03/17/2015 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 03-17-2015 • The Springvale Fish Fry events are doing very well this year. John Knox Church earned $1793 in tips and bake sale money, and the MS Society earned $1450. Director of Law Gareau: • Regarding Brian Bielozer, et. al. vs. the City of North Olmsted, et. al. in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, the city filed a motion for summary judgment. They have now filed their filed their brief in opposition. The city has two weeks to prepare and file a reply brief, and then the court will be making a ruling on that. The case is proceeding as scheduled, and they hope the court will have a ruling by May 1, 2015. Director of Finance Copfer: • No report. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION Dennis Lambert, 25057 Carey Lane said he would like to correct something he said in the Council meeting minutes of March 3, 2015. He asked Clerk Gallo to take a look at it and she did. She confirmed that Lambert used the word Review. His comments from the March 3, 2015 Council meeting minutes are as follows: Back in November 1959, one or two of Gareau's relatives sat on that Charter Review Commission along with Christman and some other people in the community. Lambert said that was not a Charter Review Commission, it was a Charter Commission which is elected and not appointed. They put the Charter together. Apparently he said the word Review, but he didn't mean to so he would like to correct that in the minutes. Lambert said that Council should look at the issue of city elected officials passing their own pay raises. Council and the Mayor have the power to raise their own salaries. The Finance Director and Law Director cannot raise theirs but Council can raise theirs as well. He said he is going to propose a Charter amendment that caps the amount of salary that elected officials can go up to. An example would be capping the Mayor's salary at $90,000 and capping the Council salary at $12,000 both by Charter. You would not be able to increase the salaries above the cap without the vote of the people. Exceptions would be the Finance Director and Law Director. He suggests a figure like four-fifths of the Mayor's salary for the Finance Director to bring her a little over $80,000 if the Mayor's salary were $90,000. He suggested a cap of two-thirds for the part-time Law Director position that would bring a salary of a little over $60,000. He's raising this issue because it's fundamental to him that the people control their own city, not the politicians. The politicians run it, but the city belongs to the people. The Charter change made in 2003 stripped the power away from the people to make these decisions and put it back on Council. The Charter Review Commission is not a Commission. It's an advisory board. Gareau asked Lambert if he publicly advocated for term limits. Lambert said no, never. He said he is opposed to term limits because he thinks it takes good people out of good positions. The people can term limit their own. He's talking about salary caps. Tim Smith, 6053 Sherwood Drive thanked Council for appointing him to the Charter Review Commission this year. The Commission is seeking the input of Council as well as the Mayor, his Administration and the citizens of North Olmsted. The next meeting is 2