February ‘22 Recap
Hello Hudson! February was extremely busy! As such, I was unable to do a recap before now. The good news is that the City always puts out unbiased, factual summaries of the meetings and workshops. Below I have linked the City’s summaries for your convenience. These summaries that the City publishes are very detailed, so I will keep my post today high-level and focus on the bigger things that happened or were voted on last month.
Note: There was no city summary for the 02/08/2022 meeting.
02/01/2022 Regularly Scheduled Meeting
At this meeting, we passed a number of items on the consent agenda. The notable items were: amending sections of the Fire Prevention Code and adopting the current Ohio Fire Code and the International Fire Code, approval to enter into a contract for the purchase of three fleet vehicles for our police department, and approval for the purchase of 27 self-contained breathing apparatus and accessory equipment (grant funding was received to offset part of this cost).
The only two items on the legislative agenda were on first readings, and therefore no action was taken on either at this meeting.
02/08/2022 Special Meeting
This special meeting was called approximately 24 hours prior to this meeting being held. The meeting was to consider a resolution to suspend the City Manager and appoint an acting City Manager following that. This meeting was held at 5:30 pm at Town Hall.
After the meeting was called to order, a motion was made for Council to enter into executive session. Council was in executive session for approximately 40 minutes. When we re-entered Council chambers, Council President Chris Foster made an announcement that a tentative agreement had been reached. As a result, we did not move forward with the agenda items listed and Mr. Foster closed the meeting.
I had previously stated that I was not in favor of this resolution. I also was disappointed in the decision to close the meeting before residents could make public comment.
02/08/2022 Regularly Scheduled Workshop
Following the Special Meeting held at 5:30 pm, we reconvened for our regularly scheduled workshop.
Under the “Discussion Items” portion of the meeting, we had two robust conversations about water. The first discussion was regarding whether or not we should move away from the two-tiered water rate structure we currently have in place, and move to a single, blended water rate. The two rates were implemented when the city and township merged. After 20 years of being one community, it is time that we make it fair to everyone and not have some residents paying more than others. This will mean that some people’s rate will go up, and some people’s rates will go down. We discussed ways to make the change gradual so that it is not so jarring.
Our second discussion was about expanding the Hudson Water System and how we could fund projects like this. This is a complex topic and I think we will still be talking about it in 20 years. Because some people are on Akron Water and some people have wells, the areas to which we can expand are in some ways limited. Council acknowledges that this is a utility that is desired by many, and we are looking at ways to accomplish this. Later on in this blog I discuss the Council Retreat everyone on Council attended, and this was a focus then as well. There are no solid plans to move forward with any particular water extension project yet, but we are working on it.
The next topic we discussed was the campaign finance legislation I have put forward for Council’s consideration. Since I last provided an update on this legislation, I had a productive meeting with Councilors Banweg and Schlademan to improve this legislation. At this workshop, Council discussed the revised draft and provided feedback. I will dive into this topic later on in another blog.
We also had a brief discussion regarding whether or not to allow ice fishing in Hudson parks. Following that discussion, staff made the administrative change to allow ice fishing on city property. On 02/14/2022, Mayor Craig Shubert resigned from his position as Mayor of Hudson following the comments he made regarding ice fishing.
Because workshops are a time for us to work through items and set the agenda, we did not vote on anything at this meeting.
02/15/2022 Regularly Scheduled Meeting
The majority of time was spent listening to public comments. Public comments ranged from opinions about the previous week’s resolution from the special meeting held regarding the City manager, to the use of City Hall, to comments on the Mayor.
We passed a number of items on the consent agenda. While they are very important and help keep our city running, they do not make for the most interesting reading in an already very long blog. Click the 02/15/2022 link at the top of this blog to read more about them if you are interested. Everything on the legislative agenda was on its first or second reading, so no action was taken on any of those items.
02/22/2022 Special Meeting
A special meeting was called for Council to consider a resolution accepting the resignation of the City Manager. This passed 6-1, with me being the single dissenting vote. Following this, a motion was made to withdraw Resolution No. 22-18 (the resolution to suspend the City Manager pending removal from the 02/08 Special Meeting). This passed 7-0.
So, now we are looking for a new City Manager.
02/22/2022 Regularly Scheduled Workshop
Immediately after the special meeting, we began our regularly scheduled workshop.
Although it is not typical for proclamations to be read at workshops, Council President and acting Mayor Chris Foster read one in special recognition of Rare Disease Day. Hudson resident Erin Long accepted it on behalf of her family, the community, and everyone whose life has been touched by a rare disease.
We had a few discussion items this evening. Two of them that I want to draw attention to but won’t elaborate on are an update on the E. Barlow Rd/Terex Rd/Hudson Industrial Parkway intersection study and an update on the downtown pedestrian safety study. If either of these are of interest to you, click on the 02/22/2022 link at the top of this blog to read the city’s summary, or you can email me for more info at nkowalski@hudson.oh.us.
We also had a discussion about the city’s current mailbox damage policy reimbursement amount. At the end of the discussion, Council directed staff to raise the amount from $100 to $200. Council recognizes that the cost of materials and supplies have gone up since this policy was first instated, so it was time to increase the amount. The majority of Council felt $200 was a reasonable amount based on data staff provided.
State of the City Address
On 02/24, the city of Hudson, in conjunction with the Hudson Area Chamber of Commerce, presented the annual State of the City Address. I enjoyed attending and hearing about all of Hudson's accomplishments. You can watch it here if you missed it: https://vimeo.com/681915435
Public Works Facilities Tour
The following day (Friday, 02/25), members of our city staff gave a tour of our public works facilities. This tour reinforced the need for a new facility that can eliminate inefficiencies our staff experiences daily. There is so much that goes into keeping our city running smoothly! Check out some photos.
Council Retreat 2022
And finally, on Saturday, 02/26, all of Council and some members of our city staff came together for a retreat in City Hall. We discussed a variety of topics:
Downtown Phase 2 plan – housing and Heinen’s
Velocity Broadband expansion
Putting a water rate study RFP out to consultants
Reviewing the current business forecasts, inflation, and planning for changes in the income taxes
Planning for the upcoming Comprehensive Plan
Expanding the Hudson Water System and how we could fund that expansion
Continuing the December fireworks
Land Development Code changes/updates
Improving communication with the residents of Hudson
Business retention and maintaining strong economic growth
Financial health of the city (Spoiler alert: It’s great!)
Pedestrian connectivity
Hines Hill railroad signage
Supply chain issues that impact various projects
A new Public Works Facility
Locations for future cemeteries
A public recreation center
Technology and cyber security
…and more!
I felt we made great progress and were able to provide staff with direction for the remainder of 2022.
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Have questions? Want to share your thoughts with me on any of the agenda items or issues listed above? As always, I would love to have a conversation! Email me directly at nkowalski@hudson.oh.us.
