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Minutes of Citizens for a Better Brunswick™ Meeting, 2 Feb 02 The meeting was called to order just after 10am in the Community Room of the Brunswick Library. The minutes of the December 01 meeting were read and approved. No minutes were kept of the January 02 meeting because it was a ‘brainstorming’ session. Small groups of members discussed and voiced their opinions on the various issues facing our city (charter change, pet peeves, etc.); a summary of that meeting will be on the website. The treasury currently holds $158.00. A large portion of this, $125.00, is needed to cover the fee for our registration with the state as a non-profit group. Next meeting, 2 March 02, will be held in the Library Board Room instead of the Community Room. Reminder signs will be posted on the Community Room door. The first Newsletter "Citizen’s View" is available today. We were reminded of the Fire Dept. tour available this Monday, 4 Feb. 02; meet at 7pm at Station One. Concerns include the needs of the Dept. and just how much of a tax increase will be needed to fund improvements such as outlined in the recent professional study. City Council Updates: Regarding Council’s upcoming performance review of City Manager Trimble (their annual planning session is currently scheduled for 9 March 02), Karla McIntosh learned from Tom Miller that Council is NOT planning to review Manager Trimble this year, as he is expected to resign. Several CBB members objected strongly to the idea that no review of the past year is needed because he is leaving. Karla explained that whatever more structured, appropriate performance evaluation is done this year, it would make little difference to any severance package as there is very little previous information with which to compare it. Several CBB members expressed strong feeling Mr. Trimble is not deserving of a severance package on top of his retirement. It was noted that Civil Service rules require annual performance evaluations. At this time, Fire Dept.’s last reviews were done two years ago; it is believed that the Police Dept. does do annual reviews. It is believed that reviews in other city departments have been done at the discretion of the dept. head. Hopefully CBB objections to Mr. Trimble’s unrecorded reviews will move Council toward more structured & standardized review of any future city managers. The new assignments on City Council are as follows: Council elected Tom Miller as Vice Mayor; he will also chair the Economic Development Committee. Sue Hambley to continue on Finance Committee, and 2nd vice mayor. Collette Beineke- Safety and Environment (meets 2nd Weds.) Dave Wadsworth- Services, Utilities, Technology, and Cable Dale Strasser- Planning & Zoning Committee John Rocha- Parks, Recreation, and Historical Committee Kathy Malinak- Building and Building Code It was noted that Council changed their meeting order to permit citizen comments in ‘Open Forum’ and ‘Petitions from the Public’ nearer the beginning of the meeting. This permits comment prior to legislation being voted on, and allows those with comments not to have to stay for the entire Council meeting. The five minute limit on public comment will be strictly enforced to permit equal access by opposing viewpoints. Council is to hold their replies/ questions of speakers until the end of the comment or time limit. Tracking of Legislation: Legislation is being signed, dated, and timed to track the process and identify slow points. Law director Tim Reid is considered the most likely slow point. There was brief discussion that reworking of the Outdoor Display Ordinance has been slowed while a new committee head is appointed to replace Mr. Wolf who passed away at the end of December 01. Posting of Pending Legislation: Pending legislation is now posted on the city’s website in addition to the clipboard in the lobby at City Hall, thanks to CBB. City Manager Updates: Per Karla, Council appears to be moving very slowly but has discussed the need for a committee to find a new city mgr. But even though Council spent $7500 to retain an attorney to advise them about possibly dismissing Trimble they nonetheless elected him to be the city’s representative to NOACA (Northern Ohio Area Coordinating Agency). John Rocha initially objected but then decided it didn’t matter as Mr. Trimble would not be here that much longer anyway. CBB members are concerned that Council does not appear to understand the conflict of interest in reviewing a mgr. for possible dismissal and simultaneously appointing him to represent the city. The Maxwell Drive cost overages objected to by Dale Strasser at the last council meeting (and defended by city mgr. as ‘the way it’s done’) have resulted in an article in the Sun Times. They report that Strasser is indeed investigating why bids are done this way, and why engineers doing soil samples have no liability at all for their consequences. General agreement that city should not simple accept cost of additional gravel & other materials. If sampling engineer had to bear part of the cost might sample more carefully. If samples are so inaccurate, is it efficient to pay for them? Suggestion from Nicole McKinley to compare Brunswick’s practices with that of other cities. "Better Brunswick" Committees/ Chairpersons Needed: Informal evening meetings are scheduled Feb. through April at area restaurants (to support local restaurants) to further assess member/ citizen interest, set goals, and find chairpersons. Schedule listed in ‘Citizen’s View’. CBB officers are not in a place to also chair a committee, plus more people can become more involved. A recent idea not yet on the schedule is an Economic Development committee in which CBB members would work closely with the Chamber of Commerce; Karla reports Chamber head Murray McDade quite interested in this. Charter Changes Committee: First step is to check over the charter and identify specific areas/ items needing to be changed in order to change to mayor/ council form. Karla has begun this. Ray Pesek suggested we get a copy of the 2000 and 2002 City Charter Review Committee minutes. He commented that he planned to attend this year’s Review Committee meetings, but by the time he requested the schedule they had already completed their review. Senior and Social Services Committee: Concerns that even when the Seniors room at the Rec Center is not being used for anything else, citizens are told they can sit in the lobby; this would seem to be quite arbitrary. Seniors also have been seeking BTA service on Sundays for some time. City Beautification: Kmart is to be resurfacing their parking lot on their own initiative, not at the insistence of the city. Comments that better asphalt not especially beautiful, but more trees and green space would help. Retailers tend to resist plantings that would help camouflage the parking lot from the street as this also tends to block view of their stores. Youth Sports: Brunswick Youth Sports very interested in working with CBB. Karla has not contacted the head of the soccer organization yet, she only recently got the phone number. BYS currently has to pay the city a contract fee for use of the fields, plus they have to do or pay for all the maintenance, mowing, etc. The two Youth Football groups in Brunswick don’t have high fees because they negotiate with the school systems to use their fields. Questions/ comments: There is talk of the latest Brunswick Lake plan including four, not two, ‘big box’ stores. It is difficult to assess how reliable this information is. Nicole McKinley suggested more can be done online to express citizen opinions to city hall, perhaps ‘form letters’ on various issues that people can personalize and send, or email chains as are often circulated on national issues. However, it was also pointed out that registered mail is well worth its cost, in order to prove mail was received. The meeting was adjourned with all invited to stay for open discussion as desired. Respectfully submitted, Donna Rehman Secretary, CBB |
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