Bill Bias and Nancy Bain, two of Athens City Council’s most experienced members, will be retiring at the end of the current term. That means next year’s City Council will be a younger, relatively inexperienced one: however, this is not a bad thing. We think this new Council will be able to foster new ideas, new leadership styles and will strive to work well together.
Whether he or she taught at Ohio University or attended, each member has some sort of tie to the school. With that being said, we think City Council will keep the university in mind with decision-making.
Each candidate cited a belief that the mayor and City Council members need to attend Student Senate, Faculty Senate and Graduate Student meetings to improve student relations. Because that seemed to be an overwhelming theme, we expect to see that goal met. Strengthening that relationship will ease tensions and improve communication as a whole.
City Council candidates cited the fire-truck issue and the noise ordinance as examples of the city and university working well together. However, City Council members need to rethink that strategy somewhat. Both issues featured very poor communication and created tension between the university and the city.
The university doesn’t take well to being asked for large sums of money in a city resolution before being approached. Likewise, students don’t take well to sudden law changes unless communication already has taken place.
City Council needs to preemptively communicate with administrators and students about possible changes and requests in order to avoid tension.
We believe the City Council will have the ability to improve university and student relationships, and we look forward to its working toward making Athens and OU a better place.
