Sewer Rate Increases Pass

Euclid City Council did pass higher sewer and water rates for Euclid customers. Satellite communities will also see increases to help pay for mandated improvements to out sewer system. (see prior posts). On the rate increase for the Waste Water Treatment Plant, that increase passed 5-4.

Everyone on Council and in the Administration understands the need to comply with the Consent Decree that Council approved last year. No one suggests that Euclid should fight the Federal Government. We all know that some additional money was needed now to keep the system from insolvency. And, we reached this point because of inaction from the Administration.

For example:

1) It was recommended that rates to run the plant be raised all the way back in Oct 2010. The Administration wasted all of 2011 doing nothing while the system slipped into insolvency.

2) The Administration knew for years that the Capital Fund (Peterson) Account was running short of money. Again, no action was taken in 2011. That meant critical projects could not be done, raising their ultimate cost.

This inaction backed Council into a corner: either pass some rate increase, or not be able to pay workers and pay back debt.

3) Since January, the Administration has presented different plans to comply with the EPA, and, different cost numbers. The estimates of the compliance plan has gone up 45 million dollars since January alone.

4) The City initially presented to Council 2010 cost estimates instead of the most current figures. In the meetings since, City Council has continue to receive incorrect, or out of date numbers.

5) When Council finally heard a formal presentation on the Membrane Technology on March 12, the representative from CT Consultant (the City Engineering firm) could not answer many questions, and, crafted his presentation in part, from the Wiekipidia entry on the technology.

6) We still don't know if the technology is truly ready for implementation in Euclid as the Council was just told last week that the technology was only now evaluated for readiness to use in a system like Euclid's

7) The Administration will now look at green infrastructure technology. While this is welcomed
this should have been done years ago as part of the overall planing process. There are potentially millions of dollars in savings in such programs.

8) EPA has not approved of any of the plant improvements

This chaotic, piecemeal, helter skelter approach in trying to convince Council to pass the largest rate increase in City history (with more increases to come) was simply inferior. They presented only half a program, a gray infrastructure program. You, as rate payers should truly question how system improvements are planned and, how your money is spent.

Four of us on City Council (Scarniench, Jones, Gilliham, Langman) proposed a compromise: raise the rates enough to keep the plant running, and, do needed (and approved) SSO projects. Delay the rest of the increases until you have; 1) EPA approval; 2) a better plan in place; 3)time to have more meeting with you, the rate payers.

That compromise was rejected. Instead, the Council majority simply rubber stamped the increase. Now that the Administration has the funding in place, Council lost its last chance to effectively monitor and improve the plan. The majority is counting on frequent meetings going forward to monitor progress. I am skeptical of this, as City Council did little in 2011 and has not really done this type of oversight for many years.

The Absurdity of the Majority

In the attempt to justify the rate increase, the Administration and some on Council claim that the increase is not a big deal because natural gas prices have dropped. In other words, it is less painful to you because you are saving money elsewhere. Of course, that argument is absurd. Just drive by any gas station. And with the rise in fuel prices, the cost of food is also rising. But more importantly, we in public service should NEVER presume to know what you can afford, or how you should be spending your money. We must always remember who we work for, and, have some understanding for how tough it is for many of you.

Some Good News

Also, Monday night, a resolution in support of Green infrastructure was unanimously passed by City Council. The Administration will develop a Request for Proposal to ask experienced firms to work with our current consultants to develop a comprehensive green infrastructure program.

While this should have been done years ago, and, the City is far behind, we can catch up. It will require some deliberate, focused action to get this firm on board quickly.

In the meantime you can do your part: If you are a home owner, you can keep water out of the storm system by disconnecting your downspout. For further details, call the City of Euclid Engineering Department at 289-8100 Ask about the downspout disconnect program. Since the City is going green, I'm sure someone at City Hall would be willing to help you.

In the meantime, don't forget to answer the poll questions.

Money Down the Drain - Sewer Rate Update

Since January 18, 2012, the City Administration has presented 4 public meetings on the need for higher sewer rates. To date, this is what we know:

The Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is demanding that the City of Euclid fix the 17 Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO's) and the 16 Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSO's). In the simplest terms, any "overflow" means waste, or contaminated, or dirty water that goes directly to Lake Erie. This is a violation of federal law, and, must be fixed.

