EXCLUSIVE SERIES: The 2006 Budget Hearings—Part 3
The third session of budget hearings was held on Saturday morning. Strategies of survival and currying favor are becoming blatant. In previous sessions a selection of cookies was passed around in an almost surreptitious manner. A reporter assumes that being included in the cookie passing was done out of politeness and nothing more. Saturday’s session was to include all public works presentations. Consequently, Public Works Director Tony Beno brought in a supply of pastries for his division managers. And, as a special treat, Beno provided a strudel from Tommy’s Pastries on Madison Avenue for the council members who would ultimately have to pass judgment on his budget. It will be noted that the strudel had a very subtle custard filling which was quite tasty.
At the 9:00 start time members Seelie, Antonio, Butler, and Madigan were on hand with Dever having made his absence known to leadership the day before. Demro arrived at 9:30 and departed at 11:05 and Fitzgerald arrived at 10:50.
The first division to present was Water and Sewer. This division is headed up by one person, Ray Velcio, who used to run just the water division. With the attrition of another supervisor he has also assumed the duties of the sewer division. On the intake side, water, the division maintains all of Lakewood’s water lines and bills for service. Part of the functions performed is to respond to calls from individual homeowners when a plumbing emergency arises. The water division employees can mitigate the immediate problem and offer solutions for repairing the problem. This quick response saves a homeowner from potential water or sewer back up damage and allows for a breather while the homeowner evaluates alternatives. Also, by billing monthly any sharp deviations in water usage can be detected and the customer alerted.
Velcio pointed out that as part of the continuing upgrade and maintenance to the water lines a systematic program of leak detection is in place. Since Lakewood is a master meter city – it purchases water in bulk from Cleveland which goes through one meter- any water that doesn’t subsequently go through a customer’s meter is a revenue loss -hence the need to maintain and upgrade the water lines. With Lakewood maintaining its own water system it can also coordinate new water mains with street rebuilding. Such coordination might not be possible under other kinds of management. A supervisor is always on call to respond to an emergency break.
Jack Masterson has been brought on to handle the financial affairs of the department. This function had not been professionally handled in the past.
After the water is used it has to go through the sewers. The sewer department maintains and repairs the sewers. This includes regular catch basin cleaning and sewer inspection. The department also works with the streets division in street cleaning and the parks division in leaf pick up. This ultimately helps in keeping the sewers clean of debris.
The Mayor and Law Director then briefed council on ongoing negotiations with the state Environmental Protection Agency. They, along with the federal E.P.A. are mandating extensive sewer upgrades to reduce overflow and untreated dumping into Lake Erie. Some preliminary estimates to meet this goal are $230 million over twenty years. This sum is considered onerous. While maintaining everybody’s desire to protect the environment he believes that alternative methods and funding must be explored. Consequently, the law director has instructed the city’s private attorneys to explore strategies to that end.
Once the water comes in from the water lines, and goes out through the sewers it has to be treated. The wastewater treatment plant located in the Metro Parks performs that function. Bill Crute, a 35 year employee of the city, manages that plant. Crute presented a detailed description of the plant’s activities and how each expenditure fit in with either current needs or anticipated requirements. The current version of the plant is essentially over 30 years old and it needs maintenance repairs and upgrades to meet continually changing demands. Crute uses and explores new technologies. Ultraviolet light is used to kill fecal E. coli bacteria instead of chemicals. This is used by only a few plants and is cost competitive with chemical treatment. It is also a “green” technology. Crute is exploring an electrical cogeneration machine to provide emergency power. The need for emergency backup presented itself after 9/11 and also after our own blackout of two years ago.
Finally, the budget of Winterhurst Ice Rink was presented by rink manager Tim Stark. For those who remember, Winterhurst was originally an outdoor facility. It used equipment from an old commercial ice making plant to make an ice skating rink. It was only open during the winter. In the 1970’s the city built the new indoor, year around facility. In the intervening 30 years municipal ice rinks have gradually shifted emphasis from providing recreational skating to participating in a much larger retail market of recreational, team, and competitive figure skating. The rink is subsidized for its operational and capital expenses just like the swimming pools. Requests for immediate repairs were presented. The larger question of the city’s involvement in this activity has to be confronted within the next few years because the facility needs rebuilding.
Since the rink hosts tournaments it attracts visitors to Lakewood from the Eastern United States and Canada.
