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Health & Fitness

What happened last night? - Mike Rasor's blog

Last night, Committee-of-the-Whole met, followed by a regular council meeting. Here are my notes:

TRICK-OR-TREAT – First, what everyone wants to know: When is Trick-or-Treat? For most of the city, it’s this Saturday from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. For Wyoga Lake Estates, it is October 31. Today at City Hall, you may bring children to do some indoor trick-or-treating from city employees. That goes from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

LEAF PICKUP – The road paving program will close next week. Our hard-working service employees are still finishing up four roads. After that, they will begin the leaf-pickup program. In fact, if you live in District 1, you should have your leaves on the curb by 7 a.m. this Monday. Every street in town will be picked twice. Click this link (Leaf Pickup) to learn your district and schedule.

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ISSUE 16 – As you know, Election Day is November 5. All City Council seats will be up for grabs. More importantly, Issue 16 will be decided. If passed, Issue 16 will raise income taxes by 0.25 percent for police funding. As you know, I oppose this measure because there is a giant loophole that may allow the current police funding to be reallocated. After Issue 16 fails, I have a backup plan for funding police. I want to hire two police officers per year through city-wide attrition. This would give us a steady strengthening of the department, as opposed to an overnight 30% increase. Click HERE to read what the Akron Beacon Journal said about the levy in today’s paper.

ROLL-OFF DUMPSTERS – Every now and again, there is a gap in our zoning code that allows folks to do things that are not acceptable to a reasonable neighbor. Having a dumpster on your front lawn for more than 30 days is one of those things. I made some minor amendments to the final legislation, and it was passed unanimously.

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ANNUAL BUDGET – We gave a first reading to the annual budget. Usually, we don’t start discussing the budget until February, but I suspect the change in composition of council, which will take place January 1, has something to do with this accelerated start. By giving the budget a first reading this week, council may vote on it before the end of the year (after it receives three readings). This would exclude any new council members from voting on it. Based on Mary Bednar being kicked off the ballot, council is guaranteed to have at least one new member (Bob Adaska in Ward 4).

MARHOFER REZONING – The next meeting will be a public hearing on November 18 regarding the Marhofer rezoning. I am very hopeful that a compromise can be worked out between both sides. I think it’s unacceptable for our city to turn down the $5 million investment that RLM Darrow, LLC is proposing, and risk that the dealership someday moves. On the other hand, I have a problem with there being no buffer of trees between the dealership and the Thorndale residents. If, somehow, one parcel could be spared, then I think you’d have a city council ready to vote “yes.” Otherwise, I really have no idea how the vote will turn out.


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