City Council - Regular Meeting

I'm very prepared. Good evening. We're going to open our meeting for April 14th at 7:17 p.m. We're going to do a pledge of allegiance. Yeah. Okay. Roll call. Mayor Basiada here. Law director Moore present. Finance director Frank here. Councilman at large Elliot

here. Councilwoman at large Kelly here. Councilman at large Castanzo present. Ward one. Councilman Curiosis here. W two, Councilman Brian Kelly, present. W three, Councilman Snitzki, present. Ward four, Councilman Mororrow, present. Director of public service and properties, Brighta. Building Commissioner Grassi, present. City Engineer Gerson, present. I'm going to move to excuse uh Director Brighter from this evening's meeting. Do I have a second? Second motion. All in favor? Yay. We now go to the reading disposal of the minutes. Mr. President, Councilman Snitzky,

having read the minutes uh from council meeting March 24th, 2026, finding no errors or omissions, I move that they be approved as printed. Carry has a second. All in favor? Yay. We have no resolutions of condemnation, reports of committees, planning, zoning, economic development. Councilman Snitzky. Yes. Planning, zoning, and economic development minutes are filed. Next meeting is May 26th. Thank you. Public works council prom Castanzo. Thank you, Mr. President. We last met tonight. Uh meeting minutes are pending. My next meeting is May 14th. Thank you. Community services council person Kelly.

Thank you, Mr. President. Our our last meeting was this evening. Minutes are pending and our next meeting is May 12th. Thank you. Police and fire Councilman Elliott. Thank you, Mr. Mr. President, last meeting was held today. My minutes are on file with the clerk. The next meeting will be held on May the 12th. Thank you, Parks and Recreation. Councilman Mororrow. Thank you, Mr. President. Our last meeting was on March 24th. Thank you, uh, Council Person Kelly for covering that. Uh, meeting minutes are on file, and our next meeting will be on April 28th. Thank you. Rules, Ordinance, and Ethics, Councilman, uh, Kelly.

Thank you, Mr. Council President. Last meeting was held on March 24th. Minutes are on file with the clerk. Next meeting is April 28th. Thank you. Finance, civil service, and personnel last met this evening. Minutes are pending. Next meeting is April 28th. We have no appointments or confirmations this evening. We have no communications, petitions, or claims. Council open to the audience on legislation. Hearing none. We have no ordinances or resolutions this evening. Council open to the audience for comments. No reports and communications from the mayor safety director.

Thank you, Mr. President. Um going to be kind of two parts here. First, I want to tend to some shop business on our March 24th meeting. Two residents from Sprag Road come in uh citing their displeasure with a neighbor from Sprag Road. I wanted to report to council and those that follow these meetings at home um the history on 65 2024. We've only had four complaints on this property and uh most recent was less than two weeks prior to that last meeting. But I want to go through the history. On 65 2024, we got a complaint of tall grass and weeds. Um complaint was filed. City followed up. Uh grass and weeds removed. The city verified grass and weeds are removed. Uh 12 days later, we got a second complaint on the property for trash and debris. Trash and debris was immediately removed and the case was closed by the city. On 71 2025, we got a complaint for junk and trailers in the yard. That was on 71. On 7:23, the junk and trailers were removed, verified by the city. Um, fast forward to March 2026, we got two complaints. Junk and debris in yard of the home. This is case is was just open last month. It's still open, but tomorrow is the day uh we're going to go back uh to follow up on that complaint. We com gave a written complaint to the address and they had a month to clean it up and tomorrow indicates a month and we're going to go see if that happened or not. Uh on that same date, March 11th, we got

a complaint for vehicle and disrepairing the driveway. Um all residents involved were contacted by the city and they agreed to mediation. mediations uh TBD for a scheduled time and date. So, every complaint that was made on the property was quickly followed up by the city and quickly removed. Uh if there's things going on the property that are outside our complaint, uh that would be I really shift that then to council. If there's rules of the city, ordinances of the city that aren't rectifying the situation, uh then maybe it's time to change the rules. Uh but council makes rules and the administration enforces them. So, um the first three inspected and closed in a reasonable amount of time. Um the fourth they were given 30 days to clean up and that 30 days expires tomorrow. and the fifth given on the same day last month uh all parties agreed to mediation. So uh I reviewed uh our building department and inspection staff and and I believe everybody on this end has done their due diligence with that issue. Okay, switching gears. Um since our last meeting, the city has suffered a tragic event on the passing of our fire chief. Um, I think he was a good partner. Uh, if you read my comments in the paper, uh, in the six years, uh, big progress was made. Uh, renovations to the fire station, a new engine, two new ambulances, a host of other equipment,

