Citizens comment on AMP presentation, Council's efforts

By Matt Echelberry

Inquirer Reporter

After leg­is­la­tion was dis­cussed at the Oct. 23 Galion City Coun­cil meet­ing, Coun­cil mem­ber Cathy George encour­aged cit­i­zens to par­tic­i­pate in the Com­mu­nity Care March on Nov. 3. The event starts at 8 a.m. at Heise Park, then the march to the Uptown Square com­mences at 9 a.m.

Police Chief Brian Sater­field also endorsed the event, say­ing that it is a chance for the com­mu­nity to get together. “This is not just Galion. It’s about the county stand­ing up against the drug issue,” he commented.

Matt Echel­berry — Staff

Galion Police Chief Brian Sater­field talks about the Com­mu­nity Care March on Nov. 3.

Coun­cil mem­ber Tom Fell­ner requested a pub­lic hear­ing for a rezon­ing request for three prop­er­ties on Port­land Way North. It will be held on Dec. 11 dur­ing the Coun­cil meeting.

In city man­ager com­ments, Gene Toy announced the “Trick or Treat Walk Your Feet” event on Thurs­day, Oct. 25 from 4–5 p.m. Uptowne busi­nesses will have candy avail­able for Trick-or-Treaters. Galion’s Trick or Treat is Sun­day, Oct. 28 from 2–4 p.m.

Toy said that depart­ment heads have sub­mit­ted pre­lim­i­nary 2013 bud­get infor­ma­tion to the county supervisor’s office. Also, on Oct. 19 the Ohio Pub­lic Works Com­mis­sion sub­com­mit­tee met. Toy com­mented that it looks pos­i­tive for Galion to receive fund­ing for the projects autho­rized at the Oct. 9 Coun­cil meet­ing for street resur­fac­ing and storm water work.

The Tay­lor Road com­post site will be open Nov. 16 and 17, 7:30–10:30 a.m. That will be the final week­end for the year.

Toy also said approx­i­mately 1,055 appli­ca­tions were received for reflec­tive house signs and smoke detec­tors, paid for through the Fire Department’s FEMA grant funds.

In cit­i­zen com­ments, Mike Richard said he was dis­ap­pointed that Coun­cil and the Char­ter have led the city to the sit­u­a­tion the vot­ers face on Nov. 6. He said Issue 5 has pit­ted neigh­bor against neigh­bor, and some peo­ple on Coun­cil are to blame.

Paula Durbin also addressed Coun­cil. She said the pre­sen­ta­tion by Amer­i­can Munic­i­pal Power, dur­ing the Oct. 9 Coun­cil meet­ing, was “a great dis­ap­point­ment” and noth­ing but “smoke and mirrors.”

“I got the impres­sion that it was a care­fully orches­trated pre­sen­ta­tion so as not to allow cit­i­zens to ask any ques­tions,” Durbin concluded.

She said that after the pre­sen­ta­tion, when the AMP rep­re­sen­ta­tives fielded ques­tions in the Town­ship Room, she asked John Ben­tine, gen­eral coun­sel for AMP, what would hap­pen if a city defaulted on the Prairie State con­tract. Accord­ing to Durbin, he replied that each city would have to pay 25 per­cent of the defaulter’s payment.

Kate Strick­ler also referred to the AMP pre­sen­ta­tion in her com­ments. Fol­low­ing the pre­sen­ta­tion, while the rest of the meet­ing was still pro­ceed­ing, Strick­ler was stand­ing in the hall with her husband.

She said a male mem­ber of AMP (refer­ring to Ben­tine) stepped into the hall to make a phone call and she wit­nessed the conversation.

Accord­ing to Strick­ler, the AMP employee clearly stated: “She pulled every­thing out on paper, I can’t believe she knew everything…I think they bought it and I played it off as if it were routine.”

Strick­ler said of the quote: “Don’t you feel you should have waited until after the meet­ing was over to make the phone call, or at least where Galion res­i­dents could not hear?”

She also said good job to “a Coun­cil mem­ber who did her home­work and asked ques­tions” dur­ing the presentation.

Matt Echel­berry — Staff

Mike Richard (left), Paula Durbin and Don Faulds, all cit­i­zens who spoke at the Coun­cil meet­ing, talk to Coun­cil mem­ber Roberta Wade afterward.

