11/16/2004 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 11/16/2004 ^ November 12, the city's insurance defense counsel filed an answer in the Ganley ~' lawsuit. He will continue to keep Council up-to-date on the progress in that case consistent with the discussions in executive session. 2) Collective bargaining update: ^ The Service Unit collective bargaining agreement, which Council approved last month, was signed by all parties on November 4. ^ The Fire Fighters collective bargaining agreement, approved by Council at the last regular Council meeting, was signed by all parties on November 9. ^ At this point, we now have only the ClericaUTechnical and the Dispatcher collective bargaining agreements unsigned. ClericaUTechnical legislation is before Council for approval tonight. There are some final language issues to be worked out in the Dispatcher's contract. Hopefully, it will be presented to Council at the next meeting. 3) He has attended meetings relating to renewal of the NOMBL operating agreement on November 4 and 15. He has provided Council with a status report under the cover of attorney/client privilege regarding progress in those negotiations and will continue to keep Council apprised as he knows there area lot of rumors regarding RTA and NOMBL. He believes it's important not to confirm or deny rumors but to continue to sit down with RTA and make every effort at the bargaining table to continue good bus transit service in the western suburbs, to protect the rights of our city employees who work hard for that bus line and to protect the City of North Olmsted. 4) November 8, he attended the first of a number of upcoming fire fighters' arbitration hearings relating to management issues in the Fire Dept. He testified at the hearing on behalf of the city primarily on the issue of which city official may execute and thereby legally bind the City of North Olmsted to the obligations of a written contract. Under the city's Charter, the answer is clear: it's only the Mayor. 5) November 9 and 16, he attended Board of Control and directors' meetings at City Hall. 6) November 10, he provided formal legal advice to the Mayor and Council regarding the Charter requirements for Planning Commission review of the site selection process for the new fire station. That dovetails into the Mayor's comments regarding the timeline that's been tentatively established by the Safety Director. He would commend the Safety Director on putting forth a lot of effort very recently and assembling city officials to start the process of establishing a firm timeline. Now that the voters have approved it, we have an obligation as city officials to move with all appropriate speed to acquire the land and build a building. 7) November 10, he requested an opinion from the Finance Director regarding expenditures made by the city to Joe Rice & Associates. The Finance Director concluded that the expenditures were authorized and lawful. There still remains, however, an issue which he would like to address with Council at some future time regarding whether expenditures should be made with or without written contracts. By Charter, only expenditures in excess of $25,000 are required to be bid and must be made pursuant to written contract. However, there obviously maybe other instances in which expenditures involving lesser amounts should be made pursuant to written contract in order to fully protect the city's interests. 8) November 11, he attended the Veterans' Day ceremonies at City Hall. 9) November 12, he attended and testified at the second of the fire fighter arbitration hearings involving city management authority. This particular arbitration involved the 3