What happened at Thursday's City Council meeting

My notes from last night’s council meeting are posted below:

SPEECH AND DEBATE CLUB.The Speech and Debate Club at Stow-Munroe Falls High School is sending an unprecedented EIGHT students to the national event. As a result, they need to raise about $9,000. The team came to our meeting to argue their case — and successfully, too. We unanimously voted to donate $500 from our contingency fund.

AFSCME CONTRACT. Council approved a new contract for the service workers, unionized through AFSCME. The deal is identical in most respects to the one approved for the police. It runs through the end of 2014.

ROAD NEWS. The resurfacing on Commerce Drive and Hudson Drive will begin today. By the end of May, you should also see Stow Road’s resurfacing completed. These were three of our worst-kept main roads, so that should be relief to people who travel on them daily … Our road crew will be conducting ditching and storm sewer work on Norton Road, so plan on slower traffic between 91 and Stow Road. … Yesterday, a storm sewer on Marsh Road failed, so our crews will be repairing that, as well.

TASER PLAINTIFF. Since my blog post on Monday, I have been reconsidering my position on the lawsuit against Chelsea Garrett for breach of contract.

Importantly, I realized two things: 1) I think we have a moral obligation to forgive people. 2) If I was the lawyer giving advice (as opposed to the client), I would advise the city to let it go.

On the first point, it appears to me that Ms. Garrett is primarily guilty of getting poor legal advice. Incredibly, her lawyer sat with her during the interview on Fox 8. Presumably, it was the same guy who negotiated the Confidentiality Agreement. I don’t expect a 20-something to understand the impact of her statements if her own lawyer is assisting her in breaching the contract.

On the second point, I advise clients in litigation on a daily basis. It’s easier, I admit, to sit on the counsel side of the desk without the passion and anger that often accompanies a business dispute. But we give advice that is best for the bottom line. For instance, when a deadbeat customer can’t pay an invoice, it makes little sense to pay legal fees to sue, and then find out that your judgment is worth less than the paper it’s printed on because you cannot collect money from a person/business that has none of it.

Sometimes, clients will still want to sue, because they feel like they got ripped off or lied to. At that point, I often ask: “Are you in the business of selling widgets/cars/services/etc., or are you in the business of revenge.” A businessperson’s time is better spent doing what he or she does best, not spent getting distracted by a lawsuit.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m very disturbed by Ms. Garrett’s statements. In fact, I’m mad. And I do not fault the city, and particularly not the police officer, in any way. Stow, in this case, was completely in the right.

But we cannot unring the bell that rung on Fox 8. And we likely won’t be able to collect anything from this young woman. With those benefits off the table, it comes down to this: Stow is not in the business of revenge. We’re in the business of providing services to our residents. This lawsuit, in my opinion, was bound to be a distraction. The issue just needs to die, so we can focus on doing what we do best: providing services to our residents.

The ordinance to hire the law firm passed by a 4-3 vote (Riehl, Lowdermilk and Rasor voting “no”).

TRANSPARENCY AND GREEN SAVINGS ACT. The “green legislation” received its first reading before the full council. City Council has a rule that every piece of legislation must receive three readings before it is passed (max of one reading per meeting). You can suspend this rule with a 2/3rds vote of the council — such that an ordinance may be passed on its first reading. We are not in a hurry to pass this legislation, because the implementation committee is already holding meetings. I suspect the legislation will  receive a full three readings and be passed at the end of May.

UPCOMING MEETINGS. City council will meet next on Thursday, May 9 at 5:30 p.m. Our committee and council meetings will be combined that night based on a scheduling quirk. Please join Matt Riehl and me for office hours on Tuesday, May 7 at 5:30 p.m. in the second floor conference room at City Hall. We will be happy to listen to your concerns or answer questions.