Rasor for Stow

One highlight of tonight’s meeting was Shawn Porter (see above) getting an accomodation. Another highlight was about 40 people coming to talk about Fox Den, almost all of them opposing the sale. They made me look like the other guy in that picture. Just kidding.

The people present were concerned about 1) the course becoming a housing development, 2) Stow getting a bad deal on the course.

On the first issue, we can rezone the property, insert a restrictive clause into the deed, or have the contract give the city the right of first refusal on subsequent sales. Rezoning the property for greenspace-only is probably the easiest. The restrictive covenant would be enforceable in court by injunction, so residents don’t need to worry about it a subsequent owner breaking it. The third option is an added layer of protection. We can do all three of these to protect nearby homeowners.

On the second issue, you’re misconstruing my plan. I only want to see bids. I’m not up for selling at half-price. Is there any harm in fact-finding?

Despite ALL of the comments tonight, nobody answered my challenge. If someone did, and I missed it, please contact me. The challenge: One legitimate reason why it benefits the average Stowite to have Fox Den be owned by the city, rather than a private party.

But enough about the course… Tonight was proof that the Good Ole Boy Network is engaged in serious fear mongering. People approached the meeting, convinced that I want to close Bow-Wow Beach or the senior citizens center. I have been the most transparent councilman in this city’s history. Do you remember me ever saying anything like that?

No. But Sara Drew, the mayor and her friends are lying to people, unnecessarily stirring up their emotions. I honestly felt bad for a lot of people, especially the ones with whom I spoke during a break in the meeting. They were tricked into becoming angry at a straw person.

Drew took her lies public when she accused me of issuing a press release about money I was saving the city. She said I’m about “showmanship, not leadership.” Before hearing that, I didn’t intend to bring up my proposals that Jim Costello refused to present in committee — cutting council pay and manager’s salaries. At that point, I had to reveal that I wanted council to be leaders by cutting their own pay before looking to the unions. Same with managers.

Then we had the mayor tell a whopper of a lie, saying she helped come up with the idea for fundraising to buy/train Colt, the new police dog. Whatever. Nothing that comes out of her mouth surprises me anymore.

These people are shameless in lying to folks. But I’ll move on…

Council passed the budget tonight. It was a 4-3 vote. I voted “no,” along with Matt Riehl and Joe Hickin.

They struck down three of my five amendments: 1) 3 percent cut to parks (dickered down from 10, because I could tell that wouldn’t get four votes). 2) 3 percent cut to golf course expenditures. 3) Moving $100K from the Lodging Tax fund to the general fund to avoid using unencumbered funds. As to my other two amendments: 4) Janet refused to entertain my voluntary pay cut for council. 5) I didn’t bother with the manager pay cut, because it was apparent that we’d see another 4-3 vote, and it was too complicated to present orally.

At the end — after they shot down all of our cost-saving ideas, without presenting any of their own — Hickin proposed a 1 percent across-the-board cut of expenditures. Still, four members of council opposed it.

Sara Drew has no ability to think for herself. I’ve given up on her. Costello and D’Antonio seem like they want to cut costs, but they simply need to take a stand somewhere. I’m confident it will come.

In the end, this will probably wind up being a $500K deficit, and $1.5 million if you include the money taken from the roads fund. It’s a sad day for the future of the city when THIS is the best that our elected officials could come up with.

Please know that I am fighting for you. I’m fighting for the over-taxed Stow resident, who loves the city but cannot bear the next time the city asks for money. I’m fighting for the family whose road is deteriorating. I’m fighting for the people on cul de sacs, who wait and wait and wait to get out of their homes on some winter days. I will fight until the voters tell me to stop.

We lost today, but it was only the first round of the fight.

Since Monday night, I have received multiple nasty anonymous e-mails from people who say they are city employees. I even received a phone call traced to a pay phone at Kent State University.

First, I challenge you to actually provide some contact information so I can respond. Second, when you call me “immature,” yet your message lacks substance and includes only personal attacks, I have to ask which person is immature. Third, your premises are completely inaccurate: My plan includes no layoffs.

If you are a city employee, you must ignore the fear-mongering from the Good Ole Boy Network. Below, I pasted the EXACT wording of the amendments I’m proposing for the budget. No one’s job is mentioned.