um, one of the first cities to install EpiPens everywhere. And he got a grant for that. and not only for the pens but also to educate every member of the city workforce. So not just people that are in charge of medical. If somebody experienced an allergic reaction at a rec center here at city hall, uh all city employees were train trained via grant to administer this pen. Um last but not least, we did see an increase in our ISO rating which um determines how insurance companies rate your fire department. and our rating in that six-year period was um increased. Um but when you work with people, you become their friends. So way more than the technical aspect of the fire department. Um Chief Meckberg touched many of our lives and we got to know of course his wife and his children and um and set us all for a spin. um they'll just um keep the family in our thoughts and prayers, our hearts and if there's a lesson to be learned, let's learn that lesson and uh apply it to our own lives and let's make the best of it. Um the housekeeping here. First off, I want to thank the Valley View Fire Department. Uh on the day of the funeral, you know, as many know, city hall was closed, but to enable all of our firefighters to attend the funeral, uh we called upon some neighbors to staff our fire station for the day. And Valley View sent over three firefighters and an engine uh that resided here in Seven Hills. in Newberg Heights sent over an ambulance and two paramedics. So, the fire station was um fully staffed

uh to our normal compliment uh thanks to Valley View and Newberg Heights. I'd also like to wish to extend my thank you to the mayors and fire chiefs of Brooklyn Heights and Valley View. Uh we all worked uh very close on all the arrangements that needed to take place. So, thank you, Mayor March. Thank you, Mayor Prok, and your respective chiefs. Um, I don't have a list of every other fire department that participated. Uh, but I'd like to note that every department along the route from St. kill um to Northfield Cemetery, every fire department that we went past line line the road and uh paid their last respects and to all those uh apartment departments and people that line the road. Um thank you on behalf of Grateful City. Uh Mr. President, this concludes my report for this evening.

Thank you, Mayor. Do any of the uh directors have anything uh this evening? Okay, we're now going to go go to miscellaneous comments and I want to go first this evening. Um, I wanted to thank the mayor for everything he did last week, including bringing in the critical incident response team to uh support our employees if they wanted to ask any questions or they needed any support uh support or advice. and also for closing city hall uh yesterday for the funeral to let the employees of the city uh attend the funeral and also the bereavement lunchon was here and to u it would have been a very tough day with all the people that were here to carry on business and with the parking. So, I just want to thank the mayor for everything he did in the past week with what happened. Thank you,

Mr. President. If I may have 30 more seconds, you've jogged my memory. Uh yes, uh city hall was closed yesterday. Uh but we had a few employees volunteer their time to make sure that the bereavement lunchon went smooth. So I'd like to thank um Mr. Tony Terry, uh Miss Jenburgger, and Mr. Todd Styments. Um they had every right to be home uh yesterday with everybody else uh and they volunteered their day and uh saw all the details to make sure that the lunchon went off smoothly. So thank you to you three.

Thank you, mayor. Yes, I just wanted to bring that up. Like I said, it was very important, I think, that the employees had a chance to attend yesterday and attend a lunchon yesterday. Uh we're going to go to the next uh council person, Kelly. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh my condolences to the Meckllinburgg family. My thoughts and prayers are with you all. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Snitzky.

