Sign Going?
Several weeks ago, council asked Law Director Tim Paluf to research whether or not the city could donate the outdoor sign for the former church building (which sits on the city hall property) to St. Paschal Baylon Church, which has expressed an interest in it.
Mr. Paluf reported that the city had no use for the sign, that none of the city administrators he spoke with believed that the sign had any significant monetary value, and that he thought it would be okay for the city to give the sign to St. Paschal's, provided the church paid the cost of having city workers remove the sign and paid to have it transported to the church's property on Wilson Mills Road.
There was no discussion as to whether any other Highland Heights business or church might have interest in the sign, or whether it should be advertised for sale to the highest bidder.
Sign Coming?
Last week Councilman Ted Anderson, a former Parks & Rec Commission (P&R) member and currently P&R council rep, provided Tim Paluf with a list of rules that P&R had developed for Whiteford Park, a small community park that is located in the Highland Woods neighborhood.
While Highland Woods residents are apparently opposed to adding even an additional street light in the area of the park, to discourage after-hours use and inappropriate behavior in the park, Councilman Anderson said that P&R wanted the rules enacted "to give the police some backbone" when dealing with issues in the park.
He did not explain what those issues are, nor had he previously provided his fellow council members with a copy of the proposed rules, thereby preventing them from asking questions or providing input on the issue.
Mr. Paluf reported at the meeting that he believed the current ordinance on the books, pertaining to the Community Park, applied to Whiteford Park. He suggested that the existing ordinance could be amended, to state that fact more clearly, and that it was unnecessary to adopt an ordinance specifying rules just for Whiteford Park.
Mr. Anderson then stated that P&R wanted a sign of park rules posted at the park. It's obviously something he's thought alot about; he even described the exact location where the sign should be posted.
Unfortunately, P&R is well into a deficit-spending situation with regard to the 1 mil of property tax money that it receives for its own exclusive use each year (more on that below). Therefore, money to pay for a sign would have to come from the general fund, but no money has been allocated in the 2009 budget for that use.
Therefore, Council agreed that the matter should be referred to the Legislative & Finance Committee, which is tasked with providing fiscal oversight with regard to the spending of public taxpayer money.
Community Center Repair and Renovation
Council set aside money in 2008 to renovate the interior of the Community Center. Unfortunately, the contractor doing that work uncovered a serious problem. The wood beams that provide vertical support for the building were sitting below grade and developed wet rot, threatening the structural integrity of the building.
The interior work had to be halted so that structural repair work could be performed---which meant that the contractor was prevented from timely completing its work.
It is typical for contractors to seek delay payments in such situations. And the community center contractor apparently made a demand for such payment.
Although Mr. Paluf negotiated a reduced payment to the contractor, council held off approving the deal after Councilman Anderson expressed dissatisfaction with some of the seaming work inside the building and Councilman Hargate expressed unhappiness that no final report had been issued with regard to the project.
Steamrolling the $ 300,000 Old Pool House Renovation Project
The last we heard, council rejected the bids for the Old Pool House Renovation Project, a project which Councilman Anderson, Council Candidate Valentino, and P&R have ardently and insistently pushed since last November. The bids were rejected because the qualifying ones came in much higher than the original $ 75,000 price tag put on the project by P&R (try 4 times as high).
Councilman Anderson returned to his steamrolling mode at the COW meeting, announcing to council that "we (i.e., Anderson and P&R) want the project to move forward," "We want to get the paperwork done so it is ready to go" and that "plenty of interior work can get done in the winter."
Councilman Anderson's solution to the pricey bids? He offered several:
- Throw out the requirement that the contractor perform at least 51 % of the work with its own employees.
This is a standard provision in public contracts. It is a requirement for most performance bonds. It provides protection to union workers and helps ensure quality, by keeping the contractor on the hook for a majority of the work performed and by restricting the amount of work that can be subcontracted out to others. It also ensures that the company performing the work is an actual, active building contractor.
Councilman Anderson dismissed that requirement as unnecessary "boilerplate". - The Old Pool House Building currently supplies the power for Home Days. The proposed renovation of that building means that new electrical service would have to be provided for use during Home Days and during other exterior activities at the park.
According to Councilman Anderson, the new electrical work "has nothing to do with the pool house." He wants that work removed from the bid package. - Councilman Anderson's last suggestion was to replace most of the windows in the renovated building with glass block.
Can you imagine, on a rainy day, just how depressing that would be for the camp kids? Oh my.
Although Councilman Anderson did his best to impart a sense of urgency about the matter, the rest of council clearly did not swallow the bait.
In fact, there was a sense that a more global look at P&R and its finances might be in order.
In 2009, for the first time ever in Highland Heights history, P&R presented a deficit-spending budget to council. P&R receives 1 mil of property taxes each year, for its exclusive use. But this year, it asked for additional tax money from the general fund, to subsidize its operations.
Councilman Leo Lombardo, the head of council's Legislative & Finance Committee, reported that P&R had already overspent its revenue by $ 43,000---and there is still one financial quater left to go in 2009.
P&R has also been using money from its emergency reserve fund to cover regular operating costs. With that money factored in, Councilwoman Cathy Murphy projected that P&R will have deficit-spent to the tune of about $90,000 this year.
The recreation director, Dave Ianiro, is Mayor Coleman's appointee. Mr. Inaniro presents the P&R budget to Mayor Coleman each year. The mayor, in turn, decides whether to include the figures presented by P&R in the budget that he submits to council .
I guess we will have to wait and see whether Mayor Coleman allows the deficit spending by that part of his administration to continue, or whether he will take a more active hand and work with Mr. Ianiro to come up with a balanced P&R budget for 2010.
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