It Must Be Spring...

It Must Be Spring---City Construction Work Begins

Now that the weather has broken, the city is moving forward with both its sidewalk maintenance program (focusing on sidewalks located north of Highland Road this year) and its road reconstruction/maintenance program.
The only major road project in the budget this year is the reconstruction and resurfacing of Millridge Road. That work is scheduled to begin June 14th and to be completed by August 6th---several weeks before school begins in the fall.
One significant cost incurred by the city with regard to the sidewalk maintenance program: the cost of sending notices, by certified mail, to every impacted property owner. One envelope I saw showed that the city spent $ 5.54 on postage just to send out that one notice.
That postage adds up quickly---and contributes significantly to the overall cost of that program.
Do you suppose there is another way to notify residents in a more cost-effective manner?

It Must Be Spring---The Business Solicitations Begin

Councilwoman Cathy Murphy reported at the May 25th council meeting that an individual distributed orange flyers to residents in the Glen Eden subdivision (off Highland Road next to the Richmond Heights border). The flyers offered to paint house numbers on nearby curbs in exchange for payments of either $ 10 or $ 20, depending on whether or not a logo was added next to the house number.
Murphy had several concerns with the flyers:

• First, the individual (who Murphy thinks is from Cincinnati) did not apply for a permit before soliciting business in the city—in violation of our local ordinances. Police Chief Cook confirmed that he was unaware that the individual was soliciting business in the city.
• Second, the flyer instructs residents to put payment---in the form of cash or checks---in the flyers and to leave the flyers at residents’ front doors, for easy pickup. So it’s a payment prior to service deal---a “trust me, trust me” arrangement.
  There is no reason not to trust strangers who solicit business door-to-door in the city---right?
• Third, businesses that make money in Highland Heights are supposed to pay taxes to the city. This kind of solicitation is not likely to result in any financial benefit to the city, even though, by law, it should.
• Lastly, the city owns the road and the curb, and the city has not given anyone permission to paint anything on city curbs.

Chief Cook promised to investigate and follow up with the individual named in the flyer. Thanks, Chief Cook!

 

It Must Be Spring---First Round of Tax Payments Have Come In

Finance Director Anthony Ianiro reported that although the city’s property and income tax collections are lower than last year, they are slightly ahead of the revenue projections contained in Mayor Scott Coleman’s 2010 city budget.

 

It Must Be Spring----“Community Day” Planning Gets in Full Swing
 
Mayor Scott Coleman announced several months ago that the city’s “Home Days” festival would be reduced this year to one day celebration.
Councilwoman Lisa Stickan, who is the council rep to the planning committee, confirmed that this year’s “Community Day” would be held on Saturday August 7th and that it would include both a parade and entertainment. A total of $ 10,000 has been appropriated in the budget for our “Community Day”.

 

It Must Be Spring---So Where Are the Bleachers?

The Park & Recreation Commission (P&R) apparently decided to remove the bleachers that stood between baseball diamonds 2 and 3 in the park.

Mayor Coleman reported at the council meeting that the P&R Head, Rocco Dolciato, told him that the bleachers were unnecessary because so many parents bring their own chairs to sit on and that removing the bleachers would help the flow of pedestrian traffic between those diamonds. Coleman told council that the removal was a “temporary thing, to see if it would help with pedestrian traffic.”
Meanwhile, parents—who have begun complaining to council members---apparently were given an entirely different excuse—one that indicates that the bleacher removal is permanent.
Once again, P&R does itself no good by making decisions by fiat---without communicating and discussing those decisions with residents and council members first.

 

It Must Be Spring---Let’s Talk About Septic Systems
 
Council’s Drainage Committee discussed a request by a Wilson Mills resident to connect his home up to the city’s sanitary sewer. Apparently there are 5 or 6 homes on Wilson Mills (near Miner Road) that still use septic systems---the way the sewer lines were installed 30 years ago prevented those properties from connecting to the city’s sewer system at the time the sewer lines were installed.
The Drainage Committee asked for cost estimates from the city engineer and will now contact the other involved property owners to see whether they are interested in pursuing the matter further.

The challenge for everyone involved is that the cost will have to be borne by the impacted property owners. Those residents--rather than city taxpayers as a whole--will have to foot the bill for the necessary sewer connection work.

 

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I Hope We Don’t Have To --- “Drill, Baby, Drill”

The Ohio Court of Appeals issued its ruling yesterday in the Bass Energy suit (for those of you who don’t remember, Bass sued the city claiming it was entitled to drill gas wells in the park, based on a lease signed by Mayor Coleman.)

