By Andrew Walsh
awalsh@wbcowqel.com
An ordinance to amend the staffing levels of the city moved ahead on a first reading, but not before some reservations about this position were discussed. The position in question is for the proposed Public Information Officer. Ordinance 2015-77 was given the go ahead on a first reading to create the position.
The reservations came as to the nature of the position, not so much the position itself. The ordinance as written only allowed for the creation of the position, and did not include a job description with formal details. Several in council, Susan Bean in particular, thought the city might be better served in creating the position after a job description has been finalized. One has been discussed tentatively, and would include such duties as maintaining the website, providing news content for the website, and interacting with the community in a variety of media.
There are concerns that this job could become overtly political in nature, and made to become a mouthpiece for whoever is residing in the mayor’s office. This was coupled with the fact that the Civil Service declined to grant this position its customary protections, as it does not view this position eligible. The question was raised that if this scenario should arise, could someone employed in this capacity be pressured out of a job if he or she put out news that the mayor disagreed with?
While no serious insinuations were aimed at the current mayor, Tom O’Leary nonetheless defended the way he has handled his subordinates.
“I don’t think anyone who works for me has had a muzzle put in their mouth.” O’Leary said.
He continued by maintaining the potential for positive work that this position could provide.
“It’s really about getting information out,” the mayor went on, “About being proactive with our communication.”
As regards the job description, O’Leary stated that the preliminary job outline had been dispersed to Council two weeks ago, and so far no objections to it had been raised. “It’s council’s prerogative to change but nothing has been suggested.”
Another objection was raised about how much the position would earn, although this was mostly down to some confusion about appropriations being made to create the position. Bob Cerrar noted that $44,000 was being allocated. Auditor Brian Treisch cleared that up by stating that was available funds leftover this year’s budget being allocated to finance its creation. O’Leary stated that he viewed this as somewhere in a $15 per hour job, not the $22 per hour job the appropriations would indicate.
The ordinance passed its first reading, but after tonight’s discussion, the position will again be considered at tomorrow night’s (Sept 23) finance committee meeting.
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The regular session began with a public hearing about a proposed change to the zoning code. As it stands, citizens of Galion can construct outbuildings totaling 1,000 square feet, or 3.5 percent of their total lot space, whichever is bigger. Ordinance 2015-76 would change that to the larger of 1000 square feet or 5 percent of total lot space.
This proposed change came after a resident requested to build an outbuilding on his lot of 34,000 square feet. The specs for his proposal exceeded his allotted 1,190 square feet. The Zoning Commission considered his request, and what its effect would be if applied to the City as a whole, and recommended that this allowance be raised to 5 percent. Most of the city lots are of a size where the 1,000 square feet would be their higher number anyway, so most properties will not be affected. This ordinance also does not do anything to nullify the setbacks that are on the books or other stipulations.
The public hearing went through without any objections, and when the regular council session began ordinance 2015-76 had the rules suspended and was passed on its final reading.
In appropriations, $360,000 was allocated to pay for the city’s remaining paving projects for the year. It is about the same total as last year, and they are expected to go through before the year is out. This was also passed on a final reading to give the safety service director a chance to get this projects sold. There will be an opening bid meeting on Thursday morning.
Ordinance 2015-83 was passed to allow the safety service director to advertise for bids for Phase 2 of the Arlington Storm Sewer Project. This is a continuation of the project begun in those a few years ago and should allow this project to be completed. It was also passed on a final reading because if excavating work is done in a timely fashion, work on the remainder of the project can continue through the winter.
Upcoming committee meetings are: Finance 7 p.m. Sept. 23 in Council Chambers; Parks 7 p.m. the 29th in chambers; Laws at 7 p.m. in chambers, and Utilities the first Wednesday of October. The Finance Committee meeting will involve the aforementioned public information officer, as well as important legislation coming from Columbus concerning local income tax collection.