Bay Village

The city of Bay Village has started gathering facts and exploring the possibility of switching to an Automated Refuse Collection System for all residents within the city. On Monday, June 21, the city’s Services, Utilities, and Equipment Committee held a meeting during which Dave Kidder of Allied Waste/Republic Services made a presentation outlining the benefits of automated refuse collection. The company currently has a contract with the city for picking up residential trash one day a week.

Under the proposed system, all homes in Bay Village will receive a 96-gallon wheeled refuse container, which holds the equivalent content of four trash cans, and a 64-gallon recyclables container which residents will place on the tree lawn on their collection day. Although trash is presently picked up city wide every Tuesday, collection days have yet to be determined for the new system. They may be spread out over a three-day period throughout the city, possibly Wednesday through Friday.

 

The financial challenges faced by local municipalities have been well-documented and editorialized in recent months. As residents of the city of Bay Village, and of our West Shore and greater Cleveland neighborhoods, we each see the difficulties first-hand. 

We are reminded daily of the ongoing challenges of the financial markets, including high unemployment and sluggish residential real estate markets, coupled with deficit concerns at the federal, state and local levels. As Bay Village City leaders, those funding challenges are direct, coming clearly into our view over the past several years.  

Historically, Bay Village has been very fortunate to enjoy a consistent flow of primary and recurring revenues, ones funding vital and essential municipal services, which make Bay Village the great place in which our residents live, enjoy and raise their families.

Bay Village City Council welcomed its newest member at the Jan. 14 meeting. Councilman-at-large Steve Lee was sworn in to replace outgoing Councilman Scott Pohlkamp, who resigned Dec. 31, 2012, to devote his full energy to his new position as CEO of the Bay-based firm All-American Teleradiology.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to serve the residents of Bay Village,” Councilman Lee said. “I want to be part of maintaining this special place and enhancing the quality of life for current and future residents.. It is my hope that if, in twenty years, my children were to decide to raise their families in Bay Village, they will find it to be the same great community we know it to be today.”

The Transfer Station Building at the Bay Village Service Department Garage on Naigle Road is scheduled to be demolished in early July. This building was built in 1976 with the construction of the service garage structure. The building has provided a transfer point at the north ramp and bay for waste disposal. The south bay was designed for road salt storage.

The building was constructed with concrete masonry walls and a precast concrete roof deck. The exposure to salt for thirty-four years caused the reinforcing steel in the roof deck to deteriorate and ultimately collapse under the weight of the concrete roof.

The Regional Income Tax Agency (also known as R.I.T.A.) taxes every penny it can without any regard to the message it sends to those who serve the United States.

Tax time can be sobering for many Americans filing to good old Uncle Sam but this year it wasn’t the man in the big top hat that was sobering, it was R.I.T.A.

While serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in the country of Kazakhstan from August 2006 – November 2008, I learned that R.I.T.A had taxed my yearly income of $2,400. I thought, “This can’t be, there has to be an exemption for those members of the community who serve our country.”

Renee Mahoney’s appointment by Mayor Debbie Sutherland to the position of Bay Village finance director was confirmed by City Council in a unanimous vote on Dec. 27. Mahoney, a certified public accountant, has 20 years of municipal finance experience with the city of Shaker Heights, advancing from staff accountant to assistant finance director. Her employment at Bay Village City Hall began on Jan. 4, on a part-time basis initially as she transitions from her former job. Mahoney takes over for the previous finance director, Steve Presley, who accepted a position in the Pepper Pike finance department.

New part-time police officer Eric Tuisku was sworn in by Mayor Debbie Sutherland during the September 21st meeting of City Council.

Irene Burkhardt retired this year after spending 29 years as a School Guard for the city of Bay Village. Irene started in 1980 and spent ten years as a backup guard before becoming the regular guard at the corner of Normandy Road and Douglas Drive. She was honored with a resolution during the City Council meeting on September 21st.

Bay High Student Council members will work in partnership with the League of Women Voters Cuyahoga Area, Bay Village Chapter, to present Bay Village Candidates Night on Thursday, Oct. 20, 7 p.m. at Bay Middle School.

The public is invited to attend and ask questions of candidates in contested races on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. Running for two Bay Village Board of Education seats are incumbent William Selong and new candidates David Campbell, Steve Merkel and Bob Piccirilli. Running for the Bay Village Council Ward 3 seat are Karen Lieske and Bob Ziebarth.

Bay Village Mayoral Candidate Jim Scott is using the social networking site Facebook to reach an online audience. The Councilman-at-Large is the focal point of the "Jim Scott for Mayor of Bay Village: Facebook Headquarters" group. According to the group's description, it is intended for Facebook users interested in the mayor's race to share information, concerns and suggestions, as well as for supporters of the Jim Scott campaign.

Since mid-July, the City of Bay Village has sent four stray dogs to the Cuyahoga County Animal Shelter. The first dog was evaluated for about two weeks and found to have some behavioral issues that made it unsuitable for adoption in an urban, family environment. As a result, it was adopted by a loving Geauga County family with a farm so the dog has plenty of room to run and play. 

The Bay Village Bicentennial Committee announce the third and final winner in its “Letters to the Future” contest. The committee will add this winning letter to Bay’s bicentennial time capsule along with the two letters previously announced.  The capsule will be sealed on December 31, 2010, to be opened 100 years from then—in 2110, Bay’s 300th birthday.

The first two letter-writing winners, nine-year-old Caroline Dannemiller, who represented the 16-and-under age category, and Dianne Borowski, who represented the 66-and-older category, will be joined by John Suter, winner of the 16-to-65 age category. Congratulations to all our winning writers and a big thank you to those residents who took the time to enter the contest and visit with the future.

John Suter’s handwritten letter notes his reasons for selecting Bay Village as home 40 years ago and examines the many social changes he has witnessed over those same 40 years. Suter concludes his letter to 2110 residents with a series of interesting queries that can only be answered by residents reading the letter 100 years from now.

Bay Village is organized around a Charter form of Government. In 1948, a charter commission was elected and on April 12, 1949 the present charter was adopted at a special election. It became effective January 1, 1950. At that same time, the Village of Bay became the "City of Bay Village," having been certified as having 6,917 residents as of 1950.

Currently the population is Bay Village is slightly above 14,000.

The Bay Village charter provides two means for residents to directly influence legislation.

1. Initiative – This allows the electors to propose an ordinance or resolution.

2. Referendum – This permits the electors to approve or reject at the polls any ordinance or resolution passed by the council.

Following the longstanding tradition of installing council members on the first day of their terms, Bay Village held an inauguration ceremony at Dwyer Memorial Center to administer the oath of office for reelected and newly elected members of City Council on Jan. 1. Bay Village is unique in that the elected officials are sworn in on the day that their terms begin, rather than waiting for a business day or a scheduled council meeting.

Two questions I often hear from Bay Village residents are “Why are you running for Mayor?” and “What are you going to do that’s different?”  Here’s the answer.  I’m going to:

• Reduce city spending and save taxpayers money. 

• Hold Town Hall meetings and answer residents’ questions. 

• Implement a long-term plan to maintain and improve our city infrastructure – buildings, sewers and streets. 

• Bring transparency to every aspect of city government.