Audio clip from meeting below
City Auditor Fred Brentlinger had some good news for the Bellefontaine City Council at its regular meeting Tuesday, reporting that the Parks and Recreation levy that voters approved in March 2024 has begun to pay off.
Moody’s recently gave the Bellefontaine Parks and Rec Bonds their highest possible rating and things unfolded to Bellefontaine’s benefit from there. The bonds were put on the market last week and sold out in 2.5 hours, raising $5 million for the city’s parks and recreational facilities.
Mr. Brentlinger discusses the city’s bond sales:
Mr. Brentlinger went on to say that given favorable interest rates, the Parks and Recreation Department can expect to realize about $200,000 in interest per annum from the bonds.
Three ordinances were passed by the Bellefontaine City Council on their third reading Tuesday. The first authorized the city to enter into a contract with Motorola Solutions Inc. for a fire station alert system, the second authorized the city to enter into a contract with CHA Consulting for professional services related to the Bellefontaine Regional Airport and the third amended Chapter 1127 of the City Code, giving the zoning authority more teeth to enforce codes related to property blight in regards to recreational vehicles, mobile homes and the like.
Salaries of municipal employees took up a better part of the ordinances up for a second reading as there were a jumble of measures providing for the compensation of the Bellefontaine Municipal Court Judge, the president of council, council members, clerk of council, mayor, law director and auditor for 2025. Other ordinances included the establishment for certain hourly employees of the city, which were divided into three separate ordinances – supervisory wages, service workers wages and clerical workers wages – while while another will provide compensation for Bellefontaine Municipal Court employees.
A resolution which would describe the boundaries of the Bellefontaine Community Reinvestment Areas (CRA), designate a housing officer to administer programs, and create a Community Reinvestment Area housing council as well as a Tax and Review Council for CRAs was up for a first reading Monday.
Following the reading of the text of the resolution, Bellefontaine resident Howard Traul asked to address the Council on the matter of CRAs, but was denied to do so by President of Council Zeb Wagner.
Mr. Traul persisted, emphasizing that it was his right to address the Council on this matter once it was opened to the floor, an interpretation of legislative procedure which President Wagner pointedly and repeatedly disagreed. After a short, brusque exchange between the two, President Wagner finally instructed Mr. Traul to take his seat in the gallery and speak no more or he would be removed from the council chambers. Mr. Traul took President Wagner at his word and complied, sitting silently before leaving prior to the council breezing through the rest of the agenda.
Mayor David Crissman appointed Keyne Strickland to the Parks Commission, Tammy Gump and Dr .Jason A. Robson to the Board of Tax Review and Terry Stolly and Doug Zimmerman to the Bellefontaine-Logan County Finance and Development Authority, all of which were approved by the Council without a dissenting vote.
In his report to the council, Parks and Recreation Supervisor Kris Myers said that with the passage of the levy and the sale of the bonds as noted above, his department is recruiting a design specialist and expects to begin the renovation of Harmon Field in the spring.
Following the administration reports, three people took advantage of the hearing of citizens portion of the meeting to address the marijuana dispensary moratorium that was put in place by the council earlier this year. in the city. Two of those who spoke were in favor of a permanent ban on dispensaries of adult-use, recreational marijuana in the city, while the third took the opposite tack, noting that within a short walk of the council chambers, adults are legally able to purchase tobacco products, alcohol, and state-sponsored lottery tickets at any convenience store. No further discussion from either the public or the Council was made on the matter following the citizen comments.
The Bellefontaine City Council is scheduled to meet again at 7:30 p.m. on December 10.