Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Town Hall Meeting 8/26/2014

Here is a brief overview from last night’s Town Hall. First let me say if I have any of this wrong, please correct me! It was a lot of info and I took notes as best I could. Secondly and most importantly, your council WANTS AND NEEDS your input. Please talk to them on these very important issues.  They rely on you and sincerely want to represent your ideas and needs as a community.

Soon after Council resumes in September they will begin to look at the financial budget for 2015.  Major purchases this year, 2 new police vehicles and equipment. Equipment cost was $29,875.  A grant of $3,700 was given to purchase 9 vests. The Cahoon House will be painted at the cost of $30,000. A new senior van was purchased with a trade-in of $11,075: the cost of the van, $57,000.

The property tax rate increased to 2.7% this year. The main reasons are the November passing of Issue 1 and Issue 80. The city % rate has been the same since 1999. Our taxes rank 57th out of 80 county cities with Fairview, Lakewood and N. Olmsted having higher taxes.

The income tax rate of 1.5% was set in 1983 and has not changed.

On Oct 24 the fall leaf pick up program begins. Rake to the tree lawn – not onto the street.

The Rec Dept. will send out a survey in the fall to see what people want in rec services. Rec center ideas were discussed along with the financial realities.  The pool debt will be repaid by 2022. The pool is operationally profitable but does not generate enough in sales to cover the pool debt. Rec centers in other cities are generally not profitable.

The walking trail at Cahoon is still looking to add 3 exercise stations. The funds will be raised and donated at no expense to the city. The plan is to add mid-level type of exercise stations; something between walking and a highly physical activity such as tennis. Considerations are given to maintaining the importance of the lake view. You can view the plans on a previous thread on this page.

There is constant pressure to centralize activities in Cahoon Memorial Park.  Whereas some would like to maintain those activities while increasing activities in Reese and Bradley parks.

Eyesore as it is, Bradley Bay construction will continue for appx. another year. Additionally there will be 9 new lots at Crestview.

Remember to support the fireworks fund.

The bicycle co-op is open. Information is available if you are a concerned motorist or bicyclist. Stop in and pick up a pamphlet or talk to a pro. It was suggested that the police ticket the cyclists that do not follow the laws. 

Attached resident housing is still to be reviewed.  Residents must let Council know their feelings on this. Those that are fine with it may want to consider a hypothetical scenario: A developer comes in and buys a row of houses next to yours to allow him the required acreage to build attached housing. You could end up with condos or townhouses and a complex type of living next to you. You thought this type of housing could only happen in Bay’s commercial district so you didn’t care and welcomed the idea, you didn’t get involved. Now, you are not so sure.  Please don’t consider this an issue that could never affect you. It could still work out beautifully but I would think you would want a say in what can happen in your back yard. No matter where you live, you should participate in the review of Chapter 1158 of the city code. It is a complex issue to be sure, which is why your input is valuable.

Dave Tadych will submit to Council to restore and rebuild the stairs to Columbia Park.

Dimepiece Fitness is moving to the old Ace Hardware/Kronheims.

Concerns regarding trucks and speeding on Clague Rd. were discussed.

Desire for Kiwanis to look at other contractors for the Bay Day rides.

Concerns with landscapers parking on busy streets: Landscapers have city permission to do this as long as they put cones up.  If you have hire a landscape company encourage them to come when traffic isn’t busy, or ask them to park in your drive. If they are not using cones or causing a real problem, you can call City Hall, or the non-emergency police dept. number.

The Do Not Knock registry is being worked on for clarifications so as not to exclude our local groups, teams, boosters.


Deer culling in Avon Lake was covered. More on that later. 

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