Caucus: February 1st 2021
MINUTES OF A COUNCIL CAUCUS
MAYFIELD VILLAGE, OHIO
Monday, February 1, 2021 – 7:00 p.m.
Videoconferenced in Main Conference Room-Mayfield Village Civic Center
Present in Main Conference Room: Council President Schutt and Mrs. Betsa. All other members of Council, Mayor Bodnar, Ron Wynne, Chief Matias, Shane McAvinew and Law Director Coyne in attendance via ZOOM. The remainder of the Department Heads accessed the meeting via videoconference.
This meeting can be accessed by going to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boTZGiSobOs.
Council President Schutt stated, good evening. Tonight is the Mayfield Village Council Caucus meeting. It’s Monday, February 1, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. This Caucus meeting has been duly noticed and will be held in accordance with Ohio Revised Code Section 121.22 specific to recent amendments made in light of the current COVID-19 declared emergency (House Bill 197-amended by House Bill 404). Under the orders of Governor DeWine and the Director of Health of Ohio, and pursuant to Ordinance 2020-08, adopted March 16, 2020, Council will be meeting remotely, via electronic means. No one will be in Council Chambers or able to access that space during the meeting The public is invited to view the meeting live and can access the meeting through a link posted on the Mayfield Village website at www.mayfieldvillage.com.
Mayfield Village will conduct these proceedings in compliance with all applicable State Laws and regulations.
ROLL CALL:
Present: Mrs. Jurcisek, Mr. Marquardt, Mr. Meyers, Mrs. Mills, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Schutt, and Mr. Williams
Also Present: Mayor Bodnar, Mr. Coyne, Mr. Wynne, Chief Matias, and Mr. McAvinew
PENDING LEGISLATION:
- Ordinance No. 2020-33, entitled, “An Ordinance amending Mayfield Village Codified Ordinance Chapter 1519-Fireworks.” Introduced by Mayor Bodnar. (First Reading – December 21, 2020; Second Reading – January 19, 2021) (Fire Department)
Council President Schutt asked, are there any questions?
There were none.
- Ordinance No. 2020-34, entitled, “An Ordinance amending Mayfield Village Codified Ordinance Chapter 1383–Automatic Fire Suppression Equipment.” Introduced by Mayor Bodnar. (First Reading – December 21, 2020; Second Reading – January 19, 2021) (Fire Department)
Council President Schutt asked, are there any questions?
There were none.
- Ordinance No. 2020-35, entitled, “An Ordinance amending Mayfield Village Codified Ordinance Chapter 1329-Ohio Building Code.” Introduced by Mayor Bodnar. (First Reading – December 21, 2020; Second Reading – January 19, 2021) (Fire Department)
Council President Schutt asked, are there any questions?
There were none.
- Ordinance No. 2020-36, entitled, “An Ordinance amending Mayfield Village Codified Ordinance Chapter 141-Fire Department.” Introduced by Mayor Bodnar. (First Reading – December 21, 2020; Second Reading – January 19, 2021) (Fire Department)
Council President Schutt asked, are there any questions?
There were none.
- Ordinance No. 2020-37, entitled, “An Ordinance amending Mayfield Village Codified Ordinance Chapter 749-Recovery Costs for Emergency Actions.” Introduced by Mayor Bodnar. (First Reading – December 21, 2020; Second Reading – January 19, 2021) (Fire Department)
Council President Schutt asked, are there any questions?
There were none.
- Ordinance No. 2020-38, entitled, “An Ordinance amending Mayfield Village Codified Ordinance Chapter 971 pertaining to alarms.” Introduced by Mayor Bodnar. (First Reading – December 21, 2020; Second Reading – January 19, 2021) (Fire Department)
Council President Schutt asked, are there any questions?
There were none.
- Ordinance No. 2020-39, entitled, “An Ordinance amending Mayfield Village Codified Ordinance Chapter 1501-Ohio Fire Code.” Introduced by Mayor Bodnar. (First Reading – December 21, 2020; Second Reading – January 19, 2021) (Fire Department)
Council President Schutt asked, are there any questions?
