By Andrew Walsh
awash@wbcowqel.com
The Bucyrus City Council banded together for a session of joint committee meetings Thursday night which produced a wide ranging discussion of topics ranging from airport maintenance to marijuana legal stipulations.
A hefty piece of marijuana legislation was given quite a lot of consideration by council. Council member Steven Pifer led the proof reading of the document, and law director Rob Ratliff outlined the key points of the legislation.
The ordinance expands the definition of drug paraphernalia, and gives high latitude into what type of misdemeanor can be charged. Many instances of what would previously have been filed as a minor misdemeanor, can now be charged as an unclassified misdemeanor. This gives the city a higher upper fine range when it comes to sentencing, and more money going back into city coffers from drug crimes to fight drug crimes.
It removes mandatory driver’s license suspensions for infractions committed when no driving was involved. Ratliff called that standard six-month suspension, “a pretty good whack” for someone who may have been smoking marijuana in their home. Some of the more minor level infractions of marijuana law are met with fairly low fine amounts, and constantly slapping on a six-month driver’s license suspension was deemed to be inordinate punishment for the infraction at hand.
The other discussion point involving law enforcement was the possible inclusion of a “designated exchange point”. This is simply a city designated safe place for people to meet who may be finalizing some sort of internet transaction, or perhaps doing a custody exchange. A similar zone has been established in Powell, Ohio, and city officials were using that as a case study. The reviews out of Powell were all positive.
The area being proposed is simply a section of two or three parking spaces at City Hall. All that would be done would be posting a few signs delineating the area and its purpose. The idea being that is a high traffic area with high visibility of police officers and cruisers. It is also an area that is under video surveillance. Council was receptive to the idea.
Both of these issues were put on hold, as police Chief Dave Koepke was unable to attend the meeting, and council wanted to hear his input before passing these issues on.
The Finance Committee discussed several appropriations issues, with several receiving approval and one being voted down. Appropriations of $2,000 to re-wire Washington Square, and of $52,500 from a drug forfeiture case were both approved. The drug money will go toward police department expenditures.
The third appropriation was for $9,000 from the Alpha & Inez Philbin Charitable Trust and was for new fencing at the softball fields. While this fund exists to go toward public parks projects, there was considerable hesitancy on behalf of council to release the funds. Pifer clarified his position by stating that other private groups have not had city funds pay for their fences. Various baseball clubs and the soccer club have raised their own funds for these sorts of maintenance issues. The motion eventually died for lack of a second.
A change to the staffing levels at the office of the law director was requested by Ratliff. He asked that the part time position of law clerk be eliminated and replaced with the full-time position of legal assistant, to be paid in the range of $14 to $18 per hour. He also asked that the currently vacant post of a part time secretary remain available, just unfilled. The Finance Committee agreed to move these ahead for consideration by regular council.
A series of minor repairs at the airport were given the green light. The airport repairs consist of adjusting some culverts and ditches, along with some touch up pavement work. This comes in advance of the big project that will need to be tackled next year, which is the resurfacing of the entire runway area. This will an $800,000 project, but the FAA mandated these minor fixes in 2016 to precede the much larger project coming down the pike.
The wall at the Schines Art Park is moving along, but there are still some remaining negotiations with Doug Godwin, owner of Midwest Furniture, to be ironed out. The building’s new wall, which as damaged by the former Schines Theatre, will cost about $80,000 and that money is coming almost entirely from donations. This was more of an informative meeting; since they are not city funds, no real official action was required.
Editor’s note: This story originally stated that a new mural was going up at the Schines Art Park. That was incorrect; the wall at Midwest Furniture, which touched the former Schines Theatre, will be rebuilt.