IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK ALOT LIKE CHRISTMAS....?

I am out of town (again).
In a place that seems festive all-year-round....at least to the eyes of most northerners and certainly to those of us who experience Cleveland's grey winters.
When it comes to decorating for Christmas, they try down here, they really do.
But stringing xmas lights on lawn flamingos just doesn't cut it for me.
Now if my neighbors Ivan Rus and his son Andrew or my former neighbor John Scudellari move down here....that would be something different.
If you haven't seen their displays on Lander Road in Williamsburg or on Hawthorne Drive...

Hurry Up! They are not to be missed.

Council has suspended work for the holiday, so I'll see you in the New Year.
Meanwhile, here's a couple souvenirs from my trip for your viewing pleasure.

APPLAUSE AND CONGRATULATIONS

One of the City’s greatest resources is its employees.
This week brought news about two of them.

RETIREMENT

Assistant Service Director Al Hess is retiring.
Hess, a Highland Heights native, is a well-known fixture in our community.
Aside from his official duties, residents recognize Hess for his interest in classic cars and his active involvement in the Mayfield City Schools.  

50 YEAR ANNIVERSARY
A table was set up outside the Council Chamber door last Tuesday night.
It held a lovely decorated cake.
The set-up signaled a party in honor of the Jean Buchak, the Clerk of Council.
Turns out Buchak began working for the city on November 18, 1964.

That’s 50 years, folks.

Talk about dedication to your work…
Council President Cathy Murphy lauded Buchak:

“Everyone who knows Jean knows her to be reliable and a friend to many.
And let’s not forget her candy bowl at the end of her desk….
Thank you for your service, Jean.
It means so much to us.”

CITY’S NEW WEBSITE IS LAUNCHED

For years and years Council members complained about the city’s outdated and poorly maintained website.
This year Mayor Scott Coleman finally hired a designer to update the website.
The city’s new website was launched last week.  

The web address is the same: http://www.highlandhts.com/

The new website isn’t cutting edge by any means---it looks like other municipal websites I have seen---but its functionality appears to be much improved.
It contains more links and it has the potential to provide much more information to users.

For me, though, the most important change is one behind the scenes.

Finally---and for the first time ever---the website will be maintained “in house”.
Marvelous Marlene, aka Marlene Kole, the mayor’s administrative assistant, will perform that task as part of her routine duties.

That means the city will no longer have to pay a part-time freelancer, who previously posted things on the city’s website during her spare time.
It also means that the website will finally receive the attention it needs and deserves to stay current and relevant.
So don't get too attached to the pretty fall pictures currently displayed on the website.
No doubt they will be replaced as the seasons change.

As for residents’ reaction, the mayor told Council:

“The feedback has been very positive.
It will take some getting used to, but I’m pretty confident that everything that was there is still there.”

SNOW STORM MAY DELAY
SIDEWALK REPAIR PROGRAM
Last week’s snow storm brought several city programs to a halt.
The service department workers were forced to exchange leaf collection equipment for snow plows, and an outside city contractor was forced to suspend its work replacing city sidewalks.
Engineer Brian Mader told Council that the contractor hoped to get back on track this week, but there was no guarantee that the weather would cooperate.
The sidewalk repair program may have to be suspended until spring.
Mader reported that if that happens, the contract price will be honored and the project will be first on the contractor’s 2015 “to do” list.

MAYOR PROPOSES AMENDING CITY PAY ORDINANCE

The city’s pay ordinance currently provides a fixed salary schedule for the position of Assistant Director of the Highland Heights Service Department.
The Assistant Director is second-in-command behind Service Director Thom Evans.
At the November 25^th Council meeting, Mayor Scott Coleman told Council that he wanted to discuss changing the ordinance to drop the fixed schedule for a “salary range” instead.

It wasn’t clear from his statement, but residents speculate whether the change signals the mayor's intention to continue a trend that started with Evans.
That trend?

Offering sweetheart “retire-rehire” deals to retired employees in lieu of opening up employment opportunities for younger workers.

Such "retire-rehire" deals provide only short-term cost savings as the initial cut-rate salaries offered in such deals climb over time, eventually reaching pre-deal levels.
Importantly, they also prevent the renewal and rejuvenation of the city, through the addition of new hires to the workforce.

What are the mayor's intentions here?
We should find out soon.

The mayor intends to discuss his proposal at an upcoming Committee of the Whole meeting.

