The first topic that arose during new business before council last night was an item that I feel is very important to many Ward 2 residents, the re-zoning of Fox Den Golf Course. Currently, Fox Den is zoned “R-1”, Residential. Last night I proposed and council approved asking Planning Commission to review 1. the re-zoning of Fox Den to “O”, Conservation and 2. To review the uses allowed in the “O”, Conservation district. I support both of these items for review and believe that both align with the message we are hearing from residents that they want to see green space maintained in the city. While Fox Den is operating fine now, across the country and even locally, golf courses are closing. While I was not on council when the city purchased Fox Den, I believe the intent was to stop this property from becoming a housing development. With that said, it likely should have been re-zoned after purchase to really solidify the intention of keeping the green space, but for some reason it wasn’t. I look forward to seeing what Planning Commission thinks after reviewing the items requested by council and will continue to discuss the issue with Ward 2 residents for when this comes back to council.
During reports from the administration the Mayor was asked some questions about the committees that had previously been formed by the administration regarding the downtown area/playground rebuild. There are 2 ad hoc committees that consists of members of other commissions and board members and city administrators. The first committee is apparently discussing playground equipment and needs and the second is apparently a steering committee working on fundraising efforts. This is the first any information was formally provided in a council meeting about these groups; my first knowledge of them was from the Stow Sentry last week. These are apparently ad hoc committees that do not keep minutes. The Sentry did list their upcoming meetings: Playground Committee meeting on Wednesday August 7th at 6 PM in the boards and commissions room at City Hall, Steering Committee meeting on Tuesday August 13th at 6 PM in the boards and commissions room at City Hall.
City Council also approved the hiring of a new Recreational Supervisor, Katherine Lewis, who will replace Kathy McConnell who retired at the end of June. Kathy McConnell did all the programming for the senior program in Stow. During my time on the parks board I heard nothing but compliments and good things about the senior programs so filling this role is critical to keeping this high standard of events and programming for our seniors.
Last, but not least, we discussed 2 charter amendment issues. The first, regarding planning commission term limits, was already approved but had to be slightly revised due to the board of elections requesting a language update. This revision was rather minor and passed through council wby a 6-1 vote (Costello voted no). The next charter amendment proposed was by Councilman Riehl and Rasor and relates to the pay of elected city officials. The proposed amendment would require any pay raise for elected officials above the cost of living raise amount approved for city employees to go to the voters for approval at a general election. I think this proposed charter amendment would help provide transparency and would hold those who make pay decisions for themselves and other elected officials they work with accountable to justify any raises above the minimum cost of living raise given to other city employees. This will have 2 more readings before it is voted on by council to see if it makes the ballot in November.
Next City Council meeting is Thursday August 8, 2019 at 7 PM.