Council denies sale to agency

Land will not be sold to county Port Authority

Wickliffe City Council has voted against a land sale to the Lake County Ohio Port and Economic Development Authority for a housing facility for those in need of shelter.

The proposal would have seen just over 2 acres of land sold to the port authority for $97,622.

The two adjoining parcels of land that would have comprised the sale currently have no official address, according to Wickliffe Law Director Scott Zele, but are located on Silver Street.

The resolution stated funds from the sale were to be allocated toward the city’s treasury “to the credit of the Capital Projects Fund” had the sale

been approved.

The port authority was partnered with Extended Housing, Inc. on the legislation.

Together, the two would have sought to establish a housing facility for those in need of shelter.

“In a perfect world, we wouldn’t need any of these facilities,” Mayor John Barbish said. “I wish no community needed this. The reality is we do, and there are homeless people already in our communities that need

our help.”

Asked why Council ultimately decided against the sale on July 29, Barbish said he believed it was “push back from about 40 residents at the meeting, mainly on ‘what if?’ situations.”

Barbish sympathized that “the unknown can be frightening” but also quoted ancient Roman philosopher Seneca, saying, “we suffer more often in imagination than reality.”

Council members also believed that the land may be more productive in a different form and that the $96,000 sales tag “was not worth it in their opinion,”

according to Barbish.

To avoid any potential conflict of interest involving Authority Executive Director Mark Rantala, the legislation highlighted the fact that while he owns a Realtor’s license, he is only acting in his official capacity as the executive director of the port authority.

An aspect in the original legislation pursued an emergency measure that would have facilitated an immediate vote in order to expedite the sale.

Instead, the legislation went through three public readings before council before being voted down.