06/02/2009 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 6/2/2009 Mayor O'Grady answered the administration is doing something right now and that is the same thing that has been done for four years. The administration is continuing to look for greater efficiencies in our city operations. Over the past four years, operations of the city government have been modernized and streamlined. In any service industry-schools, city government-the largest cost is people. The more efficient use of personnel is what leads to reduced costs. There has been over a 20% reduction in full-time personnel over these four years primarily through attrition. It wasn't until the economic collapse at the end of last year that actually saw the city for the first time go to layoffs. That's a very difficult thing to do. It's difficult for the administration; it's difficult for the supervisors. It's most assuredly difficult for the people being laid off and their families and their co- workers. We continue to look for greater efficiencies; but we are exceedingly lean in this city. In addition to finding greater efficiencies, we look to increase revenue. Again, after four years of working in this direction, we have done just about everything we can do but it doesn't mean that we stop. It means we continue to work to try to find other sources of revenues. The city seeks out every grant opportunity that is possible. We pursued federal stimulus funding in every possible conceivable direction that we could find. We had some success in both efforts. But ultimately, we have a shortfall that is projected in excess of $2 million. It's going to be a very great challenge to deal with that. In a service industry like this, once the money runs out, once revenue is not covering expenses, the only thing that is left is to make cuts. That is exceedingly difficult. Everything is on the table; we are analyzing everything. We are continuing our efforts in those areas where we saw the greatest concern. At the beginning of the year, we said there are going to be bumps in the road. We're down to zero; we have nothing more to give, nowhere else to turn. Those bumps in the road have led to a projected deficit next year of $2 million. Additionally, we had feared that the Local Government Fund, which accounts for another $1.1 million, could be at risk. For now, good news on that front is that the Ohio House budget held the Local Government Fund harmless. The Governor asked the Ohio General Assembly not to cut the Local Government Fund. The Ohio Senate released their numbers today, and the Senate numbers also did not cut the Local Government Fund. When the House and the Senate have different budgets, they go back to conference committee and anything could happen. But we are very pleased with the progress, and we continue to work with our elected representatives in Columbus to ensure they understand just how dire things are out here and encourage them to protect the fund. Law Director Dubelko: 1) Status changes in pending civil litigation: + City of North Olmsted v. Cleveland Hockey Supply, a case the city filed to recover rent payments that were owed to the city. Over the course of the last several years, the Law Department has collected over $17,000 on that complaint. The department is now prepared to file a satisfaction of judgment with the court. • Case of Ricardo Shaffer v. city of North Olmsted, a case in which a prisoner from the city jail filed a complaint against the city alleging mistreatment. The case was filed in Common Pleas Court and is being defended by our insurance defense counsel who has filed a notice moving the case from state to federal court. The case has been assigned to Judge Leslie Brooks Wells. 2) Fair housing matters: Assistant Law Director Carole Heyward reports that we have no pending complaints before the Fair Housing Review Board. She is working with the 5