Council OKs vets’ building site
By Kathleen Folkerth
DOWNTOWN AKRON — Summit County Council adopted legislation at its Nov. 19 meeting that allows the purchase of property for the new Veterans Service Commission building.
Council unanimously adopted on first reading the resolution that confirms a contract with Pon Management for two parcels of land, totaling 2 acres, on Waterloo Road, for $266,500.
The building that will be constructed
on the site will replace
the commission’s current facility, a century home
located on Park Street in Downtown Akron.
“The people are looking
up to us to see a building erected,” said Council
President Nick Kostandaras (D-District 1).
Councilman Pete Crossland (D-at
large) said he is in favor of the project but he did
not think the legislation warranted first-reading passage.
But Cazzell Smith (D-District 5) said Council had discussed
the need for the new facility many times and there was
no need to send the legislation to committee.
“I think we all want the
same thing: to get this thing behind us and get to the
design phase,” Kostandaras said.
In a previous interview with
the West Side Leader, George Baker, executive director
of the commission, said the total cost of the project
is expected to be around $2.5 million. The new building
is estimated to be ready to open no later than fall
2009.
In other business, a motion regarding
the hiring of a new chief of staff for Council barely
made it onto the meeting’s agenda.
The vote was 6-5 to put the motion,
which appoints Kathryn Mims to the position at an annual
salary of $65,000, on the agenda. Council did not vote
on the motion itself.
The motion states that Mims’
appointment is effective Dec. 10. Council has been without
a chief of staff since David Hannon left in July to
work for the Ohio Department of Commerce.
Council also passed on first
reading a resolution increasing appropriations in the
amount of $4.6 million for the Hospitalization Benefits
Fund for the Department of Insurance and Risk Management.
The vote in favor of passage was 8-2, with one abstention.
Ken Jones, director of insurance,
said the extra funding was needed because more than
500 employees, from the Summit County Board of Mental
Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, were added
to the county’s plan after budgets were finalized
last fall. Most of the money to fund the appropriation
came from those employees’ contributions.
Council also passed on first
reading two grants that are being passed on through
the city of Akron Police Department to the Summit County
Prosecutor’s Office. The one-year Gang Initiative
Grant is for $75,792, and the two-year Community Oriented
Policing Initiative Methamphetamine Program Grant is
for $151,583. Among the
legislation introduced was a resolution for a 3 percent
raise for current nonbargaining, classified and unclassified
county employees. Recent raises have been effective
April 1, but Tim Crawford (D-District 7), chair of the
Finance Committee, said he has proposed moving the raises
up to Jan. 1. He said the change would cost county departments
a total of about $350,000 to implement.
“I’m not recommending
we increase anybody’s budget,” Crawford
said. “They must eat this increase.”
Crawford’s comments came
as the committee began its budget hearings following
the meeting. He said County Executive Russ Pry has proposed
a budget that reflects a 4 percent increase over this
year.
“We need to keep the budget
flat over the next three years,” Crawford said.
“We don’t want to get into a situation like
we had in the ’90s with hiring freezes.”
Summit County Council is scheduled
to meet for committee meetings Nov. 26 at 4:30 p.m.
in Council Chambers on the seventh floor of the Ohio
Building, 175 S. Main St.
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