Beachwood City Council placed an ordinance that would grant Mayor Merle Gorden a 2 percent pay raise on first reading at Monday's council meeting. A measure to raise Council members' pay was also placed on first reading during the meeting. The ordinances will see two more readings before Council will vote on the issue.

Beachwood City Council will hear measures to make way for a restaurant adjacent to the planned Aloft Hotel in the Chagrin Highlands at tonight's meeting. Click here to read more about the measures, and click the PDF to the right to see the full agenda. Council meets at 7 p.m. in City Hall.

Beachwood City Council is expected to hear a request for preliminary site plan approval of an Alzheimer's Care Center on Harvard Road at tonight's meeting. Read the full agenda by clicking on the PDF to the right. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at City Hall and is open to the public.

Beachwood City Council is expected to vote on providing grants to companies in exchange for job creation at tonight's meeting. Council meets tonight at 7 p.m. at City Hall. The meeting is open to the public. Click the PDF above to see the agenda for the regular council meetings as well as other committee meetings tonight.

Beachwood City Council approved its 2013 meeting schedule. Meetings will be held at 7 p.m. on the first and third Mondays of each month at City Hall with a few exceptions: Jan. 14 instead of Jan. 7 and Jan. 21 Feb. 19 instead of Feb. 18 (President's Day) April 8 instead of April 1 April 22 instead of April 15 June 3 is cancelled July 1 is cancelled Aug. 5 is cancelled Sept. 3 instead of Sept. 2 (Labor Day)

Beachwood City Council voted to add a new position to the city staff. The new Assistant to the Director of Economic Development will be the second employee in the city's economic development department, which was created this spring with the hire of Economic Development Director Jim Doutt. Doutt said he hopes to have someone in the spot by the new year.

Beachwood City Council approved a measure to bump administrative pay by 1.5 percent in 2013 and 2014 at Monday's meeting.  The raise matches 2012's and is the same bump that unionized city workers negotiated for 2013 and 2014. One year ago, the firefighters union negotiated a revised three-year contract that lowered annual wage increases from 3 percent to 1.5 percent through 2014, and the police union matched it days later.  This firefighters union contract also requires that the city increase the annual wage increase to 3 percent Dec. 1, 2013 if Ohio provides an alternative to make up the …

Beachwood City Council will consider contracts for work on City Hall's exhaust system and a new pole barn at the city's Shaker storage yard at tonight's meeting. Check the agenda in the PDF to the right. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at Beachwood City Hall and is open to the public.

U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge attended Monday's City Council meeting to commend two members of the Beachwood community. Ohio's 11th district's congresswoman attended to present an award to Arielle Cohen, a Beachwood High School senior who won first place in painting in the 2012 Congressional Art Competition. While Fudge was there, Mayor Merle Gorden arranged for her to help present a commendation to former economic development director and now-mayor of Warrensville Heights Brad Sellers. The two thanked Sellers for his tenure as economic development director of Beachwood and congratulated him on his …

City Council will consider an ordinance to join four other communities in a feasibility study for a possible regional dispatch center at tonight’s meeting. The five cities – South Euclid, Shaker Heights, Beachwood, Euclid and University Heights – are applying for a $100,000 state grant to conduct the study. The five cities make up the Eastside Departments Group Enforcement (EDGE), a project to explore sharing services among police departments. Council meets at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers in City Hall. Click on the PDF to the right to see the full agenda, and watch Beachwood Patch for complete …

The Beachwood City Council approved an amendment to the city firefighters’ union contract to limit the number of employees with EMT certification who can work in the department. The EMT certification licenses its holder to perform fewer procedures than the paramedic certification. All but one firefighter in the Beachwood force has a paramedic license. The amendment allows three EMTs to work in the department, and for only one EMT to work during any one shift. The International Association of Firefighters Local 2388 came to a three-year labor agreement with the city of Beachwood last November…

