MANSFIELD — Rev. El Akuchie was just one of 10 people who spoke to Mansfield City Council on Tuesday night during a streets committee meeting that attracted a capacity audience.
Most came to criticize the city’s snowplow and road salt response — or what they considered the lack thereof — during a mid-January winter storm that dumped up to a foot of snow during a 24-hour weekend period.
But the Dawson Avenue resident, who said he has lived in Mansfield for 34 years, said he was not there to criticize.
“My street is one of those that felt like it was forgotten,” said Akuchie, who ministers at Fusion Church in Lexington. “I am here to say (however) that it’s good that it happened. Because now people are suggesting ideas and we can look into many ways we can make things better next year or in years to come.”
Akuchie was the eighth of 10 residents who spoke during the 75-minute committee meeting.
Most public participants questioned Mayor Tim Theaker’s efforts at clearing streets. In response, Theaker repeated the city was only able to purchase about half as much salt as in previous years due to a supply shortage. He also said the city recently emerged from fiscal emergency and doesn’t have all the resources he would like when it comes to snowplowing.
Akuchie admitted city officials were taking heat from residents.
“You’re getting your ears full right now. What are we going to do differently? How can we really improve this? Nobody plans for things like this to happen. It just happens. It’s God. It’s nature. He is in control,” Akuchie said.
He said not all residents shared his feelings.
“It hurts. I got stuck. I couldn’t go out in my car. But I say somehow we can turn this into a better learning experience. This is an opportunity for us as a city to really think of how we are going to improve. There might be some terrible storm that is going to come in the next year or two that will be worse than this,” he said.
“If we just sit back, we will be in more trouble. Everyone is shouting their opinion. We can dig in and figure out how to make our city better,” he said.
Other residents were not nearly as understanding as Akuchie.
One person highly critical was Amanda Stanfield of Rowland Avenue, a candidate for council in the 4th Ward. She slammed what she described as inadequate communication during the storm from city officials, as well as improper planning and resource allocation.
“What was communicated only led to more frustration and anger,” Stanfield said. “If it’s your desire as an elected official to have a public that respects you, listens to you and trusts you, then up-front and honest communication is non-negotiable.
Stanfield, who said she had no issues with the city workers trying to clear the streets, praised residents who helped one another during the storm.
“We pulled together and we helped each other. But honestly, you left us no choice. You represent a wonderful caring and hard-working community and your actions during the snow event have really disappointed us and you should have done better,” Stanfield said.
Retired civil engineer Gary Prinz of Yale Drive, who worked for the Ohio Department of Transportation, offered his services to the city. Prinz said he assisted Mansfield with its streets 30 years ago when he was deputy director of ODOT in Ashland.
“The mayor called me then and we had a long talk. Today, the streets of Mansfield are some of the best in the state. That’s because we began to look at the streets in the city as a system.”
Prinz said Mansfield, however, doesn’t look at the streets as a system when it comes to snow removal. As an example during the January storm, Prinz pointed out the city plowed Woodhill Road, but didn’t plow Courtwright Boulevard.
“You get down to the bottom of (Woodhill) and where do you go? You can’t get out to Lexington Avenue and it’s only 150 feet away. The plow should have kept right on going and opened it up to Lexington Avenue, which was plowed,” Prinz said. “That’s looking at the streets as a system.
“If you need to get a hold of me or want to talk to me about a (snow removal) system for the City of Mansfield, I am available.”
Fourth Ward Councilman Walden Jefferson, who chairs the street committee, told Prinz he was sure Adam Hill-Warren, city street operations manager, would be in touch with him.
During the council meeting that followed four committee meetings, council members:
— approved demolition of dilapidated structures at 13-15 W. Arch St., 111-111 1/2 Sherman Ave., 223 Bowman St., 250 Marion Ave., 296-298 S. Main St., 308-310 Grace St. and 332 Warren Road.
— approved paying the city’s portion of Lexington-Springmill Road in cooperation with the City of Ontario’s planned paving project this year. City Engineer Bob Bianchi said Mansfield’s portion is 1,313 feet.
— discussed entering into contracts for engineering services related to the construction of a regional detention basin, known as the North Lake Park Dry Dam over Touby’s Run. A vote on that topic will not come until March 19 at the earliest.
— approved actions related to the acquisition of properties necessary for the same dry dam flood prevention project.
— Heard a plan from Bianchi to repave 20.79 miles of streets in Mansfield during 2019 in two phases at a cost of $4.69 million, funding for which comes from the city’s pothole tax.
