Written by the reviewer from the ASR + docket; [verbatim-ASR] = quoted machine transcript; [paraphrase] = reviewer's wording, not a quote.
0:00 Okay, everybody, let's convene the Finance Committee meeting at 5.50 p.m.
0:07 As a first order of business, I'd like to consider the proposed or the draft minutes
0:12 from the November 24, 2025 Finance Committee meeting.
0:17 Is there a motion to approve?
0:21 Motion has been made.
0:24 Hearing none, all in favor say aye.
0:27 And the ayes have it.
0:29 So we've got a 10 or 15 minute section on council initiated budget amendments.
0:37 I'd like to reserve that for the Finance Director to be present.
0:42 Why don't we, if it's all right, Chief Fairbanks, are you prepared to begin talking about the
0:49 fire department budget?
0:51 Yes, that's the motto, as the council president says, fire is always prepared.
0:59 Thank you for being here.
1:01 Thank you for the presentation.
1:06 We've got a presentation, council members, in our electronic dockets.
1:11 Perhaps we can project that on screen when we get the equipment turned on.
1:16 But Chief, please feel free to proceed.
1:24 Good evening, everyone.
1:27 Just a quick overview.
1:29 The first two slides are just informational.
1:31 Of course, our new watercraft is in that first slide.
1:35 They performed a drill with the county.
1:39 This was part of the mass casualty drill that involved the good time three.
1:45 So they had about 50 wounded and involved all the police agencies that utilize watercraft
1:54 So we are really the only paramedic trained or paramedic certified water asset in our
2:07 So they definitely wanted us to partake in that exercise.
2:17 Just a quick department description, a little history lesson.
2:20 We've been in existence since 1910.
2:23 We have the three fire stations located strategically across the city.
2:28 We operate three fire suppression companies, three advanced life support paramedic units.
2:36 And an incident command vehicle at station one and a fire prevention unit at station
2:43 We also have several support vehicles, including our new rescue boat and several
2:49 Having a healthy reserve fleet ensures our capability to maintain a continuity of operations
2:54 that limits the downtime of our units and also results in a seamless service to our
3:07 Here's our organizational chart.
3:11 We comprise of 93 individuals committed to working as a team, protecting our citizens
3:18 We have three shifts of personnel that work 24 hours, seven days a week, 365 a year.
3:24 Our fire prevention bureau is comprised of our fire marshal, the two fire inspectors
3:28 and Oliver, our neighborhood paramedic.
3:32 In 2025, we administered a civil service exam in June, which resulted in a certified
3:37 list of 41 eligible candidates.
3:40 We also hired a lateral candidate for the first time since 2016.
3:45 Recruiting strategies are going to start to take a more hands-on approach in the future.
3:50 Captain Flores is going to be putting together a team of current firefighters to improve
3:55 our visibility in our target communities.
3:58 One thing that we are finding is the applicant pool is shrinking and all of the regional
4:05 fire departments are fighting for the same applicants.
4:08 So it's almost a strike early, strike often type of approach when we find an
4:14 excellent candidate.
4:15 We want to go out and get them and get them in a Lakewood Fire Department uniform.
4:21 We also administered a promotional exam over the last year for the position of assistant
4:25 chief as Mick Tanasevich is going to be retiring after 32 years of service to the
4:33 Captain John Katani has been selected as AC Tanasevich's successor and he will
4:38 be taking over as the shift commander on a shift on January 1st.
4:44 So shift change is at 0830 every day.
4:54 They come in, they work 24 hours and then they go home.
4:58 So A shift, today is C shift.
5:00 So C shift came on, they started at 830 this morning and then tomorrow morning A
5:04 shift will relieve them at 830.
5:07 So they will be there for 24 hours and then B shift will follow them and then
5:11 cycle just repeats forever and ever.
5:17 So in 2025, we had some accomplishments.
5:19 We took delivery of our new rescue boat.
5:22 We had to complete extensive training to ensure the safe operation when
5:27 piloting this craft and for the crew.
5:30 So there was quite a bit of training that went on in the spring before we
5:34 actually put this watercraft in the service.
5:38 We performed a lot of inter-agency drills with the sheriff's office,
5:43 with the county, with Rocky River, with the metro parks.
5:48 We wanted to get as much exposure as possible and get as much training as
5:52 possible before we put this boat in the water.
5:55 We also performed rescue swimmer certification and that was a drill that
6:02 involved a lot of agencies throughout the county, not just those of us
6:06 along the lake, but also those from southern Cuyahoga County.
6:11 We also took delivery of a 2025 ambulance that we ordered in 2022.
6:17 So that's why we have to plan for our vehicle purchases so far in
6:24 There's just all these delays in that industry and we have to maintain
6:29 our capital timeline.
6:32 We have to go out years in advance just to make sure that we're getting
6:35 the vehicles that we need and also making sure that we stick to the city's
6:41 We did take delivery of our battery-operated extrication tools.
6:45 Those replaced the gas-powered unit.
6:47 We did hold on to the gas-powered unit.
6:49 It's on one of our reserve fire engines.
6:51 So just like I mentioned before, we'll be able to maintain seamless
6:58 So if those battery-operated tools need maintenance, we can still rely
7:04 on the gas-powered and vice versa.
7:08 Through the chair, can you say a little bit more about the battery-operated
7:14 I'm very interested in this and I appreciate that you're moving to these types of
7:20 Is this your first battery-operated tool?
7:24 Are there any other noise-saving tools that you're using currently that
7:28 are battery-operated?
7:29 Because I hear you saying that.
7:30 I've got the backup with the gas one.
7:32 I'm with you on that.
7:34 The extrication tools are used in vehicle crashes.
7:43 They're able to pry open doors, cut through heavy metal, things like that.
7:48 We do have several other battery-operated tools such as a battery-operated chainsaw,
7:53 battery-operated ventilation fans.
7:56 So we're making that move across the board.
8:00 When we get a newer tool, we place them on the front-line vehicles at each station.
8:06 And then we take the older tool, if it's still serviceable, and we place it in our
8:09 reserve fleet, just so those vehicles are ready to go.
8:15 So take today, for instance, where all of our resources were committed to the
8:21 We did an emergency callback so we could still maintain a certain level of service
8:27 So we were able to staff another fire engine, another ambulance, and another command unit
8:32 just to handle any other emergencies that would come in while we were all working at
8:37 the fire on Homewood.
8:38 So that's our goal, is to make sure that all of our vehicles are outfitted so they
8:42 can at least perform some level of service in a pinch.
8:48 Quick schedule comment.
8:49 So I see Judge Neff and Court Administrator Maria Russo are here.
8:53 Could we do this, Councilmembers?
8:55 Let's let the Chief finish his presentation and then pause for the discussion.
9:00 And then, so we're back on schedule.
9:03 So Judge Neff can present then, and then we can do the Q&A with the Chief.
9:09 Would that work for you, Chief?
9:10 So we'll still get you out of here on schedule.
9:13 We'll have to also put our first item where we're talking about Council-initiated
9:17 amendments or discussion, really, questions from City Council.
9:23 We'll find time for that.
9:27 Another initiative that we accomplished this year was we added one additional person per
9:33 shift, so that was a total of three personnel.
9:36 One of my goals this year was to decrease our overtime costs, and by adding another
9:41 person per shift, we were able to absorb injuries, long-term leaves, without incurring
9:47 any additional overtime costs.
9:49 Just a little quick note is that that batch of hiring did include our second female
9:56 firefighter, who is, she's doing outstanding, so I'm very proud of that.
10:02 Another added benefit to the additional personnel is that on certain days we're
10:06 able to place a fourth ambulance in service.
10:10 There are many times where we need to call Rocky River or Fairview Park for
10:13 a mutual aid ambulance because all three of our ambulances are tied up.
10:18 We also digitized all of our fire prevention records.
10:21 This included all of our building files, all of our investigations, all of our inspections.
10:27 This was done, we were following along with the building department.
10:33 Their project was much larger than ours.
10:35 I did reach out to Maria in the courts, and she said, hey, try this company.
10:40 The court just used it to digitize their records, so that worked out flawlessly.
10:44 We're very happy with that.
10:45 It also helps the fire marshal to basically locate this data a lot quicker.
10:52 Public records requests are able to be fulfilled a lot faster, and
10:55 it's just a more efficient, more streamlined system.
10:59 We did do a lot of work in collaboration with the Cuyahoga County
11:04 Emergency Management Agency.
11:08 We participated in a couple of tabletop exercises.
11:12 We've met with the county several times.
11:14 Just to up our preparedness level, to be able to handle any natural or
11:20 manmade disasters within Lakewood, we're also working with their ReadyCertify program.
11:27 It's about a 22-point checklist that we go through, and
11:32 each time we accomplish something, we get the check mark, and
11:36 eventually we'll be a ReadyCertify city.
11:38 Finally, with your help, we did place the order for
11:43 a replacement rescue pumper with the expected delivery date of 2028.
11:50 Just a quick review of the last year.
11:58 Doing a look back from the 21st of November of this year,
12:02 we've responded to 8,237 calls for service.
12:07 2,097 of those were fire-related, with the majority of those being EMS service.
12:14 And of those EMS calls, we transported 70% of the patients, with a majority of them,
12:19 about 40% going to Fairview, 28% to Lakewood,
12:23 3% to Metro, and 4% to the other area hospitals.
12:30 So we did have a busy summer.
12:34 We had some power issues.
12:36 We had several fires.
12:39 Our personnel were put to the test over the summer.
12:41 We had several injuries and
12:44 several firefighters be hospitalized for heat-related illness during these fires.
12:50 We did complete our annual health screenings that were done in September.
12:54 And also, this always comes up,
12:58 it kind of gives our folks a reality check when our retirees pass away.
13:03 So we had four retirees pass away this year.
13:07 One of them was Dan Wakeus, who passed away from pancreatic cancer.
13:11 He was only 65, so these health screenings are very important to our personnel.
13:19 We did complete a ton of training this year.
13:21 This photo is from the acquired structure on Wyandotte in Detroit.
13:25 It's just behind the old music shop.
13:28 So we spent about three months over there all summer,
13:31 just getting back to the basics.
13:33 You can see firefighter Joe Stelick.
13:35 He's a Lakewood grad.
13:36 He's the instructor teaching all the members.
13:41 And it goes across the department.
13:44 We have assistant chiefs and captains and everybody in attendance.
13:48 We just got back to basics, did a lot of ladder work,
13:51 a lot of search pattern work, hose line advancement, things like that.
13:58 Just to go over a couple of things that we did in 2025,
14:01 we did complete those tabletop exercises with the county.
14:06 I participated in one at Burke Lakefront Airport for a water rescue
14:10 with a plane into the water, since we do have the new boat.
14:13 We did one at the Westerly with their staff with a boiler explosion.
