CITY OF TWINSBURG, OHIO
REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2005
Mr. Steve Murphy President of
Council called this meeting to order at 8:50pm.
INVOCATION & PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:
Mrs. Studer bestowed the
Invocation. Council led in the Pledge
of Allegiance.
ROLL CALL:
PRESENT: W. Hon, B. McDermott, S.
Murphy, A. Romito, S. Scaffide, J. Studer & B. Furey
ALSO
PRESENT: Mayor Katherine A.
Procop
Charles
K. Webster, Law Director
Cynthia A.
Kaderle, Clerk of Council
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
The minutes of the regular Council meeting of April 12, 2005
stand approved as written.
DEPARTMENT HEAD REPORTS/COMMUNICATION (MAYOR’S REPORT):
Finance Department:
Fire Department:
§
EMS billings collected as of April 25,
2005 is $124,516.00.
Police Department:
§
May 21, 2005 will be the annual Bicycle
Rodeo, which is a great family event. It is an event for children 6 – 12 years
of age at the Police Department from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM.
§
Mentioned the Military display for those
in the City who are serving actively in the Military and currently serving
anywhere in the world including the United States. It will be in the hallway at City Hall. Anyone who would like to contribute to the display please come to
City Hall and see the Receptionist. The
City also has a Military support page on the City’s website.
Building Department:
§
Single Family dwelling units through
March 2005 total 16 permits and for commercial or industrial there were
10. Year to date for single-family
dwellings is 32 and for commercial or industrial 24.
Public Works Department:
§
On April 24, 2005 the plant did 4.3
million gallons per day and on April 25, 2005 the plant did 5.5 million gallons
per day. The average in 2004 was 2.8
million gallons per day and for 2005 the average is 3.3. Stated she is glad the City did the plant
expansion.
§
Total tonnage of salt for this winter
season 2004/2005 was 486 tons at a cost of $597,096 just for salt.
§
Stated for the storm clean up, for branch
chipping there are 2 crews out and another 3 crews doing tree lawn tree
trimming due to the storm damage.
§
Stated before the storm, the Service
Department was out cleaning up the neighborhoods and so far this year they
collected 195 – 55-gallon trash bags of liter.
Parks and Recreation Department:
§
Mentioned that on May 14, 2005 there will
be a Pet Palooza at Liberty Park in the dog park, which is now open along with
its grand opening at 10:00 AM. The dog
park is located behind the white house at the north end of the fields.
Fitness Center:
§
There will be 2 sessions of a basketball
camp called Shoot For the Moon. Eric
Snow sponsors it and the Cleveland Cavs will be here. First session is June 27th through July 1st
and the second session is July 11th through July 15th. There will be professionals giving tips on
basketball and there will be special guest speakers, lectures and instructions.
§
May 7th is Spa Day for the
ladies from 9:30 AM until 2:30 PM.
§
Mentioned she would like to get City
Council and employees as well as all of the residents of the City to take part
in a new initiative called Healthy Ohioans Fitness Walk. They want healthy Ohioans to start walking
and accomplish 1 million miles in the State of Ohio. The kick off date in the City is May 19, 2005 at the Fitness
Center and starts at noon. Stanley
Stein came up with a saying of “Burn Calories not Gasoline”.
Gleneagles Golf Course:
§
Announced on April 29, 2005 from 4 to 8,
WKNR Radio will be broadcasting from the Golf Course. There will also be some demonstrations on various days.
§
Announced there is a Gleneagles Golf
Course commercial running on several channels like ESPN and the golf channel.
Mentioned she attended the annual
Chrysler Youth Award dinner for all of the schools in Summit County. Selected from Twinsburg High School were
Catherine Duclos and Jeffrey Allen
Burke. The Mayor congratulated both of them.
Stated she received a letter from Daimler
Chrysler congratulating the Administration and Council for the purchase of the
two new Jeeps for the Fire Department and the Dodge pick-up for the Parks and
Recreation department. They are pleased
the City is supporting their operation.
Mentioned Adelphia Communications assets
have been acquired by Comcast and Time Warner.
Stated she does not know what the changes will be or how it will affect
the cable service in Twinsburg.
Mentioned again about the rabies moving
into the raccoon population also coyotes.
This is a very serious subject.
PLEASE DO NOT FEED WILD ANIMALS.
