ITS ELECTION DAY
Dont forget to vote!
HALLOWEEN 2013
Perhaps Council had ESP when, in late September, they passed--as an "emergency" measure---
a resolution declaring October 31st as Halloween.
No doubt the rain and gale force winds that we experienced created an emergency situation for kids anxiously hoping to score big on Halloween night.
I hear that some of the city's more tightly packed neighborhoods still got visited by scores of
older kids, but my street saw nary a Trick-or-Treater.
That was disappointing.
I'm guessing that on November 1st office workers reaped the bounty of the undistributed candy.
I'm guessing that on November 1st office workers reaped the bounty of the undistributed candy.
Lucky for me I got another kind of treat.
There are several dedicated and creative home decorators
who live in my neck of the woods. Their handiwork
provided a visual treat for everyone to enjoy.
THE TRULY SCARY PART OF HALLOWEEN
Although there were many fewer costumed kids roaming about, the city didn’t lack for other scary sights----namely uncollected
branches blowing all over the place.
The surprise snowstorm a week earlier damaged many trees and
caused lots of branches to fall.
A week later, on Halloween, the storm debris was still uncollected.
Meanwhile even cash-strapped Richmond Heights hopped to it
and cleared things away.
It was really out of character for Service Director Thom
Evans not to be on top of things.
Service Department crews were on my street picking up non-existent leaves during Halloween week---but they ignored the branches.
Service Department crews were on my street picking up non-existent leaves during Halloween week---but they ignored the branches.
One resident offered this theory:
There was no mayoral race in Highland Heights, so the storm debris sat...and sat...and sat.“You can tell where the mayors’ races are.
You can bet things would have been cleaned right away if Mayor Coleman had been running for re-election.”
City crews finally started picking up debris throughout the city yesterday, 10 days after the snow storm subsided.
WHY SO LITTLE DISCUSSION ON BIG STUFF?
It seemed to take a long time---over 10 months---for the city
to reach new collective bargaining agreements with its union employees.
The contracts are of vital importance to employees who make their
living serving the city.
They are also important to residents.
Because personnel costs are a large part of the city budget, the labor contracts have a significant impact oncity finances.
They are also important to residents.
Because personnel costs are a large part of the city budget, the labor contracts have a significant impact oncity finances.
Despite their importance, very little information was shared with the public about the labor negotiations---or the contents of the final collective bargaining agreements.
There was some brief discussion on October 22nd, when Council was about to take the final
step: amending city ordinances to reflect the new contracts.
Well let me correct myself.
Councilman Bob Mastrangelo attempted to have a discussion with his fellow Council members about the contracts.
Mastrangelo questioned why no effort was made to simplify the contracts, which traditionally take a "base pay plus" approach---they include a schedule of additional bonuses and payments that can be added to each employees' base pay to reflect things like years of service (longevity), educational achievements, professional certification and uniforms.
Mastrangelo questioned why no effort was made to simplify the contracts, which traditionally take a "base pay plus" approach---they include a schedule of additional bonuses and payments that can be added to each employees' base pay to reflect things like years of service (longevity), educational achievements, professional certification and uniforms.
Mastrangelo was concerned that the way the contracts were
structured could result in employees getting “(pay) bumps on pay bumps”.
He pointed out that “most employees go by what they pay” and suggested that the place to start might be by simplifying the pay provisions for part-time employees to simply state the actual total pay figure for each part-time position.
He pointed out that “most employees go by what they pay” and suggested that the place to start might be by simplifying the pay provisions for part-time employees to simply state the actual total pay figure for each part-time position.
Mastrangelo’s comments provided a perfect opportunity for the mayor and Council to discuss and educate residents about the negotiating process and the rationale behind using a base pay “plus” approach for labor contracts.
Did anyone take advantage of that opportunity?
Nope.
After Mastrangelo stopped speaking, President Cathy Murphy
said,
“Okay. Any other comments?”
She figuratively patted Mastrangelo on the head and then
quickly moved on.
CATALANO PROPERTY SALE:
TWO MONTHS AND COUNTING
TWO MONTHS AND COUNTING
The time frame for the Catalano’s redevelopment project has
changed with each of developer Lance Osborne’s appearances before Council.
Council relied upon Osborne's supposedly extremely pressing time deadlines to justify cutting residents out of the discussion and give fast-track approval to both an $800,000 economic development package and a property tax abatement deal.
Osborne originally told Council that he was going to “close”
(i.e. purchase) the property by late August.
At a subsequent appearance, he claimed the closing would occur on October 18th.
At a subsequent appearance, he claimed the closing would occur on October 18th.
ELECTION FUNNY
The campaign literature that residents received this fall has been pretty run-of-the-mill stuff.
There were plenty of family pictures and pictures of
candidates with their pets.
After all what voter can resist cute kids or a cute dog, right?
Last week one candidate went, hilariously, out of the norm.
Instead of using their own picture with family and/or pet, the candidate just used a
picture of a dog.
A dog sitting next to a “vote for me” campaign sign.
I almost hate to say it---because it takes courage to run,
and serving on Council can be a truly thankless job---but the unspoken message here is too irresistable.
The literature seemed
to declare:
“Vote for me. I’m truly the dog in this race”
“Vote for me. I’m the
dog in this race”
