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SALEM--City Council approved appropriation changes in their Sept. 3 meeting.
The appropriations and transfers total $72,000 and includes: $4,000 to the supplies and materials vehicle/equipment repair line item; $3,000 to the supplies and materials non-vehicle supplies and material line item; $25,000 to the personnel services overtime line item; $1,500 in the contractual services indigent-legal-burial line item; $4,500 in the civil service general office expense line item; and the transfer of $34,000 from the part-time patrolmen line item to the non-vehicle supplies and material line item.
City Service Safety Director Joe Cappuzzello said that the $4,000 and $3,000 appropriations were to cover the costs of ongoing lighting upgrades throughout the city, including the installation of outlets on light poles which currently lack them, and timers to help improve synchronization of the city's lighting.
In a finance committee meeting preceding council's meeting City Auditor Sal Salvino said that the $1,500 indigent legal burial appropriation was to cover an increase in the number of unclaimed bodies, which the city pays for the disposal of, in the last few years. Salvino said that the $25,000 personnel services appropriation was to cover the costs of four officers on paid leave, and another set to go on a family medical leave of absence soon.
Councilman Jake Gano asked about the nature of the paid leave and Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey suggested that matter should be discussed in executive session since it pertained to the compensation of city employees. The committee voted unanimously to enter executive session for the discussion, which lasted roughly five minutes, before reconvening in public session.
Salvino also explained that the $34,000 transfer would cover the purchase and licensing costs for eight new Flock cameras. The council also approved two routine ordinances accepting amounts and rates as determined by the budget commissions of Columbiana and Mahoning Counties and certifying them to the respective county auditors. In the finance committee meeting Salvino stressed that this was an annual process and simply acknowledged the budget commission's estimates.
"All this is, is a budget commission estimate, and through legislation we are accepting these estimates, it's just a practice that needs to be done every year," said Salvino
Other financial matters approved included a resolution authorizing Cappuzzello to enter into an agreement with a gas supplier for the city's gas aggregation program, and a resolution to accept a $300,000 capital improvement award from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Office of real estate and land management for the Lincoln Plaza project as part of the biennial state capital budget.
Dickey said that these funds were expected to be used for the park wall, and the flag poles to hang the service flags for the veteran's memorial. Dickey also reminded residents that the city was still accepting donations for the veteran's memorial, and that anyone interested in donating should contact her.
City Council will meet next 7 p.m. Sept. 17.