During their regular meeting Tuesday evening, Galion City Council discussed a number of financial ordinances including one for airport improvements and another for an appropriation for the electric fund.
Concerning Ordinance number 2014-69, which would allow bidding for a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grant for airport improvements, council voted to move the ordinance along to a second reading. The ordinance states that the City of Galion wishes to request a grant for $69,271 in federal funds and $7,697.15 in local funds to be used for the rehabilitation of the runway, taxiway, and apron at the Galion Municipal Airport.
Because the grant agreement would have to be executed by Sept. 15, a motion was made to suspend the rules on all three readings and pass with emergency status in order to meet the deadline. This motion, however, failed with a 5-1 vote; six votes were needed for it to pass.
Council member Mike Richart voted against the motion. “My concern is that we’re trying to run this through a little bit quicker,” he said.
“I was always under the impression that if you don’t use it, you lose it, and that’s not necessarily the case,” he said in reference to the grant monies. He explained, “We by right don’t necessarily have to do the necessary patchwork out at the airport this year. We can reapply for this again next year and there would not necessarily be an impact because we’re still going to get a grant for ‘x’ amount of dollars.”
He said that he visited the airport and noticed some cracks along the runway and apron but doesn’t believe paving is an immediate concern and doesn’t think it necessary to spend city money on something that he said “might be better to defer to next year.”
Council switched topics to discuss Ordinance number 2014-70, which amends Ordinance number 2013-91 by increasing the appropriation from unappropriated funds in various line items by $2,077,000, by decreasing appropriation in the electric fund by $108,905 and declaring an emergency.
Auditor Brian Treisch explained that the increase in the electric fund came from a combination of issues, including an underestimated projection on this year’s budget and an increase in the usage of power.
When asked about the cause of the power usage increase, Treisch noted, “We saw a lot of increase in January, February, and March and that was primarily residential…we’re also seeing some uses in the summer, but this has been a roughly mild summer, but at the same time we’re seeing an increase in our income tax collection, which would indicate employment and possible industrial activities picked up, so we used more power.”
Mayor Tom O’Leary noted, “This is a spending authority issue. The administrative side of city government needs council to give us more spending authority.”
In his report, the mayor called the Hesby Drive project a success. “I think it is working just like those of who are proponents thought it would, and it will really be awesome if people mind the speed limit.” At least four speeding tickets were given to drivers Tuesday who traversed Hesby Drive, he said.
He further noted in regard to the 598 bridge project that a water line break occurred and has since been fixed. “It’s worth mentioning because it shut down that whole business district from Heise Park to the bridge,” he said.
In other news, Carol Kable with Friends of the Big Four Depot gave an overview of their first Lincoln Highway Buy-Way Yard Sale, “Deals at the Depot,” that was held Aug. 7-9.
“Our main goal was to showcase the depot as one of the city’s greatest assets and to once again create public awareness as to the eventual reuse and restoration of this wonderful part of Galion’s heritage,” she said.
She described the event as a “huge success,” with a decent flow of traffic and a great mix of items for sale. She noted that the depot would like to hold the event again next year.
