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EAST LIVERPOOL -- Fire Chief Bill Jones sought council's approval for an economic development grant application during Monday's council meeting.
According to Jones, the economic development grant came about after a coalition reached out to him to request his assistance in writing the grant. The purpose of the grant is to try to bring economic development to a coalition including the City of East Liverpool, the Village of Wellsville and some entities in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
The grant will allow the hiring of an economic development director that will go out and seek to bring development to the coalition, Jones said. The goal is to try to create jobs in East Liverpool and Wellsville and the other coalition members.
Jones noted that a requirement of the grant to apply for the grant was to form a coalition.
The grant is 100% funded with no matching funds required. The minimum amount that can be applied for is $250,000 and the maximum is $500,000.
Jones said they are applying for a two-year program and has estimated the budget at approximately $484,000, which will include the salaries of an economic developer and their staff along with needed supplies for that office.
Council gave its approval to go ahead with the grant application.
One of the four pieces of legislation put before council Monday night was amended before the vote.
The ordinance to amend the budget ordinance by adjusting appropriations was amended to table the $19,470 for the purchase of software for tax department.
Councilman Tom Beagle made the motion to amend the legislation and John Mercer seconded it.
Scott Barrett Beagle and Robert Nizer voted in favor of amending the legislation while Jeff Kreefer and Fred Rayl voted against it. Brian Kerr was absent from the meeting.
Rayl told the tax department staff that he believes based on a text from Kerr, that Kerr plans to reintroduce legislation for RITA. Rayl said if RITA was voted down he would reintroduce the legislation to purchase the software for the tax department.
"I personally think the tax department is doing a very good job," Rayl said. He also noted that he personally doesn't mind investing the $19,000 at this time as long as the tax department is doing the work that they are doing right now.
Tax Commissioner and Deputy Director Sharon Williams said the tax department was more than $300,000 over what was collected by this point last year and they had hit the $3 million mark, which wasn't done until November of last year.
Williams said she was asking for the money to bring the tax department up-to-date and allow for electronic filing, which is what everybody is asking for.
The other two pieces of legislation approved by council include authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract with the Auditor of State for local government services (LGS) for the GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) Audit for calendar year 2023, and authorizing the safety service director on behalf of the city to apply for, accept and enter into a cooperative agreement for construction of the raw water intake improvement phase one project.
In his report to council, Jones noted the fire department has a renewal levy on the ballot and that since it is a renewal, there would be no increase in taxes. He also said that the levy is a large part of his budget and failure of the levy would seriously hurt the department.
Jones also told council the fire department was recently notified that the hazmat team was awarded a $134,000 grant. Jones said there was some paperwork to finalize on the grant and more details would be released once that was completed.
The following committee meetings will take place this month:
-- The Licensing and Economic Development Committee will meet Oct. 18 at 6 p.m.
-- The Safety and Rules Committee will meet Oct. 18 at 6:30 p.m. The committee will discuss returning to two meetings a month.
-- The Finance and Labor Committee will meet at 3p.m. on Oct. 31.
All committee meetings will be held in council chambers at city hall.
The East Liverpool City Council meets the first Monday of each month at 6 p.m. in council chambers at city hall. The next regular meeting is scheduled for Nov. 6.
kgarabrandt@mojonews.com