It brings them into the neighborhoods and you do not want to do that
especially now. The Mayor read parts of
a Plain Dealer article.
ODNR will be doing a rabies bait drop and
Twinsburg is included. The drop will be
April 28, 2005.
Stated she attended the Ohio Municipal
League meeting in Columbus along with Northeast Ohio Mayors and Managers and
the Summit County Mayors Association. She
will report on that later in the meeting.
COMMITTEE AND/OR COMMISSION REPORTS:
The Committee held their 1st.
Annual Computer & Cell Phone collection day. It was very successful and there were about 75 residents that called
in and reserved a time. However, more
than 75 people showed up at the Public Works Department to dispose of those
items. No one was turned away. The City had help from RET3 Job Corp, which
is headed up by Ken Kovach, and these items will be transported to his
company. His company will rebuild the
computers and any non-profit organizations that are in need of a computer, he
will donate them back to any non-profit organizations. He is to be commended.
Mr. Scaffide commended the Recycle
Committee for all of their hard of work and it was a very rainy day.
The next meeting will be May 7,
2005 at 7:00 PM.
A. Romito
– Architectural Review Board & Safety Committee
No report
The BZA met on April 20, 2005 and heard two appeals. Appeal #08-2005 was approved for an 18 ft.
variance to the 50 ft. rear yard setback for a new model home and included with
this variance is a 10 x 20 ft. deck.
There will be no need for them to come back for another variance and
under miscellaneous she will ask Council to waive the 30 day waiting period.
Appeal 09-2005 for Zinkin
Enterprises, General Contractor C. Jones Corporation was requesting four
variances to build the building on a land locked parcel on Case Parkway
North. This is a unique situation. Mrs. Studer went over the four
variances. All of the variances were
approved.
The next meeting will be April 27,
2005 and Zinkin will be before the Architectural Review Board on Thursday April
28, 2005.
Stated the Finance Committee met this evening and the salary
ordinance was recommended to Council.
They reviewed the request for funding of the laser light
show for Twins Day. This year they
cannot have fire works due to the new surface on the High School football
field. The Committee asked the Twins
Committee to look for some corporate sponsors and then return to see if the
City can help also.
They reviewed the Fire Department
budget as some items that were on the Capital Improvements were moved to the
General Fund budget; however somewhere in the transition it was omitted. Some of those items were reviewed and
approved and others would be reviewed again.
The Committee talked about the
performance audit for Police, Fire and Golf course. They decided they would wait until the reports from the
performance audits conducted come in before they go ahead with the other
audits.
Stated the Planning Commission met April 18, 2005 and the
Zinkin Enterprise building was approved for the preliminary and final plans
subject to conditions of approval from the BZA.
Charter One Bank, which was on the
agenda, was removed at their request.
The next meeting is scheduled for
May 2, 2005 and it will be a joint work session with the BZA, ARB and the
Planning Commission at 6:30 PM.
S. Murphy – Gleneagles Advisory Board and Finance Committee
Announced the Chamber of Commerce Annual Golf Outing will be
held in June. Anyone wishing to get a
team together can contact Doug Johnson at the Chamber of Commerce.
The Parks and Recreation
Commission met April 20, 2005. David
Whited, Chief of Planning/ Development of Metro Parks gave an update of what is
happening at Liberty Park. Mr. Hon highlighted some of the items he spoke
about. The park is patrolled just as other parks; in process is wetland &
stream mitigation bank, a new trailhead has been completed on Route 82, there
is a new maintenance compound. Under construction is a short trail east of the
ball diamonds and another hiking trail off Route 82. The perimeter of the ball
diamonds is going to be resurfaced in a month or two from gravel to a more
permanent type surface for walking.
Future plans include another hiking trail and more
discussions regarding horse trails.
Discussed also was the possibility of some type of access path from
other areas around the park.
Mr. Hon stated there was discussion about a discount rate
for individuals where they could come to the Fitness Center, possibly during
off hours, walk for free or at some discounted rate. It started as a discussion regarding seniors and Mr. Hon feels
there should be more discussion about this subject but the Commission felt even
if it was off hours or seniors they wouldn’t approve it. The Commission by a
vote of 6 –0 would not recommend that.
It would be too hard to control.
Announced going out for bid for the new restroom at Liberty
Park.
Announced there are still plots available at the Community
Gardens.