1) At the end of 2008, Euclid City Council raised the Capital Sewer Rate (the Peterson Fund) to pay for all 17 CSO projects.

2) To date, none of these projects are done. This is because the drop in water consumption
offset the rise in the rate

The January 18, 2012 Euclid City Council Service Committee Meeting

At this meeting we also learned the following:

1) 2010 Estimates for fixing the CSO's and SSO's was 17.6 million dollars, with Waste Water Treatment fixes costing an additional 36 million dollars.

2) Total costs to comply with the Consent Decree was estimated at between 60-95 million dollars. CT Consultants, the City's engineering firm presented this higher range due in part to
the uncertainty in what the EPA will demand.

3) The increase in rates would pay for all of the system improvements

4) The improvements included building 6 large tanks behind the Waste Water Treatment Plant.
This would have required taking homes adjacent to the plant, and would have jeopardized the
Lakefront Community Center.

The Three Public Rate Meetings: Feb 24 - March 1st

1) The plan to take homes and build 6 tanks behind the plant was scraped: a better, newer
technology will allow the treatment of all storm water on the current plant space. It is better because it filters water to a higher standard than the EPA currently requires.

2) This "membrane technology" costs much more though: The first range of cost of improvements jumped up to between 105-135 million dollars. A 45 million dollar jump.

3) By the second rate meeting, the range of costs disappeared, landing at the 136 million dollar amount.

4) The proposed rate increase of approx 70 million dollars is not enough to pay for all the plant improvements. This is only PHASE ONE of the rate increases

What We Don't Know.

1) What the EPA will approve: more than likely, from all the conversations the City may never know exactly what the EPA wants. The City is fairly confident that the EPA will like the membrane technology because it does filter the water better.

2) The City knew about the better technology for at least three years now. Why they unveiled a plan that caused so much resistance and upset for the residents living next to the plant makes little sense.

3) The CSO and SSO fixes have risen in projected cost to about 22 million dollars. According to the Administration, they were using 2010 estimates. Why would they think that City Council was interested in obsolete data?

4) Does the membrane technology account for the rest of the 45 million range of cost increases?

5) What the next phase of rate increases will look like. This is slated for discussion at the end of this year.

As you can see, many questions remain. Monday, March 12th, 6:30 at City Hall, the Council will again meet on the proposed rate increase.

The Way Ahead

No matter what comes out of the meeting on Monday the approach to the problem should be this:

Incorporate Green Infrastructure approaches into the entire plan, both SO/SSO remediation and plant improvements. Keeping water out of the system can reduce overflows during storms, and, brings less water to the plant.

In other words, the current plan is incomplete and requires more work.
Rates should not go up until a more complete plan is developed. No rate increase now is probably not realistic given the many factors.

So, a rate structure should be adopted based on splitting the improvements into two: The CSO/SSO problem and, then, plant improvements.

1) The City must address the CSO's and SSO's. This has held true now for several years no matter what the plant improvements look like. (A green infrastructure program can help with this problem, but, without a thorough study, we don't know by how much)

2) Rates will go up to pay for these improvements. We can consider this "phase one" of the Administration's rate increase: to pay for plant operations, and the CSO/SSO program and, additional planning for future improvements.

Plant Improvements:

We have seen that in less than 1 month, improvements to the plant itself has taken a radical (and better) turn. Those plant improvements have risen in cost by about 45 million dollars.

A green infrastructure plan must be developed, evaluated and incorporated into plant improvements.

As I wrote in the last post, green infrastructure can be far less expensive than using grey infrastructure alone.

Thorough "green" planing is the key here. Perhaps millions and millions of dollars of your money hangs in the balance.

Going Green - A Storm Water Alternative Plan

November, 2, 2009: City Council passed a resolution that read in part "it is the goal of the City of Euclid to support and encourage sustainability in the daily operations and provision of municipal services in order to reduce overall energy consumption,use resources responsibly, be good stewards of the environment, and to save costs."

While the resolution applied to alternative energy, its well beyond time to apply this type of thinking to every aspect of City Government, including our Waste Water Treatment System.

As written in last week's post, the Federal EPA is requiring Euclid to make tens of millions of dollars of improvements to our system. The fees illustrated last week will pay for improved sewer lines, new holding tanks and improved storm water treatment. This type of approach is referred to as "Grey Infrastructure." It does nothing to address the AMOUNT of storm water that enters our system

An Alternative Approach

Keep water out of the system! By doing so, there is less need for more tanks, and greater treatment plant capacity. In other words, it takes the current storm water load off the system meaning fewer costly improvements are needed. Euclid should adopt a "Green Infrastructure" Program.