Don Faulds was another cit­i­zen who addressed City Coun­cil. He passed out copies of the Char­ter to Coun­cil mem­bers with spe­cific sec­tions high­lighted. He said the high­lighted sec­tions had been vio­lated by the City and then read the violations.

In sec­tions 3.02 and 3.03, Faulds explained that the require­ments for the city man­ager we not met. Also, under sec­tion 3.04, item C, the city man­ager must pre­pare and sub­mit an annual report to Counci, which Faulds said had never been brought up dur­ing a Coun­cil meeting.

He went on to say that Coun­cil vio­lated sec­tion 4.05 because when it passes emer­gency ordi­nances, it does not set forth spe­cific facts neces­si­tat­ing the emer­gency leg­is­la­tion. He also said that some depart­ment heads did not receive Coun­cil approval, in vio­la­tion of sec­tion 5.02.

Faulds said that under sec­tion 7.02, the city man­ager is required to pre­pare and sub­mit a five-year cap­i­tal improve­ment plan by April 1 of each year. “I requested the plan for 2010, 2011 and 2012. They are non-existent,” Faulds said.

He then read some of Toy’s state­ments as reported by the Inquirer from a Kiwa­nis Club meet­ing. Toy dis­cussed many major projects in Galion, includ­ing the tree removal at Ammans Reser­voir. Accord­ing to Faulds, Toy was quoted as say­ing those trees were removed because they were dead, dis­eased or infected by ash bore.

“In May when I brought in sam­ples of the trees that were cut—and there were 50 some trees—some were not infected by ash bore…Most of those trees were not dis­eased,” Faulds argued.

To read Toy’s response, as well as Bentine’s, see “Ben­tine, Toy reply to accu­sa­tions” story.

Judy Gib­son reminded the peo­ple of Galion that one per­son on Coun­cil is fight­ing to “get to the bot­tom of the elec­tric prob­lems.” She praised Wade for her hard work and ded­i­ca­tion to the citizens.

Bud Mof­fett once again asked for Wade’s res­ig­na­tion. First he asked why was she was fired from the Ohio Bureau of Work­ers’ Com­pen­sa­tion. Wade declined to respond, which led to an extended silence.

Mof­fett then vio­lated meet­ing deco­rum to press the issue fur­ther. (He addressed Wade directly instead of the Coun­cil Pres­i­dent. Accord­ing to the Coun­cil agenda: “f. Address your remarks to the whole Coun­cil through the Pres­i­dent of Coun­cil. g. Refrain from get­ting into a con­ver­sa­tion with a mem­ber of the audi­ence or an indi­vid­ual Coun­cil mem­ber dur­ing your presentation.”)

Wade stated, “I served the State of Ohio very well, and when I saw ille­gal expen­di­ture of pub­lic funds attempted to be processed through my office I stopped it. Shortly after that, I was ter­mi­nated.” She added that the Inspec­tor Gen­eral inves­ti­gated it and found she was an “exem­plary employee.”

Mof­fett then read from a court doc­u­ment about Wade shar­ing con­fi­den­tial information.

***

Don Faulds referred to the fol­low­ing sec­tions of the City Charter:

3.02: Qual­i­fi­ca­tions of the City Manager

“at least two years expe­ri­ence as a City Man­ager or equivalent”

3.03: Res­i­dent Requirements

“City Man­ager must be a res­i­dent of Galion within six months from the date of appointment”

3.04: Pow­ers and Duties — City Manager

“C. Pre­pare and sub­mit to the Coun­cil and to the pub­lic an annual report includ­ing, but not lim­ited to, the finan­cial and admin­is­tra­tive affairs and activ­i­ties of the City for the pre­ced­ing year, and a plan for goals and accom­plish­ments for the com­ing year.”

4.05: Emer­gency Ordinance

“Such emer­gency ordi­nance shall set forth the spe­cific facts neces­si­tat­ing the emer­gency legislation.”

5.02: Depart­ment Heads

“At the head of each depart­ment there shall be a full-time depart­ment head appointed by the City Man­ager with the approval of the City Council.”

7.02: Five Year Cap­i­tal Improve­ment Plan

“The City Man­ager shall pre­pare and sub­mit to the Coun­cil a five year cap­i­tal pro­gram before April 1st of each year.”

Posted by Matt Echelberry on Oct 25 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.