1) Withdrawing $100,000 from the Lodging Tax fund to offset the use of unencumbered funds.

2) Reducing the Golf Course expenditures by $38,994.18 (3 percent).

3) Reducing the Parks and Recreation total expenditures (including funds for Administration, Recreation, Facility Improvement, and Parks Maintenance) by $158,553.60 (10 percent).

4) Otherwise reducing the total budget expenditures by $69,357.81 — cuts to be spread equitably across salaries of employees (non-union, non civil service, non-contract, and non-elected) earning in excess of $60,000.

5) Resolution agreeing among city council members to reject $1,660 each in 2010 earnings (10 percent).

Yes, I am proposing cuts to managerial salaries. Below, I will copy and paste the salaries that will be affected:

PS-City Engineer 100,796.80
Planning-Director 100,796.80
PS-Assistant City Engineer Road 95,035.20
PS-Assistant City Engineer Water 89,689.60
PS-Assistant Director 88,046.40
PS-Dep. Engineer Plans Examiner 83,158.40
Planning-Assistant Director 81,515.20
Finance-Deputy Director 79,497.60
PS-Superintendent Water 79,497.60
P&R-Director 77,958.40
PS-IS Project Manager 72,384.00
PS-Senior Engineer Storm 68,931.20
Planning-Economic Development 68,140.80
P&R-Manager 67,371.20
PS-Chief Inspector 67,371.20
Finance Coordinator-IS 67,371.20
Law-Deputy Director 67,246.40
PS-IS Network Administrator 63,668.80
PS-Superintendent Bldg. Main’t 61,172.80
Law-Asst. Director of Law 60,923.20
P&R-Supervisor Recreation 60,590.40
Police-Youth Services Coordinator 60,590.40
PS-Coordinator Comm. Information 60,590.40
PS-Superintendent Road 60,444.80

For employees making more than $80,000, the cut is 5 percent. For between $79,999 and $70,000, it is 4 percent. For between $69,999 and $60,000, it is 3 percent.

Council members (i.e. D’Antonio, Costello) talk up and down about fairness, fairness, fairness. I can’t speak on behalf of the administration, but I’ll be shocked if they don’t ask the unions to give up some money at the upcoming negotiations. Is it fair that a street worker has to give up money, while an employee making upwards of six figures does not? Absolutely not!

I feel that this government is top-heavy. Managers must take a pay cut, just like the unions did. I think it would be a travesty if city council did not chip in, as well. That is the reason I am proposing a 10 percent cut for council. (And yes, I’m fully aware of the charter provision preventing this. This should not prevent council from doing the right thing.)

City council seems content to push off today’s problems to next year. It seems not to care that we are taking $1.1 million from our roads fund to offset irresponsible spending. It wants to ignore this courthouse transfer that is speculative at best. I learned yesterday that NO BILL is currently being considered by any committee in the Ohio General Assembly. And yet the mayor thinks the bailout is coming. This is the sort of “positive thinking” that has compounded our problems.

I might not win this fight, but I’m not going to give up. If the people don’t like it, they shouldn’t have elected me. You have two years to put up with me questioning expenditures, asking the tough questions and presenting solutions.

And if you have something nasty to say, at least have the courage to give me a chance to respond. I have tough skin, and I’m not vindictive. These drive-by comments don’t help.

In other news…

The Finance Committee will meet at 6:15 tomorrow to discuss the budget. The mayor has asked the Booster Club to attend in order to protest my proposals regarding Fox Den. Below is the message to the club:

As you may have read, the City of Stow is currently wrestling with how to address a current budget shortfall.

One of the most highly contested means of reducing the City’s budget would be the sale of Fox Den Golf Course. Whether you initially supported the City’s purchase of the golf course, or rejected the concept from the start, the current reality is that the City owns this asset, and a sale at this time would likely result in a significant financial loss for the City.

As the home course for the Stow-Munroe Falls High School golf teams, Fox Den serves as a wonderful resource for both the girls and boys golf teams, and represents the best alternative for these teams. Further, when one considers the current state of our School District’s financial situation, the current mutually beneficial relationship that exists between the District and the City in support of our golf teams generates a win-win-win situation that goes well beyond the dollars-and-cents calculation, but strengthens our sense of community as well.