What is "Green Storm Water Infrastructure?

The Philadelphia Water Department has a great description: "Green storm water infrastructure includes a range of soil-water-plant systems that intercept storm water, infiltrate a portion of it into the ground, evaporate a portion of it into the air, and in some cases release a portion of it slowly back into the sewer system." Tools to intercept storm water run off include: rain barrels, pervious pavement for driveways and parking lots; rain gardens; tree trenches, "green" roofs. Green infrastructure also has the benefit of filtering the storm run off of pollutants such as oils, chemicals and nitrogen. And, that means a cleaner Lake Erie.

The Value of Trees in Storm Water Management

Trees soak up water, primarily through their root system. Tree leaves also prevents rain water from hitting the ground, and is then evaporated back into the air. Tree roots can also improve the soil, allowing the ground to absorb more water. Depending on the variety and size of the tree several hundred gallons can be absorbed each year.

Philadelphia and Lancaster, PA - Case Studies

To comply with Federal EPA regulations, the City of Philadelphia was faced with a 9 billion dollar tab to construct giant tunnels to hold storm water. The City does not have 9 billion. Therefore, Mayor Mike Nutter embarked on a program called Greenworks Philadelphia, a comprehensive green program for everything from energy usage, to recycling to storm water management. The storm water program, administered through the Philadelphia Water Department created new storm water management fees, and incentives to disconnect downspouts, install roof and and rain gardens, rain barrels, etc. Building pervious alleys and roads, urban forests and rain gardens on empty land, is another strategy behind the effort. Mayor Nutter believes that green infrastructure will cost about 7 billion less to comply with the Federal EPA than the proposed cost of the tunnels.

Lancaster is a city in some ways similar to Euclid: Older, smaller lots, a little bit larger than Euclid. They are located in the Delaware River watershed, so, are under EPA mandate to improve their waster water treatment system: Under a traditional approach of new tanks, and pipes and other plant improvements, the price tag was estimated at 300 million dollars. Lancaster City government instead adopted a green infrastructure approach that will cost less than half of that, about 141 million. What is most promising is that by adopting this green approach, Lancaster has won numerous grants to implement their plan.

North East Ohio Regional Sewer District

If we look in our own back yard, we would find that the North East Ohio Regional Sewer District is adopting many of the strategies found in Philadelphia, Lancaster, Chicago and other places: integrating green infrastructure into their sewer system improvements. NEORSD was just given permission by the courts to implement a storm water management fee ALONG WITH INCENTIVES to help keep water out of their system.

And, What of Euclid?

Before moving forward with any new fees, the City of Euclid owes it to our rate payers to evaluate the following:

1) Education: Almost two years ago now, Council passed legislation allowing the disconnect of residential downspouts with approval from the City Engineering Department. To date the City has not had a single request. The City should develop a website tab or a stand alone website dedicated to property owners that want to disconnect downspouts ,install rain gardens and pervious pavement.

2) Demonstration: Two years ago, I convinced the Euclid Schools to do a "test pour" of pervious concrete: the City was not interested. The City must take the lead in disconnecting downspouts, installing pervious pavement, planting rain gardens, trees and green roofs on City property.

3) Evaluation: As far as we can tell, the City's engineering firm has not really explored the green infrastructure approaches. The City must hire an engineering firm with green infrastructure experience to evaluate the current Long Term Control plan, and green alternatives. This firm should also evaluate how the system is managed, the proposed fee increases, and, potential alternative fee structures.

EPA

Will the Courts and the Federal EPA allow Euclid to revamp our storm water control plan? According to the online magazine "Waterworld" the answer seems to be "yes." The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will continue to promote the use of green infrastructure and work to develop an integrated planning process to help local governments manage wastewater discharges and stormwater runoff more efficiently and cost effectively. In commenting on the memo, Deputy Administrator Bob Perciasepe said, "An integrated approach allows communities to prioritize their investments to address the most serious water issues first and provides flexibility to use innovative, cost-effective storm- and wastewater-management solutions -– including green infrastructure."

To review: There are alternative strategies to Euclid's storm water problem, solutions that are better for the environment, and less expensive. So, do we go grayer, or greener? The choice is up to you.

