Bits and Pieces From the Feb 2nd Committee of the Whole Meeting

MIA: Mayor Coleman. He called a special meeting for Feb. 2nd, but failed to show up for either the COW meeting or the special meeting.
Property For Sale

The “For Sale” sign on the Glen Eden water detention basin (“1.2 wooded acres with a ravine”) prompted the Vice President of the Glen Eden homeowners’ association to appear before council with the following proposal: If the city buys the land (which the current owner purchased for $ 400 at a tax foreclosure sale), razes the obsolete pump station building and cleans out the basin (which the developer was obligated, but failed, to do), then the association will agree to maintain the property after that.
Law Director Tim Paluf, who agreed to discuss the ad with the listing realtor, seemed reluctant to have the city take on the responsibility of owning the basin. But according to the representative from the city’s engineering firm, the city already owns several similar water detention basins in Highland Heights.

Councilwoman Cathy Murphy, who is the President of the Glen Eden homeowners’ association, recused herself from participating in the discussion and stated that she will not cast any votes on the issue.
The Sun Messenger posted a story on the discussion. You can read it at: http://blog.cleveland.com/sunmessenger/2010/02/homeowners_association_wants_h.html

Does this add up?

In 2007, the building department had $152,000 in receipts and was staffed by a fulltime, certified building commissioner, a fulltime inspector, and a fulltime office support person.

In 2009, the building department had $ 85,000 in receipts and was staffed by an interim, part-time building commissioner (who works fulltime for the City of Mayfield Heights), a fulltime, uncertified acting building commissioner, a fulltime inspector, a part-time inspector (who works fulltime for the City of Cleveland) and a fulltime office support person.

In 2010, the building department is projected to have $ 80,000 in receipts. In addition to a fulltime certified building commissioner (who should be hired within the next two weeks), the department will be staffed by the fulltime inspector, the part-time inspector, and the fulltime office support person---and CT Consultants.

Mayor Coleman called the special meeting so that council could approve a contract that authorizes CT Consultants to provide up to 4 hours of weekly services to the building department. The cost? Between $ 40 to $ 130 an hour, depending on the services provided.
Although Law Director Tim Paluf assured council that he understood that CT Consultants would be used only on an “as needed” basis, the contract, apparently, does not explicitly state that. That prompted concern on the part of Councilwoman Lisa Stickan. As a lawyer, she understands that judges enforce contracts as they are written and that, therefore, it is extremely important that contracts clearly explain what the contracting parties intend.
Paluf, however, did not find it necessary to include the “as needed” language in the contract, nor did he recommend adding the language via an amendment before council approved the contract.
A Failure of Communication

The EPA announced in early December that it was offering grants (up to $ 300,000 per project), to be used to address water runoff and water quality issues in Cuyahoga County.
Without notifying or discussing the grant opportunity with council, Mayor Coleman apparently went ahead and authorized the city engineer to work up a grant proposal for repaving the municipal complex parking lot----an idea that City Service Director Thom Evans admitted that he pitched and that, as it turned out, clearly did not fit the requirements for the EPA grant.
Unfortunately, council was not brought into the discussion until the Feb 2nd meeting---barely a week before the grant applications were due. It was particularly unfortunate because several council members had interesting grant ideas---including Councilman Bob Mastrangelo who suggested using porous pavers to replace the nonporous, stamped concrete plaza in front of the city hall building, which would allow water to be absorbed in the ground rather than running off to the storm sewers
It turns out that Mastrangelo’s suggestion was a timely one because there is a significant leak in a water line located underneath the stamped concrete (it is leaking 4 gallons a minute according to Thom Evans). That means the concrete will likely have to be opened----and result in a potentially expensive repair job for the city.
The city engineer was encouraged to explore Mastrangelo’s idea for grant purposes. City Service Director Thom Evans, meanwhile, apparently had a hard time giving up his idea of repaving the parking lot. He pushed a twist on his original idea: applying for a grant to replace a small portion of the municipal center parking lot with porous pavers.
It is unclear whether the city engineer will pursue one or both of those proposals on the city's behalf. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Post-script
Team Energetics---the local fitness club that tried to obtain public money from Highland Heights and several other cities to keep its business operation afloat recently called it quit and closed its doors. A new club has opened on Beta Drive.
http://blog.cleveland.com/sunmessenger/2010/02/team_energetics_health_club_cl.html

Here are several other Sun Messenger items pertaining to stuff I’ve blogged about:
http://blog.cleveland.com/sunmessenger/2010/02/highland_heights_council_presi.html
http://blog.cleveland.com/sunmessenger/2010/01/sun_messenger_editorial_cartoo_4.html
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