- There was MUCH discussion last night on the budget. There were many questions by Council members on several accounts such as Information Services, Lodging Tax Funds, and the various lists of capital projects provided by the administration. The biggest issue was the Administration wanted Council to pass the budget last night after it had its first reading. Many members were not comfortable with that as we did not have a lot of time to review the budget and all the capital budget items provided to us. For this to happen there would have to be a suspension of the rules approved by at least 5 council members; last night we had 6 members present and 3 voted for suspension (Feldman, Shaw, and myself) and 3 voted against (Altieri, Fiocca, and McIntire). I respect both sides of the decision by Council members and each side believed that they were doing their best job to serve and represent their constituents. Overall, as leaders of our City, we are responsible for remaining calm in our decision-making process and that we should be held to a standard that does not create additional panic. Council is responsible for serving our citizens, just like the rest of our City Services, even in the time of crisis. There were comments made last night that failure to pass the budget IMMEDIATELY at that meeting would mean our city employees, including our first responders would not get paid. That is absolutely not true, the City has until March 31st of each year to pass a budget. City Council members are all working diligently and are ABSOLUTELY committed to meeting and passing the budget prior to the March 31st deadline. The Ohio Attorney General has also put out guidelines today addressing the current state of public meetings under the open meetings act and the Ohio Department of Health guidelines. This document specifically states, “Stopping the business of government is not an option…” and further goes on to say that public bodies must reconcile the requirements of public meetings and the Ohio Department of Health guidelines. Council will continue to monitor the situation and work with our law department to ensure we are meeting the necessary sections of both requirements. With all that said, Council has scheduled a special council meeting for Wednesday March 18, 2020 at 7 PM in council chambers strictly for discussion of the budget. This will be open to the public while following the Ohio Department of Health guidelines.
- Last night two dispatchers were honored with a commendation by City Council and awarded Stork Pins for their assistance for a father assisting to delivery his newborn daughter. It was very touching to see the family out to recognize the dispatchers and see the dispatcher in attendance be able to hold the newborn she assisted delivery for!
- Meijer will be building a new gas station on Kent Road. It will be across from the Target entrance that does not currently have a traffic light… BUT a light will be added at that entrance/exit for ease of getting in and out on both sides of the street. Meijer has done a lot to be value added members of our community and are committed to continuing to do so. Their employees at the meeting last night were excited to be able to grow again in our community.
- There was some discussion on multiple city ordinances which need to have updates based on the passing of ORC 9.68, “Right to bear arms”. Currently this law is being challenged by multiple cities in the state as violation of the “Home Rule” afforded to cities the right for the own local self government and certain police powers. It is unknown the length of how long this challenge will take or what the outcome of it could be. As opposed to waiting on that item the City Law Department has identified ordinances which will require updates based on the ORC and are working to suggest amendments to Council which will comply with the ORC requirements.
- The administration gave a brief update on the City Center Project and the survey that occurred at Pizza Palooza. While I am not opposed to a new project at City Center the details being shared with Council have been limited and the SKiP Committee created by Council in 2019 has been disregarded by the Administration and that has caused even more lack of communication and frustration. I do have some concerns about building a new park project when we have a lot of current maintenance issues with what we already have and just this month it was stated by the Mayor that the current cell phone tower money used to support our park system is already not enough to maintain our current parks. If we already have issues of enough money for our current parks, how are we going to support a new park and splash pad? I believe we need a comprehensive plan in place to maintain our current parks along with very clear and solid information on what the maintenance of this new park is going to cost before we move forward with anything. I also want to make sure that we have all the money raised for these items before the project is started. I want to ensure that the tax payers are not burdened with the cost to finish the project if it is started prematurely without all the funds donated.
- The addition of a “Report a Problem” will be added to the City website to allow residents to report issues including potholes, water main issues, fallen tree issues, etc. This is just giving the residents an additional mechanism to report such issues to our City, especially since many are unsure of exactly which office or department to call when they have an issues. I think this will make it a little easier for residents to report and gives data to the administration on the items reported for feedback on the services they provide.
- There will be a special city council meeting on Wednesday March 18, 2020 at 7 PM in Council Chambers for discussion of the Budget. This will be open to the public while following the Ohio Department of Health guidelines.