The Weekly Informer (5/31/16)

On Monday, May 16th, 2016, at 7pm, the following transpired:

Members in attendance: No absences, except for the Mayor. Only 5 citizens attended, myself included.

.

Under the first section for citizens’ comments:

A couple citizens commented about our streets; one was inquiring as to when more will be done and the other praised recent work.

On to the legislation (descriptions as seen at my facebook page):

1) Ordinances (2nd Reading):

a. None

Commentary: None

Result: None

b. None.

Commentary: None

Result: None

2) Ordinances (1st Reading):

a. Ordinance No. 16-13: making changes to the Safety Department’s (specifically in the Police Division) “position classification, pay range and department authorization tables” in replacing one police officer position with an Information Technology Specialist.

Commentary: None.

Result: Held for a vote on June 6th.

3) Resolutions (2nd Reading): a. Resolution No. 16-39: Allowing Mayor Hall to apply for the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant from the Ohio Governor’s Office of Criminal Justice Services.

Commentary: None.

Result: Passed unanimously without controversy.

b. Resolution No. 16-40: spending money.

* $2,422 for Vehicle Maintenance. Director Spurgeon reported that the Command vehicle for “Battalion 1” had an accident recently. The insurance company paid the city – not the Service Provider -, it was financed by the Fire Department, and this is a request to replace funds.

* $3,098.07 for Vehicle Maintenance. Fire Department sold some old supplies and would like to put the fund in their maintenance account.

Commentary: None.

Result: Passed unanimously without controversy.

c. Resolution No. 16-43: spending money.

* $16,000 for Hardware/Software to upgrade city servers for the first time in 12 years.

* $80,000 for paving and bridges.

Commentary: None.

Result: Passed unanimously without controversy.

d. .

Commentary: None.

Result: .

4) Resolutions (1st Reading): a. Resolution No. 16-46: with the emergency clause, allowing Auditor Johnson to pay the tax department’s bills.

Commentary: None.

Result: Passed unanimously without controversy.

b. Resolution No. 16-47: with the emergency clause, allowing Auditor Johnson to pay the Police Division’s “bills”.

Commentary: None.

Result: Passed unanimously without controversy.

c. Resolution No. 16-48: spending money.

* $500 for a deductible in damage claims on a command vehicle that was recently involved in an accident.

Commentary: None.

Result: Held for a vote on June 6th.

d. Resolution no. 16-49: allocating revenue collected from the hotel lodging excise tax (the “bed tax”).

Commentary: None.

Result: Held for a vote on June 6th.

e. .

Commentary: None.

Result: .

f. .

Commentary: None.

Result: .

g. .

Commentary: None.

Result: .

Under the second section for citizens’ comments:

A citizen inquired about the timing of the Hudson Avenue project converting it to a two-way street, and the President responded that he wasn’t sure when such would be completed.

Under Miscellaneous comments:

From the Administration, nothing.

Law Director: Nothing.

Mayor Hall: nothing.

Council:

Members of council announced the next set of committee hearings, brought attention to upcoming community events, and offered praise for recent achievements by members and organizations of the community.

What to expect at the next Committee Meeting, when the following committees meet at 5:30pm on :

1) Finance, to consider:

a. Resolution No. 16-50: spending money.

b. Resolution No. 16-51: spending money.

c. Ordinance No. 16-14: with an emergency clause, allowing “$1,100,000 of bond anticipation notes” to refund “outstanding bond anticipation notes” used for the following: fire station #1 improvements (including demolition, professional design and property acquisition), city hall parking improvements, service complex construction improvements, and south second street bridge repair, together with additional fire station #1 improvements (phase one)”, and permitting more money to be spent on “fire station improvements”.

d. Ordinance No. 16-15: with an emergency clause: allowing “the issuance of $5,620,000 [in] capital improvement bonds” to refund some of our “outstanding bond anticipation notes” that were used for the following: “fire station #1 improvements (including demolition, professional design and property acquisition),($1,100,000), city hall parking improvements,($300,000), service complex construction improvements, ($200,000), and south second street bridge repair, ($600,000)”. Also, this will permit borrowing another “$1,000,000 to pay part of the cost of fire station #1 phase one construction improvements, and additional funds for fire station improvements ($3,400,000)”.

2) Safety, to consider:

a. Ordinance No. 16-16: making further amendments to the vicious dog law.

3) Street, to consider:

a. A “discussion” about vacating an alley “between Fairlawn Ave and Woodlawn Ave”.

b..

4) Rules

a..

5) Service

a..

6) Capital Improvements

a..

7) Personnel, to consider:

a. .

Final Thoughts:

The meeting lasted about 16 minutes. Also, it was brought to my attention that the administration is possibly pondering a new levy. Apparently, the I.A.F.F. membership voted down the Mayor’s request that they help promote such. From what I’ve learned, the lion share of this levy’s revenue was going to be designated to our streets with the police and fire departments splitting up the remainder, and some felt that the safety force allocation should have been more if they were to be expected to help push for public support. This is the key point of disagreement which seemed to have killed support for our firefighters helping to campaign on behalf of the possible levy. Now, it is likely that the coming levy will either include no allocation for safety or a much smaller portion than what was initially proposed.

See you all next week. Thanks for reading.