08/18/2009 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 8/18/2009 15) Weather permitting, Dover Center Road is scheduled for paving next Monday and Tuesday. This should allow the majority of the work to be done prior to the first day of school, which is next Wednesday. The only work remaining after that will be the entrances, connectors from the side streets onto Dover Center. 16) Ordinance 2009-91 is being held in committee by Council for the stated reason that the legislation suggests the speed limit on Crocker/Stearns. That is a very reasonable position. For clarification, however, it wasn't the intent of the administration to suggest a speed, but rather to conduct the study to have an expert tell us what the speed should be. The legislation should have reflected that. The traffic study will go forward, and the results will be brought back to City Council. Councilman Barker inquired if the traffic study would be a joint effort between North Olmsted and Westlake. Mayor O'Grady said it would be a joint effort, and it only concerns the section of road between Lorain Road and Center Ridge Road. Law Director Dubelko: 1) No new developments in pending civil litigation involving the city. 2) At the first meeting in September, he will update Council on property maintenance prosecutions as well as General Offenses and Traffic Code prosecutions. 3) Carole Heyward reports that we have a new fair housing complaint. He does not have any details regarding that at this time. In the absence of Finance Director Copfer, the Clerk of Council read her report: "I am proud to report that, after a Fitch Ratings surveillance review, Fitch affirmed the city's A+ rating on the city's approximately $50 million of outstanding unlimited tax general obligation bonds and the limited tax general obligation bonds with a rating outlook of stable. Please read the entire press release given to you in your mail boxes, and note that Fitch cites our "city's strong financial management supported by a willingness to cut costs and modify the budget..." While they acknowledge our fiscal strains, during our many discussions they recognized the Administration and Council's efforts to maintain fiscal balance proactively addressing these issues rather than waiting until they are in the red to deal with it like many cities they have talked with recently. Thank you for your continued fiscally responsible leadership. You should feel proud that while difficult decisions have been made for 2009 and still need to be made for 2010, it is recognized that we acted as good fiscal stewards. Respectfully submitted, Carrie B. Copfer" As a follow up, Mayor O'Grady commented that, when the city was notified by Fitch that we had the review, it was an understanding on the part of Fitch that our bond rating was going to drop. Virtually everybody's has. When we were able to demonstrate to them the changes that we've made in our city government over these past four and a half years, they listened to us. When they saw the changes we've made even with the last two budgets, they listened to us. The fact that we have been very aggressive, have made these needed changes and were far more efficient, they paid attention and, quite amazingly in this environment, our bond rating held steady. This is quite an achievement. Congratulations to all here. 3