NELSONVILLE, Ohio — During its Monday, June 9 meeting, Nelsonville City Council swore in three new members of the Civil Service Commission and discussed filling in other volunteer positions.
The new members of the CSC are Jane Patton, Amy Hoffman-Fields and Cherie McLaughlin. They will replace Chris Wolfe, Angela Booth and Terry Koons.
The positions were open because Wolfe resigned, Booth moved and Koons cannot serve due to being on the ad-hoc advisory commission, City Manager Fred Holmes told the Independent.
The CSC oversees the working conditions, employment, hiring and promotions of civil servants.
Holmes said several people are interested in serving on the city Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals, but no one has filed for positions available for the Board of Parks & Recreation.
The city has found three people to serve on the tree commission, but another three positions are still available, according to Holmes.
The city has filled 11 of the 12 positions available for Youth at Work Summer Job Program, Holmes told the council.
“We’re having them do outdoor work… mowing grass, weed eating and weeding out the beds,” Holmes told the Independent. “A lot of projects that need to be done around the city.”
Holmes and Nelsonville Public Information Officer Dan Pfeiffer are also working to update the city’s website to display correct information about city employees and members of council, boards and commissions, Holmes said.
Code Officer Austin Kelly, another new appointee, reported that there have been 11 notices of code violations in the city, with seven being resolved and four ongoing. Kelly also reported that Code Enforcement is making a list of vacant, condemned properties in the city. Holmes said during his report that code enforcement is creating the list of condemned properties to gather locations for potential business use.
One-month council positions
In his report, Courtney Reid, chair of the ad-hoc advisory commission, told the council that the city charter requires the city to place one-month council positions on the ballot during the November general election.
Both council and the commission agreed that a statement from the city accepting one-month council positions should be issued to the Athens County Board of Elections.
The one-month terms are needed to fill the gap between the end of current council members’ terms at the end of November and the launch of the new city government in January. The change is the result of voters’ decision to abolish the city charter through a November 2024 ballot initiative.
The deadline to file candidate petitions for the Nov. 4 general election is Aug. 6.
Council member Nancy Sonick is the only current council member whose term does not end Nov. 30. If there are not enough petitions submitted to fill the one-month terms, Sonick could appoint someone to the council. Sonick and that appointed council member could then select a third person, repeating the process until there is a quorum of at least four council members.
However, WOUB recently reported that Sonick plans to resign from the council in November. If no one runs for the one-month terms, Nelsonville would lack a city council for the month of December — effectively halting government functions.
Courtney recommended that the council communicate with voters about the “December problem.”
“It would be wise for the city to repeatedly put out public notice, a statement of some kind that explains what’s going to be on the ballot, why it’s on the ballot, what it means [and] what you’re voting for on each side,” Courtney said.
The council would need to determine where information for voters would be released.
One member of the audience stressed that the transition process from abolishing the charter should go as smoothly as possible in order “to do what’s right for this city.”
City Law Director Jonathan Robe said he advised City Auditor Taylor Sappington last December that the transition process would cost over $100,000, but that estimate is now “on the conservative side.” Robe told the Independent he could not provide an exact estimate of the cost due to the uncertainty of unexpected costs.
The increased cost is due to the “additional legal and consulting costs associated with the transition in the form of government,” Robe said.
In other business, the council adopted two ordinances through emergency measures:
- Accepting a $216,199 bid from Jackson Brothers Construction for construction of the Nelsonville Dog Park. The cost is covered by a $250,000 grant.
- Clarifying language about covered members of the Nelsonville Fire Department in the collective bargaining agreement between the city and The Fraternal Order of Police.
The council also heard three ordinances on second readings:
- Establishing a debt service reserve fund and a short-lived assets fund for the sewer plant project and authorizing the transfer of funds for the sewer plant project fund.
- Ordinance 31-25 Appropriating $11,200 from the general fund to reimburse the Nelsonville Police Department for a required update to Motorola radio software. The cost was covered by a grant from Ohio Workers Compensation.
- Appropriating $5,000 from the general fund to a line item for minor unexpected purchases. Council member Johnny Flowers voted “no” on the ordinance.
Council went into executive session at the end of the meeting for “personnel and legal matters.”
Nelsonville City Council meets every other Monday of each month, at Nelsonville City Council Chambers, 211 Lake Hope Drive. Its next regular meeting will be Monday, June 23, 2025, at 7 p.m. Meetings are live streamed on YouTube. Find more at cityofnelsonville.com.
Note: This article has been updated since initial publication on July 23 to properly display the correct name of former CSC member Terry Koons. We apologize for the error.
