12/02/2008 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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4~~, Council Minutes of 12/2/2008 These positions must be preserved so that the safety of our residents is not jeopardized. He urges City Council to take a long, hard look into this matter and make the right decision by not reducing the safety forces. 3) Jennifer Rudolph, 3329 Walter Road, said she had made these comments in several different forums but wished to put them on the official record. She attended the Finance Committee meeting and did receive copies of the data that was provided by the five Council members who sponsored the pay cut legislation and the data that was provided by the administration. The administration's data averaged certain suburbs to came to their conclusion; and the suggestion was made in the meeting that the Finance Director and Mayoral salaries are underpaid and the Council is 25% overpaid. However, in looking at the data that was used, two of the suburbs used for comparison were Upper Arlington, a suburb of Columbus, and Dublin, Ohio. Neither one of them really affords much of a comparison to North Olmsted. They are a completely different city, a completely different base of jobs-manufacturing versus non-manufacturing-and a completely different economic outlook. She used the same data and took cities of comparable size to North Olmsted: North Royalton, Westlake, Strongsville, East Cleveland, Garfield Hts., Maple Hts., and Shaker Hts. The average salary for the mayor in those areas is $90,000. Our Mayor is currently paid $96,000. The average salary for the finance director is approximately $89,000, and our director makes around $94,000. She does not feel that the data really supports the contention that those positions are underpaid. 4) Dave Huspaska, 491 Sub Station, Brunswick, Ohio, a Sgt. in the North Olmsted Police Dept. He was offered the job as a North Olmsted police officer 18 years ago as a naive 23 year-old. He loved being a police officer and still does. He didn't know anything about health care, retirement, or anything monetary in relation to the city finances. He thought, as long as he worked hard and performed his duties, all the financial concerns would be taken care of by the administration. As the years went by, he became more involved and obtained a little more understanding about city finances, including being part of the negotiating committee. He spoke of some history regarding the department. The Police Dept. has already assisted the city in more ways than just the proverbial protect and serve clause. During negotiations for new contracts, they never request for absurd concessions or language. They always have what's good for the city in mind and what they think is fair and equitable. In the past, they have taken zero percent raises and/or minute raises to assist the city in their financial endeavors. When the economy was very good, they settled for less than the cost of living adjustment set by the government. When the economic pendulum began to change for the worst over the years, the Police Dept. sacrificed for the good of the city by absorbing the loss of three correction officers, taking a zero percent raise, turning over a lot of money from the STOP program to the city's General Fund on several occasions, and giving money back from the police budget at the end of the years. All of this has been done as cost savings moves for the city. The current administration with the Chief has done an excellent job of doing more with less. The Police Chief is very conscientious about the current economic times, and he has adjusted the budget drastically to assist the city. For all of this, the city's response has been to send out letters for the layoff of five officers. This is 12