02/15/2005 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 2/15/2a0S Olmsted as they finally had a chance to give their views about the dismantling of the North Olmsted Municipal Bus Line. He looks forward to working with Council before March 1 and hopefully coming to an outcome that is equitable for all. Law Director Dubelko commented that he does not want City Council to have the impression that, as chief negotiator, he hasn't kept the union up-to-date on the negotiations. The collective bargaining agreement between the city and Local 3517 requires that, in the event that acquisition is contemplated, the union be notified. As soon as acquisition was contemplated, the union was notified. He has attended a number of meetings with union leadership and has had a number of phone calls. He has kept them up-to-date as much as he has kept City Council up-to-date on the status of negotiations President O'Grady thanked Mr. Dubelko and the other members of the negotiating team for their yeoman effort on behalf of our community and the bus line. He knows what they have done, and it is very much appreciated. Mr. Limpert thanked Mr. Whiting and his people who helped put the Town Hall meeting together. He expressed his frustration that RTA seems to want to become CTS all over again. RTA is looking at this as being a cost savings. In theory, perhaps it makes sense. The realities are, all the people in Cuyahoga County are going to greatly suffer because of this. It's very sad. Thank you to all who attended and special thanks to Mr. Whiting and his people. Joseph Bouman, 23950 Gessner Road, said he was confused as to whether NOMBL had received a 90 day extension to March 31. Law Director Dubelko said yes, and explained the timeline for a decision by both governing bodies has been set by RTA at March 1. It was originally set at February 15, but the negotiating team persuaded them to move it to March 1. The extension goes until March 31. If we don't act by March 1, then RTA will plan during the next 30 days to advertise and hire their own drivers so that, when the extension ends on the 31St, they can go forward with their own drivers, with their buses, without our employees. That's the rationale for them originally setting February 15 as the drop-dead decision deadline. They have allowed it to go back to March 1, but no later. The decision by City Council and by the Board of Trustees has been dictated by RTA to be March 1. If we don't decide by that date, they will assume that the city is being recalcitrant in entering into an acquisition agreement and they will consider that we are not interested in acquisition. They have an obligation to continue transit services in the NOMBL service area, and they will go forward and run the line themselves. They say they need at least that 30 day period to set it all up, to do the route picks, etc. to be able to continue operations. If we waited until March 31, there would be no operating agreement. We would have no acquisition and no plan in place. There has to be some time prior to have a smooth transition. Mr. Bowman said that, after the Town Hall meeting, he spent time with Mr. Calabrese and the RTA finance director. Mr. Calabrese told him this was "all about money." Since 7