City Managers Office

Memo
TO: FROM: DATE: SUBJECT: City Council Members Kenneth J. Filipiak, City Manager October 28, 2011 Recent Activities through October 28, 2011

Manager Comments A formal Records Commission meeting was held on October 25th. Recommended changes to retention schedules were approved for two departments. Another meeting is anticipated in the near future for some of the other City departments that are still in the process of reviewing their retention schedules. We continued labor negotiations this week with both the Mentor Professional Firefighters Association and Local 1099. A tentative agreement was reached with the firefighters and the same is likely with our service workers by early next week. It is possible both agreements will be before Council for the Special Meeting next Thursday. Ron Traub and I are currently working and meeting with multiple Mentor manufacturers to assist in potential expansion efforts, including coordination with the Ohio Department of Development. Bob Martin, Ron Traub and I attended the dedication ceremony for the new Holden University Center, which is a state of the art high tech facility recently completed that will assist in providing Lakeland Community College students with an opportunity to complete their baccalaureate degree at one of six institutions of higher learning. I will be meeting Friday afternoon with Robert Hatta (Vice President, Entrepreneurial Talent) and John Dearborn (President) of JumpStart to further discuss ways to generate more interest and clients in our Mentor Technology Greenhouse accelerator. The unemployment rate for Mentor declined to 5.8% in September 2011 (Mentors rate was 6.4% in September 2010). The Citys unemployment rate was last at 5.8% or lower in December, 2008. In Lake County the

unemployment rate declined 0.8% to 6.3%. The City has the lowest unemployCity Council Members October 28, 2011 Page Two City Manager Comments (continued) ment rate for any community in Ohio over 50,000 in population; seven of the 20 communities have unemployment rates over 10%. The unemployment rate in Ohio declined to 8.5% in September, 2011. Employee News On October 24, 2011, Susan Hess started her career as a Part Time Dispatcher in the Communications Unit, and Timothy Gaebelein started his career as a Full Time Corrections Officer in the Corrections Unit. The Mentor Police Department welcomes them aboard!!

Fire Department On Tuesday, October 18th, the fire department responded to a 71 year old male with chest pains. He was found in cardiac arrest and the medics shocked him five (5) times before regaining a pulse. He arrested again in the emergency room and was seven (7) times and then arrested again and was shocked again eight (8) times in the cardiac cath lab. He had emergency angioplasty and two (2) stents. He was released from the hospital neurologically intact on Sunday, October 23rd after a week in the hospital. On Thursday, October 20th at 7:34 p.m., fire crews were called to Wiseco Piston at 7201 Industrial Park Boulevard for a fire in the office area. Fire Crews arrived to find the building evacuated as a moderate amount of smoke was coming from the ceiling area of the office. Fire crews identified the cause as a faulty heater and ventilated the building. The heater was shut down and workers were able to return to their posts. We had two calls at Hometown Buffet this past week. The first call was on Thursday, October 20th at 7:42 p.m. for an electrical transformer fire inside the building. Crews arrived to find a 480V transformer spewing smoke. The building was evacuated and closed for the evening. Fire crews ventilated the area and worked with management to secure the building and refrigerate perishable food. The transformer was deemed a hazard and power was disconnected. Fire Crews worked with management to plan for the replacement of the faulty transformer and the Lake County Health District was notified. The restaurant was closed the next day while outside contractor replaced the transformer. On Saturday, October 22nd at 5:37 p.m., fire crews were called back to 9130 Mentor Avenue and arrived to learn that a male had intentionally set-off the sprinkler system in the mens restroom by using a lighter to melt the sprinkler heads fusible link. There was no fire, but a large amount of water was flowing from the sprinkler head. Fire Crews shut-down the sprinkler system and assisted management with

water cleanup and property conservation. The restaurant remained opened and the police are following up with the person suspected of setting off the system. City Council Members October 28, 2011 Page Three Fire Department (continued) On Friday, October 21st at 8:11 a.m., the fire department was called to the intersection of State Route 2 and Heisley Road where they found oil spilled on the roadway and a hazardous condition for motorist. Fire Crews worked with the police department and road crews to abate the hazard using oil dry and clean-up measures. It appears that the oil did not enter any waterways. On Saturday, October 22nd at 2:17 a.m., the Fire Department was called to PCC Airfoils at 8607 Tyler Boulevard for a report of an explosion with chemicals leaking from the roof. Crews arrived to find several gallons of 50% Sodium Hydroxide solution leaking into the parking lot from an autoclave that was opened under pressure and had sprayed product throughout an area of the plant. The spray liquid had shorted out the electrical panel that controls the ventilation causing fumes from Ferric Acid to accumulate in the building. The fire department used oil dry to build dams to protect the storm drains from the spilled product, ventilated the building and worked with management to insure a safe clean-up and that the appropriate Lake County Emergency Planning Commission requirements were followed. There was not a fire, nor any reported injuries and the company will be replacing several bags of oil dry furnished by the fire department. Lieutenant Zimmerman met all grant requirements for the boating and water safety educational trailer ($27,900 grant received from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Watercraft Division) and is submitting the close out grant funding report. We are happy to announce the 1st year approximately 6107 people received water safety education using this training device.