14:17 And then we also did one here at City Hall with city personnel
14:22 with a train derailment here on the east side.
14:27 All of our EMS personnel recertified in CPR
14:29 and pediatric advanced life support.
14:32 We started a professional development series
14:34 where we would touch on various fire and EMS related scenarios,
14:38 some human resources stuff, leadership and mental health training.
14:43 We made a return to the Fire Department Instructors Conference in Indianapolis.
14:47 It's one of the largest fire service conferences.
14:51 We sent seven personnel and it's just a week long of training.
14:57 There's a trade show.
14:58 So that's where we really start.
15:00 We make relationships.
15:01 We see what the technology is out there.
15:03 That's where a lot of these battery operated tools,
15:07 you know, they put them on display.
15:08 If you've ever been to a trade show, they always want to sell you something.
15:11 So I had a lot of business cards from that week.
15:15 Like I said before, a lot of boat training and crew training,
15:18 rescue swimmer training.
15:20 We did vehicle extrication training with the new tools this fall.
15:24 We even participated in a joint training with our police department
15:28 and it was a leadership training through Pratco.
15:31 We also did a rescue task force active shooter drill
15:35 with the police department over spring break.
15:38 Just a lot of, we did a lot of training this year.
15:41 So we did some high rise training also at the Carlisle.
15:45 They're a great partner to have in the city.
15:47 They're always welcoming to us.
15:49 As long as we don't make a mess, they're happy with us.
15:52 We did send two personnel to New York City in August or September
15:57 and they participated in a high rise fire seminar
16:02 where they spent two days basically learning
16:04 how the New York City Fire Department handles a high rise fire.
16:08 That's a target hazard here for us in Lakewood
16:11 and we found that very valuable.
16:13 Each year all of our members participate in driver training.
16:17 Just helps them avoid accidents,
16:21 helps them be able to maneuver the apparatus a lot better.
16:25 They do participate in monthly EMS training
16:27 provided by the Cleveland Clinic.
16:30 And we did our live fire training in October
16:33 and our West Shore technical rescue team,
16:36 they have several disciplines.
16:37 They train every Tuesday.
16:40 Every Tuesday of the month is a different discipline,
16:42 whether it's tech rescue, water rescue,
16:44 hazardous materials, fire investigation, the drone team.
16:48 So very busy throughout the year.
16:52 Those are just some of the points that we try to hit.
16:59 So this young lady was our junior fire chief this year.
17:01 This is Kiara McCarroll of Harrison.
17:04 First Harrison winner in quite a while.
17:07 So we were pretty excited about that.
17:08 Marshall Berth gave her a lift to school
17:11 the day that he did the fire prevention week
17:17 presentation at Harrison.
17:20 So our prevention bureau is made up of these individuals
17:22 and they work in the realm of community risk reduction
17:25 and they utilize the five E's of fire prevention
17:27 and that's education, enforcement, engineering,
17:31 economic incentives and emergency response.
17:36 So in 2025, the inspection bureau completed
17:40 1,807 fire inspections.
17:43 The fire marshal did 29 plan reviews
17:46 on new construction.
17:47 They performed 57 acceptance tests on new systems
17:51 that would be like fire alarm, kitchen suppression,
17:53 sprinkler system, things like that.
17:56 They also performed 67 food truck inspections
18:02 Our fire marshal does manage
18:03 the city building safety systems
18:05 in conjunction with Kurt Mate of Public Works.
18:07 So he's always on top of making sure
18:09 that all of our systems are up to speed
18:11 here in all of our city buildings.
18:14 The fire investigation unit,
18:16 they completed 16 origin and cause investigations.
18:21 That's basically what they would be doing today
18:24 after the fire on Homewood.
18:26 They would be looking for a determination
18:28 on the cause of that fire.
18:31 They also participate in public education,
18:34 fire prevention week, the home alone program,
18:37 the high school senior safety symposium
18:39 and a ton of other public presentations.
18:42 They've been busy also, but they also,
18:47 they've been working quite a bit
18:49 down at the Barry Buick site
18:51 and the downtown Lakewood project's
18:52 gonna keep them busy over the next couple years.
18:55 The neighborhood paramedic program,
18:57 I think Oliver spoke very well
19:00 of everything that he's involved with
19:02 in the public safety committee meeting.
19:06 He's just, he's flourishing in that role
19:08 and we're very happy to see what he's up to.
19:13 So these are all of our specialties,
19:15 the committees that we have.
19:17 You're all very familiar
19:18 with the apparatus committee now,
19:20 but these are just some of the things
19:22 that we have our hands into
19:24 and it keeps our folks busy,
19:26 but it also helps them,
19:29 they're able to find a specialty
19:31 and really hone their skills and help each other out.
19:40 we will be taking delivery of another medic unit.
19:44 This medic unit was ordered in 2023.
19:47 This keeps us on the three-year cycle
19:49 and we just rotate them through.
19:51 They start out at the busier stations
19:55 and then we rotate them.
19:56 Typically, they either go to station one or station three
19:59 and then in six years,
20:01 that unit goes to station two
20:03 and then in three years,
20:04 it becomes a spare ambulance for us.
20:06 So it keeps us kind of seamless,
20:10 making sure that we're able to provide
20:12 advanced life support.
20:14 We will begin, since it is a three-year wait,
20:17 we will begin the design and build
20:20 and selection process for that next paramedic unit.
20:24 The Extreme Ownership Academy program
20:26 was brought to me by one of my officers.
20:29 They felt that this program would be very good
20:31 for all of the officers,
20:33 from myself down to the newest captain to take.
20:38 I did put in the presentation every point
20:41 that that academy will,
20:43 it's almost like a self-study.
20:47 You kind of follow along through a workbook
20:49 and there's a lot of scenario-based stuff in there.
20:52 So that was brought to me
20:54 as just a leadership development
20:56 or an officer development type program.
20:59 We are looking to give another captain promotional in June.
21:04 The reason we give these every two years
21:06 is it keeps our personnel in the promotional materials,
21:09 which are a lot of tactics books,
21:12 a lot of our procedures,
21:15 our general orders within the department,
21:17 the city human resource policy manual,
21:21 so they're able to guide everyone around them
21:24 and it prepares them,
21:25 it gives them time to act as a captain
21:29 when the captains are off,
21:30 so they're able to gain some experience
21:32 on their leadership skills.
21:34 We also will be looking at a potential entrance exam.
21:38 Like I said, these applicant pools are shrinking
21:41 and getting two years out of an entrance exam list
21:45 is a lofty goal anymore,
21:47 especially with about 40 candidates on the list.
21:50 So we wanna be able to keep that list fresh,
21:53 keep that candidate pool strong for us to choose from.
22:02 We're gonna continue to grow a lot of the programs
22:07 One thing that we are gonna be doing
22:09 is we will be transitioning our procedure
22:11 and policy manuals in the Lexapol.
22:13 That's a larger city-wide initiative
22:16 brought about by Human Resources and LPD.
22:19 Chief Fisher uses this currently, loves it,
22:22 so I'm on board with it.
22:24 We have started meetings with them,
22:25 the onboarding process,
22:27 and we have a primary working group meeting
22:31 on Thursday just to get everything started.
22:37 We do have some key positions leaving in 2026.
22:40 I already mentioned,
22:41 Assistant Chief Tanasiewicz is leaving.
22:43 We have two veteran captains retiring as well,
22:46 and one of our fire inspectors will be leaving.
22:48 So those will be key positions
22:50 that we're gonna be looking to fill
22:52 and making sure that we choose the right people for that.
22:55 Like I said, the ultimate goal of the LFD
22:59 is to provide a top-level service
23:01 with an all-hazards approach.
23:03 And we want to ensure that we're able
23:05 to meet any challenge.
23:06 That's why we do so much training.
23:08 We want to have highly trained crews
23:11 so they're able to work continuously
23:13 and be able to adapt and overcome
23:15 to anything that comes their way.
23:19 Just some contacts, and that is all I have.
23:25 So let's do what I alluded before,
23:27 which is that we'll pause questions here.
23:29 I think there are some things
23:30 to follow up on and discuss for the fire department.
23:32 But this time, I'd like to invite Judge Neff
23:34 and Court Administrator Maria Russo
23:37 to join us at the tables and have a budget discussion.
23:42 We don't mind if this information is rushed in your head
23:46 if you want to ask a few questions now
23:49 or if you can just find them.
23:51 You can stay for a little bit further
23:53 till like seven o'clock.
23:57 All right, so we'll continue.
23:58 How about let's put about a 10-minute
24:01 target discussion limit on the Fire Chief.
24:03 Does that sound good?
24:05 Because we had 30 minutes allocated,
24:07 but we took a little longer in the presentation.
24:09 So let me open it up to Council Members.
24:11 I've got a couple of questions,
24:12 but Finance Committee members, any immediate questions?
24:16 Council Member Striebeck.
24:18 I'm looking at the numbers on contractual services
24:23 and the jump percentage of 256%.
24:27 Can you talk a little bit about
24:29 what the contractual services are
24:32 and why we would see a jump of that?
24:36 Councilwoman, the major reason for that
24:38 is the West Shore Technical Rescue Team.
24:42 So all the West Side suburbs are putting in
24:47 for a new vehicle for them,
24:50 and that's Lakewood Share.
24:53 Can't remember exactly what the share is,
24:54 but that's the reason for the increase
24:56 is because they're purchasing a new 130, I believe?
25:00 160, 180, somewhere in there.
25:04 Somewhere around the 130 to 180 range.
25:07 I'm sorry, I can't remember.
25:08 Yeah, I'm looking at 180,800.
25:14 Oh, is the proposed?
25:16 Yeah, I think it's like 130 is the Lakewood Share
25:22 It's like a half a million dollar vehicle.
25:25 What kind of vehicle is that
25:27 that we're sharing?
25:28 So that vehicle, the West Shore Tech Team
25:32 has a hazardous materials vehicle,
25:34 and that vehicle is about 20 years old.
25:38 That vehicle has become overloaded
25:40 because they've had to expand their reach
25:43 and their capabilities.
25:45 So what they're doing is they are going
25:48 to keep that vehicle,
25:48 but it's going to be strictly for hazardous materials,
25:51 and this new vehicle will be
25:52 for the technical rescue side.
25:54 A lot of that equipment is large, bulky, and heavy,
25:57 and they need a separate vehicle
25:59 to carry that equipment in.
26:04 So an excellent example of regional sharing.
26:10 Can you remind me who's in this group
26:14 that we're sharing this with?
26:17 It's North Olmsted, West Lake, Bay Village,
26:21 Rock River, Fairview Park.
26:29 Okay, any questions?
26:33 Thank you, Chief Fairbanks.
