It’s hard to think about council business tonight after LeBron James ripped out Northeast Ohio’s heart, but I’ll proceed with posting my notes about tonight…
We had some serious questions about the Wal-Mart variances. I asked about the possibility of amending the variances. Normally, it’s pretty simple, but amending a variance is only worth doing if we can make it work with Wal-Mart, too. I’m going to find out more before the next council meeting and decide whether an amendment is feasible.
Regarding the lobbyist hiring, we gave it a second reading. In the last few days, there have been some new developments, such as Mayor Robart in Cuyahoga Falls possibly hiring a lobbyist to counter our efforts. I want Mayor Fritschel to be successful, but I will need some assurance that paying the lobbyists has a reasonable chance to succeed. Based upon that, we might choose to throw it back into the Finance Committee for more discussion.
We unanimously passed legislation that will pave the way for Pneumatic Scale to enter Stow with its about 100 jobs, if it chooses to.
I voted not to suspend the rules on Emerald Ash Borer program. The legislation is a resolution in support of the program. I want to ask someone who is out of town what the financial ramifications of passing that ordinance would be. If this obligates us to pay for it, I won’t support it. I refuse to pass discretionary spending measures while our roads are in such disrepair.
Also, rumblings within the city are that income tax receipts are going to be a lot worse than originally anticipated. Maybe as much as half a million. We will learn more about that either on the July 17 or July 19 Finance Committee meeting.