10/21/2008 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes 10-21-2008 A'4R 2) Wanted to let Council know, and to give some applause to their colleague Nicole Dailey Jones, because HUD has certified our Fair Housing Assistance Program again. We are now transitioning from capacity building into complaint processing. We completed our three yeaz probationary period, and we received good marks in all categories of evaluation in our program. That really is in large part due to the Mayor and people like Councilman Gazeau who has championed it over the years. Council Member Dailey Jones has taken over as chairwoman of the Fair Housing Board and is doing an excellent job along with a lot of assistance from Asst. Law Director Carole Heyward. We are very fortunate to have a true expert in fair housing matters. We have a really good program, and we should be very proud of what we are doing in our community to ensure fair housing to people of all colors and disabilities. 3) Regarding fair housing, tomorrow is the seminar for real estate professionals at the North Olmsted Library from 9:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. 4) In our Law Dept., Prosecutor Gordillo has been chosen to be a panel speaker on a hate crimes conference that is being sponsored by the Dept. of Justice and the U. S. Attorney's office for the northern district of Ohio. It's an honor for him to be selected to be one of the panelists on the subject of challenges and local prosecutions of racially motivated crimes. We have good people working in the city Law Dept. making North Olmsted a better community. Finance Director Copfer: 1) She received the arbitrage report from Squires that states we are in good shape with negative arbitrage, that we do not owe rebate arbitrage to date and predicts that we will not owe. She has made it a standard part of the bond retirement fund to get updated reports to insure compliance with the IRS on an ongoing basis, which is required. 2) Some of her staff went with the Human Resources Department to the city of Solon to discuss and witness a self insurance workers compensation fund fully functional, and they took away some good ideas. The intent is to get this up and running by January 1. After the initial year of paying the prior year's premiums along with set up, it is projected to save approximately $300,000 annually. Councilman Gazeau, chairperson of the Finance Committee: 1) The Finance Committee met on October 14, 2008 at 7 p.m. Present were committee chairman Gazeau and committee members Kearney and Barker; Council members Jones, Orlowski, Mahoney, and Council President Kennedy; Mayor O'Grady, Human Resources Director Farver, and Planning Director Wenger. There were eight items on the agenda. At 7:05 p.m., the committee first retired to executive session for the purpose of discussing collective bargaining with counsel Gary Johnson. The committee meeting resumed at approximately 7:30 p.m. Agenda items were as follows: • A joint discussion of Resolutions 2008-115, 2008-116 and 2008-129. Resolution 2008-115 is a resolution approving of and authorizing the Mayor to enter into a collective bargaining agreement with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Ohio Council 8, Loca12681, for the city's Service Unit employees for the period July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2009, and declaring an emergency. Resolution 2008-116 is a resolution approving of and 3