MANSFIELD — Mansfield City Council is expected to take a much-anticipated vote Tuesday on a resolution that declares systemic racism is a public health crisis.
The vote would help set the stage for a local task force aimed at creating more equitable conditions in the community.
Through sub-committees, the task force will explore issues like health, mental health, housing, employment, education, business and criminal justice.
The goal is to bring together subject-matter experts, concerned residents, representatives from institutions and elected/appointed public officials to understand local conditions/systems and work to improve them.
The proposal received its first reading on June 16 and was amended during public affairs committee meeting on July 14. It had a second reading on July 21.
Richland Public Health has agreed to participate in the community effort.
A committee of nine local women have been working on the issue earlier this year when the racially disparate impacts of COVID-19 were being observed around the country.
That work began weeks before Minneapolis police killed a Black man named George Floyd on May 25, setting off protests around the nation against police brutality.
During the July 14 committee meeting, two of the women on the committee, Brigitte Coles and Deanna West-Torrence, spoke to council.
Coles said the resolution is not about politics, nor is it about defunding police departments.
In 2015, she helped to found the local group, We ACT, which has worked to improve relations between community residents and local law enforcement agencies.
“It’s simply about recognizing that every person has human dignity,” Coles said. “We are only as strong as our partnerships make each other.”
Mansfield City Council pending legislation:
The meeting will again be done online due to the COVID-19 pandemic and state government restrictions.
The public can view committee meetings, caucus and council’s legislative session via livestream on the City of Mansfield’s Facebook page link provided below or on www.ci.mansfield.oh.us
The evening begins with a finance committee meeting at 6:15 p.m., followed by a public hearing on a rezoning petition at 6:45. Caucus is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m., following immediately by the legislative session.
In other action, council is expected to:
— discuss issuance of $35 million in bonds to overhaul the water treatment plant to meet EPA-mandated improvements. Council will also discuss in caucus approving water rate hikes by 70 percent over the next six years to help pay for the needed improvements and also maintain the city’s aging water system. The city has not raised water rates since 2004.
— vote to amend sections of the personnel ordinance by creating and adjusting positions, pay grades and salaries for certain city employees during the 2020 payroll year.
— give second reading to grant a license, retroactive to Aug. 1, to the Richland Early American Center for History (REACH) to construct and install a blacksmith shop in South Park.
— vote on a resolution honoring telecommunicator Lewanda Jefferson upon her retirement from the Mansfield Division of Police.
— vote to rezone six lots along the east side of Lily Street and southeast corner of Raymond Avenue to I-2 (general impact industrial district) from its current status of MF (multi-family residential district.)
— vote to authorize the city to accept a gift from Chuck Hahn for the maintenance of trees and shrubs on Fourth and Main streets.
— vote to purchase three Lifepack 15 Heart Monitor/Defibrillators for the Mansfield Fire Department, without competitive bidding, from Stryker, Inc., at a cost not to exceed $66,753.60 after trade in of three older models. All but $3,553.90 of the expense will come via a grant.
— vote to purchase laptops, softphone licensing and remote video equipment at a cost not to exceed $87,600 using CARES Act relief funds.
— vote to pay the Richland Land Bank $58,681 for home demolitions, using PRIDE funds.
— discuss during caucus appropriating $35,940 from the unappropriated law enforcement fund to the METRICH fund.
— discuss during caucus appropriating $46,795 from the unappropriated safety service fund for the purchase of a new police vehicle. It will replace a cruiser damaged in an accident. The city received $26,835 in insurance payments from the driver of the car in fault in the accident.
