Girls' Night At Council: Girl Scout Top Honor and LHS Rugby Team Recognized

The June 4, 2012 Council Meeting was called to order at 7:42 P.M. by Council President Brian Powers. He then invited Melissa Rerko and a member of the Lakewood High School Rugby Team to lead everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Next Councilwoman Mary Louise Madigan (Ward IV) read a communication that was presented by all members of Council recognizing Melissa Rerko for attaining the Gold Award from the Girl Scouts of the USA, their highest honor. Councilwoman Madigan continued saying she was really glad that Council had the opportunity to recognize a Girl Scout for reaching this honor as it is something they do not get to do enough. She said they see Boy Scouts reach Eagle Scouts semi-regularly, but very rarely get to recognize Girl Scouts.

Council passed the resolution congratulating Ms. Rerko and presented her with a copy.

Councilwoman Madigan then read a communication from herself, Councilman Shawn Juris (Ward III) and Councilman Tom Bullock (Ward II) congratulating the Lakewood High School Girls Rugby Team and coach Andre Bruwer on winning the 2012 Ohio State Title and for placing second in the nation in the 2012 Girls' High School Rugby National Championship.

Councilman Juris said he was glad, as the councilman that represents the two high schools in Lakewood, that he gets to recognize this team from LHS to help balance it out with the championships St. Edwards brings home. Councilmen Powers (At-Large) and Ryan Nowlin (At-Large) also gave their personal congratulations to the girls.

Council passed the resolution unanimously and then presented team with a copy.

The girls coach, Andre Bruwer, thanked the Council for the honor and recognizing all of their hard work. He also thanked the community as a whole, because he said without them they could never survive as a team. Rugby is a non-funded club sport at LHS and without the help and support of the community they would not be able to survive a regular season let alone the travel for the state and national competitions. He said an average season, without traveling to nationals, cost them around $20,000 dollars. He said that it was a great honor for them to be one of eight teams to make it to nationals, let alone finishing second, and that the girls represent Lakewood with pride, being the only team there from Ohio.

Next Councilman Bullock asked Council to consider a resolution that would help Lakewood establish a primary bikeway or “sharrow” on Detroit Avenue by designating funding for the installation. The funding would come from the funds designated in the 2012 budget for Council-initiated economic development projects. The resolution proposes $20,000 dollars to install shared lane or “sharrow” pavement markings on Detroit Avenue from Alameda Avenue to Bonnieview Avenue. This would establish the first of Lakewood’s bikeways in an area that is most heavily traveled by bikes with access to major anchor destinations across the city.

The bikeway marks the third of the major action steps as they were laid out in the Lakewood Bicycle Master Plan that was passed in January of this year. The first two steps include expanding supply and distribution of bike parking and education and outreach including increasing ridership and bike safety. Councilman Bullock said that this is an exciting time in Lakewood and he wants to push forward with the bikeway to build on the progress Lakewood has already made with alternate modes of travel. He cites Lakewood being rated as a top walking and cycling community in Ohio and also community organizations such as Beck Center for the Arts and Bike Lakewood which both held widely attended bike-related events last month. He also noted that more bike-related events are coming soon including the Madison Park Bike Rodeo and the Lakewood Criterium race on July 28th.

Council referred the resolution to the Committee of the Whole, the committee consisting of all members of Council, to be considered.

Finance Director Jennifer Pae then asked Council to consider amending an ordinance that would allow the City to scrap or otherwise dispose of City property that was not sold during the online auction. Currently there is no authority allowing them to do so.

Council referred the ordinance to the Finance Committee for discussion.

Law Director Kevin Butler then asked Council to consider an ordinance that would update the ordinance that regulates garage and yard sales due to the fact that there really is very little regulation. Council referred the ordinance to the Housing Committee for consideration.

Director Butler then asked Council to consider a change to an ordinance that outlines procedures for going after those with unpaid parking tickets. As it stands, any time someone has severely delinquent civil parking tickets it is mandatory for the city to file a court judgment against them. The change to the ordinance would make this step a suggestion but not mandatory in lieu of other actions. In many cases going through the legal process of a court judgment will end up costing more than the amount of the original ticket, making it not worthwhile to the city. A better route is to put a hold on the vehicle’s registration with the Ohio Department of Motor Vehicles. Although the Ohio Revised Code does not require a Civil Judgment be placed in advance of such actions, the Lakewood Codified Ordinances do. This amendment would bring the two into harmony.

Council referred the ordinance to the Rules and Ordinances Committee to be considered.

Coming to the end of the agenda items Council President powers adjourned the meeting at 8:32 P.M.