11/05/2008 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes 11/5/2008 know. He thanks Council for their questions in the past, but he asks them to work quickly on those three issues and get them forward and passed so that the administration can do the research to find out if it's the right way to go. Law Director Dubelko: 1) During the Records Commission meeting held on October 22, one of the items that was discussed was the Landmarks Commission's request for guidance on retaining historical records and also the potential for having historical records stored with the Olmsted Historical Society. Councilman Orlowski is particularly interested in that subject. A good discussion was had at that meeting, and there will be some advice very shortly coming from the Law Dept. trying to answer the specific questions and give some guidance to Landmarks Commission, the Mayor's office, and City Council because all players have a role in this issue. 2) Prosecutor's report for October: Total of 296 cases; 131 were General Offenses cases; 165 were Traffic cases; one trial and one conviction. 3) Assistant Law Director Carole Heyward's report on residential real property maintenance and fair housing matters: through October, we have had 8 convictions in Rocky River Court resulting in fines that total $1,400. Plus one case in which restitution was ordered for a city resident from a contractor in the amount of $2,318. She indicated that there are presently four cases pending in Rocky River Court. Regarding real property maintenance, a total of 24 referrals were received in the Law Dept. this year; 8 of 16 complaints remain open in one stage or another. Regarding fair housing, there was a very successful fair housing CEU seminar put on by our Fair Housing Board in conjunction with the Housing Research and Advocacy Group. It was far realtors specifically, and 45 people attended. Ms. Heyward also reports that we did receive a new fair housing complaint on October 31. The complaint is discrimination based on race and disability. 4) No litigation report this month from Asst. Law Director O'Malley. 5) Regarding new legislation, Ordinances 2008-142 through 2008-146, ordinances sponsored by five members of Council to establish the salaries for elected city officials for the next term 2010 through 2013, they are a great initiative on City Council's part. The Charter clearly gives the authority to City Council to set the compensation for every official employee in the city. The fact that there are five members sponsoring it, he hopes is representative of Council's desire to be involved in the process that the Charter assigns to them. He hopes that Council will continue to hold open mind with respect to setting a fair and appropriate compensation for all of the elected oflcials for the next term. He has spoken to Councilman Barker who has called the legislation a starting point. He hopes that City Council will listen to input from the administration as well as any other data that City Council gets independently to determine what is fair and appropriate compensation based on comparables and also what the city can afford to pay. The economic times are difficult, and those are the things that City Council should be very in tune with when they make decisions on this important legislation. Councilman Ryan requested the Law Director provide a written presentation as to the pros and cons of cutting the Law Director's salary. Law Director said he planned to attend the Finance Committee meeting; and, if the Finance chairperson would like a written report, he would be happy to comply and provide information in any form that 4