Council Approves Sustainability Resolution; Discusses Cocka-Doodle-Don’t
McIntire questions administration's staffing decisions
Among a number of topics at its May 23 meeting, City Council agreed to move forward with a non-profit organization to explore clean energy and energy efficiency programs and discussed a proposal to ban roosters in the city.
Resolution 24-100, sponsored by Councilman At-Large Kyle Herman would enable city administrators to engage with Power a Clean Future Ohio to explore opportunities to implement sustainability programs that would save the city money and benefit the environment.
The resolution enables the city to receive free consulting from Power a Clean Future Ohio about potential programs and grants available to implement clean energy initiatives. However, any recommended programs would need to be approved by City Council.
Several city residents spoke in favor of the resolution.
“They can help us tap into millions of dollars in federal funds for clean energy projects,” said Stow resident Cari Orris. “If we don’t take a slice of that federal pie, some community down the road is going to do that.”
Orris said her home has been equipped with 30 solar panels since 2018, which provide all the power for her home and electric vehicle. Her electric bill last month was $7. “That’s the power of clean energy,” she said.
Angie Charles talked about the more than 13,000 electric delivery vans used by Amazon and Kent State University’s solar farms at its main campus and six regional campuses, which will save the university $2 million in fuel costs over the next 25 years.
Rick Charles talked about his prior work as the Director of Products and Programs at FirstEnergy and the opportunities available to their customers.
“The biggest hurdle that our customers faced was getting information and education on the types of programs and products available,” he said. “This is what this legislation does. It will provide the city the resources and information on sustainable projects that are good for our city, energy efficient and most importantly, cost-effective.”
In introducing the resolution for its third and final reading before a vote, Herman said this resolution would enable the administration to leverage the expertise of an organization that could help the city apply for state and federal grants.
“Ohio’s Department of Development is currently offering grants for up to $500,000 for municipal renewable energy projects such as solar and geothermal,” Herman said. “Additionally, Gov. Mike DeWine’s administration has requested $189 million in federal funds so that local governments like the city of Stow could apply for grants that would help with purchasing electric vehicles, installing charging stations, retrofitting public buildings and installing solar generation on city property.”
The city does not have the in-house expertise to find and apply for these grants, Herman said, “So, why not take advantage of free help from professionals who find these opportunities and assist cities competing for these funds. Otherwise, Stow risks missing out and being put at a competitive disadvantage.”
Herman stressed that the resolution is non-binding and could not force the city or its residents to implement any specific policies.
Ward 2 Councilwoman Kelly Coffey said she appreciated that the way the resolution was written that it would not force any polices on Stow residents.
Council approved the resolution on a 4-2-1 vote with Council President Cyle Feldman, Herman, Ward 3 Councilman John Baranek and Coffey voting in favor, Councilman At-Large Jeremy McIntire and Ward 4 Councilman Mario Fiocca voting against and Ward 1 Councilman Matt Riehl abstaining. McIntire, Fiocca and Riehl did not ask any questions or comment on why they would not support the resolution.
Council Discusses Proposed Rooster Ban
During its Committee of the Whole meeting, McIntire introduced an amendment to the city’s current legislation on barking and howling dogs that would ban roosters in the city.
“This isn’t a one-off complaint that we’re getting, this has been a recurring thing,” he said. “For those of us that were on council last year will remember the passionate residents that came in that literally could not get any sleep because the neighbor had a rooster that was incessantly crowing. I know I’ve received complaints from multiple wards throughout the city.”
McIntire said that violations would be treated as a minor misdemeanor. Here is the proposed new legislation:
Coffey expressed concern about a citywide ban that would not take into account small family farms on larger properties.
“In my ward, I have Young Rd., Call Rd., Stow Rd., I have a lot of farms,” she said and had spoken with several people who were hoping for exceptions based on the size of the property and distance of the coop from neighbors.
Coffey recommended the legislation be amended to allow roosters on properties that are 1 acre or larger and where the coop would be at least 100 feet from any neighboring property.
“I know a lot of farm owners that don’t have any complaints, that have a large property, don’t want to have to get rid of their rooster when there is no problem,” she said.
Coffey said she based her amendment language on what she had found other communities do.
McIntire questioned the validity of using 1 acre as the minimum property size that would be exempt, saying that it would be difficult to find a 1-acre lot that was wide enough to provide 100 feet of clearance for the coop.
