The city struck a natural gas price for next winter. At 3.84/mcf, the price is the lowest the city has ever had, Mayor Drew said.

And now for some bad news, Emerald Ash Borer was found in Silver Springs Park. This is a pest that infects and kills ash trees. It spreads quickly. In the next weeks, you’ll probably be reading about the city’s options to ensure the health of its ash trees. We will be discussing it at the next Public Improvements Committee.

The city is collecting aluminum cans at Fire Station 2 (on Hudson Drive) for the benefit of the charity called Aluminum Cans for Burnt Children. You can drop them off 24-7.

We received 50 percent state matching funds for replacing the Charring Cross water line, south of Kent Road. Construction will be conducted this summer, and there’s already a plan to ensure it doesn’t affect the July Fourth Parade.

The Starbucks phenomenon takes another step in Stow, as council unanimously approved a Starbucks in the Guggenheim property, only a 6-iron away from Target, inside of which there is–wait for it–another Starbucks!

Linda Nahrstedt is new Parks Director. Council unanimously approved her appointment. She brings a good deal of enthusiasm and institutional knowledge to the job.

(Another) Starbucks is coming to town! This one is literally a 6-iron away from the nearest Starbucks. The new one will be located next to Applebee’s on Kent Road. There is another Starbucks inside the Target store, kitty-cornered to the new one, which will open in August. This is one of the places where my political beliefs overcome practical problems. Does Stow need this extra Starbucks? No. Will the Starbucks provide the income tax revenue that a bank would? No. But it’s important to remember that our constitution protects property rights. It would be arrogant to supplant my business judgment for the property owner’s right to find a suitable tenant.

The Finance Committee discussed giving a 15% income tax grant for Evant Inc. It amounts to an income tax credit of $3,031 per year, for five years. Normally, we give 25%, but Evant is a non-profit, so they don’t pay property taxes. In light of this, we didn’t give the full 25% tax break. Without the grant, we expected Evant to provide $17,465 in annual tax revenue. The City of Stow has three or four of these deals. I’m in favor of them. Although this company moved to Stow from Cuyahoga Falls, it’s important that we compete for these jobs. If we give up on businesses seeking to leave neighboring communities, in the spirit of regionalism, then the whole region loses, because the jobs are likely headed out of Northeast Ohio.

Mayor Drew has chosen Linda Nahrstedt to be the new Parks and Rec Director. She currently serves as Community Information Coordinator, but she is qualified and motivated for the new job. I have no reservations that she’ll do good work. Also, it’s important to note that Drew won’t fill Nahrstedt’s previous position. This has become a pattern in Drew’s promotions. Hire a well-qualified employee to replace a retiring/departing administrator, and don’t replace the promoted employee. It’s a welcomed sight for me. We clearly needed to trim levels of City Hall employees. Fortunately, we are able to do it without layoffs.

–We obtained our piece of steel from the World Trade Center, Brian Reali announced. The steel I-beam will be the centerpiece of a new 9/11 memorial to be constructed outside of city hall, near the flagpoles. The beam will sit atop a polished granite rendering of the Pentagon, with flowers surrounding the monument. It should be very nice. There is a committee charged with raising $28,000 of private money. The goal is to have it ready by next September 11.

–The city received good news with regards to grant money for road projects, including the Norton Road-Darrow Road intersection improvement, the resurfacing of Norton Road between Darrow Road and Stow Road, and the Graham Road project.

–With the mild winter, Stow is spending less money on overtime for street department workers. To date we have spent about $8,000 on overtime, compared to about $24,000 this time last year.

–The Planning Department announced an uptick in occupancy on Commerce Drive. The rate is 89.5 percent occupied, compared to 82.8 percent in September 2010. I think we need to repave Commerce Drive if we want to adequately showcase the remaining vacant properties.

–We approved the fee waiver for the Humane Society’s rummage sales. I made a second motion that made the waiver permanent, and that was also approved. There’s no sense in holding an annual meeting over a $50 fee. A business wouldn’t do that.

–The council unanimously approved the changes to the building code. I proposed an amendment, which was also unanimously accepted, to repair wording and clarify one section of the code.

–The council also unanimously approved the contract with the village of Peninsula to perform their building inspections. Since the Monday meeting, I made several changes to the agreement to better protect Stow’s interests. These changes were incorporated into the final approved version.

