I'm concerned by the unilateral decision making by the Mayor like eliminating parking on E Center St. This should be a Council decision. And we shouldn't be painting 90 year old granite curbs. If no parking is indeed chosen, let's put something in place less inappropriate to an historic Village, like a sign. Our historic fabric should be preserved.
Cortney
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
3/14 Council recap
I attended council on mon 3/14 and here's what I saw:
No parking signs. This process Is broken. There are few issues in mm more important than parking and one person should not make the call. There is no safety issue at that corner regardless of what was said. This is a neighborhood dispute, again a situation where government does not need to intervene. And we're worse off when it does. These signs have no legal binding and I'm curious to see the first challenge to a parking ticket and how it plays out. I fear we will lose in court. Council should play a key role in these decisions.
Bill pay process. Good news here. Bills aren't mailed until after Council approves. This step makes me feel comfortable that our vote actually matters
Letter from Citizen re waste in Maintenance Dept. We'll get into this in detail next Council, but there are some accusations that warrant inspection. We need to make sure we're getting every dollar of value out of investments managed by Maintenance (ie Tree planting). John's an honest, hard worker, and I'm sure we can figure out each line item. More to come on this.
Fire OT (after end of meeting). OT went from $0 to a few hundred dollars each month, mostly attributed to Tim Feichtner. Rick and Jeff spent 20 mins with me after Council and I walked away feeling better about why it's happening. Our decision to run with fewer full time has a side effect: less loyalty when we need someone to step in last minute. There is an opportunity to fill the part time roster with great, and more available folks, but this won't fix it. So, it's unfortunate that we spend too much sometimes, but it's a "cost of doing business". I can live with it. Thx Rick and Jeff for their continued patience with my repeated questions on this and other subjects.
Votes. I voted in the affirmative on all votes as all were procedural in nature.
Video of meeting. ICRCtv.com
Cortney
No parking signs. This process Is broken. There are few issues in mm more important than parking and one person should not make the call. There is no safety issue at that corner regardless of what was said. This is a neighborhood dispute, again a situation where government does not need to intervene. And we're worse off when it does. These signs have no legal binding and I'm curious to see the first challenge to a parking ticket and how it plays out. I fear we will lose in court. Council should play a key role in these decisions.
Bill pay process. Good news here. Bills aren't mailed until after Council approves. This step makes me feel comfortable that our vote actually matters
Letter from Citizen re waste in Maintenance Dept. We'll get into this in detail next Council, but there are some accusations that warrant inspection. We need to make sure we're getting every dollar of value out of investments managed by Maintenance (ie Tree planting). John's an honest, hard worker, and I'm sure we can figure out each line item. More to come on this.
Fire OT (after end of meeting). OT went from $0 to a few hundred dollars each month, mostly attributed to Tim Feichtner. Rick and Jeff spent 20 mins with me after Council and I walked away feeling better about why it's happening. Our decision to run with fewer full time has a side effect: less loyalty when we need someone to step in last minute. There is an opportunity to fill the part time roster with great, and more available folks, but this won't fix it. So, it's unfortunate that we spend too much sometimes, but it's a "cost of doing business". I can live with it. Thx Rick and Jeff for their continued patience with my repeated questions on this and other subjects.
Votes. I voted in the affirmative on all votes as all were procedural in nature.
Video of meeting. ICRCtv.com
Cortney
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Council 2/28
I attended Council on Feb 28 and here's what I saw.
Denise McCarthy. She's going to be a great addition to Council. Her perspective as a renter plus her tenure in the Historic district will be helpful as we try and "right the ship" there.
Town Meeting Rules. Code of Ordinances defers to Ohio Revised Code, which states we have a 30 day window for COUNCIL to re-appoint. (ORC says Council explicitly - not an issue per se, just a clarification). I reviewed the language today. Town Meeting requires a caucus within **2 weeks** to fill the position. So in this case, TM is the more restrictive requirement. Todd Keyes confirmed this for me today. Todd held a Caucus on Saturday and had 8 attendees, a sufficent quorum. Denise M was unanimously endorsed. Todd confirmed this for me today. Net net, I'm satisfied that we're not unnecessarily rushing into things. And I also continue to hear good things about Denise, mainly that she's passionate about the Historic District. And energy there is in short supply....
