Newton Falls – On the first day of spring, council members gathered briefly at the community center for the second regular meeting of March. All officials were present with the exception of Councilwoman Johnson and Councilman Luonuonsuu who were excused for the evening.
After the Pledge of Allegiance, Mayor Waddell announced the donation for this meeting would be given to the Newton Falls Cops and Kids program. He also discussed the success of the Trumbull County Civic Day during which high school students from around the county had the opportunity to shadow city officials and other leaders to learn about the duties and responsibilities involved in various career choices.
With no reports from council members, the agenda moved on to the City Manager’s report. Mr. Haney stated that a local Boy Scout troop was given a tour of the city offices. Any other interested groups are encouraged to have their leaders contact the city officials to arrange an educational tour. Also reported was that a statewide tornado siren will be going off sometime this week as a test so citizens should not be alarmed. The Fourth of July committee is looking for volunteers – anyone available to help can contact the City Manager’s office to be pointed in the right direction.
In other news, Councilman Monteville mentioned he received a phone call of gratitude from a city resident for the good job that city workers have done around town.
Due to a “substantial change” to ordinance 2011-04, Councilman Zamecnik pointed out it should go back to a first reading and made a motion to do so. However, with lack of a second to the motion, it failed to move forward. Other ordinances discussed on the agenda included: 2011-02 – authorizing payment of attorney fees; 2011-03 – wind turbine regulations; 2011-04 – authorizing the use of a collections agency to recover delinquent utility bill payments; 2011-05 – establishing a raise in sewer rates; and 2011-06 – reimbursement of personal election expenses related to the unsuccessful recall of Councilman Luonuonsuu, which passed for a 2nd reading. The full details of each ordinance or resolution can be read online at http://ci.newtonfalls.oh.us.
During closing comments, Councilman Monteville said that he would like it put in writing that since a motion last meeting was passed 5-0 to table some of the above issues until April when all five council members would be present, and no motion was put forth to untable those issues, that he wonders if any of the votes made this evening by the three members present were in fact legal. He requested advice from the law director concerning such inquiry. Councilwoman Hoffman and Councilman Zamecnik both mentioned that they’d received numerous phone calls from the public wondering why a meeting shouldn’t go forth as planned since there was a quorum – or a majority – of council members present. Also, Mayor Waddell believes there needs to be a business plan and goals for the council and committee meetings. During a recent discussion with Youngstown’s mayor, Jay Williams, Mayor Waddell learned of how the larger city operates and now has some extra ideas to apply to the benefit of the smaller village.
The next regular council meeting will be April 4th.
