By Andrew Walsh
awalsh@wbcowqel.com

Galion’s Power Cost Adjustment, after many months of serious discussion, will receive a significant change after Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

The PCA has often been criticized for its lack of transparency. It has also been alleged in the past that the City has even been derelict in its duties of applying this ordinance. The city has always contested those allegations, but Tuesday night took steps to ensure greater transparency.

The PCA is a calculation that is to be done twice a year, to determine what rate the city should be charging for power. Under the old language of the ordinance, this task was under the purview of the city manager, now a defunct position following the change to a statutory form of city government in Galion.

Ordinance 2015-39 will the responsibility of determining the PCA in the hands of City Council and the Utility Committee specifically. The committee will be in charge of conducting the calculation and reporting findings to general council.

Another change, also involving the Utility Department but affecting the whole city, came in the form of a presentation from Dan Bute. Bute made a Powerpoint presentation to council unveiling the city’s new Web site.

Bute reported that it was about a year ago that Mayor Tom O’Leary put together a Web site redesign committee. They have spent the intervening time studying Web sites of neighboring municipalities. Initially, they were planning to conduct this work in-house, but after some research decided the best course of action would be to hire out this service.

They settled on a company named CivicPlus, that has built over 1,700 websites nationwide. This company built Web sites for a number of the municipalities that were studied; specifically Worthington, Ohio, whose Web site was among the favorites.

The Web site will go live on May 13, and is vastly updated in many departments. It is much easier to add content, allow for citizen interaction, and looks like a Web site from the year 2015.

Mike Richart commended the committee members for doing, “an outstanding job.”

Resolution 2015-9 was a late addition to the agenda, but has carries some weight for potential future projects. What this ordinance is in essence, is a pledge to support the Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing in their project to renovate the Central Hotel. However, there is no dollar amount and this is a non-binding commitment.

The reason for this is that the Ohio Capital Corporation has not necessarily decided that they will renovate said building. It is speculated that the dollar amount of the work will be $3.7 million. The building was last renovated 10 years ago.

What this ordinance does do is show that Galion is willing to step up to the plate should the corporation chose to take on this project; something that would be very unlikely without this pledge. It should also be noted that this pledge is for loan funds, so the city would recoup its output. There will be a meeting of this committee on the 21st where it will be decided if the Board takes on this project.

YMCA Director Terry Gribble gave the upcoming summer pool update. Due to increases in minimum wage, the YMCA will be charging $95 per hour compared to last year’s $94. They are planning to be open from June 8 to August 15; perhaps to the 21st if staffing allows. This would be 77 days with perfect weather, and Gribble jokingly added that after consecutive cool summers they are due a warm one.

There will be a special Utility Meeting at 7 p.m. on May 14, Sawvel will be in attendance to address the new rate study.