Mayor Fritschel, long a supporter of our Booster Club, has requested that the Club lend its support in favor of keeping the golf course, as opposed to selling this asset, in an effort to meet short-term municipal budgetary objectives. The Booster Club is being asked to show its support in favor of keeping Fox Den by attending the Stow City Council Committee meeting this Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. in Council Chambers located at 3760 Darrow Rd.

A strong showing of Booster Club support at this meeting sends a very important message to the leaders of our community, and reinforces Booster Club’s role as a civic organization in the greater Stow-Munroe Falls community. Please give every consideration to attending this meeting to either express your thoughts on keeping this valuable community resource, or as a demonstration of mass support for this effort. Parents, Coaches, student athletes, fans and supporters of our teams, are all encouraged to weigh in on this very important issue.

Thank You,
Stow-Munroe Falls Booster Club

The Finance Committee met tonight to discuss the budget.

Beforehand, John Earle presented several ways to avoid spending a total of $300,000 from the unencumbered fund. Although these ideas are helpful, they mostly amount to moving money from one account to another or allocating revenue previously expected for 2011 into 2010’s budget.

First, the amended budget pays for Rob Kurtz’s salary (with benefits, totaling $110,000) out of the Lodging Tax money, which is simply using a different fund to relieve pressure on the operating budget. It’s a zero sum gain. Second, the city is due a reimbursement from the federal government on a road project. If we do things in a timely manner, we can get that $114,000 at the very end of 2010, rather than 2011. Of course, that’s money that cannot be allocated to 2011, so it’s another zero sum gain. The remaining money is speculative ($50,000 from potential fire union concessions) and in small amounts ($5,000 from canceling events that won’t make money; $10,000 from council’s contingency fund).

My solutions

I proposed several more ideas to fully eliminate the deficit, and to supply $163,000 to buying new snow plows and/or paving the roads. My cuts add up to about $378,525 in overall savings.

1) Taking another $100,000 from the Lodging Tax fund. Admittedly, this is another zero-sum gain, like moving Kurtz’s salary. However, it makes sense to use the money, rather than let it sit in a fund not being used. The fund will still have about $250,000 at the end of the year. Savings: $100,000

2) A 10 percent cut of the Parks and Rec Department. I am not afraid of making difficult decisions. When choosing between keeping roads safe and having 10 percent more money for the parks, it’s not even close for me. Savings: $158,553

3) A 3 percent cut in golf course expenditures. The course used to be profitable, this is a step toward making it profitable again. (As you know I support selling or leasing the course, but that won’t affect the 2010 budget). Savings: $38,994

4) Managerial salary cuts. Council only has authority to affect those salaries of employees who are 1) not in a union, 2) not under contract, 3) not civil service hires (i.e. police/fire management), 4) not protected by the Charter (i.e. elected officials). For employees making more than $80,000, a 5 percent cut. For employees making more than $70,000, a 4 percent cut. For employees making more than $60,000, a 3 percent cut. For council, I propose a voluntary 10 percent cut (amounting to $1,600 per member). Savings: $80,978

Total savings: $378,525.59

This extra money will allow us to: 1) Eliminate use of the unencumbered funds. 2) Put $163,000 back into the capital improvements fund (allowing us to resurface the roads that are in worst condition).

Jim Costello said that he won’t support my managerial salary cuts. He said that managers have given up enough by not getting their cost-of-living raises. I respectfully disagree. You aren’t giving up anything by not getting a raise. In the private sector, people are taking pay cuts. Raises are nearly unheard of. If you need evidence, look at how our income tax totals have tumbled. If we want to take our duties to the people seriously, we must take every measure necessary to operate more like a private business.

John Pribonic talked about not wanting to make cuts, but rather focus on economic development. I respect John’s opinion, but practically, we have not been ignoring economic development. What new things can we do that will turn everything around? We can sing about economic development all day long (see Sara Drew), but the problem won’t go away until we pursue it from both angles. Like Joe Hickin said, this government has outgrown its population. It needs to shrink–no question about it.