26:34 And you mentioned it,
26:35 and it's also in the budget book,
26:36 but the three additional positions,
26:39 Where can we see those?
26:41 What's the need for them
26:43 and how they'll be deployed?
26:45 So those personnel went directly
26:47 to the daily operation.
26:50 We added one per shift.
26:52 So that gave us 29 people assigned per shift,
26:57 and that helps me ensure
26:59 that I can meet the 20 person per day minimum.
27:03 You have vacations, Kelly days, holidays, FMLA, injuries.
27:10 It was a way for me to be able to absorb
27:13 any of those additional unforeseen,
27:15 someone gets injured,
27:16 they're gonna be out for six months.
27:17 We're able to absorb that
27:19 without having to go below the minimum
27:21 and incur any additional overtime costs.
27:24 So that was one of the big things
27:27 that the mayor asked me to do
27:29 was to reduce overtime.
27:31 So that was kind of our solution to doing that
27:35 was to increase our overall staffing
27:40 so we don't have to dip below
27:43 to where we are incurring those extra costs every day.
27:48 So it's frontline folks.
27:52 Other council members?
27:55 Okay, I do have some follow-up questions.
27:57 So chief, with the...
28:06 Okay, I've got a question about the overtime cost trendlines
28:09 but also recruitment.
28:10 So staying with the conversation we were just on.
28:13 So firstly, are you saying,
28:14 so what is our total head count?
28:16 I'm trying to look in the budget book.
28:18 I'm having 90 at one time.
28:20 93 is the total head count.
28:23 So that's the first increase in all my time
28:26 and I'm the old guy here, unfortunately.
28:28 So, but that's a significant change
28:31 because we've held the line on head count
28:34 and there's a health insurance
28:36 and benefits cost to the city on this.
28:40 So I guess I'd like to,
28:42 we're not gonna be able to drill down entirely right now
28:45 but I'd like to see for the committee's review
28:48 the trend lines on overtime.
28:51 Have we been going up
28:53 and this is a strategy to get it down is what I'm hearing.
28:56 What are the drivers of overtime going up
28:58 as compared to five years ago?
29:00 And then what are the downsides
29:02 of this personnel strategy
29:03 because we're seeing not just the fire department
29:07 but overall in Seattle,
29:09 a little bit of head count increase
29:11 and there's a long-term cost to that.
29:15 Yeah, so the fire chief and I analyzed the overtime
29:19 versus hiring three new personnel
29:24 and we said we would revisit it in a year
29:27 to make sure it is decreasing
29:28 and it's a net savings to the city.
29:31 We had calculated that it would be a net savings
29:34 overtime versus hiring these personnel
29:36 including the healthcare costs.
29:38 So like I said again, we were gonna revisit it.
29:41 When did we hire, mid year we hired the three?
29:46 Yes, so we finally,
29:47 we got these three additional personnel online
29:51 at the end of July.
29:52 So just the other day we looked,
29:58 I think this is probably gonna be the first year
30:02 in many years where overtime is going to be going
30:05 in the right direction as opposed to going up.
30:09 So we are going to revisit it at the end of next year
30:13 to see if it is a true savings and if it isn't,
30:18 then through attrition,
30:19 those positions just would not be refilled.
30:22 Okay, so the new hires wouldn't be let go,
30:24 it'd be the churn of the full department of 93 positions.
30:28 You'll have some retirees and you may not
30:31 and so a future budget could go back to 90
30:33 if that was appropriate.
30:37 I guess I'd like to understand though,
30:38 for a while we had overtime at a flat
30:43 pace and so now I'll readily admit this gets complex,
30:49 probably the experts on this are
30:52 and it's probably extra complex
30:54 in the fire department world
30:56 and maybe the policing world too
30:58 of how your shifts work and all the rest.
31:01 So I'm asking questions,
31:03 I don't necessarily know the answers,
31:04 but I do think it's worth this discussion.
31:08 So I appreciate your attention to it,
31:11 but I don't remember what the trend lines are
31:15 without asking the question.
31:16 So maybe Director Mahoney,
31:18 we can do this offline by email.
31:20 I'm happy to email you what the chief and I put together.
31:26 Right, okay, thank you.
31:28 So the big picture is of course we want high quality
31:30 and that's been a theme throughout.
31:32 You've been attentive to equipment and also our hiring.
31:34 So on the hiring front,
31:36 I heard you loud and clear,
31:37 you said we're going to be taking some steps
31:40 to raise our visibility where we recruit.
31:42 Can you educate us a little bit on where we recruit?
31:44 Is that regional like Greater Northeast Ohio?
31:46 Could we expand that?
31:48 Would an expansion be effective potentially?
31:52 Right, so currently we give a test locally.
31:55 We use a Lakewood based company,
31:58 it's a written test, we do it at the high school.
32:02 Unfortunately, there's also the national testing network
32:06 that we don't utilize,
32:07 the police department does and their reach is far greater
32:11 where they're able to pull candidates from out of state,
32:13 they're able to pull candidates,
32:15 Columbus, Cincinnati area,
32:17 where our reach is very just regional.
32:20 A lot of it is word of mouth.
32:22 People don't read the newspaper anymore.
32:24 So we do Facebook campaigns.
32:28 We went out to the Tri-C Fire Academy
32:30 and spoke to some recruits and said,
32:33 hey, if you're about to finish here,
32:35 get your name on our list.
32:37 We gave them the nickel tour
32:39 of the Lakewood Fire Department,
32:41 Chief Sambulo and I did,
32:43 and we ended up getting, I would say,
32:46 about a dozen of those recruits to sign up for our test.
32:49 So we are gonna be looking
32:51 into the national testing network
32:52 just so we can expand our reach.
32:54 There's some recruitment that's built into that
32:57 where we post a flyer on there
33:00 and it's very simple for these recruits
33:02 to click and apply.
33:04 There's a test that they have to take.
33:06 They take their test score and they click yes,
33:10 I'm gonna apply for the Lakewood Fire Department.
33:13 We get all of that documentation back
33:15 and we still follow our civil service procedures
33:18 for selecting those candidates.
33:20 It's just, it's another tool in our tool bag
33:22 for us to get a better reach,
33:25 get some more candidates in here,
33:27 give us a bigger applicant pool.
33:29 Right, is that the system you were referring to
33:31 before you said the police department
33:33 uses a certain system?
33:35 They had a good experience.
33:36 So that's a contracted recruitment service basically
33:41 It's a testing service,
33:43 but there's a recruitment side to it.
33:47 So we're putting some thought to it.
33:50 and there's a demographic dimension to this,
33:53 but there's also just a,
33:55 if the national supply of people interested
33:59 in applying to become public safety career professionals
34:05 and then I'm glad we're putting a lot of strategic thought
34:08 to upping our game so that we can maintain options
34:13 for the leadership to recruit the best and the brightest.
34:19 Okay, any other questions, anybody?
34:24 I get the one last thing I'd like to plant a seed
34:26 is with the rising cost of equipment,
34:28 when these ladder trucks quits,
34:32 I'm using the wrong terms,
34:34 if the big trucks are going up and up and up in price,
34:39 we've got this next one ordered,
34:42 is there a equipment strategy
34:46 where we're not always buying
34:49 the most expensive newest ones?
34:52 That's a whole long conversation.
34:54 Fleet's gotta be involved,
34:55 you guys gotta be involved,
34:56 but can there be a strategy there
35:00 that is cost-effective without losing quality?
35:05 That would be for next year,
35:07 but that occurs to me as well,
35:10 because we're blessed for now with some revenue uptick,
35:15 but we're hearing from the public
35:16 that they're feeling the pinch on property taxes,
35:19 and you don't know in this economy,
35:22 and our federal partnership
35:23 is changing every 15 minutes, it seems.
35:25 So our continued skill at preparing to be lean,
35:34 even if we don't have to be lean,
35:35 I'm glad, for example,
35:37 that we did get our fire boat replaced,
35:39 I think that was a project that took a number of years,
35:41 but now that's in place.
35:43 So we're not talking about losing capability or quality,
35:46 but just preparing to potentially have alternatives
35:50 to just paying a vendor through the nose,
35:56 if that's our only option,
35:58 that's gonna continue to be expensive.
36:00 I think for me, it's a personal goal
36:02 that if we're gonna make the investment,
36:04 we wanna make the investment in the quality vehicle
36:07 that's gonna give us the maximum return
36:11 So I could go out and purchase
36:17 considerably cheaper fire truck,
36:18 but we would be replacing it a lot sooner,
36:21 rather than getting the biggest bang for our buck
36:26 in having a high quality vehicle
36:28 that's gonna serve those 25 years,
36:30 the 25-year mark that I really wanna hit
36:32 with all of our vehicles.
36:37 So our strategy is the maintenance and keeping it...
36:39 The strategy is the maintenance
36:41 to make sure that we are...
36:43 Yeah, we are getting the quality unit
36:47 to get the longevity out of it.
36:52 All right, thank you, sir.
36:54 Okay, let's proceed to our next agenda item,
37:01 which is Judge Neff and Lake Municipal Court.
37:04 Would you like to join us at the front
37:07 for a presentation?
37:11 And Court Administrator Maria Russo.
37:24 This mission is the same as last year.
37:43 And I just wanna say Maria and I put a lot of thought
37:45 into this when we wrote it.
37:47 We really believe in what it says
37:49 and what it stands for,
37:51 and we try to work our best to live it every day
37:54 with the people who come through the court.
38:00 So on the org chart,
38:02 there's a few things that have changed
38:05 or we're proposing to change.
38:07 So in 2025, the court had five part-time magistrates,
38:14 and that has changed.
38:16 One magistrate retired.
38:18 One is retiring at the end of this month.
38:21 And so I hired a full-time magistrate,
38:24 which is just so much more beneficial than part-time
38:28 because there's consistency.
38:29 People aren't doing things different ways,
38:32 and it's working out really great.
38:35 And David hit the ground running with the training.
38:41 He took the new magistrates training,
38:42 and he's working out very, very well.
38:46 And we're proposing in our budget,
38:50 you'll see a point,
38:53 bottom green boxes in the civil and criminal divisions.
38:58 We hope, if approved,
39:00 to add one part-time deputy clerk
39:03 to each of those divisions
39:05 to help with the increased caseload
39:08 and to adjust for any backlog when staff are off,
39:12 and trust me, they're off a lot.
39:15 And it's hard to keep up,
39:16 particularly with the increased cases
39:18 being filed with the court.
39:21 So again, part-time, so it would be no benefits
39:23 or extra benefits for the part-time people.
39:30 We had one probation officer leave
39:33 to go to law school earlier this year.
39:36 You may remember him, Corey Stavko,
39:38 who was with the clerk,
39:40 so we're excited for him.