As far as I am concerned, it is not good new for the city-- or for residents, who overwhelming approved amending the city Charter to protect the park from gas wells.
The Court of Appeals ruled: 1) that council’s attempt to rescind the mayor’s authority to enter into drilling leases with Bass was an invalid impairment of Bass’s contract rights; 2) that Bass could force the city to arbitrate the dispute (arbitration does not use judges and does not require the same quality or level of proof as used in courts); and 3) the arbitrator, rather than a judge, should make factual findings regarding the validity and enforceability of the lease that Mayor Coleman signed.

Significantly, among the facts cited by the appeals court in support of its ruling:

1. The fact that Andy Blackley, the former City Engineer, chose the drilling sites for Bass and developed site drilling maps, which Bass used to obtain drilling permits from the state.
2.  The fact that Finance Director Tony Ianiro accepted and cashed a “delayed start” payment from Bass several months after council passed its resolution rescinding the mayor’s lease-signing authority.
3. The fact that City Law Director Tim Paluf used the same boilerplate “emergency measure” language (which states that the resolution is being passed as an "emergency measure necessary to the immediate preservation of the health, safety and welfare" of residents) in both the original and rescinding resolutions, which the court said undermined the city’s claim that it rescinded the lease due to safety concerns following the Bainbridge house explosion.

I have read all of the sworn deposition testimony given in the Bass Energy suit and have also read the council minutes pertaining to the lease. As far as I can tell, this is what really happened:

1. On January 23, 2007, council passed a resolution authorizing Mayor Coleman to enter into two leases with Bass Energy---one to drill two wells in the city park and one to drill one well on the city hall property.
   Section 2 states that the resolution is “contingent upon approval of the three (well) sites by the City of Highland Heights ....” In other words, the mayor was authorized to sign the leases if, and only after, the city formally approved of three drilling sites. By adding this language, council clearly intended to be actively included and involved in determining whether, and where, gas wells would be drilled on city property.
2. Mayor Coleman signed a gas drilling lease for the park on March 7, 2007-- even though the council had not discussed, let alone, approved of, any wells sites for either the park or the city hall complex. In fact council minutes show that neither Mayor Coleman nor any of his administrative staff ever disclosed or discussed any proposed well sites with council until several months after Bass obtained drilling permits from the state. Council was kept in the dark.
3. Bass’s president, William J. Hlavin, said that Law Director Tim Paluf was his key contact for the drilling project and that he (Hlavin) never discussed potential drilling sites with council.
4. In late March 2007, Bass was invited to attend a pre-construction meeting for the park (for the project involving installation of the new parking lot in the city park). Hlavin said that the hope was, “that all the construction traffic and everything to do with the construction (in the park) would mask any of the drilling that was going on.”
5. Former City Engineer Andy Blackley agreed to work for Bass while he was also, in his official capacity, representing the city’s interests with regard to the drilling project. Blackley selected two well-sites for Bass and also developed site maps, for inclusion in Bass's state drilling permit application. Blackley's firm, Steven Hovenscek & Associates, issued the site maps on April 20, 2007. Bass owns those maps.
6.  Bass deposited $2,000 with the city to pay for Blackley’s work—although city financial records in 2009 indicated that this amount wasn't enough to cover all of Blackley's work for Bass. Finance Director Tony Ianiro later admitted at a January 13, 2009 Legislative & Finance Committee meeting that this financial arrangement was “unique” and that the work that Blackley performed for Bass was not performed in connection with any city permit application.
7. One of Blackley’s chosen well sites impinges on constitutionally-protected green space in the park--land that was purchased using ODNR grant money. Although Blackley gave regular reports to council during bi-weekly council meetings, the official minutes show that Blackley never disclosed his business arrangement with Bass to council, he did not tell council that he had selected well sites for Bass, and he did not show council a copy of the site map that his firm gave to Bass until November 2007—four months after the state issued drilling permits for those sites (on July 27, 2007).
8. After investigating and learning the truth about how the drilling site selection had been handled (and how it had been apparently been intentionally kept in the dark) Council passed a resolution on January 22, 2008 rescinding Mayor Coleman's authority to contract with Bass. Law Director Tim Paluf drafted that resolution and included the same emergency measure language that he used in the original authorizing resolution--which the court appeals noted and found significant in ruling against the city.

My personal take on all of this?
Mayor Coleman was itching to drill, and he did all he could to get the gas wells drilled in the park before council---and residents---got wind of them.
According to Hlavin, it was Mayor Coleman who decided that the wells should be drilled “out of the way”, not near the developed areas of the park--which is what apparently led Blackley to choose the ODNR land and land deep in the woods as well sites for Bass..

