Caucus: January 4th 2021
MINUTES OF A COUNCIL CAUCUS
Monday, January 4, 2021 – Immediately Following the
Organizational Meeting of Council at 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 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=ioX7w_i8EJI&t=4s
Council President Schutt stated, good evening everyone. 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, and Mr. Wynne
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) (Fire Department)
Council President Schutt asked, are there any questions?
Mr. Coyne stated, Council President Schutt, I would just like to mention that there are four amendments to certain Fire Code provisions and they are addressed on the agenda. There are two more readings, but if there are any questions, let me know. They really involve cleaning up some of the Code sections to make them consistent with the Ohio Revised Code. The next Ordinance 20-34 amends Chapter 1383 relating to annual inspections for fire suppression systems and fire suppression equipment and alarms to make them in accordance with the Ohio Basic Building Code. We also have an amendment which expands the number of designees from the Fire Marshal to the Fire Chief to do inspections for Code enforcement. Chapter 141 is being amended to identify what the lawful ages are for those who desire to be firefighters on the Fire Department. So, I just thought I would mention those are all on the agenda this evening. We redrafted those. If there are any questions, Council could certainly call me separately, but I just wanted to let you know that those changes are being made.
Council President Schutt asked, are there any questions on these four Ordinances?
There were none.
Council President Schutt stated, since Mr. Coyne outlined those, we will move along to the remaining Pending Legislation.
- 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) (Fire Department)
- 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) (Fire Department)
- 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) (Fire Department)
- 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) (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) (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) (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) (Fire Department)
Council President Schutt asked, are there any questions?
There were none.
Council President Schutt stated, all 8 of these Ordinances will be moved to Third Reading for January’s meeting.
MAYOR:
Thank you, Council President. I have no comments for tonight other than to wish everybody a Very Happy New Year.
Council President Schutt stated, thank you Mayor Bodnar. Happy New Year to you as well.
COUNCIL PRESIDENT:
We have some birthdays. Doug Metzung’s birthday is on January 10th. Happy Birthday, Doug. Happy Birthday to Tom Cappello on January 16th and Happy Birthday to Councilman Bill Marquardt. His birthday is on January 23rd.
The next Regular Meeting of Council will be held virtually on Tuesday, January 19th at 7:00 p.m.
CLERK OF COUNCIL:
Upcoming Events:
- NOCCA virtual quarterly forum (January 28, 2021 – 7:00 p.m.)
Mrs. Betsa stated, I received a Save The Date for a Virtual Quarterly Forum scheduled by NOCCA on Thursday, January 28th at 7:00 p.m. Cuyahoga County’s Mr. Simeon Best will speak about “Census Impact on Local Municipalities”. As soon as I receive further information on this Forum, I will let you know. Thank you.
Council President Schutt stated, thank you, Mrs. Betsa.
ADMINISTRATION:
Mr. Wynne reported on behalf of Administration.
- Phone Equipment Replacement (TEC Communications – not to exceed $24,000)
Mr. Wynne stated, our phone system and equipment are through Cuyahoga County. We made that switch back in 2009 at significant savings versus paying the carriers directly. The County has informed us that there are certain upgrades required to some of the routers in the system. I believe Jeff Thomas provided you with a memo about all of the changes that are needed. Tech Communications was picked by the County and it is a State pricing contract. The cost of that improvement is included in our 2021 Capital Budget.
- Data Recovery Back-Up and Miscellaneous Support for Server (All Covered - $15,000)
Mr. Wynne stated, All Covered is also known as Konica-Minolta Business Solutions. They are the company we have been using for years to provide all of our monthly back-up services and data recovery for all of our systems. The cost for that is $840 a month, or right around $10,000. We generally submit a request for $15,000 because there are some services we require during the year that aren’t on the regular contract. They bill us at $150 an hour and usually the $15,000 is more than enough to cover all of their services for the year.
Mr. Wynne asked, are there any questions on either of these two items?
There were none.
Council President Schutt stated, thank you, Mr. Wynne.
FINANCE DEPARTMENT:
- Building Inspector Services (not to exceed $36,000) (Ordinance 2015-27)
Mr. Wynne stated, the Village has always had a part-time building inspector up until 2015. When the part-time inspector retired, we made a decision at that point in time not to hire a part-time employee but to handle those services on an independent contractor basis with a gentleman by the name of Anthony Carbone who is a retired Building Inspector. He has been doing it ever since then and wishes to continue doing it. We request $36,000 which is about $3,000 a month. He charges $45 an hour. Typically on an annual basis, the costs are only between $25,000-30,000. We request $3,000 a month just to cover it.
- Everstream (year 4 of 5 year Agreement) ($18,966)
Mr. Wynne stated, this is the Company that provides our internet services for all of our Village functions and also all of the maintenance required on the fire ring on Beta Drive. We have a 5-year Agreement with them for that. 2021 will be year 4 of that 5 year Agreement. The cost is $18,966. The pricing was fixed for all 5 years of that Agreement.