Tree Species. I think we should plant right out of John Nolen's Bill of Materials from the 1920s. We should plant less of these ornamentals which seem to cause problems. And let's over plant. We are at risk with too little investment, as I have said previously.
Fire Dpt Overtime. This is a problem, and while you can't eliminate it completely, it's going to unravel the difficult decisions made last year to live within our means financially. I would like to see the Fire Dpt tap into this growing list of Part Timers to reduce our reliance on OT.
Traffic Calming. LOVE the databased points system Dennis is working on. This is the right way to approach this, leaving emotion out of it. I would like an override option though, if a majority on the street say "no thanks". I wouldn't put something in place if a majority were against it.
I voted in the affirmative on all votes. Street approval seemed reasonable. I would like us to dig deeper into the Hafner contract and see if it's truly the value that some claim it to be. On the surface it's not a bad thing, so with what I know, a yes vote was appropriate.
To view
ICRCTV.com
Cortney
Denise McCarthy. She's going to be a great addition to Council. Her perspective as a renter plus her tenure in the Historic district will be helpful as we try and "right the ship" there.
Town Meeting Rules. Code of Ordinances defers to Ohio Revised Code, which states we have a 30 day window for COUNCIL to re-appoint. (ORC says Council explicitly - not an issue per se, just a clarification). I reviewed the language today. Town Meeting requires a caucus within **2 weeks** to fill the position. So in this case, TM is the more restrictive requirement. Todd Keyes confirmed this for me today. Todd held a Caucus on Saturday and had 8 attendees, a sufficent quorum. Denise M was unanimously endorsed. Todd confirmed this for me today. Net net, I'm satisfied that we're not unnecessarily rushing into things. And I also continue to hear good things about Denise, mainly that she's passionate about the Historic District. And energy there is in short supply....
Tree Species. I think we should plant right out of John Nolen's Bill of Materials from the 1920s. We should plant less of these ornamentals which seem to cause problems. And let's over plant. We are at risk with too little investment, as I have said previously.
Fire Dpt Overtime. This is a problem, and while you can't eliminate it completely, it's going to unravel the difficult decisions made last year to live within our means financially. I would like to see the Fire Dpt tap into this growing list of Part Timers to reduce our reliance on OT.
Traffic Calming. LOVE the databased points system Dennis is working on. This is the right way to approach this, leaving emotion out of it. I would like an override option though, if a majority on the street say "no thanks". I wouldn't put something in place if a majority were against it.
I voted in the affirmative on all votes. Street approval seemed reasonable. I would like us to dig deeper into the Hafner contract and see if it's truly the value that some claim it to be. On the surface it's not a bad thing, so with what I know, a yes vote was appropriate.
To view
ICRCTV.com
Cortney
Friday, February 25, 2011
Council 2/14
I attended council 2/14 and here'ss what I saw.
Sorry to see Kim go. Shes been a supportive partner. Denise seems like a fine replacement. Worried about town meeting process being upheld.
Andy's no vote on Mowing Contract. I respect his opinion, and I welcome him as the newest member of the 5-1 club :) I think there are problems, yes, and we should continue to expect more of our contractors, however nothing I saw suggested a "do over" scenario for 2011.
I voted in the affirmative on all votes.
Cortney
Sorry to see Kim go. Shes been a supportive partner. Denise seems like a fine replacement. Worried about town meeting process being upheld.
Andy's no vote on Mowing Contract. I respect his opinion, and I welcome him as the newest member of the 5-1 club :) I think there are problems, yes, and we should continue to expect more of our contractors, however nothing I saw suggested a "do over" scenario for 2011.
I voted in the affirmative on all votes.
Cortney
Health and Rec Committee Meeting Feb 2011
I attended Health & Rec Committee Meeting and here's what I saw.
Toy Lot Fence is a good idea but is too high. I'm still sportive but worried about the view/aesthetics
Pool enhancements. I support overinvesting here because they had a strong revenue year last year and we received lots of negative feedback from residents in how outdated our offering is vs other communities.
Cortney
Toy Lot Fence is a good idea but is too high. I'm still sportive but worried about the view/aesthetics
Pool enhancements. I support overinvesting here because they had a strong revenue year last year and we received lots of negative feedback from residents in how outdated our offering is vs other communities.
