"I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW" johnny nash

I'm amazed as to the number of positive remarks concerning the Painesville Oversight Committee this blog has received (and also to my personal email address). I must have let that one out too many times.
Schools seem to be in the forefront of most peoples' concerns. What kind of education and at what price will it (or should it) cost us. They are looking for people who "Know". Maybe some of us should tour a school during a regular school day to see how it operates?
Second, Utility bills and problems. Someone please explain how the "Power Factor" is formulated on your electric bill? Maybe a sit-down with a bill and someone from the administration on just how that figure is compiled?
People no longer believe they are living in a city with low utility rates.
Many of you have heard of AMP-OHIO and the Meigs County power plant, yet many have no idea how we got involved in it. None of us knows how much we are going to ultimately owe.
Every resident that left a comment about the rusty waterlines agreed on one thing. Fix it!
Illegal immigration... well, where do you want to start? I don't believe the city is presently acting as a sanctuary city, and the Rally group seems to have their finger on that issue.
Finally, two of you want the city manager to abate your property like she did downtown. One of you claims to know her. I don't think that will be enough, then again maybe it is?
It seems so many of you have lost faith in the city's leadership. The fact is so many do not trust what you are being told.
There is only one process in changing the present administration... and in November you can make a start.

"AUTHORITY SONG" john mellincamp

The Painesville Oversight Committee will hold it's next meeting at Morley Library
April 6,2011 at 6:00pm to 8:45pm.
Again ALL are invited your ideas and views will be greatly appreciated.
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Just to let the 12 of you out there the blog. just surpassed 40,000 page views at 6:05pm Tuesday evening....... Someone's looking in?

SPECIAL MEETING AGENDA

The Painesville City Board of Education held an executive session today; March 23, 2011 to discuss negotiations and collective bargaining. They then returned to open session and the Board recommendation was:

6.1 Resolution 11-097; to withdraw the question of an emergency tax levy fom the May 3, 2011 ballot.

More information to follow when it becomes available.

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Kasich: Raising local taxes "not an option"

COLUMBUS Ohio's governor says legislation to curtail the collective bargaining rights of public employees should help local government and school districts deal with reduced state funding.
Gov.John Kasich said that raising taxes at the local level is "not an option" to make up for state budget cuts.
A bill passed by the state Senate and now going through Ohio House hearings would prohibit strikes and limit other union rights of police,teachers,and other public employees. In the interview published Tuesday, Republican Kasich describes the measure as one of the "tools" his administration is giving local officals so they can control costs.

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS DEBATE

Ohio faith leaders fight union-rights bill

COLUMBUS Faith leaders from across the state are voicing opposition to an Ohio proposal to sharply limit the collective bargaining rights of public employees.
Representatives of Clergy United Against Senate Bill 5 marched up Broad St. in Columbus on Tuesday to deliver a letter to House Speaker Bill Batchelder at the Statehouse. Copies were also delivered to other representatives, who are seeking a compromise that can clear the 99 member Ohio House. The legislation passed the Ohio Senate 17-16.
More than 100 religious leaders of varied denominations signed the decree. It called on Gov. Kasich and state lawmakers to balance the state budget while avoiding blame and division and urged them to sit down at "the table of brotherhood" envisioned by Martin Luther King Jr.

Both stories were found on page A2 of Wednesday News-Herald 03/23/11.

"COME TOGETHER" beatles

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SAIC Advises American Municipal Power on New Generation Facility



MCLEAN, Va. (March 15, 2011) — Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), through its wholly owned subsidiary SAIC Energy, Environment & Infrastructure, LLC, is providing due diligence and advisory services to American Municipal Power, Inc. (AMP) for the purchase of the Fremont Energy Center from FirstEnergy Generation Corp., a FirstEnergy subsidiary. AMP is a nonprofit corporation that owns and operates electric facilities with the purpose of providing wholesale power to its 128 member municipal electric utilities throughout Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky.
The Fremont Energy Center is a 700-megawatt natural gas combined cycle electric generating plant that is scheduled to be completed in July 2011, with testing/commissioning thereafter. SAIC conducted a long-term power supply analysis for each AMP member to determine the optimal portfolio of resource options, including a combined cycle plant option. In support of AMP's purchase of the facility, SAIC is providing review and analysis of the technical, operational, and commercial aspects of the facility.
SAIC Energy, Environment & Infrastructure, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). Learn more at www.saic.com/EEandI
About SAIC
SAIC is a FORTUNE 500® scientific, engineering, and technology applications company that uses its deep domain knowledge to solve problems of vital importance to the nation and the world, in national security, energy and the environment, critical infrastructure, and health. The company's approximately 43,000 employees serve customers in the U.S. Department of Defense, the intelligence community, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, other U.S. Government civil agencies and selected commercial markets. Headquartered in McLean, Va., SAIC had annual revenues of $10.8 billion for its fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2010. For more information, visit SAIC: From Science to Solutions®

