What Happened at the July 12 City Council Meeting

My notes from tonight's meeting of Stow City Council are below:

-- Tonight, we honored . I have to preface the rest of this paragraph by admitting I am a huge University of Akron fan -- through and through. Rooting for Kent State was unfathomable . . . before this year's College World Series. Stricklin has a team of high-character kids, with many unique baseball talents and incredible consistency. And get this: Their team GPA was 3.9. Anyhow I really enjoyed cheering on the Flashes (did I just say that?), and I am proud that Stricklin is a member of our community.

-- In the near future, Stow will . But that date is not yet here. We are still working out kinks in the system. Keep watching your water bills for when online pay will be available.

-- I am rarely surprised at the outcome of votes on council. Tonight was one of those surprises.

All seven members of council voted against approving $50,821.90 toward sight-impaired technology at three intersections. I truly thought it would be 6-1 in favor (with me being the 1).

People are rightfully sensitive to the plight of the blind. The fact is undeniable, however; we don't have the money. We plan to run a $700,000 deficit in 2012. And our road-repair fund has been underfunded by more than $3 million in the past four years.

After Monday's meeting, a resident told me that, if I have future political ambitions, then I had better vote "yes." His message was loud (very loud) and clear: There are political ramifications for being perceived as not sympathetic to blind people. That person must not know me very well. There would be no greater joy to me than to be defeated in an election because I did what was right, in the face of what was popular.

The difference between a "politician" and a "leader" is clear to me: A leader does whatever is right, irrespective of political ramifications. A politician does whatever is popular, irrespective of what's right. Often, what's popular and what's right overlap. On a daily basis, I pray for the strength to stand strong when they diverge.

Votes like this one separate the leaders from the politicians. I'm proud of our council for unanimously guarding our funds for those residents whose roads are crumbling.

Hopefully, we will someday have the money to make this improvement. In 2012, it's not even a close call: We don't.

-- As I mentioned, the mayor vetoed our legislation to downsize the engineering department without giving a pay raise.

The mayor oddly broke up this legislation into three different pieces. Ordinance 112 was to eliminate the three positions. It passed unanimously. Ordinance 113A, which authorized the pay raise, was not voted upon. Brian Lowdermilk and I voted "no" on suspension of the rules on the pay raise. Thus, the final pay-raise vote will be delayed at least two more weeks. Ordinance 113B was unanimously withdrawn as being moot. Legislation to override the veto (which would require five votes) was similarly withdrawn unanimously. I can read your mind ... "That was more confusing than necessary."

You're right.

We need to double-down on cost-saving efforts, not relax. In Stow, there are several employees whose jobs merit a higher salary under the payroll ordinance. If we approve this raise, I can tell you what we will have before us next: more requests for raises.

-- The committees of Stow City Council will meet on July 23.