Stow City Council

City council had another busy Thursday tonight, with meetings of Committee of the Whole, Finance Committee, and Council. My notes are below:

MEMORIAL DAY – Please consider attending the Memorial Day ceremony on Monday at 10:15 a.m. at Stow Cemetery (across from Holy Family). It’s always a nice event, where we remember those who gave their lives to serve us. The date always has extra meaning for me. About 7 years ago, I lost a close friend who served in the Marines. Cpl. Joseph A. Tomci was a 21-year-old was serving in Iraq when he was killed by a roadside bomb. I posted a picture of us together below. Joe’s friends have since started the Cpl. Joseph A. Tomci Memorial Foundation (501(c)(3)) in his honor to help out military families. By the way, if you are a golfer, we would love to have you join us at our fourth annual golf outing, July 27 at Roses Run. Check out our Web site for more details.

TRANSPARENCY AND GREEN SAVINGS — Tonight, council voted unanimously to make city council paperless. It also rejected, by a 4-3 vote, my proposal to cut paper consumption by 2/3rds over the course of the next five years (savings of $25,000 per year).

We had been discussing this legislation for two months. We even had a subcommittee meeting to discuss the proposal. I amended it significantly to suit Mayor Drew’s tastes. But tonight, without the courtesy of a warning, she raised objections about the proposal — calling it “unenforceable.” Even after the law director shot her down on that point, four councilmembers voted “no.” Why? One member cited administrative burden. So maybe that’s it …?

At the same time, these four members are begging for more of the people’s money through an income tax increase. Yet they refuse to analyze where we can trim back in this manner at city hall.

In any event, I’m pleased we were able to pass the most wide-sweeping reform of city council in decades. The Transparency and Green Savings Act will save money, and it will allow residents to have access to the same information that we access on a daily basis. You, then, can better determine if we are doing our jobs properly. More transparency –> more accountability –> better government. Or so my theory goes. The Government Transparency Portal will go live on the Internet no later than January 1, 2014.

I appreciate the help I received in getting this ordinance passed. Next year, perhaps with a different makeup of council, Stow City Council can pass the paper-reduction piece as well.

INCOME TAX LEVY — The majority of the night was spent discussing the income tax proposal, which would raise income taxes by 0.25 percent and be used to hire between nine and 11 police officers. City council is discussing the levy, because a vote of council is required to put it on the ballot

First things first, I will vote to put this on the ballot, but we must first close the loopholes. As I have already stated, with this current proposal, the people may think they are getting more cops, but that is not guaranteed by any means.

The levy, if passed, will provide $1.5 million for police. But it does not protect the current $5.2 million that is being used to fund the police from the general fund. Without ensuring that $5.2 million continues to be given to the police department, voters could be unwittingly giving Mayor Drew an extra $1.5 million to use in the general fund — where it may be spent on any purpose Drew and the future councilmembers so desire.

To close the loophole, we need to amend the charter. I’m working with the law department to come up with language that will accomplish this.

The mayor wanted this to be voted on tonight — after just two of the three required readings, and without closing the loophole. Why such a hurry? The Board of Elections deadline is not an issue. Let’s take our time and do things the right way.

NEXT MEETINGS – Please join Matt Riehl and me for our monthly meetings with residents on Tuesday, June 4 at 5:30 p.m. in the second floor conference room at City Hall. City council will meet next for committees on June 10.

My notes from last night’s meetings are below:

Blighted houses / meth houses – If you have kept up on the headlines in Stow, you’ve seen an increase in meth house activity. Your elected officials have noticed the same thing. We discussed last night a couple things we are doing to head off the problem.

First, the city is using money from an attorney general settlement to demolish homes that are vacant and in terrible condition. Four have already been taken down, and five more are scheduled. These are all homes that are not able to be restored.

Second, there are some homes that, while structurally sound, are not habitable because of prior drug activity. The law department proposed legislation last night to require their owners to clean up the houses that formerly contained clandestine drug labs. In the absence of a cleanup, the legislation will allow for the house to be demolished.

I intend to add a couple protections for homeowners that are wrongfully accused of maintaining a drug lab. Aside from that, I believe this to be a good piece of legislation. It will require owners of rental properties to take more of an interest in what activity is conducted at the premises.

The legislation is based upon Cuyahoga Falls’ ordinance. Falls has used the ordinance about 50 times since it was passed in 2009.

Road repairs – The Roads & Safety Committee went on a field trip last night. We toured the various streets in the community that either 1) have been repaired, or 2) are in a stage of disrepair.

I scheduled this meeting so that my colleagues can view just how bad some of Stow’s neighborhoods are maintained.

Click the link below to see the handout from the Roads Tour. It includes a ranking of every street in the city (page 12). Below is the ranking system.

