Here are my notes from last night’s meeting:

Funding for Road Repair – I’m happy to report a very positive development for those of us who really want good roads. Council is poised to bring Stow’s roads up to a high standard, once and for all. It’s going to require a significant investment. But if we can’t fix them now, when the city’s finances are in A+ condition, when will it happen?

The first question is: What does it mean to “fix” them? Cities operate on an objective rating system, giving each road a grade from to 100. Every year, the city repaves the roads that need it the most. If we had unlimited money, we would fix all of the roads rated “poor” or “failed.” But we haven’t had enough money to do that–ever since the city stripped the road budget in 2008-2010. That has forced us to play catch-up for the past decade. The answer to the first question is: We invest enough money so that no resident has to live on, or travel through, a road that is rated as poor or worse. In the next week or so, we should have a grasp on what the exact dollar figure is.

The second question is: How do we pay for it? Given the city’s stable finances, we actually have a few options, and none involves raising taxes. (1) We could dip into our rainy-day fund, which holds an all-time high of $5.56 million. (2) We could sell notes and bonds. Our city debt load has dropped from $32 million to $14 million in the past decade. Or we could do the option that I have been advocating … an inter-fund loan. Our water fund is flush with cash, but it can only be used on water projects. Loans, however, are permissible. By borrowing X Dollars from the water fund, we could finance the entire job, and pay ourselves back over, say, 10 years. This is preferable to me for two reasons. First, it allows us to maintain the great security of the rainy-day fund–which will be indispensable when the next recession hits. Second, by borrowing from ourselves, and not the market, we can avoid $50,000 of transaction costs to bond lawyers. Third, we are paying interest, but we’re paying it to ourselves. My answer to the second question is: Borrow it from the water fund. The idea is somewhat novel, but not unprecedented; we borrowed from the water fund for a storm-water project last year.

New Commercial/Industrial Projects

One of the reasons we are on solid financial ground is the growth of our tax base. We did this by keeping tax rates low (it was a huge help for voters to reject the proposed income tax increase in 2015), and by aggressively pursuing opportunities to bring good-paying jobs to town.

As chairman of the Planning Committee, I was thrilled to hear about these new projects last night:

• There will be a fourth Fogg building at the southeast corner of Route 8 and Seasons Road. The first two are filled. The third is half-filled, and occupancy is growing. So the developer continues to bet money on Stow, by building a fourth spec building (i.e., no designated tenants yet). It will be the largest of all four, with 213,000 square feet.
• Taking cues from Fogg, another developer is constructing a 101,000 square foot spec building on Allen Road. Construction will begin in the spring.
• The Vizmeg building on McCauley will be expanding by 10,048 square feet to accommodate the company’s operations.
• Stow Muffler Shop (on Kent Road, next to Marty’s Bike Shop) is upgrading its building and adding a 1,000 square feet addition.

2019 Budget

Stow passed its budget by a 5-0 vote. For more information about it, please review my post from last month.

Route 8 Construction

Beginning Sunday, Route 8 will drop to one lane in each direction, as workers erect median barriers.

Next Meeting

Council will meet next on April 11.

Here are my notes from last night’s meeting:

Meeting on a Monday? We met on a Monday because we couldn’t get a quorum last Thursday (council members were sick or out of town). It used to be that City Council would meet on Mondays and Thursdays. It was inefficient. It consumed staff time, without any commensurate benefit. As Presidents of Council, Matt Riehl and I did away with the Monday meetings. We haven’t missed them.

Law Director Shakeup – In case you hadn’t heard, Stow’s law director is now Stow’s clerk of courts. Amber Zibritosky was appointed by the Summit County Democrats to fill the spot of Diana Colavacchio, who left the clerk job to work in the administration of Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Don Walters. Amber’s deputy, Brendan Mackin, will assume the role of law director for the remainder of 2019. That job will be up for grabs in the November election (no, I’m not running for it).

More on the 2019 budget – Council heard from the Stow Municipal Court judges and its new clerk about their budgets. The court does not project a deficit in 2019, although it’s possible the judges will need to hire a new magistrate if state law changes to push more drug cases from common pleas courts down to Ohio’s municipal courts. The clerk enjoyed a 2.5% increase in revenue last year.

Route 8 – Watch for Route 8 to be limited to two lanes in the coming weeks. It will remain that way until late fall. Kenmore Construction will be undertaking a complete rebuild of this critical artery of Northeast Ohio for the next few years.

Duplex vote – For the second time in two years, council heard a proposal for construction of a duplex, to take the place of a vacant home at the corner of Hibbard and Sunnyside. Last year, the planning commission approved it, but council denied it by a 3-3 vote. At that time, I stated my belief that the man was entitled to build the duplex, pursuant to our zoning code, and that council was violating his rights by listening to the mob of people who insisted a duplex would devalue their homes. Shortly after that vote, I made a proposal to change the law, limiting the construction of duplexes in the future. My take is this: You have two options as a legislative body, 1) Follow the law, or 2) Change the law. … In the weeks that followed, it was clear that council wasn’t interested in changing the law. So be it. But when this man asked for his proposal to be revisited last night, I made a plea to my colleagues to follow the law. They did, and the proposal was approved by a 6-0 vote. A small victory for the rule of law.

Next meeting – Council will meet next on March 28.