Resources

City of Philadelphia:

http://www.phillywatersheds.org/what_were_doing/green_infrastructure

City of Lancaster:

National Tree Benefit Calculator:

http://www.treebenefits.com/calculator/index.cfm

N.E.Ohio Regional Sewer District: http://www.neorsd.org/stormwaterprogram.php

Rain Garden Manual for Home Owners:

http://www.tinkerscreekwatershed.org/documents/RGManual.pdf

Sewer/Water Rates Set to Rise

Euclid Waste Water Treatment Plant/System

Euclid's Lakeshore Treatment plant is a regional plant, treating flows from Euclid, Willoughby Hills, Willowick, Wickliffe and parts of Richmond Hts and South Euclid.

Euclid's system, like most others throughout the US treats sanitary, and storm water. To keep the treatment plant from flooding in heavy rains, there are relief points called overflows.. In heavy rains, storm and sanitary waters mix and can be discharged directly into Lake Erie. Euclid can minimally treat most storm water, but not to the level mandated by the Federal Clean Water Act.

Since 2005, the City and EPA have engaged in a dialogue on how to bring our Treatment System into compliance.

In 2011, the City of Euclid entered into a Consent Decree in Federal Court to implement improvements to our treatment system.

Why are Rates proposed to increase?

1) To pay for the everyday operations at the plant.

2) To pay for the proposed capital improvements to the plant itself.

Euclid raises money for the system based on water consumed. According to the Administration, water consumption has fallen even though the number of accounts in the service area has stayed about the same. Less water used means less revenue. There are also approximately 4 million dollars in delinquent accounts throughout the system.

What the New Rates will look like.

Your sewer bill is calculated based on consumption (how many MCF's that you use, 1 MCF=7,500 gallons of water). Euclid residents pay $46.17 per MCF. The incremental breakdown of this charge is as follows

Euclid Residents Currently Pay: Rates residents will pay if approved.

Current Total Rates, 2012 = $46.17/MCF

Proposed Total 2012 Rates = $58.17/MCF

(effective April, 2012)

Here is the Breakdown:

Plant Operations: Included in this are salaries, benefits, utility costs, supplies and minor capital items:

2012 Current = $19.60 Proposed 2012 = $24.60

Plant Capital Investment: Major improvements to the Plant itself

2012 Current = $ 4.08 Proposed 2012 = $8.08

Peterson Charge: For new sewer construction

2012 Current = $ 11.88 Proposed 2012 = $13.88

Cleveland meter reading charge:

2012 Current = $1.61 Proposed 2012 = $1.61

Waterline Fund: Used to help replace and repair water lines throughout the city in conjunction with Cleveland Water Department, and, to restore roadways and landscaping affected by such work.

2012 Current = $9.00 Proposed 2012 = $10.00

Currently the proposed legislation to raise rates is on the agenda for City Council review. The proposed final vote is scheduled for Monday, March 6th.

EPD - Property Room Theft

The Cuyahoga County Sherrif's Dept report shows there is enough evidence that theft occurred from the Euclid Police Department Narcotics Property Room. All reported findings points to the late Detetvie. Sgt., Kevin Blakeley as the sole person responsible. The theft of funds appears to have occurred for better part of a decade.

Yet, there are several questions that remain outstanding that must be put to rest.

First, who did Det. Blakeley report too?

Second, why were audits of the property rooms not conducted. Indications are that inventories and audits were not done for years.

Third, who else besides Det. Blakeley had access to the accounts where the funds turned up missing?

Certainly, Det. Blakeley would have had to answer to serious charges. However, a review of EPD policies shows that enough safeguards were in place, and, enough warning were made that most, if not all of this should have been prevented.

EPD Internal Polices Titled "Internal Control of Forfeited and Seized Properties" dated 2/28/1991 spells out some of the requirement for all units of the department on how to handle

property and monies coming into the hands of the EPD.

In short, each and every pieces of property or money is to be tagged and cataloged: any and all funds cataloged;records coordinated with the City Finance Department to maintain accurate records. Finally, there is a section of the policy that describes how each year reports on any and all properties seized must be transmitted by the Chief of Police (or designee) to the Attorney Generals Office (this requirement as since been repealed by the State of Ohio).