There were none.
- Ordinance No. 2020-40, entitled, “An Ordinance amending Mayfield Village Codified Ordinance Chapter 1522 Building Marking Systems.” Introduced by Mayor Bodnar. (First Reading – December 21, 2020; Second Reading – January 19, 2021) (Fire Department)
Council President Schutt asked, are there any questions?
There were none.
Council President Schutt stated, Ordinance Nos. 2020-33 to 2020-40 will be on Third Read at the February 15, 2021 Council meeting.
- Ordinance No. 2021-01, entitled, “An Ordinance repealing and replacing Mayfield Village Codified Ordinance Section 521.20 relating to smoking in Mayfield Village.” Introduced by Mayor Bodnar. (First Reading – January 19, 2021) (Administration)
Council President Schutt asked, are there any questions?
There were none.
- Ordinance No. 2021-02, entitled, “An Ordinance appropriating funds for current expenses and expenditures of Mayfield Village, Ohio for the period from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021 and declaring an emergency.” Introduced by Mayor Bodnar. (First Reading – January 19, 2021) (Read in title only) (Finance Department)
Council President Schutt asked, are there any questions?
There were none.
- Resolution No. 2021-05, entitled, “A resolution requesting the Cuyahoga County Fiscal Officer to adjust the amended official certificate of estimated resources for 2021.” Introduced by Mayor Bodnar. (Read in title only – January 19, 2021) (Finance Department).
Council President Schutt asked, are there any questions?
There were none.
Council President Schutt stated, Ordinance Nos. 2021-01 and 2021-02 and Resolution 2021-05 will be on Second Read at our February 15th Council meeting.
MAYOR:
Mayor Bodnar stated, thank you Council President. I just have a couple of things I wanted to touch on tonight. First is we know that 2021 is already speeding by. We are already into February. We have a Special Election coming up on March 16th, so I would like to encourage everyone to get well-versed on the issues that will be on the ballot and also to vote. The Voice of the Village should be in your mailboxes any day. The mail’s a little slow, but look for a comprehensive article in the Voice of the Village on the Special Election.
Also, on March 16th we will have in-person voting at the Civic Center but if you want to vote absentee, anyone can go on the Board of Elections website and fill out the absentee ballot application which has to be mailed in or you can call the Village at 440-461-2210 and we will get you an application. That also has to be mailed in to the Board of Elections. So if you want to vote absentee, now is the time to get going on that because the mail is slow.
The second thing I want to touch on is Governor DeWine released his biennial budget outline today for Fiscal Years 2022-2023. So, just to give you a few highlights on the proposal, it would provide significant economic relief through one-time dollars. Funding would remain stable for local governments as well as for K-12 educational institutions. The budget proposal includes no new taxes and would utilize none of the State’s over $2 billion Rainy Day Fund. The proposal includes $460 million to support Ohio small businesses, $460 million to strengthen Ohio’s communities, $50 million to attract individuals to Ohio with an advertising campaign, $70 million to grow Ohio’s skilled workforce through increasing technology credentialing and $240 million as a continued investment in clean water in Ohio’s H2Ohio Program. Budget hearings will begin next week and we will keep an eye on those to see what comes out to be in the final budget to see how that might help Mayfield Village or how we are going to fare with that budget.
I would like to note also that our own Ohio Senator Matt Dolan was reappointed as Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and he does an amazing job. So we are very happy about that and very grateful to have Matt in that position.
That’s all I have for this evening. Thank you.
Council President Schutt stated, thank you, Mayor Bodnar.
COUNCIL PRESIDENT:
We would like to wish a Happy Birthday to Chief Carcioppolo. His birthday is today. Happy Birthday Chief. Also, Diane Wolgamuth’s birthday is on February 21st. Happy Birthday Diane.
