Civilian Dispatchers

Mayor Sutherland wanted to add $260,000 to the 2015 budget to allow for civilian dispatchers. This had been discussed with the Mayor, Police Chief and Finance Director but not Council. As President of Council, Paul Koomar pointed out “Council has not been a part of that. Council’s job is to appropriate the funds. Mr. Koomar stated he is not comfortable with increasing police costs by $260,000 in perpetuity.”

Mayor Sutherland commented that just because the money is there doesn’t mean it is going to be spent. Whereas Mr. Koomar advised that once the money is there, it must legally be spent. Surely administration knew this.

Data is not available, the move hasn’t been vetted, Council hasn’t been involved but that was all fine as the Mayor implied administration’s position should be enough.

http://www.cityofbayvillage.com/media/233872/2014_finance_minutes_11-17.pdf

LeanOhio

At the Nov. 10 committee Session the Mayor discusses how a team comprised of the City Directors and an outside third party spent the fall streamlining the Planning Commission application process. This was a result of their training with LeanOhio. “The mission of LeanOhio is to make government services in Ohio simpler, faster, better, and less costly. Using continuous improvement methods such as Lean and Six Sigma, Ohio's state agencies are cutting red tape, removing inefficiencies, improving customer service, and achieving measurable results.” 

Maybe now that the team has streamlined that process they can focus on the “improving customer service” aspects of the mission. 

Town Hall 11/24/2014

Best kept secret in town – it does not appear on the City web page, there are no signs sprinkled around town, it is not on the board outside of City Hall but you might want to know there is a Town Hall Meeting Monday, November 24. 7:30 Dwyer Center.

In essence a Town Hall is an informal meeting where the focus should be on the attendees and their questions and concerns with no specific guidelines or rules. It is in contrast to a council meeting with a set agenda, procedure and focus.

At the Nov. 3 committee meeting this was discussed.  Service Director Thomas would like to give updates on the sewer testing and have City Consulting Engineer Bob Greytak in attendance. With this particular agenda in mind, Karen Lieske asked if there could be a time limit set for Mr. Greytak so there is more opportunity for citizen participation.

Mr. Koomar commented that this technical information is needed to educate the residents. Mrs. Lieske noted “that Town Hall indicates a fair amount of participation by residents. They would like more opportunity to engage.”

Mr. Koomar stated that they would try to have a section for participation in the meeting. He further commented that “we will not have such in-depth issues on all Town Hall meeting agendas; we will try to balance it out.”

He said he said

The follow up to the ‘it was posted, it wasn’t posted, it didn’t have to be posted’ saga regarding the Property Maintenance Inspector position. 

Attached are the approved minutes from the Council meeting Oct. 20. Under Finance and Claims Committee - the job discussion.

At 5 pages into this discussion, Mr. Henderson asks the City policy for posting positions. Mr. Ebert states “that we have to post by labor contract for positions. This position was actually posted. The labor contract for the Service Department, the two unions, requires posting.”

When I emailed to get a copy of that posting and the locations it was posted, the response from Mr. Ebert was “I stand corrected when this was discussed it was the Assistant to the Community Services Director position that was posted and not the Property Maintenance Inspector which is not required to be posted.”  He also repeated this statement at the Nov. 3 Council meeting.

Sure – everyone makes mistakes, but which one is the mistake? Are we being confused accidentally or intentionally?

http://www.cityofbayvillage.com/media/230288/2014_council_agendas_for_11-3.pdf

LOWV presents ODNR Speaker Geoff Westerfield 11/5

Library 7 p.m. this evening, League of Women Voters presents Geoff Westerfield.  This is an important opportunity to learn from an expert on the white-tail deer. He will discuss what residents face when overpopulation begins. As always, I feel no matter where you stand on the issue and the state's methods of control, we attend to learn.  I look forward to an intelligent presentation and a respectful give and take with the audience.