MANSFIELD — Mansfield’s submission of its federal Community Development Block Grant application will have to wait a couple of weeks.
A planned Tuesday vote on the city’s plan to spend $858,000 in funds from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development office was delayed until June 4 when Richland Source pointed out during the meeting there were not enough votes to approve it as an emergency.
It takes Mansfield City Council six votes to pass legislation as an emergency, allowing it to take effect immediately with the mayor’s signature.
That’s because Ohio Revised Code 731.30 requires two-thirds of all members elected to the legislative authority to approve new laws as emergencies. In Mansfield’s case, that’s six.
Two of council’s eight voting members — At-large Councilwoman Stephanie Zader and 4th Ward Councilwoman Cynthia Daley — were absent Tuesday. Council President Phil Scott only votes in the event of a tie.
So when At-large Councilman David Falquette said he needed to abstain from the vote, that left just five council members to approve the issue. If council had approved it with five votes, the proposal would not take effect for 30 days, which would delay submission until June 20.
Sixth Ward Councilwoman Deborah Mount asked if the vote could be delayed until council’s next meeting on June 4 when the absent members were in attendance, perhaps providing sufficient support to approve it as an emergency and speed up the application submission by 16 days.
Council then approved postponing the vote.
Adrian Ackerman, the city’s community development and housing director, said the HUD deadline is Aug. 15.
“My anticipation is if this passes on June 4, we will have it submitted June 5 or 6. HUD has 45 days to review it. It will delay the start of our program year a little but, but that should be negligible since the funds won’t be available yet,” Ackerman said.
The situation was reminiscent of council’s attempt to approve the CDBG application in 2020 in an online-only meeting during the COVID pandemic. The application was approved by a vote of 5-3, but may have missed the deadline since it was not passed as an emergency.
When Richland Source questioned that decision at the end of the meeting, City Council decided to revote on the application and approved it by a 6-2 vote.
In other City Council action on Tuesday:
— local lawmakers heard from a representative from The Cannabist Co., which would like to open an adult-use, recreational marijuana dispensary in the city. Keri Stan told Richland Source afterward anticipated annual sales from such a site in a community the size of Mansfield would be $5 to $7 million, meaning it could generate as much as $250,000 in annual local tax revenue. Council is scheduled to vote June 4 on a six-month moratorium on any such dispensaries in the city.
— approved the city’s application for $342,671 in federal HOME Pride funds, the bulk of which will be used for tenant-based rental assistance and down-payment assistance for new homeowners.
— voted to accept a $4,800 grant from the Richland County Foundation to hire a summer intern for the city’s community development department.
— voted to accept a $2,500 grant from the Richland County Foundation for the city’s Summer Fun program at North Lake Park.
— discussed during caucus the city’s proposed 2025 tax budget, which has to be submitted to the Richland County Auditor’s Office by state law. It’s an early look at anticipated city revenues across various funds.
— discussed during caucus a proposed change to the city’s charter that would allow the Board to Control award contracts of up to $50,000, up from the $25,000 limit now imposed.