Do you suppose Mayor Coleman was thinking---Out of sight, out of mind?

Highland Heights Ordinance 733.20 states:

Regardless of whether an appropriate permit has been obtained from the Chief of the Division of Oil and Gas of the State Department of Natural Resources, pursuant to Ohio R.C. Chapter 1509 and/or Building Commissioner pursuant to this chapter, no person, firm or corporation shall:

(d) Drill a gas or oil well within 500 feet of a …public park …

"No one"---Shouldn't  that include Mayor Coleman and former City Engineer Blackley?
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On The Record: Mayor Scott Coleman’s Claims and Council’s Push-Back

On May 1st the News-Herald published a story detailing business transactions between the city and two appointed city officials-- i.e., the "matter of serious concern" that was brought to council's attention in March.

With regard to the almost $ 30,000 in payments made to W.F. Hann & Sons, Mayor Scott Coleman was quoted in that story as saying, "

Everything was documented. We had invoices signed off on by the Legislative and Finance Committee.”

Coleman clearly implies, in his comments, that these transactions were properly and legally handled and that council approved of them.

Push-Back One
Councilwoman Cathy Murphy, a long-standing Legislative & Finance Committee member, objected to Coleman’s comments, so much so that she wrote a Letter to the Editor, which was published by the News-Herald on May 8th. The letter is not available to view online. I reproduce it here:

"I wish to respond to comments made by Mayor Coleman in the News-Herald on May 1. I am a council representative and a member of the City’s Legislative and Finance (L&F) Committee. Normally I would not comment on a matter under investigation, but since Mayor Coleman is quoted in the article, I am compelled to set the record straight.


I take issue with Mayor Coleman’s comments regarding nearly $ 30,000 in payments to W.F. Hann (a company owned by a public official). Mayor Coleman said, “Everything was documented. We had invoices signed off on by the (council’s) Legislative and Finance Committee.”


First, everything was not “well documented”. Municipal and state law requires that public officials must file a disclosure of their interest in any company that desires to do business with the city, before any such business transaction occurs. This disclosure gives council the information it needs to make sure ethics laws are complied with. However, no such disclosures were ever filed.


Mayor Coleman said that L&F signed off on payments to W.F. Hann. However, in reality, L&F only knew of, and signed off on, two of the invoices, and to my knowledge the committee was never told that W.F. Hann was owned by a public official.

Mayor’s Coleman’s comments are also misleading. City law states that council must give prior approval by voting at its formal council meeting, for any payments, no matter the amount, made to the business of any public official or any business of such official’s family. However, this was not done because council was in the dark, unaware that any payments were being made to a company owned by a public official.

Sometimes what we don’t do is as important as what we do. This is one of those times. These failings must be addressed. I will say no more, as this matter remains under investigation."

Push-Back Two
At the May 11th Council meeting, Council President Scott Mills presented a motion that authorized referring the matter to the State Auditor and the State Ethics Commission for review of the financial (Auditor) and ethical (Ethics Commission) issues raised by the business transactions, for issuance of any necessary findings, and "most importantly" said Mills, for recommendations for improving the city's laws and procedures.

 Mills demonstrated responsible leadership in presenting that motion and asking for council's unanimous approval of it.  

Council did as Mills asked. It agreed to add the motion to the agenda and then passed it unanimously.
As Mills said when presenting the motion, because of the individuals involved, it makes sense to seek the help and guidance of outside, independant experts. Only then will council be able to properly and appropriately put the matter to rest.

I applaud Scott Mills and council for taking affirmative action, for removing the matter from the local political sphrere, and for seeking help and advice from two state agencies that are experts in the area of financial and ethics laws. It is a sensible approach that should result in findings that residents can trust and believe in.

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A Matter of Very Serious Concern

Almost 8 weeks ago I talked to council about a “matter of serious concern” and gave them documentation showing why I was so concerned. I asked for only one thing in return: that Council President Scott Mills let me know, within “two weeks or so,” how council was going to address the matter.
I am still waiting to hear back from Mills. Council has had more than enough time to start taking action to hold the involved individuals accountable. That hasn’t happened.

It’s time to let you know what’s going on.

City financial records show that two heads of the city’s Park & Recreation Commission, Tony Valentino and Rocco Dolciato, have been doing business with the city for several years, through businesses that Valentino and Dolciato either own or are affiliated with (W.F. Hann & Sons and Utilities Construction Co., dba Utilities Equipment and Supply Company).

Highland Heights’ ethics ordinances closely resemble state ethics laws. Those laws apply to both elected and appointed city officials and generally bar such officials from doing business with the cities that they serve.