39:42 But it opened a huge door for me
39:45 because I particularly wanted to get a probation officer
39:49 who had significant experience at the county level
39:52 because they have access
39:54 and are aware of so many more different resources.
39:57 And we feel really grateful to have hired Kelly.
40:00 She has over 20 years' experience
40:03 as a county probation officer.
40:05 But what struck the chord with me
40:07 is she has significant experience with mental health.
40:10 She worked the mental health docket
40:13 with the county, as well as drug, alcohol, and treatment.
40:17 So she really knows her stuff.
40:19 She's almost like an expert for the probation department
40:22 so that she was a good find for us.
40:27 And I think that covers it for our chart.
40:31 So I'll draw your attention to,
40:32 we just took a snapshot from August of 2022
40:37 where there were 700 new cases filed.
40:40 And then two years later, I'm sorry, three years later,
40:44 it's jumped to almost 100 more filed.
40:46 And that just seems to be pretty consistent
40:50 month by month with the number of cases increasing.
40:54 And hence the reason why we're seeking
40:57 the two part-time deputy clerks to assist
41:00 with that increase,
41:01 as well as hiring Kelly with her vast experience
41:05 because it took very little downtime to train her.
41:11 Hand it over to Maria.
41:13 For our 2025 accomplishments,
41:17 we touched last year with you
41:19 on a new case management system
41:20 that we wanted to implement.
41:23 We successfully completed the implementation
41:25 of the case management system,
41:28 which I will refer to as pension.
41:31 In February of 2025,
41:35 I will mention that it was fully funded by grant money
41:38 that the court achieved over a two-year time period.
41:41 This platform is used by approximately 50 courts
41:44 across the state of Ohio.
41:46 So that is beyond beneficial to myself
41:49 as well as the judge because we can reach out
41:51 to several other municipal courts
41:53 that use the same case management system
41:54 when questions arise.
41:56 So again, very good decision on behalf of the court.
42:00 Technology enhancements, the integration of the website,
42:04 the court's website I'm referring to
42:06 with the case management system
42:08 and also the incorporation of vital check,
42:11 which is by LexisNexis.
42:13 So defendants are now able to pay
42:15 waverable tickets online or over the phone 24 seven.
42:20 So what I mean by that is vital check,
42:22 which again is owned by LexisNexis.
42:25 A defendant can call in,
42:26 they can give their first name, including last name,
42:29 they can give a social security number,
42:30 they can give their case number
42:32 and that vital check system again
42:35 is operable 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
42:38 And I chuckle a little but not
42:40 that we actually had somebody call and pay on Thanksgiving.
42:44 So they called and paid their ticket,
42:46 but in any event, it's nice that that service is there.
42:49 And again, that it integrates with our current website.
42:54 It also increases access and limits phone calls
42:57 for our staff because the phones
43:00 aren't consistently calling.
43:01 We used to do payment hearings
43:03 on the second Friday of every month
43:05 and those 100 to 150 people would be calling in
43:07 and we no longer have those calls.
43:10 Next slide is our new case management system.
43:13 As I mentioned, simplifies and streamlines a lot.
43:15 This is actually a snapshot
43:17 of the public court docket itself.
43:20 So again, the defendant can look
43:23 to the public court docket
43:24 or this is what LexisNexis sees.
43:26 So as you can see, someone can search
43:29 by first name, last name, case number.
43:32 You can choose whether it's traffic, criminal, civil,
43:35 small claims, or a parking ticket.
43:38 Also, you can search by your ticket number,
43:40 your hearing date, or your violation date.
43:43 And it gives you a vast number of ways,
43:47 one, to search, but two,
43:49 you can have 25 matches, 50 matches
43:51 if you feel like spending all day on the website.
43:54 Next, this is actually a look
43:58 of the docket from the actual docket itself.
44:02 So as you can see on the bottom,
44:03 it starts with the implementation of the case
44:05 when it's scanned and given to us.
44:07 If there's a continuance,
44:08 it shows you the fees as you progress through the timeline.
44:12 And then it states whether you have a hearing,
44:14 whether it's an arraignment, whether it's a pretrial.
44:17 But again, the ability to pay the waiverable tickets,
44:21 you can see the icon on the top right,
44:22 which is the dollar sign.
44:24 The sign next to it is a folder,
44:26 which shows that you can search case information.
44:30 And then the little clipboard next to that
44:32 shows docket entries.
44:35 This is a fun little fact
44:36 that I wanted to include in the PowerPoint.
44:38 I had a gentleman this last month, I apologize,
44:43 that came in and needed a copy of his 1972 record.
44:47 So this just shows how far we've come,
44:49 and I appreciate this beyond
44:52 because I had to find the docket book on the left-hand side.
44:57 You find the docket book on the left-hand side
44:59 from the 70s, then you go to the date
45:03 that the person had their court hearing
45:05 and you find their name.
45:07 The column then all the way to the right
45:09 shows you a number that correlates with a docket entry.
45:13 So this just shows you the date and the name,
45:15 and then you have to go find another book,
45:17 which is then the book to the right,
45:19 that shows you the actual docket entry.
45:22 So the judicial bailiff that was in the courtroom,
45:25 how they concluded the case, they typed in what happened,
45:28 they typed if there was a bond.
45:30 Again, just interesting from start to finish
45:32 so that you can see what it was back in 1972 versus today.
45:37 Another 2025 accomplishment.
45:39 We've completed phase one of our upgrades,
45:42 the probation department as well as magistrate offices.
45:44 And what I mean by this is Public Works
45:47 has helped us with fresh paint.
45:50 New carpet and some furniture in select offices.
45:53 As you recall last year, we also asked
45:55 for a three-year rollout of these upgrades
45:58 throughout the courthouse.
46:00 And with the cooperation of Independence Business Supply
46:03 and perhaps several smiles on behalf of myself
46:06 and the judge, we're going to achieve this next year.
46:10 So that three-year rollout will have been completed
46:13 between 2025 and 2026.
46:16 This slide shows you just that.
46:18 So the bottom pictures are what probation was working with.
46:22 They had tables, they didn't even have desks.
46:25 And then they sort of piece-mailed different furniture
46:27 together so that they could make a workable space
46:31 so that they could see their probationer
46:33 and then still be able to view their computer screens.
46:37 The top is obviously the new
46:39 so that we have a fresh desk and filing cabinets
46:42 to keep all of their stuff confidential
46:44 yet still close to them.
46:47 Okay, also mentioning some other 2025 accomplishments.
46:52 This one's really exciting to us.
46:56 the court began receiving electronic citations
47:01 And it's an incredible step forward in efficiency.
47:05 And it was only made possible by a collaboration
47:07 with Lakewood Police Department and Chief Fisher.
47:11 We did have some growing pains,
47:12 but we are pretty much past all that.
47:16 City IT and the Ohio Department of Public Safety.
47:22 So what it does is the officer,
47:25 I'm gonna point you to that box
47:27 where you see the steering wheel and the laptop there.
47:32 The officer input types the ticket into the computer
47:37 and it prevents mistakes where in the past,
47:41 you may not, on a paper ticket, it may not be legible
47:45 because there's this like a guard rail that goes up.
47:48 If an offense and a code section don't match,
47:52 the officer can't go forward until it's corrected,
47:56 which is just a real time saver
47:58 for the officers and the court
48:00 because in the past,
48:01 the clerks would have to go to the officer supervisor
48:04 or find the officer, revisit him or her,
48:07 and say, hey, this doesn't match.
48:09 Because the court, we can't just, you know,
48:12 change a ticket even though we know
48:13 what they probably meant it to be.
48:16 So this has been really wonderful
48:19 and the court, what happens,
48:22 and once the officer inputs that ticket,
48:25 prints it on the little computer
48:26 that's in his or her patrol vehicle,
48:29 they hand it to the offender
48:32 and then that ticket gets sent to the court automatically
48:36 and it's a beautiful thing
48:39 because back in the day before this was implemented,
48:43 the staff every morning would have to go pick up
48:45 the paper tickets from the police department
48:48 and manually enter every field in that ticket.
48:52 So it just really saves a lot of time
48:54 and it's just beneficial, I think,
48:57 to both the police as well as the public and the court.
49:02 And the other nice thing about it
49:05 is when that ticket's sent,
49:06 if there's any supplemental reports
49:08 that the officer wants to include,
49:10 for example, say it's a speeding ticket
49:13 but there was also an accident,
49:14 they can include the crash report.
49:17 If it was an OVI, they include that report
49:21 with all the facts and information
49:23 and the defendant's history,
49:25 but that's only for the court view,
49:27 it's not public view.
49:29 So it's just very, just efficient,
49:33 automatically assigns a case number
49:35 and the arraignment date for the offender
49:38 so they know when they walk away with that citation
49:40 when they're due in court for their case.
49:44 And I want Maria just to tell you about her ride-along
49:48 because we thought it was really important
49:50 how we understood how the process worked
49:53 from the officer to the court.
49:55 So I'm gonna let her tell you about that.
49:56 She had an interesting ride-along.
49:58 It was, it was fun from start to finish.
50:00 It took me back to like an intern day and I loved it.
50:02 But more importantly, it was to learn on our side.
50:07 So like if we had questions with the officer,
50:09 exactly what they were implementing
50:10 or if there was a mistake or if there was a backup
50:15 or whatever the case may be.
50:16 So it was nice to see, it was Officer Haneman?
50:21 Okay, he was amazing.
50:23 But he showed me from start to finish,
50:26 obviously how they alert dispatch
50:28 and then how they pull the individual over.
50:31 And then it was an expired plates ticket
50:35 But the questions that he needed to ask of the officer,
50:38 then it was fun because I reminded him, wait a minute,
50:40 you need to tell them that they need to appear in court
50:42 and get their email.
50:44 But in any event, it was nice, like I said,
50:46 to see from start to finish
50:48 everything that they input on the ticket
50:50 and then how he uploads it.
50:51 And then we both actually have access
50:54 to a system called solve.
50:56 So if there is, you know, officer makes a stop
50:58 and there is a mistake on the ticket,
51:00 he can void it and he can start again.
51:02 And I can see that void
51:04 so that we both sort of work in conjunction with each other
51:07 or the officers have gotten in the habit as well
51:09 of, you know, reaching out to me if they, you know,
51:12 miss the defendant needs to check the appearance box,
51:15 the person's mandatory appearance.
51:17 They can reach out to us
51:18 and we have now a joined letter
51:20 that we sent to the defendant to remind them
51:23 that they do need to appear.
51:24 But again, from start to finish,
51:25 it's just nice to see and understand
51:28 how it gets from them, how it comes to me
51:30 and then how it ultimately gets onto the docket
51:32 by just the posting of traffic tickets.
51:34 That center box, and the judge might have said this,
51:37 I apologize, but that center blue box
51:39 is what we see on hentchen.
