Parking violations in downtown area to be more strictly enforced
City residents can expect to see new construction and new equipment at various recreational venues as the Bellefontaine City Council Tuesday, Oct. 22 gave final consent to an ordinance to raise money for just such a project.
Council unanimously passed an ordinance that will allow the city to issue and sell municipal recreation bonds in the amount of $10 million. This money is to be used for the purchase and installation of recreational equipment at various locations in the city.
Listen to council member Deb Baker discuss the ordinance for municipal bonds.
In other action, council waived the third reading on two ordinances and passed both without objection. The first was to authorize the administration to apply for and accept a grant for $601,000 for a tanker truck for the Bellefontaine Fire Department, while the second ordinance was to approve the Ludlow Ridge Phase I subdivision dedication plat, a property containing just over 22 acres of land in Lake Township located just south of the Bellefontaine Middle School.
The only “no” vote cast at Tuesday’s meeting came on the second reading of an ordinance that will establish the compensation — starting January 1, 2026 — for a variety of city positions, including mayor, city council members, president of council, clerk of council, law director and auditor. Council Member Nick Davis cast the lone “no” vote on the reading, which passed 6-1 and will be up for a third reading and final vote at the next regular meeting.
Prior to jumping into the agenda, Bellefontaine Police Chief Chris Marlow presented to Council one of the Bellefontaine Police Department’s newest assets as Officer Jerrod Hostetler brought K9 Pyro to the meeting for a formal introduction. Pyro has been on the job since mid-June and has already assisted in a number of arrests, including weapons and narcotic cases.
Chief Marlow also said that a Ford Explorer the BPD ordered some time ago is to be delivered soon and a second Explorer is currently being built.
Marlow went on to say that two officer candidates have cleared their psychological tests, and once they complete physicals, should be in uniform and on the job in the near future. He also said that a grant received by the BPD has allowed the department to keep a full-time narcotics detective on the street.
The city announced Tuesday it plans more rigorous enforcement of parking violations to help alleviate parking issues in the downtown area.
In the streets committee report, council member John Aler reported that the committee came to the conclusion that most acceptable method for dealing with the problems and tribulations of downtown parking is simply to strictly enforce the parking laws that are already in place.
A suggestion that the a change to the angle parking in the downtown spaces would have robbed the downtown of 30 parking spaces it can ill afford to lose, and other suggestions were similarly dismissed.
So the committee recommended to council that – rather than to undertaking the huge and thankless task of redrawing downtown parking from tip-to-toe – that rigorous attention and enforcement will be paid to violators who over stay their allowed parking limits downtown, a problem that has plagued Bellefontaine for years.
Mr. Aler said that the city should lean more toward education and warnings for the rest of 2024, but after the first of the year, enforcement of parking laws will return in full measure and violators can expect to be ticketed.
Following the completion of the agenda, Ms. Baker requested an executive session to discuss the possible sale of real estate, and the council unanimously approved. The session lasted about 15 minutes and the council took no further action on the night, briefly reconvening before immediately adjourning as soon as the executive session ended.
Bellefontaine City Council’s next regular session is slated for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 12.