University Heights City Council meeting highlights [1-18-11]

JANUARY 18, 2011

  • State of the City address
  • New service director
  • Senior services manager
  • TIF repayment plan
  • Board of Zoning Appeals case
  • Political signs

All council members were present.

State of the City address

In her State of the City address, Mayor Infeld stated that although there are still financial setbacks, the city ended 2010 with an $800,000 surplus, $500,000 more than was budgeted, due to higher tax collections from R.I.T.A. (Regional Income Tax Agency) and the settlement of a large estate. Also, the mayor had reduced personnel, increased efficiencies, reduced costs for supplies and printing, and eliminated erroneous billing from the Illuminating Company.

Mayor Infeld said she is meeting with mayors of neighboring communities to identify ways to share resources and lower costs.

New service director

Resident Sheila Hubman praised the assistant service director for handling the job of interim service director seamlessly. Rob Jamieson was appointed as the new service director.

Senior services manager

Walter Stinson was reappointed as senior services manager. Councilman Phil Ertel praised Stinson for the quality and range of programs he organized at the University Heights Library. There were suggestions to promote these programs through the phone notification system and to have them videotaped by Heights High students and posted on the city’s website.

TIF repayment plan

Virginia Benjamin of Calfee, Halter & Griswold reported on the negotiation for payment of monies owed from TIF (Tax Increment Financing) for University Square. One-fourth of the two million dollars has been repaid thus far. Rollback payments have not been made and monies are owed to the school district. The initial amounts owed are offset by reduced property taxes, primarily at University Square Center. The mayor’s budget will include $60,000 per year for the next seven years to pay off the rollback funds.

Board of Zoning Appeals case

Robert Weizman appeared before council with his attorney and contractor to seek approval to maintain his front setback variance and be allowed to complete the project. Council voted to give Weizman one more month to complete the work, with fines to be incurred if the deadline is not met. Councilman Sims cast the one dissenting vote due to his doubts that the project would be completed.

Political signs

There was a first reading of several ordinances concerning political signs. They included repeal of the durational time limit of political signs, permission of signs in certain residential districts, exclusion from the permit application procedure and from the temporary sign requirements.

LWV observer: Wendy Deuring.

These meeting summaries are abstracted from LWV observers’ written reports. The summaries have been edited and prepared by Anne McFarland, Charlene Morse and Maryann Barnes. To receive e-mail postings of full reports, send an e-mail to mbarnes9515@gmail.com or join through Google groups using “lwv-chuh observer reports” as a search phrase.

These reports contain member observation and selected highlights of public meetings and are not official statements of the Heights Chapter of the League of Women Voters Cuyahoga Area. This disclaimer must accompany any redistribution of these reports.

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