Council 7/9

I attended Council on 7/9, and here's what I saw.

Andy resignation. I am sad to see Andy go. He fought for transparency and productive meeting environment. I wish him luck in his next chapter.

Finance Committee insurance renewal.  I support keeping our insurance policy as is.  We didn't uncover additional savings as I had hoped.

Finance Committee employee health care renewal.  Since the promise was made to Employees to forgo raises in exchange for stable health care, I think it's reasonable to leave as is.  However, we should again review next year, including 1)mult plans based on Employee interest) 2)a possible 90% Village /10% Employee expense option vs the existing 100/0 and the optional 80/20 which Mariemont doesn't participate in.

Fire Truck.  This is a huge, but necessary expense for the Village.  The truck is approx 25 years old, it's mechanically unsound and does not meet fire safety standards that have evolved much over 25 years.  Bringing it up to standards is prohibitively expensive in my opinion.  We have 1/3 saved so far, and we can drain the Admin Building addition fund, which I view as great news.  This fund is wasteful and unnecessary, so I am glad to see it being spent on something the Village truly needs.

Budget for 2013.  I voted for it as a vote for accuracy, not for approval.  It's not good news.  The work of Council over the past 3 years is not enough to offset the loss of Village revenue via State funds.  We're in trouble, in my opinion.

New Councilman process.  I fear we broke the law at the meeting.  I don't know how 6 people can vote on a vacancy fill.  By definition, there has to be 1 empty seat for a vacancy to have occurred.  So, the outgoing councilman should never vote for his/her replacement.  I believe this was handled badly, and from what I recall, against what Ed advised:  Andy abstain.  I believe we got it wrong.

Joe Stelzer.  While I'm still getting to know him, I'm a fan of all the work he's done on the South 80, and all the years he ran the Elementary Track program.  I'm sure we'll find pithy topics to partner on and I wish him success in his new role.

I voted in the affirmative on all votes as all were procedural except:  fire truck which I viewed as necessary, budget which I view is accurate, yes for delaying Joe's vote to give Council a chance to know him, and yes to Joe Stelzer as replacement for Andy.


Cortney
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