Columbus City Council Meeting Highlights
PREPARING FOR GROWTH: Public Service & Transportation Chair Shannon G.Hardin is sponsoring ordinance 2336-2015, which authorizes the City Auditor to appropriate $4.373 million and authorizes the Director of Public Service to enter into agreement with the Ohio Department of Transportation for the DEL-Gemini
Parkway Extension project in fast-growing Delaware County within the city limits. The project includes extending Gemini Parkway from Orion Place to Worthington Road and reconstructing the intersection at E. Powell Road. The total project cost
is $8 million.
PROTECTING WATERWAYS: Recreation and Parks Chair Jaiza Page is sponsoring ordinance 2208-2015, which authorizes and directs the city to enter into a grant agreement with the Ohio Public Works Commission for $783,054 for the Dry Run Stream Restoration Project and to authorize the appropriation of $1.205 million to the Recreation and Parks Fund. Dry Run is one of the most heavily impacted streams in Columbus and is a tributary of the Scioto River. The seven-square mile watershed flows through the city’s Hilltop/Westgate community.
EXPANDING HIGH-QUALITY PRE-K: Education Chair Jaiza Page is sponsoring
ordinance 2616-2015, which authorizes the city to modify a contract with Millbrook Nursery School & Kindergarten for annual pre-kindergarten services by extending the contract to August 31, 2016. The goal of Early Start Columbus is to expand high-quality pre-kindergarten services for four-year-olds living in the City
of Columbus. The Mayor and the Columbus Education Commission believe that an investment in early childhood education will prevent achievement gaps, reduce the need for special education, increase the likelihood of healthier lifestyles,
lower the crime rate, and reduces overall social costs.
PROTECTING PUBLIC HEALTH: Health and Human Services Chair Priscilla R. Tyson is sponsoring ordinance 2503-2015, which authorizes the Board of Health to enter into contract with Gatehouse Media Partners, Inc. to implement syphilis and PrEP
awareness media campaign and to authorize the expenditure of $40,000 in connection with it. PrEP is short for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis and is a once daily pill taken to reduce the likelihood of contracting HIV.
IMPROVING OUR COURTS: Judiciary and Court Administration Chair Eileen Y. Paley is sponsoring ordinance 2407-2015, which authorizes and directs the Administrative Judge of the Franklin County Municipal court to accept a $611,273 grant award from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction and to
appropriate $628,175 in connection with the project. The grant is a pilot program that will fund the salaries and fringe benefits of five probation officers and a supervisor who will provide pretrial assessments and supervision to defendants in custody awaiting initial appearance in the Municipal Court.
