MANSFIELD — It was a night of firsts at the initial Mansfield City Council of 2024.
It was the first night of work for new 4th Ward Councilwoman Cynthia Daley and new 6th Ward Councilwoman Deborah Mount.
It was the first evening session for new Mayor Jodie Perry, new Finance Director Kelly Blankenship and new Law Director Rollie Harper, all of whom had their first day in office Tuesday.
It was the first rapidly-moving legislative session in the last few months to end in less than an hour with only five pieces of legislation.
And it all happened after a series of swearing-in ceremonies that included the new members of the Mansfield Charter Review Commission, all of whom who earned seats in November’s election.
Commission members taking the oath Tuesday night, administered by Richland County Common Pleas Court Judge Phil Naumoff, were Shari Robertson and Chuck Hahn, both At-large; Michael Miranda (1st Ward); Emily Adams (2nd Ward); Jill VanHarlingen (3rd Ward); Karla Hale (4th Ward); Brandon Dixon (5th Ward); and Gabe Zader (6th Ward).
(Below are photos from swearing-in ceremonies and the initial Mansfield City Council meeting of the year on Tuesday evening. The story continues below the gallery.)
Praise for public service
Naumoff praised commission members — and also City Council members.
“They do it just for a love of community and I greatly appreciate those people (and) their dedicated service to the community. They care. A lot of people talk about being good citizens, doing the right thing, wanting things to change, but they don’t get active,” the judge said.
“These folks do and they are here tonight. And for each of those people, I just want to express my gratitude. I do live in the City of Mansfield, so I appreciate your efforts. It means a lot to me. Too often, we overlook these people,” Naumoff said.
The judge also swore in Daley, new council President Phil Scott (who had been an At-large representative) and re-elected 2nd Ward Councilwoman Cheryl Meier.
Newly-elected At-Large Councilman David Falquette (who had been council president) chose to have his oath administered by the new mayor.
Mount was sworn in during a ceremony last week in council chambers by state Sen. Mark Romanchuk of Ontario (above).
Perry: It was a great first day in office
After the meeting, Perry said she had a great first day in office. She won election in November and replaces former Mayor Tim Theaker after his 12 years in office.
“After all of this time of talking and planning and preparing, it felt nice to just walk in, be able to focus fully on the task at hand, start to meet people, and start some planning for the rest of the year,” said Perry, who had been the leader of the Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development.
“A lot of it was in the office kind of getting acquainted with just the city building itself, since I’m completely new. I met with some of the leaders in the city. I spent some time just getting my office set up, kind of going over calendar items, making sure that I’m not overscheduling or double scheduling myself accidentally, things like that,” Perry said.
The new mayor said she planned to spend time in the next few weeks visiting different departments within the city.
“I want to hear what they’re interested and what suggestions they have. Definitely a top thing for me is really looking at communications how I can continue to improve on that.
“And of course, economic development. That was the backbone of my campaign. Making good on all of those promises is the focus of what I want to do,” she said.
Legislation to reallocate ARPA funds pulled
As expected, legislation requested by the North End Community Improvement Collaborative to reallocate $1.5 million from the city’s American Rescue Plan Act funds was pulled from the agenda.
At-large Councilwoman Stephanie Zader, chair of the public affairs committee, made the decision to place a hold on the proposal. There was no discussion of the bill during Tuesday’s meeting.
“My plan is for the new administration, if they still want to move forward with it, is to come to (council) with a detailed proposal that answers all of our questions,” Zader said last week.
“If we are going to give out that large of an amount of money, I would like to see a detailed plan laid out,” she said. “It’s about 7 percent of the total ARPA award the city received.”
In May 2022, council approved the ARPA expenditure to NECIC as it began fundraising efforts for a new $16 million Community Impact Center at 486 Springmill St.
Even as those fundraising efforts continue, it’s unlikely NECIC will be able to meet deadlines required for ARPA usage, namely that projects using the federal funds be complete by the end of 2026.
NECIC chose to pivot and gain permission to use those ARPA funds to purchase and renovate 280-290 N. Main St. and buy equipment that will allow it to bring elements of the CIC to life now in the 35,000-square foot space.
NECIC Development Officer Melissa Drozda said the purchase and renovation of 280-290 N. Main St. would allow NECIC to address the community’s urgent needs, while continuing to raise funds for the Community Impact Center.
In other action, City Council:
— approved spending up to $300,000 in PRIDE tax funds for the ongoing demolition and cleanup of former Westinghouse properties on the city’s east side. In August 2022, lawmakers allocated $500,000 in ARPA money toward the project. Costs of the project have increased as the company doing the project has found unanticipated concrete pits and other issues that were buried under the ground on the 13-acre site.
— approved a “then-and-now” certificate to pay PenLink $23,282.45. The Mansfield Police Department contracted with the company to provide software for the METRICH Enforcement Unit prior to submitting a purchase order to the city finance department. Funds for the project from the Recovery Ohio state grant.
— approved a “then-and-now” certificate to pay Flock Safety $73,00 for its license plate reader system. The MPD contracted with the company prior to submitted a purchase order. Funds for the project come from an American Rescue Plan Violence Reduction grant.
— voted to accept a $36,126.74 grant from the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services under the Paul Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Grant to defray the costs of forensic science overtime, contracts, supplies and equipment for the MPD crime lab.
— voted to accept $43,466.94 from the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services to help create “a training blueprint to enhance and sustain knowledge and skills on crime analysis and evidence-based practices” in eight northern Ohio police departments. MPD is the grant administrator for the Northern Ohio Violent Crime Consortium’s eight police departments (Akron, Canton, Cleveland, Elyria, Lorain, Mansfield, Toledo and Youngstown).
