ATHENS, Ohio — An Athens City Council member says the recent failure of a proposed increase in the City of Athens’ municipal income tax has implications for the city’s participation in a regional council of governments and a proposed shared-use path along Columbus Road.
Alan Swank, 4th Ward, cited voters’ rejection of the increase in two discussions during Monday night’s meeting of the transportation committee and the committee of the whole.
On May 6, voters rejected a proposal to increase the city’s income tax from 1.95% to 2.25%.
ORCA dues
During the committee of the whole meeting, ORCA Executive Director Jessie Powers presented the council of governments’ most recent annual report.
ORCA formed in 2019 to create the 88-mile Baileys Trail System. The council of governments includes Athens, the village of Chauncey and Nelsonville, each of which contribute toward ORCA’s operations.
Between 2021 and 2023, the City of Athens and the Athens County Commissioners each contributed $90,000 per year to support ORCA’s operations, including a staff of four. Last year, however, the county declined to participate and the city reduced its backing to $1 per resident per year — amounting to $24,673 in 2024.
To date, the city has contributed about $295,000 to support the Baileys project, Powers said. Overall, public investment stands at $10.6 million, Powers said.
Powers told the council that the city’s commitment to supporting ORCA is a critical piece of Baileys Trail System “community buy-in.”
But Swank told Powers that the failure of the proposed increase in the city’s municipal income tax would have financial impacts moving forward.
Council members “are going to be looking at everything — every penny, nickel, and dime,” to decide where city financing is needed most, Swank said.
He suggested that instead of the current pay for success model, ORCA might be better off with a pay for performance model that would tie city contributions to the city lodging tax of 3%.
Revenue from the lodging tax is split evenly between the general fund and the tourism fund, which goes to the Athens County Convention & Visitors Bureau. The city’s ORCA dues are currently paid through the general fund, but Swank said that ORCA might get more funding if the city’s contribution came from the tourism part of the lodging tax.
However, Powers said that ORCA already depends on lodging tax revenue from the visitor’s bureau. “We don’t want to have a rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul kind of scenario in any way shape or form,” she added.
Any decisions regarding ORCA funding would involve the organization’s board, she said.
Columbus Road shared-use path
The transportation committee agenda started off with discussion of a proposed shared-use path on the western (river) side of Columbus Road. The path would start near the New-2-You Shoppe and end just past Hugh White Honda. A sidewalk also would be installed on the eastern side of the road from the Hopewell Health Center facility to the Goodwill entryway.
“The effort here is to start making this a real entrance into the city … and hopefully slow down some traffic,” said committee chair Solveig Spjeldnes, 1st Ward.
Mayor Steve Patterson noted that while Columbus Road is “one of the main gateways into the city, it’s the last one to receive this level of enhancement.” The area also is seeing more development, he said, with the addition of Marietta Memorial Health System’s campus.
The Ohio Department of Transportation awarded funding for 90% of the construction costs, up to $1.3 million. “That’s a pretty good chunk,” she said. The city’s share would be $350,000, Spjeldnes said.
Council unanimously approved funding for engineering services on the project in February 2024. But Swank said he was having second thoughts.
“This is one of those I wish I had paid attention to a little bit more in the beginning,” he said, speaking as a member of the public.
Swank said he recently has talked with several businesses on Columbus Road, “and what they said to me was, ‘What a tremendous waste of money.’ In fact, they went so far as to say this is one of the reasons the income tax went down, because the city continues to spend money on needless projects.”
Swank described the project as “a path to nowhere.”
“And we’re going to spend $350 [thousand] of the taxpayers’ money on this?” he said. That amount is half of what the city will spend on street paving this year, he noted — money that could be spent to pave more streets.
“I’m going to have a hard time voting on this because the citizens of this town have told us through their vote last Tuesday night — we’ve got to quit spending money on things that we don’t need.”
Transportation committee member Beth Clodfelter, At-Large, asked if the opposite sidewalk could be lengthened to extend the full Goodwill frontage.
“Some of the people who are clients of those businesses might appreciate walking there,” Clodfelter said.
Committee member Micah McCarey asked Spjeldnes if the project still had the support of the Pedestrian Safety and Bicycle Accessibility Task Force. Spjeldnes said the topic hadn’t come up recently, so she didn’t know.
