Aug. 3 Toledo City Council meeting
Sarantou, Steel, Waniewski, Webb, Ashford, Brown, Collins, Copeland, Craig, Ludeman, Martinez, McNamara all present for the Aug. 3 Toledo City Council meeting.
Brief summary – resolution on Calling for Immigration Reform,Opposing Human Trafficking & Unscrupulous Employment passed without discussion. The Housing Fund issue has been delayed until a Committee of the Whole meeting is held on August 11 at 1:00 p.m.
First item on the agenda was appointments, basically everyone has been working in these positions for some time, with the exception of Perlean Griffin, but the Bell administration presented directors and commissioners for confirmation as required by the City Charter. It was requested that the vote be split, which means each appointment was individually voted on:
Thomas Crothers – Department of Public Utilities – confirmed by all present
Perlean Griffin – Director Affirmative Action and Contract Compliance – McNamara, Waniewski and Collins voted no, rest present voted yes.
McNamara said he had sponsored legislation in relation to double dipping, one of the arguments against was that Council had the ability to vote against appointments, his no vote was not a reflection of Griffin’s work but on the process.
Collins said he was going to be voting no on two of the confirmations, he strongly feels in streamlining our government redundancy must be eliminated, he would like to see the administration merge Board of Community Relations and Affirmative Action, that’s $435,000 a year, putting these in Human Resources. It would be two fewer directors, the budget issues are not going to go away and we are going to have severe challenges in 2011 and 2012. It is not a reflection on the two individuals it’s business related.
Ashford said confirmation should be related to the job performance/capabilities of the person not the reasons either McNamara or Collins stated.
Adam Loukx – Director of Law – confirmed by all present
Patrick McLean – Director of Finance – confirmed by all present
Valerie Robertson – Director of Information and Communication Technology- confirmed by all present
Peg Wallace – Director of Human Resources – Steel, Waniewski, Ashford, Collins, McNamara voted no, rest present yes.
David Welch – Director of Public Service – confirmed by all present
William Brennan – Commissioner of Building Inspection and Code Enforcement – confirmed by all present
Dennis Garvin – Commissioner of Parks and Forestry – confirmed by all present
Julian Highsmith – Commissioner of Fleet and Facility – confirmed by all present
Edward Moore – Commissioner of Streets, Bridges and Harbor – confirmed by all present
George Robinson – Commissioner Toledo Waterways Initiative – confirmed by all present
Robin Whitney – Commissioner of Engineering Services – confirmed by all present
Brown asked the following to be moved up on the agenda:
Resolution -Calling for Immigration Reform,Opposing Human Trafficking & Unscrupulous Employment – there was no discussion:
Sarantou, Steel, Webb, Ashford, Brown, Collins, Copeland, Craig, Martinez, McNamara voted yes
Waniewski & Ludeman voted no
After the vote Martinez thanked everyone who voted yes.
McNamara made a motion to relieve the ordinance related to the Housing Fund – 675-09. Sarantou said there were referrals that were requested during the December hearing that the previous and the current administration have not responded to. Sarantou wanted another hearing on this because of some of the questions raised by Steel, he felt it should stay in committee. Collins agreed with Sarantou and he said he is not satisfied with the budget process when the individual in charge of the Downtown parking that he can’t separate the expenses but the Finance director for the City said she could. Collins said there has never been an audit done and he thinks they need to have another hearing to do due diligence.
McNamara said the first issue is can we afford this, the legislation that would make a dispersement from Fund 79 not the general fund. It’s the fund that revenue comes from the parking garage, there is $178,000 in Fund 79. In the amended version this is corrected, so on top of the carry over there will be about 220,000 in the positive, it is not General Fund money. This came from the City’s use of the UDAG grant of 3 million dollars, the agreement was that the net revenue would be given to the Housing Fund. There has been so much debate, McNamara thinks there is a moral obligation until this has been made whole, which means paying until the 3 million dollars is met. Since this is not general fund money, it does not affect the general fund. McNamara said he feels they should vote on this and if they want to have a hearing, he suggests one before Committee of the Whole on the other aspects.
Steel said he thinks that they do have to have a Housing Fund and he thinks the moral obligation is to make good on the promises previous councils and administrations have made. Transferring the carry over to where it is supposed to go is a simple promise. He agrees there are issues that need further conversation on, but their being a carry over is a fact and the promise is a fact. Steel encouraged his colleagues to demand accountability and transparency, but folks have been waiting for months and months to fund important projects in neighborhoods. He wants it out of committee, disperse the funds and continue to ask questions.
