02/17/2009 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 2/17/2009 2. In 2008, the Building Department issued 286 commercial permits for a combined total of $9.8 million in construction value. On the residential side, North Olmsted issued 917 permits for a combined investment value of $5.3 million. This is a very significant decrease .which is consistent with what you would see with the economy. There's not a lot of building activity taking place on the residential or commercial side. 3. In one year, construction investment declined by 50%. Jan. 2009 is down 50% over 2008. The Safety Director reported that you would expect to see the significant amount of permits being issued such as maintenance, roofs, furnaces, hot water tanks. There is very little new construction taking place. 4. There were layoffs from last year. 5. Attendance bonus for non-bargaining was eliminated; property maintenance was eliminated as a separate initiative and those duties have been disbursed among other Building Dept. staff. Dues, seminars, licenses, travel and school were reduced where possible. YOUTH SERVICES The Division of Youth Services continues to receive funding from Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court. There is a fee charged to those who participate in the program. It's a diversion program for troubled teenagers who, in the old days, would find themselves before the Juvenile Court. This has been found to be a very successful program funded through grant money and through participation fees by those students who are involved. North Olmsted has been fortunate to be the recipient of a number of dollars over the years as there is a waiting list of communities desiring to get money. Our program has been a model for how the program should be run. We've done a good job with that, and it has shown itself through additional receipt of grant money. Seminars, travel, dues, memberships and attendance bonus have been eliminated. The total Safety reduction was 8.22% over 2008. • The Law Department: Zero percent pay increase for all non-bargaining unit employees. The Law Department eliminated one of the two assignments/ responsibilities (property maintenance enforcement) for Assistant Law Director Carole Hayward. The funding mechanism for her second assignment remains in place, and she is still employed with the city in the second capacity. The department budget dropped by 5.44% over 2008. • The Human Resources Department: Administration has 3 employees: Director, Employment Specialist and a Secretar;~ who provides services to the Civil Service Commission as well. Materials and supplies were reduced by 30%; there was an elimination in labor relations, reemployment advertising, travel, education and seminars. Legal fees associated with reduced worker's comp were reduced. The budget dropped 6.18% over 2008. 7