Council President Sam Crowl said he has noticed that a lot of people walk along Columbus Road, including some with baby strollers.
“I do think this is necessary,” he said.
Spjeldnes said she would like to see the sidewalk extend farther up the road to include the site of the former Sunset Motel, which is being converted into shelter for unhoused people.
Spjeldnes said she could see both sides of the question, but was “learning towards yes.”
An emergency ordinance authorizing the expenditure could be on city council’s May 19 agenda, Spjeldnes told the Independent.
Also discussed during the Transportation Committee meeting was the need for Local Public Agency Federal Local-Let Agreements on several construction projects that have already been approved. The agreements specify the amount of federal and local revenue each project will receive. The federal government provides 80% of the project cost, with the remaining 20% paid by the city. The federal funds are administered by ODOT.
Projects needing ordinances for LPA Federal-Let Agreements include the SR 682/56 roundabout project, scheduled to start this summer; the Stimson Avenue bridge rehabilitation project; a Columbus Road shared-use path; citywide curb ramps to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act; and East State Street traffic signal improvements.
Special council session
During its special session, Athens City Council voted unanimously to suspend the rules, and pass as an emergency Ordinance 0-55-25, which authorizes the Service-Safety director to submit an application to enter into a Water Pollution Control Loan Fund agreement with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. The emergency passage was necessary upon scheduled second reading of the ordinance in order to meet Friday’s deadline for the loan application.
The loan when funded will be used for supplemental designs and construction of wastewater facilities, with sewer funds used to repay the loan. The new ordinance amends prior ordinances passed in 2019 and 2024 tied to wastewater facility work in the Richland Avenue area.
“The design is complete, [it] just needs [to be] constructed,” Service-Safety Director Andy Stone wrote via email to the Athens County Independent. “For Richland Ave, the sewage lift station in the NE corner roundabout at Richland/682 was built over 50 years ago. It is at the end of its useful life. The project will replace this lift station as well as associated sewer mains in the area and under the Hocking River.”
Ordinances passed upon third reading
- Ordinance 0-46-25 suspends educational requirements so Jarod Balderson, whom Patterson said has done an excellent job of managing the city’s Water Treatment Plant, can replace Saleh Eldabaja as city engineer. Balderson will take charge of Engineering and Public Works. Balderson, who has a bachelor’s degree in engineering, has two years to pass the Ohio engineering principles and practices exam in order to hold a professional engineer’s license.
- Authorizing $30,000 for the abandonment of unused wells, to be taken from the water fund and to be reimbursed by the Ohio EPA.
- Creating one full-time athletics and fitness program specialist, while reducing an operations specialist in athletics and fitness from two positions to one position. In a related ordinance, pay grades were established for the program specialist: a minimum of $23 per hour and a maximum of $31.06 per hour.
- Authorizing the temporary closure of a portion of East Union Street for the Juneteenth celebration on June 19, and allowing peddling and vending.
Ordinances heard on second reading
- Ordinance 0-52-25 authorizes bidding procedures for paving of specific city streets. The $700,000 cost will be split between the state highway fund ($400,000) and $300,000 from the street fund ($300,000). Streets scheduled for definite paving are portions of Columbus Road; portions of Armory, Lloyd Mill, Miller and Shafer streets; and Rardin and Terrace drives. Streets that could be paved if the budget allows but would require “additional review” are Church and Mary streets, Montrose and Ondis avenues, Della Drive, and portions of Longview Height and Mulligan Road.
- Ordinance 0-54-25 transfers $500,000 from the special revenue fund to the Athens Community Improvement Corporation fund for some of the final improvements to the Athens Armory project. Pepper Construction is working on the facility. The $500,000 was set aside in 2023 from $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan funds. The long-anticipated, nearly $5 million renovation for re-opening of the historic, three-story building will be completed by early August, Patterson said.
Athens City Council’s next regular meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Monday, May 19, in Athens City Hall, Council Chambers, third floor, 8 E. Washington St. Meetings are also streamed online. Regular sessions are on the first and third Mondays of the month; committee meetings are on the second and fourth Mondays.
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