In the cover letter to this policy, then Chief Wayne Baumgart stated "It is the policy of the Euclid Police Department to maintain stringent control over all confidential fund monies and property and monies seized and/or confiscated. We must maintain close supervision of our funds with a cooperative effort from the City of Euclid Finance Department."

Unfortunately this does not seem to be the case. The EPD has two functioning property rooms:

the Narcotics section, and, then another one used by detectives and patrol officers.

Officers have brought up the lax conditions in the property rooms for years. Back in 2009, a detective brought up to command staff that an entire audit/inventory of the general property room was required, and that too many individuals had access to that room. The officer felt strongly enough that he stated that the integrity of that property room could very well be compromised.

Det Kevin Blakeley was assigned to the general property room on 10/21/2010. On March 30 of this year, he submitted a memo to superiors about the property room: he pointed out that log books were missing, door locks were broken and that no audits or inventories had been done."

Again, none of this excuses what was described in the Sherriff's Dept Report.

But, what it does reinforce are the findings of OAPC report: That in many ways, the EPD was

poorly run and adrift.

If polices were followed, updated and enhanced, the thefts described might have been caught or prevented years ago.

This is just another episode that calls into doubt the leadership of the Euclid Police Department under Chief Repicky, and Mayor Cervenik.

Good government demands that an entire administrative review of this matter be done.

On Jobs and Leadership

The election is about a week away now, folks. November 8th will determine the future direction of this City. It is in yours hands, as it should be.

I did want to touch base on a couple of items that have come to my attention.

First, being the latest mailer from Mayor Cervenik. He claims that he has helped retain or created about 3500 jobs in Euclid, and, then proceeds to list the various companies that have added jobs.

Jobs, growth, of course, are what this City desperately needs. Jobs, and, the tax revenue it brings are the very life blood of City Services all of you expect.

What the mailer does not tell, or explain is over what time period any of these retained or created jobs occurred: since he became Mayor in 2003? Or, was it in the last year? That is unknown.

If we do some math, the total new jobs listed come to 405. He also listed Bluestone Business Park (former Chase Brass site) as the home to 1000 jobs (when the economy recovers).

Folks, Bluestone Business Park is empty! Nothing is on it. The assumption that it will contain

1000 jobs is pure guess work by the Mayor. Certainly he has no idea when it will be filled, and/or how many jobs will come from it. But, the last check with the owner, Fogg indicated

that any interest so far comes from warehouse type firms, firms that will bring few jobs.

Also missing from the Mayor's piece is the loss of jobs Euclid has suffered over the years of his Administration. Topping that list is Park-Ohio which took about 400 jobs out of the City several years ago.

The point here is that under this Administration, Euclid is on a jobs tread mill: some businesses

have grown, or come to Euclid, others have shrunk or left the City. Too many times the small businesses interested in Euclid are ignored by the current Administration.

To move ahead, we must jump off this treadmill. To do that, not only must we work with our larger firms, which we do now, but, we must begin cultivating those interested in opening

up small businesses. To do that, we must better integrate the activities of the Chamber of Commerce with city efforts to attract and grow jobs.

As a mentioned in earlier blogs, a real strategy to "Buy Euclid" must be implemented for the retail sector, along with developing a "commercial/industrial" pool that encourages local industry

to purchase from Euclid or Northeast Ohio firms. This will truly create jobs and City tax revenue.

The OAPC Report

On October 17th, the Ohio Association of Police Chief issued their report on the conditions of

the Euclid Police Department. Broken down into 18 sections, it should be used as a blueprint to make sweeping changes in how the Department is run. Police Chief Steven Sarver of Newark, and, Police Chief Douglas Knight of Vandalia conducted the top to bottom review.

Any organization is a reflection of its core values and missions statement. In good organizations each employee understands and works toward the values of that statement. The Euclid Police Department current mission statement is confusing and too long, according to OACP. Even when a committee was appointed to review that statement, Chief Repicky ignored the new statement

Leadership communication flows from the core statement of values. Great communication is the hallmark of well functioning organizations. While policies and procedures of the Police Department show a willingness to communicate, it is not translating into real communication with staff. When asked by OACP if “critical information is communicated efficiently” only 4.08% respondents said yes. 57.1% said “no.” In another question, when asked if “your input is considered before important decisions are made” 0% said “yes” while 80.9% said “no.”

