In May, Fire Chief Bill Turner travelled to Columbus to receive an award on behalf of his department, which was named as the “EMS Service Provider of the Year” by the State of Ohio. http://www.highlandhts.com/docs/city_council/minutes/2010/05-25-10_council_minutes.htmLast
Hillcrest Hospital added to the department’s honors by presenting Chief Turner with a plaque recognizing the achievement. A hospital representative declared that the hospital was “very proud of the Highland Heights fire department” and that the department “puts forth more effort than anyone else.”
Congratulations to Chief Turner and our Highland Heights firefighters. Thank you for all of your fine work.
City Watch
Item One: The Asbestos Investigation of the Old Church Building On City Hall Property
Status: The game-playing continues?
Council agreed on May 25th to hire Earth Consulting, Ltd. to determine if there is asbestos or any other hazardous or toxic materials in the Old Church Building—something they need to know, whether the building is demolished or renovated.
Mayor Coleman kept the contract on his desk and waited until June 16th to sign it.
Three weeks have passed since the asbestos evaluation was performed.
Council is still waiting to get a copy of Earth Consulting’s report.
Item Two: Posting of 2008 Structural Engineer’s report on City’s Website
Status: Full copy of that report still has not been posted.
Only the edited version remains available for public viewing.
Item Three: Private social club’s proposal to use the Old Church Building as a nighttime clubhouse.
Status: Negotiations continue. Legality? Still up in the air.
The club was supposed to submit a concrete written proposal to the city, outlining more specifically the terms of its barter/lease proposal.
Mayor Coleman (who actively supports the deal) asked that the topic be placed on the agenda for the upcoming July 20th Committee of the Whole Meeting.
When it was pointed out that council was still waiting to hear from Law Director Tim Paluf on the many legal issues raised by the plan---and Paluf indicated that he might not be able to come up with a thorough legal analysis by next week---the mayor conceded that the discussion could be “postponed”.
Item Four: The City-Owned Vehicles Policy
Status: 13 Weeks. Action still pending.
It took awhile, but after admitting that the city needed a written policy addressing the marking and use of city-owned vehicles, Mayor Coleman has apparently come up with a draft policy that will be presented for discussion at the July 20th COW meeting.
Item Five: Investigation into business dealings between the city and two appointed public officials
Status: Four months. Ethics Complaint Filed.
Council voted to ask the State Auditor’s Office and the State Ethics Commission to look into the propriety of business dealings that went on, without council’s knowledge, between the city and then-Park & Recreation Commissioner Tony Valentino and current P&R Commissioner Rocco Dolciato.
Council President Scott Mills reported during the June 22nd council meeting that he intended to mail a packet of material to the Ethics Commission on or before June 25th.
As a side note, the video of Valentino that played on the W.F. Hann & Sons website in March (in which Valentino introduced himself as the “President and Owner” of the company) has been removed, and a woman told a source, who phoned W.F. Hann & Sons this week, that Valentino no longer worked there.
Business records from the Secretary of State’s office show that Valentino renewed a trade name in April for a different business, Claridon Heating & Cooling.
Item Six: The Millridge Resurfacing Project
Status: Too early to tell.
City Engineer Steve Hovencsek reported to council on June 22nd that the contractor repaving Millridge exceeded the scope of the project and that the contractor will pay any additional costs resulting from that mistake.
The Sun Messenger ran a story about the mistake this week: http://blog.cleveland.com/sunmessenger/2010/07/highland_heights_gets_a_little.html
We’ll have to keep an eye on this one, to make sure that council isn’t asked to approve any “change orders,” which would allow the contractor to recoup some of this additional cost from city taxpayers.
News From the Legislative & Finance Committee (L&F)
1. The Budget.
Although it seemed a bit premature (as far as I know new labor contracts covering city workers have not been finalized yet) L&F discussed the likely financial cost of those labor contracts. They are expected to amount to an additional $120,000 unbudgeted expense this year.
Current financial projections show that the city may experience an overall budget deficit of $464,800, but that number could shrink if the city receives $262,000 in estimated estate tax payments this year.
By shifting some funds around, the city may be able to end the year with the general fund (at least) out of the red.
2. City Auditor's recommendations.
L&F discussed a letter sent by the city’s auditor. The auditor detected several problems with the city’s financial controls and recommended fixes for them. Among the issues discussed:
- The end of “off the book” bank accounts. I first blogged about this last February.http://highlandheightsohiohappenings.blogspot.com/2010/02/very-troubling-eveningpart-two.html For several years, city Finance Director Anthony Ianiro opened and used a private bank account for financial transactions involving Home Days—even though, under state law, all city-sponsored organizations (like Home Days) are supposed to be part of the city’s public accounting system.
