Fifteen ordinances and resolutions considered at the Thursday, July 11 Hillsboro City Council meeting included council members taking a look at zoning code changes, financial matters and park updates.
All legislation that passed Thursday night was done by a 6-0 vote by council, as well as a 6-0 motion to suspend the three-reading rule where applicable. (Council member Jo Sanborn was absent.)
Prior to the regular council meeting, a hearing was held on several proposed ordinances and resolutions. Council received no public comment on any of the legislation.
Considered at the hearing and during the regular meeting were:
• An ordinance repealing section 32.086 of the codified ordinances of the city of Hillsboro, as well as a related ordinance amending 155.023 of the codified ordinances of the city of Hillsboro. Both passed as an emergency on its first reading Thursday following suspension of the three-reading rule.
“The legislation will allow for a five-member planning commission versus a seven-member commission, and this change will comply with ORC 713.01,” safety and service director Brianne Abbott said. “The city recently received received two resignations from the commission, so we are requesting the suspension of three-reading rule and passage by emergency to be in compliance at the next regularly scheduled planning commission meeting.”
According to the Ohio Revised Code, “The legislative authority of each city without a board of park commissioners may establish a commission of five members.” The ordinance to repeal 32.086 removes language in the city code from 1991 that allowed the mayor to “appoint two members to the Commission, in addition to those provided” under the ORC.
Similarly, the related ordinance modified the section of the zoning code regarding the planning commission to change the language on “members and quorum” to simply say, “The Planning Commission shall consist of members as outlined in Ohio Revised Code 713.01.” The code previously stated that the commission “shall consist of seven members,” with four members constituting a quorum.
Prior to voting on the ordinances — which ultimately passed unanimously — council member Jason Brown, a former planning commission member, asked about the number of members for a quorum. Abbott said that three members will be considered a quorum for a five-person commission.
“I liked the idea of having seven just because you've got more points of view, more input,” Brown said. “But I'm probably understanding it's not easy to get people to get on there. How has the city tried to recruit people?”
Mayor Justin Harsha said that they do so through “brainstorming,” but finding individuals to serve on the commission is “very, very difficult.
“We've come up with so many names of people that we know that would be a good fit for the planning commission,” he said. “When you approach them, they don't have the time or can't make that commitment, so it's been really difficult, and not only for planning commission, but all the other boards.”
•Also approved as an emergency was an ordinance amending section 155.021 and 155.042 of the codified ordinances of the City of Hillsboro, which was also related to the Hillsboro Planning Commission. This changes the requirement for the Planning Commission to hold public hearings on zoning text and map amendment (instead of saying they “shall” hold a hearing, they “may” hold one).
“This legislation will modify the code to allow the Planning Commission to have the option to hold a public hearing for zoning text and map amendments,” Abbott said. “The current code requires both the Planning Commission and council to hold a public hearing. No modifications will occur for council. A public hearing will still be required for council. It just will give Planning Commission the option to hold one. That way we're not having two on every single topic.”
•An ordinance amending section 155.067(D) of the codified ordinances of the City of Hillsboro pertaining to the Business C zoning district purpose statement had its second reading. As noted in June, the legislation has been introduced to correct “a typo.”
• An ordinance amending section 155.072 of the codified ordinances of the City of Hillsboro pertaining to the permitted uses table also had its second reading. Section 155.072 has a permitted uses table for each zoning district, as parking lots are currently now only “permitted with standards” in zones B and G. This ordinance proposes adding the lots as being permitted in the C, D, E and F zoning districts.
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Before the regular meeting, a public hearing was also held on the 2025 tax budget with no public comments. Then, during council’s meeting, the resolution to adopt the proposed 2025 tax budget was approved on its first reading.
“It's not at all the legit budget that we will pass in December, but it is something that we're required to do,” city auditor Dawson Barreras said during the hearing. “It’s a good kind of set point for the next year.”
The tax budget estimates 2025 general fund revenues at $7,563,150, up from the current-year $6,853,250 budget.
In other financial matters:
• A resolution to adopt the 2024 version of the City of Hillsboro Treasury Investment Board policy had its first reading.
According to council member and committee chair Mary Stanforth, the finance committee reviewed the legislation at their July 9 meeting and recommended its approval by council.
“Since the last policy was voted on in 2006, it needed to be updated to bring it up to code to be in compliance with the ORC,” Stanforth said. “The purpose of the policy is to provide prudent management of all public funds for the city of Hillsboro.”
As proposed, the updated policy includes sections on the board’s purpose; investment philosophy; investment objectives (short-term objective, liquidity, income maximization and minimized cost of services); personal conduct and qualifications (ethics/standard of conduct and continuing education); transactions; authorized investments; determining the maturity range; service providers, safekeeping and custody; and prohibited investments.
“This is bringing us up to code to invest city money to potentially and hopefully make more money,” Barreras said. “The way we've done it in the past has probably been borderline illegal, unfortunately.
“There is a board that's made up, and all of these investments have to be passed through this board. Our policy has been out of date since the early ’90s, probably, so now this policy will be up to ORC, and the board will actually be making investments per the ORC.”
As previously reported, the finance committee met during the summer of 2023 to discuss the Treasury Investment Board, at Barreras’ request. Stanforth said in August 2023 that the board includes the mayor, auditor, treasurer and law director as members, and Barreras’ suggestion was to “add a fifth member to the board who would be an independent member, not associated with the city or the city’s investments, but very knowledgeable in investment banking.” In November, Barreras said that Alan Carroll had been appointed to the city’s Treasury Investment Board and that the auditor was still wanting to overhaul the board’s policies and procedures.
“I'm hoping to make us another $500,000 a year just in interest, just the money sitting in the bank, not counting what we will make through the actual investments,” Barreras told council Thursday. “This should be a big deal for the city and for the future of the city. It’s just really bringing the policy up to date for us to hopefully make some more money on the money that we already have.”
