Monday, May 13, 2013

Mentor FD went on one of its wackier calls last week

Mentor actually got a refund from its insurance company; the city is seeking funding assistance on behalf of Red, Wine & Brew for a $1.95 million building project; and things are heating up for the police, fire and recreation departments. Those items and more in the city manager’s latest report to City Council:


Fire Department
 • On May 9 at 6 p.m., paramedics responded to a 28-year-old choking patient who had a metal part of a game controller lodged in her throat. Patient was treated and transported to Lake West Health. (Fire Chief Richard Harvey said there was little more information he knew/could share about the incident.)

• On May 4 at 12:52 p.m., paramedics were called for person who was hit by a golf ball at a driving range. Upon arrival, it was discovered the person was accidentally hit by a swinging golf club. Patient was treated and transported to Tri-Point Medical Center.

• On May 5 at 7:04 p.m., Fire Station #1 responded to Longview Avenue for a reported gas can fire. Upon arrival, it was discovered that an excessive amount of trash was being burned in a fire pit when a gas can tipped over and caught fire. The fire was within 10 feet of the home and caused heat damage to the wood deck, as well as the siding of the home. 

• On May 5 at 7:59 p.m., Fire Stations 3 and 1 responded to a semi truck with a fire coming from it. Upon arrival, rear tires of the truck were on fire. The trailer was detached prior to FD arrival and was in no danger. The exit ramp from westbound Rt. 90 to Rt. 306 was closed for about 15 minutes while the fire was extinguished. There were no injuries.

• On May 6, the Children’s Fire Safety House opened for the third-graders’ annual visit.  The sessions will continue through May 17 and will have demonstrated fire safety, water safety, kitchen safety, litter control, the Mentor Historical Museum and a session about bullying from Crossroads. About 900 children from Mentor public and private schools, as well as St. Gabriel’s will have participated.

• On May 7 at 6:14 a.m., Mentor Fire responded to a business where a male fell 10 to 14 feet onto concrete flooring sustaining a head injury. He was treated and transported to Hillcrest Hospital Level II Trauma Center.

• On May 7 at 2:40 p.m., Paramedics responded to a car vs. pole. Upon arrival, the patient was being attended to by bystanders. The patient was treated and transported to Hillcrest Hospital Level II Trauma Center.

• On May 8 at 9:11 p.m., Paramedics responded to a possible overdose. Upon arrival, there was an unconscious male in his parked car who had been discovered by a friend. He was treated and transported to Lake West. He was awake by arrival.

• Mentor Firefighter Paramedics Richard Campola and Christian Lim received Andy Nowacki Foundation Hero Awards on May 5. These awards were received for their actions in rescuing an 18-month and a 3-year-old trapped in rubble and beneath a car that crashed into a house at the end of Iroquois Road.

Police Department
• A male was arrested for drug trafficking and carrying a concealed weapon. The male was stopped for a traffic violation on SR2. The officer called for K-9 Bo to conduct a drug sniff of the vehicle.  Bo alerted to the presence of narcotics. Officers searched the vehicle and located a half kilo of heroin, three-quarter kilo of Cocaine, a loaded handgun and over $100,000 in cash.

• The department’s new video forensic computer was delivered this week from Ocean Systems Inc. The computer is used to analyze and enhance surveillance video. The cost of the computer was covered with a grant.  

• Patrolman Kupchik is participating in the Police Unity Tour, a 325 mile bicycle ride from New Jersey to Washington D.C. The purpose of the ride is to raise awareness of law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty and to raise financial support for the national Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.

• National Police Memorial week is May 12th to May 18. All Mentor officers will wear black mourning bands during the week to recognize law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty.
Manager Comments
• On May 5 at 9:43 a.m., Fire Stations 1, 3 and 5 responded to the Mentor Trailer Park for a trailer fire with people trapped. Stations 2 and 4 were added. Upon arrival, fire was coming from the skylight, door and large middle windows with heavy smoke coming from remaining windows. Police officers reported that one occupant was confirmed to still be trapped inside. The male, with minor burns and smoke inhalation, (and a neighbor) had broken the windows in an attempt to remove the smoke and heat. He was attempting to fight the fire with a garden hose.

A fire attack and search was made locating the second occupant unconscious in the back bedroom. She was removed from the structure and enroute to Lake West Health within 9 minutes of arrival of the first fire unit. The male (less serious injuries) was treated at the scene and transported to Lake West Health. Both were flown by Life Flight to Metro Health Medical Center. The male has been released and the female is improving.

The cause of this fire is still under investigation. The trailer was a total loss but was insured.  Mentor Avenue was closed for about one hour. Concord, Grand River, Mentor-on-the-Lake, Painesville and Willoughby provided assistance with other calls or station fills.

• The Mentor Economic Assistance Corporation has submitted for approval to the U.S. Small Business Administration a 504 loan package for Red, Wine & Brew. The total project cost is $1.95 million with MEACO providing $667K in financing towards the construction of a 16,000-square-foot retail building at 9620 Old Johnnycake Road.

• Last year, the administration negotiated a unique aspect into our health insurance premium agreement with Medical Mutual. We were the first of their public sector clients to negotiate a “performance-based” clause that rewarded the city for outperforming the expected claims-to-premium ratio, which is the primary basis for determining premium cost. I am pleased to report we learned this week that approximately $170,000 will be returned to the city from our 2012 premium payments.