YOU BRING THE FISHIN’ POLES, I’LL BRING THE BAIT

At last Tuesday’s Council meeting Engineer Brian Mader told Council he was working on revising the plans for the Miner Road renovation project.

The original plans called for culverting open storm water swales on the east side of Miner Road.

Talk about the best laid plans….

It turned out the swales were part of a FEMA 100 year flood plain, which put them under the Army Corps of Engineers’ (ACE) jurisdiction.

ACE investigators reported to their bosses that they found fish swimming in the swales.

Their finding changed everything.

The swales are no longer swales........They are streams.

The city can’t wily-nily culvert streams.

So it’s back to the drawing board for Mader.

The Miner Road project will still go forward in 2015, minus the culverting of the east side swales.

That work will have to wait until the city obtains permits…

Or convinces ACE that its investigators were seeing things

ROUGH ROAD AHEAD?

Engineer Brian Mader also reported on Tuesday that the city’s 2014 road work contractor had almost completed its work.

Not everyone is satisfied with that work however.

Councilman Bob Mastrangelo spoke for a number of residents when he commented:

“Highland Heights Road, since it’s been repaved (in connection with culvert repair work), seems rough. “

Mader explained:

There are some areas where the patches, when tying into other parts of the road, they are not able to match it 100%.
There might be a small bump.
There have been some patches I am asking them to dress up.”

Sounds like Highland Road needs to be on Mader’s "dress up" list.

POOL DECK DISPUTE: ROUND THREE

The zoning appeals board does not necessarily have the last word on zoning matters in our city.

Ask former Fire Chief Ed Bencin if you don’t believe me.

Bencin went to court ---and won----after the zoning appeals board issued an unfavorable ruling regarding property he wanted to develop along Miner Road.

I have been told that the Rutland Road neighbors have decided to follow Bencin's lead and challenge the zoning appeals board's recent 3-2 pro-deck decision in court.

Hopefully the judicial system will provide the neighbors what they deserve, but have not received, at the hands of the city's powers-that-be:

Relief from the after-the-fact permitted, non-permit conforming, enormous, towering deck that sits 11 feet from the rear property line.

CITY GARBAGE COLLECTION: BIG CHANGE COMING?

Three years ago Council backed away from automated garbage collection----which requires the use of specialized wheeled garbage cans----mainly because of the size of the “toters” (as Service Director Thom Evans calls them) involved.

Some residents were concerned that the obligatory 96 gallon toters wouldn’t fit in their small garages.

Other residents worried that they wouldn’t be able to handle them….that they would have trouble wrestling fully loaded toters to the curb on garbage day.

Those concerns won the day.

That was then...This is now.

At an October 21^st Committee of the Whole meeting, Council authorized Evans to get bids for 2 different types of garbage collection contracts: one for our current service  and one for automated collection.

Councilwoman Lisa Stickan admitted that she had previously opposed the toters but now thought it was “smart” to explore that option.

Councilwoman Ann D’Amico, however, still had reservations:

“I have a little bit of a problem.
In my ward (Ward 4), in winter, I see elderly residents get in their car with their garbage. They drive to the curb, drop their garbage on the tree lawn and then drive back into their garages.
They are terrified of falling.

If they have to use toters, they are going to have a hard time.

A lot people in smaller condos on icy days may not want to take a toter to the curb if they don’t have much garbage.

Is there any way around it?”

Evans responded:

“I don’t think so. No, not from what I’m hearing.”

Apparently residents will have the option of swapping their 96 gallon toter for a smaller version-----after the contract has been in place for 90 days.

One advantage of automated garbage: residents will also receive a smaller recycling toter.

No sorting required.

Everything that can be recycled can be tossed in.

Landfill costs continue to rise----something Councilman Bob Mastrangelo pointed out the last time Council was discussing the garbage contract.

The city will reap significant financial benefit by encouraging residents to recycle their garbage, rather than discard it as trash.

The best way to do that is by making recycling convenient and easy to do.

GOOD NEWS: HALLOWEEN CAN PROCEED AS USUAL

Police Chief Jim Cook confirmed at the October 28^th Council meeting that the city's Trick or Treating celebration was scheduled for Halloween night. (aka Friday October 31^st).

That seemed pretty unsurprising.

But apparently Trick-or-Treating on Halloween wasn’t a sure thing.

