CITY OF ROCKY RIVER

CITY OF ROCKY RIVER

MAY 26, 2009

The Regular Meeting of Council was called to order by Mr. Moran, President of Council, at 8:00 p.m. in the David J. Cook Council Chambers.

Council Members Present: Mr. Hunt, Mr. Mylen, Mr. Shepherd, Mr. Furry,

Mrs. Arabian Whitman, Mr. Moran

Absent: Mr. Long

Administration: Mayor Bobst, Mr. Linden, Mr. Thomas

Law Director: Mr. Bemer

The meeting was opened with the Pledge of Allegiance.

MOTION:

Moved by Mr. Moran, seconded by Mr. Furry, that the reading of the minutes of the Legislative Meeting of May 11 be waived, and that the minutes be accepted as submitted.

Vote: Hunt - aye Shepherd - abstain Mylen - aye Furry - aye

Arabian Whitman - aye Moran - aye

5 ayes 0 nays 1 abstention PASSED

Moved by Mr. Moran, seconded by Mr. Furry, that the reading of the minutes of the meeting of the Committee-of-the-Whole of May 18 be waived, and that the minutes be accepted as submitted.

Vote: Hunt - aye Shepherd - aye Mylen - abstain Furry - aye

Arabian Whitman - abstain Moran - aye

4 ayes 0 nays 2 abstentions PASSED

Moved by Mr. Moran, seconded by Mr. Furry, that the reading of the minutes of the meeting of the Contract’s Committee of May 18 that Councilman Hunt has chaired be waived, and that the minutes be accepted as submitted.

Vote: Hunt - aye Shepherd - aye Furry - aye Arabian Whitman - abstain 3 ayes 0 nays 1 abstention PASSED

MAYOR’S REPORT:

Mayor Bobst thanked everyone that participated in the Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony. She especially wanted to thank the Joint Veterans Council who organizes the event and all the scout troops. There were several individuals that were involved in decorating the graves in the Cemetery, no small task about 2,300 in the Cemetery itself. She wanted to thank the Safety Forces, Council, and especially our residents. She said that speaking with Council President Moran he estimated about 2,000 people along the parade route and several filtered in for the Ceremony.

Relay for Life was a huge success. We don’t have dollar figures yet, but everyone had a wonderful time with all of the activities going on all day on Saturday into Sunday morning. We are very pleased with Relay’s success and extend thanks to all the individuals and groups that participated.

The11 River groundbreaking was Friday night, was very well attended, a couple hundred people and three of our Councilmen were in attendance. 11 River also partnered with Relay for Life and provided matching funds to support their efforts.

Mayor Bobst met the Audubon Society at the Marina on Saturday afternoon. Members walked 31 miles starting at the Hinckley Reservation and it took them between 11 and 11½ hours to walk that distance. There was another group that joined them 5 miles out and walked in, obviously a great effort to bring awareness to the Audubon Society, the Metroparks and the Rocky River Watershed. They are great partners of ours, that may not be something that people would immediately recognize. They are wonderful advocates creating awareness, providing education and programs. She was very pleased to meet with them and share her thanks for all that they do to compliment all the work that we do with the Metroparks and the Rocky River Watershed.

Mayor Bobst was happy to announce that we heard today that Rocky River receive a grant from the State Fire Marshall’s Office for Incident Reporting training. Incident Reporting is very important in applying for grants, they want to make sure that we are current and that we fully capture and understand our own local situation.

We applied for 2 grants, much larger than the previous one mentioned, these are both 2009 Assistance to Firefighters Grants through FEMA and Homeland Security. The first is for a generator for the Fire Department that will also assist City Hall, a $100,000 grant. The second is for a ladder truck and that request is for $900,000. Our current ladder truck is from 1993 and has had some maintenance and repair work and is functioning well now, and has provided coverage for our community as well as Mutual Aid. Council may recall that several years ago we did receive about $400,000 for our pumper through the same grant program. We are looking forward to hearing from them at some point in the future.

Mayor Bobst received an update from City of Cleveland Division of Water. She gave Council a

copy of the Service and Repair Report for the first quarter of 2009, there were 148 work orders. Mayor Bobst said that Mrs. Costello’s work with the Water Department has been very important in working on some of the very extreme water bills where meters weren’t read, meters weren’t functioning and she has advocated for our residents and done an excellent job. We continue to ask residents that have any issues with their water bills to contact us so that we can take action on their behalf.

