Aurora City Council & COW - 1/13/2025

Aurora, Ohio, City Council and Committee of the Whole
January 13, 2025

Committee of the Whole (COW): The meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm by Chairman John Kudley with Council members present: Brad Duguay, Peter French, George Horvat,   Dennis Kovach, John Seitz and Scott Wolf. Council members absent: Reva Barner and Sarah Grdina Gardner. There were 10 City Officials and Employees present. There were 4 citizens present.

Minutes from December 16, 2024 were adopted.

 There were 6 Ordinances and 1 Resolution proposed for action that evening on 1st Reading:

• An Ordinance reflecting changes in compensation for 2 individuals. A promotion from Service Tech 1 to Service Tech lead and a part/time Dispatcher.
  
• An Ordinance to reflect changes in compensation for a 5% increase for the Clerk of Council.
  
• An Ordinance approving an amendment to the contract for the provision of legal services to reflect a 2% increase to the base salary of the Law Director for 2025.
  
• An Ordinance approving an amendment to the contract for the Economic Development Director to reflect a 3% increase to the base salary.
  
• An Ordinance authorizing the Mayor to execute a Memorandum of Understanding with the Friends of the Aurora Memorial Library for the purpose of leasing space at the city owned library building.
  
• An Ordinance authorizing the Mayor to execute a lease agreement with the Portage County District Library for the purpose of leasing space at the city owned library building.
  
• A Resolution authorizing the Mayor to apply for and execute documents directly associated with the 2024 Total Optimization Grant through the Ohio EPA for the purchase of equipment for the Westerly Wastewater Treatment Plant.
  

There were 2 Ordinances proposed for 1st Reading:

• An Ordinance authorizing the purchase of annual software and technology purchases through LTech Solutions LTD in the amount of $198,129.90. 
  
• An Ordinance creating 3 new funds- Fund 68 Special Purpose Utility Fund, Fund 97 Bainbridge Aurora JEDD Fund, Fund 98 JEDD Maintenance & Improvement (M&I) Fund in order to timely receive and account for receipts and expenditures associated with the Bainbridge Aurora JEDD. Tax funds should start coming in March or April. The JEDD Board- Aurora’s Mayor and a Bainbridge Township Trustee with a 3rd Member to be appointed- will meet again in February when by-laws will be set.
  

Meeting adjourned at 6:17 pm

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City Council (CC):  Council President George Horvat called the meeting to order at 6:22 pm with the Pledge to the Flag of the United States of America. All Council members were present and absent as noted in the COW report. There were 10 City Officials and Employees present and 4 people in the gallery.

December 16, 2024 Meeting Minutes were adopted.

There was a 27 minute Executive Session to consider the compensation of public employees or officials.

Mayor’s Report: The City’s purchase of Geauga Lake and 47 acres closed and the city officially owns it; Support for the 2025 Budget would be appreciated; City offices will be closed on January 20 in observance of Martin Luther King Day; The State of the City luncheon will take place on Wednesday, February 26 at the Bertram Inn and Conference Center; The Mayor attended the ribbon cutting for the newly renovated and expanded AIM building, spoke at the Aurora Rotary and recorded the January Mayor’s report at Community Focus.

Law Director’s Report: Mr. DiPiero’s had no verbal report but it was included in the packet.

Citizens Comments: None
Council Remarks: None

Ordinance on 3rd Reading:

• An Ordinance approving and adopting the Annual Budget for 2025 was adopted with J Kudley voting no. He had a list of questions he thought important to consider, that the public should be aware of. He said the process of approving the budget has changed dramatically since he was first on Council with approval being much earlier than it used to be when there was a Finance Committee who spent more time going over the budget items. He highlighted some items: the request of the Police Department for 4 e-bikes (answer: the new hike and bike trail will need these to patrol it); Improvements at Hartman Farm specifically for irrigation (answer: The fields need to be kept in good shape, the drought last summer showed the need for this. The water is not potable and it would be too costly to install a treatment plant); A new Lift Station for $200,000 (answer: A new one is needed as the old one was destroyed at the former Sea World property); The Installation of a Columbarium at the Aurora Cemetery for Cremated remains. He questioned a line item that would provide city funds to homeowners for sidewalk repairs which is similar to a previous 3 year program. He said there is a city ordinance that makes it the responsibility of the homeowners to be responsible for repairs and maintenance. He requested this item be removed for further discussion since it does not follow the ordinance. The Mayor replied that some council members requested this for their residents. 2 Council members voted to remove it 

from the budget but that motion failed. 



Ordinances and Resolutions on 1st Reading:

• The 6 Ordinances proposed at COW for action on 1st Reading were adopted with rules suspended. See COW for details.
• The Resolution concerning the Grant was adopted with rules suspended. See COW for details.
• The 2 Ordinances proposed for 1st Reading: Annual Software and technologies purchases and the creation of 3 new funds for the JEDD went to 2nd Reading.

Citizens Comments: H Caplin, the owner of 7 ½ acres in Aurora, spoke again about rezoning that property for senior housing that would allow owners of pets a place to keep their pets with them. He said the city has degraded the property by the Service Department’s use of the road. There has been no interest in the property for retail use.
D. Conti had questions about the new development in Bainbridge of 330 apartment or condo units and concerned about the ingress and egress being so close to Aurora and whether they will put in another traffic light. Mr. Stark said it is not in Aurora’s jurisdiction.
A man from California had received a traffic ticket which he thought was not warranted and wanted to know how he could request body camera footage of the exchange. Mr. DiPiero gave him his card and said he should contact him to discuss the procedure.

Council Members Remarks: None

 The meeting adjourned at 7:30 pm.