Cleveland Heights City Council meeting highlights 8-19-2013

AUGUST 19, 2013

• Citizen comments
• Mayfield Road resurfacing
• Youth Advisory Commission
• Vehicle sale
• Undercover vehicles
• Cain Park

Council Member Mary A. Dunbar was absent.

Citizen comments

Heights Bicycle Coalition: Resident Lee Reese, representing the Heights Bicycle Coalition, thanked council for its support in making the city bike-friendly and requested formation of a transportation advisory committee to coordinate efforts for pedestrians, bikes, “safe walk to school,” the needs of disabled citizens, etc. Mayor Edward Kelley noted that Mary Dunbar, council member, had already discussed this idea and it will be a topic at an October council work session.

Candidacy: Resident Jeff Coryell announced his candidacy for city council and made a statement about his skills, abilities and civic activities.

League of Women Voters forum on bond issue: Blanche Valancy, co-chair of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Chapter of the Cuyahoga Area League of Women Voters, announced a public forum on the Cleveland Heights-University Heights (CH-UH) school bond issue that will be on the November ballot. The issue will fund the first phase of the CH-UH school district facilities plan. The forum will take place at the Lee Road Library on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 7 p.m. She encouraged citizens to attend and bring their questions for representatives of groups supporting and opposing the bond issue.

Private parking lot: Resident and business owner Darlene White pointed out misuse of the private parking lot at Mayfield and Lee roads. Her business pays to allow it’s customers to park there, but others use the lot and ignore and harass her for trying to enforce the rules on behalf of her customers. Mayor Kelley referred White to appropriate city staff for assistance.

Mayfield Road resurfacing

Council authorized an agreement with CT Consultants Inc., for construction administration and support services for the Mayfield Road Resurfacing Project for a sum not to exceed $71,700 plus expenses. Construction administrators act as the eyes of the city on site, to ensure the quantity of materials and quality of work are correct.

Youth Advisory Commission

Council amended the ordinance establishing the Youth Advisory Commission (YAC) to add as nonvoting members any high school senior who sat on the YAC the previous year and wishes to continue to participate. Applications for the coming year will be available online in September.

Vehicle sale

Council adopted procedures for the sale of 35 police department and public works department vehicles that are unneeded, obsolete, or unfit for public use. Three will be sold to East Cleveland and 32 will be sold at auction on Sept. 21, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., at 2881 Noble Road.

Undercover vehicles

Council authorized an agreement with the City of Cleveland to receive funds as a subgrantee from the Ohio Department of Criminal Justice Services for $30,000, to reimburse purchase of undercover vehicles to be used by the Cleveland Heights Police Department as part of the Northeast Ohio Law Enforcement Task Force.

Cain Park

Bonnie Caplan, council member and vice chair of the recreation committee, praised staff for their work and the appearance of the parks this summer. She said that performers love appearing at Cain Park and love the audiences. The Cain Park history exhibit that had been in the Cain Park gallery all summer will be remounted in the city hall atrium.

LWV Observer: Blanche Valancy.

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 -email 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.