By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green City Council started the new year with new members, and a renewed promise Monday evening from the mayor.
“I look forward to working with all of City Council,” Mayor Mike Aspacher said after newly elected and re-elected members were sworn into office by Judge Mark Reddin.
“I know we all share the same goal of making Bowling Green better than it is today,” Aspacher said.
New members include the First Ward’s Nick Rubando and Second Ward’s Joel O’Dorisio. Re-elected members are Bill Herald of the Fourth Ward, at-large member Mark Hollenbaugh, Rachel Phipps of the Third Ward, and at-large member Greg Robinette. Jeff Dennis is in the middle of his term as an at-large council member.
Council re-elected Hollenbaugh as council president and elected Phipps as president pro-tem.
After Monday’s meeting, Hollenbaugh said City Council has some unfinished business to accomplish this year.
Top on the list is the rewriting of the city’s zoning code and Complete Streets efforts to make accommodations for bicyclists and pedestrians, as well as motorists.
The city will also be breaking ground on the new city building soon. And public input will be sought on the remaining $4.3 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding. The city has already committed about $3 million of the ARPA funds to street paving projects.
“There’s a lot of unfinished business,” Hollenbaugh said.
When City Council held a special meeting in October to discuss priorities for 2022, making the cut were:
- Neighborhood revitalization
- Zoning updates
- Economic development
- Complete streets
- Sustainability
- Getting public input on American Rescue Plan Act funds.
In other business Monday evening, City Council heard the first reading of an ordinance authorizing an agreement between the city and Wood County Regional Airport Authority.
Back in 1974, council enacted the first ordinance allowing the city to share in the operational costs at the airport. Each year, the amount of city support is established with the airport authority. The subsidy set for 2022 is $30,000 – the same amount budgeted in 2021.
Also at the meeting, Robinette announced that a quarterly finance committee meeting will be held Jan. 18, at 6 p.m. The city’s finance director will present a year-end report for 2021, and the city’s economic development director will present an update on the city’s master plan.
Hollenbaugh reported that an organizational meeting for City Council members will be held Saturday, Jan. 22, starting at 9 a.m., in the Veterans Building in City Park.
Council members’ committee assignments for the new year are as follow (with the first name listed being the chairperson):
- Finance, Ways and Means – Robinette, Herald and Hollenbaugh.
- Transportation and Safety – Herald, Dennis and O’Dorisio.
- Public Utilities – Hollenbaugh, Phipps and Robinette.
- Planning, Zoning and Economic Development – Phipps, Robinette and Rubando.
- Parks, Recreation, Public Lands and Buildings – Rubando, Hollenbaugh and O’Dorisio.
- Sustainability – Dennis, Phipps and Rubando.
- Community Improvement – O’Dorisio, Dennis and Herald.
