First and foremost, the City has re-scheduled the rained out fireworks from Summer Sunset Blast to Friday October 28th at 8 PM at Silver Springs Park. There will be food trucks on-site starting at 6 PM prior to the fireworks. This will make for a fun weekend with Trick or Treat taking place on Saturday the 29th from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM.
Council approved the hiring of a firefighter that will be replacing a firefighter who will be retiring at the end of this year. This approval now allows for the fire department to chose an applicant they have already vetted from their civil service list along with giving them time to train the new firefighter prior to the current firefighter leaving.
The Police Department also requested an increase of their budgeted overtime amount for the remainder of the year. To maintain minimum staffing levels with employees on sick leave, out for injury, and increased training requirements through the state the Police Chief estimated that additional funds would be needed. Earlier this year Council had already approved an increase in overtime funds for our fire department as well for similar reasons. Our Safety Forces are a strength in our City and this was passed unanimously by Council.
The Finance Department also provided Council with the draft 2023 City budget to review prior to our meeting on October 27th where they will provide a full presentation of the budget along with the list of capital improvements planned for next year.
The updated City website, including the City Council information page was recently updated. This was a long overdue project, but the end results is a much easier to navigate page. Council also implanted new software for our meeting agendas, minutes, and videos this year to make information more accessible for residents. I recommend you check out the new website and information when you have a chance.
The new alerts and notifications system is also now available for residents to sign up on the website. Visit https://stowohio.org/360/Alerts-Notifications and you can register for emergency alerts along with other optional citywide notifications. Residents will only receive notifications if they OPT IN to the program, the City cannot push out any type of automatic notifications.
Council will meet on October 27th with committee meetings at 5:30 PM and the Council meeting will follow the committee meetings