Monday, November 7, 2011
Mentor Patch will have profiles for every candidate in every local race that will be on the ballot this November
Election Day is tomorrow, and Mentor Patch has all the information you need to stay informed about the candidates and the issues. The electors of Mentor will have several decisions to make. Five City Council seats (all the wards and an at-large) and two School Board seats are up for grabs. As part of Mentor Patch's 2011 election coverage, we will be posting profiles for every candidate from every local race. These profiles will include biographical information, a statement from the candidate and a video in which they talk about the biggest issues facing the city or schools, respectively, and how they would address them. Click on their names to see their profiles. Remember, more profiles will be added as more people file with the Board of …
Friday, November 4, 2011
Unions are similar in many ways to previously approved contract for police unions
Mentor City Council approved new 3-year contracts for the city's firefighters and road workers unions during a meeting Thursday evening at City Hall. Both contracts had been approved by their respective unions the day before. In many ways, the new contracts are similar to those previously approved by the city's police unions. All three unions will receive no raise during the first year of their contracts and 2 percent raises in the second and third years. Also, any new firefighters or road workers will be hired at a salary 10 percent beneath what was the previous starting rate. Additionally, all union employees will be asked to up their health insurance contributions from five to 10 percent during the next three years. The firefighter and …
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
The International Association of Firefighters 1845 approved a proposed contract with the city Wednesday morning
- GOVERNMENT
- Jason Lea
-
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
One down, one to go. The International Association of Firefighters 1845, Mentor Fire Department's local union, voted in favor of a new contract with the city of Mentor Wednesday morning. Thirty-nine members attended the vote, Union President David Zalba said. Thirty-seven voted for the new contract; the remaining two abstained. Now City Council will be able to vote on the new contract during a special meeting Thursday evening at City Hall. Zalba said the proposed contract was hammered out during a meeting between he, Union Vice President Bill Maloverh, City Manager Kenneth Filipiak and Assistant City Manager Tony Zampedro last week. "We listened to each other's needs and came up with an agreement that everybody was happy with when they …
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Gov. John Kasich is expected to attend the Nov. 3 rally being organized by the Southeast Republican Club.
Gov. John Kasich is expected to attend a Nov. 3 rally in Independence to support Issue 2, the governor's plan to reform collective bargaining for public workers. The rally, organized by Pro-Issue 2 group Building a Better Ohio, is set to begin at 5 p.m. at the Independence Civic Center. Issue 2 is by far the biggest issue facing Ohio voters on Nov. 8. Debate over the collective-bargaining law also known as Senate Bill 5 has engulfed Kasich's first year in office and received national attention. In the run-up to the vote, Kasich has been attending rallies to talk about Issue 2. Supporters of the bill argue that it will help governments better control costs, therefore saving jobs and keeping taxes down. But opponents believe Senate Bill 5 is…
Friday, October 28, 2011
Council, unions will vote on the proposed contracts next week
Mentor City Council has scheduled a special meeting 5:30 p.m. Thursday at City Hall to vote on proposed contracts with International Association of Firefighters 1845 and Local 1099 -- the city's firefighters and public works unions, respectively. If the unions and Council approve the proposed contract, it would end negotiations that began before the most recent contract expired in March. Details of the contract have not been released yet. The police unions' contracts were approved in August. The contracts gave the department's patrolmen, lieutenants and sergeants, as well as corrections officers and dispatchers, 2 percent raises for the final two years of their 3-year contract. The police contracts added about $180,000 to the city's annual…
Thursday, October 20, 2011
With less than three weeks until the Nov. 8 election, the campaigns for and against Issue 2 are seeking to persuade voters to join their cause.
Supporters and opponents of Issue 2 are waging full-scale war to win your vote. In union-strong Cleveland, police officers, fire fighters and teachers march through the suburbs, knocking on doors and telling voters that Issue 2 will undermine their way of life, union member or not. In Southern Ohio, voters file into town halls to hear conservatives say Issue 2 is necessary if Ohio’s local governments are to keep taxes down. And in living rooms across the state, campaign ads bombard channel-surfing Ohioans with images of proud teachers, stressed families trying to make ends meet and one angry great grandmother. Issue 2 is the ballot referendum that will decide the fate of Senate Bill 5, Gov. John Kasich's controversial proposal to restrict …
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
City Manager says he is optimistic that both sides can resolve most of their issues without arbitration
- GOVERNMENT
- Jason Lea
-
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Mentor City Council voted 5-2 to reject a factfinder's report in its ongoing contract negotiations with Mentor Fire Department's firefighters' union. Councilmen Ray Kirchner and Scott Marn voted to accept the report, while Council Members Robert Shiner, Carolyn Bucey, Ed Walsh, Ronald Micchia and Janet Dowling voted to reject it. Council President Shiner said a 5-2 margin was needed to reject the report. He added that while it was a difficult decision for him. "We need to get some language cleaned up in it," he said. The proposed contract could only be accepted or rejected in its totality, City Manager Kenneth Filipiak said. Filipiak said he could not discuss the portions of the report that Council disagreed with because negotiations with …
Friday, September 30, 2011
A round-up of your thoughts on Ohio's Issue 2, which Patch will be covering through the November vote
The November election is a little more than a month away, and already Ohioans are clamoring at the chance to vote yes or no on Issue 2, also known as Senate Bill 5. The issue restricts collective bargaining rights for the state's roughly 360,000 public-sector employees. Not one Democrat voted for the bill when it passed the GOP-controlled legislature in March. We ran our first article on Ohio's Issue 2 on Sept. 17, and ever since, Patch readers have been debating the pros and cons. We've received hundreds of comments, but here's a sample of some of the viewpoints our readers have been discussing. Several people said they won't vote for Issue 2 because they say it will raise taxes, to which several commenters responded: Carol Lara says: …
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Representatives from WeAreOhio and the Ohio Chamber of Commerce discussed Issue 2, which would impact collective bargaining, at the Mentor Area Chamber of Commerce's Candidates & Issues Luncheon
- ELECTIONS
- Jason Lea
-
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Both advocates and adversaries of Senate Bill 5 had an opportunity to make their case during the Mentor Area Chamber of Commerce Candidates and Issues Luncheon Tuesday at LaMalfa Centre. Sydney King, from the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, and Jeff Rechenbach, of WeAreOhio, each received three minutes to say why they are for or against, respectively, the changes in collective bargaining that Senate Bill 5 would create. Senate Bill 5 will appear on this November's ballot as Issue 2. Both King's and Rechenbach's statements are attached in their entirety to this story as videos. For more information on Senate Bill 5, Issue 2 and collective bargaining:
The opinion poll by Quinnipiac University shows that more people remain negative about Gov. John Kasich and Senate Bill 5, but they are both gaining in popularity
Senate Bill 5 is still viewed negatively but is becoming more popular with voters, according to a poll released Tuesday by Quinnipiac University. According to the poll results, 51 percent of voters surveyed want to repeal SB 5, the bill championed by Kasich to limit collective bargaining, and 38 percent support the law. In July's poll, 56 percent of voters wanted to repeal SB 5, while 32 percent wanted to keep the law. Kasich's own popularity is increasing as well, with 40 percent of voters surveyed approving of Kasich's performance. In July, his approval was at 35 percent. The poll shows that both Kasich and SB 5 still aren't looked at favorably by most voters, but they are moving in a positive direction. But while Kasich has three years …
Brian Wollet
10:17 am on Monday, November 7, 2011
For me, the best part was meeting all those friends and neighbors as I went door to door, and also meeting all the other candidates running to unseat incumbents. more ›