Updates

No Committee of the Whole Meeting This Week
The last I heard, Council had decided not to hold a council committee meeting on October 19th.
I guess they don't have any new business to talk about, with the Old Church Building controversy finally out of the way.

Speaking of the Old Church Building
City Engineer Steve Hovancsek reported that a pre-demolition meeting was held with Ace Demolition on October 12th.
The city is waiting for Ace to post a construction bond, which is required before it begins work. 
Ace is scheduled to begin work on November 1st and to have the demolition project completed in three weeks, before Thanksgiving.

Followup: Cleveland Water Department's Proposal To Take Title to City Water Mains
The Plain Dealer has a front page story today(Oct. 16th), detailing the Cleveland Water Department's (CWD) latest billing fiasco.
Although the CWD claimed to have addressed some of its billing/customer service issues by installing a new computerized billing system, that system apparently overbilled customers, by miscalculating the summer sprinkler credit they were supposed to receive.
This is my favorite quote from the story:

"Alan Seifullah, a spokesman for the water department, said it is not unusual for customers to be overbilled or underbilled.

If the system is working correctly, over the course of a few bills it should even out," he said.

I guess we aren't supposed to care whether our water bills from CWD are accurate or not. According to the spokesperson, we should just assume that it will all even out "in the wash," so to speak---eventually.
I'm convinced, aren't you?

It was clear from CWD's recent presentation to Council that, should Council approve Mayor Scott Coleman's recommendation to sign over the city's water main assets to CWD, Highland Heights residents will be expected to help pay for replacing and maintaining all of the municipal water mains covered by the CWD's proposed Revised Water Service Agreement (RWSA). 
The PD story raises several questions:

1. What assurance do we have that Highland Heights residents will be billed fairly--and correctly--by CWD for the additional cost of maintaining and replacing the water mains of all RWSA members, if Highland Heights signs the RWSA?
2. And, given their track record, does Council really think it's a good idea to place critical city infrastructure--valuable city assets-- into CWD's hands?

Read the Plain Dealer story:

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/10/thousands_of_cleveland-area_re.html

Knock. Knock. Is Anyone Home?

Question For the Day: Is A Meeting “Public” If The Front Doors Are Locked?



Councilman Frank Legan scheduled a Safety Service Committee (SSC) meeting for 7 p.m. at City Hall, right before the regular council meeting.
I was running a bit late and didn’t arrive until 7:20. There were cars in the parking lot, and the inside lights were shining brightly, but the doors to City Hall were locked. Tight.
The SSC meeting went on, but the public was kept out.


Does holding a public meeting behind locked doors violate state Sunshine Laws? You bet it does.


Council President Scott Mills, who arrived early for the 8 pm council meeting, was quite unhappy when he discovered the situation. Fortunately, he had a key. He promptly unlocked the doors for me--- and made sure that they stayed unlocked until after the council meeting ended.


Jefferson Drive Sewer Relining Project a No-Go?


City Engineer Steve Hovancsek reported that the bids for the Jefferson Drive relining project came in much higher than the county expected and that the county is now “re-evaluating” the project. “There could be a significant delay,” according to Hovancsek.
From the sound of it, the delay could be more than “significant”---it could be indefinite.


Hovancsek advised the city to wait until next week to decide whether to cancel the scheduled Nov. 10th meeting with impacted homeowners.


I Want This One...And, Oh Yeah, I Want That One Too.


I managed to catch the tail end of the SSC meeting. I arrived in time to hear Service Director Thom Evans say that he wanted to lease/purchase a specialized sidewalk snow plow machine. The cost? Between $130,000 to $140,000.


I am a regular council meeting attendee, and I remember the discussion when Evans announced two years ago that the city’s old sidewalk plow needed to be replaced.
At that time, Evans told council that he didn’t want to buy a specialized sidewalk plow to replace the city’s old machine. He recommended purchasing a more versatile machine instead—a Bobcat 5600 Turbo Toolcat.
Council authorized that purchase on June 10, 2008.


 Evans told SSC on Tuesday night that now he wants a specialized sidewalk plow too.


According to Evans, there’s nothing wrong with the Turbo Toolcat. It’s a bit slow in clearing sidewalks during heavy snowfalls, and it doesn’t do quite as good a job as a specialized sidewalk plow. But other than that, it works fine. And, with extra attachments, it performs other jobs, like drilling holes.


