DRAFT

CITY OF ROCKY RIVER

FEBRUARY 2, 2004

The Committee-of-the-Whole was called to order by Mr. Hurtuk, President Pro Tem of Council, at 8:00 p.m.

Council Members Present: Mr. Gollinger, Mr. Frost, Mr. Hurtuk, Mrs. Bartolozzi,

Mr. Hagan,

Absent: Mr. Potterfield, Mrs. Bobst

Administration: Mayor Knoble, Mr. Linden

Assistant Law Director: Mr. Hotz

Press: Mr. White

The meeting was opened with the Pledge of Allegiance.

MAYOR'S REPORT:

Mayor Knoble reported that he and Mr. Koran have been invited to attend a 2:00 p.m. meeting of the Cuyahoga Commissioners tomorrow. He is hopeful that this means that the City's application for a block grant for streetscaping has been approved. He will keep Council members informed.

This Friday will see the third and final Master Plan Stakeholder meeting, scheduled for 9:00 a.m. at the Umerley Civic Center. Attendance has been good, and the Mayor urged any Council member who has not yet attended to come to the last one.

Following adequate notification time to the Fairview Park Mayor and Superintendent of Schools, gates at the east end of Westover will be installed next Monday.

A grievance against the City was filed by members of the Fire Department for returning one of their workers to limited duty. At the last minute before arbitration, the grievance was withdrawn.

At the meeting of the Mayors and Managers Association last Thursday, two county commissioners were publicizing two issues which will appear on the primary ballot. The first, additional revenue for the county library system, will not be on Rocky River's ballot because our library is independent, and real estate tax dollars do not go to the county to support that system. The other issue will be for revenues for the arts and economic development.

The first gas bills under aggregation are being received. Residents who did not sign with another provider or opt out of aggregation received their discounts. Because bills from Dominion are high, some residents may have saved $30-$35; more common would be savings of $10-$15.

Last Wednesday saw meetings of the Westshore Council of Governments, SAFE, WWTP Board, and the Tri-City Park Board-all held here at City Hall.

Representatives from the Central Collection Agency will be at the Don Umerley Civic Center to help residents file their City income taxes. Dates are April 1 and April 24 from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. and April 17 and April 29 from 9 a.m. to noon.

Mayor Knoble then recalled his warnings to residents to keep their cars garaged and locked. Last Saturday night, a car (Toyota 4runner) was stolen, and another entered. The second car was definitely unlocked. This happened in Ward 1, the site of the previous incidents. The Mayor once more repeated his warnings to residents, urging them to keep their cars in their garage, or at least emptied of valuables and locked.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS: NONE

MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS: NONE

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Safety Committee: Mr. Frost reported that the Working Group on Animal Control Laws anticipates two additional meetings this month. He will keep Council members updated. The next meeting of the Safety Committee with the group will be March 8 at 7:00 p.m.

Environmental Committee: Mr. Gollinger attended, during the past week, a meeting of the Rocky River Watershed Council, held at the Rocky River Nature Center. This meeting was largely organizational, with Steve Hambley, a Medina County Commissioner, being named to head the organization. Twelve trustees were chosen to serve for the coming year, one a resident of Ward 3, George Remias. Mr. Remias also expressed interest in serving on the Storm Water Management Committee. A presentation concerning the watershed, spearheaded by NOACA, was made by Harry Stark. The Environmental Committee will shortly review the resumes of residents interested in serving on the Storm Water Management Committee and make a recommendation to Council.

The SAFE meeting featured a public review of the project currently in place which allows residents' complaints targeted to specific aircraft to be made to airport officials. It appears that in the west region, there is insufficient support to underwrite the costs of the program to make it permanent. Further meetings will be scheduled with the Department of Port Control, with representatives from the west shore and other cities invited by the airport.

Planning, Zoning and Economic Development Committee: Mr. Hurtuk relayed Mr. Potterfield's reminder that this committee will meet next Monday at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers to discuss the potential sale of land close to the Service Garage.

Finance Committee: A schedule of meetings has been set to discuss the 2004 budget. Budget books should be received by Council members by February 13. The first meeting will be Wednesday, February 18, 10:00 a.m. to noon. This is being scheduled at this time because the committee feels it would be helpful to hear from directors and commissioners about the expenditures of their departments. Chiefs of fire and police as well as Mr. Gareau from the Court will also be present. The next meeting will be February 23 at 6:30 p.m. and a third, if necessary, on March 1, also at 6:30 p.m. The Public Hearing will be on March 1. Mr. Hurtuk plans to read the ordinance on February 9, February 23 and March 8 with a vote on that evening.

NEW BUSINESS:

Ordinance No. 18-04: This ordinance authorizes a contract with Community Challenge. As this contract has been discussed at a previous committee meeting, Mr. Hurtuk suggested that he may move for a rule suspension. The Mayor suggested the possibility that because this is a significant amount of money and an increase, Council members may wish to have an overall view of the proposed budget and the City's financial picture before approving this expenditure.

Ordinance No. 19-04: This ordinance would amend Section 1143.09(d) of the Code about play structures. Mr. Gollinger noted that this would limit the square footage of the platform area.

Resolution No. 20-04: As discussed at the last legislative meeting, this ordinance will authorize Mr. Matty to respond to the FRA Notice of Interim Final Rule. The Mayor pointed out that the objective is to establish a quiet zone. There may be a narrow window for this response.

Finally, the Mayor reported that he will bring an ordinance next week to further the bidding process on the proposed aquatic center. In the original legislation to authorize Brandstetter Carroll Zofcin to proceed with professional design services, the bid process was not included, upon the advice of the Law Director. When we went to bid on the project, we incurred an additional expense of $5600. This covered pre-bid conferences by the architect with bidders, attendance at the bid opening, and evaluation of the bidders. Now that the project may go forward, the City will once more go to bid and incur the same expense for a second time. Director Patterson has indicated that more bidders have shown interest in the contract. This expense, more than $11,000, is necessary if the City plans to proceed with bidding on this project.

As there was no further business by Council members, the meeting was adjourned at 8:22 p.m.

_____________________________ _____________________________

Brian A. Hurtuk Misao Kurokawa

President Pro Tem of Council Clerk of Council

Please note: This is a draft copy of the minutes of the Committee-of-the-Whole of February 2, 2004. These minutes may be revised or amended at the next Legislative Meeting.