Ravenna City Council meets to decide on new ordinances
Ravenna City Council passed five ordinances unanimously at their Nov. 2 meeting, many of which pertaining to financial decisions for different aspects of the city.
- Ordinance No. 2020-122: An ordinance to accept, record, and appropriate the ODNR outdoor discovery grant for the new parks & recreation department archery program, and declaring an emergency.
- Ordinance No. 2020-123: An ordinance to approve the purchase of cyber insurance from At-Bay Insurance Services, LLC for the sum of $7,292.00 and declaring an emergency.
- Ordinance No. 2020-124: An ordinance to authorize the mayor to accept the 3rd Federal Cares Act Coronavirus Relief Distribution of $409,402.09 and to appropriate the funds and declaring an emergency.
- Ordinance No. 2020-125: An ordinance to appropriate $345,183.00 from fund 407 to fund 670 to repay the water fund for the enterprise parkway loan principal and declaring an emergency.
- Ordinance No. 2020-126: An ordinance approving the transfers and advances for the month of September 2020 and declaring an emergency.
Ordinance No. 2020-123, was to purchase cyber insurance from At-Bay Insurance Services. This has been discussed with the council for approximately two months now. “We looked at quotes. we had someone come in and talk about insurance. We ask questions of the quotes we compared quotes, all of those things before we decided which one we were going to go with,” said Christina West, Ravenna City Council at Large.
All five ordinances from this meeting were passed on one reading, as opposed to some having three. This decision with the number of readings depends on the importance of this ordinance, the public opinion with the ordinance and the urgency of the ordinance.
With Ordinance No. 2020-123, this ordinance was read once due to the fact that they wanted to move quickly with the ordinance. Due to the increase in the use of technology, this cyber insurance would protect not only people working for the city but those who send their information in through the city, if something would have happened. “With everyone working from home now, that was something that we need to do move forward pretty quickly,” West said.
Ravenna city council clerk Chelsea Gregor was another member in attendance for yesterday’s meeting. While Gregor is a just liaison between the public and the city council and has no say in the decision-making during the meetings, she still has numerous responsibilities leading up the assemblies.
Gregor is in charge of organizing the city council meetings three times a month, provides clarification on ordinances discussed and anything else that is needed from council members.
“Essentially, anything that council needs as far as information, ordinances, records retention, anything put on the agenda, I’m their assistant,” Gregor said.
Although she joined the council in March of this year, her former job as an administrative assistant at the Village of Mantua had all of the same duties as her current role. Before every meeting, Gregor draws up legislation to make them legal, takes them to law directors so they can check them and written ordinances are then voted on during council meetings.
Issues discussed during the meetings can vary from a mayor signing a contract, ordering chemicals for the city’s water plant, to a paving project.
Before any of the ordinances were discussed, the city council had Kevin Gray from the Portage County Historical Society to talk about Maple Grove Cemetery, located in Ravenna.
Maple Grove Cemetery is an incredibly historic part of Ravenna, Ohio, dating back to the early 1800s. The Ravenna Township ran the cemetery on their own, until the 90s when the city stepped in to take over. The township wanted to remain a part of the cemetery and the decision was made that it would become a union.
Now, the township is asking to back out of the agreement, leaving for the cemetery in the city’s control. This has led to countless questions — how will the city be financially affected? Why are they deciding to back out? The city is now looking at what they can do from their perspective.
To have Gray at the meeting, they were able to learn more about the history, the people who are buried there, and the different walking tours that are offered. “It’s really just amazing to walk through and see all the names of lovely historic people,” Gray said during the council meeting.
