BUCYRUS-After a cancelled meeting and video conferences, the Bucyrus City Council concluded a productive meeting in the evening of August 18, 2020 including many aspects of housing and zoning issues in the community.

The council reviewed Tax Incentive was discussed and approved. Follow this link for the full documentation.

A citizen letter was shared sharing concern for the policies of the council not being properly followed and the item in question was reviewed and appropriate action taken to move that issue forward.

Due to tax foreclosure, several areas in the city have become property of the city, as explained by Law Director, Rob Ratliff.

President Kurt Fankhauser and Mayor Reser exchanged heated opinions about reducing income tax of 2% to 1.85%, to directly benefit tax payers because Mr. Fankhauser feels “the general revenue is up for what our target is for the general fund, significantly.”, The Mayor indicated that “we are down 3% for the year income tax revenue“ the city tax revenue won’t be high, as he expects a deficit of $2-300,000 below last year. The Mayor replied, “If you’re going down to 1.8% you are going to be cutting money out of safety forces.” The consensus was that the numbers would be continued to be monitored monthly.

The standing committees presented their findings from their last meetings and presented issues for the first meeting, council requirement for voting on issues. ( insert the colored pages here)

Several ordinances were submitted for review or introduction and were presented as a first read. These include Ordinance 23-2020 (emergency) 24-2020, 25-2020 (emergency) and 26-2020.

Ordinance 22-2020 was presented for the 2nd reading while ordinance 19-2020 was presented for the 3rd reading. After the 3rd reading, the council voted to adopt the ordinance 19-2020 that re-designates some parcels on Hopley Avenue, previously approved by the zoning committee. Council also adopted ordinances 22-2020, and 23-2020 and 25-2020.

Under new and miscellaneous business, councilwoman Lisa Alsept approached asking if extra relief monies could be allocated to city businesses to help cover costs of protective and cleaning supplies. They council also discussed other ways to use any surplus monies.

There was also discussion on extending the movie nights on Fridays , at the Schines Art Park. Other pending schedules, sports and activities will play a factor in this decision. Please visit the Schines Art Park Facebook Page to learn more.

Upcoming meetings of interest:
August 19 Music at the Mural concert, Schines Art Park, 7:30 p.m.
August 25 Board of Zoning Appeal meeting, Council Chambers, 4 pm
September 8 City Council Meeting 7:00 p.m.