But since we are talking about economic development, consider that Stow is robbing the capital improvement fund by $1.1 million. The capital budget is what drives commerce. And that’s not good enough, so we’re robbing the unencumbered funds by $515,000 (or $215,000) after pilfering $585,000 last year and $128,000 in 2008. When will city council finally admit that the problems are in the mirror? We outspend our means. And we have made a habit of it. Plain and simple.

The Court issue

Here is another HUGE problem that we uncovered. The budget presumes a $750,000 transfer to help pay for court expenditures. What was hidden from council, however, is that the money is not expected to fully come from the judges’ special projects fund at Stow Municipal Court. Rather, the budget assumes that we will have a long-range solution from Columbus–that our lobbyist will fix the problem before 2010 closes, and the Ohio General Assembly will bail us out.

It is one thing to assume we are getting money (between $375,000 and $500,000) from the judges, whom we know to be helpful. It is entirely another to expect the 99 state reps and 33 state senators in Columbus to somehow craft legislation that takes between $250,000 and $375,000 from surrounding communities (or wherever they get it) and puts it in Stow’s lap. And it all must happen within nine months. How unrealistic!

For this reason, we have to be even more conservative with our projected spending. What happens when the $250,000 never comes? Or even worse, if the judges tighten up and we lose out on the full $750,000? We don’t have a commitment from them, so anything is possible. I can tell you what will happen. Council will have to dig into the unencumbered funds again. If council doesn’t consider this likelihood, we are dreaming.

Three members of council (Drew, Pribonic and D’Antonio) committed tonight to voting for this budget, which presumes a court-related bailout, runs a $215,000 deficit and robs the capital fund of $1.1 million. Costello did not commit publicly, so I hope he is open to putting more flexibility into the budget. This will determine whether I was correct in saying he’d make a good mayor.

On Thursday, I will present my amendments to the Finance Committee, which will meet at 6:15 before the council meeting. Whether the budget passes out of committee and gets a vote on the floor of council, I have no idea. But I promise I won’t vote for any budget that takes so many liberties in assuming revenue that may never come and does not address our serious needs.

This city’s problems are much bigger than I ever thought during the campaign.

Golf course

By the way, it has been 11 days since I challenged the Good Ole Boys Network to come up with a reason why it helps the average Stow resident for Fox Den to be government-owned, rather than in private hands. Until today, I only received support for selling/leasing the course. Today, I heard from two people who did not want to sell the course, but neither person answered my challenge (i.e. Why does it help Stow to own Fox Den?).

On the other hand, I received a call from a potential suitor for the course. That makes two interested parties. If you want to contact me, use the button above. I’d love to hear any proposals that I can present to council.

But as to my challenge, that is 11 days and counting. You know where to find me.

For those of you who want to hear about the budget, the Finance Committee will meet sometime after 6:15 tomorrow.

I can’t give you an exact time, because the meeting will start immediately after the Planning Committee, which starts at 6. Before getting to the budget, the Finance Committee will discuss eight other items. Realistically, you’re probably OK if you arrive at 7, but you also might not get a seat, because I have heard that the mayor is trying to jam the council chambers with her people.

Other notes…

– In today’s Stow Sentry, Mike Lesko did a nice job breaking down the numbers of Fox Den in his article.

It has been 10 days since I challenged the Good Ole Boy Network to give me a single benefit that Stow residents get from having the course owned by the government, rather than a private owner. I know of some illegitimate benefits, such as their friends maintaining cushy jobs with public pensions, but I have not heard anything that helps the average Stow resident.

I will continue to count the days until we pass an ordinance seeking bids from a private party wishing to lease or buy the course.

– It is looking good for Ron Marhofer to keep his Chevrolet dealership at the corner of 59 and 91. This is great news. The dealership has been in the family since 1919. Congressman Steve LaTourette worked hard to overcome Barack Obama’s “car czar,” who pressed to close Marhofer Chevrolet. Here is a Beacon Journal story about it.

– This week was the second-highest total of Web traffic since I started this site in July. Election week was the only seven-day span that surpassed this one. It encourages me even more to read everyone’s positive e-mails. As a result, I will try to remember to post one per week on the site. Here is the first.

Thank you for standing up to city council regarding selling Fox Den Golf Course. The city never should have purchased it to begin with. Not one person I have talked to in this city feels the city should have purchased it and totally agree with you that if it is between selling it or raising taxes what is there to think about? This city has made very poor choices the past several years and now you want the taxpayer to bail you out. Well, we don’t have the extra money anymore. The mayor of this city has to start being held accountable for all her boneheaded decisions.