Developers will attend tonight's Beachwood City Council meeting to present potential plans for a new hotel at Signature Square. The meeting was moved once already, to Sept. 6 from Sept. 17, but residents expressed concern that a Beachwood City Schools parents' event would be the same night. Now it will be Oct. 3. Property owner Eric Bell and developer Scott Berkowitz will present to Council what their application for a new hotel will look like if council approves amendments to the zoning for the parcel, which are also on the agenda for tonight's meeting. Residents have expressed dissent to …

City council passed an ordinance that raises sewer rates for five Beachwood businesses at last night’s council meeting. After a public hearing during which no one commented, council approved the measure unanimously. Councilman Brian Linick was absent from the meeting. Other measures approved last night were: A request to split a property lot to add another home on Hurlingham Road. An ordinance to pay $29,600 in bills. An ordinance to purchase life insurance policies for city employees. An ordinance to add unpaid rental licensing fees to the property taxes on four properties. An ordinance to …

City Council saw a short agenda at Tuesday’s meeting. Included in the agenda were ordinances to change Dollar Bank’s zoning to match other banks in Beachwood, to allow additional administration work for the Beachwood Municipal Services Center and to permit the National Council of Jewish Women to meet in the Beachwood Community Center. Here's a brief list of all the actions Council took last night: Changed Dollar Bank’s zoning classification from U-4a to U-9. Paid bills. Authorized up to $3,500 additional money to pay Oxbow Engineering (City Planner George Smerigan) to continue overseeing the …

Beachwood City Council approved a measure to continue street lighting on two residential streets at Monday’s meeting. No residential streets in Beachwood have streetlights except two whose residents requested lighting several years ago. The residents of these streets pay for the lights, and council approved two ordinances to continue that practice. The cost totals about $371 per property per year on Blossom Road and Zeiger Drive. Both ordinances passed unanimously. Other measures approved at Monday’s meeting include: An ordinance to hire South Shore Cable Construction to extend the city’s …

Beachwood City Council will consider an important step in reducing the city’s reliance on Time Warner Cable at tonight’s meeting. If tonight’s ordinance passes, the city will hire South Shore Cable Construction to build a cable network for phone and Internet service in the city of Beachwood. The project, which would cost at least $300,000 over 10 years with Time Warner Cable, will cost around $100,000 through South Shore. Look for more information about this Tuesday on Beachwood Patch.

Three more roads were added to the list for summer work at Monday's City Council meeting. Council opened bidding for three projects: one for reconstruction of Twickenham Drive, one to reconstruct Bridgeton and Cardington drives and one to paint and mark pavement on city-owned parking lots. Visit Beachwood Patch for more details - including any road closures or effects on traffic - as they become available.

Beachwood City Council approved its summer meeting schedule at Monday's regular meeting. Meetings set for June 6, July 5 and Aug. 5 were canceled, and the Sept. 5 meeting was rescheduled to Sept. 6 – a Tuesday – because of Labor Day. The new meeting schedule is as follows: June 20 July 18 Aug. 15 Sept. 7 Council meetings will resume their regular days – on the first and third Mondays of each month – beginning Monday, Sept. 16. Unless otherwise specified, all meetings are held in the City Hall Council Chambers and begin at 7 p.m. Here's a link to the city calendar, and go here for meeting …

The City of Beachwood has opened bidding for two road construction projects scheduled for this summer. Richmond Road will be reconstructed from Shaker Boulevard to Hendon Road. This construction is expected to start in mid-June and finish by mid-August. Staff Engineer Tom Kreczko said at the meeting that it has been scheduled to prevent affecting traffic while school is in session. The second project, a resurfacing project on Bryden Road, Deptford Drive and Meadoway Drive, is expected to begin mid-June and be completed in mid-July.  Check back for more details, including more specific dates, …

Updated Friday, April 22 Councilman Brian Linick has withdrawn his effort to designate parking spots for hybrid cars at city buildings in Beachwood. He said Thursday that council had not supported the measure, but he would refocus his efforts toward installing recharging stations for electric cars at city buildings. --- The Beachwood Building and Grounds Committee will consider the feasibility of offering parking spots for hybrid cars at city buildings at an upcoming meeting. Councilman Brian Linick suggested the spots, which would be designated in spots closest to the entrances of city …