Engineering
• As of May 10, the following streets from the 2013 Road Repair Program have been completed:

* Asphalt — Clearair Drive, Magnolia Drive, Lotus Lane, Wedgewood Drive, Barton Drive, Victoria Drive, Kephart Drive and Hart Street

* Concrete — Quail Point Lane, Galaxie Drive, Silver Court, Birchwood Drive, Findley Drive, Pilgrim Drive, Wilderness Drive Frontier Drive, Troy Court, Preston Hill Court, Hackberry Drive and Alder Court

Restoration operations on these streets will be completed in the near future.  All remaining streets in the Road Repair Program are anticipated to be complete by the end of May.

• Shown below is a summary of Building Division activity comparing March, 2013 with April, 2013:

    Prior Month                Month of
     March 2013          April 2013
New Permits Issued    188    365   
  Valued at    $4,578,745.17    $6,874,695.00

Building Permit Inspections    748    757
New Plan Review Cases    58    100
Engr/Bldg Permit Plan Reviews    197    311
New Contractor Registrations    67    90

• Progress on some of the notable projects currently happening in the city includes:
*  Masonry walls being erected at the Achievement Office buildings at Center Street and Bellflower Road
* Site work and fire suppression is ready to start at Burger Fi on Mentor Avenue
* A building permit has been issued for a new building for Red, Wine & Brew on Old Johnnycake Ridge Road
* Classic Hyundai has begun the facade improvements for their new space.

Parks and Recreation Department
• Several important park improvements are recently completed just in time for the busy season. The six planned Pickleball Courts at the Civic Center are complete, with all paint and fencing finished this week. We are thankful to all the volunteers who gave their time and enthusiasm.

The walking path at Edward Walsh Park was paved this week and the permanent entry sign was also recently installed. The administration intends to allocate funding each year for the improvement and upkeep of our multipurpose recreation paths throughout the city. Finally, the additional parking area at Garfield Park was completed.

• The Recreation Department has added a Black Brook Golf Course Facebook page and will soon be adding a Mentor Lagoons Marina Facebook page.

• The Golf Channel has been airing Black Brook Golf Course commercials this month promoting the new Practice Center.

• Reminder that pool passes are on sale at the Recreation Department on Monday, Wednesday & Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 pm. and on Tuesday and Thursday from  a.m. to 6 p.m.  Please remember to bring proof of residence.

• The Recreation Department is still interviewing for open positions for lifeguards at area pools; all Day Camp staff has been hired and staff training takes place next week.

• The installation of the new cooling tower for the Civic Ice Arena will begin the week of May 13. The Civic Center Staff is taking advantage of the shutdown and getting a lot of needed work completed. We have been painting the exterior stucco this week.

• The Wildwood Garden Club Plant Sale will be Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will be a great selection of hardy plants and flowers at very reasonable prices.

• The Wildwood Garden Club was busy this week spreading mulch in the planter beds and cleaning up the planters for spring. We appreciate all the work this group does to keep the grounds at Wildwood looking so good!

• The Mentor Lagoons Park Marina has been a busy place with 50% of the boats launched. There are 38 dock holders who still owe the remainder of their dock fees for the upcoming season. The final deadline for payment is May 18.

Economic and Community Development
• Ron Traub and Tom Thielman met with the prospective purchaser of a historic building in the Old Village; financing and other possible issues were discussed.

• The 2013 Lake County Business Symposium will be held at Lakeland Community College on Wednesday, May 15, 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Experts from finance, marketing, technology and operations will conduct workshops on various topics which are on the minds of small business owners and entrepreneurs. MEACO is sponsor of this event and providing technical support.

Finance
• The City received $206,000 from Time Warner and AT&T for video service franchise fees for the first quarter of calendar year 2013. Annual revenues from this source are estimated at $798,000.

• The State House Ways and Means Committee heard testimony in favor of and in opposition to House Bill 5 on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. HB5 is the municipal income tax reform bill that would impact local control and revenues if passed as written in its current version.

Public Works Department
•    Top soiling community garden plots
•    Morton pool ADA chairlift installation
•    Preparing ball fields for opening day
•    Prepping Garfield Park pool for painting
•    Storm sewer cleaning - Grant, Harding, Hayes, Truman
•    Assist with grass cutting and weed whipping at Cemetery
•    Began rebuild of 7 inlet basins - Sugarbush and Red Oak
•    Painted parking lot stripes at MPD/Court and Garfield Park
•    Installed signage at Iroquois and Commanche
•    Crack seaking - Rushton area
•    Regrading Krueger Park spoils area

-- Betsy Scott, BScott@News-Herald.com, @ReporterBetsy

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hope the city performs a traffic survey or adds turn lanes &/or traffic lights at proposed location of Red, Wine & Beer store. There are already enough traffic problems in this area with illegal left turns into Lowes, Dunkin Donuts, etc. Or....Mentor Police could target enforce this area for violations!!! Also, Whatever happened to proposed upgrade to all of Old Johnnycake Road??????

May 14, 2013 at 6:27 PM 

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