Lack of communication has done much to undermine the spirit and cohesiveness within the Euclid Police Department. This is clearly illustrated in the management-labor area. OACP states that “a healthy relationship between labor and management is non-existent at this time.” Part of the contract between the City and Fraternal Order of Police Local #18 calls for a Labor-Management Committee consisting of the Mayor (or designee) Police Chief, and members of the FOP. In well functioning organizations, such a committee should meet every three months or so. Frequent meetings creates open line of communication, and building mutual trust. Euclid’s last meeting was held over a year ago and amounted to little more than grip sessions. OACP recommends that for EPD to move forward, labor and management must be willing to sit face to face and discuss issues before they become problems.

Two cases in particular that has caused much friction within the department. First is the lack of performance reviews for 2010 to the present. Chief Repicky stated that given retirements and supervisory personnel, it would be unfair to give review. The second is the need for 4 police captains.

Chief Repicky (and the Mayor) believed that not filling the position was a budgetary matter. Members of the department believe that it a personal and vindictive move based on who would next be promoted. OACP believes that since no conversation about dropping to three captains occurred prior to the latest opening, there is some credibility to staff feelings. OAC feels until both of these matters are resolved, morale cannot be restored.

Lack of a clear vision, poor communication and labor management mistrust creates an atmosphere where most officers enjoying being out of the Police Station and out on the street. As OACP reports, command staff confirms that “neither the Administration nor the police department establish annual written goals or specific and measurable objective by which to assess Euclid police performance. Further, the police department has no formal mechanism or periodic survey of citizens satisfaction to assess the degree to which the police and service philosophies conform to expectations of the community and city administration. One command officer described the current state of the EPD goals and objectives as “surviving and maintaining.” Another patrol supervisor, in a separate interview said, “We don’t know what we’re going, or what is expected of us.”

In many ways, the department is adrift, its effectiveness more the result of individual officers, rather than organization excellence. An example cited by OACP is in crime prevention. Euclid only one officer is trained in crime prevention techniques, and that the commitment to crime prevention has fallen off, according to a police supervisor. OACP recommends that ALL members of the Department share in crime prevention responsibilities. A good program of crime prevention addresses the community’s perception and misperception of crime in Euclid. Every few years, such programs must be evaluated for effectiveness and adjusted accordingly.

The focal point of all of these issues appears to be Chief Jim Repicky. The OACP report makes no ultimate value judgment of his leadership. Yet OACP reports, that the effectiveness of the lines of communication among the captains and Chief Repicky was poor. In his 3 years as Chief the command staff met together only 3 times, the Chief ultimately ending them all together. This means that critical information was not share uniformly among the chief and the captains. This ties in with the answers received from FOP members as to the three most important issues facing the department. Answers included poor leadership, trust, favoritism, personal agendas morale, no input. While not all the fault of Chief Repicky, the rejection of his leadership by his own staff was clear and overwhelming. He had no real choice but to step down.

One individual the OACP does not mention is Chief Repicky’s supervisor, Mayor Bill Cervenik. As the city safety director, he is ultimately responsible for what happens within the department. What can be gathered from OACP Report is that Mayor Cervenik failed to provide adequate supervision for Mr. Repicky. In the area of labor management, he very well could have intervened and insisted on frequent meetings between Police Management and the FOP. At the same time, Mr. Cervenik allowed members of the Department to speak to him directly, rather than through the Labor Management Council. Thus, he undermined is own chain of command, without providing feed back to the Chief to improve his performance.

For a Mayor that prides himself on keeping the safety forces strong, the OACP provides a devastating critique of his own management of the Euclid Police Department. It appears that Mr. Cervenik placed more value on his friendship with Chief Repicky, than on the well being of the EPD.

An Editorial on the PD Editorial

The Plain Dealer Endorsement

It surprising that the Plain Dealer endorsed Bill Cervenik for another term

What is disappointing are the numerous errors in their reporting and, their blatant disregard for the two challengers, Mr. Johnson and Ms. Mancuso.

First on the PD's error list is that Mr. Cervenik asked Police Chief Jim Repicky to step down. As of today, Mr. Repicky is still on the job, earning his salary as Chief of Police.

Second, Mr. Cervenik did not settle the Department of Justice voting rights case against Euclid.

In fact the City went to court and lost, and, the City Council settled the case. And, what the Plain Dealer forgot was that Mr. Cervenik supported fighting the Justice Department, stating in Scene Magazine that the DOJ "should be ashamed of themselves." for their prosecution of Euclid.

