Westshore Council of Governments (WCOG) meeting, Oct. 14, 2015

This report is not an official statement of the League of Women Voters. Mayor Sutherland’s office prepares official minutes, which are posted on Bay Village’s website.

Present: Mayors Sutherland (Bay Village), Clough (Westlake), Kennedy (North Olmsted), Patton (Fairview Park) and Summers (Lakewood). Mayor Bobst (Rocky River) was absent. Fiscal officer Renee Mahoney and Cuyahoga County District 1 Councilperson David Greenspan also attended.

Minutes from the September meeting were approved and Westshore Enforcement Bureau (WEB) financials for September were received. The mayors provided the following reports:

RTA (Clough): Dr. Valarie J. McCall, a member of the board of trustees of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, was elected chair of the 2015-16 executive board of the American Public Transportation Association at the association's October meeting. (Dr. McCall is chief of governmental and international affairs for Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson.)

NOACA (Summers): The Northeast Ohio Area Coordinating Agency has approved a 3-year contract with a Cleveland firm to provide state-level advocacy on matters of interest to the agency.

Land Bank (Kennedy): No report, meets quarterly, with next meeting in November.

Cuyahoga County Planning Commission (Patton): The commission’s budget was reviewed at its last meeting, showing revenues on target but expenditures exceeding the general fund budget. CCPC has 17 full-time employees.

Other discussions were on Westshore Regional Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) employment matters and reactions to the September presentation by Gateway Group on healthcare benefits.

Councilperson Greenspan briefed the mayors about the proposed county budget that was introduced at the Oct. 13 County Council meeting.  He highlighted the policy changes presented by County Executive Armond Budish in making the submittal. Greenspan described several upcoming changes in the county’s physical facilities for emergency management services. He noted that the Health and Human Services levy will be up for renewal at the March 2016 primary election, possibly with an 8-year term rather than the current 4-year term.

The next WCOG meeting will be moved to the third Wednesday of November (Nov. 18) since the Bay Village City Hall will be closed on the regular meeting day of Nov. 11. WCOG meetings begin at 9:30 a.m. In 2016 WCOG meetings will be hosted by Mayor Pam Bobst at Rocky River City Hall.

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Volume 7, Issue 20, Posted 10:05 AM, 10.20.2015