Months after Councilwoman Jennifer Cochran, D-At Large, was met with public opposition to her citywide single-use bag fee proposal, local legislators are once again preparing to take a stab at curbing the use of non-reusable grocery bags.
At Monday night's council meeting, Cochran suggested a voluntary system that would back initiatives encouraging a reduction in the consumption of plastic bags. She said the city should find ways to encourage people to recycle plastic bags and reward them for using reusable shopping bags — though she did not specify what those rewards would be.
“Right now it’s about finding a middle ground so people are encouraged to recycle and divert waste from landfills,” Cochran said.
She said more information would be available at the next meeting.
Over the summer, Cochran suggested the city pass an ordinance charging an extra ten cents per bag for those using non-reusable bags, but "tabled" the idea a few weeks later after some community members and city officials spoke out against the measure, suggesting the measure could infringe on personal liberties and would be hard to enforce.
“I was surprised that it was met with so much of a blow back, it was very disappointing," Councilwoman Chris Fahl, D-4th Ward, said. "Anyhow, there are other things we can do to move forward.”
Council members also announced they received the money necessary to begin building the city pool, which the city acquired by selling bonds. The money will be deposited into the pool fund on Thursday.
Mike Burns, an OU alumnus and director for Baird Financial Advisors' Columbus office, advised the city through the bond process.
“I was nervous at first in this bond process because I feared Athens would lose its high bond rating, but thanks to the administration's hard work, we were able to keep the same rating,” Burns said.
The city maintained its AA2 rating after traveling to Chicago to present to Moody’s, a credit rating company.
“It’s a very high rating, one that mostly large cities, more affluent cities have,” Burns said.
The city doesn't have plans to start construction on the pool until August. Athens City Auditor Kathy Hecht, suggested investing the $7.3 million until construction begins.
“It’s just too large of a sum of money to leave sitting in a regular savings account,” Hecht said.
Joan Kraynanski, a member of the West Side Community Association, spoke to council to further advocate for a plan introduced last month that would allow exemptions to the 24-hour parking rule. As of now, vehicles need to be moved every day or owners will be issued parking tickets.
Kraynanski told council members it seemed “redundant” to have people move their cars every day, considering that Athens officials are encouraging citizens to use other modes of transportation such as biking, walking, or public vehicles.
The exemptions would only be available to certain neighborhoods — including parts of the West Side and North Side.
Fahl said that plan would seem unfair to citizens not located in those neighborhoods.
“You can’t just implement this system only in the West Side because there are other neighborhoods with similar challenges and those residents will definitely call us out for being unequal,” she said.
Councilman Pat McGee, I-At Large, took issue with the fact that the proposed parking permit did not have a time limit on how long a vehicle could be parked in a certain spot.
“Instead of allowing people to park a car for an indefinite amount of time, how about extending the 24 hours to 36 or 48 hours?" McGee said. "If you don’t move your car once in a three day period, I would question if you really need that vehicle."
