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.
Monday night a public hearing was held as agreed upon when City Council approved the Downtown Outdoor Recreation Area (DORA) almost a year ago. Deputy Community Development Director Mary Spaugy started the presentation by going over the mechanics of how the program works and then turned it over to DTCF Partnership Executive Director Kaylee Piper, She reported that over the last year the partnership has acted as the administrator for the DORA and over 49,000 cups have been sold through the agreement made between her office and the participating businesses. Piper is very happy with how the program is running so far as it fits into her agency’s goal of uniting and connecting businesses in the downtown area. The revenue for cup sales has also allowed the partnership to add a part-time employee to better serve the downtown businesses.
While there was mainly positive feedback, the St. Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl under DORA did present some room for improvement according to comments from the public. Residents of the surrounding area would like to see more police presence, and more business owners participating in the clean-up after the event. There was also discussion of adding more bins for compostable waste (the DORA cups) at the northern boundaries. After approximately 40 minutes of discussion Public Affairs Committee Chair Rachel Loza closed the hearing and informed the public another similar meeting would be scheduled within a year to continue to evaluate and monitor the program.
Finance & Appropriations:
A-46: An ordinance authorizing the superintendent of Parks and Recreation to enter into a compensation agreement for the position of Inventory Control Manager. This legislation was discussed in executive session due to it concerning wages and compensation and when brought back to committee it was voted to bring it out for a vote next Tuesday.
A-47: An ordinance creating the non-bargaining position of Human Resource Coordinator and amending Exhibit A of Ordinance 132-2021. This was presented by Theresa Hazlett, Deputy Service Director; she told the committee that the position was inadvertently left off the current position list and this legislation would return the position and allow to fill an opening caused by a recent resignation. This will also be a civil service job. The committee voted to bring this out for a vote before council next Tuesday.
A-48: An ordinance authorizing the director of public service to enter into a second modification of contract No. 8807 with Environmental Design Group. Presented by City Engineer Tony Demasi, this legislation will close out the $396k design portion of replacing the boardwalk along the Cuyahoga River and allow the project to go out for bid. The bids will be reviewed, and an award is expected in July, with construction beginning in August and the project is expected to be completed in 2025. The committee voted to bring this out for a vote before council next Tuesday.
Public & Industrial Improvements:
A-49: An ordinance authorizing the director of public service to enter into a contract or contracts, according to law, with Davey Resource Group to provide professional engineering services for the improvements to Barney’s Busy Corners. This legislation was also presented by City Engineer Tony Demasi, and it will cover the cost of upgrading the current traffic control signals at this very busy intersection and better integrate the signals with the current system in place on East Howe Road. After grant monies are applied the design part of this project will cost the city $9k. Once design work is complete Demasi said his office will try to secure grant money to pay for the rest of the project. The committee voted to bring this out for a vote before council next Tuesday.
A-50: An ordinance authorizing the director of public service to enter into a contract or contracts, according to law, with a firm or firms, for concrete pavement repairs to various streets. This is the city’s annual budget to repair the concrete streets within the city. The area this year’s program will work on will be a 300 foot stretch of Buchholzer Blvd and will cost approximately $378k. Work will start in July and be completed by October. The committee voted to bring this out for a vote before council next Tuesday.
Public Affairs:
A-51: An ordinance amending section 151.06 of the Codified Ordinances, relating to paid holidays. This legislation was presented by Mayor Don Walters. The legislation adds the holiday of Juneteenth (June 19) to the list of paid holidays for non-bargaining city employees. He went on to say that it is already a Federal, State and County holiday. Bargaining employees working for the city will have to wait for contract talks to see of the holiday will be added. The committee voted to bring this out for a vote before council next Tuesday.
A-52: An ordinance to approve current replacement pages to the Cuyahoga Falls Codified Ordinances. Law Director Janet Ciotola said this is a housekeeping measure that keeps the current codified ordinances within the city in compliance with state laws. As new laws are passed on the state level, city laws need to be updated and kept current; an example she gave was the new distracted driving law recently passed. This measure will add that law and others to the city’s ordinances. The committee voted to bring this out for a vote before council next Tuesday.
A-53: A resolution declaring the month of May as ALS Awareness Month in the City of Cuyahoga Falls. Presented to the committee by Jessica Weisensell from the ALS Association, the purpose of her organization is to bring awareness to an illness that can take months to diagnose, and in all cases is fatal. Typical victims usually succumb to the illness within three to five years. The committee voted to bring this out for a vote before council next Tuesday.
