The Return of Common Sense

The election is over, which means that there’s a better chance that Highland Heights residents will see common sense prevailing over politics.

FINANCIAL MATTERS

• Item One: Paying for the new rescue squad

Highland Heights Fire Chief Bill Turner waited patiently for several years before getting the green light to replace the city’s oldest rescue squad vehicle (RSV).
It’s great that the city is willing to invest in modern, well-functioning emergency equipment, and it makes financial sense too. Because insurance companies are charged for it, the fire department’s emergency rescue service is actually a moneymaker for the city.

Mayor Scott Coleman included only part of the cost of the new RSV in the 2011 capital improvements budget. Instead of paying for it upfront, he proposed using a five year, rent-to-own arrangement---one that upped the RSV’s total cost (due to interest payments) and encumbered future capital improvement funds through 2015.

Councilman Bob Mastrangelo questioned that decision. He argued that the city had sufficient funds to buy the RSV outright and that there wasn’t a good justification for adding interest costs to the purchase price. 

So why would Coleman want to go the rent-to-own route? 

While Coleman claimed at the time that he wasn’t sure there was enough money in the budget to pay the full purchase price this year, it’s pretty hard to ignore the fact that Coleman used the city’s finances--including the city’s reserve (savings/rainy day) fund balance---as a key part of his recent reelection campaign.  The rent-to-own approach reduced the impact that the RSV purchase had on the 2011 budget---and on the reserve fund balance.

Mastrangelo raised the financing issue again a couple of weeks ago, after the RSV was delivered and the bill came due.

During last week’s Legislative & Finance Committee (L&F) meeting, Coleman conceded that the city could afford to buy the RSV outright and that doing that will save $12,000 in interest costs and free up an additional $44,000 in capital improvement funds for each of the next four years.

No doubt that was music to Mastrangelo’s ears.

• Item Two: Insurance Costs

During the L&F meeting Finance Director Anthony Ianiro reported on the bids submitted for the city’s 2012 medical and dental coverage.
It looks like the dental premiums will remain the same, but the city’s current medical insurance provider proposed a 20% premium increase. Ouch.
 A different company (Signa) is offering a comparable medical insurance plan for only a 5% premium increase. Although the city is still waiting to hear from a couple more insurers, it looks like Signa’s bid might be the winner.

• Item Three: The 2012 Budget

Mayor Scott Coleman told Council last week that he had already met with his department heads, as a kickoff to the 2012 budgeting process.

While it is still too early to know what the 2012 budget will look like, it is likely to include significant capital improvement spending.

During his campaign Coleman promised that he would come up with a plan to address the city’s infastructure needs within 100 days of starting his new term. One of the most pressing needs is the Highland Road water main. The city has been on notice for several years that the water main is failing and must be replaced.

One budget category that is guaranteed to increase across the board next year: salaries.  The labor contracts approved last year call for a 3% pay increase for union employees in 2012. Traditionally city administrators and other exempt employees receive matching pay increases.

• Item Four: Green Task Force Grant Applications

The city’s newest organization---the Highland Heights Green Task Force (GTF)---has already had a positive impact on the city. 

A few months ago the city received a grant to buy recycling bins for the Community Center, thanks to the efforts of the GTF.  

At last week’s Council meeting GTF head Judy Dearden described the latest grant that the group is pursuing. The money (a $5,000 grant from the Fiskars Corporation) would be used to enhance the city’s new green space. 

Good luck and thanks, GTF!

GET-GO UPDATE

Law Director Tim Paluf finally answered the question on many minds: when Lance Osborne’s Get-Go zoning initiative petition issues will be placed on the ballot.

Osborne has been pushing to have the issues put before voters at the earliest opportunity, i.e., during the first special or primary election in 2012.

Although Paluf previously told a Sun Messenger reporter that the issues might be voted on during a spring special election, he changed his mind after looking more closely at the Highland Heights Charter.  Paluf told Council that, pursuant to the Charter, Osborne’s zoning issues could only be voted on during a general or regular municipal election. The next one of those won’t be held until November 2012.

If he’s unwilling to wait that long Osborne could circulate a new petition, although he’d have to collect a lot more signatures in order to get his zoning issues on an earlier ballot. Or Osborne could bypass the Charter’s initiative petition rules entirely by convincing five Council members to put zoning issues on the ballot for him instead.

I’ve been told that, during their recent Sun Messenger endorsement interview, all of the Council-at-large candidates (except for Councilman Frank Legan, who was absent) opposed the idea of putting a mega Get-Go on the Catalano’s property.
If that’s the case, the second option may be a dead end for Osborne.

To be continued…

The More Things Change…

You’ve heard the expression: “The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same”?
That’s a good way to describe Lance Osborne’s most recent Get-Go pitch. But first...

