By Andrew Walsh
awalsh@wbcowqel.com

Galion City Council held a special meeting Monday night for the consideration of renewing with Efficiency Smart on a three-year contract. The special meeting was required to meet the March 31 deadline for a $71,000 renewal rebate.

The issue of whether to renew was much discussed at the previous regular council meeting, but council was unwilling to suspend the rules for quicker passage that time around. More time to discuss was called for, but council established the special meeting so that if it was approved, the decision could be rendered in time for the rebate.

After another round of discussions, council decided to renew. The new three-year deal will be for $440,000 before the $71,000 discount for renewing members.

Galion still owes $359,000 on the previous contract, due to having the option to defer half of the payments. The city retained the option to defer 25 percent of a new contract to a second three-year cycle, but after Tom Fellner and Carl Watt voiced dissenting opinions on the course of action, it seems unlikely that such a deferment will happen.

During the discussions Eric Webber and Mayor Tom O’Leary spoke heavily in favor of renewing. Mike Richart also sought to make it clear that he was not necessarily against renewing in previous meetings, just that he had reservations that he wanted addressed first. In the end it was voted through unanimously.

Joe Kleinknecht, of the Chamber of Commerce, had also been a vocal supporter. At the end of the meeting he offered his gratitude on behalf of that group, “Thank you council, it’s a good program.”

The other action taken was Ordinance 2014-41, to correct an OPERS payment oversight from 1982-1983. This bill is for $26,100 due to the payments that were missed and the penalties that have been accruing over the years.

There was some discussion at the last regular meeting about attempting to argue this payment, but Auditor Brian Treisch shot down any chance the city has of getting out of it. A motion to suspend the rules was defeated, but council will still have the opportunity to give the ordinance its final reading at the next regular council meeting.