12/16/2008 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 12/16/2008 7) Kevin Drake, 2783 Walter Road, is a police officer for a private railroad corporation. When he worked for Conrail year ago, all employees all the way up to top took a 12% wage deferral for about three or four years in order to save the railroad. They all pitched in and saved the railroad from going bankrupt. It never ceases to amaze him that, whenever there is talk about cutbacks, it goes from the bottom up instead of from the top down. He doesn't understand that. He does not wish to make this personal, but in a city where we have a Safety Director and the safety forces are being laid off, it doesn't make much sense. Sometimes in cases like this, you have to start from the top and work down. As a resident, he is willing to take the tax deferral. But he would like to see a little bit more done to keep the people that we have here now that are being laid off. He would hope that everybody would be willing to pitch in to do a little bit more to see that come to fruition. 8) Patrick Rice, 31109 Lorain Road, a resident and business owner noted that the city, like many residents, is forced to make do with less money. He and others are in attendance in support of the safety forces, and he feels that the layoff of five fire fighters and five police officers is unacceptable. Through public meetings and on-line forums, several suggestions have been made to reduce expenses and increase revenues. We can suspend leaf pick-up for 2009 and residents can simply bag their leaves next fall. We can suspend curbside recyclable pick-up and residents can take their recyclables to the center themselves. He would suggest that the city implement a small weekly fee for curbside trash collection for residents. Increased speed enforcement on I-480 will increase revenues immediately and make the roadway safer for all drivers. Also, installation of red light and speed cameras in school zones will generate considerable income and free up officers for other important duties. His understanding is that school crossing guards may also be laid off soon. These cameras can improve child safety and generate revenue. If there are not plausible reasons why these cost reduction and revenue generating ideas cannot be implemented, then please enact these changes and maintain our safety forces at the current levels without layoffs. Councilman Gareau explained that the fund used to pay the wages for the people who are affected by the layoffs is the General Fund. To look to find efficiencies and additional money, one must look within the General Fund. We have other funds within the city that must be spent for a particular purpose. Leaf pick-up is paid for out of the Solid Waste Recycling Fund. If you were to cut the leaf pick-up, which is the same fund that pays for trash pick-up, you cannot take that money and transfer it over to the General Fund in order to find additional money. Finance Director Copfer explained, by a vote of the people in 1991, 15 % of our income tax goes to the Solid Waste & Recycling Fund. Therefore, those monies can only be used for solid waste and recycling purposes. The leaf pick-up is a recycling effort. Therefore, if you eliminate that, that extra money can't go to the General Fund because it's limited by the voted purpose of solid waste -and recycling. Someone suggested adding a trash fee. That is the trash fee-15% of the income tax goes to pay for trash pick-up already. Additionally, you could move expenses into those other funds, but they would still have to meet the purpose of that fund, which is solid waste and recycling. So, if we change 10