- Legislation:
- Appropriations for period from January 1, 2021 and ending December 31, 2021 (in title only) (Ordinance 2021-01)
- Amended Official Certificate of Estimated Resources for 2021 (Resolution 2021-03) (in title only)
Mr. Wynne stated, these two items are typical budget legislation that will be passed in March but we are putting it on here now so that we have it on in title only for First Read. One will be for the 2021 expenditures budget and the other one will be for the 2021 revenue budget.
- Expressing the intent of Mayfield Village in 2020 to sell by internet auction personal property, including motor vehicles and other property referenced in R.C. 721.15 which are no longer needed for public use or are obsolete or unfit for the use for which they were acquired. (Resolution 2021-01)
Mr. Wynne stated, we did this last year and would like to continue doing it. We made the decision last year to go with Govdeals.com as an auction site when we wanted to sell Village assets that have been deemed to be retired and approved to be sold. It’s proved to be a good way to get rid of the assets on a competitive basis. We realize a lot more money out of that handling it that way versus just advertising in a newspaper so we again will be submitting legislation authorizing us in 2021 to use Govdeals.com to auction off our assets that have been approved for disposal.
Mr. Wynne asked, any questions on any of those three items before I get to the last item?
There were none.
- Families First Coronavirus Response Act
Mr. Wynne stated, this is a Federal law put in place in response to COVID. The main purpose of this Act during 2020 was for the protection of employees that were required to take time off of work because they either came down with the virus or they had to stay home and take care of a family member or were experiencing symptoms of the virus. The Act required all employers from the public and private sector to provide up to 80 hours of paid leave in any of those situations. No employer was to take that 80 hours against the individual’s accrual banks such as sick time or vacation time. To help fund that on the private sector, the government provided tax credits that the employer could take when they file their tax returns. On the public sector side, the CARES Act money that public sector employers received could be used to help fund the costs of the 2-week leave. That expired at the end of 2020. There’s talk of it being renewed in 2021, but nothing specific has happened yet and nothing was addressed about it in the most recent stimulus bill, so the discussions we have had with Administration, our desire, and we would like to get some comments from you this evening, is for the Village to extend the terms of that 2-weeks through the end of March. Anybody who has already used the 2-weeks would not be eligible for that paid 2-weeks again. They would have to use their own personal time for that, but we would like to be able to continue to offer that to the employees should they contact COVID over the next several months. At this time, it would be funded by us, not funded by the government because we are not aware of any further dollars coming to us at this point in time.
Mrs. Jurcisek asked, how many employees have used it?
Mr. Wynne replied, I would say probably 20-25. The employees that primarily used it were Police, Fire and Dispatch. The cost of that was about $60,000 last year. In some cases it’s an additional expense to the Village because when somebody has to take the time off, we fill that with somebody else, so we are paying overtime to that individual to step in and fill that slot. If it’s a position like in the Service Department or a non-Union position, there’s generally not overtime involved because there’s nobody to backfill that spot with. It’s just handled with the existing staff so even though on paper it’s $60,000, the actual out-of-pocket cost was not that high.
Mrs. Jurcisek stated, okay.
Mr. Wynne asked, are there any other questions or comments regarding this?
There were none.
Mr. Wynne asked, Tony, if we move forward with this for an extension of three months, is that something you think would require official Council approval at the Council meeting?
Mr. Coyne replied, I think a motion would be appropriate.
Mrs. Jurcisek asked, do we need to cap the amount at all? Although we say it would be approved through March, do we have to have a limit as far as cost?
Mr. Coyne replied, related to the CARES Act, it has to be available to all of the employees. It’s difficult, I think Ron would agree, to put a cap on it. It’s 80 hours which was originally proposed with CARES.
Mr. Meyers asked, and that 80 hours is a one time? After that, they use their vacation time?
Mr. Wynne replied, that’s correct. If somebody had to use the 80 hours last year, if they had to take time off again, not for themselves but to take care of a family member, they would still have to use their own time for that also.
Mr. Meyers stated, okay.
Mr. Wynne stated, so if there’s no objection, I will plan to put that on the agenda for the Council meeting for a motion to approve that extension.
Council President Schutt stated, sounds good. Any other questions for Mr. Wynne?
Mr. Murphy asked, one more question. Ron, if the government does come back, I know you can’t speculate, but ideally it would be retroactive anyways, I would imagine, so somebody could take advantage of those tax credits I would think.
Mr. Wynne replied, yes it would be a tax credit. For the public sector, it would have to be additional funding that they would give the municipalities to help cover the cost of these items.
Mr. Murphy stated, sorry, I have not been following it too closely, but I would imagine it would get extended, especially with the recent spikes and everything.
Mr. Wynne replied, yes, the talk is that it’s going to be extended, but nothing official has happened yet.
Council President Schutt stated, thank you everyone. Thank you, Mr. Wynne.
