06/15/2004 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 6/15/2Q04 not the city's licensing scheme, the application process for signs, met constitutional muster. The cases out of the Supreme Court previously indicated that the licensing scheme had to have a prompt judicial review of administrative decisions made by the city. That issue was left unresolved. In 2000, it was thought that there was another case somewhere in Wisconsin that the Supreme Court was going to deal with that issue, but they decided the issue was moot. The Littleton, Colorado case essentially says that, if your state has a statutory process for the courts reviewing administrative decisions and if it's set up in a fashion so that the courts can be sensitive to First Amendment concerns which come up in sign application cases, then that meets constitutional muster. That is sufficient and prompt judicial review to satisfy the United States Supreme Court. This decision takes care of a lingering issue from the Chamber of Commerce case. It's a good municipal law decision. 4) On June 8, the city was served with a law suit brought by former Fire Chief Ed Bak. This has been turned over to insurance defense counsel for defense, and the Law Dept. will monitor that defense along the way. 5) On June 8, he attended a directors' meeting convened by the Mayor's designee Safety Director Rick Jesse. 6) On June 9, Walter & Haverfield entered their appearance in the State ex rel. Musial v. the City of North Olmsted case. Council passed legislation authorizing the hiring of outside counsel, and the legislation has gone into effect. The contract was signed by the President of Council in his capacity as acting Mayor because of the potential conflict. Walter & Haverfield is now on the case, and they are defending the city's interests in that matter. 7) On June 10, he attended a law directors' association meeting and seminar. Professor Alan Weinstein from Cleveland State University Law School was the guest speaker. He spoke on two topics: RLUPA, a federal law that requires a city's zoning laws treat religious and institutional uses the same way as other assembly uses; sexually oriented business ordinances. 8) On June 10, the city was served with an unfair labor practice filed by the FOP arising out of negotiations with that unit earlier this year. He has contacted the attorney representing the FOP and has asked that it be dismissed voluntarily. He does take exception to it as he was party to those negotiations and believes that the city negotiating team was very above-board in everything that was done in the process. If it is not voluntarily dismissed, he intends to defend it vigorously. 9) On June 11, the fact finding award on the fire fighter negotiations was received. That matter will be discussed in detail with Council in executive session tonight. Under SERB law, both the city and the union have seven days after the report to review it and make a decision as to whether or not to reject it by a 60% vote. 10) On a personal note as a proud dad, he spent an enjoyable weekend in Chicago watching his daughter graduate with honors from De Paul University with a degree in international studies. 11) On June 15, the city filed an arbitration brief in the Briesath arbitration. That work was done by Assistant Law Director Bryan O'Malley, who did a good job on the brief that was filed. 12) On June 15, another interest-based bargaining session with the city's Service unit employees was held. 3