Council approved the first of several steps necessary for the re-purpose/re-use of the current vacant Stow Glen Property that is in current receivership. This step was to reconfigure the Stow Glen property with an adjacent lot and create 3 new lots from the property. The plans are to have a commercial lot in front on Kent Road (removing the current front building of the Stow Glen property), leave the current buildings at the back of the Stow Glen property and re-purpose them on a separate lot, then the third lot (almost behind the Meijer gas station) would be the location of a new nursing facility. This first step was simply the split of the lots in to the 3 separate lots, there will be future site plan approvals, rezoning, etc, that will be coming forward over the next 6 or so months. It is good to see plans moving forward so these building do not continue to sit vacant.
Council also discussed the plans for the funds the City received under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). This money was received in 2021 and 2022, with a requirement that it is encumbered (have a plan for the use) by 2023 and full expended (used to purchase services or goods) by 2024. Stow received $3,651,039 in these funds. The Finance Department is proposing that we expend $1,885,401 of these dollars by re-allocating expenses from our 2022 budget to use these dollars. The proposed uses are: Fire Department overtime for 2022, the purchase of a new fire truck, water quality improvement system for our water tower, stormwater project on Englewood, Granicus software used in the Council and Law office, and a portion of the 2022 road re-paving program. This re-allocation would put dollars back into our general fund, stormwater fund, and water line capital improvement program to roll over in to our 2023 budget.
The Stow Municipal Courts came in and presented Council with information related to how they expect 2022 to finish as it relates to budget and case count along with their expectation for the 2023 budget. The reality is, the impact on case counts that occurred due to COVID-19 are still continuing and the case counts in the court, which drives the court revenue in court costs and fees, are still significantly below where they were pre-COVID (2019). In the past, the Court has collected enough fees through regular costs and special projects to allow them to make payments on the note the City of Stow carries for the construction of the Courthouse. In 2023 the Court no longer believes it can continue to make this capital payment. The Court is also expecting a small deficit in 2023 which means the City of Stow will have to cover the costs necessary for the Courthouse operations and staff. Court and Clerk staff stated that they expected staffing to remain the same for 2023, with the courts potentially not replacing an upcoming retirement. This should help costs remain similar as to 2022, so hopefully the court case counts will at least hold where they are this year to reduce any deficit we could see from the City. The Finance Department did state when the presented the initial budget that a large portion of the note on the Courthouse will be paid off in 2023, so that will alleviate a portion of the costs the City has related to the Courthouse after 2023.
Council also repealed prior legislation that encouraged the Boards and Commissions in our City to meet in Council Chambers and use the old technology that streamed the meeting audio over Time Warner Cable. This is technology that has not been around in the City for many years and in 2021 the City invested into new technology that allows streaming of meetings onto the City YouTube channel. This was a significant improvement and Council has requested that the other boards and commissions transition to using this space and technology to continue to expand transparency to our residents, however, none have transitioned to this system. This new legislation by Council requires that this board and commissions make this transition to use the technology we have in place to expand the transparency to our residents.
Council will meet again on December 1 with Committee meetings at 5:30 PM and Council to follow. Council will continue to review several budget items through the last two meetings of the year to have it passed and in place prior to 2023.