Aurora City Council & COW - 4/28/2025

Aurora, Ohio, City Council and Committee of the Whole
​April 28, 2025

Committee of the Whole (COW): The meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm by Chairman John Kudley with all Council members present: Reva Barner, Brad Duguay, Peter French, Sarah Grdina Gilmore, George Horvat, Dennis Kovach, John Seitz and Scott Wolf. There were 9 City Officials and Employees present. There were 6 citizens present.

Minutes from April 14, 2025 were adopted with S. Wolf abstaining.

Finance Director’s Report: An Aurora High School Senior interning with Mr. Clymer read the report. “Fund balances remain in a healthy position with $44,483,786. unencumbered in all funds and $13,445,949. unencumbered in the General Fund. Our General Fund revenue collections through March are at 28.2% of budgeted revenues with 25% of the year completed. Income tax collections are currently at 29.5% of budgeted revenue. General Fund expenditures through March are at 25.1% of budgeted amounts.”

 There were 6 Ordinances and 1 Resolution proposed for action that evening on 1st Reading:

• An Ordinance amending Employees Generally reflecting changes in compensation for 2 individuals-a transfer from Water department to Service department with no job title or pay change and 1 new hire service tech. A 3rd individual’s hiring was postponed and removed from the agenda
  
• An Ordinance accepting the donation of a commercial level Airmax Floating Fountain estimated to be worth approximately $4,284.13. It has been regularly serviced, in good condition and will be used in the pond at Veterans Memorial Park.
  
• An Ordinance authorizing advertisement of the 2000 Salt Storage Dome for sale via online auction to facilitate its removal before the new salt dome will be constructed. 
  
• An Ordinance accepting the proposal of MKSK, Inc. in the amount of $1,802,933.00 to provide design services for Aurora Park at Geauga Lake including site and architectural design, utilities design, documentation, public approvals, permitting, park branding bid documents and construction observation services.
  
• An Ordinance accepting the proposal of Strand Associates, Inc. in the amount not to exceed $632,800.00 for improvements to the Marketplace pump station and the design of the pump station at Aurora Park at Geauga Lake.
  
• An Ordinance ratifying an electric service agreement with Dynegy Energy Services East, LLC to act as the city’s electricity supplier for city accounts (not the residential program).
  
• A Resolution confirming the Mayor’s appointment of Ms. Rachel Reight as an alternate member to Aurora’s Planning Commission for the term ending December 31, 2028.
  

There was 1 Ordinance proposed for 1st Reading:

• An Ordinance authorizing the Mayor and Finance Director to compensate the Aurora Board of Education $261,844.00, less the cost of $60,949.00 for providing school resource officers for a net amount of $200,895.00 for its portion of the income tax received from property tax abatements granted on commercial and industrial properties for 2024. Mr. Clymer said this was a positive indication of how well the CRA program is doing as there has been a steady increase in the amount paid to the schools, this being the first year it was above $200,000.00.
  

Added to the agenda was an item under Miscellaneous – a proposal to improve communication between the Administration, Council and the Residents. Councilmen Wolf, French, Horvat and Kudley met after consulting Law Director Dean DePiero to be compliant with Sunshine Laws, to draft a proposal to provide greater insight and enhance communication. J. Kudley gave a history of how there used to be 4 Committees that met monthly with Finance, Safety, Parks and Rec and Service directors and would report to Council. It was changed to the Committee of the Whole so that all Council Members would receive the same information at the same time to streamline the process. Dialogue was lost, however and there was a desire to provide more information to the public, providing more opportunities for questions from residents.  A conversation with Council members Duguay, Horvat, Seitz, French, Grdina-Gilmore, Barner and Wolf began with initial thoughts: favoring the idea; preferring it be a part of Council meetings; providing a way to give updates on city projects especially since we no longer have an Aurora newspaper; making them quarterly reports; bullet pointed items would be fine; would make it easier for people to see items rather than search through the minutes or watch the Council meetings on line. The Mayor said it would be possible but expressed concern that the Directors are really busy and already write a lot of reports. She also mentioned that the city sends out regular newsletters, Parks and Rec sends out quarterly booklets on upcoming programs, Service Dept sends out a schedule of service dates once a year and she gives a report at every Council Meeting. Mr. Kudley asked for people to send any feedback and ideas to him.  