http://www.saic.com/eeandi/announcements/031511.html

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Business Lobby Kills Arizona Immigration Bills
Under heavy lobbying from business interests, the Arizona state senate defeated five bills last week that would have created additional deterrence to illegal aliens. (New York Times, Mar. 17, 2011) Republican state senators were split over the bills, which included two bills designed to eventually force the United States Supreme Court to restore proper applications of the birthright citizenship provisions in the 14th Amendment. (Id.; SB 1308; SB 1309; See FAIR Legislative Update, Jan. 31, 2011) Three additional bills would have required hospitals to notify authorities of aliens suspected of being in the country illegally; restricted illegal aliens from attending state universities and collecting federal benefits; and required public schools to record how many children of illegal aliens attend classes.
The Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce and other business executives lobbied hard against the measures. (Abc15, Mar. 18, 2011) Along with the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, executive officers of over 60 businesses wrote to the state representatives urging the to stop the legislation, saying it would hurt the economy. (Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, Mar. 15, 2011) Todd Sanders, President and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, said the state’s borders need to be better protected, but argued that Arizona legislators need to push President Obama and federal legislators to “implement meaningful changes to our antiquated immigration system.” (Id.) Republican state Senator John McComish agreed, saying. “It’s time for us to take a time out. It’s something the people don’t want us focusing on.” (Id.)
After the votes, Arizona state Senator and sponsor of the immigration legislation Ron Gould stated that there were some legislators who were “bought and paid for by the Chamber of Commerce.” (Abc15, Mar. 18, 2011) The bills are not expected to be brought up again during this year’s legislative session, but could be placed on the ballot for a vote. (Politico, Mar. 18, 2011)

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Information for the Voters of Painesville

A message from Painesville’s new Political Action Committee:

One of the Painesville Oversight Committee’s mission is to question positions and issues; bring facts to light that will help all voters understand issues that will affect our quality of life in Painesville.

P.O.C. is a bi-partisan organization with members from all political parties including independents. We welcome new members and contributions to help bring transparency to government and issues
.

Facts and Information


Painesville Special Election: May 3, 2011
A proposed emergency 6.56 mil levy added to your property tax.

Added property tax on a $100,000 home; this levy will add $200.00 per year to your taxes. Amount generated for school system – 1.4 million dollars per year

Current cost per student per year – Painesville City $ 12,011
Current cost per student per year- Riverside 9,675
Administrative cost per student – Painesville City 1,635
Administrative cost per student – Riverside 1,127

Painesville City’s Results on State Proficiency Tests

Grade 3 – Failed; Grade 4 – Failed; Grade 5 – Failed; Grade 6-Failed; Grade 7 – Failed;
Grade 8 – Failed; Grades 9,10,11,12 – All Failed to reach minimum standard state requirements!


Number of state indicators met out of 26 – Painesville met 2
Number of state indicators met out of 26 – Riverside met 25

Consensus of Opinion of the P.O.C.

The state of Ohio has declared that the Painesville City School system is in academic emergency. Yet we spend more money per student than any of our neighboring communities. When questioned why our schools have such poor results, the schools try to direct our attention to our Hispanic population and the percentage of apartments in Painesville. The P.O.C. finds this reasoning unacceptable. Many school systems in the Southwest United States have higher percentages of Hispanics, yet higher rated schools. Many cities have higher percentages of rentals yet has higher rated schools. Our position at P.O.C is we will recommend that the school levy be opposed until real progress is made and state minimum requirements are met coupled with line item expenditures for where these funds are to be used and revealed to the voters.

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I have printed four stories that all could have an impact on Painesville.
A letter explaining what happened to the Millstone Condo Association. [click to enlarge] All names have been removed.

A news story of what SAIC stands for and what will this cost us?

A story about illegal immigration in Arizonia and who killed the Bill. Anyone in the Rally group surprised?

The POC is in it's infancy we will be working to find a permament location for the meeting. We will also be holding them later in the week, Wednesday or Thursday.
At the meeting last night we decided that we don't want to be a group of "NO's" but a group that wants to be a group of "KNOW's" You ask for 1.4 million dollars we want to know what it will be spent for.
Presently the administration must explain where every dollar will be spent. Will it save programs, which ones? will it be used to keep teachers in the classroom where and what classes? If any of these funds will be used for pay raises or in union negociation we want to know why, and how much.
This last post was late due to my time schedule.Sorry.

"AGE OF AQUARIUS" 5th dimensiom

"Let the sunshine in"

We are now an official PAC. Painesville Oversite Committee [POC} will hold an organization meeting Tuesday March 22, 2011 at 6:00pm at Chesters Restaurant west room. All are invited to attend. Your comments and input will be welcomed.
This could be the start of Painesville being put back on track.

