Lorain Council puts police chief at top of salary range, discusses pedal pub

LORAIN — Lorain's police chief will now make $168,000 a year, with City Council voting last week to set the positions pay within an updated scale. Council voted 9-1 to place Chief Jim McCann at the top of his new salary scale at a Special Call on June 23. He will now make a base salary of $125,000, plus a 12 percent rank differential, and another $28,000 in longevity pay, to bring his annual salary to $168,000, all retroactive to Jan. 1. That does not include any sellback of vacation time or other incentive pay, and marks a more than $26,000 increase from his current base wage with longevity. In 2019, outgoing Chief Cel Rivera earned a total of $118,123. Current Elyria Police Chief Bill Pelko earns a base salary of $112,454. The sole dissenting vote on the ordinance was Cory Shawver, D-8th Ward. Also at the June 23 meeting, Council members discussed pedal pubs — eight to 12 passenger, bicycle-driven bars — coming to the city. The proposed ordinance would have required the vehicle to maintain a specified route within the city, off major thoroughfares, along with liability insurance for each rider, with an initial trial period of 18 months. Ultimately, Council voted against the measure, with Council President Joel Arredondo breaking a 5-5 tie, but not before lengthy discussion on the issue. Beth Henley, D-1st Ward, questioned the proposed route, which would have taken the bike along Henderson, to Colorado, and East Erie — connecting downtown Lorain to the Shipyards in HarborWalk. Lt. Larry Swanger said the Police Department is concerned about the area as well, agreeing with Henley that Colorado Avenue to East Erie Avenue is a high-crash area, but said it was something the department planned to monitor during the trial period. When she asked about the city's liability in the event of a crash, City Law Director Pat Riley said the city would not be in operation of the pedal pub, so it wouldn't be at fault. Rey Carrion, D-6th Ward, shared similar concerns to the eastside Councilwoman. He said he wouldn't be opposed to sending the matter to a second reading, and wanted a more detailed map of the proposed route, along with crash data. Tony Dimacchia, D-at large, said the pub was an opportunity for the city to do something unique, and support the local business proposing it, Safe and Reliable Transportation — which announced the pedal pub tours in a Facebook post in April — and said the goal was to have the ordinance passed before the International Festival. Mary Springowski, D-at large, said it was a novel idea, noting while the city needed to be cognizant of participants' safety, now was peak time for the attraction. Still, Carrion disagreed, stating if the owners wanted it in place for the International Festival, it should've been brought before Council well ahead of the Thursday before the event. Pam Carter, D-3rd Ward, agreed with Carrion, and didn't see an issue pushing the ordinance out another two weeks to gather more information. Voting for the measure were Dimacchia, Springowski, Dan Nutt, D-4th Ward, Shawver, and Josh Thornsberry, D-8th Ward. Voting against were Henley, Victoria Kempton, D-2nd Ward, Carter, JoAnne Moon, D-5th Ward, Carrion and Arredondo to break the tie. Mitchell Fallis, D-at large, was absent. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.