Amherst News-Times, 1999-05-12

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Springs
makeover
to require
re-bidding
Pins to move some city
offices into the San Springs
building in July will have to
wait until state officials award
bids for second floor
structural changes.
Hie changes are necessary
to bring the building up to
code to satisfy the Americans
with Disabilities Act.
City council was forced to
reject a bid of more than
$140,000 May 3 because it
exceeded a $120,000 grant received from the state. It
would have been used to
make second floor structural
changes that will satisfy ADA
accessibility requirements.
The bidding process will
have to start over again and
is expected to delay completion of the remodeling for at
least two months. This could
mean the building may not be
ready for occupancy until
sometime in the fall, accoding
to mayor John Higgins.
The treasurer's and auditor's offices, and building and
utilities departments were to
be moved into the building in
July to relieve overcrowding
in city hall.
The state has decided to
take charge of the rebiding
process, which will take about
two months, Higgins said.
The ADA structural
changes include widening the
second floor hallway, a wider
entrance and reptacement of
both internal stairways. Those
changes, in addition to the
coat of'an outside lift elevator
for the physically challenged
exceed the gram.
Council was allowed to accept a $35,800 bid for the installation of the elevator.
The state is reviewing the
structural changes and will re-
bid work on them for the
city to ensure companies submit fair bids, the mayor
explained.
This will be a long process. It happens anytime you
deal with federal money that
is administered by the state
and then distributed by the
county," he added. "All we
can do is wait now for the
bids snd then proceed from
there."
The rebiding process also
will delay plans to make minor changes at city hall. They
include converting the apace
vacated by the moved offices
into areas for council clerk
Olga Sivinski and council,
and creating separate offices
for the mayor and safety service director.
Both the mayor and safety
service director currently are
located in the same office.
Clark ft Post, the area architects hired for the remodeling, estimated the total, cost
of the renovation and outside
elevator at $200,000.
It also includes construction
of a double lane drive-through
center for the utilities office
and electric bills without having to come into the building.
The adatation will cost
$60,000.
Higgins said some banks
aw now charging 23 cents for
Me utility MB payinent services. One has indicated it is
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service.
"So we think the drive-
through wiU pay for itself in
a few yean because it will
make payment a lot easier,"
he explained.
Plans call for the utilities
office lo remain open during
bred, hew te faciHtaae pay-
ment A potMMe drop box
also It mader amaiiisratioa for
High school student is in council race
by QLEN MILLER
News-Times reporter
Nick Brusky doesn't believe
his age should be a handicap
in the crowded race for Amherst fourth ward council seat.
At the tender age of 18,
the Marion L. Steele High
School junior and football star
is jumping into the political
arena feet first with a campaign emphasizing "integrity,
character and chivalry."
He chose chivalry as part
of his motto because "it's the
old fashion way — a knight's
way of showing respect," a
quality he wants to extend to
voters regardless of how they
cast their votes in November.
Brusky, of 782 Cherry Valley, is among three Amherstonians who have filed as independents in the race to unseat
Democratic incumbent John
Mishak as fourth ward councilmember. He is vying for
Mishak's seat along with opponents Roger Fan and Jennifer Lee Scott-Wasilk, both
of whom also are independent
candidates.
Brusky would have filed as
a Republican but he didn't
turn 18 until March 13, several weeks after the Feb. 18
filing deadline. When he
could file, he had to file as
an independent candidate but
will declare himself a Republican in the future.
And now that he is of voting age, he thinks he's ready
to pursue politics. It's not a
Jerami Sterna (left) and Jason Bolen, two of Nick Bruskys
campaign workers, hold up a sample banner they plan to use
during his campaign as the candidate quietly plans his strategy.
whim, rather a dream he's
had for three years that he
was introduced to by his first
grade teacher, Shirley Young,
years ago.