Council Meeting Monday Night shows many items possible being tabled. Along with a presentation on Economic Development by Assistant Manager Doug Lewis.

The visitors comments should be interesting.
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Council meeting was interesting, to say the natives are a little restless would be an understatement. That's just my opinion and some on council don't believe I should have one. Water lines, streets, Millstone, abatement, electric bills, sewers, many questions few answers. Take the time to view the meeting.

'SMOKE ON THE WATER' deep purple

I have sent the following e-mail to all council people and the News Herald and am now posting it here on the blog.


It has come to my attention that our Water Department Head has accepted a job in the city of Lorain.

My personal thoughts are that Mr. McGannon was a professional who would not compromise his integrity to appease the administration on their refusal to replace a 91 year old rusty waterline. It was the failure of the administration and council that Councilman Flock could not even get a 'second' for his resolution to replace the 91 year old waterline on Elm Street. Mr. McGannon saw their failure to respond to a crisis that affects the well-being of residents served by that waterline. It is nice to have plans and do studies, but it would seem to be obvious that the only solution to this problem is to replace the waterline. The city has contemplated this for at least 11 years. I wonder how much money has been spent to repair this line in those 11 years rather than replacing it.

Thank you for your time,

Angelo Cimaglio
Ward 4


Myself and other citizens have decided to form a PAC; and the PAC will be called "Painesville Oversight Committee". (POC) This committee is in the works and as soon as the proper paperwork is filed with the Lake County Board of Elections the mailing address will be posted here. When officers are elected their names will be posted as well. At present, my only position is messenger.

This committee's first endeavor will be to inform the residents of Painesville about the upcoming school levy. In the future we plan to endorse candidates along with the possibility of proposing charter changes for the city of Painesville; such as a charter change from the present city manager form of government to a mayor; or limiting the powers of the city manager position.

Your input will be welcome.

"THE BEAR ....AND NOW THE REST OF THE STORY"

In conversations with the Bear I have learned an interesting twist to this ongoing story of rabbit burrows. I have always assumed that the river flooded over the embankment and flooded the burrows. The Bear told me that was just an opinion. I, in my wisdom, had to bite... what are you talking about? "Well," the Bear told me, "did you ever notice how the wall leans towards the river now?" Yeah, so what? Well, he told me the rest of the story. The water flooded the burrows from behind... not from overflow of the river. I asked what caused this?
He reminded me that at the same time of the flood, the Wizard from Columbus had decided to build a new bridge over the river, where the Walnut trees street crosses the river. While the Beavers were building the new bridge, they kept the old bridge up and filled in the embankment and funnelled the river water through two 8 foot culverts.
When the big rain came, the culverts were blocked by tree limbs, and along with the rain water, acted as a dam. Soon, the rain waters backed up, building tremendous force on the culverts, so much that even Beaver heavy equipment tumbled into the river.
Finally, the culverts blew out, causing a torrential wall of water to come down the river. By the time the water got to Millstone, there was so much it came in behind the burrows.
Don't believe this? Call 'Lion EL' [Don't panic he's legal] at the NS railroad and ask how close they came to losing that trestle over the river.
The Bear also admitted to a lunch date at the Elk's house to discuss his property that is attached to the Millstone property. He also informed me that a certain title company had done an appraisal of his property for the Queen. Funny how no one at the castle 'knows' anything. The Bear asked me what alphabet agency deemed the condos unrepairable? Or was it just the Queen in her wisdom (or her opinion)?
The Bear mentioned that any Kingdom would love to have a river in it. It is considered the most valuable. Check it out. The most desirable rabbit burrows are always on the waterfront. Yet our Queen deems the best use for riverfront burrow land is to turn it back to Mother Nature?
What about the other rabbits that live down in the Queen's Valley? Why not include them also? Did they have proper insurance? Did the Great FEMA give them money, no strings attached?
Someone please explain how a forgiveness of interest on a loan to the Wizard in Columbus over a waste treatment plant ever got involved in this... or is it the main reason the Queen involved herself.... and not for the welfare of the rabbits?
The Bear understands the rabbits' plight and only asks for the same thing they ask for: pre-flood value for his property. He can rebuild the burrows and risk his own jars of honey.... or pay him for what is his and let him move on.
I don't know the Bear well but am very glad he was willing to sit down with me and tell his side of this tale. I would really like the opportunity to hear from any rabbit as well. Funny, he and I both agree that now that the sharks have their teeth in the honey jar fight...it will drag on for a long time.
All this drama in the valley could have been avoided if the proper insurance was carried. Honey Jar Insurance, not Lemon Insurance!

Like I mentioned above before you get the idea that I am an advocate for the Bear, I would really like to here the rabbits side of the story. This is an open offer to anyone in the association or homeowners. I would love to have "Lemon" Insurance explained, along with who reached out to the city or did the city reach out to them?