For an Olympic moment, it will be noted that Winterhurst’s resident coach, Carol Heiss Jenkins (1960 Olympic medal winner) is coaching a skater from the Japanese national team. She hopes to compete in Turin, Italy and Lakewood hopes that her home rink will be associated with her name.
At the 9:00 start time members Seelie, Antonio, Butler, and Madigan were on hand with Dever having made his absence known to leadership the day before. Demro arrived at 9:30 and departed at 11:05 and Fitzgerald arrived at 10:50.
The first division to present was Water and Sewer. This division is headed up by one person, Ray Velcio, who used to run just the water division. With the attrition of another supervisor he has also assumed the duties of the sewer division. On the intake side, water, the division maintains all of Lakewood’s water lines and bills for service. Part of the functions performed is to respond to calls from individual homeowners when a plumbing emergency arises. The water division employees can mitigate the immediate problem and offer solutions for repairing the problem. This quick response saves a homeowner from potential water or sewer back up damage and allows for a breather while the homeowner evaluates alternatives. Also, by billing monthly any sharp deviations in water usage can be detected and the customer alerted.
Velcio pointed out that as part of the continuing upgrade and maintenance to the water lines a systematic program of leak detection is in place. Since Lakewood is a master meter city – it purchases water in bulk from Cleveland which goes through one meter- any water that doesn’t subsequently go through a customer’s meter is a revenue loss -hence the need to maintain and upgrade the water lines. With Lakewood maintaining its own water system it can also coordinate new water mains with street rebuilding. Such coordination might not be possible under other kinds of management. A supervisor is always on call to respond to an emergency break.
Jack Masterson has been brought on to handle the financial affairs of the department. This function had not been professionally handled in the past.
After the water is used it has to go through the sewers. The sewer department maintains and repairs the sewers. This includes regular catch basin cleaning and sewer inspection. The department also works with the streets division in street cleaning and the parks division in leaf pick up. This ultimately helps in keeping the sewers clean of debris.
The Mayor and Law Director then briefed council on ongoing negotiations with the state Environmental Protection Agency. They, along with the federal E.P.A. are mandating extensive sewer upgrades to reduce overflow and untreated dumping into Lake Erie. Some preliminary estimates to meet this goal are $230 million over twenty years. This sum is considered onerous. While maintaining everybody’s desire to protect the environment he believes that alternative methods and funding must be explored. Consequently, the law director has instructed the city’s private attorneys to explore strategies to that end.
Once the water comes in from the water lines, and goes out through the sewers it has to be treated. The wastewater treatment plant located in the Metro Parks performs that function. Bill Crute, a 35 year employee of the city, manages that plant. Crute presented a detailed description of the plant’s activities and how each expenditure fit in with either current needs or anticipated requirements. The current version of the plant is essentially over 30 years old and it needs maintenance repairs and upgrades to meet continually changing demands. Crute uses and explores new technologies. Ultraviolet light is used to kill fecal E. coli bacteria instead of chemicals. This is used by only a few plants and is cost competitive with chemical treatment. It is also a “green” technology. Crute is exploring an electrical cogeneration machine to provide emergency power. The need for emergency backup presented itself after 9/11 and also after our own blackout of two years ago.
Finally, the budget of Winterhurst Ice Rink was presented by rink manager Tim Stark. For those who remember, Winterhurst was originally an outdoor facility. It used equipment from an old commercial ice making plant to make an ice skating rink. It was only open during the winter. In the 1970’s the city built the new indoor, year around facility. In the intervening 30 years municipal ice rinks have gradually shifted emphasis from providing recreational skating to participating in a much larger retail market of recreational, team, and competitive figure skating. The rink is subsidized for its operational and capital expenses just like the swimming pools. Requests for immediate repairs were presented. The larger question of the city’s involvement in this activity has to be confronted within the next few years because the facility needs rebuilding.
Since the rink hosts tournaments it attracts visitors to Lakewood from the Eastern United States and Canada.
For an Olympic moment, it will be noted that Winterhurst’s resident coach, Carol Heiss Jenkins (1960 Olympic medal winner) is coaching a skater from the Japanese national team. She hopes to compete in Turin, Italy and Lakewood hopes that her home rink will be associated with her name.
Volume 2, Issue 3, Posted 09.11 AM / 31st January 2006.
