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Boston Heights Overlook

This is a publication of Boston Heights Overlook. Not an official public document by, of or for the Village of Boston Heights OH.

VILLAGE OF BOSTON HEIGHTS

45 E. Boston Mills Road
Hudson, OH 44236

REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING - September 14, 2005 - 8:00 P.M.

AGENDA

[and Editor's Notes on Council Meeting.]

[Note: Council usually votes to "suspend the rules" and dispense with the three readings of each ordinance otherwise required by ORC 731.17.]

ROLL CALL

Council members present: Bill Goncy (President Pro Tempore), Mike Cheung Jim Hudson, Annette Miller, Paul Palumbo, and Janet Miller.
Also present: Mayor Ray McFall, Clerk-Treasurer Carol Zeman, Solicitor Russ Pry, and Engineer Steve Schreiber.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

MINUTES PRESENTED FOR CHANGE, CORRECTION OR ADOPTION

Minutes of the August 2005 meeting were approved.

CORRESPONDENCE

Mayor Ray McFall announced that Trick-or-Treat in the Village would be held on Halloween, 31 October 2005, from 6-8PM. The Police and Fire Departments would be patrolling the Village's neighborhoods to help insure the safety of the children. The Mayor also thanked Council President (Pro Tem.) Bill Goncy for painting the announcement board in front of the Village Hall, noting that it now "looks a whole lot better".

Clerk-Treasurer Carol Zeman noted that the "BMV Audit" had been completed and now passed to Hudson and Peninsula to "check off and verify that those street addresses are in our community". (Apparently this is part of an effort to recoup mis-directed permissive taxes -- the extra charge added to each auto license fee that is supposed to be allocated to the resident community. Mrs. Zeman has frequently complained that these fees are mis-directed to village residents' "Zipcode" communities of Hudson or Peninsula.)

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

Michael Polovick, of 6461 Wooded View Drive, presented Council and the Mayor with his neighborhood's objections to the incipient cleanup of the Krejci toxic waste dump -- more specifically, to the routing of the project's trucks past Wooded View Estates. Mr. Polovick distributed and reviewed a presentation of their arguments against this truck route along Hines Hill Road. A number of other Wooded View residents spoke against the route, or asked for further information on the Village's handling of the matter. Mr. Polovick asked the Mayor and Council to support their request that the National Park Service change their approach to this remediation, and perhaps route trucks directly to I-271.
Of many issues discussed, here are some highlights:
• Police Chief Joe Varga (who was in the audience) was quoted by Mr. Polovick as stating that road use permits had already been issued to the remediation contractor, and that a $300K bond had been posted against damage to the roadway. Village Engineer Steve Schreiber stated that the contractor had agreed to make ongoing repairs to the roadway as needed, rather than waiting until the end of the project. Solicitor Russ Pry stated that there may be no legal basis for the Village to rescind these permits.
• Various Wooded View residents asked about air quality monitoring along the roadway, which had been rejected by the National Park Service.
• There were also worries voiced about traffic tieups at Hines Hill and Olde Eight Roads, given that many large trucks would be trying to pass through that already-dicey intersection. Councilor Mike Cheung recalled that a traffic study conducted several years ago found that Olde Eight traffic did not justify a traffic signal at that intersection, according to state requirements. John Codrea, of Olde Eight Road, suggested that a police officer might be employed to flag traffic at the intersection.
• Mayor McFall pointed out that the earlier phase of cleanup, several years ago, was executed without mishap or contamination, using the same truck route. It was pointed out that most of Wooded View Estates did not exist at that time.
Solicitor Russ Pry and Mayor Ray McFall said that the Mayor would try to contact the National Park Service, and U.S.Rep. Steven LaTourette's office, the next day.
(Ed. Note: A public meeting was indeed held on these issues, on Wed. 21 Sep 2005. Wooded View residents, and others, again voiced these concerns. The Cuyahoga Valley National Park and Bureau of Reclamation stood by their decision to route truck traffic over Hines Hill Road. However, at least one resident of Hines Hill Road felt that the remediation truck routing, with some small improvements, could be handled safely. The CVNP and BOR agreed to consider two additional ideas: road-surface toxin monitoring along Hines Hill Road, and a flagger or other traffic control at Hines Hill and Olde Eight Roads. Some residents of Wooded View asked the Mayor and Council to consider legal action to stop the project.)