Announced there will be auditions soon for Peter Pan, which
will be sometime in September or October.
Registration is being taken for swimming lessons for
children or adults at the Water Park as well as Kids Town.
The Commission recommended to Council by a vote of 6 – 0
that a flagpole be installed at Liberty Park.
Announced for the seniors that movies are offered every
month. On May 6, 2005 there will be a
Mother/Daughter/Granddaughter brunch at the Senior Center at a cost of $4.00.
Mr. Hon stated he attended his first meeting for the
Environmental Commission and the name is really the Environmental and Historic
Preservation Commission, which is a Charter Commission. The Commission wants to take all of the
recommendations they have been receiving from the public and implement
them. They want to build an historic
site list and prioritize the list in order of importance. They want to set up
some guidelines and how valuable an asset it is to the Community.
The Commission would like to attend the Comprehensive Plan
meeting next to add their input.
The Commission appreciated the Ordinance that was passed to
protect the Ledges on Route 91.
Next meeting for this Commission is May 4, 2005 and the
speaker will be Jason Knowles from Davey Tree.
B. Furey – Finance Committee, Safety Committee and
Beautification Commission
Stated that Thursday April 28, 2005 at Glenwood Park at
10:30 AM there will be an Arbor Day celebration.
The next scheduled meeting for Beautification Committee will
be May 5, 2005 at 7:00 PM.
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
Mike Gallagher, 1311 Gill Ct.:
Mr. Gallagher
was before Council to ask them to consider a citywide ordinance to eliminate
smoking in public buildings such as restaurants and bars. Many other cities and states around the
Country have similar laws.
Judy Huberty, 1903 Dooridge Dr.:
Mrs. Huberty
stated she saw 4 members of Council along with a representative from The Sun
Newspaper and she stated she understands this is a regular meeting and it is
called a quorum and the minimum number needed for an assembly. This means
Council is in assembly having meetings on their own.
Stated she
watched a Congressional Meeting and was impressed with a quote she heard from
one of the representatives in Washington, “ If we are all thinking the same
way, maybe some of us are not thinking at all”.
Stated she has
read that the Planning Commission is going to have 2 extra meetings a month, at
$55.00 a person and Chairman $65.00.
Stated the 4 members of Council are the same members who at the last
election badgered Administration about how broke the City was. Now you can find funds for friends on
committees.
Stated another
issue she has brought up over a period of time is the large RV’s, trailers and
boats parked all over the City. No one did anything and there is more coming
in. The more that come in the shabbier
Twinsburg will become.
Leo Henry, 1903 Case Parkway:
Mr. Henry,
President of Desco Equipment Corp. stated he was away when the proposal was
made to the Zoning Commission. Mr. Henry stated his business has approximately
7 acres on Case Parkway and his business is located at the end of the
boulevard. Stated his business has been located on Case Parkway for 5 years.
His business is 80% international and most of his sales are outside of the
United States. Stated since they
manufacture capital equipment most of his customers come to visit his plant and
look at the facilities. It is important
that his company has an attractive facility in an attractive area, which he has
up to now.
Case Parkway is
a very green area and that is why his company moved to this area and it was
like a campus city. On April 20, 2005
the BZA approved Zinkin Enterprises proposals and variances. When you look at that proposal, what Zinkin
has created is a simple corridor between the buildings and no green area on
their lot. When you look down the road
you’re going to see a vehicle transportation corridor and that is all. Desco protested the approval of the
requested variances but it passed anyway.
This proposal has substantial variances on an oversized lot. The
variances requested are not consistent with properties in this area. If Council does not act on this, it will
have an adverse affect on Desco Equipment. Mr. Henry stated he trusts Council
will make a decision that is just and appropriate for all property owners in
the area.
LEGISLATION:
ORDINANCE 19-2005 – 2005 SALARY ORDINANCE – AS AMENDED
(Stands on third reading)
Read by S.
Murphy.
MOTION: TO SUSPEND THE RULES AND DECLARE AN EMERGENCY
Moved by S.
Murphy, seconded by B. McDermott. Upon
roll call the motion passed unanimously.
MOTION: TO ADOPT ORDINANCE 19-2005 AS READ
Moved by S.
Murphy, seconded by B. Furey. Upon roll
call the motion passed unanimously.
