Mayor Says No To West Shore Fire Plan

Council President Brian Powers called the January 17, 2012 Council meeting to order at 7:33 P.M. To start the meeting off, Council invited Lakewood’s reappointed Poet Laureate, Bill Knittle, to read a poem. Mr. Knittle read his poem to Council thanking them again for his title.

Moving on to agenda items, Councilman Powers (At-Large) gave a report from the Committee of the Whole regarding the drive-through zoning ordinance that Councilman David Anderson (Ward I) had introduced. Powers discussed a brief history of the ordinance from being introduced by Councilman Anderson through several public meetings, work sessions and work with the Planning Commission. He said that the ordinance that was being presented to them was now a substituted version of the original, and it was on its third and final reading. The zoning changes will make it easier for the City to limit and control the use and placement of drive-throughs throughout the city.

Council unanimously passed the substituted ordinance.

Next, Councilman Shawn Juris (Ward III) read a report from the Public Works Committee regarding Lakewood’s Bicycle Master Plan. The Plan lays out the intentions of the City’s Public Works Department and the Planning Commission to consider and include aspects of bike traffic, safety and storage in their work. This Plan has been in the works for many months now and the City has worked with many different groups and people. After much research and consideration the Public Works Committee recommended adoption of the resolution to Council. Council agreed and passed it.

Councilman Tom Bullock (Ward II) thanked the Planning Commission for all their hard work and Council for passing the Bicycle Master Plan. He said it was a good first step but asked that Council and the Administration consider doing more to actually implement what it outlines. He said they need to devote resources toward signage and bicycle parking as a start.

The next item on the agenda was a communication from Councilman Juris regarding the Lakewood Community Vision. In 1993 Lakewood published its Community Vision which was meant to be a guide for the Planning Commission and the city as a whole when making decisions. Although Juris says that much of the plan remains relevant to this day, the fact is that a lot has changed in the nearly 20 years since its passage and it could use updateding. As the long term goals set out by the Lakewood Community Vision were set for just five years, Juris said it is over due to be reviewed and a second edition passed. Juris suggest that the Planning and Development Department begin the work on updating the Vision and then follow it up with public meetings with the Planning Commission.

Council referred Juris’ communication to the Planning Commission for consideration.

Councilman Juris then read another communication asking that Council have discussions on the idea of holding a Lakewood business summit. This summit would pull together Lakewood businesses to discuss with them how to attract and retain businesses in Lakewood. This conversation would also include a discussion of what types of businesses the City should try attracting. In addition to this second goal, Juris suggested they discuss the possibility of looking to target specific industries, such as wedding planning or music recording, for specific sites in Lakewood that could use development.

Council received the communication and referred it to the Committee of the Whole for consideration.

Coming to the end of the agenda items, Council President Powers asked if the administration had anything to share. Mayor Michael Summers told Council that he wanted to update them on the West Shore Fire Consortium. Lakewood was part of a group of several west side cities which were awarded a $100,000 grant to conduct a study to see if combining and sharing fire services was feasible and money saving. The study was completed about 14 months ago and the cities were given time to consider whether it was a good move for them to participate. Mayor Summers told Council that that amount of time has run out, and after careful consideration, and discussions with Fire Chief Gillman, he has decided that Lakewood would not participate in the consortium.

The mayor gave several reasons for his decision. The first is the fact that Lakewood is on the far eastern end of the consortium group which does not leave the City in a optimal position for good coverage. This is the same reason North Ridgeville also decided not to participate, being on the furthest southwest end. In addition to our position, the closest city to support Lakewood is Rocky River, which has the smallest Fre Department of all the cities involved. Rocky River only has six firefighters or EMT’s per shift, while Lakewood has 28. Lakewood’s response times of three to four minutes is the shortest of any of the cities participating and their standard of four firefighters per truck is the highest. Lakewood’s training level for firefighters exceeds those of the other communities and the City’s fire staff is almost equal to all the other communities combined. When it came down to it, it was difficult to discover how the consortium would benefit Lakewood.

Mayor Summers did make it clear, however, that the fact that he has decided that Lakewood will not go forward as a part of the consortium, does not mean that Lakewood will not work with the other communities in some degree. He said there are great opportunities to share cost and resources for things such as training, capital resource acquisition and some specialized services such as Hazmat.

With no further comments from the administration and no statements from members of the public, Council President Powers adjourned the meeting at 8:17 P.M.

Council meetings are held every first and third Monday of the month at 7:30 P.M. in the City Hall Auditorium. The next regularly scheduled council meeting will be held on February 6, 2012. For a copy of the agenda or for any other information regarding the Lakewood City Council, you can find it at onelakewood.com/citygovern_council.html.