By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
There was one turn of phrase that city officials seemed to hold close to their hearts Tuesday night. It was the first Bucyrus City Council meeting to be held after the sudden passing of Mayor Roger Moore on May 20.
Bruka Truka, sitting in as council president while Sis Love takes over the temporary duties of mayor, called for a moment of silence at the beginning of the meeting in honor of Moore. During the silence Love began speaking about Moore and the contributions he made to Bucyrus.
What started out as a strong voice highlighting Moore’s life soon began to quaver as Love struggled to get through the short speech. By the time Love reached the end, the once-powerful voice struggled to repeat the words Moore always used to close his reports: “And as always, shop Bucyrus and believe in Bucyrus.”
Those words would be repeated throughout the night as other officials ended their reports, including Law Director Rob Ratliff.
“When I first came back to Bucyrus last year, I expected to meet the Roger Moore I went to high school with,” Ratliff remembered. Instead, Ratliff came face-to-face with Mayor Moore, a man passionate about his small town.
As Ratliff came to know Moore as mayor, he noted that Moore never forgot to move Bucyrus forward, whether in noticeable or unnoticeable ways.
One of the first nights he was back in town, Ratliff said, he was walking with Moore to their cars to grab some food when Moore noticed a piece of paper near the roadway. Moore went over and picked up that piece of paper.
“He held on to it until we got near a trash can to throw it away,” Ratliff said. He saw that there was never a job too small for Moore to take on to make Bucyrus a better place.
That memory made an appearance recently for Ratliff. He had once again been walking to his car to head home after a long day when he spotted a fast food paper sack.
“That was Mayor Moore,” Ratliff said in a voice full of emotion. He picked up that piece of trash and deposited it in a trash can.
Ratliff said they needed to take a page out of Moore’s book and expect more of themselves and others and, “as always, shop Bucyrus and believe in Bucyrus.”
“He would be proud,” said Service/Safety Director Jeff Wagner. “His goals and mission lives on.”
City Council passed three pieces of legislation Tuesday night. The legislation passed included:
• Ordinance 20-2014, which pans parking on both sides of Lane St. between Plymouth St. and Mary St. Parking will also be banned on both sides of Rogers St. between Charlotte St. and Martha St.
• Ordinance 21-2014, which repealed in its entirety section 529.02 of the Codified Ordinances. That section, titled “Temporary Permits, Family Entertainment Area,” had originally established a family entertainment venue for the city. The new ordinance, however, will allow alcohol to be served during the Bratwurst Festival. Private property owners will now be able to set up beer gardens for the festival but they must still follow the guidelines of the Ohio Department of Liquor Control.
• Resolution 214-2014, which accepts the recommendations made by the Tax Incentive Review Council.
Love announced that they had received word that the Ohio Water Development Authority loan the city had applied for to help pay the costs of the engineer for the new water treatment plant had been approved. That loan totaled $893,236. The city also hopes to receive funds from the Ohio EPA Water Supply Revolving Loan Account.
Three committee meetings have been set for next week. The Public Lands and Buildings Committee will meet at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, June 9. The Service Committee will meet at 5:45 that night with the Finance Committee following at 6.