My notes from last night’s council meeting

Sometimes we have marathon meetings with 3 or 4 weighty issues. Sometimes, we only have about 20-30 minutes of discussion. Last night was the latter. Our longest discussions related to union negotiations and were within Executive Session, which by law are confidential.

Without further throat-clearing, here are my notes from the 10/11/18 Stow City Council meeting:

Downtown Stow – We sent out 10 RFPs to developers who might be interested in partnering with the city on a downtown project. We expect to have a lot more clarity on this subject by mid-November.

Route 8 – ODOT crews will be repaving the berm for another 3 weeks. Of importance to a lot of us northern Stow/southern Hudson residents, they will be installing the Seasons Road traffic signal in the next 45-60 days. Crews will also be patching the freeway so that it is navigable during the winter months, when it will be back to 3 lanes.

Police overtime – Stow is planning to spend an additional $100,000 on police overtime, mostly due to things outside the department’s control, such as one officer going to light duty during pregnancy, another officer’s medical leave, and another officer’s unexpected departure. While overtime sometimes saves taxpayers money (because time-and-a-half is still cheaper than benefits), there are limits to that. I think our police department has done a good job at managing employee time and finding that sweet spot.

Next meeting – Council will meet next on October 25.