With the Mayor David Crissman and Council Present Zeb Wagner absent as they are visiting Bellefontaine’s sister city of Suzuka, Japan, the Bellefontaine City Council zipped through its agenda at its regular meting Tuesday, Sept. 9.
Three ordinances were adopted on their third and final readings with unanimous votes from the council.
The first ordinance approved supplemental appropriations and amended the permanent appropriations for the Bellefontaine Police Department, while the second authorized the 2025 replacement pages to the city’s codified ordinances.
The third ordinance gave nod to the Service/Safety Director to have the city enter into an emergency repair agreement with LeVan’s Excavating regarding a ruptured storm water line under Canby Street.
Council members also adopted two resolutions, again with unanimous votes. The first resolution will authorize the city’s participation in the State of Ohio’s lawsuit settlement with Purdue Pharma/Sackler Family as a result of these companies’ participation in exacerbating the opioid crisis.
The second resolution accepted and certified the city’s levy amounts and rates as determined by the Budget Commission, which will be now forwarded Logan County Auditor’s Office. The council waived, without objection, the 24-hour reading rule Tuesday in order to pass the second measure.
However, the ordinance for the proposed annexation of the Detrick Property, located to the southwest of the city limits, ran into opposition during the second reading of the measure at Tuesday’s meeting.
While the first reading of the ordinance passed the council unanimously, at the second reading of the ordinance, Council Members John Aler, MacKenzie Fitzpatrick and Jordan Reser all voted against the annexation, with the measure passing 4-3 and therefore advancing to a final reading and vote, which is scheduled for next regular meeting of the council.
At Law Director Josh Stolly’s request Tuesday, the emergency clause in the annexation ordinance was removed (by a 7-0 margin) prior to conducting the second reading and vote.
Generally, an ordinance that is approved by a council on its third reading and final vote takes effect 30 days following the mayor’s signature on the legislation, but many councils — not just Bellefontaine’s — frequently add an emergency clause to ordinances, meaning that measures that are approved can take effect immediately following the mayor’s approval.
By excising the emergency clause, should the Detrick annexation be approved, the measure will not come into effect until after 30 days have passed following the mayor’s assent, giving opponents of the annexation a window in which to submit a petition to overturn the measure.
During the citizen comments portion of the meeting, Rachel Moreland, who resides on County Road 11, spoke against the annexation, noting that the 4.6 acres of the Moreland’s land would be surrounded on three sides by the city while leaving the their property outside of the city limits, much the way that the Penhorwood property on east Lake Avenue is now surrounded by the city following the annexation of the LeVan Property last month.
The Detrick property, which is just over 143 acres in size, is slated to become a housing development and Moreland echoed earlier statements from residents who live near the proposed annexation, saying that traffic studies have yet to be completed for the area, and there have been no indications on how the annexed property is to be developed, as no plans for any construction on the annexation have been formally presented to the Planning Commission or the council itself.
Also during the citizen comments portion of the the meeting, Angie Hall, a dispatcher for the Bellefontaine Police Department who was representing the Ohio Patrolman’s Benevolent Association, made it clear that the local members of the OPBA were strongly against combining the Bellefontaine Police Department and the Logan County Sheriff’s Office dispatch services. This levy measure will appear before Logan County voters in the November election, which, if passed, would place an additional $70 per year in taxes for every $100,000 of a property’s value.
Hall noted that the six dispatchers who work exclusively for the city have more than 100 years of experience and that combining the two dispatch centers into a single unit would ill serve the city’s residents.
The technology that is now being used by both dispatch centers, Hall said, immediately directs 9-1-1 emergency calls to the proper dispatch station, be it in the city or in the county.
Combining the two dispatch centers, Hall continued, may very well cost some dispatchers their jobs and would likely remove the BPD dispatchers’ presence from Bellefontaine City Building, where the dispatchers currently staff the office 24 hours a day. In addition, combining the two could lead closure of the city’s dispatch center, leaving the reception area at the city’s dispatch center unmanned at certain times during the day, Hall related.
Even with the citizen comments, the council wrapped up its business Tuesday in just under 30 minutes, adjourning the meeting just prior to 8 p.m.
The Bellefontaine City Council is scheduled to meet again in regular session at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 23.
