Resident outcry over city health and safety problems took precedence over an otherwise slow-paced council meeting in which only one non-routine Halloween related resolution was passed.
Three Ohio University seniors presented and informed council on the dangers of fluoride in Athens’ drinking water in hopes of convincing the body to begin creating legislation to remove it from Athens’ water.
“(Athens has) a problem that has always been here, and it needs to be eliminated,” said Ibriham Alassaf, who is studying history and pre-law.
Alassaf — along with fellow seniors Dane Waller and Torin Jacobs and Dane McCarthy, an Athens resident — proposed creating a referendum to remove fluoride because of its causal link to chronic diseases, such as arthritis and osteoporosis, and corrosion in water-treatment facilities and piping.
“Adding fluoride to our water is costing us money,” said Waller, who is studying political science. “Why is something like this worth paying for?”
Resident Jack Stauffer brought another concern to council’s attention last night, bringing to light a rat infestation on Sunnyside Drive that has gone unattended for the past five months.
A pack of rats has been living in a sinkhole under the house at 49 Sunnyside Drive, Stauffer said, adding that he wrote three letters to Andy Stone, the city’s director of engineering and public works, informing him of the problem.
Stauffer read portions of the letters he sent Stone, the first dating as far back as April.
“I told myself, ‘What is it going to take to get this guy’s attention? A lawsuit, a trip to City Council?’ ” Stauffer said.
“I think you got everyone’s attention tonight,” said Bill Bias, city council president.
Amid the complaints, Council passed a resolution on one reading expressing its opposition to the state government’s switch to centralized income-tax collection.
The resolution, created by Auditor Kathy Hecht, expressed city official’s opposition to centralized income-tax collection in hopes of preventing the legislation from advancing further at the state level.
Council expressed its concern over Gov. John Kasich’s switch to centralized income-tax collection at last week’s Finance and Personnel Committee meeting, citing concern about area job loss and increased costs for Athens’ taxpayers.
“Now is the time to pass this resolution,” Hecht said. “We need opposition at the state level before it is written into a bill.”
The city council in Troy, Ohio, recently passed a similar resolution, Hecht said, adding that it also will be sent to the governor.
kg287609@ohiou.edu
