A Special Council meeting was held last night with only item for business was to pass the 2018 budget. Council was blessed with a devotional, a Holy Thursday prayer led by Pastor Dan Delembo from Willoughby Hills Calvary Assembly Church. This was a very fitting acknowledgment of the most Holy week for Christians. The date of our meeting was unavoidable as the city budget is due to state and county government laws to be filed by March 31st of each year.
Council moved to Executive Session for purposes that are allowed by state law; pending or imminent litigation. It is unfortunate that our city has to endure attacks from special interests but Council has a duty to protect you, our taxpayer's funds and keep the city moving forward. That meeting lasted about an hour. Audio link to the opening:http://www.willoughbyhills-oh.gov/mtg.0329.18-Pt-1.MP3 After returning from that session, Council held public portion to hear from residents. While a couple people seem to resort to political and personal attacks, most members of the public gave thoughtful comments on the budget. Roughly half the people spoke in favor of this compromise budget and thanked Council for their hard work half wanted to have it changed to fulfill other needs. Council Vice President Plecnik , Council woman Laura Pizmoht and I all made comments prior to voting regarding the budget. Good budgets are compromises that first and foremost are balanced; we cannot plan to spend more than we take in. Next is to assign priorities. I and others on council have been clear after listening to our residents and business owners that Roads, Police and Fire & Rescue safety are the City's top priorities. I commented that those are the things that only city government can provide therefore it is a mandate. Other services are nice to have and certainly desirable, but not imperative. The largest budget item in a large service organization like a city is salaries and benefits. Therefore, when significant cuts are required, unfortunately that impacts personnel. You cannot find enough saving by not buying equipment. Our city has had an increased population of seniors, and 911 calls for EMS have risen dramatically. Funding to our Fire and EMS have been reduced and that trend cannot continue or lives will be lost. Passing this budget redirects funds from administrative support staff to hiring firefighters and paramedics to increase staffing level in our department to six. As a community, we need to do more but that is a good first step in the right direction. Salting and plowing roads for driver's safety is another priority. If your son or daughter were to be seriously injured or worse, die after hitting a tree because their car slid off an un-salted, un-plowed road how would you feel? With this funding level adjustment, the city should be able to pave two additional roads, like Somrak and Jennie along with Red Fox and Kennelly this year. These are some of the worst roads in our city according to our city engineer. I will hold a Service meeting soon to discuss the exact plan for this year. Shifting about $300,000 to fund roads and firefighters not only this year but ongoing years will help keep the city on track to be the best it can be. Improving the quality of life for our residents and attracting good business to come here and to stay here will help us as residents to support our tax base that provide for these essential services. Economic development remains a problem that frustrates our Council. Having a massage parlor (now closed thankfully) and gambling storefronts this administration allows does nothing to help our image. A proposal to open a blood plasma donation center will be on the next Planning and Zoning meeting agenda next Thursday, April 5, at 7pm. I invited the public (and you my reader) to attend to voice your opinion. I do not believe that a center that preys on poor, desperate people to sell their blood is a positive in our community, and certainly does not support the kind of vision I see for our future. Audio link (42minutes) http://www.willoughbyhills-oh.gov/mtg.0329.18-Pt-2.MP3 Comments are closed.
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Dave's Notes from the MeetingsThis is an effort to keep my constituents informed, check this page for updates. Archives
January 2020
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