Back In The Saddle Again

Council got back to work (minus an out-of-town Mayor Scott Coleman) on Tuesday night.  The main topic of discussion: adopting a policy that would allow eligible residents to be reimbursed for the cost of installing backflow preventer devices on their property.

Eligible property owners are ones who regularly experience sewer backups in their basements during rainstorms. The backflow devices aren’t a cure, but if configured and used properly they should prevent sewage from backing up from the city’s sanitary sewers into private homes.
The downside: residents will have to limit the amount of sewage they put into the system during storms; too much sewage flowing from homes will cause the devices to open and allow backups to begin again.

The county, which is responsible for the sanitary and storm sewer systems, has agreed to pay for the backflow preventer devices. The city will act as the financial middleman and perform necessary pre-inspections.

Interested Highland Heights residents should contact the building department (440-442-7403) for more information.

Post-Election Sparring

Council President Scott Mills displayed his usual energy and enthusiasm during the meeting, which surprised some given his election loss.  Mills conducted himself with humor and dignity---a class act, under very difficult circumstances.
In fact, a casual observer wouldn’t have know that there had been a recent election---at least until Finance Director Anthony Ianiro gave his report to council.

One thing Mills has always taken great pride in is bringing a twice-a-year paper shredding service program to the city.  Residents don’t have to pay a fee to participate; the city picks up the tab.
It’s been a popular new service; resident participation has grown steadily since it was launched a couple of years ago.
The city’s most recent shredding event was held on October 1^st. Mills was distressed because six weeks had passed and the shredding company was still waiting for Ianiro to cut a check to pay for its services.

Mills, who clearly assumed that the payment delay was politically-related, told Tony Ianiro, “Now that the campaign season is over, I hope that this (bill) will be taken care of.”
Displaying some of his well-known temper, Ianiro snapped, “What did you say?”
After Mills repeated himself, Ianiro finally responded, “We’ll take care of it.”

Good thing.
It would be a shame if the city’s payment practices---whether politically motivated or not---caused Highland Heights to develop a new nickname: “Deadbeat city”.

Prettier Wrapping Paper/Same Package

Tony Ianiro also serves as head of the city’s Economic Development Committee (EDC). He announced that the EDC was meeting the next night.
On the agenda: an update from Moore Associates, the company helping the city perform an economic development self-assessment; and a follow-up presentation by Lance Osborne on his proposed Get-Go development project.

Osborne brought conceptual drawings showing what the mega Get-Go and rear retail strip would look like. I was relieved to see that the drawings reflected a more “upscale” appearance than the garish blue/red mega Get-Go facility that sits at the Avon/Avon Lake interchange off I-90.

Osborne emphasized that he’s listening to residents and trying to come up with something they like, but he also admitted that nothing about the basic project itself has changed. He still envisions using the Catalano’s parcel for a mega Get-Go gas station, car wash, and alcohol-selling convenience store/café in the front, with a 25,000 square foot retail strip in the back.

The drawings of the retail area show a yoga studio and two restaurants. It’s a nice vision, but since they are “conceptual,” the drawings don’t necessarily have anything to do with reality.  Osborne has made no promises or guarantees as to the quality or type of tenant that will actually end up in the space.

One thing Giant Eagle has made clear in the past: it will not allow anything in the retail area that might possibly compete with any aspect of its business----which would seem to eliminate restaurants and food service-related businesses from the retail space in back.
When I asked him about that, Osborne told me that they could put restaurants in the retail area “with restrictions,” but he didn’t explain what those restrictions would be. 

Osborne also didn’t explain why he dropped his investment estimate for the project.  At a September 15^th EDC meeting, Osborne estimated that the mega Get-Go project would entail an $8 million investment. Two months later he reduced that estimate to $7 million.

As for employment, Osborne estimated that the mega Get-Go would bring 40 jobs—mostly minimum wage, part-time jobs (24)---to the city.  He also claimed that the retail space could mean as many as 80 jobs---- an obviously pie-in-the-sky estimate based on his “conceptual” drawings.  It goes without saying that the actual number of jobs created, and the level of payroll tax that will result, depend entirely on what businesses actually relocate there.

Osborne told the EDC that his job estimates would translate into about $39,000 in additional payroll tax and “almost” $47,000 in additional property tax for the city---a total of $86,000 in claimed new annual revenue for a city whose projected 2011 revenue already exceeds $16 million.

In the end it will be up to residents to decide whether the estimated economic benefits are enough to justify gutting the city’s zoning code and allowing a mega Get-Go to be installed in the primarily residential southwest corner of the city. 

When will that vote take place? Stay tuned.
Law Director Tim Paluf promised to answer that question prior to the November 22^nd Council meeting.