12/02/2008 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 12/2/2008 Mayor O'Grady felt, although it may have been unintentional, some of the positions of the administration were misstated in the Finance Committee report. Specifically, he would state only the Mayor and the Finance Director are able to speak on finance issues on behalf of the administration. At no time did he or the Finance Director say that. Council's pay should be cut. That was not their position. It was also stated that Council felt a 5% across-the-board cut was arbitrary. The administration does because it is, and the original 10% cut was arbitrary. They would never use unsubstantiated information to make a decision. There must be good government reasons-a basis in fact on which to make your comparison, and then use that good government reason to make these changes. When Council requested pay data, it was clear there was no position in the city of North Olmsted of the elected positions being considered that was actually overpaid with the exception of one. The Council positions, all Council members Ward and At- Large and the President of Council, are approximately 25% over the average. It was the administration's recommendation that Council follow good government, that where there is an excess, it is reduced and where there isn't, it is not reduced. The positions that are being discussed are the positions for the people running for office next year for the term to begin in 2010. So it doesn't have a direct relevance to the people here. But it is important as we do things that we consider good government and structure, factual basis behind the actions we take. That has been the objection that the administration did raise. Councilman Gareau commented that he did not believe he stated the administration represented the position that Council should take a pay decrease, but Mayor O'Grady said he did say that. Councilman Gareau said that his comments should reflect that some in the audience suggested that the Council and Mayor should take a pay cut. Additionally, another clarification should be made. If he suggested that Council said that 5% is arbitrary, then he would have misspoken. Clearly, the administration felt that the 5% was arbitrary. Council would not have felt it was arbitrary because they voted around the table to proceed with that. Councilman Barker, chairperson of the Building, Zoning & Development Committee: 1) The BZD Committee met on December 2, at 7:15 p.m. Present were committee members Barker, Gareau and Jones; President Kennedy and Councilmen Orlowski and Mahoney; the Mayor, Service Director and Planning Director. Discussed was CMS06-40, Barton Park Senior Living, P. P. 233-07-009, on Barton Road. The proposal consists of development plans for a senior living facility, and the proposal consists of a new 60 unit independent living senior resident facility. At the time of application in December of 2006, the property was triple zoned. The front end was Single Residence, the majority of the parcel was Multiple Residence, and a small portion of the rear was Light Industrial. In February of 2007, the property was rezoned to residential office. Rezoning was initiated because it was determined that the existing Multiple Residence and Limited Industrial zoning was inappropriate for that area. The uses were too intense or dense considering the uses would access the road system of the Single Family Residence district. The applicant appeared before the Planning & Design Commission in November of 2007; and, at the meeting, the Commission tabled the proposal so that the applicant could address the numerous concerns of the Commission by providing additional information and revisions to the development plans. Since that meeting in November of 2007, the applicant has not taken any steps to submit the requested information and plan 9 ~~