Aurora City Council & COW - 6/9/25

Aurora City Council and Committee of the Whole
​June 9, 2025

Committee of the Whole (COW): The meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm by Vice Chairman Scott Wolf with Council members present: Reva Barner, Brad Duguay, Peter French, Sarah Grdina Gilmore, George Horvat, Dennis Kovach and John Seitz. John Kudley  was absent. There were 9 City Officials and Employees present. There were 2 citizens present.

Minutes from May 27, 2025 were adopted with S. Wolf abstaining.

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

• An Ordinance amending Employees Generally for 2 new Firefighter/Paramedic hires, part time Dispatcher, replacement Utilities Clerk, 2 promotions and a police officer.
• An Ordinance authorizing the Mayor to submit a Letter of Commitment to the Ohio Emergency Management Agency to request and accept additional funds from FEMA through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program which will permit the continuation of storm water improvements within the Geauga Lake neighborhood, appropriating the match amount of $100,840.73 to add to the grant amount of $907,566.54. 
• An Ordinance awarding a contract to Siteworx Unlimited, LLC in an amount not to exceed $254,338.88 to perform floodplain and storm water improvements as part of the city’s FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. This is a rebid which will do the infrastructure work and the City will be able to do some of the other work to keep the price acceptable.
• An Ordinance to enter into an agreement with IGS Energy for a 2 year period (Oct 1, 2025 through Sept 30, 2027) for a Natural Gas Opt-in Program for Aurora Residents through the city’s energy consultant Independent Energy Consultants. This is a new supplier so residents will have to opt into the program. Letters will be sent to residents in August advising them of the program. This is for approval of a formula rather than a fixed rate because of the volatility of the fuel market.
• An Ordinance authorizing the purchase of 2 Chevrolet special service vehicles from Tim Lally Chevrolet for use by the Fire and EMS Department in the amount of $104,894.72. One older vehicle will be sold at auction. There will be a net gain of 1 new vehicle.
• An Ordinance accepting the proposal of Hall Public Safety Upfitters in the amount of $22,806.27 for the purchase and installation of emergency vehicle warning lights, sirens, radio antennas and associated accessories for the 2 Chevrolet special service vehicles. The work will be done on site.

 
 
Meeting adjourned at 6:20 pm

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City Council (CC):   Council President George Horvat called the meeting to order at 6:24 pm with the Pledge to the Flag of the United States of America. Council members were present and absent as noted in the COW report. There were 9 City Officials and Employees present and 2 people in the gallery.

May 27, 2025 Meeting Minutes were adopted with S. Wolf abstaining.

Public Hearing: Ordinance 2025-091 Adopting the Tax Budget for 2026- No one spoke at the Public Hearing.

Mayor’s Report: City News highlighted:

• The annual Fishing Derby is Saturday is June 14 at Sunny Lake Park
• The Splash Pad and Sunny Lake Boathouse are open
• Food Truck Wednesdays begin June 11 and continue through August on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday from 11 am to 2 pm at Kiwanis-Moore Park
• Summer Concerts begin June 12 and continue through August on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays at 6:30 pm at Veterans Memorial Park.
• Sign up for the July 4th Fun Run, Parade and Festival at Auroraoh.com.

The Grand Opening and ribbon cutting for the Aurora Trail is on Saturday June 2
8, 2025from 11 am to 1 pm at the Paddock River Preserve parking lot. A lot of fun activities are planned. Auditor of State Keith Faber swore in Finance Director Tim Clymer as the new president of the Northeast Ohio Municipal Finance Officers’ Association- a group of nearly 200 finance professionals that works to promote education and networking in the municipal finance field- a great honor. We have 2 new full-time firefighter paramedics and are promoting one to Lieutenant.  Members of the Aurora Fire Department and the Portage County Water Rescue Team conducted training at Sunny Lake Park on May 31, 2025. Road paving is progressing. Aurora hosted over 70 baseball and softball teams for Aurora Baseball League’s 44th Annual Community Tournament June 5-8, 2025. “Parks and Rec staff worked tirelessly to prepare all 16 fields for play, and the city received many compliments on the quality of our fields and our beautiful city”. The power outages in the Industrial Park are being investigated by FirstEnergy. The Mayor welcomed her new Executive Assistant Rachel Miller.


Law Director’s Report: Mr. DePiero spoke about an item being added to the legislative agenda- the purchase of property at 1053 Fairview Lane. It unexpectedly became available when the owner was deceased and the successor trustee reached out to the city to purchase the property. The purchase price is not to exceed $270,000.00 with closing costs not to exceed $20,000.00. This is a strategic purchase that adjoins the City’s properties along Geauga Lake. He explained this was discussed in Executive Session saying that when land purchases are made public, it can drive up the price of the property. This actually helps taxpayers out as it is the best of use of public money. His second item he spoke about concerned updating Council rules regarding the change in the Mayor’s Report and introducing a concept of Consent Agenda Items. The Clerk of Council researched the concept whose intent would be to not require that Ordinances be read 3 times but could be passed as a group after 3 times on the agenda. Mr. Horvat requested that nothing be passed until all members of Council had an opportunity to study the concept.

Citizens Comments – 1 citizen asked for clarification of the location of the property proposed for purchase on Fairview Lane.

 Council Remarks – None

Ordinances on 3rd  Reading:

• The 5 Ordinances authorizing to pay for education classes were adopted.

Ordinances on 2nd Reading: 

• An Ordinance authorizing the Mayor to enter into a modification agreement to increase the amount for the completion of the city’s 2024 financial audit not to exceed $36,000.00 to James G. Zupka, CPA was adopted with rules suspended.
• The Ordinance concerning the Tax Budget had its public hearing earlier and went to 3rd Reading.
• The Ordinance accepting the proposal for the purchase of GETAC cloud storage for body cameras and dash cameras went to 3rd Reading.

Ordinances on 1st Reading: 

• The 6 Ordinances proposed at COW for action on 1st Reading were adopted with Rules suspended. See COW for details.
• An Ordinance authorizing the purchase of property at 1053 Fairview Lane that was introduced from the Mayor, Duguay and Kovach and explained by the Law Director earlier was adopted with rules suspended. The Price is not to exceed $270,000.00 nor the closing costs to exceed $20,000.00.

Citizens Comments: A citizen asked if there were any usable structures that could be used on the Fairview Lane property, even temporarily. It had been suggested that the buildings may be taken down but no assessment had been made.

Council Members Remarks: R. Barner wished all the Fathers Happy Father’s Day. G. Horvat congratulated Mr. Clymer on the big honor, well deserved, of being named President of NEOMFOA.

Meeting adjourned at 7:01 p.m.