Police Department On 10/21 a search warrant was executed at 7471 Tyler Blvd in regards to recovered stolen property. This was the second search warrant executed at this business within the past week. The first search resulted in a vehicle engine being recovered. Once the engine was verified as stolen the second search warrant was executed. Several additional stolen vehicle parts were recovered. The investigation is continuing. On 10-24-11 a 48 year old male was arrested after leaving the scene of an accident at the intersection of Reynolds Rd and Mentor Ave. After the accident, the male drove to work at a business on Tyler. When he arrived at the business he struck a picnic table pushing it into a window of the building. Officers arrived on scene and went to speak with the male. The male began yelling at the officers, grabbed a wrench, raised it in an aggressive manner and began approaching the officers. The officers tasered the male to stop

his aggressive behavior and were able to handcuff him without injury to the male or the officers. The male was charged with assault on a police officer, leaving the scene of an accident and a red light violation. Prior to this incident the male was in Speedway in Willoughby causing damage inside the gas station. City Council Members October 28, 2011 Page Four Police Department (Continued) Over the past weekend there were four incidents of criminal damaging involving graffiti, three along businesses on Mentor Ave and one on Center Street. Graffiti were spray painted on back walls of 8667, 8627 and 8641 Mentor Ave and 7523 Center Street. Photos of the graffiti were posted on the Mentor Police Department Face book page with the hope of receiving a lead on the suspect(s) in this case. Three catalytic converters were stolen from transport buses parked at Kids Choice Learning Center, 5980 Heisley Road. The theft occurred sometime between 6:00 p.m. on 10/24 and 7:00a.m. on 10/25.

Finance Department The City received $800,000 from FEMA for reimbursement of costs incurred for the purchase that was made to replace the 800MHZ radio equipment used by the Safety Forces. The City is in the process of finalizing a claim to recover costs incurred relative to the October 12th incident that resulted in the closure of SR2 due to a subcontractor striking a utility line. The City upgraded to a more stable voice & data connection for the Mentor RITA satellite office. This improves stability and availability while reducing cost.

Engineering and Building Department Members of the Engineering Department along with Councilman Shiner met Thursday, October 27, 2011 with residents from the Yorkshire/Berkshire neighborhood to discuss drainage concerns stemming from the high intensity rainfall events experienced earlier this year. Information gathered will be used to help in the study of the watershed.

Public Works Department The Public Works Activity Highlights this week were: Slabjacking Steeplechase; Installed flexset on SR 615 bridge as a test to deal with delamination-related potholes; Weedwhipped along two-town ditch (see Ed Walsh complaint); Full depth asphalt repairs on US 20; Hot patching Preston Hill, Melshore, Ohio, Kittery; Traffic signal cabinet maintenance;

Drainage improvement on Lakeshore/Cronado 50% complete; Assisted with sanitary sewer repair WWCC; Storm sewer repairs Culver, Lakeview, Seaton; Whalers Cove basin dredging 50% complete; Concrete road repair Carter; and, Court roof project scheduled to resume on 10/28. Council Members October 28, 2011 Page Five Parks and Recreation Department Join Cleveland Museum of Natural History Naturalist Becky Donaldson on Sunday, October 30 at 2PM for chance to learn about life on Lake Erie and City the Mentor Marsh. The program will meet at the Mentor lagoons Nature Preserve trailhead and hike along the marsh and shoreline. If you have any question call 440-257-0777. This program is free and open to all ages. The paving project for the Court / Police Public Parking lot will begin on Tuesday, November 1. The parking are will be closed to traffic for the remainder of the work week for the grinding, patching and replacement of the asphalt, installation of new curbing and finally striping. We are directing all traffic to park in the old Laketran lot the lot on the west side of Munson) during this project. Facility Manager, David Ritz, is currently reviewing conservation lighting applications for the Public Works building and grounds. The review is specifically looking at measures that can be implemented to improve the fixtures in the parking lots, storage buildings and inside the garage. The Facilities Manager has been working with the consultant on the replacement of the HVAC system at the Municipal Center. The specifications for bid will be completed in the next two weeks and the bid packets will be assembled and advertised to allow for a bid opening in December and an award, if all goes well, early in January. The Mentor Senior Center offered a beginning Genealogy program that went very well and created lots of interest in researching peoples families. The Senior Center is offering an intermediate session starting in November and will do a repeat of the beginning class to try to meet the demand for the program. If you know someone that is interested have them call the Senior Center for the days and time of the classes. The Senior Center phone number is 440-974-5725.

Economic and Community Development Ron Traub staffed a display at the 2011 Entrepreneur Expo & Jump Start Annual meeting at the John Knight Center in downtown Akron. There was some interest in the Mentor Technology project. Ron Traub participated in the Mentor Area Chamber of Commerce Legislative Committee wrap-up of the candidates luncheon and planning for 2012 events. Ron also had a lunch meeting with Kevin D. Malecek, the new President and CEO of the Chamber.

 Tom Thielman is attending the Ohio Economic Development Association annual meeting in Columbus.