Cleveland Heights City Council meeting highlights 4-20-2015

APRIL 20, 2015

• Public comments
• Easement agreement
• Bond issuance and sale
• Loan program interest rate
• Safe Routes to School
  
  

Council Member Mary Dunbar was absent.

Public comments

Amy Rosenbluth, executive director of Lake Erie Ink, a nonprofit writing program for young people, introduced Moonisa “Nia” Halim, the first teen poet laureate of Cleveland Heights, whose term ends next month. Halim read a poem.

Easement agreement

Council approved authorization of an amended agreement with the owners of 18101 Shelburne Road to permit a transparent fence on their existing ingress/egress easement over a portion of Tower Road. During the public comment part of the meeting, the property owner, Mike Conway, thanked council for considering the easement amendment for his property.

Recreation board appointment

Council approved the appointment of Martin Raska to the Recreation Advisory Board, filling the unexpired term (through May 2018) of Jordan Buress.

Bond issuance and sale

Council approved 12 ordinances providing for the issuance and sale of bonds for capital improvements. All were reviewed by the finance committee and in council’s capital budget meetings. Maximum amounts and purposes of the bonds include:

• $75,000 for renovating and improving the city hall complex.
• $165,000 for renovating and improving the city’s fire stations.
• $30,000 for acquiring motor vehicles and related equipment for the city’s fire department.
• $300,000 for resurfacing and other improvements to city surface parking areas.
• $205,000 for acquiring motor vehicles and related equipment for the city’s police department.
• $635,000 for acquiring motor vehicles and equipment for the city’s department of public works.
• $185,000 for renovating and improving the city service garage.
• $315,000 for improving the Cedar Lee District through sidewalk, curbing, and pavement removal; construction of concrete sidewalks and medians; stormwater improvement; landscaping, new curbing, and pavement; and provision of sidewalk lighting, signage, seating, trash receptacles, bike racks, and other streetscape amenities. This money will match $3.2 million in funds from other sources.
• $155,000 for acquiring and installing computer hardware, software, and related equipment to support the city’s management and administrative functions.
• $205,000 for installing traffic signals and security cameras.
• $110,000 for renovating and improving the city’s solid waste transfer station.
• $4.65 million for refunding, at a lower interest rate, certain of the city’s outstanding Parking Deck Improvement General Obligation Bonds, dated Aug. 5, 2008. This relates to the parking deck on Lee Road.
  
  

Loan program interest rate

Council amended prior legislation to reduce the interest rate of the Deferred Loan Program operated by the Housing Preservation Office from 5 percent to 2.5 percent on loans of up to $35,000. This program is particularly useful to elderly and disabled homeowners.

Safe Routes to School

Council authorized two applications to the Ohio Department of Transportation for federal Safe Routes to School funds to implement School Travel Plan recommendations: one application to implement infrastructure portions, anticipated not to exceed $200,000; and a second to implement non-infrastructure portions, anticipated not to exceed $15,000.

LWV Observer: Katherine Solender.

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.