04/03/2007 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Minutes of 4/3/2007 3) Finance Dept. staff attended the drug free workplace training that was mandatory and a required step in the process to meet the BWC Level 1 Program that will provide savings on premium dollars for our city. In answer to a question from Councilman Miller, Finance Director Copfer said there is no ending timeframe for the renewal of the Great Lakes Billing contract, but she and the Law Director are talking about resolving that issue. Regarding the registration of rental properties, she agreed to look into Councilman Gareau's request to attempt to identify tenants for tax collection purposes. President Kennedy announced that a public hearing for Ordinance 2007-30 would be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 15. Councilman Gareau, chairperson of the Building, Zoning & Development Committee: 1} The BZD committee met on Tuesday, March 27, 2007. Present were committee members Gareau, Orlowski and Miller; Council members Barker, Jones, Tallon, Council President Kennedy; Mayor O'Grady, Director of Planning Wenger, Director of Safety Terbrack and Human Resources Director Farver. Laser Wash was removed from the agenda, and the following two items were discussed: Wild Mango, 362 Great Northern Mall which seeks a modified approved plan as follows: • Different base materials -from tones of warm beige travertine base and coral marble arch to gray/pink marble base and black marble arch • Different height of base -reduced from 5'4" to 4' of marble • Different lighting -from gooseneck lamp to up and down floodlights • Different door -from solid wood to glass and aluminum • Different door and window framing -from wood to bronze • Different column material -from EIFS to rough marble • Removal of bird wire • Removal of all landscaping Every member of the committee and every member of Council present expressed the opinion that Mr. Jai Wei, while certainly within his rights to express dissatisfaction with the process, caused unnecessary negative attention to the City of North Olmsted. Specifically, he unilaterally changed the approved plans in every one of the ways presented. Approval was not obtained prior to changes. He just made them. When his "minor" change request was denied, Channel 3 was contacted and patrons of his establishment were advised that the City was responsible for this situation or that he was being treated unfairly. The end result was unfortunate for the community. He can speak from experience knowing that multiple phone calls, e-mails, and letters came into our Planning Department, which put our Planning Director in a very unfortunate and undeserved situation. There were profanity-laced e-mails, people threatening her job- all over what was reported on Channel 3, which was as Mr. Jai Wei presented it and not as what he believes it really was. It should be made clear that the changes Mr. Jai Wei did unilaterally in the field without approval were not the result of our City Planner, the 4