The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Victory Park
Equipment will include a wash bay, mobile lifting system, lubrication equipment, tanks for oil, a floor mounted lift, a tire changer, a salt storage structure and outdoor cameras for security.
Council’s Finance & Claims Committee also will meet at 6 p.m. Dec. 10 to discuss the service complex legislation.
If the city borrows the money, Council also will consider using it to renovate the west side Fire Station No. 7, 2111 W. Park Drive. That building would become a new office building for the water distribution crew of the city Utilities Department.
Plans remain pending for a new west side fire station.
New fire station
As for the new east side fire station, the legislation will go to a third reading this month.
On Nov. 26, Lorain City Council’s Finance & Claims Committee, with all of Council, voted for the full Council to consider spending about $790,000 on a new 4,225-square-foot Station No. 4, with a single bay for a truck and living quarters for the crew.
The plan includes hiring contractor STAR DesignBuild Contractors for a design-build program for the east side fire station.
The new building will replace
Station No. 4, 401 Idaho Ave.
A plan to transfer Victory Park to the Lorain Port Authority still is in play.
On Nov. 5, Lorain City Council voted to sell the park, which contains the city’s 1922 monument to her 42 war dead in World War I.
The city legislation stated it would go up for public bid, although the intention was to work to transfer the land to the nearby Disabled American Veterans Louis Paul Proy Chapter 20 unit at 1319 W. Erie Ave.
When an uproar ensued, on Nov. 11, Veterans Day, the Port and the city announced a new plan for the Port to take ownership and maintain the markers, which include a flag pole and a large white V sculpture.
The Lorain Port Authority board has voted to enter into a land donation agreement with the city of Lorain to accept ownership of the park.
Legal procedure
On Dec. 3, Council had 11 items of legislation scheduled for first reading and the fire station legislation scheduled for second reading.
But the meeting lasted less than a half hour because Council did not debate the items or vote them up or down. Instead, Council had no discussion, but voted to advance the legal paperwork to the next reading.
Under Ohio law, the city documents must be read publicly three times on separate days, said Clerk of Council Nancy Greer.
Council can vote to suspend the three reading rule and consider legislation immediately,
and often does. However, by law Council can do that only with a majority vote of 75 percent of the members elected.
For Lorain City Council, that percentage means at least nine members must be present and vote to waive the three-reading rule, Greer said. But on Dec. 3 there were only eight members present.
On Dec. 3, Council members Beth Henley, Dennis Flores, JoAnne Moon, Angel Arroyo Jr., Joshua Thornsberry, Mitch Fallis, Mary Springowski and Joe Koziura attended. Council members Pamela Carter, Greg Argenti and Joe Faga were absent.
Council’s next regular meeting is Dec. 17 at Lorain City Hall, starting at 5:30 p.m. with a public hearing on a zoning change for 5301 Leavitt Road. The Dec. 10 meeting is a committee meeting.