RESOLUTION 23-2005 – CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT (Referred back
to Planning Commission 2-8-05)
ORDINANCE 38-2005 – LAW DIRECTOR SALARY (Stands on second
reading)
Read by S.
Murphy.
MOTION: TO SUSPEND THE RULES AND PLACE ORDINANCE 38-2005 ON
THIRD AND FINAL READING AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY
Moved by S.
Scaffide, seconded by A. Romito. Upon
roll call with a vote of 4 – 3 the motion failed with Mr. Hon, Mr. McDermott
and Mr. Murphy dissenting.
MOTION: TO ADOPT ORDINANCE 38-2005 AS READ
Moved by A.
Romito, seconded by J. Studer.
Mr. McDermott
asked exactly what does the City get from this raise?
Mayor Procop
responded with all of the duties of the Law Director.
Mr. Furey
stated that this Ordinance puts accountability of hours and what the Law
Director is working on and get an idea of that position. In addition this is the first increase since
1999 and Mr. Furey feels this is fair and reasonable especially with the
additional work the Mayor is asking the Law Director to do.
MOTION: TO AMEND SECTION I AND STRIKE THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF
JANUARY 1, 2005 AND TAKE EFFECT AFTER 30 DAYS
Moved by B.
Hon, seconded by B. Furey.
MOTION: TO AMEND THE AMENDMENT TO READ EFFECTIVE MAY 1, 2005
Moved by B.
Furey.
The motion died
due to lack of a second.
Upon roll call,
the motion to amend failed with a vote of 2 – 5 with Mrs. Studer, Mr. Furey,
Mr. McDermott, Mr. Romito and Mr. Scaffide dissenting.
Upon roll call
the motion to adopt passed 4 – 3 with Mr. Hon, Mr. McDermott and Mr. Murphy
dissenting.
ORDINANCE 39-2005 – PROSECUTOR/ASSISTANT LAW DIRECTOR SALARY
(Stands on second reading)
Read by S.
Murphy.
MOTION: TO SUSPEND THE RULES AND PLACE ORDINANCE 39-2005 ON
THIRD AND FINAL READING AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY
Moved by J.
Studer, seconded by A. Romito. Upon
roll call the motion passed unanimously.
MOTION: TO ADOPT ORDINANCE 39-2005 AS READ
Moved by J.
Studer, seconded by S. Scaffide. Upon
roll call the motion passed unanimously.
ORDINANCE 40-2005 – TAP INS – THE CROSSINGS (Stands on
second reading)
Read by S.
Murphy.
MOTION: TO ADOPT ORDINANCE 40-2005 AS READ
Moved by S.
Murphy, seconded by B. Furey. Upon roll
call the motion passed unanimously.
ORDINANCE 41-2005 – TAP INS – TWINSBURG FOUR, LLC (Stands on
second reading)
Read by S.
Murphy.
MOTION: TO ADOPT ORDINANCE 41-2005 AS READ
Moved by S.
Murphy, seconded by B. Furey. Upon roll
call the motion passed unanimously.
RESOLUTION 48-2005 – OPPOSING PROPOSED JOB CUTS AT NASA AND
DECLARING AN EMERGENCY
Mr. Murphy
stated this was discussed in the Committee of The Whole and it will be reviewed
again after more information is obtained.
ORDINANCE 50-2005 – TERMINATING PARTICIPATION IN NOPEC AND
DECLARING AN EMERGENCY
Read by S.
Murphy.
MOTION: TO SUSPEND THE RULES AND PLACE ORDINANCE 50-2005 ON
THIRD AND FINAL READING AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY
Moved by S.
Murphy, seconded by A. Romito. Upon
roll call the motion passed unanimously.
MOTION: TO ADOPT ORDINANCE 50-2005 AS READ
Moved by S.
Murphy, seconded by B. Furey.
Mayor Procop
mentioned even though the City is planning on leaving NOPEC for gas
aggregation, the City has been working with Buckeye Energy and they are
shopping the market. The City has
received two quotes so far but the Mayor stated she thinks the City can do better
so they are waiting for a more opportune time to enter into a contract and
Council will be informed.
Mr. Scaffide
asked the Mayor if she has any idea when that might take place. He stated he has had calls from residents
concerned about their expiring agreements.
