LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS / University Heights City Council meeting highlights 3-16-2-15 and 4-6-2015

MARCH 16, 2015

NOTE: No LWV observer was available to cover the March 16 city council meeting.

APRIL 6, 2015

• Mayor’s report
• Medical director
• Purvis Park
• Staffing contracts
• Braun & Steidl Architects
• Cedar Road resurfacing
• Playground project
• New police vehicles
• Pavement marking contract
• Garage doors
• Meritech
  
  

All council members were present.

Mayor’s report

Election polling center: The election polling center at John Carroll University is moving from the recreation center to the Dolan Science Center, which has better parking and accessibility for voters.

Annual county health report: The annual report from the Cuyahoga County Board of Health is available in the lobby of city hall and details the various reasons why the board of health visited and/or provided services to the City of University Heights in 2014.

Tree City USA: The city has received another Tree City USA designation—seemingly the 37th consecutive year for the honor.

Fair Housing Month: Mayor Susan Infeld issued a proclamation proclaiming April as Fair Housing Month in the City of University Heights.

Medical director

Council once again tabled a motion authorizing an agreement with Dr. Arnold Feltoon to serve as the medical director of the city jail, at the rate of $500 per month, because the contract was not included with the documentation, although it did include a copy of his insurance policy. The city is required by law to provide access to medical care for detainees. Feltoon, who currently serves as the medical director, triages patients who complain of ailments and determines the best course of action. The language of the contract requires him to carry liability insurance, and has added wording to allow for the termination of the contract if necessary.

Purvis Park

The pricing of activities at Purvis Park was presented on first reading. Changes for 2015 include increased prices for tennis and swim teams and swim lessons, and use of price ranges for snack bar items instead of prices for specific individual types of candies and treats.

Staffing contracts

Two contracts, one for arborist and one for city engineer, were presented on first reading:

Thomas Morgan would provide professional services as the city’s arborist. Morgan is certified by the International Society of Arborists, and has worked with University Heights since 2011. The contract would be for two years with a possible third-year extension at the discretion of the mayor.

Joseph Ciuni, of GPD Group, would serve as the city’s engineer. Ciuni’s time and services are included in the retainer, but any additional services such as survey crews or architectural drawings are charged as additional services under the contract. Ciuni declines all private contracts for work within University Heights but is available to provide consultation and referrals to residents.

Braun & Steidl Architects

Council approved a contract with Braun & Steidl Architects to provide professional design and planning services for a community park, and a payment of $29,000 for work completed in 2014 for the concept plans and drawings of the park on Fenwick Road.

Cedar Road resurfacing

Council authorized an agreement with Cuyahoga County for the resurfacing of Cedar Road from I-271 to South Green Road. The University Heights portion of the project is only about 500 feet. The other cities involved in this project are Lyndhurst, South Euclid and Beachwood. The county will pay for 20 percent of the paving plus design costs. This project is planned for the 2019 fiscal year, which begins in July 2018.

Playground project

Council authorized submission of a grant application to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to help fund the community park playground project. This is the same grant fund that provided funding for repaving and repairs of the tennis courts in 2014. These funds would be used to pay for the playground at the park on Fenwick Road, thereby shortening the collection period for the bond funds.

New police vehicles

Council approved purchasing equipment for the new police vehicles. The city had to switch to completely new vehicles (Ford Interceptors), and none of the equipment could be transferred over from the old vehicles. These purchases include:

• Emergency equipment from Statewide Emergency for five new police cars in the amount of $26,287.85, including light bars, push bumpers, trunk compartments, panels and radio consoles.
• The installation of the emergency equipment by B&C Communications in the amount of $7,235.50. This service was not put out to bid because the cost per car is less than the minimum and this is a highly specialized type of work.
• Four Mobile Data Terminals from Data 911 in the amount of $28,227. Only four were purchased because the computers are not put in undercover cars.
• Four in-car video systems from L3 Mobile-Vision Inc. in the amount of $26,650.24. This video system is proprietary, provided under the state contract system. Police Chief Hammett explained that the video cameras are started whenever the emergency lights are turned on and, although the camera is only able to tape in front of the car, the audio is recorded wherever the officer is positioned.
  
  

Pavement marking contract

Council authorized a requirements contract with the City of Shaker Heights and A&A Safety Inc. as the selected contractor for street pavement markings (pedestrian crosswalks, stop bars, etc.). This three-year contract is managed by Shaker Heights and renewable annually.

Garage doors

Council authorized an agreement with Advance Door Company for the replacement of three bay doors on the truck garage and one bay door on the mechanics garage, not to exceed $19,495.

Meritech

Council authorized an agreement with Meritech for IT help desk services. After concerns were raised last year about a University Heights employee being related to the contactor at Meritech, the city hired a person to review all of the city’s IT needs and sought bids from many different contractors, but Meritech still provided the closest match to what the city needed.

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 of Greater Cleveland. This disclaimer must accompany any redistribution of these reports.