Thanks to the auditors, that private bank account has now been closed. - A problem with one city department’s “petty cash” fund.
Finance Director Ianiro told L&F that an issue involving a discrepancy in one city department's "petty cash" fund had been “resolved”---without providing any details as to why the discrepancy existed or what was done to "resolve" the problem. According to the auditor, the finance department should have been performing periodic surprise audits during the year, to make sure there was no monkey business going on, involving any of the city's “petty cash” funds.
That's now a new job for Ianiro to do. - The auditor apparently explained that Finance Director Tony Ianiro is legally barred from appropriating any funds beyond the amounts listed in the city’s “amended certificate of resources” and is not supposed to pay any invoices unless a purchase order has been properly issued and authorized beforehand. Ianiro apparently violated both of those basic financial rules. While he accepted responsibility for his failings, Ianiro downplayed the significance of those fundamental legal requirements when discussing them with L&F. An interesting attitude, for a finance director....
- Ethics/Conflict of Interest Disclosures.The L&F Chairman, Councilman Leo Lombardo, heartily endorsed the auditor’s recommendation that all city officials—elected and appointed---be required to annually fill out and file ethics/conflict of interest forms with the city.
- Additional policies.
Finance Director Anthony Ianiro reported that, in addition to the recommended ethics reporting policy, he was also currently working on developing a computer security policy, as recommended by the auditor.
!. The Pool Leak.
I have found Service Director Thom Evans to be remarkably and unfailing optimistic when it comes to discussing the ongoing, major leak at the city’s swimming pool.
Several months ago, Evans optimistically told council that he thought an additional $ 4,000 caulking job (the pool was partialy caulked and painted last year) would solve the leak problem. It didn’t.
A scuba diver spent 6 hours in the pool recently, trying to pinpoint the leak. Evans cheerfully reported “good news” to council--- the new caulking and the pool structure all look good and the city is able to re-circulate alot of the leaking water through the filter and back into the pool, limiting the amount of fresh water that has to be added to keep the pool full.
The next places to look for leaks are the “gutter system and the return lines”. The good news there, according to Evans, is that the return lines are "only 8” under the pool deck".
Let’s see. Under the pool deck--so that means they are under concrete, right? Evans certainly knows how to put a good face on a potentially very expensive pool repair job.
2. Extra Concrete Contract.
Service Director Evans asked council to authorize an additional contract to perform miscellaneous concrete work at the city hall complex and the park. According to Evans, the city has money available because the contract for the Millridge/Bishop Road street resurfacing project came in under budget and the city will not be spending money budgeted for a preliminary study of the Highland/Miner Road intersection.
While I am sure there is always extra concrete work worth doing in the city, I have a couple of issues with Evans’ proposal.
First, I think it is a bit questionable to assume that there is spare money sitting around, just because the contract for the Millridge and Brainard Road resurfacing projects came in under budget. The city’s track record is not particularly good as far as change orders and not paying out more than contracted amounts for construction projects. (At least two recent projects under former city engineer Andy Blackley’s supervision ended up costing the city $100,000 more than the contracted-for amounts, and the 2010 sidewalk repair contract could cost more than originally bid if more than $2,000 of root removal work is required).
Given that history, I think it is probably way too premature to declare that any "surplus" exists---especially until the sidewalk repair and road resurfacing projects are completed and the city and the contractors have actually signed off on that work.
Second, Evans convinced council to keep the miscellaneous concrete repair project under $ 25,000, for the express purpose of avoiding state public bidding laws (which apply to all public contracts worth $25,000 and above). According to Evans, it would delay the work by “a couple of weeks” if public bidding was used. Instead of public bidding, he plans to talk to a couple of contractors of his own choosing and select one of them to do the work.
Neither Mayor Coleman nor any member of council protested Evans’ suggested approach.
Shame on them.
Public bidding laws foster fair and open competition and give the city the best shot at getting the lowest and best price for work done in the city. In my eyes, the fact that it might slow things down for “a couple of weeks” is a very poor excuse for bypassing the public bidding laws.
Shame on them all....
Shame on Mayor Coleman for his allowing Evans, his appointed administrator, to do so.
And shame on Council for going along with that arrangement.
The end.
Shame on Service Director Thom Evans for pitching the idea of bypassing state public bidding laws.
Shame on Mayor Coleman for his allowing Evans, his appointed administrator, to do so.
And shame on Council for going along with that arrangement.
The end.
