The Amherst news-times. (Amherst, Ohio), 1998-12-02

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Lmherst News-Times
ecember 2. 1998
Amhorst.  Ohio
50 cents
/     3Sto removal plagues city hall project
wj «a«.M« imLLER
News-Times reporter
The removal of potentially
dangerous asbestos from the ceiling
of city hall's second floor has added
another $9,500 to the cost of repairing the historic building's roof.
The extra expense involved the
unexpected cleanup and removal of
ceiling plaster containing asbestos
from the floor of part of the second
story two weeks ago.
The mayor said it posed no danger to city hall employees because
the material tracked on to the first
floor and ground level by construction workers was not regarded
dangerous to people's health.
Essiek Environmental Services, a
Middleburg Heights firm, tested the
air quality in three different areas of
city hall and failed to find a dangerous concentration, according to
company official Cliff Thomas.
The plaster material apparently
had fallen to the floor after being
knocked loose by leaking rain and
the vibration of men hired to repair
the building's deteriorating bell
tower.
Rather than climbing up scaffolding, mayor John Higgins said workmen used a small trap door passage
that leads from the second floor to
the roof. In doing do, he said they
stepped on the material and tracked
it about.
Once the error was discovered,
Higgins said he hired Esstek to test
the levels of asbestos throughout the
building. Thomas said the level
found was below what is considered
health threatening by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The company charged $3,500.
Hunter Environmental Services, a
Seven Hills firm, was then hired to
clean up the debris at a cost of
$6,000.
Both fees will be paid out of
$30,000 in contingency funds set
aside for the $450,000 roof replacement, the mayor said.
It is the second time unexpected
costs have plagued the project.
In late October, workers discovered part of the bell tower was in
danger of collapsing because sections of huge sandstone blocks had
been separated by years of
weathering.
That cost $5,000 to repair.
Thomas said the discovery of
plaster containing asbestos will
necessitate the entire removal of the
second floor ceiling using a special
method if and when the city decides
to renovate it
Higgins said they are no immediate plans to fix the second floor because of lack of funding.
In the meantime, roof installers
are finalizing plans to remove old
shingles containing asbestos from
CONTINUED on page   3
Father refuses
to give up fight
in son's battle
with illness, state
by QLEN MILLER
News-Times reporter
Istvan (Steven) Sakac and his son
Tony are hoping the spirit of the
Christmas season will entice area residents to reach out and help them.
They have come a long way from
their San Francisco home in the
hope of finding treatment for Tony,
a gravely ill victim of Lyme
Disease.
For the last 11 weeks, the Sakacs
have been living at Motel 6 on N.
Leavitt Road while he tries to raise
the money to pay for room rent,
medical care and rehabilitation
needed by his son.
Until recently, Tony, 23, intermit-
Residents
are cited
for income
tax trouble
Twenty-four Amherst residents and businesses have
been charged with failing to
pay their income taxes, a
criminal charge for which
they could be fined up to
$1,000 and sentenced to six
months in jail.
The charges were filed in
Oberlin Municipal Court last
week by law director Alan
Anderson after the taxpayers
failed to make arrangements
with the city treasurer's office
to pay their delinquent taxes.
The total amount owed is
about $20,000 in income
taxes from 1997 or previous
years by six businesses and
18 residents.
Anderson said all received
ample warning, including two
subpoenas and three letters.
One of the subpoenas was
hand-delivered by Amherst
police and the other sent by
mail.     Anderson wrote one
of the letters, a warning of
the legal ramifications to
come unless the residents or
businesses agreed to make
payment arrangements with
city treasureer Kathleen Litko-
viiz's office.
The city was unable to ac-
commodaie one resident who
came in after the charges
were filed by Anderson.
"We can't really accept
payments because it's in the
hands of the court now,"
Litkovitz said. "I fed sorry
for them, but they had ample
lime and epportunity to come
in before this."
In many cases, people have
ignored Lhkovk/'s ofler to
set op payntenl schedules
baaed on what they can af-
farf ib pay. In other cases,
OOtmVamMO « page a
tently slipped in and out what can
best be described as a semi-coma
Sometimes he was awake and alert,
other times he could not stand by
himself and almost appeared brain
dead.
But that's changed within recent
weeks thanks to medication prescribed him by Dr. Joseph Joseph, a
Pennsylvania internist who treats
victims of Lyme Disease as part of
his practice.
Now, he is more alert and no longer 100 percent bedridden when
he's helped to his feet and propped
up on crutches or placed in an old
wheelchair.
"He like(s) to get up and move
CONTINUED on page   3
Steven Sakacs helps his son Tony as he prepares to get out of bed in their Motel 6 room.
Rezoning dispute spills over to council
After months of meetings and
heated discussions, eight N. Leavitt
Road property owners have won a
battle to have their land commercially zoned, but only partially.
City council's buildings and lands
committee agreed Monday to rezone
the land from residential to commercial C-l, not the more general C-2
classification   they  originally
requested.
In addition, council let it be
known it intends to change C-l zoning to prohibit motels, bars, and fast
food restaurants from the classification, some of the businesses objected to by rezoning opponents
from the adjacent Rock Creek Run
subdivision.
The area is a 1,000-foot long strip
of residential land on the east side of
N. Leavitt Road between Spruce
Tree Lane and a home converted to
a beauty shop.
James Blazak, attorney for the
Leavitt Road residents, stood in the
rear of council chambers as council
members hashed out a workable
compromise to the longstanding
controversy over the rezoning. Ac
cording to Blazak, residents would
have preferred C-2 zoning, which
permits bars, but conceded to the
compromise suggested by council
about two weeks ago.
The only unresolved issue is how
soon the city's seldom-used C-l ordinance can be amended. It will involve review by the zoning commission, one or more public hearings.
Young sisters skate
their way to contests
by OLEN MLLER
News-Times reporter
Kristen and Megan Men-
doza may be skating their
way into a future Olympic
competition if they keep up
their winning pcifcs-mances in
the ice.
CONTINUED on page S
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and city council review and approval, a process that is likely to
take at least 14 weeks, according to
law director Alan Anderson.
Last week, council decided not to
rezone the property C-2 and sent the
issue back to the buildings and land
committee so city officials could be-
CONTINUED on page 3
Beautiful
entryway
planned
for routes
Planting for the first phase of a
project lo beautify the four sectioas
of the interchange of Rts. 2 and 5ft
has nearly been completed and
should begin blooming in early
spring. tj
The planting of 50 pine, flower
and crab apple, spruce and other
kinds of tree was finished last weejt
in the southeast quadrant of the fa
terchange by more than a dozen
volunteers.
Conceived more than a year ago,
work on the Rts. 2 and 58 Beautifi-
cation Project began in early September and involved about a dozen
volunteers under the direction or*
Amherst resident Dan Brown, the
It was started to bceutify what
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