Those laws and ethical restrictions apply to Mayor Scott Coleman, Tony Valentino and Rocco Dolciato.

In addition, Highland Height financial ordinances specifically require that council pass a motion, resolution or ordinance at a regular council meeting formally approving all business transactions that involve purchasing of, or paying for, goods and services provided by “any elected or appointed official....or business entity in which (they have) a direct or beneficial interest” .
That approval must be obtained before the transaction is entered into, and the law states that no”payments shall be made from City funds” unless council’s prior approval has been obtained.

The minutes are the official record of council meetings held in the city. I have read all of the minutes for the regular council meetings that took place between January 2005 and December 2009. Those minutes show that council never passed a resolution, ordinance or motion authorizing the business transactions involving Valentino, Dolciato and the city.

You can read the minutes for yourself. They are posted online:
http://www.highlandhts.com/city-council/agendas-minutes.php

In the absence of proper prior authorization by council, the city was legally barred from purchasing services from the Valentino and Dolciato-affiliated companies and from using public funds to pay for those services.  Yet the purchases were made, and public money was spent, anyway.

You might wonder how this could occur. How could taxpayer money be spent, in violation of local and state law? I can’t say for sure, but this is my best guess:

Under normal circumstances---when a business transaction does not involve an elected or appointed city official---Mayor Scott Coleman has sole authority to authorize the payment of bills totalling $ 3,000 or less. Coleman isn’t even required to notify council about those bills or his approval of them.

It appears that the transactions between the city and the companies with which Valentino and Dolciato are affiliated were treated as falling with the mayor’s general authorizing authority---even though, by law, they did not.

Finance Director Anthony Ianiro (the brother of Recreation Director David Ianiro) is supposed to be the city’s financial cop. It’s his job to make sure that all requisitions and vouchers are properly approved, in compliance with our financial ordinances, before he uses any public funds to pay for those bills. (Read my “Financial Primer” blog posting for more information on how that works.) Ianiro apparently paid W.F. Hann & Sons and Utilities Construction Co, even though the business transactions with those companies had not been pre-approved by council, as required by law.

The details:
City records show that W.F. Hann & Sons was the exclusive provider for HVAC services to the city for three years, beginning in May 2006. Some of the services were provided in the park and were paid with Park & Rec funds---payments which, by law, had to be authorized by Mayor Coleman and Tony Valentino. All but two of the checks issued to W.F. Hann & Sons were for $ 3,000 or less, which means that under normal circumstances they would fall within Mayor Scott Coleman’s exclusive authorizing authority. With regard to the two bills above $ 3,000, a long-time member of council’s Legislative & Finance Committee told me that Valentino’s connection to the company was never disclosed to L&F, when Finance Director Tony Ianiro presented those two bills to L&F for approval.

By law, of course, neither Mayor Coleman nor L&F had the authority to approve payment of the bills. To be authorized, council had to pass an authorizing resolution, motion or ordinance before the services were rendered, which (council minutes show) never occurred.

I have not seen records pertaining to the payments made to Utilities Construction Company. But at the April 27th meeting of council’s Safety Service Committee, Service Director Thom Evans indicated that the city has paid the company to accept the city’s leaves and brush since 2004.

I have a copy of the proposal that was submitted to the city by Dolciato on March 10, 2010 on that company’s behalf. The proposal asks for payment of an initial flat fee of $ 2,400, with additional an additional sum to be determined at a later date based on “space and economic factor’s”. Thus, the proposal divided up the payments from the city into several separate payments, rather one large payment, with the initial payment ($2,400) falling within Mayor Coleman’s normal exclusive spending authority.

The News Herald has published a story in today’s paper about this:
http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2010/05/01/news/doc4bdb216141a40071599098.txt

And again, read my “Financial Primer” blog posting to learn more about our laws and how financial matters are supposed to be handled in the city.

It is beyond my comprehension that Mayor Scott Coleman, who has served as an elected Highland Heights official for over a decade, would so blatantly ignore Highland Heights’ financial ordinances and state and local ethics laws by entering into business transactions with two appointed Park & Recreation Commission officials.

By going public with my concerns, I hope to spur council to undertake a prompt and adequate investigation of the situation. And, if any money has been paid out illegally, council should take whatever steps are necessary to return those funds to the city treasury.

This situation did not occur because of bad or confusing laws. Our laws are clear and straight forward.

No one is above the law. Not me, not you, and certainly not the mayor and his appointed officials. It is up to council to hold Mayor Coleman and the involved individuals accountable for their actions.