By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com

Now that the matter of outdoor dining passed through Bucyrus City Council, the Health and Safety Committee turned its attention to open containers in the Downtown Business District Thursday night. The matter, however, did not take a decent-sized step beyond the outdoor dining issue.

Committee members Steve Pifer, Bill O’Rourke, and Mark Makeever were provided with Bucyrus’ current liquor control legislation and two ordinances the city of Galion has on the books pertaining to the matter of open containers and permitted uses. Law Director Rob Ratliff pointed out there may be conflicts with the city’s ordinance, which requires at least a six-foot high fence for beer gardens, and what businesses such as Norman’s Niche may install.

O’Rourke, who has fought against businesses using the city’s sidewalks, suggested that allowing liquor outdoors for longer periods of time could lead to more alcoholism and additional work for the police department. He then motioned to put the issue of open containers on the ballot, which was met with silence.

“I’m not to the point to put it on the ballot,” Makeever finally said. “I’m not saying, ‘Let’s make a decision right now.’”

O’Rourke, noting that he was drawing on 40 years of law enforcement experience, said that alcohol created problems especially when more people were added to the streets. He then steered the conversation back to the issue of public right-of-ways and who owned the sidewalks.

“You might not want to do that – it might pass,” Councilman Dan Wirebaugh said about placing the issue on the ballot. He added that the city would at least have control over which businesses would be allowed to serve alcohol outdoors if they were required to apply for a conditional use permit.

The committee chose to table the matter for the time being until they could review the information provided to them.

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Ratliff invited representatives from the Ohio Manufactured Homes Commission (OMHC) to speak about the organization’s work and how it applies to mobile home parks in Bucyrus. Notably, the city had concerns with McFarlan Court on East Mansfield Street and River’s Edge on West Mansfield Street.

Gordon Grove, the newly-minted Bucyrus Property Maintenance Code Officer, provided examples of the mobile homes at McFarlan Court and the images surprised the OMHC representatives.

“This has been a long, long, long ongoing problem,” Grove said.

Janet Williams, Director of the Manufactured Homes Commission, explained that the Crawford County Public Health Department acted as the OMHC’s eyes and ears in the community when it conducted the annual inspection at the mobile home parks. With the annual review coming up this month, she indicated they would help educate the health department on what to look for when conducting their inspections.

The Finance Committee requested legislation to appropriate $1,942.01 for the Safety Town program, a sum received from the Community Foundation for Crawford County. The Health and Safety Committee will be seeking legislation for street closures for the Hope Over Heroin event, which will take place on June 23 and 24.