02/17/2004 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 2/17/2004 ,,,o,,r generalized phrase which could be applied to virtually any ordinance. This is an issue he has discussed with Council and the administration that the reasons for emergency be specific. At the law directors association meeting, Assistant Law Director Bryan O'Malley was nominated and voted in as corresponding secretary for the association. 8) On February 16, he prepared a memorandum to the Mayor and Council regarding the status of appointments and the Landmarks Commission. He has attempted in this memo to give very definite and concrete instruction to the Mayor and to the members of Council regarding proceeding with appointments to the. commission in compliance with the 2002 Charter amendment regarding that commission. He urged both the Mayor and, Council to act expeditiously upon this advice and recommendation in the memo. We have a number of people on the Landmarks Commission who have been in holdover status for quite some time. 9) On February 17, he provided legal advice to Councilman Gareau regarding the issue of voting upon his father's application to the Charter Review Commission. He researched the issue thoroughly and consulted directly with the Ohio Ethics Commission and has concluded it is not in any sense an ethical problem for Mr. Gareau to discuss, deliberate and/or vote upon the application. In fact, Councilman Gareau is under a duty to cast votes for the four open Council appointments to the Charter Review Commission in the absence of a conflict. Law Director Dubelko's notification of the Mayor's legal action against the city initiated a lengthy discussion among Council members who expressed their dismay with the Mayor's decision to go forward with this action and questioned why he would do so. Councilman. Gareau, noting- that the Mayor had presented the 2004 budget to Council, asked him if he had included a line item in the budget to hire an attorney for the city to defend the lawsuit. Mayor Musial said he had not done so. Law Director Dubelko was asked to explain what a petition for a writ of mandamus was. He explained it is an order from a court directing an official to perform his or her public duty. In this case, the petition is asking that the Director of Public Safety and the Law Director perform their alleged duty to provide copies of the records in question. Mayor Musial said he felt he should not publicly address the issue at this point in time. It is a legal matter. There is a difference of opinion as to whether or not certain records are public records. Council member Kasler said she felt this lawsuit was yet another disgrace to the city and the Mayor is suing the city and ethically and morally suing the residents and taxpayers who will pay to defend any action against the city. As Finance chairperson, she is concerned because the Mayor has not included in his budget the funding to defend this action. She suggested that he do so prior to the first budget meeting which is to be held on Saturday. The budget has to account for anything that the Mayor perceives to be spent this year- the budget comes from the Mayor, not from Council. She asked the Mayor under what authority did he file a suit against the city as the mayor. The Mayor said that issue was inappropriate to be addressed at the Council meeting. Mrs. Kasler asked the Law Director if the Mayor had filed in his capacity as Mayor. The Law Director said the lawsuit alleges that it is being brought both in public capacity and individual capacity. Mrs. Kasler said her question to the Mayor was, he has created an action that is going to cost money and money will have to be appropriated to defend that action, under what authority did he file that lawsuit in his capacity as Mayor? Mayor Musial said he was not 3