I have to wonder what Police Chief Cook and Fire Chief Turner think about Evans’ request. They’ve been waiting patiently for approval of several of their own big ticket items--a new city ambulance and an updated fire alarm system come to mind...and there’s only so much (taxpayer) money to go around.

http://www.highlandhts.com/docs/city_council/minutes/2008/05-27-08_city_council_minutes.htm
http://www.highlandhts.com/docs/city_council/minutes/2008/06-10-08_city_council_minutes.htm


Labor Strife?


Speaking of the Service Department...for the first time ever, the city’s Service Department workers voted this year to be represented by a union. They had been non-union, up until then.And while Council approved a number of labor contracts last July, those contracts apparently did not cover Service Department workers.


It's almost fall and still no contract? Clearly there must be some serious issues up for discussion (and yet unresolved) in the building near the salt dome...


The Pool Leak


It Continues.
The pool’s been caulked (twice) and painted.
The company that built the 18 year old pool is re-welding some of the stainless steel wall seams.
Some of the concrete decking has been ripped up and supply lines repaired.
And still she leaks.


According to Service Director Thom Evans, there is no end in sight.


What A Difference A Year Makes.


A year ago, Council was lambasted by Mayor Scott Coleman, Park & Recreation Committee (P&R) members and P&R supporters for questioning P&R’s unbridled deficit spending.
According to a 12/10/2009 Sun Messenger story, Mayor Coleman went so far as to declare that he was “distressed” by council’s criticism of P&R and its profligate spending.
Others accused Council of “harming” the city by bringing the subject to light and discussing it in public.


In reality, council was simply doing its duty as city fiduciaries and as watchdogs of the public budget.
A year later, I think we should all say: Thank you, Council, for doing your job.


Although Council is still waiting to receive the final report from the brothers Ianiro (David Ianiro, the city’s Rec Director, and Anthony Ianiro, the city’s Finance Director), apparently the preliminary figures regarding the 2010 P&R budget are encouraging.


According to Councilwoman Cathy Murphy (the P&R council rep), the 2010 summer camp program (a previous perpetual P&R money-loser) appears to have run in the black this year, and pool wages were down appreciably from last year’s high of $ 155,000. Unlike last year, P&R did not hire any additional pool workers beyond the budgeted amount, which kept the total pool wage figure down.
Murhphy called it a "major turnaround" and praised Dave Inairo and P&R for their hard work.


Still A Long Way To Go.


While its runaway budget may be under control, there are other significant issues that P&R needs to address--and I’m not just talking about the pool leak. There are, I hear, major problems with regard to management of the pool and some pool personnel.


As I mentioned previously in this blog, a newly hired assistant swimming coach left abruptly during the swim season after concerns about his communications with a young swimmer surfaced. P&R needs to look at how this non-resident swim coach was hired, why he was hired, and whether any sort of pre-employment screening was conducted.


But it's not just the swim coach. One parent/resident in the know told me that quite a number of pool employees, along with several parents , signed a petition expressing concern about the pool’s management and some pool supervisory personnel.
It’s not a good thing when parents have to jump in the pool to rescue their children during swim lessons, but apparently that happened at least once last summer.
It’s time---more than time---for P&R to develop hiring policies--hopefully good ones.

The current “It’s not who you are, it's who you know” P&R hiring policy clearly doesn’t cut it.

Grants and Enticements

The Oct 5th Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting focused on infrastructure issues.

Jefferson Drive Relining Project

Storm water infiltration into Jefferson Drive sewer lines has caused significant flooding problems to residents who live further west along Highland Road. The county has finally decided to tackle the problem. It has solicited bids for relining piping along Jefferson Drive. The bid opening is scheduled for October 12th.

Law Director Tim Paluf, Service Director Thom Evans and representatives from the City Engineer’s office are working together to send out informational letters to impacted residents.
A public meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 10th to discuss the project.
Page 9 of the Fall 2010 Highland Highlights newsletter contains additional information. I’d provide the link to that article here, but as usual the city’s website is out of date and the Fall newsletter has yet to be posted online.

Energy Inefficiency
Service Director Thom Evans informed council of several energy-related grant opportunities available to the city, one of which is available because of federal government stimulus money and one of which is the result of the NOPEC energy consortium’s electricity deal with First Energy Corp.

The city has big energy bills. According to Councilwoman Cathy Murphy, the heating and electricity bills for the municipal complex topped $ 130,000 in 2009.