Thank you for standing up for us – FOX DEN SHOULD BE SOLD.

Two weeks ago, I used Facebook (as young people do) to invite Shawn Porter to come to our meeting so we could honor his accomplishments in boxing. He will be there this Thursday, and the city will soon erect signs around town with his name on them.

Porter won the junior middleweight title last month in Cleveland. The 2006 Stow High grad is undefeated (13-0) with 10 knockouts.

By the way, it has been eight days since I challenged the Good Ole Boy Network to present a reason why the city should own Fox Den, rather than a private party. Still waiting.

The city of Stow owes a big “thank you” to Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh, who pledged to donate $5,000 from her Law Enforcement Trust Fund to the fundraiser to buy a new police dog.

After taking $5,000 from the city and $5,000 from Walsh, the FOPA only needs to raise an additional $3,000. I have spoken with councilman Matt Riehl, who is out front on this, and he said he has been offered help (financial and otherwise) from many people, including some from outside of Stow.

I am becoming a little more optimistic about the way we’re handling the budget process. Jim Costello and John Pribonic both indicated that they are willing to provide solutions to this unacceptable budget.

The three of us agreed it would be good to bring our department heads together with their counterparts from other cities to share ideas to save money and provide better services. It could be as simple as a Saturday breakfast once or twice a year per position. Every city has a few “winner ideas” per year that are win-win situations for the taxpayers. We want to steal those from other cities, and it would be great to share what we have come up with, too.

I presented my tentative plans for budget cuts. One cut is $100,000 in managerial salaries. The top 30 salary earners (not including union employees, contract employees, or those whose salaries the charter protects) will each give up between 3 percent and 5 percent of their 2010 salaries to help cut the deficit. Elected officials will pay up too, but the charter puts constraints on that.

I have identified a total of more than $600,000 in budget cuts. I will meet with John Earle and John Baranek on Monday to determine how feasible they are. After that, I will post them on this site. The goal is to find cuts that are fair and that only minimally affect the services we provide to citizens.

Monday is a pretty big meeting. The finance committee will convene at 6 to discuss the budget. From what I hear, attendance will be high.

The Efficiency Committee will meet tonight at 5:15 in council chambers. It’s open to the public, so you’re welcome to come.

Congratulations to Officer Ted Bell and his police dog Nero. They won an American Red Cross award last night for courageous actions following the shooting at BP and the home invasion this summer. Click here to see the Fox 8 news clip.

It has been six days since I challenged the Good Ole Boy Network to provide me a reason why the golf course should owned by the government, rather than in private hands. Still crickets.

The Akron Beacon Journal is not on board with selling the golf course, or so an editorial in today’s paper suggests.

The story says the course had $1.4 million in revenue last year. And it leaves it at that.

See? This is the kind of deception that the Good Ole Boy Network has perpetuated for years. Rather than accurately stating that the golf course was NOT PROFITABLE, or at least stating the expenditures, Sara Drew only provided its revenue.

As a consequence, the Beacon Journal reported the number, and people assumed the golf course is profitable.

This deception was present during the entire election. It was even present during the mayor’s State of the City address, when she explicitly said the course was profitable. That is a bold-faced lie. No other way to describe it.

So use that background when you consider this editorial. I intend to reach out to the Editorial Board and provide the entire picture, rather than just the number that Sara Drew and the mayor want them to know.

By the way, it has been five days since I reached out to anyone who could answer my question: What benefit does the community of Stow receive by Fox Den being owned by the government, rather than a private individual/corporation.

I received my first response.

Message: You are an ***HOLE

Unfortunately, this is an anonymous personal attack and not a serious answer to my question. So my quest for an answer presses on. Five days and counting.

On Thursday, we passed a resolution supporting a fundraising effort to buy a new police dog. Five-thousand of the projected $13,000 came from a fund specifically for money to combat drug use.

Here is a picture of one of our dogs, Knight, who is nearing retirement.

By the way, it has been four days since I challenged the Good Ole Boy Network to give me a reason it’s a good idea to have the golf course owned by the government, rather than by private individuals.

Still nothing.