10/05/2004 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 10/5/2004 Mr. Dial inquired if the task force was a public body. He believes that because it meets ,,~,,, in a public building and includes two members of Council it has public status; therefore, the public should be able to attend. Law Director Dubelko said the fact that the meetings are held in a public building doesn't convert a private organization of any type into a public body for purposes of the open meeting requirement of our Charter. The Charter requires it be a majority of a public body meeting to discuss public business. This isn't a public body that's created by Charter or ordinance. It is simply an association of individuals commissioned by the Mayor to look at an issue. If there was a majority of Council on this task force, then it would be an issue. Don Pangrac, 23470 Sharon Drive, asked the cost to the city for the Mayor's lawsuit. Law Director Dubelko said he personally has about 60+ hours into it. The outside law firm, Walter & Haverfield, who is now defending the city submitted a bill at end of August for approximately twenty to twenty-one thousand dollars. He has discussed that amount with them and asked for adjustments. Mr. Pangrac said he felt it would be prudent for Council to ask for a financial statement of that case on a monthly basis so citizens will know how much money is being spent on this as opposed to being put into roads and other things to benefit the citizens of this community. On the issue of the sewer refunds, he asked Finance Director Copfer what time period the refunds covered. Mrs. Copfer said it is for the previous year. Another time period is due in November. Mr. Pangrac is concerned because he is in the process of selling the home and wants to know how the refund will be handled if the home is sold before the checks are issued. Finance Director Copfer said she is hoping Council will reconsider the entire process and it not be handled the same way. It is an administrative nightmare. Mr. Pangrac continues to believe the City of Cleveland Division of Water should bill on exact sewer usage as they do for the water. Mrs. Copfer said she has tried to get them to comply with our ordinance, but they don't care. We have to come up with another way to deal with this. If they did bill it for exact usage instead of the minimum 1 MCF, it would probably bankrupt them. Mr. Pangrac feels this is a hidden tax. He again urged the Mayor to look to another source for water, specifically the City of Avon. Service Director Driscoll responded to Mr. Whiting's comments about the bus line. He wanted to assure everyone that NOMBL General Manager Tom Terbrack is doing a good job. He can assure everyone that Tom cares more passionately about the bus line and its present and future success than anyone else in the bus line, and he has done everything in his power to try to keep that bus line profitable and running so that it is a benefit to the City of North Olmsted. In a meeting with RTA, the General Manager of RTA (Mr. Calabrese) was asked to consider alternatives to the 53 route. Five years ago it was proposed that it could be a community circulator. Mr. Calabrese's response to that was it is a community circulator-it has eight riders per hour-just running in a large bus. He was asked to come up with solutions for changing it into a community circulator route or providing other base line routes that would make our bus line stay more profitable and efficient. He said he would try to come up with solutions within two weeks of the meeting, which was approximately a week ago. If those are not forthcoming from RTA, NOMBL General Manager Terbrack does have some alternatives he plans to present at the public hearing. ~.. 15