Akron Council's Weekly Legislative Spotlight! 2024 Issue #10

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Akron City Council

Weekly Legislative Spotlight

From the Desk of the Council President

Hello Joan,

Happy Women's History Month. Join us in recognizing the importance and contributions of revolutionary women throughout history, and celebrating their stories.

Welcome to our new subscribers. We are so excited that you are joining us! To our regular subscribers, thank you for your commitment to staying informed and engaged through your continued subscribership to Akron City Council's Legislative Spotlight.

We hope you are enjoying the wealth of information shared with you each week.

We share highlights from the Council's legislative agenda from the previous Monday's Committee and Council meetings. Definitions and information about commonly used terms and council-related facts are also featured.

We want you to stay connected and abreast of the issue before Akron City Council.

The information shared in each week's Legislative Spotlight will continue to educate, empower, and liberate you to become increasingly engaged with your City Council in making Akron a better place for all its residents.

Sincerely,

Margo Sommerville

Council President

Ward 3 Council Member

Legislative Highlights From Monday, March 25, 2024

Resolution No. 98-2024 congratulating Jim Aitken on the occasion of his retirement and thanking him for his service to the City of Akron; and declaring an emergency. Vote: Ayes: 13, Nays: 0. Jim began his service to the City of Akron in 1986 as a sewer maintenance worker. In February 2021, he was promoted to Deputy Director of Public Service-Operations. See the congratulatory comments made here.

Resolution No. 101-2024 reaffirming the intention of the City of Akron to become a Power a Clean Future Ohio (PCFO) community; approving the appointments of Casey Shevlin as the City’s PCFO coordinator, and the Office of Sustainability and Resiliency as the City’s PCFO coordination team; pledging to pursue efforts that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve environmental sustainability overall; urging involvement of City offices, community organizations, and other entities to develop or implement sustainability efforts as appropriate; and declaring an emergency. Vote: Ayes: 13, Nays: 0. See the Presentation given to the Public Service Committee here.

Ordinance No. 110-2024 to make the annual appropriation for the current expenses, other expenditures and the capital outlays of the City of Akron for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024; and declaring and emergency. A Substitute Offered as an Amendment was introduced. Vote: Ayes: 13, Nays: 0. You can view budgets as well as other financial reports here.

Resolution No. 115-2024 approving and confirming the appointment by Akron City Council of Ericka Burney-Hawkins to the Akron Citizens' Police Oversight Board, as established by Charter Section 68a; and declaring an emergency. Vote: Ayes: 13, Nays: 0. Read more about the Citizens' Police Oversight Board here.

The Public Service Committee welcomed representatives from Ohio Consumers' Counse l to discuss the proposed Dominion rate increase. Learn more and find out what you can do here.

Remember...

You can see all the legislation discussed during the meeting at: https://onlinedocs.akronohio.gov/OnBaseAgendaOnline/

Check out the calendar on

Council's website for

upcoming Ward Meetings!

Margo Sommerville

First Black Woman to Serve as President of Akron City Council

Margo Sommerville began serving as the Ward 3 Council representative in January 2013.

She has been elected unanimously by Council members to serve as President since January 2018.

Dr. Joan M. Williams

First Council Chief of Staff

Dr. Joan M. Williams is the first Chief of Staff for Akron City Council. In that capacity, she serves as liaison between the Office of the Council President and the Office of the Mayor, other departments of the City, County, State and Federal government offices.

Solar Eclipse

Monday, April 8th

No Committee or Council meetings

The city will have a mix of community centers, parks, and one downtown location available as viewing sites to help folks enjoy the eclipse no matter where they are. Downtown city services will be limited in person after noon on April 8. View all of the City of Akron’s Eclipse Viewing Sites here.

Visit the Akron/Summit Convention and Visitors Bureau site for a list of other eclipse events happening around the Akron area.

Your Council Representative

Is Available to Serve You!

There are several ways to reach your Ward Representative:

View their information on the Council's website .
Attend their ward meeting .
Call or email them.

Upcoming Open Comment Public Hearings

Up For Public Hearing April 15, 2024:

(during 5:00 p.m. Special Meeting)

Ordinance authorizing a Conditional Use to establish adult day care services on the Ohio Living Rockynol campus at 1275 West Exchange Street; and declaring an emergency.

***

Notices are posted on our website at least 15 days before the meeting.

Suppose the Ordinance is a Conditional Use (Zoning measure). In that case, a notice is also mailed to the owners and residents of property within, contiguous to, and directly across the street from the property involved in the Ordinance (per Charter Section 34). Notices are also published in the Akron Beacon Journal.

You do not need to fill out any forms to participate. You're able to attend in person in Council Chambers or remotely via videoconference.

Those wishing to attend remotely need to notify the Clerk of Council as outlined in the meeting notice in order to receive the information to join remotely.

Please Help Us Get The Word Out!

Enjoying the Legislative Spotlight?

Why not share it with your friends and neighbors? The QR code will take them directly to the sign-up page on our website.

311- Akron's One Call to City Hall

If you have a specific city issue that you'd like to see resolved (a pothole, water leak, tree down, missed trash collection, etc.), you can enter it in the online system, call 311, or download

the new "MyAkron311" app.

The app is available for free on all Apple or Android devices in the app store.

After downloading, residents can create a profile, enter a service request, look up timely city information, and set up notifications specific to their address such as trash/recycling collection reminders.

Public Comment Period

A public comment period is held at each regularly scheduled Council meeting, where up to ten (10) members of the public may address Council on matters within Council's authority. No member of the public shall be permitted to address Council during the public comment period more than once every 30 days.

Those who wish to participate in the public comment period of a regular Council meeting need to submit a public comment form by 4:00 p.m. on the date of the meeting.

The sign-up form is available here.

For those that do not have a mobile device/computer to utilize, or need additional assistance, Council staff is available to help.

Signing up is a requirement of Council Rules, similar to other bodies.

Rule 3.2 Special Committees:

The President of Council may create special committees as are necessary to carry out the duties of Council. Membership on special committees will be established by the President of Council.

You can view the Rules of Procedure

for Akron City Council here.

Check out this glossary of terms from Signal Akron.