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Chuck Massarolo From: Michael Gareau, Jr <MGareaujr@gareaulaw.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2020 3:43 PM To: Chuck Massarolo Subject: FW: Questions to Council Good afternoon Colleagues. I hope that this email finds you all safe and well. In anticipation of tonight's City Council meeting, I wanted to update you on the Department of Law and address a couple of your questions. Initially, my administrative assistant Annie Kilbane was furloughed to 20 hours per week, several weeks back, along with other support staff across the City. She is currently working remotely, but she also comes to the office daily, after typical business hours, to process mail, emails and facsimiles. The Department of Law receives communication on a daily basis due to Criminal Rule 16 Requests for Discovery / Bills of Particular, etc. Defendants have a right to receive information on their charges in a timely fashion. Discovery requests include things like videos of shoplifting suspects, drunk driving dash cams, routine reports / etc. We still need to process those requests and we are doing so. Additionally, since our law clerk is no longer with the City, we are working with one less set of hands. His income was not being paid out of City funds. We anticipate replacing him with another clerk in May with compensation also being covered by a grant. Regarding court, Rocky River Municipal Court, on March 20, 2020, continued all initial appearances (arraignments) in criminal and traffic cases for thirty (30) days until April 20, 2020. 1 do not have an updated order on whether that has been extended. The Court is working to resume North Olmsted criminal case pre -trials on April 30" for Judge Brian Hagan, potentially via phone, and lawyers only. On May 26, 2020, Judge Donna Congeni Fitzsimmons' docket will potentially resume, in person, at the Court. These dates and procedures are obviously subject to change. The law Department continues to perform prosecutor rulings on misdemeanor and felony cases, as called for, all the while working with the NOPD and the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's office, as needed. The Mayor's Court has tentatively added two (2) docket dates in June, so it is anticipated that there will be four (4) Thursdays and two (2) Tuesdays to make up on backlog. A Department of Law representative will be present. On the Civil side of the office, Bryan O'Malley and I continue in a support role for the various Administrative Departments and the Boards and Commissions. We continue to receive, review and approve contracts for various projects or purchases and field an array of questions on administrative legal matters, as has always been the case. Board and Commission meetings are starting back up, in a virtual fashion. I will continue to assist Building and Zoning Board of Appeals (Monday, May 4, 2020) and Charter Review (May 7, 2020). Bryan O'Malley will continue to handle Planning and Design Commission (April 22, 2020) and Civil Service Commission (TBD). Concerning litigation, I initiated litigation against La Quinta. The hotel charged guests our local tax (the one we use to fund emergency service equipment), collected it and then spent it on things (all pre-COVID-19) that it was never intended for, instead of paying the City. I realize that times are tough, but they misappropriated the tax money (approx. $11,000.00) and I want it back on behalf of the City.