51:41 So when I come in, in the morning,
51:43 we press post tickets to traffic.
51:45 They automatically get a case number.
51:48 They get put on the public docket.
51:50 It states that the E ticket is filed with the court.
51:53 The supplemental documents are attached.
51:54 It says no public access,
51:56 meaning there's no image next to it to the public,
51:58 but there's an image on my side.
52:00 If the officers attach a defendant history,
52:02 and then it also throws the arraignment date and time.
52:06 And we run that, we run that report twice a day
52:09 so that we can stay up to date
52:11 with the officers and the citations at their issue.
52:17 One of the last 2025 accomplishments
52:19 that we'd like to touch on,
52:20 in August of 2025, the court partnered
52:23 with the Ohio Attorney General's Office
52:24 to improve the collection process.
52:27 So now we are able to pursue outstanding fines,
52:30 fees, and core costs more efficiently.
52:32 And this services at no cost to the court.
52:35 So it was a wonderful, again, collaboration
52:38 between us as well as the Attorney General's Office.
52:41 And with that being said,
52:42 this is actually an example of a report
52:45 that I get every Tuesday
52:46 from the Ohio Attorney General's Office.
52:48 It's a direct deposit
52:50 that's put directly into the court's funds.
52:52 It gives me the case number.
52:54 It gives me the defendant's name,
52:55 the last four, their social security number.
52:57 And then it'll tell me,
52:59 it's kind of convoluted on here for me to explain,
53:01 but it'll tell me if it's a partial payment,
53:04 if it's a full payment.
53:06 The Attorney General's Office does take a portion
53:08 or a percentage for themselves.
53:10 However, we as the court are always made whole.
53:14 So there's nothing that's taken out
53:15 of the ultimate fines and costs
53:17 the judge orders at sentencing.
53:20 We, again, are made whole.
53:21 And I just put kind of like a side note
53:24 that we went live with them on August 28th of 2025.
53:27 We have officially sent about $155,000,
53:31 totaling 870 records.
53:33 And they're doing their best
53:34 to keep up with all the cases we're sending over.
53:44 Just speaking briefly on each of these.
53:47 Proceed with ongoing the scanning initiative.
53:50 I know that, again, last year we mentioned
53:51 that we're trying to get up to date with civil,
53:55 civil scanning of the actual physical files.
53:58 With that being said, I am now up to next year, 2026.
54:02 We're hoping to scan 2019 through 2022,
54:06 and we will officially be up to date.
54:09 It's a beautiful thing.
54:11 I am doing my best.
54:12 I have said from the very first day
54:14 that I will clean out that garage.
54:18 But we will keep 2023, 2024, and 2025.
54:23 Those years will be kept in the clerk's office
54:24 only because we reference so many of them.
54:28 Because we have, there's additional filings that come in
54:31 and we need to reference those old files.
54:33 It's nice to still have the paper file
54:34 to give the judge for review.
54:36 But again, that's to us in current time.
54:39 We wanna start criminal scanning.
54:41 In our budget, we did ask to start those cases.
54:47 And I will be honest with you,
54:48 those physical files and the docket books
54:50 that I showed you a couple slides ago
54:54 date back to the early 70s.
54:55 So that garage does have 1970s docket books
54:59 as well as physical files all the way up to current date.
55:03 So again, in our budget,
55:04 you'll see that we're pitching for that.
55:07 Per legal requirements,
55:08 our records must be retained
55:10 for periods ranging from two to 50 years.
55:13 So it's not an easy task.
55:17 And the last box down there,
55:20 I'm really excited about this
55:21 because it's working very well.
55:23 We launched on October 23rd
55:26 a driving under suspension pilot project.
55:30 And what it is, it's aimed at individuals.
55:32 We get so many citations for driving under suspension
55:39 And so the purpose of this project
55:43 is to get people legal license
55:46 and financial responsibility.
55:49 Because the BMV, it's an animal in and of itself
55:53 and these people get caught in this vicious cycle
55:56 of tons, thousands sometimes of reinstatement fee dollars
56:01 and they just can't get out from under it.
56:03 So with the prosecutors,
56:05 working with the prosecutors,
56:07 we came up with this, launched it.
56:09 And what happens on arraignment day,
56:11 anyone who has a driving under suspension,
56:13 whether it's an unclassified misdemeanor
56:15 or a first degree misdemeanor,
56:17 after they're arraigned,
56:18 they're immediately going out
56:20 to talk with the prosecutor.
56:21 The prosecutor is reviewing the record with them,
56:24 telling them you need to do A or A, B and C
56:29 Can you do it in two months?
56:31 And a lot of it is just a reinstatement fee
56:33 or showing proof of insurance.
56:35 But then some of these individuals,
56:37 they're suspended by another court
56:39 for maybe a year or so.
56:41 So there's no point making them to keep come back
56:45 So we're shortening the process,
56:48 preventing people from taking off work to come in
56:50 just to be told, no, you've got to do this.
56:53 We're hitting it on the front end.
56:55 And it's working pretty well.
56:57 So I'm really happy about it.
56:58 We should be happy about it
57:00 because we want everyone on our streets
57:01 to be a legal driver and particularly have insurance.
57:06 So that's something we hope to expand through 2026
57:12 and make it an official driving under suspension
57:19 This is just a fun slide of the garage
57:22 in its current state.
57:23 Actually, this picture was taken
57:25 in the beginning of November.
57:26 Since then, I worked with refuse
57:28 and of all the civil files that I have scanned
57:30 and removed from the garage,
57:33 I removed 18 cabinets.
57:35 Of those 18 cabinets,
57:37 we either had a pry open because they were locked
57:40 or they were broken.
57:42 But again, it is a huge feat for me
57:46 because like I had mentioned,
57:47 I really, really want to get to the bottom
57:49 of saying that the court is scanned and digitized.
57:53 Again, this is from the beginning of November.
57:55 And then in your head,
57:56 you can subtract 18 of those filing cabinets.
58:02 And so coming around the end here,
58:06 we hope to be able to get approval
58:09 to hire two part-time deputy clerks
58:11 for the clerk of court's office.
58:14 As I mentioned earlier,
58:15 I won't say any more about that.
58:20 And we want to finalize the furnishing
58:22 of the remaining office spaces
58:24 for the magistrates and probation staff,
58:27 as well as replacing the vertical blinds
58:29 with the protective sunshades
58:32 that a lot of the space in the court does have.
58:37 And yeah, I think that's it.
58:39 So I just want to say thank you to counsel.
58:42 Thank you for your time and attention.
58:43 I know these are long evenings for you
58:46 and we appreciate you
58:47 and we hope you will consider our budget request.
58:50 And to the mayor's administration,
58:51 in particular to HR,
58:53 Leah's fantastic with our onboarding,
58:56 IT and public works.
58:59 And I want to mention IT and public works
59:01 were amazing to help the court become ADA compliant
59:06 because the new full-time magistrate
59:08 I hired is wheelchair bound.
59:11 And they did it quickly
59:14 and it was really a beautiful thing to see
59:18 to have them work in partnership
59:20 for this young man that I hired.
59:23 He's really excited
59:23 and he can get around the courtroom like anybody else
59:26 or anywhere through the court space.
59:32 Well, thank you, Judge Nuff.
59:33 Thank you, Administrator Russo.
59:34 Excellent presentation.
59:35 Thanks for your diligent attention
59:37 to improving court operations,
59:40 docket management, case management, efficiency.
59:42 There's a lot that you included in the presentation.
59:45 I'm sure that saves time, improves effectiveness,
59:48 saves money and improves a lot.
59:52 Does any council member have a very, very brief question?
59:57 If not, okay, council president, council please.
1:00:01 Thank you both for being here
1:00:02 and for all you're doing to make things more efficient
1:00:04 and better customer service
1:00:05 and in your partnership with the police department.
1:00:10 I just had a quick question on the page 49 of our book,
1:00:14 the court special projects shows a 72% decrease
1:00:20 and generally lots of decrease.
1:00:23 So I wonder if you could talk a little bit about that.
1:00:26 So it has the salary decrease,
1:00:31 fringe benefits, et cetera.
1:00:32 So is that shifting duties from being?
1:00:39 That was, we had found that there was a person
1:00:42 being charged their salaries
1:00:45 and we found that it was more proper
1:00:48 that they should just be in the regular court budget.
1:00:52 So that's why you'll see a slight larger increase
1:00:58 So it's no change in personnel in that line.
1:01:00 It was just, and that court special projects
1:01:03 and a lot of these other special funds
1:01:05 are funded by various fees on your tickets.
1:01:09 And yeah, so we just, that was a correction actually.
1:01:15 And I'll add to those special projects funds,
1:01:17 special project computerization,
1:01:19 the IDAM they're restricted
1:01:25 But one thing I think I mentioned this last year
1:01:29 is if I declare surplus to the Adams board
1:01:37 it can be carried over to IDAM.
1:01:39 And so for indigent people,
1:01:41 we have paid for their mental health treatment
1:01:46 or their inpatient alcohol drug treatment.
1:01:49 So we can do some really good things
1:01:52 with that money, even though there's a lot in there,
1:01:55 it's just, it's sometimes hard to spend,
1:01:58 but I'm trying to find creative ways
1:02:10 Thank you, Councilman Bullock.
1:02:12 Just a couple of questions, well, one question
1:02:15 and then maybe a couple of questions.
1:02:18 You said our part-time employees,
1:02:20 they aren't getting the benefits.
1:02:24 Maybe this is more an HR question.
1:02:27 Are part-time employees eligible for benefits eligible?
1:02:33 Okay. I'll let Renee answer that.
1:02:38 And so then the other question,
1:02:40 what are some of the trends that you're seeing
1:02:42 in the court with like the cases?
1:02:44 Like what are some recurring themes?
1:02:47 Honestly, the recurring themes are
1:02:50 the mental health is overwhelming.
1:02:54 And it's not just this court.
1:02:56 I've spoken with other municipal court judges
1:03:03 there's just not enough resources.
1:03:05 But like I said, with our new probation officer,
1:03:08 we're optimistic and we're able to get people assessed
1:03:14 so that, because a lot of these folks
1:03:16 won't return for their appointments.
1:03:18 So we can kind of nip that in the bud.
1:03:21 Yeah, I'd say the mental health is a big piece.
1:03:28 And then, so going back to your,
1:03:31 the launch driving under suspension pilot docket,
1:03:35 I would be interested in some of the data points
1:03:38 as you're going through this.
1:03:39 So what are, so basically trying to just determine,
1:03:45 And these types of programs and interventions,
1:03:49 And is this where we can make a case
1:03:54 to support these types of programs with the courts?
1:03:57 So I personally would be interested to know
1:04:00 the number of individuals that go through.
1:04:03 What are, are there repeat offenders?