He also questioned whether the farms that Coffey cited were actually agricultural businesses that would require them to have a rooster on their property.
“I will support it if there is a modification,” Coffey said. “I think there’s a solution that can work for everyone.”
Council voted 5-2 against Coffey’s amendment, with Coffey and Herman voting for it. A motion to suspend the rules, which would have ended further discussion and forced a vote on the legislation that night failed on a 5-2 vote, with Coffey and Herman voting against.
As a result, the legislation will be on council’s agenda for two more meetings before a final vote at its third reading, which will enable residents to make public comments at the council meetings or contact individual council members before the expected vote on June 27.
Resignation spurs review of tax department staffing
During the council’s finance committee meeting, Finance Director Kelly Toppin said the finance department is severely understaffed, needing an additional four full-time employees to manage a its workload.
Toppin said the resignation of a full-time employee on April 12 brought the issue to a head and caused him to begin reviewing current and prior staffing levels against workload.
This year, Toppin said, the tax department managed 29,000 tax filings with a department made up of one tax administrator, one full-time tax supervisor and two part-time employees. Ten years ago, the department handled 19,000 tax filings with one tax administrator, five full-time employees and one part-time employee.
“This isn’t something that’s happened over the last five months,” he said. “This isn’t something that’s happened over the last five years. This is something where I think that we’ve been trying to do more with less and now we’re at a point that we need to something. I don’t really think it’s feasible to have a tax department with one full-time employee doing 53% more work than what we were doing 10 years ago.”
McIntire said no one had previously come to council with concerns about the department’s staffing and questioned why the department would need four additional employees when the city had been getting the job done in collecting taxes all those years.
“As you look through the processes why that we waited five years to bring this to council’s attention that we were understaffed by four people but, somehow, the city manages to collect the taxes,” McIntire said. “We haven’t heard of any issues of not collecting because of the staffing. So as you look and do your due diligence, as you mention, make sure you look at why this wasn’t even brought to the council’s attention.”
Toppin said he couldn’t comment on why the issue hadn’t been brought to council sooner since he’d just assumed the position in January. “But, I can say we have not collected on any delinquent taxes probably at least for two, three years now and we have not moved against any non-filers at least in the same amount of time.”
Toppin said the department is continuing its evaluation of its needs and options, which include either hiring more personnel or outsourcing the whole function to a third party. He said he would have more information for City Council in June.
Council extends engineer contracts
On April 29, council approved the promotion of Michael Jones from assistant engineer to the re-established position of City Engineer, with responsibility to oversee all of the city’s engineering activities. He assumes his new position on July 1.
On May 23, council approved contracts to extend the services of James McCleary, transportation engineer, and Gerald Dolson, project engineer, to provide Jones with mentoring and experience over the next three years as the city works to complete several large road projects.
Two council members voiced concerns over extending the two contracted employees.
“This sort of backs council and past councils into a corner with jobs,” Baranek said. “I’m going to reluctantly support this legislation but I will hold the administration to the point to continue to work to get a project engineer on staff who is fully trained in the area of water distribution systems.”
McIntire was more pointed in his displeasure with the appointments: “I will not be supporting this as I didn’t support it four years ago when this came. It’s been a practice of this city for poor succession planning,” he said. “People just keep renewing contracts rather than getting long-term solutions into these departments to guide and lead the future of these departments as well as the city.”
“The city has had numerous opportunities to build these departments to get the staff in place to carry the torch,” McIntire continued. “We just put in a new city engineer, these positions are going to report to that. The time has come and they have had more than enough time to make this change.”
Herman asked Jones, who has worked for the city's engineering department for 10 years, his opinion of the contract renewals.
Jones read a prepared statement, which included in part: "Being able to continue to learn and be mentored by past leaders is very important to me and will be a great benefit for this community. Both Jim and Gerry have irreplaceable knowledge and experience and have been and will be vital for past and future improvements to roadway and utility infrastructure.”
Dolson’s contract was approved 4-3 with Feldman, Herman, Baranek and Coffey voting in favor; McIntire, Riehl and Fiocca voting against.
McIntire proposed an amendment to McCleary’s contract that would change his contract from a three-year contract ending Dec. 31, 2027, to a one-year contract ending Dec. 31, 2025.
