Board of Works and Public Safety - Regular Meeting

All right, let's bring all this excitement to a close and let's start our meeting. All this excitement, you see. Could you stand and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

We do the roll call.

Mayor Bonta. Here. Member Newell. Member Lewis.

Here.

Member Farkas.

Here.

Member Mileta.

Here.

Let's see. Did everyone have a chance to look at the minutes for April? No, I'm sorry. Yeah, April 29th. I'll make a motion. We approve the minutes from April 29th.

I'll second that motion.

We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Thank you. That'll get us to the unfinished business. We have the sidewalk waivers for Robbins Road and Airport Road in the Brookside subdivision. Thanks for being up here, Sandy.

Of course, of course. So the developer, Lenar, for Brookside subdivision has requested to pay for the waiver that they received in 2022 for curbs and sidewalks along Robins Road. They were given, they were waived the fee in lieu of installing a bridge across Robins Ditch for sidewalks along Airport Road. and they would rather pay the fee rather than install the bridge itself.

So we tabled this because of just different memories of what the goal was of this. I've had some time to check in with Sandy and Tom, kind of review the history. I talked to a former member of the Storm Board who had the idea, I think, originally. I talked to him over the weekend at Mother's Day, just happened to be in the same kitchen. But all that said and done. I am increasingly confident that we are moving in the right direction to getting that ditch filled or mitigated. Not tomorrow, but possibly within the next two years is the goal that we've been working on with the Army Corps. With that in mind, if we were to go through with the bridge getting that filled means the bridge would be taken out. And so I've become more comfortable if the board is comfortable with the notion of having them pay, giving us $70,000 to build sidewalks and some other places so that we can just pursue filling the ditch. But of course, I was curious what the rest of the board felt about that.

I think that was our concern at the last meeting, right?

And now knowing that there is, in the imminent future, of the ditch being filled in, it does make sense not to put a bridge in there just to be tore out. So we're better off to take the money that they had set aside.

I'm not saying it's tomorrow, but we're on track with the goal as we start working with that. So like I say, I'm very comfortable with us letting the bridge go. But again, I think that if we were in a spot where the ditch was indefinite, then I would think the bridge was the better. So what is the sidewalk we were going to?

So your first item is actually payment for the sidewalk and the curb waiver that was granted in 2022 for Robbins Road. So the waiver was granted, but no fee in lieu of the bridge. So at this point, I think we just need to say that they're going to pay the fee. They want to pay the fee and not install the bridge.

So how do we make that motion? Are we relieving him of the responsibility of the bridge in lieu of the fee?

No, I think you're just accepting the payment, accepting the sidewalk waiver. I move that we accept the sidewalk waiver payment and not have the bridge built. You're just accepting the payment.

So their payment is actually going to be $36,000 for sidewalk along Robbins Road and $22,500 for the curb along Robbins Road.

So I'll make a motion that we accept the fee for the sidewalk waiver in the amount of $36,000, accept the... curb waiver in the amount of $22,500 in lieu of a bridge.

I'll second that.

So we have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. And then is that the second matter then, the waiver for Airport Road?

Yes. So they never received a waiver for the sidewalks along Airport Road that was going to connect this bridge. So they're requesting a waiver for the sidewalk. It's about 410 lineal feet. The amount is $10,250. Okay.

make a motion that we grant the sidewalk waiver on Airport Road for $10,250.00. Second.

So we have a motion and a second. All in favor please signify by saying aye. Aye. Thank you. And then that'll get us to the next matter, the DCCM Professional Service Agreement for the Willow Creek Bridge Inspection.

So it is a federal requirement that we have bridges inspected every two years. And our bridge over the toll road is due for its inspection. DCCM is formerly our QAW who performed our last inspection. They are charging us the same price as a few years ago when they did the work. Their contract amount is $7,850.

I've had a chance to review the contract. There's no legal objection.

I'll make a motion to approve the DCCM professional service agreement for the Willow Creek Bridge inspection. I'll second that.

We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Thank you. Thank you. That'll get us to the Board of Works claims for 5-12-26. Does everybody have a chance to read the claims? Are there any questions?

I'll make a motion we approve the claims for 5-12-26 in the amount of $325,573.27. Second. Second.

We have a motion and a second. All in favor please signify by saying aye. Aye. That'll get us to pension payroll for April 2026. Is that right?

Make a motion we approve the pension payroll for April 2026 in the amount of $206,047.62. Second.

We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. That'll get us to payroll for 4-17-26.

Make a motion we approve the payroll for 417, the amount of $2,214,657.06. Second. We have a motion and a second.

All in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. And that gets us to payroll 5126.

Make a motion we approve the payroll for 5-1 of 2026 in the amount of $2,230,656.80. Second.

