Cuyahoga Falls City Council holds regular meetings on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. Council committee meetings are held on the first and third Mondays in order to allow council members to publicly discuss pending legislation that will be voted on at regular meetings. The public is free to comment on pending legislation during the allowed time set aside as part of committee meetings.
Finance Committee:
Temp. Ord A-62: An ordinance authorizing the mayor, as director of public safety, to enter into a contract or contracts, according to law, for the purchase of turnout gear for use by the fire department. Chief Martin stated that this would replace gear that is coming up on its expiration dates and eventually give each firefighter a second set of turnout gear. Both measures will only serve to get personnel out of the station faster and safer. The committee voted to bring this out for a vote before council next Monday.
Temp. Ord. A-63: An ordinance authorizing the director of public service to enter into a contract or contracts, without competitive bidding, with Bell Equipment Company to purchase and replace mechanical arms on two automated side loader sanitation trucks, making the necessary appropriations. According to sanitation/street department head Chuck Novak, this will remanufacture the side loader arms on two trucks currently in the city’s fleet, which are currently 7-8 years old and very worthy of the investment. The committee voted to bring this out for a vote before council next Monday.
Time was also set aside during the finance committee to share concerns from several council members concerning the quality of work being done by ATT and MCI on the residential right of ways within the city. Virtually all council members have received complaints from constituents concerning dug up tree lawns and utility boxes with no rhyme or reason when it comes to their placement and in some cases shape and size. While the majority of the regulations fall under state guidelines, the law director and the city’s engineer’s office will review the over 40-page document that governs these easements to see if there is a way the city can ask for a bond/permit to force the utilities to complete their work in a more timely manner. Nobody is pleased with the way either MCI or ATT is preforming but the majority of the discussion was surrounding ATT.
Public and Industrial Improvements Committee:
Temp. Ord. A-64: An ordinance authorizing the director of public service to enter into a contract or contracts, according to law, for the installation of a new 12” water main on Akron-Cleveland Road from Wyoga Lake Road to 600 feet north of Geoppert Road in the Boston Township-City of Cuyahoga Falls Joint Economic Development District in Boston Township. City Engineer Tony Demasi explained that the 1,660-foot waterline was included in the 2022 budget and will be made from PVC. The $395,000 project is expected to take 60 days to complete. The committee voted to bring this out for a vote before council next Monday.
Public Affairs Committee:
Temp. Ord. A-61: An ordinance opting out of H.B. 172 and reaffirming the ban on discharging, igniting, or exploding consumer grade 1.4g fireworks in the city of Cuyahoga Falls, except as set forth herein. Law Director Janet Ciotola stated that this legislation only pertains to the days that consumer-grade fire works may be discharged and the state still requires the same restrictions and guidelines to be met in order to discharge fireworks under the new allowable day regulations. Many council members said they were initially okay with allowing fireworks on July 4 but after discussing the matter with their constituents they have changed their minds and would be voting to continue the ban based upon the wishes of the voters. Ward 8 resident and former State Fire Marshal Don Cooper addressed council and briefly addressed the list of restrictions that would remain in place under the revised law that would still make it impossible to legally discharge consumer grade fireworks in most areas of the city. He also gave a parting statement to council saying “you must value public safety over entertainment.” The committee voted to bring an amended ordinance reaffirming the ban for a full vote of council next Monday.
Temp. Ord. A-65: An ordinance amending Ordinance 131-2021 to hire an additional Secretary I and assign the position to the appropriate pay grade in accordance with the Collective Bargaining Agreement between American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2662 and the City of Cuyahoga Falls. Captain Schaffer, addressing the committee regarding this legislation to hire another secretary, stated that with the new body cams put into service earlier in the year there have been a unexpected amount of public record requests from news agencies, private citizens and groups. Like any record request, by law some personal information must be recanted. He cited examples such as faces of minors or visible social security numbers the computer terminal inside a police cruiser. Another aspect of this job it to prepare and submit data for the city’s Incident Based Recording System to the State of Ohio. The accuracy of the information contained in that report is used to determine what state funding and grants our police department is eligible to receive. Schaffer also said that while doing their homework prior to bringing this to the committee they learned many cities in northeast Ohio similar in size four full-time clerks for the very same reasons. The committee voted to bring this out for a vote before council next Monday.
Temp. Ord. A-66: An ordinance authorizing the director of public service to enter an agreement to establish the Community University Education Purchasing Regional Council of Governments. Deputy Service Director Teresa Hazlett presented this legislation to the committee, explaining that this is not a new program. This has existed amongst local government entities to group purchases together in order to save taxpayers money by purchasing items such as road salt in larger quantities. This measure is merely a housekeeping matter that establishes this group of government entities as a purchasing regional council of governments. The committee voted to bring this out for a vote before council next Monday.
