Galion Council takes steps toward Health District, filling vacancy

By Matt Echelberry

Inquirer Reporter

Galion City Coun­cil passed an ordi­nance to estab­lish a Health Ser­vices Dis­trict dur­ing its Jan. 22 meet­ing, and also deter­mined how its sec­ond ward vacancy is to be filled .

Ord. 2013–5 came before Coun­cil from a rec­om­men­da­tion by the Plan­ning and Zon­ing Com­mis­sion, to enact Chap­ter 1148 of the Plan­ning and Zon­ing Code and thus cre­ate a health dis­trict through­out the area where Galion Com­mu­nity Hos­pi­tal sits. Avita Health Sys­tems had approached the Com­mis­sion with hopes to expand its ser­vices in the future.

Before the leg­is­la­tion came before Coun­cil that evening, a pub­lic hear­ing regard­ing the issue was held. Dan Seckel, the lead archi­tect work­ing with Avita, said some of the ser­vices could include a pos­si­ble dial­y­sis clinic and adding or improv­ing ser­vices as oppor­tu­ni­ties arise; a health dis­trict sim­ply gives the hos­pi­tal the abil­ity to expand.

Also, Ord. 2013–6 rezoned spe­cific lots within the health dis­trict, includ­ing those on parts of Win­ches­ter Road, Ren­sch Avenue, Cherry Street, Cly­mer Avenue and Port­land Way South. Cur­rently, those lots are vacant or empty properties.

Both ordi­nances passed as a first reading.

Later in the meet­ing, Coun­cil mem­bers dis­cussed the logis­tics of how the vacant sec­ond ward posi­tion would be filled. Last week, Sec­ond Ward Coun­cil mem­ber Wal­ter Keib sub­mit­ted a let­ter of res­ig­na­tion, leav­ing the remain­der of his term (through May 31, 2013) unfilled.

Coun­cil decided it will accept appli­ca­tions for the sec­ond ward seat through Feb. 5 at 5 p.m. Inter­ested can­di­dates must have lived within the Galion city lim­its for at least the past year and cur­rently be liv­ing in the sec­ond ward. They should mail a resume to the City Munic­i­pal Build­ing (301 Hard­ing Way East) or drop it off in person.

Inter­views will be con­ducted on Feb. 9. An announce­ment with fur­ther details will be pub­lished in the Sat­ur­day edi­tion of the Inquirer.

Posted by Matt Echelberry on Jan 22 2013. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.