Cleveland Heights City Council meeting highlights 10-6-2014

OCTOBER 6, 2014

  • Public comments
  • Law director appointed
  • Lacona Drive
  • CHP honor guard
  • Cedar Lee Candy Crawl
  • Awareness declarations 
  • Garage repairs change order
  • Tree lawn pick up
  • Zoning variances
  • Outstanding Neighbor of the Month
  • LBGT discrimination protection
  • Firefighter equipment

All council members were present.

Public comments

Meatless Mondays: Resident Laurel Hopwood, backed by a large group of supporters, spoke about a global project called Meatless Monday (www.meatlessmonday.com), which addresses personal and environmental health by advocating a decrease in meat consumption. The project does not seek to dictate but rather to educate. She asked council for a resolution in support of Meatless Mondays, as several other cities have already done so.

FutureHeights study: Rebecca Price and Diane Allman, members of the Citizens Advisory Committee, which advises the city on allocation of Community Development Block Grant funds (CDBG), expressed their support for a FutureHeights CDBG request to study the assets of each community within the city and develop a neighborhood-strengthening action plan that would yield more immediate results.

Former Byou Bar: A Noble Road resident expressed alarm at seeing activity that might indicate re-opening at the address of the former Byou Bar. He strongly urged the city to prevent another bar from leasing that location. Mayor Dennis Wilcox stated the city would follow up, reminding all assembled that the city took action to close that business.

Neighbor complaints: A Nela Road resident made a return visit to complain about “Section-8 tenants” living next door and harassing her in many ways. She continues to call the police and hopes the city will help get the neighbors evicted. She was referred to Rick Wagner, manager of the housing department.

Law director appointed

Council approved the appointment of acting law director Jim Juliano as the permanent law director for the city.

Lacona Drive

A bid was awarded for the Lacona Drive water line and reconstruction.

CHPD honor guard

Council Member Melissa Yasinow congratulated the Cleveland Heights Police Department Honor Guard, which recently laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetery. The honor guard members are all retired U.S. Marines.

Cedar Lee Candy Crawl

Upcoming Halloween events include the Cedar Lee Kids Candy Crawl on Friday, Oct. 24, in which the city will participate this year.

Awareness declarations 

Council approved a resolution proclaiming October 2014 as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Council also approved a resolution in which the city joins communities throughout the nation in proclaiming October 2014 as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month; Oct. 13, 2014 as Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day; and Oct. 17, 2014 as National Mammography Day.

Garage repairs change order

Council approved a change order with Harry S. Peterson Company for a contract for Lennox-Surrey parking garage repairs. The contract increase of $4,625.54 is needed because of additional structural work requested by the city. The funds are available as other projects came in under budget.

Tree lawn pickup

Tree lawn leaf pickup begins Nov. 3. Until then, leaves should be bagged.

Zoning variances

Council granted zoning code variances to:

  • Fifth Third Bank, 12401 Cedar Road, to permit the removal of the Cedar Road entry and the construction of an entry on Lennox Road. This is because of a need for heightened security due to multiple robberies of this branch. This was not seen as being a detriment to the neighborhood.
  • Kathryn Hoffmeyer and Romney Cullers, 2400 Derbyshire Road, to permit a four-foot-tall fence in the front yard running from the front of the house along the property line shared with
 2380 Derbyshire Road to one-and-a-half feet from the Derbyshire Road right-of-way. The code permits only a three-foot fence; this is a more [aesthetically pleasing] fence and will cover the homeowners’ view of a chain link fence.

Outstanding Neighbor of the Month

Council Member Jason Stein presented his Outstanding Neighbor of the Month Award to David Yen of Fairmount Boulevard for clearing snow from neighborhood sidewalks last winter.

LBGT discrimination protection

Two pieces of legislation on LBGT discrimination were presented on first reading:

  • The first would amend the Fair Practices chapter of the city code to expand the role and jurisdiction of the Fair Practices Board to hear complaints concerning discrimination against sexual orientation and gender identity in both employment and education context. It would also create a complaint officer to conduct preliminary investigations of complaints and increase the efficiency of the Fair Practices Board. Council seeks to continue its leadership role in prohibiting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Questioning (LGBTQ) discrimination in any context—something not currently covered by state or federal law.
  • The second piece of legislation encourages enactment of two bills (S.B. 125 and H.B. 163) currently in the Ohio General Assembly, to protect Ohioans from discrimination based upon sexual orientation and gender identity. Twenty-one states currently protect LGBTQ rights. Because Ohio does not, it is at a disadvantage in attracting business and other potential assets.

Firefighter equipment

Council accepted a grant from the Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency and approved contracts with Fire Force, Inc. and B & C Communications for the purchase of self-contained breathing apparatuses and other safety equipment for firefighters. By accepting the grant, the city authorizes the matching funds required by the grant.

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 Mors, 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.

Read More on Cleveland Heights
Volume 7, Issue 11, Posted 5:58 PM, 10.19.2014