Akron City Council urges Taft’s veto of House
Bill 56
By Stephanie Kist
DOWNTOWN AKRON — Akron City Council called for Gov. Bob Taft’s veto of a recently approved bill that would effectively eliminate Akron’s mobile speed enforcement program and threaten home rule, according to Councilwoman Reneé Greene (D-Ward 4).
Greene offered a resolution urging the veto Dec. 18 and said all of Council’s and the city’s work in implementing the use of mobile camera units to monitor speeding in the city’s school zones is in danger of being wiped out.
“I would hate for the effort we have gone through to go to waste,” she said.
Because House Bill 56, which passed Dec. 12, prohibits the use of mobile camera units, Akron’s photo enforcement program in school zones would be effectively eliminated, according to the resolution. Additionally, the bill, in the words of Councilman John Conti (D-at large), is “an assault on home rule.”
The resolution states the bill is an “unconstitutional infringement” of Ohio’s municipalities’ ability to govern themselves.
“Leave us alone when it comes to home rule,” Conti said. “Let us do our job.”
Councilman Michael Williams (D-at large), who has resisted Akron’s speed cameras, said he opposes the resolution because he is against the use of the cameras in other communities solely for revenue gain.
He also railed against what he
thought was the unsanctioned
use of the cameras on an expressway recently, but Councilwoman
Tina Merlitti (D-Ward 7) corrected him.
Merlitti said she called the
police department after a constituent notified her the
cameras were in use outside a school zone, and she was
informed the cameras were being calibrated, and no tickets
were being issued.
“We have never used them
anywhere other than where we said we would use them
in the school zones,” she said.
Council President Marco Sommerville
(D-Ward 3) briefly chastised Williams, saying Williams
could easily have made the same call to the police department
that Merlitti did.
“It’s not good to
make assumptions about anything,” Sommerville
said.
Council agreed to make the resolution
sponsored by the mayor and Council as a whole —
excluding Williams — and approved it with Williams
being the only dissenting vote.
Stow water deal
approved
Council also approved four pieces
of legislation authorizing a 99-year agreement with
the city of Stow, retroactive to 2001. Under the agreement,
Akron will be the sole provider
of water for Stow.
The partnership also involves
a tax-sharing agreement encompassing several Joint Economic
Development Zones in Stow. Within these zones, Akron
will receive 25 percent of income taxes collected on
new development.
Additionally, Stow will lease
to Akron the Hissem Well Field it owns in Portage County’s
Franklin Township. Based on that lease, Akron has agreed
to charge a rate lower than it charges other tax-sharing
partners — the Akron rate plus 15 percent.
City Council members had received
a letter from Franklin Township trustees stating their
concern that use of the well field would endanger nearby
private wells.
Public Utilities Bureau Manager
Michael McGlinchy told Public Utilities Committee members
Stow conducted draw-down tests on the well field, and
those tests would have taken into consideration how
much water could be pumped from the field without affecting
private wells.
Councilman Dan Horrigan (D-Ward
1), chairman of the Public Utilities Commission, said
he would communicate that information to the senders
of the letter.
Stow City Council also
approved the deal last week.
Downtown cleanup
in works
In other economic development
news, Council authorized the expenditure of $475,000
for the environmental remediation and cleanup of five
buildings on South Main Street between the Akron Civic
Theatre and the Landmark building.
The remediation and cleanup will
involve the removal of debris and asbestos and some
demolition and is part of a large renovation project
for downtown Akron announced Dec. 15. [See
related Business News & Notes item on Page
9].
Chamber renovation
still on hold
Despite the objections of sponsoring
Councilman Conti, Council continued to take time on
a contract to renovate Council Chambers to allow for
the broadcasting of Council’s committee meetings
and other meetings that take place in the chambers.
Time was requested Dec. 11 by
Merlitti, who said she had unanswered questions about
record retention in relation to recording the meetings.
Conti said the recordings aren’t
the official meeting minutes, and Council would have
to have a policy regarding how long to retain the recordings
before the actual recording
began, but it had no bearing on the purchase of equipment
and renovation of Council Chambers.
He protested there was no reason
to take more time, but the rest of the Public Service
Committee voted for time.
Council addresses
council clerk position
Contention that arose during
an afternoon Rules Committee meeting petered out rather
undramatically at the regular meeting that evening.
During the committee meeting,
chairman Conti and member Williams questioned Personnel
Director Virginia Robinson and Assistant Law Director
Cheri Cunningham about the status of the Council clerk
position.
In February, Deputy Council Clerk
Cheri Prough was appointed to serve as Council clerk
on a provisional basis for 90 days. In the meantime,
Council placed a charter amendment regarding changes
to the clerk’s position on the Nov. 7 General
Election ballot, which failed.
After Prough’s provisional
appointment ran out, Sommerville requested a temporary
class change so that Prough would continue to be paid
the clerk’s salary while she was doing the clerk’s
job.
Williams and Conti contended
Sommerville acted inappropriately and Council should
collectively make requests in relation to the clerk’s
position.
“The authority regarding
the clerk’s position rests with Council,”
Williams said.
Cunningham said according to
the city charter, the president of Council has the authority
to act as the “department head” of Council.
Council doesn’t vote every
time a form is signed, she said, adding the issue brought
forth by Williams and Conti isn’t a legal issue.
Sommerville, who was present
for the meeting, said he knew he was acting on behalf
of the majority of Council, and he added it was the
Rules Committee that allowed the charter amendment to
go on the ballot in the first place.
“Now you’re criticizing
the process, but you guys were the process,” he
said.
Amid the testy bantering, Councilman
Garry Moneypenny (D-Ward 10) interjected a statement
that the issue was no reflection on Prough’s abilities,
and that she has been doing a good job thus far.
When Councilman Bruce Kilby (D-Ward
2) asked whether Council currently had a “legal
clerk,” Robinson responded that part of the deputy
clerk’s job is to fill in when the clerk
is absent.
Conti requested a resolution
be prepared confirming the temporary class change so
the entire Council could vote on it. Sommerville said
he would gladly welcome a vote to ratify his action.
The resolution in question was
prepared in time for the regular meeting that evening,
but before Conti could present it, Moneypenny moved
for no consideration, saying the law department had
made it clear there was no wrongdoing and no need for
the resolution.
“I thought this afternoon
this was much ado about nothing,” he said.
Moneypenny’s motion passed
with a 9-4 vote and no discussion. Councilmen Conti,
Williams, Kilby and Mike Freeman (D-Ward 9) voted against
no consideration.
Also at the meeting, Council
members:
• ratified emergency repairs
to a storm sewer that collapsed in Akron, flooding parts
of Bath. Akron is paying about $60,000 of the $180,000
cost of the repairs, and Bath is paying the remainder;
• approved the emergency
replacement of a diesel engine, at a cost of $17,000,
for a pumper truck at fire station No. 12 on West Market
Street. The engine failed but was not out on a call
at the time, according to Deputy Fire Chief Rob Ross;
• approved a lease of city-owned
land on Johnston Street to Clear Channel Outdoor Inc.,
which will pay the city a one-time payment of $300,000
for the 20-year lease to erect a digital billboard viewable
from state Route 8; and
• approved an annual ordinance
authorizing the expenditure of a maximum of $23,100,
a slight increase over last year, to purchase hospitality
items for use during recreation bureau activities.
After a brief holiday recess,
Council will next meet Jan. 8 at 7 p.m. in City Council
Chambers on the third floor of the municipal building,
166 S. High St. Committee meetings are scheduled to
begin that afternoon at 2 p.m., also in Council Chambers.
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