Mr. Furey
stated there are two companies bidding the adder that the City put on that the
discounted commodity price out of the NIMEX market and the brokers have told
him there is a 5 year storage currently of natural gas. Mr. Furey expects the
prices to go down as usage decrease after this winter. Mr. Furey feels the City can get 20 cents
less in the near future. Mr. Furey
stated he feels the price could be negotiated in the May/June time frame and it
would be a fixed price for a period of time.
Residents would have to call to become a part of the company the City
strikes an agreement with. This
Ordinance simply notifies NOPEC that the City is leaving their consortium. The City is doing this now so this would
entice the companies bidding that the City is serious about a future opt-out
program similar to NOPEC which more people could participate in and drive the
costs down further.
Discussion
continued.
Upon roll call,
the motion to adopt passed unanimously.
ORDINANCE 52- 2005 – DEDICATION – CENTER VALLEY PARKWAY
Read by S. Murphy
for first reading.
RESOLUTION 54 – 2005 – FILE APPLICATION – TRAIL &
GREENWAY PROJECT
Read by S.
Murphy.
MOTION: TO ADOPT RESOLUTION 54-2005 AS READ
Moved by S.
Murphy, seconded by B. McDermott.
Mayor Procop
stated the City as in past years, wants to apply for a grant for additional
trail ways in the City. This authorizes the City to file an application with
Summit County for a grant. The City is
looking for one on the east side of Liberty that would run along the park, from
the park entrance to Post Rd. Then in
the future it would tie in with Solon.
Mr. Hon stated
in 2003 the City used $10,000 for the trail at Center Valley East and in 2004
another $10,000 was used to build the bridge at Center Valley East. Mr. Hon stated the question the Parks and
Recreation Commission Chairman had was that the Commission would like to talk
about where the money should be allocated.
Mr. Hon stated his suggestion to the Chairman was let’s pass this
Resolution and put it to Parks and Recreation Commission at their next meeting
and then have Mr. Seikel discuss the possibilities of where the money should be
used, but the Commission definitely would like to vote on it.
Mr. Furey
stated there is a deadline this Friday to get the application in and a plan
must be submitted with the application.
Mayor Procop
stated with the Post Rd. proposal it would not have to involve the residents.
There are residents on Post Rd. and you cannot just put in a bike path without
contacting residents and that would take quite a few months to do that. The City must put this on City owned
property so it can move forward with this grant. There would be no problem with
easements or variances. Anything else
would take to long and we wouldn’t be able to apply for the grant. Eventually every thing will be connected.
Mr. Hon stated
he would call the Commission Chairman and discuss that with him.
Mayor Procop
stated she would suggest the Commission Chairman also call Mr. Seikel.
Upon roll call,
the motion to adopt was passed unanimously.
UNFINISHED
BUSINESS, NEW BUSINESS, MISCELLANEOUS:
Mayor
Procop:
Mentioned the Community has four
young people that live in Twinsburg but wrestle for Chanel High School. Their team finished 2nd in the
State in Division 3 wrestling. They are
Andrew Shaffer, Adam Koballa, Billy Brunett and Cameron Wade. Congratulations to all.
Stated two weeks ago she attended
the Summit County Mayors Association, Northeast Ohio Mayor and Managers
Association and Ohio Municipal League meeting in Columbus. It was a very productive meeting. A
representative from the Governors office spoke about the Tax Expenditure Limit
plan and this will be a very controversial issue coming up. There were also representatives from SERB
talking about employer union and employee relations. There was also a representative from PUCO. One of the most important things of the day
was that they were able to meet with the State Senators and House Representatives. They talked specifically about the erosion
of home rule as there are many things going on down at the State that the
Mayors and all the Councils are not happy about and residents will not be happy
either.
Some of these home rule erosions
are:
§
Location of gas and oil wells
§
Limitations on sand and gravel
mining
§
Residence requirements affecting
police and fire
§
A new state wide uniform building
standard code
The biggest issue was the cuts
that the Cities are taking in local government funds. For the City of Twinsburg that will mean about a $150,00.00
cut. Mayor Procop stated she would have
further reports in the future. Another
cost to the City would be a new tipping fee for waste hauling. The proposed fee was $2.25 and they agreed
to lower it to $1.50. This would cost
the City about $70,000.00 additionally for hauling trash for the residents.
Charles K.
Webster:
Mr. Webster thanked Council for
his raise.