Cortney
Attended Committee of Whole
I attended the Committee of the Whole to discuss annual appropriations. Here's what I saw.
-Trees. We under invest continually in tree replanting. We are at risk, increasing every year. However I'm not much of a salesman and got budget up only +$5000. We need much more focus here. We live within the canopy of a dedicated, focus effort in the 1920's. Without big, continued investments, we will lose the canopy.
-Turnout gear for fire. 40 people on a part time roster is fine until you factor in a need for personal gear for all. Gear costs $2000 per each. I'd like us to reduce this number to a minimum. Maybe 25? Rick and Jeff would need to sign off for sure, but we should crank up quality AND availability and reduce the list's members.
-Police cruiser. New Taurus interceptor is a nice fuel savings story. Would like to see us go 100%6 cyl engines for our fleet.
Cortney
-Trees. We under invest continually in tree replanting. We are at risk, increasing every year. However I'm not much of a salesman and got budget up only +$5000. We need much more focus here. We live within the canopy of a dedicated, focus effort in the 1920's. Without big, continued investments, we will lose the canopy.
-Turnout gear for fire. 40 people on a part time roster is fine until you factor in a need for personal gear for all. Gear costs $2000 per each. I'd like us to reduce this number to a minimum. Maybe 25? Rick and Jeff would need to sign off for sure, but we should crank up quality AND availability and reduce the list's members.
-Police cruiser. New Taurus interceptor is a nice fuel savings story. Would like to see us go 100%6 cyl engines for our fleet.
Cortney
Thursday, February 3, 2011
1/24 Council recap
I attended 1/24 Council Meeting and here's what I saw:
Dumpster trash & unsightliness. MarieElders' complaints are valid in my opinion. I think we ought to do more and require commercial trash cans to be shielded and kept out of view (just like residents).
Fear of losing Estate Tax income. Paul T confirmed we on average get about 8% of our budget from this generous source. If Gov Kasich and the legislature eliminate, we'll have to plug that hole in a painful way: less services for more $$$.
West Street Parking. I appreciate Dan calling and giving me a heads up ahead of Council. After lots of thought (no data yet), I have real concerns about this. Why should government intervene when neighbors don't get along. Last time that happened, we lost a heritage tree south of Wooster Pike. Why should we spend $100,000 (estimate) of money better spent on real improvement. The Village should control LESS property, not more. Sidewalks will be lost since some of them will touch the adjacent buildings. These spaces aren't close enough to the Square to do any good. More parking/more backing means safety concerns. Why design for 3-5 days a year when the school is full of visitors? We will lose all 15 trees (most >18" Diameter). This change is a HUGE departure from Nolen's plan. And, it'll be unsightly. Unless I'm presented with compelling data to the contrary, I don't see the need for Council to get involved.
I voted in the affirmative on all votes. All were procedural in nature except for the salary ordinance. Increases seem reasonable, and position us to better retain employees ahead of the predicted economic recovery in 2011.
Watch video at icrctv.com
Cortney
Dumpster trash & unsightliness. MarieElders' complaints are valid in my opinion. I think we ought to do more and require commercial trash cans to be shielded and kept out of view (just like residents).
Fear of losing Estate Tax income. Paul T confirmed we on average get about 8% of our budget from this generous source. If Gov Kasich and the legislature eliminate, we'll have to plug that hole in a painful way: less services for more $$$.
West Street Parking. I appreciate Dan calling and giving me a heads up ahead of Council. After lots of thought (no data yet), I have real concerns about this. Why should government intervene when neighbors don't get along. Last time that happened, we lost a heritage tree south of Wooster Pike. Why should we spend $100,000 (estimate) of money better spent on real improvement. The Village should control LESS property, not more. Sidewalks will be lost since some of them will touch the adjacent buildings. These spaces aren't close enough to the Square to do any good. More parking/more backing means safety concerns. Why design for 3-5 days a year when the school is full of visitors? We will lose all 15 trees (most >18" Diameter). This change is a HUGE departure from Nolen's plan. And, it'll be unsightly. Unless I'm presented with compelling data to the contrary, I don't see the need for Council to get involved.
I voted in the affirmative on all votes. All were procedural in nature except for the salary ordinance. Increases seem reasonable, and position us to better retain employees ahead of the predicted economic recovery in 2011.
Watch video at icrctv.com
Cortney
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