–Please note that Matt Riehl and I will hold our open hours on Tuesday, February 7 at City Hall, in the second floor conference room at 5:30 p.m. Please drop by and say hi, or ask us questions. We’re happy to have as many visitors as possible.

– The mayor nominated Bob Pontius and Dave Licate to the Public Safety Services Commission. Pontius currently serves on the commission. Licate, you will remember, ran for Ward 1 city council in 2011.

– We discussed a waiver of the $50 fee for Summit County Humane Society to hold four rummage sales at the Stow-Kent Shopping Center, the first of which will occur March 23-24. I will seek to make their waiver permanent, so they don’t need to keep coming back each year for this waiver.

– We discussed a contract whereby Stow’s building inspectors will conduct those duties for the village of Peninsula. It’s a good deal for Stow. They will pay us the same fees paid inside Stow, plus either a $35 (residential) or $75 (commercial) add-on.  I had a few minor changes to make to the agreement between the communities. In particular, the agreement was worded so as to require Stow’s inspectors to investigate for violations within Peninsula, but this was not the parties’ intent.

– Mayor Drew seeks to reduce the pay grade on two positions: On Parks and Rec Director from 19 to 13, and on Human Resources Director from 16 to 15. Both positions are currently vacant, so now is a good time to do this. We won’t be hiring a new Human Resources Director. The administration will soon begin internal interviews for the Parks Director job. Having fewer employees is a partial cause for both changes. Also Parks Director will no longer have responsibility for Fox Den. Regrading these positions is a good move.

– Council went into executive session to examine the hiring of a part-time assistant law director for criminal prosecutions. Her name is Nicole Welsh, and you might recognize her as a former Munroe Falls City Councilperson. We previously lost a full-time assistant law director. Brian Reali is saving money by replacing him with two part-timers.

– City council will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday to vote on this legislation.

Tonight was the meeting where we recognized the outgoing council members: Janet D’Antonio, Joe Hickin, and Sara Drew. Each councilmember said something nice about the departing individuals. It was a little odd for Sara, because she’s obviously not going anywhere.

Sara also gave her “State of the City” address. It was refreshing to me that she did not use the opportunity to make political statements, and what she said was true. If you can’t tell, I’m drawing a contrast to the past two State of the City addresses.

A few things stood out to me:

• Sara expects groundbreaking on the new hospital in the third quarter this year.
• She instructed the finance department to draft a budget that includes, among other things, a “significant increase” in roads funding.
• She is looking for ways to lease or sell city space that is not being occupied.

I know it’s early, but I like Sara’s policies as mayor, more than as a councilwoman — or even as candidate for mayor.

It was probably an hour before city council began its usual business. Most notably, we delayed a vote on the changes to the building code. I requested this delay so that I can examine a “redline” copy of the new ordinance, compared to the old. We were not provided with this tool, so it was hard to tell what changes we were actually voting on.

Each of the new personnel were approved unanimously. They are all qualified, and I’m confident the mayor has chosen good people in their new positions.

City council will meet against with committees on January 23.

There was a public hearing on changes to the zoning code. These changes are diverse, but can be summed up as making it less time-consuming for a business to open up in Stow, without losing the protection for the residents that the zoning code provides.

We also saw numerous proposed changes to the building code. Chief among them are new fees for plumbing and water heater installation/repair. The idea is, if Stow offers these inspections, then property owners don’t need to use the county. In the future, Stow can also offer these inspections to other municipalities. I was assured that Stow’s fees would be lower than the county’s. If that’s true, then this is a win for residents. If not, then we are just unnecessarily creating bureaucracy.

We learned that a company that manages group homes is moving offices to an empty warehouse. They will have 40 employees at first.

The Finance Committee, now chaired by Matt Riehl, went through several expenditures.

The Committee-of-the-Whole recessed into executive session, and four pieces of legislation came out. These are the proposed personnel changes: Mike Miller will be the new service director, with Dano Koehler’s retirement. Nick Wren will move to assistant service director. Jim McCleary is the new permanent city engineer. Don Brooker is the new street superintendent. These appointments all make sense to me, provided that Nick’s replacement as Parks Director is qualified, is appointed from within, and is not replaced.

City Council will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday to vote on these ordinances.

