09/05/2006 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 9/5/2006 AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION Dennis Lambert, 25057 Carey Lane, asked for verification that Councilman Gareau's trip to Europe would not cost the city any money, and Mr. Gareau said it would not. Mr. Lambert noted that in June he had requested an accounting of the cost of the Mayor's trip to Las Vegas, and he has not yet received that information. He wondered if the Mayor's trips to Japan and Europe cost the city money. Mayor O'Grady said there was no cost to the city. The Finance Director will provide information on the cost of the Las Vegas trip. On the matter of a City Engineer, Mr. Lambert is of the opinion that a good employee city engineer, rather than a consultant, will save the city money in the long run. Don Pangrac, 23470 Sharon Drive, expressed concern that catch basins and curbs are not included in the east side Lorain Road repair project as they were on the west side. It was explained to him that the city did not receive Issue 2 funds for this portion as it did for the west end of town. He asked that the city explore the possibility of applying for Issue 2 funds in the future, and Council Member Dailey Jones also asked that be looked into. Service Director Limpert said the construction company is working with the city on the grading of Lorain Road as far as getting water to flow to the catch basins. Collette Adams, 28648 Holly Drive, said she appreciated working with all regarding ADA-all more than willing to listen-and she hoped it would be taken care of tonight. As promised, she provided copies of the State Sunshine Law. Janet Dorn, 30990 Bradley Road, had questions about engineering going into a consulting capacity. With the upcoming Crocker/Steams project, she foresees there would be a lot of engineering questions. Will the consultant be available for questions from residents or Council Members and how would that be billed? Mayor O'Grady set there will be a retainer fee that's paid from the city to an individual within Bowen & Associates who serves as the City Engineer. This retainer fee covers the cost of previously identified items, such as attendance at set commission meetings or presence at City Hall at certain times at certain days. For projects that would require outside services, we will have pre- approved rates that are preferential hourly rates. As far as communications now, Council Members can speak to the Assistant City Engineer. In a few weeks, when the new system is in place, calls will be transferred to the City Engineer. Councilman Miller said the Mayor's comments were confusing as he had previously told Council that they had to go directors with questions and could not directly speak to division heads. Mayor O'Grady said for the purpose of efficiency and to not cause disruption within the administration, he had formalized the practice that Council Members go through department heads. If Council Members copy the director when sending a request to a division head, that will comply. Jim Burns, 3978 Dover Center, questioned, since we will have a consulting engineer, if the city's General Fund or the consulting firm will get the money from inspection fees? Finance Director Copfer answered that the engineering firm will direct the city's in-house inspectors to do the inspections, and we will record the revenue and the expenditure to the contract if it's a project we borrowed for just as we have done in the past. If it is 7