City Council's Busy Night

Circleville City Council touched on many different issues during the committee meetings and in the regular meeting held Tuesday.

A very important piece of information provided by Mayor Michelle Blanton was that there were three interviews for the Public Safety Director position held on May 14.

Regarding the Police Chief position, Blanton is now working with the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police to establish procedures to follow in the hiring process. It has not yet been established who will be on the panel to interview the candidates. Blanton said that she hopes to have the positions filled by the end of summer.

After the meetings were over, Blanton was interviewed on camera by ABC6 and asked about the news that Ohio Attorney General David Yost had denied the City’s request to have the BCI investigate and determine if there were any problems associated with the former Chief and Assistant Chief of Police.

Evidently, the BCI refused to enter into an investigation because there was a lack of specifics or evidence about any alleged wrongdoing. Blanton stated that she would cooperate with any investigation should one be initiated.

In other actions by the City Council that night, the Strategic Planning Committee, Chaired by Sheri Theis, announced the receipt of a $1 Million grant from the US Forestry Department to cover the costs associated with the establishment of an Arborist position within the Service Department. The grant will cover the cost of the salary of $40,000 per year for 5 years, and have money left over to cover the costs of planting, pruning and removing trees where needed. A motion was passed to approve the position and send it to the full council for approval on June 4th.

At the regular meeting of the Council, Sheri Theis acted as President Pro Tem in the absence of Barry Keller. At the start of the meeting, members of the public were invited to speak before the council, and Tom Verfaille took the opportunity to voice his displeasure with the discussion of placing a homeless shelter in the city-owned property behind Ace Hardware. He stated that there were many children in the neighborhood, and also stated concerns about the COSI-like venture being created nearby. He was, no doubt, referring to the Imagination Station project being constructed behind the library which will attract many school-age children.

A representative of Enterprise Fleet Management, Ross VanBibber, was invited to address Council and answer any questions about the open-end leasing program that was proposed for the city fleet by the Finance Committee. As reported earlier, the projected savings are more than $500,00 over ten years. VanBibber explained that with their purchasing power, they could acquire new vehicles at a savings of $4,000 per unit for the police department, as an example. The program would start with 13 vehicles being swapped out. With these vehicles, the city will get better gas mileage, lower maintenance costs, and detailed information about the usage of the vehicles.

Enterprise will be acquiring Dodge Durango Police Pursuit vehicles as the new patrol cars. They will be delivered with license, title and tags already handled, and will also be fully outfitted, all included in the cost of the program. Any ongoing maintenance can still be done at the city’s current repair shops.

City Auditor Mark Bidwell shared with the Council that he had discussed the program with the Service Director of the City of Sharonville, and had received a “very positive” opinion of the program. A motion to approve the adoption of the program was made and passed by the full council.

In New Business, Council member Katie Logan Hedge asked the full council to approve a recommendation from her Finance Committee for the new Planning position. A motion was made and approved to add this new position.

In summary, it was a full and eventful evening at City Council, and many programs were moved along toward completion.