1:04:06 What's maybe driving some of those repeat offenses?
1:04:10 And even just looking at some pre and post data,
1:04:12 so before the implementation of this program,
1:04:18 what were we seeing as it relates
1:04:21 to people driving under suspensions?
1:04:23 And then after we are doing this program,
1:04:26 what's those offenses looking like after that?
1:04:29 We should be able to capture that data.
1:04:35 it would just be for the Lakewood Municipal Court.
1:04:38 Who would come back, but we do have some, so.
1:04:43 We can, yeah, I'll make a note of that.
1:04:54 I think we'd better conclude there
1:04:55 since we've got a shoehorn in a bunch of other things,
1:04:58 but thank you once again to the court.
1:05:00 And of course, Judge, you've really,
1:05:02 we don't really oversee your budget.
1:05:05 We include and facilitate your budget
1:05:07 in our municipal government budget,
1:05:09 but you're a state of Ohio independent branch of government
1:05:13 and you've got all these other funds.
1:05:15 So that's my understanding.
1:05:16 So we certainly respect what you've proposed
1:05:19 and also appreciate the annual check-in that this is.
1:05:23 It's a good opportunity to communicate
1:05:25 and hear all three branches of government.
1:05:27 And then also, glad to see that you're doing
1:05:31 work shoulder to shoulder with the police
1:05:34 and the law enforcement on the front lines.
1:05:35 That's gotta be very fruitful work together.
1:05:37 I think it's a great partnership.
1:05:44 All right, Finance Committee, I'd like to pivot back
1:05:45 to the Council-initiated section
1:05:48 where we have an opportunity to talk about amendments
1:05:53 I'd like to open it to Finance Committee members,
1:05:56 Councilman Baker, Councilman Striebig.
1:05:58 Any points you'd like to raise
1:06:00 or matters you'd like to discuss?
1:06:03 Thank you, Councilman Bullock.
1:06:05 And the one interesting thing,
1:06:09 and this is, you know, we've talked a little bit about
1:06:13 kind of specificity in some of these ordinance.
1:06:21 and I don't know the custom,
1:06:22 and looking back at the previous budget items
1:06:26 and previous appropriations,
1:06:28 we line item a lot of things.
1:06:30 So I think it's in 34, 2026,
1:06:36 we line item, you know, a lot of different stuff,
1:06:39 but then in 36, 2026, for the Planning Department,
1:06:44 and we did this last year as well,
1:06:46 we kind of just give a, you know, large number
1:06:51 and then detail out classifications of things.
1:06:59 and then some program-style buckets.
1:07:02 Is there a, I just, clarification
1:07:10 I presume, Director Mahoney,
1:07:12 you may be the best qualified person to respond.
1:07:24 that follows along the regular budget,
1:07:28 like all the different lines in the operating budget.
1:07:35 And then 35, 2025 is the capital budget.
1:07:43 36 is the question, in particular,
1:07:45 that it seems to be that we give
1:07:48 kind of like buckets for...
1:07:52 Yeah, that's the Planning and Development Ordinance.
1:07:57 And historically, they've prepared that one,
1:07:59 so finance doesn't do that one, but.
1:08:04 Okay, I guess we can stick a pin in that
1:08:06 and then ask when it's their turn.
1:08:08 I just, I'm curious that we,
1:08:10 I'm assuming that there's a roll up here, right?
1:08:17 Yeah, for 36 to get to this.
1:08:18 And it's the same number as last year.
1:08:25 I was just curious as to why,
1:08:36 from paying law firms to building code enforcement
1:08:39 to water main work, or water main replacement programs.
1:08:45 Perhaps we can get some more clarity
1:08:48 maybe at the next Finance Committee hearing about it.
1:08:53 The next one, and Director Mahoney,
1:08:55 we had some discussion via email
1:08:59 or Ohio State beat Michigan about 35.
1:09:07 you know, I've often talked to our colleagues
1:09:09 about kind of how much specificity we would want
1:09:12 and looking back into what the administration was custom
1:09:18 was to have each one of these line items
1:09:20 in the Capital Budget Building Facilities
1:09:22 and then have each one of these improvements,
1:09:24 parks, pools, improvements, be their own ordinance.
1:09:27 I think it's streamlined to put them all in one.
1:09:32 The question I have for my colleagues
1:09:34 and then also for the administration is,
1:09:36 you know, do we want to have
1:09:37 a little bit more specificity in these?
1:09:39 These are big buckets of capital work.
1:09:42 I know, you know, the one particular one
1:09:45 that kind of piqued my digging into this subject was
1:09:50 you know, these are the roll ups.
1:09:52 I think it's like for buildings and facilities improvements,
1:09:55 approximately 25 million plus or minus
1:09:59 and then Director Mahoney indicated that
1:10:02 they put a little buffer on that
1:10:07 you know, within a degree of, you know,
1:10:09 five or 10, 15% that they can still move forward.
1:10:14 The one that I think I would like more specificity on
1:10:17 before we pass this budget in particular,
1:10:20 open up the rest of my colleagues
1:10:21 about kind of whether we'd want
1:10:23 a little bit more line item specificity.
1:10:25 I mean, there's a lot of ways to do it.
1:10:28 you could literally just take the line items
1:10:31 in the budget book and put them in there
1:10:35 as long as they're within 15% of the proposed number,
1:10:39 If they're not, come back before council
1:10:41 for reappropriation or increase or decrease or whatever.
1:10:45 Second thing is, is I think the administration
1:10:47 is going to spend $18 million in the budget
1:10:49 for city hall improvements.
1:10:53 I don't know the actual name.
1:10:54 I don't have the spreadsheet in front of me,
1:10:57 but I think we're gonna need a really good understanding
1:11:00 of what intention behind that is
1:11:02 and what we think we're gonna spend $18 million
1:11:08 At least I would like that specificity.
1:11:10 Thank you, Councilman Baker.
1:11:11 I've got some follow-on thoughts and questions,
1:11:13 but Director Mahoney, any thoughts for Mayor George
1:11:16 in response to that line of questioning?
1:11:18 Well, I'll just make one comment considering.
1:11:21 So it's two different issues here.
1:11:23 One is the contracting authority.
1:11:26 So that follows along the appropriation ordinance.
1:11:31 So those kind of go in tandem together.
1:11:34 So I think that's a good point.
1:11:37 So those kind of go in tandem together.
1:11:40 So when you're approving the appropriation ordinance,
1:11:43 you are in essence approving the whole budget book.
1:11:46 And this is just a reflection of the authority
1:11:50 to enter into contracts that goes along
1:11:53 with the budget that you approve in.
1:11:56 And I forget what number it is.
1:11:58 It's one of the early, it's 30.
1:12:04 That's the appropriation ordinance.
1:12:06 And so as drafted, just to repeat what you're saying,
1:12:08 because it's important, I think,
1:12:09 is as drafted, pass with no amendments,
1:12:12 City Council would be appropriating the amounts
1:12:17 as presented in the budget book.
1:12:20 And then you're saying, in addition to that,
1:12:22 a parallel but separate lane is contracting authority.
1:12:26 Please repeat or clarify as you were about to do.
1:12:31 So 33 appropriates the funds.
1:12:36 And that's not to exceed, correct?
1:12:38 So if there's an amount, we may spend less.
1:12:41 We can't spend more unless there's a follow-up correction.
1:12:45 We would actually have to come to council
1:12:47 for an appropriation ordinance amendment
1:12:50 and a contracting authority amendment,
1:12:54 Okay, but back to the contracting authority.
1:13:05 2025 is the contracting authority.
1:13:08 And that breaks out items one, well, one through many.
1:13:12 There's 19 plus 39 plus 38.
1:13:18 Okay, and so those numbers in 34-2025
1:13:22 should track with 33, correct?
1:13:26 And then 35 is the capital portion.
1:13:30 And those breakouts currently are presented
1:13:34 in the binder in the appendix where we have those charts.
1:13:40 And we have a five-year chart.
1:13:42 These numbers would correspond to the immediate next year,
1:13:50 But to Councilman Baker's point,
1:13:53 part of the discussion is whether we get more granular.
1:13:58 And there's probably several levels of granularity here
1:14:01 because we've got very large, broad buckets of categories here
1:14:07 that don't even correspond to, for example,
1:14:09 the division of streets and forestry
1:14:11 or the division of, you know, pick another one.
1:14:15 So, and in a couple of areas,
1:14:18 I know that we've got live conversations about,
1:14:22 the biggest one is probably
1:14:23 the potential city hall renovation project and or expansion.
1:14:27 That's a big one, that's a big ticket item.
1:14:29 But there's some other things too
1:14:32 I think between the administration and council,
1:14:33 before we're done, just get on the same page
1:14:36 about what our mutual expectation is for,
1:14:38 for sure 2026 and for some of these that are multi-year,
1:14:44 really it's 26, 27, potentially 28.
1:14:47 So, you know, I don't think we're gonna do that
1:14:50 in the next three or five minutes here,
1:14:52 but we're talking kind of processes.
1:14:54 So I certainly appreciate Mr. Baker's questions.
1:14:58 And Director Mahoney, I'm gonna
1:15:02 filibuster here a little bit.
1:15:03 So looking at 33, 35, excuse me, the capital budget,
1:15:08 and I'd like to read in the record or discuss
1:15:11 what I saw in passing in an email.
1:15:14 And that is that the administration's proposing
1:15:18 to round up to a certain amount.
1:15:21 I recall, for example, the sidewalk program
1:15:25 and Director Gordon's presentation being 500,000,
1:15:31 And that is a incremental increase of more than 10%,
1:15:34 even more than 15%, I think 10%
1:15:37 is the traditional contingency.
1:15:40 So for example, if, you know,
1:15:42 there's extra cost for complications in a road
1:15:46 or a parking lot, traditionally you have 10% extra,
1:15:53 and sometimes it comes in under budget
1:15:55 and then you have monies to do another parking lot
1:15:57 or something, and that's all great.
1:16:01 what the proposal is here is to add 20%,
1:16:05 which is, to me, a bit high.
1:16:08 And is that 20% contingency carried forward
1:16:12 on all the categories or some?
1:16:13 I guess I'd like to understand that
1:16:17 between now and when we're making a final vote.
1:16:20 Sure, so the final authority
1:16:22 is in the appropriation ordinance.
1:16:24 The contracting authority has always had a buffer.
1:16:28 So say, for example, sidewalk improvements.
1:16:31 If, you know, the public works said,
1:16:35 well, we would have to take money
1:16:37 from another budget line in order to pay that 600,000.
1:16:42 we would have to come back to council to ask.
1:16:46 and we're not gonna literally do this now,
1:16:48 but there should be a line in 33-2025
1:16:50 that would say only 500,000.
1:16:57 Actually, no, the contracting authority
1:17:00 And I'm sorry if I made it sound
1:17:02 that they were a one for one.
