Amherst News-Times, 1997-05-07

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Amherst News-Time
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Wednesday, May 7, 1997
Amherst, Ohib
Mayor wants job
benefits for fire
chief's extra time
by BILL ROSS
News-Times reporter
As head of the Amherst Fire
Department, chief Ralph Zilch
often puts in many administrative hours over and beyond the
call of duly. Now the city is
looking at a way^o provide him
with more compensation than
the $2,400 per year part-time
position currently pays.
At a recent finance committee
meeting, mayor John Higgins introduced a proposal to provide
Zilch with family health insurance coverage, remunerating
him for all of the extra hours he
works.
"A lot of times chief Zilch has
no compensation lor all of the
extra hours he puts in," Higgins
told council members.
The 52,400 per year lhat Zilch
receives is for his administrative
and managerial work, according
to the mayor, who told the
News-Times that the chief usually puts in 20 hours per week,
and sometimes as many as 30
hours per week in that capacity.
That averages about S1.54 to
S2.31  per hour.
Zilch told the News-Times
that his salaried position requires him lo handle a number
of duties. "I do inventory, file
reports, obtain information for
insurance companies, placing
orders and requisitions."
He added lhat the idea for ihe
health insurance was the
mayor's, but he thinks it is a fair
offer.
Zilch also receives payment
CONTINUED on page 3
Junk property or unfinished jc
o
X
N
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City to eye
building
permit limits
by BILL ROSS
News-Times reporter
An Amherst woman who says the
city has failed to do anything about
a neighboring home lhat she considers lo be an eyesore, took her case
before city council on April 28.
Doreen Lute, of 661 Tenney Avenue, said that the home at 642 Tenney has been in a stale of disrepair
for more than four years, and had
been given a building permit tor an
add-on that has never been
completed.
"Is there no lime limit on addons?" Lute questioned council,
while outlining some of the problems wilh the property.
"The house is a mess, there are at
least three unlicensed vehicles on
the property and two more in the
driveway, and when they have people over, ihe cars hang out into the
Ongoing renovations at this house have prompted city officials to
debate time limitations on building permits.
street."
Lute added thai the unfinished
wood on the addition is now warping, having nol been protected from
ihe elements, and that the people
Air Touch,
city don't
agree on
contract
After several months of negotiations and a bidding process lhat
yielded only one bidder, plans to
lease a small parcel of city property
to Air Touch Cellular for a communications tower are on hold again.
At a finance committee meeting
held April 21, council voted to table
an ordinance to approve ihe lease,
citing unacceptable terms of the
proposal.
"1 contacted the attorney for Air-
Touch last week and the lease- that
Ihey arc offering is for 35 years,"
law director Alan Anderson told
council members at the meeting. "It
starts out at $10,000 per year and
then goes to $12,000, $14,400 and
so on, and at the end of each five-
. year period, they could terminate
the agreement."
The problem, according to Anderson, is that the city does not have
the same option to terminate under
the current lease proposal, and Air-
Touch would not say what eventually might be added to the tower.
Mayor John Higgins told council
that with the way technology is developing, a clause would have to be
added to the lease that would require city approval before any* kind
of additional communications device could be added to the tower.
AirTouch first approached the
city last fall wilh a request to build a
185-foot monopole and a small electrical building on city land adjacent
to the police station on N. Lake
Street.
The tower would provide Am-
herst wilh enhanced cellular phone
service, and under the original proposal, a lease agreement would be
signed that would require AirTouch
•to pay the cily $10,000 per year for
five years, gradually increasing to
317,000 at the end of the agreement.
! But mayor John Higgins told
council that 35 years is too long and
thai if Air Touch would nol agree to
ja new draft of the lease, the city
\vould have to "start over again
from square one."
Cynthia Saraty, who handles real
estate development for AirTouch,
said lhat since hearing about the
city's reservations concerning ihe
lease proposal, AirTouch has now
begun work on a redraft of the lease
that should satisfy everyone.
