Lorain County commissioners are considering a change to their meeting schedule in hopes of making it easier for the public to attend.
For years, the commissioners have met at 9:30 a.m. Wednesdays.
But newly elected board President Dave Moore said he and Commissioner Jeff Riddell would like to see some of those meetings moved to afternoon or evening sessions and to a bi-weekly schedule.
Doing so would allow for more public participation and also improve transparency, the commissioners said.
The commissioners are mandated by the state to meet a minimum of 50 times a year, Riddell explained during the Jan. 18 meeting.
Riddell and Moore are proposing a schedule where the commissioners would meet every other week with one meeting at 9:30 a.m., Tuesdays and one at 4:30 p.m., Thursdays.
Riddell explained the Tuesday meeting would be used for the commissioners to discuss whatever business they have on the agenda while giving the public a chance to see the various resolutions.
Two days later, the commissioners again would meet, he said.
“In order to provide an opportunity for more public knowledge, conversation and input, we are considering a change in the schedule,” Riddell said.
The late afternoon meetings would allow the public to come in without conflicting with their work schedule, he said.
Riddell said the commissioners are looking for the public to comment on the proposal.
“It’s in the beginning stages,” he said of plans to update the schedule.
The commissioners voted 3-0 at the Jan. 18 meeting for each Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. as the regular board meeting days for 2023 while it works out the proposed new schedule.
Commissionersalso voted 3-0 to hold public hearings starting at 4:30 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays of the month.
Moore said doing so will allow residents who wanted to attend ditch meetings or annexation meetings to attend without missing time at work.
The commissioners have noted several times in recent months during meetings that county residents often receive mailers telling them their property is involved in a ditch cleaning project by the county’s Stormwater Management District.
The mailer also will notify the residents they can be assessed a certain amount of money as mandated by the Ohio Revised Code.
The resident will learn that though the county is mandated to send out the mailer saying the homeowner could be assessed, residents in Lorain County are not assessed because the county has set up a fund to pay for that work.
“But still, people would come to those 9:30 a.m. meetings, miss work and then be told, no you’re not going to be assessed,” Moore said.
By moving those kinds of meetings to 4:30 p.m. residents now won’t have to miss work, or as much of work as they would have prior, he said.
More transparency on bills
The commissioners implemented at the Jan. 18 meeting a new way of approving requisitions.
Each page of the requisitions will be displayed on TV screens in the commissioners’ meeting room allowing the public to see the bill dollar amount, what it was for and who is getting paid.
Under the new format, the commissioners will create a resolution for each page of requisitions.
During that meeting, there were 30 pages of requisitions.
Commissioner Michelle Hung was the only commissioner to vote no or abstain on any of the requisitions.
Hung voted no on a requisition of $18,000 for Metropolis Consulting.
Metropolis Consulting is a firm owned by Robert Ina that lobbies for the commissioners at the Ohio State House.
Ina was instrumental in getting an Ohio law passed last year that allowed the statewide county-run veteran services organization to use a credit card to provide emergency funds for veterans in crisis.
Hung also voted to abstain and voted no on two requisitions for the law firm Stefanik Iosue & Associates.
She voted no on a requisition for $7,030 for claims services and abstained on another for $9,588 for legal services.
Hung said she voted no for the claims work because she said she was led to believe by Moore when the firm was first brought on in 2021, it would save the county money on its workers’ compensation claims.
