GALION — Galion Mayor Tom O’Leary voiced his frustrations with a Crawford County Commissioner and his intended use of a grant.
O’Leary said Crawford County Commissioner Tim Ley intended to use money from a block grant to put an elevator in the county jail.
“With that money we could do more demolition, and I believe, but I’m not sure, that Bucyrus made a similar request,” O’ Leary said. “We should all be shocked and questioning what that money was allocated to-anybody know? They’re going to use $80,000 to install a new elevator in the jail. It is a non-public area and they are going to use that money for that.”
Mayor O’Leary joked about it being Ley’s decision, and Ley being a former sheriff’s deputy that it’s “certainly not coincidental.”
“I checked, and it wasn’t an April Fool’s joke, though it is pretty foolish,” O’Leary said.
O’Leary said he was on the phone with the commissioner’s office and was asking why Galion’s request for an amendment on the uptown grant is being held until the commissioners’ amendment to the formula block grant is ready to be submitted.
There are two different block grants – the uptown grant and the formula grant.
The city received money out of the county’s block grant, which used to be a city grant but now the money has been acquired by the county.
O’Leary said the money could be used in Galion for demolition and for fixing sidewalks instead.
Also, at the meeting, council passed ordinances 2019-39 and 2019-40 as emergency clauses to meet deadlines.
Ordinance 2019-39 is a yearly ordinance that authorizes the submission and acceptance of VOCA/SVAA grants from the Ohio Attorney General. VOCA is the Federal Victims of Crime Act and SVAA is the State Victims Assistance Act.
The city of Galion is requesting $16,18.07 from VOCA and $1,417.76 to be used with a cash match of $4,079.75 from SVAA for fiscal year 2020 City of Galion Victims Assistance Program.
Ordinance 2019-40 is a fund transfer for the health department.