Shaker Heights Council approves housing code changes, hires plan examiners and sends museum levy to ballot; gets solar update

Shaker Heights City Council on April 28 confirmed a mayoral appointment, approved contracts for commercial plan review, adopted changes to the city's point-of-sale housing program, accepted a $300,000 private grant for a regional mental-health response effort and voted to place a 0.3-mill levy for the Shaker Historical Museum on the November ballot. Council also received an update on the proposed service-center roof and solar project and heard public comments on point-of-sale services and on senior services.

Council confirmed the mayor's nomination of William McCrae to the Civil Service Commission to fill an unexpired term running through Dec. 31, 2026. McCrae, who addressed the council, said, "I'm just happy to be home." The nomination passed on a roll-call vote with all members present voting aye.

Why it matters: The Civil Service Commission oversees hiring and promotional processes for the city's police and fire departments; filling an unexpired seat restores the commission's full membership for upcoming personnel actions.

Contracts for plan review

Council approved an ordinance authorizing personal-service contracts with CPL Architects and Sixmo Architecture to provide commercial plans-examiner services for up to five years, at a not-to-exceed amount of $130,000 each. Director Krewson told council the Ohio Building Code and the Ohio Board of Building Standards require the city to retain a commercial plans examiner for review of commercial plan submissions; the contracts replace an expiring agreement and a resigned backup reviewer. Krewson said fees charged by the firms are passed through to permit applicants and that both CPL and Sixmo submitted competitive rates and relevant experience. The council voted to suspend the rules and approve the ordinance on first reading.

Point-of-sale housing code amendments

Council voted to amend sections of the city's point-of-sale housing code in three parts as a first phase of changes staff presented earlier to the Neighborhood and Economic…