Our next meeting of Council will be on Monday, February 15th at 7:00. This meeting will be conducted virtually.
Also, I would like to echo the Mayor’s comments on voting. We have our Special Election on March 16th. Please request your absentee ballot or vote in person at the Civic Center.
CLERK OF COUNCIL:
- Committee Status Update – Civil Service Commission
Service Department Entrance Examination
Yes, Council President, I just wanted to give you an update from the Civil Service Commission. The Commission announced the administration of an entrance examination for the Service Department. Applications are being accepted until Thursday, February 18th. The exam is scheduled for Tuesday, February 23rd at the Community Room. There are two timeframes for the examination, one at 4:00 and one at 7:00. Thus far, there are 10 applications which have been submitted. There is a 40-application cap. Check the website for more information or if you have any questions, feel free to give me a call. Thank you.
Council President Schutt stated, thank you, Mrs. Betsa.
BUIDLING DEPARTMENT:
- Planning and Zoning Commission meeting (January 21, 2021)
- Conditional Use Permit Renewals (to December 2022)
Reporting on behalf of the Building Department, Mr. Coyne stated, we haven’t met to discuss the Conditional Use Permit renewals, but tonight the Planning Commission did approve the renewals.
Council President Schutt asked, are there any questions for Mr. Coyne?
There were none.
FINANCE DEPARTMENT:
- NOPEC Energized Community Grant(s) for 2021 (Resolution No. 2021-06)
Mr. Wynne reported, for the past several years, NOPEC has been giving all the communities that participate in their programs energized community grants. Our grant for 2021 is $10,087. As we are required to do every year, we will pass a Resolution acknowledging and accepting the grant and then we will invest that money during the year in some type of energy-efficient project that we will select.
- Employee Dental Plan (Resolution 2021-08)
Mr. Wynne reported, we got our renewal from Delta Dental. There is no increase for the Plan year beginning April 1st. We are putting forth legislation to accept that renewal.
- Employee Life Insurance (Resolution 2021-07)
Mr. Wynne reported, we got our renewal for life insurance with MetLife Insurance reflecting no increase for the Plan year beginning April 1st.
- 2021 Budget
Mr. Wynne reported, I provided Council with a draft copy of the budget last week. I began meeting with Department Heads this week to go over the details and see if there is anything that they request to have changed or added. If you have any questions on the budget, please feel free to give me a call after you have had an opportunity to go through it. I tried to annotate it as much as possible on the line items as to what the thinking was on some of the larger items, but if you do have any questions, give me a call as we go through the process. End of report.
Council President Schutt asked, are there any questions for Mr. Wynne?
There were none.
Council President Schutt stated, thank you Mr. Wynne.
PARKS & REC:
- 2021 4th of July Fireworks Display – 6/26/21 (American Fireworks - $15,000)
Mr. McAvinew reported, the show is actually $20,000, but we received a $5,000 credit for 2020.
- Rookie Sports Co-op Payments for 2021 (Rookie Sports, LLC (Amanda Slutsky) – not to exceed $16,500) (pass through)
Mr. McAvinew stated, this is a pass-through for $16,500. Basically, they run programs and we collect the fees. We keep about 25% of it and give back the other 75% to them.
- Restroom Facilities for Special Events and Programs – 2021 (Aris - $14,000)
Mr. McAvinew reported, I did try to search a few more companies, but no one really wanted to put in a proposal. It came down to Aris and Reliable OnSite. Aris was the lowest proposal for $14,000.
- 2021 Chemical Prices for Parkview Pool (O.P. Aquatics - $15,000)
Mr. McAvinew reported, O.P. Aquatics was actually about $400-500 more, but they are an Ohio Cuyahoga County company. The other company is out of West Virginia. We decided to go with a local company.
Mr. McAvinew asked, are there any questions?
Mrs. Jurcisek asked, I have one question for you and I am sure it was explored at some point. Do we know how much it would cost to get permanent restrooms at The Grove?