•Almost one year after its first reading, a proposed ordinance to adjust the salary of the city auditor had its second reading, with amended language.
The legislation has been in limbo since being introduced and subsequently tabled in August 2023. During their June 2024 meeting, council voted 5-1, with council member and finance committee member Adam Wilkin voting no, to put the ordinance back in the finance committee.
According to Stanforth, upon review at their July 9 meeting, the finance committee is now recommending the passage of an amended version of the ordinance introduced in 2023.
“After discussing the salary proposal, the committee decided to amend the ordinance to reflect a new salary of $63,000 for the auditor,” Stanforth said.
The original version of the ordinance in August 2023 had proposed raising the auditor’s salary to $70,000. Council members objected because at that time, as pointed out by Brown, council had already voted within the last year to raise the auditor’s salary, “and now the recommendation is to give another basically 22 percent on top of that.” Stanforth agreed last year that they “need to have further discussions.”
•An ordinance to adjust the salary of council members and the council president had its first reading.
Stanforth said the proposal was reviewed and recommended by the finance committee as part of their July 9 meetings and would involve raising council members’ salary to $7,200, beginning in January 2026.
This potential raise had also been discussed by the finance committee in the summer of 2023, but no legislation was introduced until Thursday.
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In park-related legislation:
•Council heard the first reading of an ordinance amending section 100.01 of the codified ordinances of the City of Hillsboro pertaining to the regulations for city parks, particularly regarding pets and tobacco usage.
“This legislation will modify the parks code to prohibit tobacco products at the parks and prohibit pets from certain areas within the city parks, specifically playgrounds and shelter areas,” Harsha said. “We had one instance of a dog bite out at a shelter area, so we want to make sure that that doesn't happen again, and I know there's been some issues out at Shaffer Park with tobacco usage and smoke blowing back into the bleachers with all the kids.”
If approved, the code would be updated to add that “Use of tobacco products shall be prohibited” and that “Pets are strictly prohibited in any area where signs indicating such prohibition are posted.”
In response to questions from Brown and Stanforth, Harsha confirmed that the prohibition of pets would be in “specific areas of the parks,” not including trails, while the tobacco prohibition was primarily aimed at Shaffer Park.
“What we'd like to do is post at the two main entrances [at Shaffer Park], for the boys ball and back at the girls ball, saying this is a smoke-free facility or tobacco-free facility, so there's no tobacco products on facility at all,” Harsha said.
Council president Tom Eichinger placed the matter in the parks committee for further review.
• In unrelated park legislation, a resolution to solicit bids and accept the lowest and best bid for fencing improvements at Shaffer Park was approved as an emergency measure following suspension of the three-reading rule.
According to Harsha, the city requested the legislation’s passage as an emergency in order to complete the work this fall.
“This legislation will allow us to make the much-needed repairs to the fencing at Shaffer Park,” he said. “There are a lot of safety concerns with the rotten wood posts, holes in the fencing, backstop repairs and the metal paneling. Fixing the safety concerns will not only improve the safety of the park, but the aesthetics as well.
“I’d say we're well overdue for these repairs. I don't know the last time the fencing has been repaired at the ballpark. With the other repairs already being made by the community and members to the dugouts, it’ll really bring it all together. The in-kind labor for the demo of the fencing will keep our costs down drastically, and if approved, we can overhaul them this fall and be able to begin spring/summer/fall ball as normal for the next year and also promote more events at the park.”
As previously reported, the City of Hillsboro has assumed operations at Shaffer Park as of February 2024.Earlier this year, the city applied for $150,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding from the county for the project, committing a $120,000 match, but the grant dollars were awarded to other non-city projects.
“The funding for the park fencing is remaining funds from the purchase of the Harmony Lake playground and reimbursem*nts from the state for the Harmony Lake playground, which would be requested to be reappropriated back into the same fund so we can utilize that in the fiscal year 2024 for the improvements,” Harsha said.
•A resolution authorizing the city to participate in the Ohio Department of Natural Resources NatureWorks grant program also passed as an emergency. According to Harsha, the city is applying for a grant to add a playground to the Railroad Street Park, “near where there used to be one years ago.
“This park has really brought back a lot of life to the area and will continue to do so with a future trail that will lead right to the park,” Harsha said. “The addition of a small footprint playground will be a great asset.
“The county allocation for this round is $42,571, and the grant will cover 75 percent of the project cost.”
The legislation was approved as an emergency in order to comply with the Aug. 15 application deadline.
•An ordinance making supplemental appropriations in the amount of $10,000 to account for a donation from the Hillsboro Ohio Pickleball Association to the city for the pickleball courts was also approved.
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In other action:
•A resolution authorizing the safety and service director to advertise, solicit bids and enter into a contract with the lowest and best bidder for the reconstruction of Beech Street and Railroad Street was passed as an emergency after suspension of the three-reading rule. Abbott made the request to pass the legislation Thursday in order “to comply with project and funding timelines and allow the project to begin in a timely manner, specifically before the construction of Crossroads Park.”
After council member Greg Maurer asked what the project entailed, Abbott said it would involve “complete reconstruction” of the streets — “lighting, curbs, gutters, storm, water, sewer, all of it.”
• An ordinance amending section 154.002, 154.003 and 96.22 of the codified ordinances of the City of Hillsboro had its second reading, with no discussion. As brought out by city law director Randalyn Worley in June, the ordinance would change the language in the code to remove “the three-mile jurisdictional area” around the city limits from being subject to subdivision regulations and for the code on driveway cuts.
For more from Thursday’s meeting, read the story at https://highlandcountypress.com/news/trash-collection-marriott-hotel-do….
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