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 8th, Cuyahoga Falls City Council held special meetings and committee meetings, with the Pledge of Allegiance led by Cub Scout Troop 3171.
The meeting began with Mayor Walters giving a recap of the repair work that First Energy completed on the utility pole and feeder line into the city. Walters stated that the decision to do the repair on Sunday morning was based on First Energy’s policy of only working on scheduled outages during daylight hours and there was lower demand on Sunday with many of our industrial users closed. An engineering study was done to determine load and capacity and several scenarios were weighed out over the course of a few days until they decided on a combination of switch setups and electrical routing to achieve the combination that would allow the city to function while First Energy made the change over to the new pole. The mayor also stated that given the number of time estimates that came and went while recovering from the initial outage, he wanted to make sure we could run under this plan for more than the eight hours estimated by First energy for repairs, including extra fuel for the generators, and our electric department’s personnel monitoring consumption and load throughout the day. The city was disconnected from First Energy at 6:04am and was reconnected at 2:09 pm. Mayor Walters thanked everyone involved in making this repair seamless.
The meeting then moved into reading new ordinances to be discussed next week.
B-102: Accepts the planning commission’s recommendation for approval of a conditional zoning certificate and the site plan for a car wash located at 2726 Hudson Drive—the former location of McCreadys Tire & Auto. This ordinance will be discussed in the Planning and Zoning Committee.
B-103: Authorizes the Director of Public Service to enter into a contract to purchase a CO2 fire suppression system for the city’s electric generators. This will be discussed in the Public Affairs Committee.
B-104: Authorizes the Park Board to apply for and accept a grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Parks and Watercraft to develop and maintain boating safety programs through the Waterways Safety Fund. This item will be discussed in the Public Affairs Committee.
All three committees will meet on Monday, November 15th, beginning at 6:30 pm. The Finance committee will immediately follow with continued discussions over B-91, the city’s budget for 2021.
The city council standing committees then voted on the items discussed last week, beginning with Finance. Council approved B-92 to allow the demolition of the home at 2844 Audrena Ct. with a vote of 11-0.
They also voted to approve B-93 to purchase the GVS Getac body cam and dash cam system. Finance Committee Chair Tim Gorbach commented to Chief Davis that he is very happy with the excitement and good response within the police department for this purchase, for which the chief agreed. This was voted out 11-0.
The third item before council from the Finance Committee was B-94 to purchase water meters from Badger Meter and was passed 11-0.
The Public and Industrial Improvements Committee had five ordinances dealing with applications submitted to the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study, as discussed last week, and council passed all five unanimously.
Public Affairs Committee had one piece for council to vote on. B-99, which discussed purchasing property at 57 Cochran Rd., passed 11-0.
There was then a motion and second to adjourn, ending the city council meeting, as the Finance Committee convened to continue discussion on the city’s 2022 budget.
Editor’s note: Last week administrative costs were discussed. During this week and next week’s meetings, the discussion centers on department heads and the individual needs of those departments, capital projects the city plans for 2022, and how funding these areas affects the city’s bottom line. These meetings are open and the public is encouraged to attend and comment. Nothing discussed in these hearings is passed into law until City Council votes on and passes the budget ordinance in a few weeks.
Charles Novak spoke about the departments under his charge, the first being the street department. He anticipates material costs going up for many of the materials used by the street department, especially those items that are petroleum-based. On the plus side, the price of road salt has decreased. There will also be some building expenses within this department, but other than that, it will be the same as in years past.
Mr. Novak also went over his portion of the budget for the sanitation department. He stated this year will be a catch-up year for this department since the fund balance has been shrinking and disposal fees are on the rise. The recycling market has been fluctuating and as of this year we are keeping all of our recycling domestic to aid in costs and stability; however, this requires all of our users to be cleaner with what they are placing in recycle bins. Over the next few weeks the city is due to be audited again by its recycling vendor. The results and cleanliness of that audit will be used to determine our costs in the future. Finance Director Bryan Hoffman also added that with the continued rising costs within that department, they will be asking council for a rate increase. Based upon the calculations, residential customers could see an increase of a little under $3 per month, but those seniors who are on the Senior Limited Service will not receive any increase. Finance Committee Chair Tim Gorbach made sure it was said that these increases are so the department can continue to deliver the same quality of service to the city’s residents. He also suggested that if residents meet the qualifications, they should participate in the Senior Limited Service to avoid the increase by contacting the Utility Billing Office. There has not been an increase in sanitation bills to residents since 2004.
John Campbell, head of the city garage, spoke over his portion of the budget, for which he will also have some increases due in part to the cost of parts and some supply chain charges. Tires, however, remain stable pricewise and he feels that gas prices will have an impact this year. His department did not receive their electric truck this year but he is optimistic and awaiting Ford to roll out their entry into the market. In other news, by the end of 2022, he expects police to have four hybrid vehicles, bringing the total for the city fleet up to 16.
Zack Jones spoke next as head of Utility Billing and said that his department will remain pretty static for 2022, although they will begin charging a processing fee again for credit card payments, something that was dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chief Jack Davis went over the Police Department’s portion of the budget. Day-to-day operations are good, cost increases for his department will include ammunition and an additional two more officers in 2022. He also mentioned that eight officers were hired in 2021.
Chief Davis answered questions about the new training facility from Finance Committee Chair Tim Gorbach, explaining that with officers receiving their training at the facility, they are saving money on travel, hotels, and meals. The city has been successful in renting the facility to other departments for training also. It has become a very good selling point to prospective officers when hiring. Councilman Russ Balthis also mentioned that being able to drive a cruiser into the facility allows officers to actually train using their car for cover. The Chief confirmed this, stating that it was much more realistic training than the old way of sitting in a folding chair.
Other questions for the Chief from council included Council-at-Large Jeff Iula asking if the department was going to continue the “Toys for Tickets” program. The program will continue this year, with more details to follow from the police department.
Fire Chief Chris Martin gave a breakdown on the fire department’s budget. Operational costs will remain relatively the same, as he commented on the fantastic amount of support the department receives from not only his own staff but the administration as well. Some of the items included in the fire department budget will include cameras outside all fire stations, yard work and general building maintenance. He would also like this year to see the department up its game when it comes to giving out and installing CO2 detectors. Martin said his goal is to make this program as popular as the smoke detector and try to reach as many households as that program has over the years. Other things included in the fire budget will be the role of a training officer and utilizing the facilities at the recently reconstructed Station #3. As far as hiring is concerned for his department, Chief Martin said while the numbers of applicants for the test are down, the quality of the applicants is exceptional.
John Ball, the head of Building Grounds and Maintenance, explained that they are doing good at keeping up with everything and despite the challenges that COVID-19 brought last year, costs this year will remain the same as far as expenditures. His department still has problems hiring seasonal workers for different programs, but he did say that there are some part-time employees that continue to show up year after year for some of the programs his department oversees. A highlight for Oakwood Cemetery in 2022 will be a cemetery management software package that will allow residents to search for the locations of loved ones within the cemetery. As this software comes online it will be available from the city website.
The Finance committee will meet next Monday, November 15th, to discuss capital projects for 2022. The committee meeting will begin at 6:30pm.
