04/19/2005 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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• ' Council Minutes of 4/19/2005 other things. But we cannot do that now. When North Olmsted grew so quickly in the mid-80's, the debt was incurred. It is easy to criticize, but that Council was listening to residents who wanted flooding fixed because of health and safety concerns. They fixed the problem, but the debt they amassed is significant and we need to deal with it. When he came on Council, the debt was about $65 million and it is about $67 million now. You have to look at what that debt is made up of--$10 million is from the new library with a dedicated funding source, $4 million for the new fire station which is a dedicated funding source. The struggles of Council and the administration to turn this cycle around have been successful. The debt is being reduced, and we are going in the right direction. You just can't stop the repairs because it will cost far more not to do the repairs than to move forward. We do need to be more creative and see how to stretch the dollar farther, and to be more efficient. Through the leadership of our Service Director, we are working in that direction. Mr. Pangrac suggested a committee of citizens could discuss these issues because he doesn't see movement to get out of the borrow-spend cycle. Councilman Dailey said we have to look at the way we are delivering government to the people, and that would include regionalization. Councilman Limpert said the city is borrowing less per year than before. The curve is changing, so it is an improvement. Charles Dial, 27959 Gardenia, congratulated Mr. Kennedy on his new position. He noticed new faces in the audience and commented how important it is for citizens to participate in government and pay attention to what is going on in their community. Dennis Lambert, 25057 Carey Lane, said the community had done some very wise borrowing when interest rates were very low. That makes very good business sense, and having money in reserve later on as the interest rates go up is even wiser. LEGISLATION Councilman Gareau made a motion to amend the agenda to remove Ordinance 2005-36 from the agenda as Councilman McKay is not present to make a committee report on the legislation. The motion was seconded by Councilman Limpert and passed unanimously. Ordinance No. 2004-200 introduced by Councilman Gareau was given its third reading. An ordinance amending Section 1115.02 and 1139.06 of the city's Zoning Code in order to better define and distinguish different categories of restaurants for Zoning Code purposes, and to exclude small sandwich shops from the 1.5 acre minimum lot size requirement of the General Retail Business District regulations, as amended. Councilman Gareau moved for adoption. The motion was seconded by Councilman Limpert and passed unanimously. Ordinance No. 2004-200 adopted. Ordinance No. 2005-26 introduced by Councilman Dailey was given its third reading. An ordinance creating new Section 139.13 of Chapter 139 of the Administrative Code entitled "Department of Public Safety" for the purpose of creating a new position of "Assistant Course/Facility Maintenance Supervisor" within the organizational chart of the Division of Springvale, and declaring an emergency. Councilman Dailey moved for adoption, and the motion was seconded by Councilman Nashar. Roll call: Dailey, yes; 12