LAW DIRECTOR:
- Legislation:
- No smoking on Village properties
- Extension of timelines in Georgian Medical Arts Development Agreement
Mr. Coyne stated, there will be a Resolution for Council to consider regarding the No Smoking on Village Property Ordinance that we are going to have introduced. This is really an update of the old Clean Air Act. The Ordinance needs to be updated and partially repealed. If you recall, it used to be that you could smoke in designated areas of public buildings, but that’s been superseded by the Ohio Revised Code. This will provide for no smoking on Village property. It will go through the normal reading process so there will be plenty of time to comment on it.
Mr. Coyne stated, we also received a request a bit ago from the owner of the property where the Georgian Medical Arts building is located. As you know, the property in front of it is subject to rezoning and is also subject to a Development Agreement. There’s been a request for an extension of time for certain activities that the property owner and developers have to do for the surgery center that is being contemplated for that location. Specifically, they are seeking to postpone when they start the traffic study and also when they are going to apply for their Conditional Use Permit and site plan and any variances that they need as well as the start of construction. Tom Cappello and I talked about this. We also conferred with the Village’s traffic engineer. Because of COVID, there’s just a decline in traffic so some of the traffic engineering data is not very accurate in many parts of Northeast Ohio and because of COVID, it’s likely that the project is going to be delayed for a period of likely a year. So, what they have asked for is for the traffic study not to be completed until July 19th. They wouldn’t really file for a preliminary site plan review or Conditional Use Permit until July 19th as well. It’s their hope that they will be able to start construction by November 19, 2022. These are pretty close to a year extension of what was in the original Development Agreement. You will see a Resolution and we will amend the Development Agreement to include those dates if Council sees fit to do that.
Mr. Coyne stated, one other reminder is that the Board of Elections has confirmed we will have the term limit referendum on March 16, 2021. That’s currently the scheduled date for that election. If there are any questions, please let me know.
Council President Schutt asked, any questions for Mr. Coyne.
There were none.
Council President Schutt stated, thank you, Mr. Coyne.
POLICE DEPARTMENT:
- Service Agreement for CAD (TAC Management Co. - $12,260.52)
- Back Up Connectivity in the Dispatch Center (Agile Network Builders, LLC –$14,880)
- Contract with Motorola Solutions for 2021 (Motorola Solutions - $30,560.65)
Reporting on behalf of the Police Department, Mr. Wynne stated, the Chief submitted three items for approval at the Council meeting. The first is for TAC Management for $12,260.52. TAC is the company we have been using for our records and data management software and customer service. The next is Agile Network Builders for $14,880. This Company provides our back-up service connectivity for our two dispatch stations. It’s $620 a month per station for 12 months. It’s the same cost it has been for the past three to four years. Last is a contract with Motorola Solutions. This is the maintenance agreement on the actual dispatch equipment itself. This is the fourth year of a 4-year Agreement. The cost is $30,560.65.
Council President Schutt asked, any questions for Mr. Wynne?
There were none.
Council President Schutt stated, thank you Mr. Wynne.
SERVICE DEPARTMENT:
- Janitorial Services – Civic Center and Community Room – 2021 (Camco Cleaning - $33,840)
- Memorandum of Understanding with Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation for 2020 Technical Assistance ($13,000) (Resolution 2021-02)
Reporting on behalf of the Service Department, Mr. Wynne stated, the first item is the expenditure for Camco Cleaning which is a janitorial service for the Civic Center and Community Room. We have a 3-year contract with them that started on July 1, 2019 and goes through June 30, 2022. It’s a fixed-fee contract of $1,410 a month for each facility so the cost of that per year is $33,840. We have been using them for the Civic Center all through the whole COVID situation. We have not used them for the Community Room because the Community Room hasn’t been used. We are currently using our own employees to take care of the Community Room. We will continue doing so until the Community Room is open for access to the public.
Mr. Wynne stated, with regard to the Memorandum of Understanding with Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation, we have been using them since 2018. This is an annual contract. They provide professional services for construction and post-construction inspections of anything that goes on in the Village to make sure that the stormwater rules are being followed. They get involved with projects like Montebello for example to make sure that they are following the stormwater rules throughout the whole process of the building of that development. The cost of that per year hasn’t changed. It’s $13,000 per year.
Council President Schutt asked, any questions for Mr. Wynne?
Mr. Meyers asked, has the Camco Cleaning Company adjusted their fees for not doing the Community Room this year?
Mr. Wynne replied, yes. When we do not use them, we do not pay them. For the Community Room, we probably have not paid them since May or June of last year. We are still going to ask for the whole expenditure for when we do switch over and start using them again.
Mr. Meyers stated, okay. Thank you.
Mr. Wynne stated, you are welcome.
Council President Schutt asked, any other questions?
There were none.
Council President Schutt stated, thank you, Mr. Wynne.
ANY OTHER MATTERS:
Council President Schutt asked, are there any other matters to come before Council at this time?
There were none.
There being no further matters, the meeting concluded at 7:47 p.m.