As they have done in the past, the Board of Elections sent us a letter regarding the Board of Elections requirement to purge voter registration records. They do this on a cyclical basis. The records have not been active since June 2005. The residents are notified and if there is no response those records will be purged on or about June 22, 2009. They notify us on a regular basis because it is a requirement that they purge those records.

Councilman Hunt had heard from a resident regarding an increase in fees from Cox Communication. We heard from Christy Bykowski today regarding those fees. There will be a price increase; limited basic rate will go from the current rate of $8.99 to $13.99 and they indicated to us that it has been 15 years since that rate has been increased, and there are $1.00 increases for each of the premium or movie channels. We do not set the fees, but we do take the information and pass it along to Cox Communication to better serve our residents. We also encourage any other video providers that they have access to our community as well.

A letter from Director Thomas will go out on our e-update and it is posted on the website regarding the billing that is about to go out for sewer charges. We have estimates for three quarters, then there is an actual reading taken and this is the adjustment billing. We mention that the significant water bills that are well beyond what one would expect and how we approach those and that we would like to hear from residents. Last, an update regarding our sewer program, the Sewer and Rehabilitation Fund and some of the larger projects.

Mayor Bobst gave the Council members a copy of the Lake Rd. project letter that is going out to residents. The first phase will commence June 1, 2009 and the second phase will commence in 2010. The information will be on the City website because it will impact travel on Lake Rd.

The Mayor discussed income tax collections. The Plain Dealer reported a 6 to 15% loss. Rocky River is currently at 8.97%.

Discussion:

Mr. Moran and Mr. Mylen discussed the City’s income tax cash flow compared to last year and this year’s budgeted amount with Mr. Thomas and Mayor Bobst.

LAW DIRECTOR’S REPORT:

Mr. Bemer said that he has completed the suggested revisions to the Cooperation Agreement concerning the Irish Barber. It has been sent to the members of Council. Mr. Bemer has spoken to Sean Gormley concerning the Cooperation Agreement as recently as this afternoon and Mr. Gormley has no other questions or issues as well. If Council is of such a mindset Mr. Bemer will

prepare a Resolution to submit to Council which would authorize the Mayor to enter into this Agreement as a prelude to Council’s letter of no objection.

Mr. Bemer said that the only other matter he would like to report on is the Norfolk & Southern train count for the month of April. He said that we are barely at 2 trains a day on an average.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Mr. Shepherd said that he had a follow up to the Safety Meeting that they had. He said that there are two Ordinances coming out of that meeting that they are working on now, one amending parking fines and another one concerning child restraints. He said that they expect to have them before Council in the near future.

Mr. Moran mentioned last week that the Committee chairs should have a report before Council. He would like to give the members an outline in their packet by next week. He would like a 5 to 10 minute update regarding how many changes that have taken place in the last 2 years. He said that we will a report on this every week starting June 8, Mr. Mylen will be first with Buildings, Equipment and Technology. Mr. Moran will supply the chairs of each committee with an outline of some things that have been done and some things that are going to be done. Mr. Moran said next will be Contracts, Judicial and Government with Councilman Hunt, Environmental on June 22 with Councilman Furry and Mr. Moran will take Finance on June 29, Parks and Recreation on July 6, Planning Zoning and Economic Development on July 13 and July 20 Safety. He said that it will be a good opportunity to cover what we are doing in our individual committees.

Mr. Bemer said that the Development Code Review Committee is having their final meeting tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. We anticipate having a final draft which then will be reviewed in-house and then submitted to Council. Mr. Moran said that he will look forward to that report.

COMMUNICATIONS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: NONE

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION: NONE

ORDINANCE NO. 32-09 BY THOMAS J. HUNT

AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH COMMUNITY CHALLENGE TO PROVIDE CERTAIN SOCIAL SERVICES BENEFICIAL TO THE CITY FOR AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $32,000.00 AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY

1^ST READING

Mr. Hunt said that he would like to hold this Ordinance for further discussion next week at the Committee meeting. There are some things that Council needs to go over with regard to this contract and some underlying issues with Community Challenge. He said that we will look forward to discussing that at the Committee-of-the-Whole next week.

ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS UNDER CONSENT:

ORDINANCE NO. 29-09 BY JOHN B. SHEPHERD

AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE TO AMEND SECTION 151.03 OF THE CODIFIED ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF ROCKY RIVER, CONCERNING THE APPLICATION FEE FOR CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATIONS FOR POSITIONS IN THE POLICE AND FIRE DIVISIONS OF THE CITY

1^ST READING

Mr. Shepherd explained that this Ordinance will pass on the ability to set the application fee for entrance exams for Civil Service examinations. We are going to allow the Civil Service Commission to set them. Mr. Shepherd said that the need for this is two fold. One is that the Civil Service Commission is doing a regional cooperative effort with the City of Bay Village in an attempt to have a more efficient entrance examination process. We have to coordinate fees and make them the same as Bay Village. In the future, we may have to change that with other Cities, as well. It makes sense to allow them to do it. As it was reported at the Meeting-of-the-Whole, there is a good chance that this is the way it should have been done originally, because there is a State law that gives Civil Service the power to set these fees. He does not see any objection to it.

ORDINANCE NO. 30-09 BY ANJANETTE ARABIAN WHITMAN

AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SAFETY-SERVICE TO ENTER INTO AN EIGHT (8) YEAR BEVERAGE SERVICE AGREEMENT WITH CLEVELAND COCA-COLA BOTTLING COMPANY, INC. FOR THE ROCKY RIVER RECREATION DEPARTMENT AND VARIOUS OTHER LOCATIONS AS DESCRIBED IN EXHIBIT “A”

1^ST READING

Mrs. Arabian Whitman said that in her absence President Moran discussed this Ordinance with Council at the Meeting-of-the-Whole. She had an opportunity to talk with Director Patterson and he had put together a comparison, which hopefully everyone has been able to review. We received two bids, one from Coke and one from Pepsi. We have had a history with Pepsi with their contract, providing score boards, providing the vending. They have done a nice job with it, however, they did not come through this time around. Mrs. Arabian Whitman said that we would like to have the eight year contract awarded to Coke. She said that Coke was timely with presenting their offer. Pepsi, unfortunately, submitted their offer 3 hours late, and it was not competitive. They both were offering $5,000 sponsorship fees per year, which is very normal. However, the big difference came with the scoreboards. Coke is presenting 7 scoreboards and Pepsi is providing absolutely no scoreboards, but a $5,000 stipend toward scoreboards. Mrs. Arabian Whitman said that makes a huge difference when it comes to the overall contract. She said that we have 4 scoreboards in the Civic Center, 2 at Elmwood Park, and 1 at the Ice Rink. The commission on the vending sales is 35% for Coke and Pepsi is not offering that. Coke submitted a timely proposal, and they also provided everything that we wanted, where Pepsi, unfortunately, did not get their proposal in on time and they are not providing what we are seeking. Mrs. Arabian Whitman would ask fellow Council members to help pass this Ordinance.

ORDINANCE NO. 31-09 BY DAVID W. FURRY

AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF ROCKY RIVER AND URS CORPORATION FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES RELATIVE TO THE PREPARATION OF AN INFLOW, INFILTRATION AND HYDRAULIC MODELING STUDY IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $22,000.00

1^ST READING

Mr. Furry noted, as was discussed last week, this Ordinance is additional work for request for proposal, something we approved in March, a separate proposal, approved by the Management Committee of all the Mayors in February. Mr. Furry said that the inflow infiltration is basically studying all of the leaky pipes, setting up a base line. It has been 20 years since they have done this study. The hydraulic modeling identifies the type of inflows that can be expected. The EPA is aware of this and would like it approved post haste.

Mr. Moran said that each one of these Ordinances has some time sensitive opportunities and the earlier Council gets them done the better.

Moved by Mr. Moran, seconded by Mr. Furry, that the rule requiring that the ordinances of the Consent Agenda be read on three separate days be suspended, and that said ordinances be placed upon their passage:

Vote: Hunt - aye Shepherd - aye Mylen - aye

Furry - aye Arabian Whitman - aye Moran - aye

6 ayes 0 nays PASSED

Moved by Mr. Moran, seconded by Mr. Shepherd, that the Ordinances 29-09, 30-09, and 31-09 of the Consent Agenda be passed as read:

Vote: Hunt - aye Shepherd - aye Mylen - aye

Furry - aye Arabian Whitman - aye Moran - aye

6 ayes 0 nays PASSED