Waniewski wanted to know what specifically the $178,000 be going to. If they have a house, a family, six windows that need to be replaced, they’ve spent 125 million in various federal and state grants in our housing stock and he’d like to know what we got for the money. Whether it ends up in a committee or not, he wants to know how many homes have we built or refurbished that have been boarded up. He wants to know the rate of transiency and the child poverty numbers, the crime rate. He applauds the organizations that put money into housing, he needs to know where this $178,000 would go and a more comprehensive look at where the 125 million has been spent the past five years.
Bell said he wants it to stay in committee, his position that the city has put more than 3 million in and they are not ignoring the needs of the city neighborhoods. He said this is an open end agreement and no contract that exists and according to the department of finance nothing is due to the Housing Fund. Since the Housing Fund still has funding it would not sink it and he disagrees with McNamara, Bell said it would come out of the General Fund.
Craig said this money is not like the NSP funds that have been spent, this money is unrestricted in use, this can help make a neighborhood of choice, there are no income limitations on who can buy the properties so those with disposable income can move in. Not having restrictions on income makes this a very important fund to invest in Toledo. The deal that was made for the three million dollars was an abysmal deal not for the city, but for the Housing Fund, the pay off for that is 60 years with no interest if the city pays $50,000 a year. He just can’t believe they are debating that they owe this money, he wants it out of committee and voted on it now.
Martinez said he is more than happy to have a committee meeting on this, but he would prefer to have a Committee of the Whole meeting, this to him is a no-brainer. It helps alleviate the pressure on the federal funds they rely on, if they had a robust Housing Fund it would be appropriate for the Eydes or other projects to be referred to rather than use CDBG funding.
McNamara all of the money in the Housing Fund is encumbered for projects, to Waniewski, it serves as gap financing, some people are literally not poor enough to qualify. Some cities put millions of dollars into their Housing Funds. He said he doesn’t understand how the administration is stating this is the General Fund, there is nothing in the 2010 budget that they passed to take money from Fund 79.
Collins said he respects McNamara’s advocacy but the questions have not been answered so how can they dispense the money, he said Waniewski made a profound statement, give us the physical evidence of what you have done. He said to remove it from committee means they are saying they will fix it later. He said they should be able to have the meeting within two weeks, let them at least get into it and dissect it, they have more questions than they had before.
Bell said one of the stipulations is you have to show us before we give you the money and that a councilman has made a request and we need to be able to see that. Herwat said the ordinance as amended changes the name of the game as far as allocating the funds to the Housing Fund. He referenced the Housing Fund agreement as “alleged” he said this new ordinance that every penny from all of the parking garages would be used for the parking garage since it no longer stipulates just the net revenue from Superior1.
Ashford asked for clarification on a memo that Adam Loukx sent to Council earlier. He disagrees that the 1998 ordinance creates a binding agreement with the City of Toledo and that it creates a perpetual act that binds previous council’s, he said if you can imagine a council in 1920 made a funding demand that it be continued. Council is vested with authority what it does, it holds the purse strings to the City government, the authority to spend in furtherance of government activity is pretty broad. To summarize, you have no mandatory duty to appropriate yearly but they have discretion to do so according to the charter. It is within their right to consider and he disagrees with the perpetual statements. Ashford asked what happens if Council passes this, will the administration honor the past ordinance. Loukx said he sees the past ordinance is one that appropriated $268,000 at the end of that, it’s merely an expression of Council intent and is non-binding on future councils. It is there discretion of this council to decide the appropriation every year. Loukx said this was subject to veto power.
Webb said the whole argument on other Council’s, she said Hillcrest and Museum Place are scenarios where other councils have bound them. She feels this does have an end once the $3 million dollars is met which they have not. We need to consider the folks who sat in our seats before we got here, Ujvagi, Gerken, Skeldon-Wozniak, she thinks it would be a grave mistake to substitute their judgement. McNamara said Loukx confirmed Council does have the power to do that. He said Herwat can’t have their cake and eat it too, if the 1998 agreement is not binding then his ordinance would be not binding for the next year either. McNamara read from the annual report of the Housing Fund (which was released several months ago). McNamara said the problem is not a lack of information from the Housing Fund, it’s the administration and the Parking Authority that have withheld information, so let’s not punish the Housing Fund.