LEGISLATION

ORDINANCE W-2005 [Adopted as Ord. 22-2005 as amended]	AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE COMPREHENSIVE ZONING CODE AND BUILDING CODE CONTAINED IN THE CODIFIED ORDINANCES OF THE VILLAGE OF BOSTON HEIGHTS FOR THE PURPOSE OF MAKING TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS. This ordinance fixes several typographics errors in these codes, updates instances of the old (pre-2003) zoning district names to the current designations, and removes certain conflicting language that had been superceded by later legislation (e.g. the new Sign Code). In addition, it clarifies the intent and application of the Zoning Inspector's Certificate of Occupany, now re-named Certificate of Zoning Compliance. Councilors Cheung and Goncy proposed amendments, which were approved, to make certain additional text corrections to the draft ordinance. These changes go into effect in 30 days.
ORDINANCE X-2005 [First Reading]	AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTERS 141.01 AND 141.02 OF THE CODIFIED ORDINANCES OF THE VILLAGE OF BOSTON HEIGHTS RENAMING THE STREET COMMISSIONER TO ROAD DEPARTMENT SUPERINTENDENT, ADJUSTING THE GENERAL DUTIES AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. This ordinance was intended to clarify the job description for the Street Commissioner, a job currently held by Mr. Jim Robinson, who is also the Fire Chief. Mayor Ray McFall objected to new language that made "[t]he Mayor, with the consent of Council, ... responsible for hiring and firing of the Road Department Superintendent..." Solicitor Russ Pry stated that the ordinance was based on discussions at previous Finance Committee meetings. There was an inquiry into the more specific requirements for hiring and firing Police and Fire Chiefs. Despite further discussion, it was not clear whether the Mayor was objecting to the power of the Mayor to hire and fire, or the power of Council to consent (or not). The matter was left as a First Reading, presumably to be revisited at a future Finance Committee meeting.
ORDINANCE Y-2005 [First Reading]	AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 143 OF THE CODIFIED ORDINANCES OF THE VILLAGE OF BOSTON HEIGHTS TO CLARIFY THE DUTIES OF THE VILLAGE ENGINEER AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. As this ordinance was coupled with Ord. X-2005, above, it too was left as a First Reading.
RESOLUTION FF-2005 [Adopted as Resolution 30-2005]	A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF THE VILLAGE OF BOSTON HEIGHTS FOR THE MONTH OF JULY, 2005. There was no mention of who on Council, if anyone, had actually reviewed the various financial statements.
RESOLUTION GG-2005 [Adopted as Resolution 31-2005]	A RESOLUTION APPOINTING JOSEPH B. VARGA TO THE FIRE DEPARTMENT OF THE VILLAGE OF BOSTON HEIGHTS, OHIO. Mr. Varga, a recent high school graduate, is the son of Police Chief Joe Varga.
RESOLUTION HH-2005 [Adopted as Resolution 32-2005]	A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE NATIONAL INCIDENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (NIMS). The National Incident Management System (NIMS) is intended to be a consistent cross-jurisdictional system for coordination of response efforts during an emergency. Police Chief Joe Varga and Sgt. Heatwall attended NIMS training in late August.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Councilor Mike Cheung reviewed the actions of the the Planning Commission meeting of 7 September 2005. In particular, he pointed out that the PC had reviewed and recommended the code changes embodied in Ordinance 22-2005, passed this evening. The next PC/BZA meeting will be Wednesday, 5 October 2005 at 7PM.

Council President (Pro Tempore) Bill Goncy reported that he had reviewed the Mayor's Court bank reconciliation for August 2005, and reported on a number of regional meetings and activities.

Mr. Goncy remarked that, while ODOT had not consulted the Village about much of the State Route 8 project, it had at least asked for input on aesthetic issues. In a series of meetings, Village representatives had been able to influence the color of the bridges and finish material for the retaining walls, and the plantings in buffer mound areas.

Mr. Goncy reported on this month's Route 8 Marginal Road Stakeholders meeting. This marginal access road is proposed to run parallel to and just east of Route 8, from Hines Hill Road to Twinsburg Road, and on north to Highland Road. While $800K had been made available for this project in the Federal government's long-awaited TEA-LUA Transportation Bill, the money may not be available until next year. These funds were earmarked by the County Engineer for a wetlands and feasibility study.
In the meantime, the owner of much of the land between Hines Hill and Twinsburg Roads, was planning to conduct his own wetlands study of that area. He had offered to make his contractor's report available to the County.
(Ed. Note: The owner is "Five J CTMS Ltd.", headed Joseph Mangione of San Antonio, Texas -- a real estate and shopping center developer. As of this writing, the owner is in arrears for all of the 2004 property tax payments on this land: parcels #1400409 and #1300899.)

Mr. Goncy attended a Boston Heights Park Board meeting wherein the Board requested that Council restore its funding from the Hotel Transient Guest Tax ("Bed Tax"). These funds were stripped from the Park Board through Ord.10-2004, during last year's crisis in Village finances.

Village Engineer Steve Schreiber reported that he and Street Commissioner Jim Robinson had met with various residents of Brandywine Road to try to resolve certain drainage issues. Ernest & Diana Tirpak of, 7340 Brandywine Road, have agreed to give the Village an easement for ditching to improve the area's drainage. Kevin Lightner, of Hines Hill Road, pointed out that this "improvement" would in turn exacerbate drainage problems downstream, near his home at Wooded View.

Mr. Schreiber also listed several projects still pending completion: the Akron-Cleveland Road bridge repair project still had a punch list that the contractor had not completed; Karvo Paving had still not completed contracted crack sealing on the roads it repaved last year (the Village is still holding funds possibly due for Karvo's abortive repair project on Colesbrooke Drive).

Councilor Jim Hudson relayed Mr. Robinson's report on the usual doings of the Road Department, including additional maintenance chores around the Akron-Cleveland Road bridge. Mr. Hudson also voiced concern about the gravel parking lot that Tequila Pancho's Restaurant seems to have built in the public right-of-way along Akron-Cleveland Road. He also mentioned continuing problems with the infrastructure construction for new subdivisions in the Village.

Councilor Paul Palumbo mentioned that he "needed to set up a Safety 1 meeting" (for the Police Department oversight committee). Apparently he had lost track of some previously agreed time for that meeting.

OLD BUSINESS

NEW BUSINESS

Mayor McFall mentioned that, in a few days, Air Power of Ohio would be moving into the former Ohio Roll Form building, at 6607 Chittenden Road. (See the June 2005 PC/BZA meeting for details). However, the company will be moving only its Canton office for now, with 12 employees. The company's Independence office will move at a later time.

ADJOURN