- Council was presented with the hiring of four (4) positions within the City. Of these positions two were declined by Council, one was tabled by Council, and one remained in Committee.
- Two of the positions were both related to plans review, one from the building department and one from the fire prevention bureau. It was suggested to the Administration that these roles be reviewed to see if there is the possibility of these duties to be performed by an outside consultant or third party that would of a beneficial cost savings. I voted to table the one item and did not vote to move the other item to Council as we are still in the early stages of determining the impact of the current crisis on our city finances. I believe until we have a clear picture, we need to look at all avenues and make sure we are making the best financial choices. The item that remained in Committee is also a little bothersome to me that they are asking for us to pay a staffing agency to hire back a previous employee of the City for the role. This is frustrating that we are finding people, sending them to a staffing agency, and then re-hiring them and paying more than we would to hire someone directly. The staffing agency is adding no value in helping find us people, we are sending them there. We need to determine a better solution when we need additional help than paying a marked up rate to funnel candidates we are already aware of through a staffing agency.
- The two roles that were not approved by Council were for the promotion of a part time employee to a full time position and a hiring of a Deputy Planning Director. I voted no on both of these positions because again, in these times, our financial impact is still not clear. I do not want to add to head count now just to have to reduce head count if our finances continue to decline. We have already heard some projections of the losses we will see this year, but they are all very vague right now. Until we have a little more solid information, we need to maintain the course where we are and not add extra burden. The Deputy Planning Director role is specifically paid for out of the lodging tax collected in the City. That fund has ALREADY seen a large decrease as many of our hotels are shut down and not operating, and if they are, it is in a very limited capacity. I believe this will be a fund that will take a significant hit this year and even into next year before travel picks back up for both businesses and individuals.
- Council began last evening with a public hearing that was for a re-zoning of a property from commercial to residential on Graham Road adjacent to Woodland Elementary. This was later approved by Council along with the conditional site plan for an 8 unit apartment building on this property.
- There was discussion of Charter Review Commission and their ability to meet this year. I feel there was some statements made by members of the committee that were read by Mayor Pribonic that implied somehow Council was not assisting them in their meeting this year or forcing them to meet this year instead of just appointing a Special Charter Review Commission. Charter Review is an independently appointed commission that should determine their own meeting scheduled and neither council nor the administration should have any say in determining their meeting. The recommendation of the law department was that the commission had already been appointed and that they have an obligation to meet and make a recommendation to Council. There was also statement that Council should extend the period in which Charter Review can meet, this is also something out of our hands and the deadline set for Charter Review is stated in our Charter, not something determined by Council. Again, these are not ideal times for any public body, but we are all trying to make the best of what we have. I have spent hours determining the meeting method for Council, I have spent extra time just this past week in looking at a way to create better dialogue with citizens that doesn’t cause any security issues. These will be things we all have to continue to work through and find the best method. I am not sure how much longer the public meeting ban will go on as many things in Ohio start to re-open. I am hoping in the next month we can get back to meetings in public.
- I also brought up the discussion to talk to other council members about having committee meetings on a separate night from Council meetings. This was previously the practice in Stow and is the practice in many other cities. I have heard from residents that they do not like how early our committee meetings start or that they have often ran over this year into Council Meetings. This was received well by Council and I am going to work with Committee Chairs and the Clerk of Council to review the feasibility of this based on the Clerk’s office and committee availability.
- Last but not least was the discussion of public comment during our meeting. This has been an issue that I have been diligently reviewing with other members of council, the administration and the law department. There is no “simple” easy fix to this. Even Mayor Pribonic stated in his discussion of Charter Review that it is not easy to include the public electronically. I have seen many places comments that it is “so easy to do” yet I have received no good leads in doing so without jeopardizing the security of the meeting. I actually took a part vacation day to research and test a few additional options this afternoon and I am hoping that we will be able to do something more interactive in the future. Regardless of the comments online, I am not opposed to this, I just understand it is absolutely critical that it be done in smart and legally responsible manner.
We will have a Budget Oversight Committee meeting live on YouTube May 21, 2020 and our next Council meeting will be after committee meetings on Thursday May 28, 2020.