Last night was the swearing-in of Stow’s new (and returning) elected officials.

Jim Costello was elected as council president, with John Pribonic as VP and Mary Bednar as pro tempore.

Here are the committee chairs:

Planning – Bednar

Public Improvements – Pribonic

Roads and Safety – Rasor

Finance – Riehl

Sara Drew was sworn in as the new mayor. I have to tell you, there is an optimistic tenor around the city, even among those traditionally thought of as “rabble rousers.” I think even the most dissatisfied residents are willing to give Sara Drew a chance. I certainly am, and I’d ask you to do the same.

As for actual business, we reconfirmed Nancy Kroft onto the Urban Forestry Commission and Pete Mihalek on the Planning Commission.

Council will meet for committees on Monday at 5:30 p.m.

Please note that Stow City Council and the other elected officials will be sworn in on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at city council chambers. It is open to the public, and there are refreshments served after.

I am hopeful and optimistic that our city will fight through the difficulties we face as a more cohesive organization, and that Stow will have in place more competent and more honest leadership for the next term.

• The leaf pickup program ended on Thursday. This is the earliest we ever completed it.

• By a 4-2 vote, council approved a four-year extension of John Earle’s contract. I voted “no,” as did Joe Hickin. … I think John is one of our best employees. He’s smart. He has invaluable institutional knowledge. I would even call him a friend. However, I believe the practice known as “double-dipping” is wrong. “Double-dipping” is where an employee “retires,” begins to collect his state pension, and then returns to work for the same entity and in substantially the same position. It’s an enormous cost to our state pension system. With that said, this was one of my most difficult votes of the term.

• I also voted “no” on renewing the contract of Fred Hanson, the course superintendent at Fox Den. Since the city took over the course, it has been no secret that Hanson and golf pro Tom McKinney don’t get along. It’s gotten to the point where Hanson does not technically even answer to McKinney, which is the standard chain of command at every other golf course. We have serious problems at Fox Den, particularly with the conditions of the course, and this sort of personnel issue only makes things worse. Hanson’s legislation passed by a 4-2 vote.

• We voted to cancel our scheduled meeting for December 29, which means this term is over, as is the 16-year council career of Janet D’Antonio. I would like to thank her for her dedicated service to the city. What I liked most about Janet was that we could have an intense debate, but she would be friendly afterward. That is missing too often from our politics.

• The committee passed forward legislation to pay the city’s electric bill for 2012 — almost $500,000. The actual amount of the expenditure will likely be less, maybe as little as $420,000. The committee also approved contracts for telephone system maintenance costs, costs for postage in mailing water bills, and sewer services from the county.

• Speaking of the county, did you read about the proposed Storm Water Management Fee of $12 per home? It’s the county’s proposed response to flooding and environmental issues. For communities like Stow, it’s not required. Stow already assesses a fee on its water, and we address flooding issues by investing in infrastructure with that money. Plus, Stow is a border community, so it would not receive the benefit of a city bordering only other Summit municipalities. I don’t often talk about other political bodies on this blog, but my opinion on the new county fee is, “No thanks.”

• The city will increase employee contributions for health insurance. Presently, employees pay 3.5%. The union contracts will require that all employees have the same contributions as the unions. The new contracts will include the following provisions: $52 per month (family coverage) in 2012, and 5% of the city’s COBRA costs in 2013 and thereafter. The plan will be up for a vote on Thursday evening.

• The council has a contingency fund of $10,000. It’s money that is generally not used throughout the year and re-deposited in the general fund. We have not used any of the money yet this year. But the Finance Committee approved a $500 donation to the Close Up program, which allows Stow students to get a chance to, among other things, visit Washington, D.C. to see their government work (or not work, depending on your perspective).

• Committee of the Whole met in executive session to discuss three personnel contracts. They are Fox Den superintendent Fred Hanson and Fox Den pro Tom McKinney, as well as Director of Budgeting John Earle. The administration wants a one-year contract for Hanson and McKinney and a four-year contract for Earle (which would begin in July 2012 and extend through July 2016).

• City council will meet Thursday at 7 p.m. to vote on this legislation.

• Please note that Matt Riehl and I will not hold our normal office hours tomorrow. Instead, the Winter Wonderland Celebration begins tomorrow at 6 p.m. at City Hall.