02/17/2004 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 2/17/2004 ,,,,~ Prosecutor Dan Ryan and Assistant Law Director Bryan O'Malley for the very fine job they all did in prosecuting her husband who was convicted and sentenced to jail time. Both Dan Ryan and Bryan O'Malley have done great work for the city the past two years and have both increased their work load the past several months as he has been involved in contract negotiations. He would like to publicly commend both of them for their service to the Law Department and to the community. 2) On February 12, he and Recreation Commissioner DiSalvo attended the morning session of a seminar put on by the EEOC, OSHA, National Labor Relations Board and the Department of Labor, which was sponsored by the Cleveland Bar Association. It was a valuable seminar to attend. 3) During the time period of February 8 to February 12, he had a number of phone conversations and correspondence with attorney Tamzin O'Neil from Squire, Sanders & Dempsey regarding the sale of the old library building. The school board is getting ready to vote to authorize the purchase of the building. He has received draft contract documents from Ms. O'Neil, which he will review very shortly and provide appropriate advice to the Mayor regarding execution. 4) On February 12, along with the Mayor and Finance Director, he attended an informational meeting put on by Tim Viscus, commissioner of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, regarding interest-based bargaining. Interest-based bargaining might be looked at as a kinder, more gentle method of negotiating labor agreements. If the city and AFSCME unions agree to this approach to the upcoming negotiations for the Service unit and ClericaUTechnical unit, FMCS will assist the parties at no charge in attempting to negotiate the new contracts. 5) On February 15, he prepared and transmitted proposed rules and regulations to the city's Fair Housing Review Board. These are preliminary but will be a guide to start the board procedurally. 6) On February 16, he learned that a lawsuit (public records action) had been filed against the city by the Mayor requesting that certain records from the Springvale investigation be provided to him. On February 17, he learned that he had been named a defendant in the action. The action seeks to make public the police investigatory file regarding the Springvale investigation. He has already provided a formal legal opinion to the Safety Director, to the Mayor and all members of Council, and the directors that the Mayor and the Safety Director, as executives in the Safety Department, can obtain those records in their official capacity if they need to do so in order to review performance of duties by members of the Police Department. This lawsuit has been filed as a petition for writ of mandamus. It has been filed in the Court of Appeals. It seeks access to the records and in addition that the defendants pay the attorney fees incurred in the bringing of the action. That is standard in mandamus actions involving public records. He will discuss legal issues and make recommendations to City Council regarding defending of the city in executive session. 7) On February 16, he attended the Cuyahoga County Law Directors Association annual workshop seminar. The topics were urban renewal in today's environment; Ohio legislation update, recent case law update; labor relations and collective bargaining in times of fiscal crisis, update on administrative appeals under ORC Chapter 2506. Among other things discussed, was a 2003 decision of the Ohio Supreme Court which cautions cities in adopting legislation containing emergency measures to not simply use a 2