10/05/2004 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 10/5/2004 itself. Councilman Miller inquired if there is a legal requirement that the final report or recommendations from the task force must be followed. Law Director Dubelko said no. Councilman Limpert said he is on the task force and finds it is confusing to try to make everybody happy. The task force is going to try to find out if there is a better way to run Springvale. He does not believe anyone on the task force has preconceived ideas. They are asking questions and learning. Councilman Gareau questioned why this was being done at the expense of Council. City Council is ultimately accountable to the people of the City of North Olmsted when it comes to financial matters of the city. They do not have the information they need to be able to make intelligent decisions. The task force meetings are closed to the public. He believes Council should be made aware of what is going on instead of waiting to be presented with recommendations after several months. Perhaps Council will feel the recommendations have no basis. They should be included in the process early on and become involved and contribute to the solution. Mayor Musial said the task force may consider issuing progress reports, but there are none at this point as they have just been gathering information. Councilman Dailey inquired why the Mayor was not holding the North Olmsted Foundation Ball at Springvale. Why not have it in North Olmsted to bring business to Springvale rather than take it outside the city limits? Mayor Musial said the Board of Trustees elected to go to Lakewood Country Club. Finance Director Copfer, commenting on Mr. Gareau's issue of not being informed about Springvale, noted that it was discussed during the budget hearings and there have been committee discussions with regard to reducing the budget. Mr. Gareau agreed that was true, but noted Council was being asked to be reactive. They are being told things didn't work out and being asked to transfer money to bail out the problem as opposed to knowing what the problem is in advance and trying to head it off. He would like Council to be proactive instead of reactive. There has never been a conversation on pricing, fees, wages, promotion, publicity, marketing, capital improvements, organizational structure, profit centers-those are the kinds of things that could solve our problem. He does not like the idea of being brought in at the very end of a detailed discussion by a group of people. He thinks that takes an important decision-making role away from City Council. Councilman Miller asked the Mayor how many people made up the NOFI Board of Trustees and who had voted to have the fund-raiser at the Lakewood Country Club. Mayor Musial said the seven trustees are Mary Creadon, Father Stollenwerk, John Thomay, Don Machovina and Mark Musial. The trustees who met and made the decision were Mark Musial, Don Machovina, John Thomay and himself. He said they can go where they want to go and where they will get the type of attention they want. Law Director Dubelko: 1) A litigation update: On September 24, the Walter Haverfield law firm representing the city in the public records case in the Court of Appeals filed an affidavit pursuant to court order. Also, on September 24, the city filed its appellees' brief in the Berg vs. North Olmsted case. Berg, the appellant, now has an opportunity to file a ~~ reply brief on or before October 8. On September 27, the city was served with summons ~. 4