Mr. McAvinew replied, yes. We looked into it a few years ago. We were going to apply for grant funding. The problem runs into the size of the volume of the area. You have a formula that has to be applied to that, so I think what we were looking at, we had 20 men’s and 20 women’s restrooms to accommodate that square footage. Well, when you do that, we were over $750,000 to $1 million to build that facility, so that kind of took us a step back from that point.
Mrs. Jurcisek stated, okay. Makes sense. Thank you.
Mr. McAvinew stated, you’re welcome.
Council President Schutt asked, are there any other questions for Mr. McAvinew?
There were none.
Council President Schutt stated, thank you, Mr. McAvinew.
POLICE DEPARTMENT:
- Suburban Police Anti-Crime Network (“SPAN”) dues - 2021 ($23,000)
Chief Matias reported, this is our annual SPAN dues where we pay our portion of the 5 cities that contribute to SPAN. That funds all of the special units. The 2021 SPAN due contribution for us is $23,000. If anyone has any questions about this or any of the units, just let me know.
- Purchase of two 2021 Dodge Chargers with equipment (Greve Chrysler Jeep Dodge - $73,864.00 – State Bid Pricing)
Chief Matias reported, this year we are getting two more Dodge Chargers. The total there that you see is $73,864.00. That covers the purchase of the two vehicles and the equipment changeover from the old vehicles.
Chief Matias stated, these are regular items. If you have any questions, just let me know.
Council President Schutt stated, if there are no questions for Chief Matias, we will keep on moving along. Thank you Chief.
ANY OTHER MATTERS:
Council President Schutt asked, are there any other matters to come before Council tonight?
Mrs. Jurcisek stated, I actually have just a couple of things. Just two comments. One, Chief, I am actually glad that you are on this tonight. I had approached Chief Matias in regards to the new sidewalk that was created on Wilson Mills that led to Echo. I was concerned if there should be a crosswalk from Village Trails across the streets. Just with traffic coming up the hill, it seemed like it was going fast to pedestrians that were crossing and there was sort of a blind spot. The Chief actually monitored the traffic and had the stealth traffic box there. I am reading your notes, Chief, so correct me if I’m wrong. The facts came back to say that 85% actually do not go the 43 mile per rate so I wanted to share that. They will continue to monitor the area. The average speed is actually 39 miles per hour. It does seem fast to pedestrians that are right over in that area, but less than 1% are going over 50 miles per hour. Less than 9% are going over 45. It may seem exceedingly fast to the pedestrian, but the Chief has assured us that he will continue to monitor the area especially as Spring approaches. I just wanted to share that information in case any other Council members have heard from any residents about that.
Mr. Murphy stated, thanks Jen. I have heard from a couple different people. Like Jen said, 39 miles per hour may not seem fast, but when you are walking across the road and they are whipping around the corner, it’s pretty fast. Have we considered putting flashing lights or something above there?
Chief Matias replied, that’s one of the things we looked at because we talked about this. I worked with Tom Cappello. We did kind of a study. I can provide that to you to take a look at. It looked at the volume of traffic and the projected number of pedestrians crossing. Because of the low volume of pedestrians, it really didn’t qualify to actually have a crosswalk and our concern was if we put a crosswalk in with the flashing lights, what happens at that point is since it’s a marked crosswalk, now pedestrians will have the right of way when crossing the road. But unfortunately, most drivers don’t realize that. Our biggest concern was a pedestrian would step into the roadway figuring I have the right of way and a car has to stop and the car doesn’t stop and we have a car versus pedestrian. That’s one of the reasons why we decided to not mark it or put any warnings on there because we figured it would be confusing to pedestrians and motorists. When I first talked to Mrs. Jurcisek, I used the downtown Willoughby crosswalk as an example. If anybody’s ever really in downtown Willoughby, right by the post office there is a pedestrian crossing. When the lights are flashing, vehicles are supposed to yield the right of way to crossing pedestrians. If anybody’s been there when they are busy in downtown Willoughby, a lot of the traffic doesn’t stop. They just keep going because they don’t understand that they are supposed to stop. So we figure it would be better to not mark it which would put the caution on the pedestrian crossing as opposed to the motorist.