Um yes, thank you, Chief. I don't know how much you had to do with I don't know whether it was all fire department or police department or whatever but that procession yesterday was impressive impressive as heck and uh you know the the the the control of the tra there I think somebody said there were 60 cars in that session there the control of the traffic all the intersections with the with the chief being saluted I I just it was very and I'm not sure who was involved or who did what. I'm going to guess you had something to do with that. So, thank you. Um I have a personal story on um Jamie Meckllinburgg. I you guys may not know this, but I had a heart incident two years ago. Uh I was in my garage on a hot summer day. I was working and I got lightheaded and did not feel good at all. And the last thing I wanted to do was go to the hospital. So, I called Jamie on his cell phone and I said, "Jamie, I don't feel real good, but I do not want to go to the hospital. Can I go up to the fire station and have her on a strip on my heart?" "Sure." So, I went in there, they ran the strip, and they go, "Tom, don't look so good. Uh, you get to take a ride in the ambulance," which was my first ambulance ride in my life. But, you know, that type of personal service, if you will, that type of caring is, I think, what Jamie was all about. And, uh, that type of heart, I think, is going to be missed. And, um, God bless his family, his kids. The speech that her daughter gave at the funeral, I don't think I could have done that at 16 years old. She was just

amazing. So, condolences to the family and uh I hope Jaime's smiling in heaven. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Mororrow.

Thank you, Mr. President. Uh would like to also extend my condolences to the Meckllinburgg family. Um it's literally it's a very tragic and shocking loss. Um, you know, as as Councilman Schnitzky said, Tom, uh, Jamie really understood our community and, um, it showed in his work and he he was definitely an asset that is is will be greatly missed. Um, I guess on a little lighter note, uh, with all the crazy winds over the last couple weeks, uh, obviously garbage was flying everywhere, especially in my neighborhood. So, I want to uh just personally thank the uh uh the Vivera family um you know, Mr. and Mrs. and especially their son Xander who uh you know took it upon themselves to go out and pick up trash that was blowing around and uh it just made me very proud to hear that that you know they had that much you know pride in their community and their neighborhood that they took the time out of their day to go do that. So um you know I just wanted to thank them uh here. So thank you Thank you, Councilman Elliott.

Thank you, Mr. President. Yeah, I also uh send my condolences out. I had the privilege of having Jamie as one of the chiefs. Um he he truly helped transform the fire department for this city uh when he started as the full-time chief. Um he's going to be missed uh for sure. And I guess we're on a lighter note here, too. I will uh like to thank everyone that's been involved with the Rockside Road project and moving that thing forward. Um it's been 20 years and we can start seeing the the fruits of everyone's labor and especially the mayor. Thank you for pushing that thing forward. That's all I have tonight.

Thank you, Councilman Collie. Thank you, Council President. Um Jamie was u I didn't know him that much. So for me uh he was always very kind to me here. Um I'll miss him and I just want everyone in the room to know that life is fragile as we know and we just don't know our guarantees for tomorrow. So to our residents, thank you. to all our head of council to head of government. You are all appreciated right on my part and um so thank you for that and that is it council president. Thank you Council Prom Castanzo.

Obviously condolences to the family uh especially the children losing a parent is is very very tough. Uh quick story with Jamie and I. We would always kind of make fun of each other because we were both on a TV commercial and we were both terrible actors. So Jamie, I will miss I will miss uh I will miss that joke with you. I'd like to thank uh piggy back off what uh you know, council president, mayor, I am I am thoroughly you guys did the right thing by letting the employees pay their respects. So I want to say thank you guys for that. That is all. Mr. President, before we adjourn, here

um just following up um I'll write about this about this in the next newsletter, but our local firemen working handinhand with the Yard Foundation. I've created um the fireman version of a GoFundMe for the Mecklberg family. So if you go yard foundation meckberg you should get the link that you need if you ch if anyone wishes to donate. Uh in addition it was um uh families wishes to recommend it. If anybody would like to donate to the Allison Rose Foundation um that's uh the foundation that funds um the allergy training and the epipens uh and they donate to the city of 7 Hills. So, uh, Yard Foundation Meckllinburgg or Allison Rose if, uh, uh, people want to put, uh, try to make something positive out of this tragedy. Um, earlier today, I was, uh, remiss. Uh, we had the groundbreaking on the Nobus Hospital and, uh, I'll give more in-depth report on that at the next meeting. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you, Mayor. And, that's all I have, but I just want to say uh, may Jaime's memory be eternal. I'm going to make a motion to adjurnn at 7:35 p.m. Do I have a second? Castans a second. All in favor? Yay. Meeting adjourned.

That's fine.