City Council accepts $118K grant for children
Columbus City Council agreed Monday to accept a $117,875 federal grant to help prevent infant mortality and childhood obesity.
Part of the money from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, administered by the Ohio Department of Health, will go to child-care centers to help get kids healthful foods, more opportunities for physical activity and increased emphasis on nutrition education.
“If you learn early about eating healthy, you continue to do that as you get older,” said Councilwoman Priscilla Tyson, who heads council’s Health and Human Services Committee. “We want to instill those habits at a very early age about healthy foods and also the importance of exercising.”
Money also will go toward outreach to more than 40 families where babies have died before their first birthday, providing bereavement support and working to identify factors that may have contributed to the early deaths.
Also Monday, city council increased a reimbursement agreement with OhioHealth by $413,970 for design and construction costs related to the revamping of the Route 315/ East North Broadway interchange.
Council members approved the addition to nearly $3.9 million already allowed for the project. The extra money will cover unanticipated costs related to the replacement of a 20-inch water main along Olentangy River Road.
In 2016, city council approved spending up to $40 million on infrastructure improvements and $6 million in tax breaks for OhioHealth to move its headquarters to a site near the intersection of 315 and East North Broadway.
In other business, the council:
• Agreed to use $200,320 in contraband funds seized by law enforcement to purchase new computers for use by police investigating crimes. The purchase order includes a server and six workstations for the Columbus Police Division’s digital forensic section.
• Adopted a resolution supporting a 10-year, 0.95-mill replacement levy to be decided by voters in November to support Franklin County Metro Parks. The issue would raise between $22.6 million and $28.6 million annually and cost the owner of a $100,000 house about $33 per year starting in 2020, an increase of about $13 over current costs.