Mayor Scott Coleman indicated that he had considered rescheduling the event to another day.

He had considered it, but as he told Council:

“Mayfield (High School) is playing football on Saturday afternoon, so there was no conflict there.”

Apparently our city’s Halloween tradition was in danger of being thrown under the bus for “Wildcat” football.

I guess that’s no surprise.

The high school tennis courts were sacrificed for “Wildcat Park,” why not Halloween too?

BURGLARY UPDATE

Police Chief Cook reported that he had received “a lot of positive feedback” from residents about his “Code Red” calls last week.

On my street the reaction to Cook's crime-related "Code Red" call was mixed.

Neighbors were happy to be kept informed of things going on in the city, but unnerved by the message.

Cook told Council  that two burglaries had occurred in the middle of the day on Thursday in the Williamsburg neighborhood.
The good news:

“We have a suspect in each burglary.”

We are blessed to live in a safe city, but it never hurts to keep garage doors down and an eye out for our neighbors.

POOL DECK NEIGHBOR ADDRESSES COUNCIL

Bob Boyda---one of the neighbors impacted by the huge Rutland Drive pool deck---spoke during the public portion of last Tuesday’s Council meeting.
He told Council:

“To date we have failed to convince the City of Highland Heights that the structure permitted as a deck should be governed by the ordinances that apply to decks.
Despite our failure to achieve this result – the process we have gone through has shown… that the permit was issued on the basis of “false data”.
…(The) public hearings…established that the design data for the deck was substantially false – the (as-built) deck is ~74% larger than the submitted documentation implied. 
Also, by the deck owner’s own admission, he was not the contractor for the deck as was claimed by the permit application…
…(T)he permit was approved on the basis of false data.
Highland Heights Ordinance 1105.99 (entitled) “Penalties” appears to apply…
…I ask the law to be enforced.”

The Ordinance Boyda referred to reads, in part:

All persons … who violate any of the provisions or requirements of this Zoning Code or fail to comply herewith, or who shall build in violation of a detailed statement of plans submitted and approved thereunder… shall, for each and every violation or noncompliance, be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00). Each day during which such violation shall continue shall constitute a separate offense.

Both the ordinance and its application to the pool owners seem pretty clear ...but apparently not to the city's powers that be. 

As always, Council members listened impassively.

They responded to Boyda’s comments.....with silence.

OUR ZONING LAWS:
DO THEY REALLY APPLY TO EVERYONE?
The city’s zoning laws are supposed to benefit and protect every resident in the city by imposing the same rules and limits on everyone.

But in order to apply to every resident, Highland Heights’ zoning laws must actually be applied to every resident.

Which brings me to the pool deck controversy.

One of the most unsettling things that the hearings disclosed was the fact that the pool owners repeatedly failed to comply with the city’s zoning rules.
 

Building Commissioner Dale Grabfelder attempted an enforcement action---he issued a tear-down letter---but the city took no steps to enforce it after the pool owners contacted Mayor Scott Coleman. 

 

When it comes to our zoning laws, it appears that there are two classes of residents in our city:

Those who follow the rules and who are, therefore, subject to the zoning laws, and those who aren't.... they simply
flaunt the zoning laws and get away with it.

If a resident is allowed to ignore and/or bypass the city’s zoning rules

   …..say by constructing a deck without a permit and without required inspections OR

   ......by misrepresenting pertinent facts (like size and the actual builder’s identity)
          on an after-the-fact-submitted permit application

and that individual suffers absolutely no consequences for their actions, isn’t that proof that a special class of zoning-immune residents exists in this city?

Is that fair? Is that right?

Is that what we expect from our city officials?

Five of the seven Council members attended one or both of the zoning hearings.

While their interest was welcome, they need to do more than make a show of attending.
They need to do something to fix this mess.

It is within Council’s power to ensure that no other Highland Heights resident has to live next to an enormous, looming deck built 11 feet from a rear property line.

Council has a “Legislative and Finance Committee” that is empowered to recommend legislation.
Council has the power to amend the zoning code and pass other legislation to ensure that our zoning code is applied to every deck and every deck owner in the city….as it was meant to be.

Will Council step up to the plate?

Only time will tell.
Residents will be watching to see whether our Council representatives really care …or whether their presence at the hearings was just run-of-the-mill political showmanship.

 FALL FOLIAGE

Here are a few pix of fall in our city.

Enjoy!