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.
New Ordinances & Resolutions
A-116: An ordinance authorizing the director of law to enter into a contract or contracts, without competitive bidding, with Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan, & Aronoff LLP for legal services related to employment matters and collective bargaining; increasing appropriations in the general fund law department. Assigned to the finance committee for discussion on Monday, December 2.
A-117: An ordinance authorizing the director of public service to enter into a contract or contracts, without competitive bidding, with Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories for the purchase of automation controllers, advance recloser controls, and cellular routers for use in the electric department. Assigned to the finance committee for discussion on Monday, December 2.
Reports of Council’s Standing Committees
Finance & Appropriations:
A-108: An ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract with Fidelity Security Insurance Company and/or its subsidiary EyeMed Vision Care for the administration of the city’s self-insured employee vision care services insurance plans, for a period not to exceed three years. Passed 11-0.
A-109: An ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract or contracts with Medical Mutual Services, LLC for the administration of the city’s self-insured employee medical plans for a period not to exceed one year. Passed 11-0.
A-110: An ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract or contracts with Medical Mutual of Ohio for stop-loss insurance coverage for the city’s self-insured medical and prescription drug plans, for a period not to exceed one year. Passed 11-0.
A-111: An ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract or contracts with Benefit Resource, LLC., for the administration of the Section 125 Flexible Spending Account Plan, Health Reimbursement Account Plan, Health Savings Account Plan, Retiree Medical Reimbursement Account Plans and COBRA services, for a period not to exceed three years. Passed 11-0.
Public & Industrial Improvements:
A-112: An ordinance authorizing the director of public service to enter into a contract or contracts, according to law, for the Curtis Avenue sanitary sewer replacement. Passed 11-0.
A-113: An ordinance authorizing the director of public service to enter into a contract or contracts, according to law, for the Cochran Road reconstruction. Passed 11-0.
A-114: An ordinance authorizing the director of public service to enter into a contract or contracts, without competitive bidding, with AT&T for telephone service lines which support alarms, elevators and dispatch non-emergency numbers throughout the city. Passed 11-0.
Public Affairs:
A-115: A resolution opposing Enbridge Gas Ohio’s proposed 30% rate increase and requesting that the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio deny Enbridge Gas Ohio’s request for the same. Passed 11-0.
Budget:
A-105: An ordinance establishing annual appropriations of money for the current expenses, capital expenditures, and other expenses of the city of Cuyahoga Falls for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2025.
The finance committee met again after the regular city council meeting. The first department up was NECCO department head Carrie Hummel, who stated her budget would have some staffing changes for 2025. The NECCO department will continue with items like the River City clean-up and continue with various programs on which her department has partnered with the library. The app that became available last year has become very popular with over 3,000 downloads and the plan for her department is to expand their digital outreach. Other things planned for 2025 are more programs and workshops to help residents improve their own personal sustainability.
Community Development Director Diana Colavecchio went over her department’s budget and projects for 2025 by starting off with information that became available recently from the 2020 census— our average housing cost has risen to $220k and also our low-to-moderate income place in cities our size around Ohio went from thirteenth place to fourth after the last census. She also gave an update on the State Road/Bailey Road upgrade projects and to date there have been two surveys and three pop up events and they are expecting a report from OHM, the city’s consultant on both projects, with the traffic survey being the next component on the horizon. The review for both projects is scheduled for spring/summer 2025.
Colavecchio also mentioned that although the chain has asked for confidentiality at this point there is a new tenant for the vacant Ponderosa building on State Road; details will be announced in the next few weeks. Other 2025 business highlights include the Humane Society bringing 55 full-time jobs and 400 volunteer positions back to the city. Other new businesses for 2025 include Sheetz on Graham Road and as a result of that, the DMV will be relocating to the back corner of Emidio & Sons Banquet on the corner of State Road and Bath Road.
The Riverview walkway project is underway and will add more revitalization to the area of our city that has been a big part of the economic development over the last few years. Council President Russ Balthis also commented that that type of economic gain for a business area that creates the tax dollars which help to pay for extra policemen and fire personnel that benefit the residents all over the city.
Peggy Szalay, CBDG Administrator, was up next, handing out a sheet with the estimated allocation for 2025. This included $130k to be earmarked for housing rehabilitation, lead hazard abatement, and can also be used for ADA needs of individual residents at their homes if qualified. Another highlight from Szalay’s presentation was the public facilities that CBDG has made more accessible to our residents.
Parks Director Sara Kline’s budget will keep the same pace of making our parks accessible to all residents. She also said that residents will find the Natatorium less obstructed now that the construction is nearing completion and the new heating and air conditioning systems will pay for themselves with the energy savings alone. Her staff will have a short learning curve with the software and the controls. Other items for 2025 include a position in Park Maintenance and adding more programming for seniors. This includes more Mobile Rec and splash pads. One of the bigger items for 2025 will be replacing more of the restroom facilities (some built in the early 60’s) with several council members agreeing. As Kline said, “a park service is only as good as your bathrooms.”
Director John Campbell from the city garage discussed his department’s budget with the big item being a roof over the building. Aside from that he is paying attention to fuel costs and other replacement parts. As far as the fleet the city currently owns three electric vehicles and 12 hybrids. He said under the lease agreement the electric vehicles are quite the value, with no tune-up parts or oil changes and with the electric motors covering the slow down and speed up they don’t even have to replace brake pads. Tires will be the only expense. The 12 hybrids are doing well but miles-per-gallon is not what was expressed by Ford; however, many of these vehicles see most of their service parked and waiting.
One more budget meeting on December 2 will cover the remaining departments along with long-term planning objectives then the budget ordinance will go before city council for a vote.