Meeting adjourned at 6:41 pm

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City Council (CC):  Council President George Horvat called the meeting to order at 6:18 pm with the Pledge to the Flag of the United States of America. All Council members were present and absent as noted in the COW report. There were 9 City Officials and Employees present and 6 persons in the gallery.

April 14, 2025 Meeting Minutes were adopted with S. Wolf abstaining.

An Executive Session to discuss the Acquisition of Real Property was removed from the agenda with no explanation.

Mayor’s Report: The Mayor called attention to City News: Brush pickup began on April 21 and continue through October; There was a watermain break in front of Starbucks on an old city main line that they hope to do major work on in 2027; Sidewalk repair to faulty concrete on New Hudson is being replaced at the contractor’s expense; Fill a Bag, Feed a Family is May 3; Fire Chief Matt McBirney and department staff met with administrators and nursing directors from local senior facilities to discuss ways to improve EMS calls and transports; The Splash Pad will open on May 24. Aurora sponsors several assistance programs and applications can be found on the city’s website or they can call City Hall. Road Paving program with Perrin Asphalt will be completed before July 4. The Sidewalk Repair program is resuming with the city sharing the cost with the homeowner of qualifying repairs after the owner’s application to participate in the program. National Day of Prayer is being held on May 1 at 7 a.m. at the Bicentennial Gazebo. It is sponsored locally by the Aurora Pastors’ Fellowship, is nonpartisan and nondenominational. Taste of the Western Reserve, sponsored by the Rotary, is Sunday May 4 at Silver Creek Church. Work is continuing on construction of phase 1 of the Aurora Trail. She hoped everyone enjoyed a wonderful Passover and Easter. Council members had several follow up questions for the Mayor: Are the sidewalk repair standards the same as before? Ans: yes. When will the Aurora Trail be opened? Ans: Soft Opening is planned for June. What is the cost to the homeowner for the sidewalk repair? Ans: Each situation is different so there is no one answer. The cost is a 50/50 share. 

Law Director’s Report: Mr. DePiero has started Union Negotiations with the 5 Bargaining Units as all collective bargaining agreement expire December 31, 2025. 


Citizens Comments – A representative from Goodwill Industries asked for support of granting a conditional zoning certificate to allow them to operate a bookstore and donation center. She answered concerns Council expressed at the last meeting: Goodwill needs to be able to accept donations to gather inventory for the store; They have not seen  continuous dumping at other sites that are camera monitored; She met with the representative from Friends of the Library and offered to share sales and offered space for the FOL books; She appreciated the help from various city staff. 

 Council Remarks – Legislation: J. Kudley was still concerned about the donation drop off. He spoke with a tenant of the building who said there is a problem of people dumping items in their dumpster and thought this might add to the problem. B. Duguay was also concerned with the donation center used as a dumping ground but had no problem with the bookstore.


Ordinances on 3rd  Reading:

• An Ordinance granting a conditional zoning certificate to Goodwill Industries of Akron for business services to allow a bookstore and donation center was unanimously voted down.

Ordinances on 1st Reading: 

• The Ordinance from Planning Commission for Trentstone went to 3rd Reading.

Ordinances on 2nd Reading:

• The  Ordinance granting a tax abatement to Gatta Holdings, Inc was adopted with rules suspended.
  
• An Ordinance accepting the bid for the replacement of the southernmost water tower went to 3rd Reading.
  

Ordinance on 1st Reading: 

• The 6 Ordinances and 1 Resolution proposed for action that evening were adopted with rules suspended. See COW for details.
  
• The Ordinance authorizing the Mayor and Finance Director to compensate the Aurora Board of Education $200,895.00 for its portion of the income tax received from property tax abatements went to 2nd Reading.
  

Citizens Comments: None

Council Members Remarks: R Barner asked about the return of the Food Trucks. Ans: they will return in June on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays; Will there be a new tenant in the space Salon Patrick is vacating when they move to their new location? Ans: there are some prospects. There will be a Ribbon Cutting at the newly remodeled Heinens this Saturday.
B. Duguay expressed thanks to Mr. Frisbee for his help with 2 Citizens’ concerns and Added his support for the upcoming Feed a Bag program.

Meeting adjourned at 7:20 p.m.