The federal government provided $ 5.7 million in stimulus money to Cuyahoga County this year. The County is willing to share some of that money with cities and towns within its borders. Evans recommended that the city apply for a stimulus money grant to pay for an energy audit of municipal center buildings. That audit would identify areas of energy inefficiency and recommend cost-effective projects that could save the city money over the long term.

With regard to the NOPEC grant, while some communities are seeking grants to pursue alternate energy solutions for their cities (for example, Mayfield Village has applied for a grant to install solar panels), Evans recommended applying for a grant to replace the municipal center’s outdoor lighting.

Highland Road Water Main

Right after the Bishop Road-Highland Road intersection reconstruction project was completed, Service Director Thom Evans notified council that the major water main under Highland Road---which the city owns—needed to be replaced. Yep, that water main runs under the newly reconstructed Bishop Road-Highland Road intersection.

The city engineer’s office has recommended reusing the existing trench, which would mean installing a temporary above-ground water line while a new water main is constructed. The existing trench sits on the north side of Highland Road, near the newly constructed pedestrian pathway.

Two weeks ago, Mayor Scott Coleman resurrected an old idea for getting the water main replaced---an idea which council considered and rejected several years ago. That idea: give the water main to the City of Cleveland Water Department (CWD).

The City of Cleveland would love to own all of the piping that connects to the CWD  water system.  That would give the CWD a complete monopoly (some say stranglehold) over all of the cities (and residents) that it serves.

Five CWD representatives came to the COW to pitch a new “Regional Water Service Agreement” to the city. Basically, the agreement has two parts. First, CWD would assume responsibility for fixing the Highland Road water main (at some undetermined time in the future)---provided the city agrees to give CWD title to all of its municipally owned water mains. Second, the city has to agree to share income tax (50/50) with the City of Cleveland if any company relocates from Cleveland to HHts.

If the offer sounds too good to be true, that may be the case. The “strings” attached to the deal have serious potential consequences for the city.

• Our water mains are counted as “assets” for purposes of determining the city’s net worth. The amount of assets that the city owns directly impacts the city’s ability to borrow money---how much money and at what (favorable or unfavorable) rate.
• The income tax sharing could be a significant loss of revenue for the city---and it would apply, even if the business involved made the decision to relocate on their own, without any involvement or enticement on the city’s part.
• There are other issues, of course. As a story in today’s Plain Dealer illustrates, there are significant problems with how CWD operates: its billing practices, its customer service, and its ability to take care of the capital assets that it already currently owns.
• It is also important to remember that all of CWD’s money comes directly from CWD customers. It is a matter of common sense that CWD will have to begin charging higher and higher rates and fees as it takes ownership of municipal water mains. The question is: will those higher fees be paid for by everyone, by every CWD customer, or just by the residents whose communities have turned over their water mains to CWD?

 The CWD representatives were mum on that point.

I hope council gets some kind of commitment from CWD on that issue, before it makes any decision on Mayor Coleman’s recommendation to give away city assets.

Update: Old Church Demolition Resolution

According to the Sun Messenger, Mayor Scott Coleman decided against vetoing the resolution accepting Ace Demolition's bid to take down the Old Church Building that sits on the city hall property. Instead, the mayor let the resolution take affect by operation of law. The story says:

“Coleman believed City Council should have considered other uses for the building, which would need extensive repairs. He also said council did not give residents the proper opportunity to comment on the demolition ordinance."
http://blog.cleveland.com/sunmessenger/2010/10/mayor_does_not_sign_highland_h.html

It’s ironic that Mayor Coleman would take pot shots at council for not considering “other uses” for the building, given that he publicly supported doing only one thing with the building--- allowing a private club to convert it into a bocce hall---in disregard of Law Director Tim Paluf’s oral declaration that the city could not enter into the proposed “private/public partnership” with the club.

As for not providing residents with a “proper opportunity to comment”?
What a bunch of whoee!

Council ‘s public discussions about what to do with the building went on for more than two years. The city newsletter and website were both used to solicit residents’ comments and ideas. Quite a few interested individuals came and spoke on the topic during council meetings. And the Sun Messenger published a number of stories detailing council’s discussions about the building, including the fact that council agreed to solicit demolition bids back on May 25th.

No “proper opportunity” for public comment? Mayor Coleman must be confused. He must be thinking about his decision to put gas wells in the park....