100 – 91 Very Good
90 – 75 Good
74 – 65 Fair
64 – 55 Fair to Poor
54 – 40 Poor
39 – 0 Very Poor

2013 Roads Tour

Also included in that handout is the proposed 2013 paving list. That list will not be confirmed until labor and material costs are finalized.

City council will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Last night, we did something unusual. We held both our committee meetings and our council meeting on the same night. My notes from those meetings are below:

SMOKE DETECTOR LEGISLATION — I was surprised to see the amount of residents who came to the meeting to oppose the legislation that requires residences to have operational smoke detectors. Up until last year, this was the law. When we improved our building code, we accidentally removed the ordinance. Last night, we sought to replace it.

Folks were concerned that the city would be entering homes and inspecting for smoke detectors. Nothing in the legislation stated that. Nevertheless, I drafted an amendment that makes it clear: “Nothing contained in this Section 1509.09 will give the city the right to enter a premises.” I also added an amendment to reduce the penalty from a first-degree misdemeanor (far too harsh) to a minor misdemeanor.

I want to clarify something, as well…. I got several calls from people asking why I proposed the legislation. I didn’t. The legislation came from the Roads & Safety Committee. I serve as chairman of that committee. On the top of the legislation, therefore, it states “INTRODUCED BY RASOR.” In the future, please note: the person who “introduces” the legislation is not usually the person who proposed it, drafted it, sponsored it, or supports it. It only denotes the chairman of the committee from which the legislation arose.

The legislation was voted out of committee, but I asked for it to be only given a reading. I plan to bring it for a vote on May 23.

SERVICE DEPARTMENT SHAKE-UP — Nick Wren is now our service director, and his department is going through a necessary shake-up in order to reduce management and increase the number of boots on the ground. The new organizational chart will not include an Assistant Service Director. Rather, both Marc Anderson and Don Brooker will be Deputy Service Directors. The savings will allow us to hire another laborer.

When I joined council in 2010, the city’s operations were far too top-heavy (i.e., more management than what’s necessary). In the past few years, we have made great strides to rectify much of that.

INCOME TAX HIKE — The mayor’s income tax hike came before Committee of the Whole, and it stirred some good debate. City council will need to approve the measure before it can be placed on the ballot.

I view city council’s role in this way: We are the guardians to make sure the ballot language is clear and fair. We also must protect against loopholes.

And this proposal has a giant, gaping loophole that threatens to completely undermine the voters’ intent.

This is somewhat complicated, so I will explain it as clearly as I am able…

The city will spend about $5.7 million on its police department in 2013. The income tax levy proposes to raise about an additional $1.7 million. That $1.7 million, by law, will be required to be spent on police.

So you’re probably thinking: If the levy passes, then the police department will have about $7.4 million in 2015. Not quite.

Unlike the tax levy revenue, which is legally tied to police, there is no legal requirement that the city has to continue providing the initial $5.7 million in funding. It would be perfectly legal for Mayor Drew to cut that down to $4.0 million (or, really, anywhere under $5.7 million). And then the 2015 police spending could be far less than the projected $7.4 million.

That could give the mayor an additional $1.7 million to use elsewhere in the city — not necessarily on the police.

We have seen no budget for how the $1.7 million will be spent. We do know, however, that it costs only $675,000 to hire nine police officers, and yet the tax will raise $1 million in excess of that. You can see why I’m on guard — that $1 million has to go somewhere!

I will only vote to put this on the ballot if this loophole is closed. On the whole, I am OK with allowing the voters to decide whether they want to pay more money for more police. As I have been saying since 2009, we could DEFINITELY use more police.

(Another thing should be made clear to voters: There is no guarantee that a single police officer will be stationed in an elementary school. This is a police levy, not a school safety levy.)

ROADS TOUR — I scheduled the first meeting in three years that will take place outside of city council chambers. In fact, it won’t take place indoors at all.

The Roads and Safety Committee will meet on a bus at 6:15 p.m. on May 20. The bus tour will visit the worst-maintained streets in Stow.

Why am I doing this? Because I want my fellow councilmembers to see, first-hand, the deplorable conditions of some of our neighborhood roads. We need to repair them, and fast. If you delay (and Stow has), the repairs only become more and more costly.

I’m also inviting the public to join the bus tour. There are about 20 open seats. Please e-mail Helen Preebe (hpreebe@stow.oh.us) to reserve a spot. It will be first-come, first-served. Our clerk will keep minutes from the meeting, and you’re welcome to follow the bus in your own vehicle. The meeting will be called to order inside of city council chambers, and then leave from there.

The other committees will meet that night, beginning at 5:30 p.m.