Mr. Webster spoke about the
transfer station in Twinsburg Township.
The BZA of Twinsburg Township recently held a public hearing and as a
result of that hearing there has been a grant of a conditional use permit to
Kimball Company in order to establish a transfer station off of Chamberlin Rd.
in the Township.
Mr. Webster stated he and Mayor
Procop met with representatives of the City of Macedonia and with Nick
Kostandaras and Bill LeFaiver of the Township to discuss what actions might be
taken with respect to this situation.
Kimball has not yet received a permit from the Department of
Environmental Services of Summit County and there might be a possibility, with
some strict reviews, that maybe that permit may not be forthcoming. It was also suggested that they should go to
the EPA hearings and oppose the granting of the EPA permit. Everyone who looked at this situation is
generally of the opinion that the EPA permits will be granted because of the
nature of their activities.
Another item that was talked about
at the request of Mayor Procop was the abatement program in effect for that
property with the County’s Economic Council. There was a suggestion that they
have not followed through with some of the things they are suppose to do under
that abatement agreement and maybe there might be a way to terminate that
abatement agreement. Nick Kostandaras
has asked the County Prosecutor to review that issue and feels he will get an
answer shortly.
Another way to go on this subject
is to appeal the decision of the Twinsburg Township BZA under Chapter 2506 of
the Ohio Revised Code. The City of
Twinsburg was asked if they would participate in the attorney fees to fight
this issue. Is Council willing to
participate and give money towards those fees?
It would be about $2,000.00.
MOTION: TO
AUTHORIZE $2,000.00 TO PURSUE LEGAL FEES IN OPPOSING THE TRANSFER STATION ON
CHAMBERLIN RD.
Moved by B. Furey, seconded by S.
Murphy. Upon roll call the motion
passed unanimously.
J. Studer:
MOTION:
WAIVE THE 30-DAY WAIT PERIOD FOR APPEAL 08-2005 FOR 18’ VARIANCE TO REAR YARD
SET BACK FOR RYAN HOMES
Moved by J. Studer, seconded by W.
Hon. Upon roll call the motion passed
unanimously.
Mrs. Studer stated with all due
respect to Mr. Henry and his Company as she stated, this is a land locked piece
of property and there was an easement when the land was developed to have
access to that road. It was discussed
at BZA that when the developer did that it was with the thought that that piece
of land would be developed. Any company
that would go in there would need certain appeals to be approved. Basically it is the feeling that Desco
doesn’t want any building there what so ever.
The Board was well within their rights to grant the variances.
Mrs. Studer supports the
suggestion of a no smoking ordinance.
It is an excellent suggestion and good for the health of the people
especially the workers and patrons. She
would like Council to do something about the suggestion.
Stated she sees people using the
dog park and people love the area.
S.
Scaffide:
Mr. Scaffide referenced House Bill
95 which made it mandatory that all Cities use the April 15th tax
filing date for City taxes as opposed to April 30th date. Stated he has had inquiries from residents
who are not very happy that they did not know about the change. Stated that residents who missed the 15th
filing date were charged a $25.00 late fee.
Even though the date had been heavily advertised it is unfortunate that
some residents did not get the message.
Mayor Procop proposed there would
be no penalty if the resident filed before the 30th but after the 30th
there would be a penalty.
MOTION:
AUTHORIZE THE TAX DEPARTMENT TO WAIVE THE $25.00 FEE FOR ANY LATE PAYMENT
BETWEEN APRIL 15TH AND APRIL 30TH FOR THE 2004 TAX YEAR
Moved by S. Scaffide, seconded by
A. Romito. Upon roll call the motion
passed unanimously.
Questioned if any written
communication has been received from the people of the Planning Commission who
attended a conference with respect to what the conference was about or what
seminars they attended or what they learned.
Mr. McDermott stated he would ask
the members for a written report.
Congratulated the Mayor on her
graduating from the Ohio Certified Public Managers Program.
Mayor Procop explained it was a
2-year program held at Cleveland State.
She spoke about who attended and what she learned about. It was geared toward government.
B.
McDermott:
Mentioned the Planning Commission
has been working on reviewing the zoning codes.
The next meeting will be May 9,
2005.
W. Hon:
Stated he has a concern with
regards to the chipping program and all of the branches. Stated he traveled 5 streets and 3 of those
streets had branches in the street.