Mr. Murphy stated, I am not even talking about a button to flash and stop traffic, I think if there’s not a lot of pedestrians, all it takes is for one person to get hit and then it would be terrible. So I don’t know if we can rely on, well there’s not a lot of pedestrians crossing, so maybe that’s not a good idea. It’s just my thought, but I understand what you’re saying.
Mrs. Jurcisek stated, thanks Chief. I know Denny, the Chief had said that. I’ve noticed just from walking the increased patrols right over at Village Trails as well. I think that helps. With it being wintertime, the leaves aren’t on the trees, so there’s a little bit more visibility to the pedestrians, but it sounds like something that will continue to be monitored. Maybe it will warrant some changes in the future. Chief, thank you to you and the department for monitoring it.
Mr. Murphy stated, thank you.
Chief Matias stated, thank you.
Mrs. Jurcisek stated, one other comment I had to make is I was approached by a number of residents in regards to the option of fiber-optic cables being offered by Mayfield Village as an alternative to some of the internet providers in the Village right now. I know the Village has looked into this a number of years ago and I actually exchanged some e-mails with Diane and it sounds like Diane and Jeff were already on top of it gathering some information. But with more people working from home, and it seems to be the trend that’s changing as well as more people seem to be foregoing the cable services and just going to streaming services as well, it sounds like a couple other Council members have heard from residents as well with this, but this might be something that we want to continue to pursue and look at further and maybe revisit it and see what the cost is. I don’t know again if any other Council members have heard from a lot of residents regarding this, but this is something that we may want to explore again.
Mayor Bodnar stated, if I can just jump in. I don’t know if you saw it, but Ms. Wolgamuth did respond to some of the preliminary questions. Did you get that e-mail?
Mrs. Jurcisek replied. I did. I did get that.
Mayor Bodnar stated, okay. So I think that we definitely want to know where Council stands on this. The preliminary numbers that she had just to run the conduit would be about $3.8 million and that’s just to cover the conduit. It doesn’t cover the stuff you have to put inside. It doesn’t cover the junction boxes. So we are looking at $4 million for the conduit. We still have some questions. Are people wanting it because they want to save money or are people wanting it because they need faster internet service? I don’t know what you’ve heard Jen.
Mrs. Jurcisek stated, I’ve heard mostly fast good service and reliable service. That’s what I am hearing. Again, it’s coming from a lot of people who are now working from home who plan to keep it that way and from individuals who are trying to get rid of cable. They have said AT&T is notoriously unreliable right now with some of their service. They’ve gone to other providers but again are not happy with what they have. So, it seems to have been echoed across the board that that’s the reason. I think more and more people are starting to work from home now and will continue and I know a lot of people are trying to change and save money by getting rid of cable and possibly streaming. So, I think it’s just something that’s going to be more prevalent as we continue to go on and there’s that option. I did see Diane’s e-mail and I did read through it but I knew it was the beginning stages that her and Jeff were looking at. I figured we’d probably want to explore it more if Council has heard from other residents as well.
Mr. Williams stated, well I have, and it’s all about, to your point, more people are staying home at work to do work. The point is let’s explore it and determine what the return could be. Is there a cost to residents? I appreciate the effort to explore without making any decisions. I think the residents will appreciate that too.
Mrs. Jurcisek stated, okay. Yes, I appreciate Diane and Jeff going through and gathering the information that they have so far.
Mayor Bodnar stated, so I will get with Mr. Thomas and Ms. Wolgamuth and we will see what other exploration of what other details you want to fill in the picture. Good?
Mrs. Jurcisek said, yes.
Council President Schutt stated, thank you Councilwoman Jurcisek. Are there any other matters to come before Council?
There were none.
There being no further matters, the meeting concluded at 7:24 p.m.