01/02/2008 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 1/2/2008 3) Three new police officers graduated from the basic Peace Officer Training Program at the State Highway Patrol Academy on December 28: Officers Matthew Beck, Anne Jindra and Eric Tuisku. They are most welcome additions to our force. 4) The fire fighters Local 1267 has ratified the collective bargaining agreement with a vote of 33-6 at their meeting on December 21. The final version of this contract is being prepared for signatures. Thanks to the negotiating teams on both sides of the equation. 5) A meeting to discuss mutual aid among We Share communities is scheduled for Monday, January 7, in Rocky River. At issue is how differing cities respond, and the cost equity between cities. 6) The Safety Dept. continues to work with the North Olmsted City School District on safety plans for the schools and to formalize other contracts such as fuel use. 7) The section of Stearns Road from Lorain to I-480 will have traffic shifted to the new east side lanes once striping is complete. The County Engineer's office and the contractor both believe that travel will be safer on that side of the road during the winter months. 8) Leaf pick-up has ended. Leaves or yard waste should now be bagged for pick up with the regular trash. 9) In an effort to improve the winter road conditions while cutting costs, the Service Dept. is experimenting with various brine application equipment. Costs for manpower, fuel, and wear and tear on equipment during the winter months in significant. This is another instance of doing more with less, and we will continue our search for better ways to protect the safety of our citizens, better our streets and our environment all while reducing our budget. 10) Thanks to Finance chairperson Mr. Gareau and chairperson Mr. Kearney for taking into committee legislation that the administration has repeatedly requested action on. Law Director Dubelko: 1) Highlights of the 2007 Law Department report are as follows: • Under business of the Law Dept., appropriations for 2007 for the Law Dept. were up approximately 9% from the previous year, primarily attributable to increases in wages and benefits. The department is perhaps 90% wages of the total appropriated dollars and health care goes up every year. Two full-time employees have hit the 5 year mark in which they qualify for longevity pay. • Civil administrative cases, five cases were resolved in 2007 and seven remain pending. There are only two significant cases in the seven that remain pending and each relate to motions to vacate arbitrational awards between the city and fire fighters. • Traffic and criminal case numbers continue to go down since policy modifications were made to the city's STOP program. The number of traffic prosecutions in Rocky River Court were half of what they were in 2005. • Real property maintenance prosecution numbers were also down for 2007, at least in part attributable to staffing shortages in the Building Dept. in 2007 which should be resolved in 2008. Although the number of prosecutions were down, the fines were actually up a little bit, which is attributable to the good work done by Assistant Law Director Carole Heyward and good advocacy with the court to get stiffer fines for the some of the more difficult property maintenance defendants. 2