The Urbana City Council held a public hearing and regular meeting Tuesday night at the Urbana City Municipal Building.
In the public hearing, Urbana Fire Division Chief Dean Ortlieb explained pending changes to Chapter 141 of the Codified Ordinances.
The council also discussed changes to Chapter 1307 of the Codified Ordinances, which addresses the registration and management of contractors hired and working within the city limits.
During the regular meeting, council members heard from members of the salary commission who presented a recommendation for the annual salary of council members to increase to $9,500 a year to keep them in line with other municipalities. In addition, the commission recommended a similar increase for the President of the Council, raising his salary to $10,700 annually. The mayor’s pay would remain unchanged. Council members approved the recommendations with a unanimous vote. Per Ohio law, the changes will only take place upon re-election.
Several other actions also took place. The council approved a purchase order to The Champaign Family YMCA for $97,551.00 for the management of the Wendell Stokes Municipal Pool for the 2025 season. It is the 7th year the YMCA has managed the pool and council members were pleased with their efforts thus far.
The council also approved a purchase order to the Public Entities Pool for $291,933.00 for one year to cover the cost of property and casualty insurance. This is a 26% increase over the 2024 premium. It was brought to the council’s attention that city buildings were underinsured and with this purchase order, all city buildings and facilities will be fully insured.
In further action, the council authorized a purchase order to Park Enterprise Construction Company, Inc. for the CHP-Urbana Bike Trail Safety Improvements project in an amount not to exceed $808,523.00, which includes a 10% contingency on the total bid price. Park Enterprise Construction Company, Inc. was the only bid received at $735,021.00. The City’s share of this expense will be charged to the Capital Improvement Fund and is in the 2025 budget.
Members of the council then commenced with the second reading of several ordinance updates. They included:
- Ordinance 4615-25: An ordinance to amend Chapter 141 of the Codified Ordinances.
- Ordinance 4616-25: An ordinance to amend Chapter 1307 of the Codified Ordinances.
- Ordinance 4617-25: An ordinance determining to proceed with the improvement of North Main Street between Washington Avenue/Gwynne Street and Dellinger Road in the city of Urbana, County of Champaign, Ohio by constructing or repairing curbs, gutters, driveway approaches, and declaring an emergency.
In new business, the council heard about Resolution 2708-25: A resolution to authorize the Mayor or designee to apply to the Champaign County Commissioners under the program year 2025 Community Development Block Grant (“CDBG”) Community Development Allocation & Critical Infrastructure programs for the City’s Phase 3 Water Replacement Project-Grimes Neighborhood. The resolution gives the Mayor or his designated employee the ability to apply for grants in the future to assist in funding the Phase 3 project. The council passed the resolution unanimously.
They also listened to Resolution 2709-25: A resolution accepting the report of the Tax Incentive Review Council (TIRC) from their March 6, 2025 meeting regarding the status of the Enterprise Zone and Community Reinvestment Area agreements and to accept the recommendations of the TIRC concerning said agreements. The report noted all entities under the tax incentives plan were keeping with the requirements of the incentives. The council accepted the report unanimously.
The council then moved into executive session before adjourning for the night to discuss behind closed doors the possibility of the city purchasing property for public use.
The council will meet in regular session again on April 1, 2025.
