of issues. Finance Director Copfer: 1) She attended a Municipal Finance Officers' Association, Cleveland Chapter, luncheon meeting on May 14 where a Key Bank economist was speaking. While some of the economic indicators seemed promising to him on our local economy, more aze still negatively affecting us. In summary, don't expect a recovery in 2003 and probably not until the later half of 2004. 2) Eight responses were received for the information systems consultant and aze currently being reviewed and evaluated by her, the Assistant Finance Director and the Data Processing Commissioner. Once the evaluations are complete, they will present their decision to the Board of Control for approval of the contract. 3) The May yeaz-to-date RITA income tax collections aze 1.63% over the prior yeaz, but they are still fluctuating. At the MFOA luncheon, she heard a lot of lamenting of other finance directors whose income tax collections aze below last yeaz's. So, we are holding our own. The 1.63% equates to $72,000, of which 70% goes to the general fund, 15% to the permanent improvement fund, and 15% to the solid waste fund. 4) The estate tax collections that are in the pipeline as of Monday were $37,000. We usually receive those twice a yeaz, and the next collection will be received in October. 5) The Finance Department is currently accepting RFP's on the city's telephone service contract which is up in June. This is a good opportunity to look at the number of lines that we commit to in this next contract because we are at a very high amount of lines being paid for each month. This effort is being coordinated with the efforts of Capt. Wozniak of the Police Department who is looking to utilize a newer technology in radios to communicate between each department more effectively and more cost effectively. In reply to various inquiries regarding the status of the city's financial position, Finance Director Copfer said she is working on a report as to the financial condition and what needs to be done for the second half of the yeaz. Although the income tax receipts aze up slightly, there is not much of a trend at this time. The estate tax collections are much lower than last year's, but this is probably due to the change in the tax law. There are many city issues for which funding is needed. Some of those issues include a proposal to reinstate the property maintenance inspector, the possibility that the budgeted amounts for gas and oil may not be enough, and the shared income tax collection being higher than budgeted. President O'Crrady concurred with Law Director Dubelko's comments that the ~.. presentation by the Ohio Ethics Commission, sponsored by Olmsted Falls Councilman ;. 5