GALION, Ohio–Beer Gardens in Galion may become a possibility if a proposed ordinance is approved by Galion City Council.
Before Tuesday evening’s council meeting citizens and council met at the municipal meeting to discuss bringing beer gardens to Galion. The proposal is to allow them at the parks during the Galion Graders games this summer.
Concerned citizens voiced their disapproval of the proposal. One Galion citizen said “Galion should be known for things other than alcohol.”
An ordinance was on the agenda for the council meeting later that night. It was to have a first reading and if passed would allow for the consumption of alcohol in public places in a controlled manner.
The ordinance states that organizers of community events open to the public in Galion who wish to sell and/or serve alcoholic beverages for onsite consumption and who have a liquor license can apply for a permit with the city’s safety service director to allow for the sales and consumption of alcohol on city-owned property.
There would be several requirements.. The applicant must be an Ohio nonprofit corporation or limited liability company. Also, a minimum of one special duty City of Galion Police or Crawford County Sheriff will have to be hired by the applicant as a security officer for the duration of the event. They must also purchase a liquor liability policy or host policy in the minimum amount of $100,000.
The applicant would also have to comply with all state and local liquor laws as well as limiting the sale of alcohol to the hours of 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on the day of the event. The applicant would also have to sign an indemnification agreement that would not hold the city liable from any claims made against the city arising from the applicant’s sale, service, or consumption of alcohol at the event.
After discussions concluded, the matter was tabled to allow for future further thought and discussion.
Council plans for public information officer
During the evenings council meeting the mayor announced that the city is working on creating a new job opening for a civil servant position. The position is described as a public information position. This person would run the cities new website.
The job duties would be maintaining and updating it with events going on in the city. Several examples were given by Mayor O’Leary which included posting when and where there will be construction in town as well as well posting when there are power outages.
With the print media landscape changing the mayor stated the following, “We need to as a city look at informing citizens better than we have.”
The job description will be posted and the applicants will be narrowed down to around ten people who will have to pass a test. The job will start late in the summer or early in the fall according to the mayor.
Ordinances and resolutions
Also during the council meeting, several ordinances and resolutions were changed from first readings to final reading and then passed. One of those ordinances was the rebid on the church street overpass. After only getting one bidder on this Councilman Thomas Fellner suggested revising the bid to bring in new bidders.
Mayor O’Leary said that the original bid offer was at $135,000, then $210,000, then it was changed to $254,000 but it has failed to bring in anymore than one bid. The mayor suggested the reasoning for this was because there are more hidden costs which include the possibility of more concrete removal than projected as well as money for repairs that are not visible right away. The estimated cost was set at $275,000.
Other ordinances and resolutions that were changed from a first to final reading was a staffing ordinance that would allow for the hire of a part time custodian, the authorization of SSD to bid on the Cummins Street lift station, the amending of 2015 appropriations, and a Freese Waiver for the YMCA for recent parking lot repavement.
