02/04/2003 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 2/4/2003 officials to respect the constitutional rights of the citizens of this community. The Rec Center should not be construed as our private property. It's a public building which we have open to the general public. With the opening of access to public buildings, comes the responsibility to ensure that citizens can access the buildings and exercise their First Amendment rights by engaging in protected activities such as handing out literature, circulating petitions, etc. Again, if we as a city wish to regulate the exercise of those rights, we have to do it with narrowly drawn regulations that are content neutral and are simply time, place and manner oriented. 6) On January 29, he met with school guard Sandra Weir regarding safety issues near Sweetbriar and Canterbury. He plans to conduct some additional research on several of the issues she raised and then turn the matter over to the Service and Safety Directors, whose departments are jointly responsible for traffic safety issues. 7) On January 29, he provided a legal memo to the Mayor substantiating an informal opinion provided earlier to the Mayor and Council regarding the concept of hold-over officials. Rather than question why his opinion was being questioned, he thought it was preferable to do the basic necessary research and provide it to the Mayor. He understands that from time to time, he is going to give advice on an issue which may differ from what the former Law Director might have said or done over the past 27 years on the job. But he wants to assure the Mayor and Council that with his 21 1/2 years of experience in the field of municipal law, he won't give rash opinions. He will continue to carefully study any and all legal issues, conduct sound legal research upon them and provide legal advice which will enable the city and its officials to act effectively within the four corners of the law. 8) On January 30, he provided a memo to the Mayor regarding the distinction between police criminal investigations of public officials and disciplinary investigations of public officials. The police, when presented with a complaint of possible criminal activity, have a duty to investigate even if a public official is a possible target of an investigation. At the same time, even though a police criminal investigation may be ongoing, the Mayor or other supervisor of the public officials has a separate duty to the general public to investigate and administer appropriate discipline if warranted to the public official. Sometimes, it is difficult to effectively coordinate the two processes, but each process must be followed for both the sake of criminal justice and sound local government. 9) On February 2, he provided the Mayor with additional legal advice regarding appointing city employees to boards and commissions of the city. He understands that from time to time it may be difficult to locate citizens outside our government to fill some of the seats on various boards and commission. But before appointing a city employee to such a board or commission, it is his recommendation that the matter be passed by the Law Department for advice. 10) On February 3, he attended a disqualification hearing as a member of the Board of Control concerning one of the apparent low bidders on the library construction project. Council passed several years ago the minimum contractor standards ordinance which requires that the city, when it bids a project, look at the apparent low bidder and determine whether or not the bidder is deemed to be responsible under 16 stated standards. He believes this is the first time that a motion for disqualification is being contemplated by the City of North Olmsted. The hearing on February 3 was well 5