09/06/2005 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Council Minutes of 9/6/2005 the direction of the way we spend our money and what we do about this city. Number one has got to be infrastructure. Mayor O'Grady said he would welcome Mr. Ryan's support on improving the infrastructure in the city. He was out in the city visiting residents the night of the flood, and the damage was heartbreaking. But at the same time, there's a fiscal reality here. There is no city in our region that can build an infrastructure of the magnitude to prevent flooding in the instance of that type of storm. It may not be what people want to hear, but it's the simple truth. Think about going back and tearing up all of our streets and not just doubling, but tripling the volume of the pipes that we put underground. Think of the cost involved with that. We wouldn't have to double taxes, we'd have to triple taxes. It's something that nobody has because nobody can afford to build to that capacity. So when we have an event of that magnitude, there is going to be flooding. On the other hand, what can we go after and what he has directed his administration to go after realistically, with a reasonable chance of improving it, is the infiltration and inflow into the sanitary system. That's where we're focusing our efforts and that's where we'll continue to focus our efforts. He welcomes support from Council to put funding into infrastructure improvements. He assures Council that our Service Director will very gladly take those funds and make the best possible utilization of them. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION 1) Dennis Lambert, 25057 Cazey Lane, has had a concern for very long time and Mr. Ryan has articulated very well about the way the community has been operating. For a very long, this community has always thought within a box. Nobody talks about enhancing the tax base from going outside. Nobody talks about new ways of planning this community so it can be a great place to live. This city is on the best spot of the map in Cleveland, Ohio. We can have more money than we know what to do with and take caze of the people's needs if we would begin to move forward and think outside of the box. The city has not been working to enhance the tax base. We can do much better with what we have and do more for this community. 2) Thomas Herbster, 4965 Porter Road, has worked for the City of North Olmsted at the WWTP for almost 21 years. Over those 21 yeazs, there's always been problems with our sewers. He has facts and figures documented in a manual which the city puts together on an annual basis. The last 17 years the city has pumped 69 million gallons of raw sewage onto our streets. We have pumped for 1,142 hours, the equivalent of 47 days, 24 hours a day. The problem has not gotten any better. We need to take a look at the infrastructure and work with that. A lot of basements haven't flooded because we have been pumping on the street. The manual hasn't been updated this year since March. In January, we pumped 2.25 million gallons onto our streets. In '04, we pumped 1.3 million. In '03, .7 million. In '02, 1.6 million. This report can be found in various city offices, including the Mayor and Service Director's office. North Olmsted has not addressed flooding problems since we did retention basins 8 years ago at Claque Pazk. He admits it is better to pump out in the street than it is to fill up people's basements. But we cannot continue to ignore disaster. We must address this problem in a meaningful way and give it our full attention. This manual documents every rain event that has taken place in this city for 17 years. If you any Councilman or a resident needs help to understand the information, he will be glad to take the time to explain the information in the book. North Olmsted needs to apply for federal grant 16