02/17/2009 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 2/1'1/2009 administration. North Olmsted teachers will continue with the anti-drug and alcohol awareness lessons that are already incorporated into the curriculum. 10) The Lewis Road bridge project continues as all steel is now in place and forms for the concrete bridge deck are nearly complete. We expect this project to be completed by early summer, and it is well ahead of schedule. 11) The County is moving forward with the second phase of the Stearns Road project- the Stearns/Cook project-with new sewers and pavement, and are also progressing with the MacKenzie sewer projects. Traffic between Dorchester and I-480 will remain two- way through the spring as a convenience to our residents. 12) Congratulations and thanks to Finance Director Copfer and all in the administration who have worked diligently to bring forward a balanced budget to City Council. With the passage today of Ordinance 2009-5, we have made history. Never before has a budget been brought to Council in December. The timing of this budget was not an accident or even a reaction to the unfortunate economic crisis. Rather, the timing of this budget is the result of a multi-year effort by this administration to continue to improve the budget process and to accelerate the process. In coming years, our ultimate goal will be to continue this work as we move to introduce and pass the budget during the preceding year for the following year's budget. Law Director Dubelko: 1) Assistant Law Director Carole Heyward is now serving solely as fair housing administrator, and she is in the process of working with one of the city's law clerks to update the fair housing page on the city's website. 2) On February 10, Assistant Law Director Bryan O'Malley argued the fire fighters arbitration award appeal in the Eighth District Court of Appeals. We consider this to be a very important case for the city involving a very important issue as to the extent of an arbitrator's authority in issuing awards in labor grievances. 3) To comment briefly on the resignation of Councilman Dan Ryan from City Council, he feels somewhat like the last of the pterodactyls. When he started with the city in 1981, the Law Dept. was composed of Mike Gareau, Sr., himself, Don Albenze as Prosecutor, and Dan Ryan was the Assistant Prosecutor. Time flies. 4) At the request of President Kennedy, he issued Legal Opinion 2009-1 regarding the propriety of audio taping at public meetings. Finance Director Copfer: 1) The auditors were here recently doing field work. RITA was here last week for the subpoena program. They had a great response, which in turn helps us because they are collecting our income tax that otherwise we may not have received. 2) Budget hearings went very smoothly and good presentations were made by the administration and good discussion was had by all in attendance. The ordinance before Council this evening is the culmination of those hearings, and she believes Council has received the answers to all budget-related questions from various people throughout the last two weeks. This budget is tighter than she has seen in prior years. The General Fund budget is approximately $1.7 million less than 2008 actual expenditures, which equates to 7.87% less as appropriated for 2009 than what was spent in 2008. Some of this decline is expenditures for 2009 that were picked up by other funds, such as Hotel/Motel and STOP and the Street Maintenance Fund. We are going to have to monitor this budget closely, 3