"We are making progress and arc
intending to make concessions," Saraty said. "We hope to have the real
estate closed by the end of June."
Troop 051 gathers together at Shupe to show
support for Lizzy Druga, who recently received a
merit badge for a six-year record of perfect attendance at scout meetings. Back row, left to right:
Carolyn Snyder, Alison Glovac, Rachel Wasilk.
Front row, l-r: Shannon McVey, Lizzy Druga, Kara
Gelenius and troop leader Deb Gelenius.
Perfect record: Girl Scout
hasn't missed meeting yet
A 10-year-old Amherst girl is set-
ling a great example for others to
follow, after receiving a perfect attendance patch for not missing one
Girl Scout meeting in six years.
Lizzy Druga joined Troop 051 as
Daisy Scout while a kindergartener
al Powers Elementary School, and
has been to every meeting since.
Debbie Gelenius, a Powers school
teacher and leader of troop 051, said
that Lizzy has always taken a strong
interest in scouting, and her enthusiasm is contagious. "Actually, all
of our girls have great attendance
records, which is probably because
they have been together so long."
The girls receive patches for meritorious behavior, and Lizzy recently received her perfect attendance
patch for another year, rewarding
her for loyally lo the troop. "She has
always been very eager and inter
ested in scouting, which is evident
by her record," Gelenius said.
Lizzy seemed a little surprised
that anyone would make a big deal
out of perfect attendance, perhaps
not realizing the extent to which
some adults have difficulty in making to a job five days a week, or
getting some place on time.
When asked to what she attributes
her record, Lizzy shrugged her
shoulders and simply said that scouting "is a lot of fun."
All of the girls in Troop 051
sported vests festooned with the
many patches ihey have received
over the years, including ones for
community service projects and special skills learned through scouting.
Gelenius started the troop along
with Sophie Wallers, and although
she now runs it by herself, most of
the seven girls who remain have
been together since the beginning.
Troop 051, which is part of the
Sandstone Service Unit, meets on
the first and third Monday of each
month at Shupe Middle School, now
lhat the girls are fifth graders. It originally had 12 members, but Gelenius reports that some of the girls
have moved away, so there are now
seven remaining.
She recently received an award of
her own, and was given an Outstanding Troop Leader award at a
banquet honoring troop leaders in
Northeast Ohio.
Bui Gelenius said it is commitment to scouting by her girls that is
the irue reward.
"You couldn't have matched a
nicer group of girls."
Optometrist loses his license
A former Amherst optometrist
convicted of Medicaid fraud has lost
his medical license.
The Ohio State Board of Optometry has revoked the license of
Jerry Berger, a former optometrist
who worked out of the Union Eye
Care Center on Cooper Foster Park
Road.
Berger pleaded guilty to Medicaid fraud in March 19% in Franklin County Common Pleas Court
and was ordered to pay $21,000 in
lines and court cosls.
Robert Carson, executive secret
ary of the optometry board, said
Berger lost his license because of
the conviction and his failure to
properly appeal the decision in a
timely manner.
Union Eye Care Center officials
have said Berger did not work for
the firm but was allowed to use
space office space in the building.
He also was allowed to store records
in the building.
According to Carson, Berger's
conviction involved fraud mainly
committed while he was an optometrist for the former DOC eye
care center at Midway Mall in
Elyria. He was unsure how much of
the fraud occurred in AmhersL
The Ohio Attorney General's Office launched an investigation in
early 1995 after Berger billed the
Ohio Department of Human Resources for canceled patient visits between January 1991 and August
1993.
As a part of his sentence, Berger
was ordered lo pay $16,000 in restitution for the fraudulent claims in
addition lo $4,000, the cost of the
investigation.
who live in the house are not the
property owners.
"There is a lot of new development going on in Amherst and 1 am
for ihe growth of the cily," Luie told
council members. "Bui you can't allow old Amhersl lo fall into a slate
of disrepair. Without ihe old Amhersl, there would be no new
Amhersl."
