Congressman Dennis Kucinich today announced that the Cuyahoga County Department of Justice Affairs has agreed to accommodate public input on its plans to build a communication tower after he intervened at the request of the City of Westlake. City Engineer Robert Kelly and Congressman Kucinich asked Cuyahoga County Administrator James McCafferty for more time to let the public know about the project to allow for meaningful input into the plans, and to propose reasonable alternatives.
A public meeting will be held at Westlake City Hall in its City Council chambers on Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 9:30 AM to discuss the current state of planning.
“I applaud Cuyahoga County’s responsiveness to open up this meeting to the public to discuss the people’s concerns and to delay the bid process until after the public weighs in,” said Kucinich. “I hope that the deliberative process will give adequate weight to any reasonable alternatives.”
The tower, known as a Multi Agency Radio Communication System, or “MARCS,” is currently planned to be built on the Interstate 90 right-of-way in Westlake near the Columbia Road interchange. The bid due date was extended from June 15 until June 29 after the public meeting. The bidding process can be further delayed as necessary. Bids can be adjusted or the process can be canceled depending on the public input heard at the June 24 meeting.