Coffey asked Jones whether he thought making that change would provide a sufficient period of time for the transfer of knowledge.
“I do not,” he said. “And with the three major transportation improvement projects coming down in the next few years, we need Mr. McCleary on staff to run those projects.”
McIntire’s amendment failed 5-2, with McIntire and Fiocca voting in favor of it.
Prior to the final vote on McCleary’s contract, McIntire again voiced his displeasure:
“To sit there and make the accusation that McCleary is the only qualified engineer out there is an insult to engineers in the industry, to say that if we brought on somebody green, there are plenty of engineers out there that have just as much experience in transportation engineering that could administer and be just as equal of an asset as Mr. McCleary,” he said.
“Nobody here is questioning Mr. McCleary’s dedication to this city and the role as the former city engineer and all the accomplishments he’s made, rather it’s just poor succession planning on the city’s part. There are more than enough qualified people out there to fill this role, but the city has been unwilling to advertise or to go out and even attempt to fill this vacancy,” McIntire said.
The three-year contract to McCleary was then approved on a 5-2 vote, with Feldman, Herman, Riehl, Baranek and Coffey voting in favor; McIntire and Fiocca voted no.
Fireworks Vote Expected at Next Meeting
A proposal to limit the use of fireworks in Stow to just the week of July 4th will have its final reading and a vote on June 13.
The proposed legislation sponsored by Councilman Herman would reduce the number of days on which fireworks could be used from 21 days as prescribed by state law to 7 days, in order to limit the harmful impact of fireworks on the mental health of residents who suffer from PTSD and anxiety, including their pets.
Several council members expressed concern about eliminating fireworks on cultural holidays, such as Chinese New Year, Cinco de Mayo and Juneteenth.
Residents who would like to express their opinion are invited to speak during the public comment period of the meeting, which occurs just after 7 pm.
Coming Up: Planning & Zoning Code Update
City Council will hold two special meetings the first week of June to kick-off the 19-month Planning & Zoning Code Update project.
On June 4 at 7 pm, the consulting company that will be guiding the city’s Planning & Zoning Code Update project will be making a presentation to a joint meeting of City Council and the Planning Commission.
On June 5 at 6 pm, there will be an open house at which the public can interact with city officials and the consultants to ask questions and learn more about the process.
Both meetings will be at City Hall in Council chambers.
The city has created a website to keep Stow residents informed about the progress of the project and its goals.
Next Stow Sunshine Project Meeting: June 18
Join us for a discussion with city leaders on how the new sustainability resolution and the desire for continued economic development, especially new restaurants in the city, could intersect with discussions in the planning & zoning code update project.
Councilman Kyle Herman will lead the discussion.
The meeting is set for 7 pm at the Stow Acme Community Room at 4445 Kent Rd., Stow. Stow Sunshine Project meetings are open to all residents.
In Memoriam: Christina L. Shaw
Former Stow City Councilwoman Christina Shaw died on May 23 at the age of 54. She served on City Council in 2020-2021 and was instrumental in the council’s discussions about racism and racial equality following the death of George Floyd.
Shaw sponsored a resolution passed unanimously by council that commits the city of Stow to “address issues of racism and intolerance and their impact on our community.”
She left an indelible mark during her short tenure on council by sponsoring a resolution to rename Silver Springs Lodge as Leona Farris Lodge to honor the longtime educator and the matriarch of one of the first black families to move to Stow. The city held a re-dedication of the lodge, with the then 104-year-old Farris there to celebrate in September 2021.
In remarks on her Facebook page, Shaw's daughter Jourdan Matos announced her passing in this way:
"My mother passed away the night of May 23 after a long physical fight. She was the brightest light to everyone who knew her and she was relentless in her devotion to helping anyone she could, regardless of her own situation. Her glamour and charisma left sparkle wherever she went. She was the most loving mother, daughter, and friend. She was loved by so many, both near and far, but especially by her mother and I, her daughter.
"My mom would want everyone to remember her by her exceptional style, her tenacity and courage, her love of animals and her children, and, as was no secret, her hatred for Donald Trump. In her memory please go vote and always stand up for what you believe in, all while wearing a 3-inch pair of heels and hot pink lipstick."
Services for Shaw will be held Wednesday, May 29 at 2 pm at Redmon Funeral Home. Read her obituary here.