Now retired, it was the pat
riotism Young instilled in
children — often through
songs — that first sparked his
interest in government and in
"working for the people." It
grew over the years with the
help of his mother, Vicki, 39,
and father, Allen, 38, both of
whom support him and his
dream, he said.
His father only has missed
voting in an election once, a
right Brusky called a "solemn
duty" and one he proudly exercised for the first time May
4.
CONTINUED on page 3
Sisler losesrR
■ata
primary opening
One candidate is out and 18 are in
the race for eight city council seats
this November.
Out of the running is former
councilmember Robert Sisler, who
won the least votes of the four Republicans who entered last week's
May 4 primary for council-at-large
seats.
Sisler only gathered 169 votes,
according to unofficial results from
the Lorain County Board of
Elections.
The winners were Dennis Walters, with 241 votes; Barbara Kilgore, who received 202 votes; and
Mark Costilow, who captured 181
votes.
Kilogore, Costilow and Walters
will challenge incumbent Democrats
Nancy Brown, of 776 Elyria Ave.,
David Kukucka, of 501 Charles
Court, and new candidate David
Williams, of 901 Shadylawn Dr., in
November.
Williams is seeking to fill the seat
to be vacated by John Dietrich, who
will become council president. Dietrich will succeed Wayne Whyte,
who has announced he will retire
from local politics at the end of the
year.
Running uncontested as Republicans for council seats were former
city auditor John Dunn, of 163 N.
Lake Sl, and Michael Nolte, of 162
Woodhill Dr.
Dunn will run against Democrat
Terry Traster, of 1013 Milan Ave.,
for the first ward council seat. Nolte
will compete with Steven P'Simer,
of 611 Brennan Dr., for the third
ward seat
Democratic incumbents Edwin
Cowger and John Mishak were unopposed in the primary for reelection to their respective second
and fourth ward council seats.
But Mishak will have competition
from three independent candidates
in November. Nicholas Brusky, of
782 Cherry Valley Dr., Roger Farr,
of 824 Lincoln St., and Jennifer Lee
Scott-Wasilk, of 643 Greenlawn
Dr., all filed prior to 4 p.m. May 3,
the deadline for independent
candidates.
Brusky is an 18-year-old Marion
L. Steele High School junior.
John Higgins, a Democrat, will
run unopposed for the mayor's job.
Law director Alan Anderson, a Republican, will be opposed by Democrat Kenneth Stumphauzer.
Oklahoma tornado
destroys home
of former resident
but spares family
;♦.'
A former Amherst man and his
family took shelter beneath mattresses last week as a mile-wide tornado
ripped their Oklahoma City area
home trom around them.
This week Bryan Diedrick and his
family are among the hundreds of
Air Force families jammed into
housing on Tinker AFB while they
wait for government officials to decide how and where they will live.
In the meantime, Kedrick's parents, Bonnie and Don Diedrick, of
Lancer Drive, are preparing for the
arrival of their daughter-in-law, No-
reen Diedrick. and grandcMldren.
Tylor, 8, and Riley, 4. As soon as
school is out, they temporarily will
live ia Amherst while sergeant
Bryan Diedrick remains at the Air
Force base, where he repairs air
traffic control equipment
They ware very lucky, very
tacky coaaddtaTtag they lost every-
MMf they haw* ia a matter of mi-
if suburban Del City. Okla, where
their son lived, was among the areas
flattened by gigantic funnel clouds.
"We were scared to death. We
didn't know what to think may have
happened," she explained. "Not
knowing was the worst"
Their fear ended about three
hours later when their phone rang. It
was their son. He and Ms family
were calling from a pay phone at a
convenience store two or three
blocks away from where their house
once stood.
Slowly, Bryan Diedrick told them
the horrifying story.
It was about 8:45 p.m. here and
7:45 pm. in Oklahoma City. They
had heard tornado warnings and did
exacdy what they were told to do.
Having ao basement the family
piled mattresses in the middle of a
hallway.
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