"BLACK WATER" doobie brothers

I found out at the last council meeting that we live in a city with "ala carte" utility deparments. Well, in some councilperson's world we have to do a study on the water line on Elm St before we do anything about fixing the problem. Save your money and time... the problem is it's 91 years old. End of subject.
Mr. Fodor believes the most important job he has as a councilman is to not layoff any city workers. Noble cause, but I don't think that's the reason he was elected to council.
"We don't have the money", I hear from the city and the schools. No.... you don't have any money because of some of the dumb Resolutions the city manager gets council to pass. Example Resolution 11-11 [02/22/11] which is about community reinvestment that was passed in 1982. Buried deep in a paragraph it mentions the additional area would include the Hospital property? Also Chase Bank. Isn't that where the new "Urgent Care" center was supposed to be located? Guess that property owner will get the tax abatement also. The future crown jewel of Painesville...whatever ends up on the old hospital site... could receive tax abatements of up to 75% for 8 years. The schools better hope older retired people move into that project. How much tax revenue has the city and schools lost from the Millstone and Gristmill property? Our city manager seems to be destroying the tax base of Painesville.
It seems the board of directors of our city [council] and the administration can't figure how to pay for the upgrades to the waterlines. Maybe they shouldn't be in the utility business; this water line fiasco along with the crazy AMP-OHIO contract that hangs the possibility of a charge of $2.7 million cost to the city.
Lest we forget.... the storm water problems. We, along with the state, spent close to $600,000 on a retention basin on the old Huntington school property and guess what... some basements and backyards still flood 200 yards away.
Can you imagine a private company operating in this manner? No, that company would be out of business. But like I said in my first sentence, our utilities get to pick and choose what parts of their jobs they are going to do.
To Mrs. DiNallo: next campaign slogan... "Live..Work..Play... and Clean and Replace all appliances in your Basement, including the furnace"
I really am starting to believe the only reason this city exists to to provide 350 jobs for people.... with the "Chiefs" at the top the ones being most over-paid.
I asked them about flooding in the Cedarbrook area and the answer I received from the Council President and the City Manager was silence. I guess that said it all.
No solutions. Can you imagine a public company with 30 million dollars in "carryover" acting this way?
I wanted to ask Ward III councilman Fountain why he didn't answer his phone Tuesday, but he failed to show up at the meeting. I pray his health is good but maybe it's time to turn the reins over to someone else?

"ARE YOU INTERESTED/"

I have been informed that there will be a citizens' open meeting this coming Tuesday March 8, 2011 - 7:00 PM at Jackie's Sports Bar and Grill located at 569 S. State St. next to the tracks near the former Coe Manufacturing plant. I understand this will be an informational meeting concerning the Painesville City Schools' May levy and how it will affect the residents' taxes along with programs that might be cut.
This meeting is being held because it seems our school administration is apparently running a "Stealth" campaign to pass this levy.
How much this will cost the average homeowner or renter along with what percentage of this $1,400,000.00 will go to save programs and/or increase employees wages?
Will this money really be "for the children"?
Chances are that a committee will be formed to educate the residents of Painesville and make them aware of what is coming down the track.... because it seems the administration has no desire to make this levy public knowledge. Everyone has an interest in this....whether it's the state of our schools or the price of our tax bills.
You can't go into a bank and ask for 1.4 million without a good explanation of what the funds will be used for.
Painesville needs full transparency of what the administration is planning to do with the funds from this levy.

"JUST A DREAM" nelly

Recently a good friend of mine who happens to be Councilman Andy Flock's wife, sent me a copy of a letter she had sent to the News-Herald. She taught at Huntington School her entire career. She asks a very interesting question that I believe most know the answer to..... still, sometimes it's best we look in a mirror.

Getting the Dream House off the ground was a wonderful article in the 2/28/11 News Herald. It showed the team work needed for something great to happen! Will Painesville, Ohio ever be home to a Dream House? Painesville is home to the prestigious Lake Erie College and has a beautiful City Center. Some residents and rental property owners take pride in their homes, BUT …..more is needed. Don’t the City leaders and “movers and shakers” of this county seat city question why the Dream House doesn’t want to be a part of this town? Teamwork is the beginning key. Put aside all differences, and think of similarities. This is an overwhelming task, there is so much that needs to be corrected. Striving to work together to help make this town what it has NOT been for decades would be a good place to start. Begin thinking about how to make this a reality and not just a dream!

Mrs. Flock knows better than most of us the problems facing the city. Ninety-one year old water lines, storm sewers that don't work, problems within the school system and a host of other things that are wrong. I give her a great deal of credit for wanting to fix the wrongs and put Painesville back on it's justly deserved pedestal.