Stated he physically got out and put them back in the right of way. It is imperative that the Service Department
or the Police Department be out there putting those branches back in the right
of way. Asked the Mayor to look into
it.
Questioned with the merger of
Adelphia Cable and Time Warner was it possible for the Cable Representative
come and speak to Council?
Announced he did a survey, since
recycling counts are down, of 349 houses on two different Tuesdays and he is
happy to say that the people at Chestnut Trails had a 77% compliance for
recycling but recycling is way down overall in Ward 5. The City pays for recycling whether the
residents put it out or not.
Addressed Mrs. Huberty’s concern
about RV’s. Advised Mrs. Huberty to
speak to the Building Department, as there are codes and laws to follow. If there is something that needs to be done
or added to the codes of the City it is an Administrative function not a
Council function.
B. Furey:
Announced that on May 20, 2005 at
Twin Haven the Police Department will celebrate their 50th
Anniversary and tickets are still available.
Announced that on June 6, 2005 at
1:15 PM the Twinsburg Hockey Team is having their first benefit at Windmill
Lakes Country Club. Tickets may be
purchased by contacting Steve Williams at 330-425-8042.
S. Murphy:
Addressed Mr. Henry’s letter
regarding the BZA decisions and is asking Mr. Webster to review page 2 of his
letter, look at the information he has where he states the lot is landlocked
and never intended for development.
Where he got this information Mr. Murphy stated he did not know. Mr. Murphy went on reading, if the easement
was granted by the former owner in November of 1991 it was to allow Geis
Development the requested access for clean ups and maintenance. In his next sentence he states that his
initial good will offer to J.C. Jones Construction allowing the use of water
retention area is hereby rescinded.
Mr. Murphy asked Mr. Webster if
that was an action that would have any affect on this?
Mr. Webster stated there is no way
that he knows of to determine that any property is ever not intended for
development unless that property is dedicated to public use or set aside for
another reason. None of that happened
with this property. Secondly the
easement question, an easement is an easement unless it is a pipeline easement,
which it is not. This is an easement
for access to that property and that is what the terms of the easement are. Whoever owns that property has a right to
exercise that right. Mr. Webster stated
he knew nothing of the run off problems and if there are run off problems there
are other agencies that can take care that.
Mrs. Studer stated that the water
run off was addressed at the BZA meeting and at first they were going to
originally use the retention area owned by Desco. Since that had been rescinded, J. C. Jones Construction Company
stated they would go to other methods in order to take care of it.
Mr. Webster stated the Mayor, the
Law Department, the Engineering Department, the Building Department and the
Planning Director have all met concerning this property and concerning these
requests. Mr. Maistros reviewed it very carefully and gave a written opinion as
to what the situation is and everyone is satisfied that the BZA acted legally.
Mr. McDermott stated there was a
stipulation in that approval that a review of a written agreement for
maintenance of the driveway and the storm water basis be done. So there is a stipulation from the Planning
Commission.
Mr. Murphy stated a question came
up this evening about Boards and Commission being notified as to what Council
is doing with regards to ordinances. He
asked the Law Director if there would be any problem if the IT Department can
get the City’s website to where it could handle this and that Ordinances
Council is getting would be posted on that website.
Mr. Webster stated there would not
be a problem but that would not satisfy the posting requirements as set forth
in the City code. Council could amend
that somehow to add as one of the posting sites. As to the Boards and Commissions that would be a good way to
communicate with them but what he feels Mr. Hon is suggesting is that there be
references and things referred to Boards and Commissions. Council does not have to do that unless
required by law. Certain Planning
Commission issues have to be referred to that Commission.
Mr. Murphy mentioned the Relay for
Life will be holding the event in Twinsburg in June and they are putting teams
together right now. Council will have a
team again this year.
Tied into that is the American
Cancer Society is putting together petitions to the State of Ohio to ban
smoking in public places in the State.
He is requesting that Twinsburg do nothing at this time especially as legislation
that the City would control. If we do
anything in Twinsburg, it should go on the ballot and let the people
decide. According to the American
Cancer Society, they plan on having this on the State ballot within two years.
ADJOURNMENT:
This meeting unanimously adjourned at 10:40pm.
ATTEST:
__________________________________ ______________________________
Cynthia A. Kaderle Steve,
Murphy
Clerk of Council President
of Council