Craig said the City used UDAG money so that they did not have to get bonds with interest, to say there is no obligation to restore the money to it’s original purpose and to do it at a $50,000 a year repayment rate is not fair. Craig said if they appropriate all of the money from the parking garage, the parking authority director said he couldn’t account for the money from each garage anyway and we need to fund the Housing Fund whether we get it from all of the garages or just one, he’s ready to move forward.
Brown said we’ve already had their committee meeting so they won’t need to have one. Ludeman said he talked to Bell after they were done judging ribs. Ludeman said he supported it in the past, but he thinks they need to take care of the historical successes and failures of the program. Bell said his point is they have not given money to that fund for a while, during the year that we have the most issues going when before there was money to do this was the money wasn’t allocated. He wanted to know why McNamara didn’t push it as hard in the past as he is now. He said the difference is now the City is saying they are not going to fund it, Bell said this issue has been outstanding and all of a sudden it’s a point of interest and if he was that passionate on it why didn’t he push it.
Ashford asked if Herwat if they would honor the legislation. Herwat said you are now allocating in perpetuity all of the proceeds of the parking garage. Ashford said if you are looking to have a victory on this, he thinks the administration is asking for a committee meeting, he sees Council taking one stand and the administration taking one stand, this is what happened in the past and he hoped they would come to some type of a compromise. He said he would take McNamara’s lead on this.
Brown said she wants to end the debate and she supports the Housing Fund. She wants to have a committee meeting, she didn’t want to vote no and without her vote there is not enough votes to get it out of committee. Brown said she wants to vote for the Housing Fund and she did not want to vote no (to some in the audience that were upset). Wednesday August 11 at 1:00 p.m. this will be in the Neighborhood’s Committee. Then it was stated it would be a Committee of the Whole.
Accept CIP & 2% Utility Fds reimbursement from Penn National for casino at 1968 Miami, $1,038,613 – passed by all present.
Levying assessments for Roadside Drainage Systems at 1839 Birdie and 5231 Jackman, $4,015
Res. – Approving report of Assessment Equalization Bd. for Downtown Special Improvement Dist(SID) – 1st Reading
Determining to proceed with enhanced public services in Downtown Special Improvement District(SID) -1st Reading
Levying assessments in Downtown Special Improvement District (SID), 5 years, $2,767,475 -1st Reading
Easement in International Pk for Buckeye Cablevision to relocate facilities from High Level Bg, $4,078
Passed by all present
Appropriation for Major Street Signalization, $200,000 CIP Fund
Passed by all present
Appropriation for 11 trucks, vans & trailer for Div of Transportation, $565,000 Capital Replacement Fd
Passed by all present
Accept WPCLF loan for Sewer Separation & Inflow Reduction in SSES Areas, $14,556,805
Passed by all present
Reduce and close 6 projects in the Sewer Replacement Fund, $328,523
Passed by all present
Appropriation for purchase of Front End Loader for Sewer & Drainage Srvcs,$111,000 Sewer & Storm
Passed by all present
Street Lighting – Belmont Ave.
Passed by all present
Street Lighting – Ogontz Ave.
Passed by all present
Street Lighting – Walbridge Ave. from Dale St. to Champion St.
Passed by all present
Street Lighting – Royer Rd. at Strang Dr. for TARTA bus stop
Passed by all present
Amend 2003 JEDZ agreement with Maumee and Monclova Twp. to include 3 parcels – 1st Reading
Ludeman said the comment was made that what was once adversarial was now a partnership by some who attended the earlier Economic Development Committee.
Enter into Cooperative Economic Development Agreement (CEDA) with Maumee and Monclova Twp. 1st Reading
Claim Settlement – Toni Martinez vs. City for 2007 motor vehicle accident with Police, $170,000 Risk
Passed by all present
Contract with Spengler Nathanson for legal services on ongoing litigation on new Fire class,$50,000G
Passed by all present
Accept FEMA grant for Fire for SCBA upgrades & 20 defibrillators, $569,354 grant & $142,338 CIP
Passed by all present
Accept Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission grant for Police training, $12,160
Passed by all present
Expenditure to Toledo-Lucas Cty. Victim-Witness Assistance Program, $40,000 LETF
Passed by all present
Expenditure to Neighborhood Health Assoc./Sister Care Series for domestic violence, $10,000 LETF
Passed by all present
Sale City-owned 4.12 acres at 303 Main St., East Toledo Market, to KITE, Inc., $185,000
Passed by all present
Craig said this is a win win, it will be a parking lot for the food market and will save the City because they are going to improve the lot at no cost to the tax payers as well as receiving $185,000.