Third, Ms. Mancuso did not lead the attempted recall of Bill Cervenik in 2005. In fact that was

Mr. John Conway. By the way, in the fall election of 2005, after the recall election, Mr. Conway was elected to City Council with 57% of the vote.

But what should insult every thinking Euclid voter is the dismissive way the Plain Dealer treats

Mr. Johnson and Ms. Mancuso.

Mr. Johnson, for example, served the City admirably for many decades as Administrative and

Finance Director. The Plain Dealer calls Mr. Johnson's ideas "small bore." You can almost hear the editorial writers snickering over how clever they were. Insulting is more like it.

Ms. Mancuso's long service at Metro Health probably has done more to save lives of ALL residents in Northeast Ohio, especially for the poor and less fortunate than few others. To insinuate that somehow her housing plan is discriminatory shows that the Plain Dealer's claim of "Editorial Excellence" should more appropriately called "Editorial Laziness.

The Plain Dealer says that Mr. Cervenik is not a showy, big-vision leader. I agree.

If he were, he would understand the very real challenges faced by the City:

Falling population (under 50 thousand)

Growing poverty (16% as of 2009 and climbing)

Empty commercial and retail space

Neighborhoods littered with empty homes

Declining Recreation programs

Decline in City Services

If he were a big vision leader, he would have realized decades ago the value of a lakefront marina, and Shore Cultural Centre for example instead of fighting tooth and nail against both.

The Plain Dealer fails to understand, that solid redevelopment plans will combat Euclid's clear decline.

Instead they talk about his sensible leadership, leadership that has brought to you:

City spending increases at roughly a million dollars each year during his 8 years in office, from roughly 32 million in 2002 to over a projected 40 million this year.

Borrowing 3 million dollars to balance the budget in 2004, and, imposing trash and lighting fees in 2009.

Mr. Cervenik did settle the court case with the Providence Baptist Church, informing City Council by e-mail. (BTW the Plain Dealer could not even name the church, just referring to it as "a black church),

As you might recall, the citizens of Euclid decided to put this rezoning on the ballot, and they rejected the plans of the church. That was in 2004. As of today, Providence Baptist Church

has built nothing at Hillandale. History proves that Euclid residents were right in questioning church plans.

In his role as Safety Director, he is responsible for the chaos that has engulfed the Euclid Police Department, as indicated by lawsuits, the FOP no confidence vote and the Sheriff' Department investigation.

But finally, it is curious that the in making their decision, the Plain Dealer ignored their own reporting on county corruption, and the connection to Bill Cervenik.

4/27/2008: The Plain Dealer ran an article on how politicians and their relatives filled dozens of

well paying jobs at the County Recorders office. Then county Recorder Pat O"Malley handled

the hiring for this agency, jobs were seldom posted and, O'Malley made the final decisions. The Plain Dealer profiled literally dozens of individuals that owed their jobs to political connections.

One of those jobs went to Tony Sustarsic, former Euclid Councilman at Large, son of former Council President Jerry Sustarsic. And, his reference was Mayor Bill Cervenik.

11/30/2008 The Plain Dealer investigation reveals how a well connected company,

1-888-Ohio Comp scooped up most of the Workers Compensation medical claims business in Cuyahoga County. This company's connections reached directly into (former) County Auditor

Farnk Russo's office. Mr. Russo and (former) County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora pressured

mayors to make the switch to 1-888-Ohio Comp. Mr. Russo's son Vince worked for the firm.

The owners of the firm were shown to have made substantial contributions to mayors and candidates for mayor throughout the county.

In Bill Cervenik's first campaign for Mayor in 2003, Tom Coyne, former Brook Park Mayor and

(then) consultant for Ohio Comp and the one of the principals owner of the firm, Sam Lucarelli, contributed $6000.00 to his tight campaign against Ed Gudenas. The following May, Cervenik switched the City to 1-888-Ohio Comp.

(For the full article, see the link below)

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/11/auditor_frank_russos_links_to.html

Mr. Cervenik seemed to be a willing part of the easy, sleazy way the county was formerly run.

The Plain Dealer chose to ignore all this, and chose to ignore the fact the Euclid voters have

clear and competent choices for Mayor, rather than 4 more years of the same old stuff.