A regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held Tuesday, June 27, 2017, at 7:30 p.m. in the Aldermanic
Chamber.
President Brian S. McCarthy presided; City Clerk Patricia Piecuch recorded.
President McCarthy
Before | ask the Clerk to read the prayer, the city lost a great friend last week in the person of Buzz Harrington.
| would like to ask that we observe a moment of silence in Buzz’s memory.
Prayer was offered by City Clerk Patricia Piecuch; Alderman June M. Caron led in the Pledge to the Flag.
The roll call was taken with 14 members of the Board of Aldermen present; Alderman Deane was recorded absent.
Alderman Cookson arrived after roll call at 7:32 p.m.; Alderman Clemons arrived after roll call at 7:35 p.m.
Mayor James W. Donchess and Corporation Counsel Steven A. Bolton were also in attendance.
REMARKS BY THE MAYOR
Mayor Donchess
Tomorrow night is the final presentation of the city’s Riverfront Master Plan which has come forward with some
very exciting ideas for the riverfront from basically the Millyard down passed BAE. The plans are really nice
and exciting. If you can make the time, | would urge you to attend so you can see the final results. Second, |
wanted to mention that the city got some good news. We were awarded on a competitive grant basis a
renewal of the lead grant. This is a $2.9 million grant. It’s a competitive. We're coming off the same lead
grant, but were re-awarded the grant. The purpose is to render inner-city multi-family housing units lead safe.
The goal of the grant will be over the course of two years to remove lead from 135 units. We may be able to
do more than that. The administrative costs are only 10 percent. | believe one of the reasons we were
awarded the lead grant is that Carrie Schena and her team, who | wish to congratulate on being successful in
getting the grant, have been able to be very accountable for the federal government. They spend the funds
very efficiently and effectively. | believe we will make good use of the money over the next two years as they
have over the recent years.
| wanted to mention to the Board that | recently, yesterday, returned from the meeting of the US Conference of
Mayors in Miami. It was very interesting as always. | always learn a number of things when | go. There were
a number of things they particularly emphasized. First, the opioid crisis. Next, the issue of the country’s
infrastructure and the need to make progress with respect to the crumbling infrastructure that we do have in
the United States. Third, especially since it was in Miami Beach, the issue of climate change and the rising
sea levels, which in Miami Beach is a very serious matter. They just spent, and this city is about our size, a
little bit bigger, $400 million just raising some streets. Certainly not even beginning to solve the problem, but
just to address it to some degree. On the issue of the opioid crisis, we are not alone. | can tell you that much.
There are some areas of the country that are affected much more seriously even than we are. For example, in
the City of Dayton and the county where Dayton is, that county is around 500,000. And some people are
projecting that they will see 800 OD fatalities this year in a county of 500,000 people, much more per capita
than we are. We are suffering far more than we would like, but | think we have taken positive, effective strides
against the opioid crisis through our police department and through the Safe Stations program. We cannot let
down our vigilance because in some of those areas of the country, the problem seems to be growing. Here, at
least for the last six months it seems to have stabilized to some degree. The total OD situations are down. |
want to commend the Board for appropriating money to help with the Safe Stations program which | think is
one of the most effective tools we have in attempting to stem the tide of the opioid crisis that we have in our
community. Another big theme was the infrastructure of the cities in the states. Here, too, | think we have
acted responsibly by attacking of the main infrastructure issues we have which is the crumbling streets that
exist in many areas of the city. By appropriating $7.5 million a year for the next five years, | think we have
undertaken the most ambitious program that we can because we can spend that amount of money effectively
and efficiently whereas | think if we spent more than that we would be beyond the capacity to spend the money
