01/20/2009 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Council Minutes of 1/20/2009 exactly applicable to many of the projects that North Olmsted submitted in our $75 million request. Over $200 billion is targeted toward education, training, and jobs. This will help to retrain our work force to make them marketable in our new economy. He has emphasized the need to include rehiring of police and fire professionals in the crime portion of this stimulus that represents over $4 billion. Past proposals have restricted crime and safety dollars only toward new hires. He met with Congressman Dennis Kucinich and emphasized the need for support of our Main Street Recovery Plan. The support from him is the same as that of the Obama administration. During this past year, Barack Obama stated, "Cities are not the problem, Cities are the solution." But we in government understand that there is a difference between "talking the talk" and "walking the walk." Even before his inauguration, President Obama was akeady "walking the walk." To emphasize, on the first day of the conference, two senior advisors to the President spoke relating to Intergovernmental Affairs, and Chief of Staff Rehm Emanuel spoke directly for the President. It will take time to turn this economy around, but he is filled with great faith that this President will make that happen. 3). Departments: Communi~ Life Services. The North Olmsted Senior Center has started taking appointments from all citizens age 55 and over for income tax assistance. On Saturday, Jan. 24, there is a Free Skate at the Recreation Center from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in conjunction with National Skating Day. One of the competitors of the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships will be on hand. Human Resources. The HR Director will continue negotiations with Police on Monday, January 26 and with Fire on Wednesday, January 28. Planning. The finishing touches are being made on a new Zoning Code chapter which will regulate wind energy conversion systems. This is part of a citywide effort to look at cost savings through green and sustainable technologies and is directly supported by the Main Street stimulus package being considered by Congress. Safety. A suggestion was made at the last Safety Committee meeting to review the concept of a mayor's court. As mentioned, all options are on the table and will be considered. Review of the 2002 reports provided by the Law and Finance Directors on the matter of a mayor's court are currently being scrutinized. An estimated $1 million in renovations to SAAB of North Olmsted's existing facility have begun. These renovations added to improvements already made at the Mercedes and Porsche dealerships bring the total campus improvements costs of these dealerships to about $9 million dollars. Service. The Lorain-Stearns traff c lights are now installed with left turn arrows for all traffic directions. We will continue to analyze this intersection to ensure that traffic flow is as efficient as possible. The HNTB Water Study was presented to City Council last week and we will continue our evaluation of what options might exist. Eleven engineering firms sent back responses to our Request for Qualifications. The evaluation of those submittals has begun. Councilman Gareau expressed the opinion that the Mayor could have watched the inauguration on television. As expressed at a previous Council meeting, he did not think the city should spend $2,000 for the Mayors and Managers Conference. This is his opinion, and he is entitled to it. Although the Mayor chose to travel to Washington to 2