Cuyahoga Falls City council meets on the second and fourth Mondays of each month and council committee meetings are held on the first and third Monday to publicly discuss pending legislation that will be voted on by council as a whole during its regular scheduled meetings. The public is free to comment on pending legislation during the allowed time on the night of committee meetings.
On Monday November 1st, Cuyahoga Falls city council held special meetings and committee meetings.
The night began with a special meeting of council that went immediately into executive session to discuss B-99, a property purchase on Chart Rd; it is normal procedure for council to enter into executive session for matters of lawsuits, property purchases, and other sensitive or confidential issues.
A public hearing concerning B-100 was held with only the Director of Community Development having comment on the matter. Request for comments was asked both for and against with only Diana Colavecchio responding.
After council returned from executive session, the special meeting adjourned and they went into committee meetings, starting with the finance committee.
B-91 is the ordinance for the city’s 2022 budget and the finance committee will meet many times over the next few weeks to discuss all items covered in this yearly piece of legislation. Monday’s discussion was centered on the administrative budget—city council, Mayor’s office, and city departments.
Mayor Walters addressed the committee with an overview of where the city stands going into 2022. The first thing he mentioned was the city receiving an AA2 bond rating from Moody’s—one of the top credit reporting companies for government entities—and the finance department having recently received The Auditor of State Award for its work on the city’s financial reports. The Mayor also mentioned that according to current data, unemployment in the city is low compared to other cities in the area and we also have a very strong housing market; however, we need higher-end, no-maintenance housing to attract both older residents who want to remain here and younger professionals who would like to settle in Cuyahoga Falls. Other things the Mayor said will be high priorities are to hire more police and fire personnel, along with spending at least $3 million on paving next year. Other projects noted were upgrades at the Bailey Road railroad crossing to make it a silent crossing like the one at Broad Blvd. and the coming reconstruction of the downtown boardwalk next to the river to complement the other attractions that have brought an influx of people to the area.
Finance Director Bryan Hoffman then began his presentation by stating in the general fund the city has a balance of a little over $14.6 million, our bond rating is good, and we are at half of the debt capacity for a city our size, along with income tax collections being very high, putting the city on very firm ground financially. Expected changes for the year will be negotiated with all six of the city’s labor unions and healthcare costs.
Finance Committee Chair Tim Gorbach took a minute to point out that during the COVID-19 pandemic, and more recently with supply chain issues looming, Cuyahoga Falls continues to build with no slowdowns, unlike other cities.
The rest of the budget hearing centered around the administrative offices of the city. City council, the Mayor’s office, Mayor’s Court, Finance Department, Service Director’s office, Engineering, and the Law Department all reported that their expenses will remain the same, with the department heads praising their staff. This included City Engineer Tony Demasi sharing that his office has only had to add one employee in his twenty-one years as the Director.
That concluded discussion on B-91 with more to follow in the next few weeks.
B-92: This ordinance will allow the Public Service Director to enter into a contract to demolish a house at 2844 Audrena Ct. and place the costs on the tax record for the property. City inspectors placed orders on the house in June for a large hole in the roof and walls and there has been no response from the owner of record or their heirs. Therefore, a demolition order has been placed on the property. The committee agreed to vote this out of committee to be voted on by all of city council next Monday, November 8.
B-93: An ordinance to authorize the purchase of body cam and dash cam units for our police department. Both Chief Davis and Captain Miller made the presentation discussing reasons for choosing GVS Getac Video for this camera purchase. “The body cams and the dash cams work in unison of one another, and we have already used the demo unit provided and are very happy with it,” Davis said. Captain Miller also added that this price includes service and training on the system. The committee agreed to vote this out of committee to be voted on by all of city council next Monday.
B-94: An ordinance to allow the Director of Public Service to purchase meters from Badger Meter to be installed by the Water Department. Russ Kring, head of the Water Department, is asking to make this purchase now to prevent supply chain and sourcing issues from becoming a problem, as the Ledges at Pine Ridge and the Princeton Place developments are near completion. The committee agreed to vote this out of committee to be voted on by all of city council next Monday, November 8.
The Public and Industrial Improvement Committee discussed 5 items:
B-95: An ordinance to allow the Director of Public Service to purchase from Core and Main supplies needed for water lines and other supplies now to prevent the same sourcing and lead time issues as mentioned in B-94. Kring said the reason for purchasing these items now is the same reason for purchasing meters, which is that he wants his department to be able to connect these homes to the city’s water system as soon as the developer requires it.
The next four items all deal with allowing the city to apply for Federal Surface Transportation Block Grant Funds that are being programmed by the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study. All of these are competitive grants, and the city will apply in November and be scored and awarded by December, according to City Engineer Tony Demasi. If awarded these projects, they would take place between 2024-2026.
B-96: If awarded, this would cover a large part of the cost to resurface Hudson Drive between Front St and Graham Rd.
B-97: If awarded, this would cover a large part of the cost to resurface Bailey Rd. between Front St and Graham Rd.
B-98: This would cover a large percentage of the cost to construct a multi-purpose trail along the river from Broad Blvd. to Front St. near Bailey Rd. in the secondary abandoned rail line that currently exists there. If awarded that project, it would be slated for 2026. Cuyahoga Falls resident Austin Rowel spoke in favor of this measure that would eventually link to the multi-purpose Veteran’s Trail that runs into Hudson.
B-101: If awarded, this would cover the reconstruction of Wyoga Lake Rd. between Seasons Rd. and East Steels Corners Rd. This project would take place in 2026.
The committee voted all of these measures out for a vote before council as a whole Monday.
Public Affairs had one piece of legislation:
B-99: This ordinance authorizes the mayor to enter into a contract for the purchase of property at 57 Cochran Rd. This is the item discussed in executive session earlier in the night, which the committee voted to bring it out for a vote to council as a whole on Monday, November 8.
Community Development had one item for discussion as well:
B-100: This legislation would create a Tax Increment Financing District for the area known as Pine Ridge Development off of Akron-Cleveland Rd. near Wyoga Lake Rd. This agreement would take 75 percent of taxes collected from this area for the next 10 years to make the specific improvements in the area of this development for changes to the roads and infrastructure related to, but not inside, the actual development .
The committee voted to bring this ordinance out for a vote before council as a whole on November 8.