Lute also said that il appeared the
property owner was planning on installing an unauthorized six-foot privacy fence, and had already placed
six-foot lall four-by-four beams six-
inches from the sidewalk.
But upon being contacted by the
News-Times, the man who has been
working on the addition said his
project should be of no concern to
neighbors he classifies as "nosey."
Howard Cline, who resides at the
home along with Diane Linden
(daughter of property owner John
Bashak), said that no one has approached him in person to talk about
the mailer.
"These people are jusi a bunch of
busybodies," Cline said. "Nobody
wants to talk to me dirccdy — ihey
just go and do it behind my back."
Lute said that the matter is very
much her business, since three different realtors have told her the unfinished property could devalue the
home she is trying to sell.
"I've  lived  here  32  years and
CONTINUED on page 7
Carriers plan attack
on hunger during
Saturday mail runs
On Saturday, May 10, people will
be given the opportunity to help
local letter carriers make a very special delivery — packages of food
that will be distributed to needy area
families.
The National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive will be held
across the country on thai day, and
residents are encouraged to leave
nonperishable food for their letter
carriers.
Jim Kastro, executive director of
Second Harvest Food Bank in Amherst, said that Second Harvest is
this year's beneficiary of the food
drive, and plans to augment its regular supply with the additional food.
Requested items include: "canned
goods, such as tuna, baked beans
and vegetables; and nonperishable
items like pasta and other dry
goods," according to Kastro.
Items in glass containers cannot
be picked up, due to the breakage
factor.
"We will be making a special effort to make sure Good Shepherd
Baptist Church will be receiving a
lot of the collected food," said Kastro, adding that Good Shepherd
will find low-income families in the
area who can benefit from ihe
donations.
Letter carriers are delivering
flyers to area residents today, lo remind them of the food drive, and
outlining  the  specifics,  such  as
where to leave the lood and what
kind of products are requested.
Nancy Denslow, a letter carrier at
the Amherst Post Office and local
food drive coordinator for the past
three years, said, "the food drive
netted 45 million pounds of food
across the county last year, which
shows you how much people care."
Denslow said people can leave
the food actually in ihcir mailboxes
or place it next to the box if necessary, and the letter carriers will do
ihe rest.
There are 18 routes throughout
Amhersl, South Amherst and Amherst Township, and all of the letter
carriers will be participating in the
food drive.
The Amherst area has been participating in the food drive since its
inception four years ago, and both
Denslow and Kastro would like this
to be the biggest contribution ever.
"We will be happy with any
amount, but we would like to do
better than last year because it was
terribly rainy that day," said Kastro.
"But in 1995, we collected a tremendous amount of food — over
10,000 lbs."
The food drive has the participation of 1400 postal branches
throughout the country and is cos-
ponsored this year by Campbell's
Soups, who is also printing up the
informational flyers.
Mayor plans quick return
to city hall after surgery
Mayor John Higgins is doing
"better than expected," following prostate surgery at Lorain
Community Hospital last
Wednesday.
Two days after the surgery,
Higgins said he was feeling
great and expected to go home
no later than May 3.
Although he has already been
receiving a few calls at the hospital regarding matters of the
city, the mayor said he will try
to take a week off from civic
matters for his recuperation.
"Everything went very well
and the prognosis is good," according to Higgins, who described the surgery as routine.
The mayor is a self-described
"workaholic" who has said in
the past, "I couldn't slow down
even if I wanted to," and would
like to get back lo his office as
soon as possible.
During his time off for
surgery and the week of recovery, council president Wayne
Whyte is filling in for the
mayor, aided by safety/service
director Cookie McLoda and
superintendent of utilities Don
Woodings.
"I don't anticipate any problems while I'm out," Higgins
said. "What you try to do is set
everything up in advance before
you go into surgery, so you
know the city business is being
taken care of when you are
gone."
When the mayor is incapacitated, his duties fall to the council president for a period of up lo
45 days, after which time the
precinct committee elects a new
mayor.
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