1:17:03 But the contracting authority has always had a buffer.
1:17:06 The appropriation ordinance is the true authority
1:17:12 But in this case, I'm also asking about capital.
1:17:18 which is for the capital budget proposed in 35-2025.
1:17:24 And I think you said in an email,
1:17:31 just a little bit more than 25.5 million,
1:17:35 but the administration's proposal is 27 million
1:17:39 for items that could be changed throughout the year,
1:17:42 that could be charged throughout the year
1:17:43 to various department budgets
1:17:46 outside of what is presented in the capital section.
1:17:48 So to me, that's a pretty significant increase.
1:17:51 Can you explain that a little further?
1:17:55 So again, we could not go over the 25, 583
1:18:02 that's in the capital plan for those improvements.
1:18:08 But if there was another line
1:18:10 that we had extra budget money in,
1:18:13 then that's why the contracting authority
1:18:15 is a little higher than the appropriation.
1:18:16 So in essence, 35-2025, which is the capital budget,
1:18:20 that's contracting authority for capital.
1:18:23 Okay, that's helpful to me.
1:18:25 Council members, any additional points?
1:18:31 I think it may be helpful to continue.
1:18:33 We want to make sure we get to Chief Fisher
1:18:35 and we're running short on time.
1:18:36 But I think continuing this conversation
1:18:40 I do have, you know, looking at page 158,
1:18:44 which is the capital improvement plan
1:18:46 where it's broken down into a spreadsheet here.
1:18:49 Those numbers, some of them align fairly closely
1:18:53 to ordinance 35-2025, which is the capital
1:19:00 If you combine buckets, you would get to those numbers
1:19:04 and other ones are a little bit different.
1:19:06 So I'd like to, I'll note that I'll follow up with,
1:19:09 I'd be happy to follow up with Dr. Mahoney about that
1:19:11 to get some understanding with that.
1:19:13 But I did want to ask about
1:19:14 with the 33-2025 appropriations.
1:19:20 So it lists the land acquisition fund.
1:19:34 So is that just saying there's no new money
1:19:42 None of that balance is authorized to be expended.
1:19:46 None of that is authorized to be expended.
1:19:57 Is in the budget book on page 36,
1:20:01 it says that the land acquisition fund,
1:20:05 2026 projected ending balance is still 1.5.
1:20:10 And I had, I had thought we had appropriate.
1:20:12 So let me get back to you on that one.
1:20:16 Okay, thank you for the detailed questions.
1:20:19 So we had probably better press on.
1:20:21 I guess administration, what we're hoping to do
1:20:23 is continue to dig into this.
1:20:25 What I think the, that council may attempt to do
1:20:29 is propose in draft form by next Monday,
1:20:33 some matters that we might want to,
1:20:42 I think Councilman Baker's point is to detail.
1:20:46 Not necessarily to change the numbers in all cases,
1:20:50 And then of course we've got,
1:20:52 for example, the composting program.
1:20:54 So there, so we'll work towards
1:20:58 having something in writing by next Monday
1:21:00 so we have some time to look at that in concrete terms,
1:21:04 which is prior to the following Monday,
1:21:06 which is our target for concluding all of that, right?
1:21:10 And our goal still is to work towards the regular,
1:21:14 timely adoption of our budget ordinances together.
1:21:19 Mr. Chair, I just, on that, just for,
1:21:23 we have a lot of different ordinances
1:21:25 and pieces of paper in front of us.
1:21:26 And Director Mahoney, we're going back and forth.
1:21:29 There were some corrections on some of these
1:21:31 from the administration as well.
1:21:32 And I believe Director Mahoney sent us
1:21:35 It might be helpful to substitute.
1:21:38 Those are mostly typos and things like that,
1:21:42 if you want to go ahead and substitute those
1:21:44 so that those versions can be docketed
1:21:47 and we're all working from the same ones,
1:21:50 Are they on our agendas tonight?
1:21:51 Or do we have to do that next?
1:21:58 Yes, and then we'll get to the,
1:22:03 chief, can you talk like the chipmunks,
1:22:09 That means you guys have time for questions.
1:22:11 And the, to the council president's point.
1:22:21 Well, I'm not seeing it on the agenda,
1:22:23 on my agenda in Granicus unless it's been,
1:22:27 let me just refresh this here.
1:22:37 we could also do this at the beginning
1:22:39 of the next hearing, if that's easier.
1:22:42 There is a red line I received,
1:22:44 but I don't know if all council members received
1:22:47 some red line capital ordinances,
1:22:51 purchasing and department of development red lines.
1:22:56 So, Clerk Bach, do we have that on our agenda?
1:23:12 Why don't we, can you, can you double check?
1:23:14 We'll do it next time then.
1:23:16 You can double check if, if they're in or,
1:23:18 I mean, if they're eligible tonight for a motion,
1:23:20 then I'd be happy to, to make that motion.
1:23:24 But if not, maybe we'll do it next time.
1:23:26 But in the meantime, why don't we proceed to the chief
1:23:33 we'd love to have an hour to ask you questions.
1:23:35 You would love it even more to answer those questions.
1:23:37 But why don't we begin with your presentation?
1:23:41 We're down to really 15 minutes, unfortunately.
1:23:43 I'll talk to the monster's machine guy.
1:23:48 So obviously just the first page was just some,
1:23:53 some pictures of us at our events.
1:23:57 So again, where any good organization begins,
1:24:00 obviously the most important part is the personnel
1:24:04 We have kept up with retirements and departures.
1:24:06 We've hired eight new officers this year,
1:24:08 including three new female officers.
1:24:13 which is even better than last year.
1:24:18 This is in the same environment where a lot of local
1:24:21 and national police departments are struggling to stay,
1:24:24 maintain their levels of personnel.
1:24:28 We're doing a pretty good job.
1:24:29 And you'll see that we are actually on schedules
1:24:32 to come in significantly lower
1:24:33 on our overtime budget this year,
1:24:37 Obviously when we're fully staffed,
1:24:42 I can't, I don't know the exact numbers,
1:24:43 but it's a significant amount that we will not spend
1:24:46 this year that was already allocated.
1:24:47 So we're turning in the right direction.
1:24:50 We did have two officers leave before the probationary period.
1:24:53 Sometimes it just doesn't work out.
1:24:55 We'd like to find that out sooner rather than later.
1:25:02 Neither departure was ugly,
1:25:03 but one left to not be a police officer anymore.
1:25:06 One just wasn't a fit here.
1:25:07 And we're not going to just have people here
1:25:13 We did give one entry-level exam this year.
1:25:17 Last year we had to give three.
1:25:19 I'm sorry, in 2024 we had to give three.
1:25:22 In 2025 we only had to give one.
1:25:25 Again, speaking to the personnel levels.
1:25:31 What we did for community outreach this year,
1:25:33 obviously coming from the community officer position,
1:25:36 one back 15 years, 18 years ago,
1:25:40 we adapted some of our ideas.
1:25:41 Coffee with a cop, not that it got stagnant or stale,
1:25:43 but we wanted to change it up.
1:25:46 We started the coffee with a vet program.
1:25:48 We did our LPD LHS tailgate party
1:25:50 at one of the football games.
1:25:52 It was a good start, good success to that.
1:25:55 We hope to do a couple more next year.
1:25:57 We have Cram the Cruiser coming up.
1:26:01 We just sold out of all of our tickets for that.
1:26:03 We're going to take 20 kids from Lakewood
1:26:07 We're going to take them to Walmart,
1:26:08 give them $120 to spend to buy Christmas presents
1:26:12 that they normally wouldn't be able to do.
1:26:15 So we really, really, I think we set the bar high
1:26:20 for our community outreach.
1:26:22 We did partner recently with the Chamber of Commerce.
1:26:26 One of my ideas and a guy that I know from the commerce,
1:26:29 we put our heads together and said,
1:26:30 how can the police department better serve the businesses?
1:26:33 So every Friday, a community officer and a Chamber member
1:26:38 walked the businesses on Detroit and Madison going in
1:26:41 and listening to see what we can do
1:26:43 to better foster those relationships.
1:26:46 Expanded the summer safety days.
1:26:49 I know I talked about it at previous meetings,
1:26:51 but it's becoming a really cool program for kids.
1:26:55 I was at Madison Park this year.
1:26:57 A couple of our officers got dunked by kids.
1:27:01 I'm hoping to get some of you direct,
1:27:05 We implemented the Blue Envelope program,
1:27:08 another initiative dear to me,
1:27:10 having sons with disabilities
1:27:12 that Blue Envelope program helps people with autism
1:27:17 or developmental disability
1:27:19 who probably don't feel real comfortable
1:27:21 talking to a police officer.
1:27:22 They put their stuff into a blue envelope.
1:27:24 They hand it to the police officer.
1:27:26 There's a little note in there that says,
1:27:30 whatever their, I don't want to say disability,
1:27:35 And it's, we were first in the county,
1:27:40 with the news organization with that.
1:27:43 I know Rocky River just called me
1:27:45 and asked me how ours is going,
1:27:46 and Bay Village, they're looking to implement theirs.
1:27:51 Our police officer's going to the schools
1:27:52 and reading to the youngsters,
1:27:54 you know, kindergarten, first grade.
1:28:00 LPD Citizens Academy, another success this year.
1:28:02 Next year's already sold out,
1:28:03 or sold out, it's already filled up.
1:28:06 So we have a full class for next year.
1:28:09 We just did the backgrounds on those folks
1:28:12 that are going to come in and do next year's program.
1:28:17 we're staying visible at all the events
1:28:20 Fourth of July meltdown, light up Lakewood.
1:28:23 Some stats, you have them there
1:28:25 in your presentation that was sent to you.
1:28:30 Calls for service, you know,
1:28:32 pretty comparable to last year.
1:28:33 Every year I go from January 1st to November 22nd,
1:28:35 so there's an accurate time frame.
1:28:38 Don't want to skew them by going
1:28:40 an extra month and a half any year.
1:28:42 Citations, a little bit down,
1:28:44 but if you look at what I'm most proud of,
1:28:47 We're pulling over 5,000 more cars every year.
1:28:49 Now, that doesn't necessarily mean
1:28:50 we're giving them a ticket,
1:28:51 but that's a positive police officer
1:28:55 where, you know, we all know, let's be honest,
1:28:58 not everybody deserves a ticket.
1:28:59 You know, it might be a minor traffic violation,
1:29:01 but now the police officers are pulling them over.
1:29:03 They're educating them in having a positive interaction.
1:29:06 That's one of the stats I'm most proud of on here,
1:29:08 is that while we may not be writing as many tickets,
1:29:11 we're pulling over a heck of a lot more cars.