Purchase foreclosed 428 Torrington Dr. for NSP Model Home, $39,000 NSP Funds
Passed by all present
Landbanking Sale – 3 parcels on Anglebrook Court to adjacent property owners for green space, $450
Passed by all present
Landbanking Sale – 2 parcels at Cherry & Collingwood to Walter Wells Jr. for driveway/green spc,$300
Passed by all present
Landbanking Sale – 3 parcels on Lexington Ave. to Earnest Anderson for lot expansion, $300
Passed by all present
That was the end of the Agenda items.
Brown
Craig
McNamara
Steel – all had absences excused.
Steel said it’s a great day to be back on vacation with it finally being possible for them to go paperless, it’s a great advance for transparency and efficiency to be able to do their meetings electronically with the lap tops and the wireless.
Waniewski says he is excited about this and thanked those involved. He said he appreciates the vote of the lighting, he wanted to welcome McNamara, Craig and his new aide.
Webb said one of her constituents emailed her while council was in session to let her know her displeasure with the vote, the new system gives real time feed back. She raised concerns about Longfellow school and the promise made to bus the students from Longfellow school, she is seeking an affirmation of that promise, she’d like the administration to help her work on that issue. Herwat said he had talked to the Mayor and they will work with Webb on that.
Ashford said he was at Woodward High school and this is his third request about paving around Stickney and the playground equipment at Wilson Park. Herwat said the Mayor just signed the agreement for the playground equipment. He’s asked Streets to take a look at the Stickney paving issue for 2011.
Collins had a question on the Department of Forestry as to outside vendors for Ash Trees – Herwat will get him a response. Collins was told the administration was looking at a firm from Bucyrus, Herwat thought that was sidewalks, Collins said that was Norwalk, Herwat said due to some staffing problems the administration went with an alternate bid. Collins said if the local provider met within the limits, and if we went outside the area, it seems to him that we need to maintain the integrity of employment in the City of Toledo, he sees no end game benefit if we hire from outside of the area. He asked the administration, to separate out the work so if the concrete work can be done by a local vendor we pursue that.
Copeland stated if they are going to hold committee meetings that are only going to last a short time, they should look at the process.
Craig, Ludeman, Martinez had no comments – McNamara welcomed his new aide.
Brown said any questions related to the Housing Fund should be addressed to the administration as soon as possible so that they don’t have to have another committee meeting. She also welcomed the new aide.
Meeting adjourned…
Categories: Toledo Area
Mayor Bell, Herwat and certain council members need to quit lumping the Housing Trust Fund in with other sources of funding like CDBG, HOME, and NSP.
They just don’t get it that there are community people who understand government funding. The smoke and mirrors technique doesn’t work anymore.
Stay tuned folks for the real dollar amounts.
The administration and some current and former members of council have egg on their face and they don’t like it.
by thisjustin on Aug 3, 2010 at 11:30 pm
It’s amazing to me that basically the city “stole” 3 million from the housing trust. And 9 years go by before this is addressed. Then there was a deal to pay this back at $50,000/year – a 60 year commitment. What a deal.
I find the arrogance of some council members and the mayor over honoring this debt quite troubling. It was something to watch those at council last evening squirming over paying this fund its due. I feel there is open hostility between some council members. They should grow up.
Thisjustin, I hope you are right and there will be more than enough money in Fund 79 to refund this account. Those whose hands have been in the cookie jar deserve more than a mere slap.
by Jackie on Aug 4, 2010 at 3:18 pm
Jackie,
And we both know independent forensic accounting costs money too. I wonder which councilperson has the gumption to call the question?
by thisjustin on Aug 4, 2010 at 7:35 pm
thisjustin,
I do not think any of them has the political will right now to rock the boat. Cowards. Forensic accountants may cost money but in most cases it is well worth the expense.
by Jackie on Aug 4, 2010 at 7:46 pm
Jackie,
Guess we will have to have the political will to vote thier butts out!!!
I too am appalled at Bell’s comments to McNamara.
This isn’t about McNamara it’s about tranparency and accountability and if Bell doesn’t get that then he can kiss re-election goodbye.
by thisjustin on Aug 4, 2010 at 8:15 pm