Kent City Council approves of action to be taken to enforce mask mandates and large gatherings
The Kent City Council held its regular council meeting yesterday, Oct 21. The meeting was overshadowed by extensive talks of COVID response for mask-wearing and large gatherings.
The meeting began with a Kent resident concerned about people living in their apartment building and not wearing masks and observing people not wearing masks around the city.
Kent resident Samantha Wyler voices her concerns about the lack of enforcement of past enacted mask and gathering mandates.
“I am here today to ask that the city council of Kent to please consider passing a similar ordinance to the one in the past, issuing civil fines to unauthorized gatherings and to also include issuing civil fines to adults who have refused to wear masks in public spaces,” Says Wyler.
She concluded with, “This isn’t about wanting to find people, but as someone who has to walk through hallways and take elevators every day that people are crowding into without masks, this is about public safety.”
As the meeting continued, and the council began to discuss new business, several council members spoke up about the concerned resident. One of those council members was Ward 6 councilmember Tracy Wallach who motioned for a discussion to bring attention to enforcement for the city’s COVID concerns.
“We’re back to a red level in Portage County. Things are getting worse, people are suffering from COVID fatigue, and they’re starting to become relaxed with their safeguards, and I don’t want to get it (COVID),” says Wallach.
Going into further discussions and enacting a mask mandate in Kent vote did not pass at first. After other talks on the importance of the subject, the council revoted to agree to create a plan that would mandate mask-wearing in the city of Kent and would involve fines as enforcement.
As the council resolved their differences in concerns to COVID, they also voted on a handful of ordinances that needed to be voted on. One of those ordinances being the vacation of city-owned property on Whitewood Dr. off Adrian Ave.
Ordinance 2020-98 passed a vote to vacate the “paper” street known as Whitewood Drive off of Adrian Avenue to be vacated upon receipt by the City Clerk of Council of a properly executed petition by residents.
“This is a land that has been determined to be non-buildable. There was a developer interested in the land, but they also concluded that the land was non-buildable; therefore, the city-owned land will go to the property owners adjacent to the property, so the city no longer has to take care of it,” says Ward 5 council member and member of the land use committee, Heidi Shaffer.
The council also approved five grant applications to submit to various Ohio government sectors, but the one that stuck out the most was ordinance 2020-100.
This ordinance authorized Kent’s city to submit a grant funding application request for $30,000 to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA). The grant funds would go to installing an electric car charging station by the city’s administration building.
For more information on the subject and questions about the city council’s decisions, refer to the agenda and minutes as well as the Kent city webpage.
Kent City Council meeting has begun with a citizen concerned over mask mandates and punishments for mask mandates #kent citizens are looking for more strict mask mandates and punishments
— Richard Kirker (@kirker_richard) October 22, 2020
#kentcitycouncil has approved of vacating land owned by the city on Whitewood Dr. off of Adrian Ave. This was after a petition was submitted by nearby land owners
— Richard Kirker (@kirker_richard) October 22, 2020
#Kent city council passed a motion to submit a grant funding application with Ohio’s Environmental Protection Agency for funds an electric car charging station
— Richard Kirker (@kirker_richard) October 22, 2020
A lot of members of #Kentcitycouncil are in support of talking about enforcement of mask wearing and large gatherings, but some members feel it is redundant due to #ohio mask and gathering mandates already in place by the state
— Richard Kirker (@kirker_richard) October 22, 2020
#kentcitycouncil passes a new ordnance to the sale and public auction of surplus property. Ordinance No. 2020-101 authorizes sale of extra property from various city departments #kent
— Richard Kirker (@kirker_richard) October 22, 2020
#Kent Trick or treating will take place this Sunday 10/25 from 3-5 p.m.
— Richard Kirker (@kirker_richard) October 22, 2020