1:29:14 Parking tickets, we've actually increased by a grand total
1:29:16 of four over the last year,
1:29:19 which is still 900 more than 2023, which is excellent.
1:29:23 Crime reports, criminal investigation reports,
1:29:26 that's where somebody calls and says
1:29:28 They're decreasing, that's a good thing, right?
1:29:30 Any city wants to be judged by the lack of crime,
1:29:34 not how much crime they have, so that's a good thing.
1:29:38 Misdemeanor arrests, right around, you know,
1:29:42 90 less than last year, but still more than 2023.
1:29:45 Felony arrests steadily increasing.
1:29:47 Why are there more arrests than police reports?
1:29:49 Well, there's a lot of reasons for that.
1:29:51 Misdemeanor arrests don't always get a crime.
1:29:53 You know, think of your disorderly conducts,
1:29:58 The smaller level crimes don't necessitate
1:30:00 a criminal investigation report.
1:30:03 And Chief, that can mean just a ticket, right?
1:30:06 An arrest, yes, yes, thank you.
1:30:09 Which the majority of those are, just tickets.
1:30:12 But a lot of those other ones are, you know,
1:30:14 executing warrants from previous years,
1:30:16 multiple charges on suspects,
1:30:18 so that's just to give you some context
1:30:20 on why there's more arrests
1:30:21 than criminal investigation reports.
1:30:23 And then the miscellaneous reports,
1:30:25 lowest in three years, those are just the kind of
1:30:27 disturbances, the damage to properties,
1:30:30 the, you know, somebody drives over a pothole
1:30:33 and breaks their tie rod or whatever.
1:30:36 Those kind of reports that we take and document for them.
1:30:42 with the money that was given 2025,
1:30:44 we got every officer in the department read that site,
1:30:47 keeping up with the other suburbs.
1:30:51 It definitely improves accuracy and training.
1:30:54 We purchased a state-of-the-art Oscar camera.
1:30:57 It's, if any of you wanna see it, it's unbelievable.
1:31:00 I mean, you could put it on the ground,
1:31:02 and you can see a hair on the ground.
1:31:07 Our drone program, which we just used today
1:31:08 on the fire down in Homewood,
1:31:10 helping out the fire department like we usually do.
1:31:14 Carrying the, I mean, helping out the fire department.
1:31:16 We, so, we've really upped our game in there.
1:31:24 One of the best things that happened to police work
1:31:26 in the state of Ohio in the last few years
1:31:28 is the attorney general's office
1:31:29 reimbursing training funds, dollar per dollar.
1:31:34 So if we send an officer to training up to 40 hours,
1:31:37 so there's 24 mandatory hours,
1:31:39 and then 16 elective hours,
1:31:41 we get reimbursed that officer's salary, dollar for dollar.
1:31:44 I just got a check for $138,000.
1:31:48 135, could change maybe, somewhere around there.
1:31:52 Reimbursement from this year,
1:31:54 it's already, from the 2025,
1:31:57 because we don't wanna lose out on the funds.
1:31:59 From this year, calendar year 2025,
1:32:00 we've already gotten our check for next year,
1:32:04 it has to be used for the attending
1:32:07 or administrating of training,
1:32:10 which, we get creative with that.
1:32:11 You know, we put on training here all the time,
1:32:15 administering the training becomes,
1:32:17 but now we can use these funds to do that,
1:32:20 and that's, it's a big deal.
1:32:21 We also send our officers, yes?
1:32:24 I'm sorry, continuing professional training.
1:32:27 Continuing professional training.
1:32:31 So we also send our folks out to outside trainings as well,
1:32:35 for their respective disciplines.
1:32:39 Real quick, I'll go over the other departments
1:32:42 that the police department oversees,
1:32:45 Obviously, a big deal, we filled our third spot,
1:32:49 but it had gone unfilled for a lot of years,
1:32:52 being that it was a part-time position.
1:32:56 She's great, she's helping us out a lot
1:32:59 with administering, you know,
1:33:03 also helping out with the meters,
1:33:05 which are very time-consuming maintenance.
1:33:08 did you want to interject a question?
1:33:15 The jail, we, under Captain Stone,
1:33:19 we did pass, fully compliant,
1:33:21 which is actually a really big deal,
1:33:22 especially for a jail as old as ours.
1:33:25 It's a lot of work that goes into that,
1:33:26 but him and his staff did a great job.
1:33:29 We successfully hired an additional full-time
1:33:32 a male full-time and a female part-time jailer.
1:33:34 She's a full-time jailer out in Rocky River.
1:33:37 Both of them have been fantastic.
1:33:41 it's the most liability in the city.
1:33:43 I mean, we house people there for up to 12 days,
1:33:46 so having a staff that's highly trained
1:33:48 and highly efficient is a big, big deal,
1:33:52 and our jail staff does a great job.
1:33:55 We also provided state-mandated training
1:33:57 for all the employees, obviously,
1:33:58 with jail responsibilities.
1:33:59 If the jailer is not in the jail,
1:34:01 a police officer has to man the jail.
1:34:04 The jail can never go not supervised, obviously,
1:34:12 but the guys and gals that do it
1:34:16 Dispatch, hired our 12th full-time dispatcher,
1:34:21 That'll cut down on more overtime.
1:34:24 We did improve programs and systems used
1:34:27 When a dispatcher would bring them on,
1:34:29 they have a 16-week training period.
1:34:32 We have a system in place that was a little bit outdated,
1:34:35 but the girls in there got together
1:34:38 and took it and made it their own
1:34:40 and enhanced their training module.
1:34:43 Three of our dispatchers were nominated
1:34:45 for Gold Star Awards for their performance,
1:34:47 which is an excellent honor for them.
1:34:49 Unfortunately, didn't bring home the prize,
1:34:57 I don't know if you guys heard,
1:34:58 we have a new animal shelter.
1:35:00 That opened up a couple months ago.
1:35:02 Obviously, a very, very nice facility.
1:35:07 We did recruit and hire a full-time third ACO,
1:35:10 so now we're up to staff for that nice new facility.
1:35:13 We put a new ACO truck in service,
1:35:16 and we also certified our ACO supervisor
1:35:19 which is a very humane way to capture animals
1:35:22 that are either injured or nuisance animals.
1:35:27 It's the most humane way to capture them.
1:35:31 We do need a little bit of equipment to go with that,
1:35:35 I believe when Gary went down there,
1:35:37 they said it belongs in a museum,
1:35:43 Obviously, the big thing with us,
1:35:46 I'm not going to beat you over the head with that.
1:35:48 The building is the thing at the forefront.
1:35:52 But we will continue to be proactive
1:35:54 in hiring qualified individuals.
1:35:56 I've spoken to Chief Fairbanks about the NTN.
1:36:03 It's got a recruiting or promotional element to it
1:36:08 Where other cities are getting 10, 15, 20 applicants,
1:36:11 we're in the 60s, which is great.
1:36:13 Still not the 550 when I took it,
1:36:21 You know, it's a changing world, obviously.
1:36:24 Police departments can't be stuck in neutral.
1:36:27 We have to keep adapt with the times.
1:36:29 We will continue to utilize technology.
1:36:31 You know, get the latest equipment for training
1:36:33 and giving our officers every capability
1:36:37 And obviously, I want to certify more officers in CIT.
1:36:41 The judge hit it on the head with what we're seeing,
1:36:46 Health and substance abuse.
1:36:48 A lot of times, those go hand-in-hand.
1:36:50 Sometimes they're independent of each other,
1:36:52 but a lot of times, they go hand-in-hand.
1:36:54 Having officers who are well-trained
1:36:56 and are able to use everything they can
1:36:58 to deescalate those individuals,
1:37:00 we're going to put our resources towards that.
1:37:02 CIT is Crisis Intervention Team or Training?
1:37:08 I hope that was fast enough for you guys.
1:37:11 Thank you, Councilwoman Keppel.
1:37:14 It's great that you ended on CIT because that was my question.
1:37:17 So I know in the past, sometimes you've talked about...
1:37:21 So can we use the funds that you were talking about before,
1:37:24 what that can be used for CIT?
1:37:28 And so as we're hiring officers,
1:37:30 I know one comment was in the past
1:37:32 of not necessarily every officer is suited to CIT,
1:37:35 but it's always kind of been my hope
1:37:37 that we're moving to hiring officers who are suited to CIT.
1:37:41 And to CIT, is that a fair statement
1:37:43 to say that we are as a whole?
1:37:47 Now the state of Ohio got wise.
1:37:49 Now they actually do the mandatory 40-hour class
1:37:53 So yes, so we aren't even having...
1:37:55 So the only people we have to train now
1:37:57 are our lateral transfers that may not have had it.
1:38:00 We do get a couple of those.
1:38:02 You know, we just hired one from Cleveland.
1:38:04 Cleveland Sergeant decided to come here, which is great.
1:38:06 He was in Internal Affairs now.
1:38:08 He was here and went to Cleveland and came back,
1:38:12 CIT also is not just a one-time deal, in my opinion.
1:38:17 striving to hone your de-escalation
1:38:20 and your active listening and your empathy skills, so...
1:38:26 Council members, other council members?
1:38:28 Councilman Steiner and then Councilman Evans.
1:38:30 Councilman Steiner, please.
1:38:34 Just, again, to piggyback off
1:38:36 what President Couple was talking about with CIT,
1:38:38 I think that's great, and I think I've had this conversation
1:38:42 I understand not wanting to force officers
1:38:44 to take that training, but I'm glad to see...
1:38:46 I didn't know that the state was mandating that,
1:38:48 so I think that's pointing through along that line.
1:38:52 I'm not sure if you or any of your staff
1:38:54 have looked at the state of Ohio
1:38:56 for grants through public safety for this.
1:38:58 I know that the state has been pushing
1:39:00 heavy funding for mental health
1:39:04 so there may be some opportunities
1:39:08 to seek out some grants to maybe
1:39:10 do some innovative programming
1:39:12 that we can start addressing some of these root causes
1:39:14 of what is driving some of these instances
1:39:16 that are happening in the community
1:39:18 and working with the courts as well,
1:39:20 so just keep that in mind, and maybe we can look
1:39:22 towards that in 26 and beyond.
1:39:28 Any concluding shots in a haiku form?
1:39:34 our policing and training practices
1:39:36 also the same. It's very true
1:39:38 for the fire department, our public safety
1:39:40 is leading the way, and also I think
1:39:42 maintaining the tradition of being
1:39:48 and regional response units at the forefront,
1:39:50 and so that's one way in which Lakewood really
1:39:54 regional and statewide leader.
1:39:56 Proud of you for that, quite sincerely.
1:39:58 And we hear you loud and clear
1:40:00 on the need for some capital investment
1:40:10 I'm going to say without objection, the Finance Committee is adjourned.
1:40:12 We're going to take just five minutes