At the 5 p.m. February 1, 2021 meeting of the City of Wauseon Council, the Utility Committee made two recommendations for Rate increases. The first was for the water and wastewater rates, made by Director of Finance Jamie Giguere and City Administrator Keith Torbet, and council voted to approve the recommendation for a 6% raise for both.
The only member to vote against the increase was Councilman Scott Stiriz, it was approved. The other increases were requested by Giguere, and were to increase the water shut-off/restoration fee from $30 to $50, and make the After-hours Shut-off/Restoration Fee $100. Council voted to approve both changes to Section 933.07.
Prior to the regular meeting where that took place, Council held a joint meeting with Clinton Township Trustees, Ivan Hite, Rick Frey and Larry Neuenschwander. The purpose of the meeting was to appoint an at-large member to the Wauseon Union Cemetery Board.
All six council members and three Trustees voted to approve the appointment of Bob Krumm to the unexpired term which goes through January 1, 2022. This joint meeting only took three minutes and the trustees left following the vote.
City Council voted to approve the minutes for the January 18, 2021 regular council meeting and the payment of the bills. A third and final reading of Resolution 2021-1 A resolution authorizing the Mayor to renew an agreement with Schoenhardt & Associates for accounting services needed to handle the GAAP Accounting.
Also approved was the Membership Fee in the amount of $1,113 for the city to rejoin TMACOG (Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments) and for the Director of Public Service to be the Wauseon Representative. There was some discussion about the benefits to the city of being a member of TMACOG.
Other topics which they discussed included a List of Zoning permits for the past few years and some concerns about the agenda. Councilor Harold Stickley asked about department heads attending meetings, explaining that one of the ordinances states that department head reports will be given.
Mayor Kathy Huner said the code provides a format for the agenda but does not require department heads to be present. Law Director Tom McWatters explained from a legal perspective that this section refers to the Order of Business for how the Agenda/Meeting must take place.
(There is an order for committee reports but each meeting does not include a report from each committee.).
Stickley expressed his concern that the citizens who like to watch the meetings on television, like to hear from the department heads but they are no longer attending.
There was further discussion about department heads attending meetings and the proper agenda format as provided in the city code. No motions or decisions were made on the topics discussed.
The meeting adjourned at 5:34 p.m.