Pepper Pike City Council hears, discusses myriad of topics

Director Jill Korsok attended the meeting last week to explain the renewal levy on the May ballot. This .95-mill five-year levy has been on the ballot since 1975.

“It costs residents of the district $28 per $100,000 in home value and that has remained the same since 1995,” Ms. Korsok said.

For residents, they are entitled to 12.5% homestead rollback which no longer is an option for newer levies.

“The levy generates about 20% of our department’s annual budget and 80% comes from participant fees,” Ms. Korsok said.

Last year, the OCER received over 7,800 registrations, with Pepper Pike as the heaviest base of participation between the several communities the center serves. The funds that would come from this levy will fund the Orange Art Center, the Orange Senior Center, the outdoor pool and the Pepper Pike Learning Center.

“One really important thing to note is that when voters go to the ballot, Orange School District is our fiscal agent and our governing body so, when voters go to the ballot it does say that it’s a tax for Orange City School District,” Ms. Korsok said. “However in the fine print, it says for recreation operations and facility maintenance so, it’s really important for us to educate people that when they see that it’s an Orange City School District levy, it is actually benefiting entirely our department. We do not receive any funds from the school district, so levies and bonds that are passed for K12 education remain entirely with the school district and do not fund our department. Likewise this levy funds our department and is not shared with the school district.”

Council Member Dr. Cathy Hwang asked if this levy would support senior transportation in the area.

“Our staff at the senior center helps coordinate senior transportation and we do have quite a few riders. I think ridership has increased every single year since COVID and that’s something that our staff helps coordinate and maintain and promote,” Ms. Korsok said.

Gates Mills Boulevard Linear Trail benches

The Parks and Beautification committee for the city has been researching different benches for the Gates Mills Boulevard Linear Trail.

“We’re recommending a specific bench available through Kenneth Lynch. I’ve spoken with one of our representatives from MKSK and they’re supportive of the bench that we’ve selected,” Council Member and Chair of the Parks and Beautification Committee Emmy Zatroch said. MKSK is an urban design and landscape architecture firm that previously brought forth a holistic park plan for the City.

Ms. Zatroch provided the council with pictures of the concrete and wooden bench for the trail, with sizing options.

“The committee is also recommending the pure mounting for the installation of the bench and the Cumaru wood finish, which you will see in the sample. This bench has armrests available that could be installed for an additional cost, we would suggest that that feature be added for comfort,” Ms. Zatroch said.

A pure mount allows the bench to be installed into the ground, while a surface mount has a concrete pad only and the armrests can be added later on.

Council Member Jim LeMay asked about the durability of the benches. Ms. Zatroch said they have been placed in similar climates before, showing to be very durable with limited maintenance of light sanding of the wood.

“It is not something that is a continual maintenance for the service department,” Ms. Zatroch said.

“It’s interesting, it outperforms the synthetics, the plastic by the way, it lasts a longer time,” Council Member Scott Newell said after looking at the documents.

Shaker Boulevard Sanitary Sewer Phase 2A

After going out to bid for a second time and hoping to get lower prices, the council accepted a $5,060,456 bid for the Shaker Boulevard Sanitary Sewer project.

The project originally went to bid at the end of last year, but the prices were higher than the City wanted to pay for it, so they were rebid early this year.

The City is installing a forever sanitary line to comply with federal Environment Protection Agency (EPA) requirements and this is phase 2A.

Repeal and replacement of the City Charter discussion

In the most recent City Council meetings, the council has sought to write a letter about the new charter to inform residents of the changes. This initially came about after Mayor Bain posted a letter about the same topic to the City’s website and sent out an email to residents.

Mr. LeMay drafted a letter on behalf of the council, but the Law Director Steve Byron said it was an advocacy piece. He also said the Mayor’s letter was not an advocacy piece.

For at least two meetings, the council’s letter has been reviewed to try and eliminate the advocacy aspects, but a final draft had not been developed by the March 25 meeting. Council Member Tony Gentile said that he was confused about the legal arguments they have heard from the law director, related to the letter.

“The only way I can see to rectify this situation, is for council to consider hiring its own legal adviser to help us understand the situation and the legal arguments from both sides,” he said.

Mr. Gentile added that he would just like to hear a different point of view.

“Mr. Byron has provided advice throughout this process to the commission, to the council, to the administration. That’s his job to provide that advice and I understand it’s not always been something that I’ve been thrilled to hear what the conclusion is,” Mayor Bain said. “I don’t want to see council go shopping for another lawyer because you’re not hearing an answer that you like.”

Mr. Newell asked whose advice they would take if the outside counsel gave a different opinion than Mr. Byron.

“They might reach consensus on where that line is. It’s the amorphousness of that line that has troubled me,” Mr. LeMay said.

To try and start the process, Mr. Gentile made a motion to hire outside counsel pertaining to May ballot Issue 17.

“I think you can’t do this by motion, you’d have to pass a piece of legislation and I would recommend that you have a piece of legislation that appoints a specific person as special counsel,” Mr. Byron said in response.

When Mayor Bain asked if he had a price point for the outside counsel, Mr. Gentile said he thought that “we would close that loop at another date if we wanted to go ahead and follow through on this recommendation.”

“Council can’t by motion direct a contract. You direct a contract through the mayor. You can direct the mayor to sign a contract because we have an ordinance in place to do that,” Mr. Byron said, adding that they do not have administrative authority to search for counsel. “You act by legislation, that’s how you can control the administration.”

It was not decided on officially at the meeting if the council would seek outside legal advice.

New bid for seat on Council

City Resident Bob Rice spoke to council during the public comment section of the meeting, informing them that he had filed with the Board of Elections on March 21 to run in the fall. He invited all of the council members to sign his petition.

“After all, it’s the civil thing to do and respectful thing to do,” Mr. Rice said.

He also said he was surprised there was no background check needed for those running for council and asked that all those who run for election in Pepper Pike be subject to one.

“I think the residents should understand the full background and capability of those running for council,” he said.