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 councilmembers 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.
A special city council meeting was called to order Tuesday night to read into the record three ordinances to be assigned and discussed in that evening’s finance committee meeting. Also at the meeting Mayor Walters gave council members a handout listing actions taken by various city departments concerning work done on our storm and sanitary sewer systems.
Finance Committee
Finance Committee Chair Mary Nichols-Rhodes stated that all three ordinances discussed are related and while read and voted on individually, they would be discussed as a group. Finance Director Bryan Hoffman made a short presentation, beginning by saying that all of these projects were in the 2024 budget sheet and bonds would be one year in duration and hold us until the individual TIFF’s were processed by the state. Because the projects in these three pieces of legislation mention storm water, City Engineer Tony Demasi noted that the projects involved all incorporate the new stormwater detention requirements from 2019 when the city went to a 50-year storm requirement. He also noted that in three districts— Yellow Creek, Mud Brook and Kelsey Creek, all went to a 100-year storm requirement. The projects are in the Mud Brook district. The finance committee voted to bring all three measures out for a vote Monday, September 9.
A-71: An ordinance providing for the issuance and sale of notes in the maximum principal amount of $1,255,000, in anticipation of the issuance of bonds, for the purpose of paying the costs of acquiring, constructing, reconstructing, improving, equipping and installing 3,400 lineal feet of sanitary sewer lines, 3,550 feet of water main lines and 8,000 lineal feet of electrical conduit wiring, related storm sewer lines and retention, erosion control and landscaping along Princeton Place Boulevard, Nottingham Trail, Bainbridge Trail and Kensington Court, together with all related and necessary appurtenances thereto.
A-72: An ordinance providing for the issuance and sale of notes in the maximum principal amount of $700,000, in anticipation of the issuance of bonds, for the purpose of paying the costs of the construction, reconstruction, widening, improving, grading, draining and resurfacing of Wyoga Lake Road between Steels Corners Road and Seasons Road, together with all related and necessary appurtenances thereto.
A-73: An ordinance providing for the issuance and sale of notes in the maximum principal amount of $350,000, in anticipation of the issuance of bonds, for the purpose of paying the costs of the design and engineering, construction, reconstruction, widening, improving, grading, draining and resurfacing of, and installation of traffic controls along, and the intersections of, State Road, Seasons Road, and Wyoga Lake Road, and a traffic study of those roads and related areas, including but not limited to the extension, opening, improving, curbing or changing of the lines and traffic patterns of roads, highways, streets, intersections, bridges (both roadway and pedestrian), sidewalks, bikeways, medians and viaducts, providing signage, lighting systems, signalization, and installation of stormwater and flood remediation facilities, together with all related and necessary appurtenances thereto.
Public and Industrial Improvements
A-69: An ordinance authorizing the director of public service to enter into a contract or contracts, according to law, with OHM Advisors to provide professional engineering services for the Mud Brook Trail Phase II, increasing appropriations. Planning Director Rod Kurtz, along with representatives from OHM Advisors, presented this legislation to the committee, The legislation would set aside $196,950 for the design and engineering for the second phase of the already popular Mud Brook Trail. The second phase would carry the trail to State Road and the design work will include multiple boardwalks and at least one bridge. Five different companies submitted proposals with OHM rating the highest from the city departments that reviewed them. The timeline on engineering and design work will be approximately one year and at this time, Kurtz said, we are expecting to hear in November if we were successful on the ODNR grant for the trail extension.
