Thoughts on the 4/21 council meeting

Pacman: I agree with your conclusions, both within and as stated at the end of your post.

However, I guess that I am more cynical than you are: This meeting took place on April 3^rd, during the time that Ms. Gilleland was supposedly still in negotiations with CONSOC for a new contract. Although she wasn’t listed as an attendee, the minutes state that:

In fact, it appears that a good portion of the meeting was about the negotiations with CONSOC, and is just one more case of the council meddling in the City Manager’s business.  Also in attendance and participating, although not listed as attending, were Harrison Joseph, Sr., Harrison Joseph, Jr., and Sandra Joseph.

The other significant item, at least in my mind, is the myriad of items discussed. Just to name a few:

1) Paint and landscaping to refurbish the Community Center.

3) Abatement Fund legislation to Law Department for review. (Columbus has a very good model ordinance. They create a separate fund where all nuisance type complaints are listed. When court fines are assessed, those fines are rolled back into those funds. Discussion regarding fine structure and if we are competitive with other communities in the amount of fines levied)

4) Police gathering latest crime data by neighborhood.

5) Met with Middletown Board of Realtors – they are gathering latest real estate data by neighborhood.

6) Met with Dan Tracy – he is providing data he says is different than the numbers I have found in-house. Will compare and verify data.

11) Met with Transit and set goal of having $100,000 deficit for 2010.

12) Met with Weatherwax staff to discuss options and ways to increase the number or rounds played this season.

a. Golf Commission reviewing options/gathering information.

b. Rate survey of nearby courses.

13) Developing plan to have all existing Dollar Homes out of our inventory by year end. Plan is to demolish 4, rehab 2. (there are six in our inventory)

14) Working the process to demolish additional 12 existing condemned properties. Will demolish as soon as the proper procedures are finished.

15) Marie Edwards is working on Diversity training for entire city staff.

16) Attended “Flip This Town” premier with TV Middletown. Have been invited to speak on TV Middletown about City revitalization activities.

17) Attended Place Matters meeting Monday night to observe how their efforts may compliment city activities.

18) Met with Russ to review budgets and expenditures year to date.

22) Code Enforcement:

a. 2300 letters sent to properties in violation.

b. Phones busy but very little negative feedback. (Phone are rolling, there are up to five persons to answer phone calls)

c. List of Middletown partnering businesses on City website by mid-April.

d. FAQ being developed to add to Code Enforcement on website.

e. Obtaining 2009 IPMC for implementation in Middletown. Currently using 2003 Edition.

f. Concentration March to May – residential with minimal commercial. Dealing with 2300

letters and incoming nuisance complaints

g. Will take more active role in commercial in May – part time inspector and shift of existing inspectors time to commercial.

So, perhaps I am dense, but I fail to see how things like the transit budget, Weatherwax woes, crime data, the Community Center, diversity training for the entire city staff, the city budget, and commercial building inspections can be the proper subjects of discussion of this “HOUSING” subcommittee!

Also, there was not an ordinary citizen to be found anywhere near this meeting.

Lastly, there was the last item in the meeting minutes:

Well, let’s see. We know that Mr. Schiavone, Ms. Scott-Jones, and Mr. Lawrence P. Mulligan, Jr. were all listed as attendees, and now we know that Mr. Marconi, (who is listed as a member of this subcommittee) was absent. Well, that makes FOUR council members!!!

That means that this was intended to be a “prearranged discussion of the public business with a majority of the city council in attendance.”, and just like all of the other “subcommittee meetings” when there are FOUR council members in attendance, these are the VERY DEFINITION of a “council meeting”, and therefore IN VIOLATION of the Ohio Sunshine Law unless they are held as council meetings and advertised as such!!!

It also means that it is the DUTY of the city’s Law Director as follows:

The council members have a “duty expressly enjoined” by Ohio’s Sunshine Law to REFRAIN from holding illegal meetings. Therefore, under ORC 766.58, the City Law Director has an obligation and “shall apply to a court of competent jurisdiction for a writ of mandamus to compel the performance of the duty.”

Of course, in our case, this is a bit of a sticky wicket, since our City Law Director is often in attendance at these illegal meetings, and has told council that they are not illegal.