We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

That'll get us to bulk appeals. We have 6686 Federal Avenue. We're going to have Mr. Reeder speak first, and then we'll call you guys up if that's okay. Okay. You're welcome to come that way, too.

Come on up here. Before you use 6686, it's for $40. I'm asking the board to have leniency here and possibly reverse it. If you have any questions for the homeowner, he's here today.

Well, it's good that you've already got Mr. Reeder explaining that you guys are in the right, but you are welcome to say something if you'd like. I got you.

I was trying to think how many people I know. I've been in that house for 38 years. This is my wife, Josephina, by the way. My name is Richard Musatelli, and a good friend of your grandfather's. What I appealed was, it was always the first pickup of the month. It was like March 4th. So I put two pallets out there. That's probably the first time I've done it in 38 years. And not knowing that they had changed this. And I found this. I got this now. The schedule of what it's supposed to be. And I got a friend that had the same thing. And I don't know if he's going to appeal or not, but it's happened to him twice. He got charged $30 or $40 for putting out the first pallet. The first pickup of the month. So all I'm saying is that that is the first time I've ever hardly put trash out. So I just wanted to know if I can get a reimbursement for that. If that's possible.

So Mr. Reeder, I take it you verified that, as said, he's never done this before.

Yes. He's always communicated with the street department, with other services, lead pickup and limb pickup. So he's very well.

Simply put, the mistake seems really simple to me. And we've given leniency before for people who just have.

I knew Chuck Castle for years before he passed away. And he was with the street department. I probably would have gone directly to him, other than Randy here.

Randy's still with us, so. I'll make a motion to grant the fee waiver for 6686 Federal Avenue. I'll second.

Now, who is Andy Maleta? Who is that? Oh, you're Andy Maleta, okay. I knew Sammy way back.

So we have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Thank you very much. You are all clear.

All right, thank you, Randy. Do you want that paper? No, you could have that. All right.

Thank you so much.

I like these meetings. I have to come to more of them.

You're welcome to come. Be careful.

If you come to too many, he might put you on a board.

I might put you on the board if we end up with a vacancy.

All right, thank you.

If there's any other matters. Oh, yes. Oh, Tom? Two? Oh, my goodness. This is a more stressful meeting than I thought. Come on up, Tom. Here I am thinking that that was the nice end of the meeting. All right. Thank you all. So nice to see you.

So with being already. Almost mid-May here. We have the Rocks Fest coming in next month, second annual Rocks Fest, and I've got the Hold Harmless Agreement with the City of Portage for the use of the parcels that is owned by the City of Portage. Dan Bartnicki has reviewed this, and just need your permission to approve this year's event. Same setup as last year. And also the SPC Roy Buckley will be closed the same, those two days, from Main Street north as well.

I'll make a motion we approve Rock's desk for 2026. Second.

All in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. All right. Mayor. If only. I've been told that the government of the Dominican Republic is promoting it more than I am. And I'm like, I've got a call with the president of that country later this afternoon to see how we could team up and partner together.

So I do have one item for a new business. This doesn't happen very often, but we do have a union step three grievance. So an employee filed a step one and step two, and they have appealed the step two decision. And now it comes to the Board of Works for step three. So my question to the board is, we do need to hear the union grievance at an executive session. So the next meeting, I believe, is May 26th. And then the meeting after that is, I might need an assist here. Will it be that June 2nd? June 9th is the next one. At which of those two would you be more comfortable hearing the step three grievance? Because we will need a quorum. It'll be held in an executive session, and then I will guide you through how to go ahead and render a decision when you hear what the grievance is. My recommendation would be that we would have the executive session at the typical 1030 time, and then once you hear the grievance and get the information, then we would close the executive session, and then we would go into regular session after that. I'm good on either date.

Okay. 9th um given i think that jamie said you can't be here and okay and with uh jen i think that we're out of school by then you know jen's been great at coming here but i think that um you know she couldn't be here today because the situation of the school i think that making sure that we're as secure and having a quorum and all of us here would be best yes no i that's what i was going to suggest is which day was you know we're more you know members going to be available because we will need a quorum um because if there's

If there's a chance that you reach a decision, you could deliberate and announce your decision, and then we could reduce it to writing after that. But you may also need time to think about it. Also, there is a second employee who just received a step two decision today. So this may be two step threes at the same time. So June 9th does allow for that. So just be aware that there will probably be an executive session on June 9th. We will get it published. We will get notifications out to everybody. but there is a step three grievance coming, so.

It's just the normal, I shouldn't say normal, but that is the procedural course of how it goes that by the step three it comes to the Board of Works.

Yeah, as I've been told, this doesn't happen all that often, so that's why, you know, this does not happen too often, but we are at that point where we do have a step three grievance. That was all I had, thank you.

Any other matters for the Board? If not, is there a motion to adjourn?

I make a motion to adjourn. Second.

All in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye.