02/03/2004 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 2/3/20(14 Councilman Miller noted that Council had received the letter from the committee, but there was no contact person listed. The President of Council did send a memo to Council asking if they wanted him to contact the committee. As to a fitness center, that was again discussed last night at the Recreation Commission. The issues are space, staffing, properly trained professionals, etc. He urged the Recreation Commissioner and Safety Director to look into the issue as the city needs to make a decision. In the meantime, some of the spaces have been taken up by other uses and new programs at the Rec Center. He noted that Fire Station No. 1 does have fitness equipment. Councilwoman Kasler noted that some of issues mentioned-fitness center, cultural arts center, fire station and senior center were all proposals made by the Mayor in 2001 and prior. She suggests that he make a request to the Mayor on the status of those proposals. Those projects would have to be proposed by the administration, presented to Council with funding sources and master plan ideas behind them. She would like to hear the Mayor's comments. Mayor Musial commented that there have been a lot of proposals that have been made and are in existence. But all these require money. We did move forward considerably by having a library constructed. There have been talks about ways to raise money for a new senior citizen center. However, he did not think the city was ready for a tax proposal. With regards to a fitness center, there have been proposals about selling debentures to raise seed money to bring a facility to the Rec Center. We would then utilize the proceeds from the people who participate at the fitness center. This requires some unique and creative-type financing that might be difficult to achieve. As to a new Fire Station No. 2, the city looked at financing that through the EMS funds whereby legislation was passed to secure fees from EMS runs from everybody, including North Olmsted citizens. He still thinks it's a viable solution to build the station. But right now, the money is being used for other purposes. Councilman Dailey commented that a lot of these issues fit in nicely with Planning Director Wenger's master plan steering committee. The time has come for North Olmsted to do what other communities aze doing in that they are forming partnerships to build facilities such as rec centers or senior centers. For our residents to bear the burden on their own is going to be more difficult as time goes on and tax dollars become tighter and tighter. He encourages the administration to seek conversations with neighboring communities to see if there isn't something we can do together rather than alone. Councilman Gareau explained to Mr. Garland that basketball courts will be built this spring at North Olmsted Park. They would have been done last year, but some problems came up. The funding is in place, but issues arose last year with respect to the contract and specifications that were prepared. Mr. Garland noted that the schools have been talking about building a new middle school. Some of these things might be put together. If a levy is put on the ballot for the fire department and EMS, he believes the citizens will pass it and thinks they will pass it for senior housing. 11