The Athens City Council met Monday for a regular session meeting with an established quorum of five members present at the meeting.
Councilmember Jeffrey Risner, D-2nd Ward, acted as the president pro tempore, as Council President Sam Crowl stepped in as acting mayor. Deputy Service Safety Director Andrew Chiki was also in attendance in the absence of Service Safety Director Andy Stone.
During the communications segment of the meeting, Law Director Lisa Eliason spoke and urged Council to consider joining an amicus brief, also known as a “friend of the court brief,” being prepared by the city of Columbus in support of the city of Cincinnati in regards to a taxpayer lawsuit.
A taxpayer lawsuit is when a taxpayer has a personal stake in the outcome of a situation involving the city, and it directly affects them, as stated by Eliason. Mark Miller sued the city of Cincinnati, claiming he had standing, not a personal stake, in the outcome of a situation.
The lower court ruled in favor of Cincinnati, but the case is going to the Ohio Supreme Court. If it passes in the Ohio Supreme Court, it would allow anybody in the municipality to say they do not like a program or expense of the city and sue to end it, according to Eliason.
Eliason also stated joining the brief would only provide moral support to the city of Cincinnati; there are no financial obligations.
Eliason provided all the information about the amicus brief, and Council made a motion at the end of the meeting to approve it. The motion passed, allowing the city of Athens to join the brief.
There were three ordinances for third reading. Ordinance 0-63-25 authorizes the auditor to make interfund transfers and amend a previous ordinance to authorize construction on the new fire headquarters.
Councilmember Micah McCarey, At-Large, had previously introduced the ordinance, but he was not in attendance at the meeting. Councilmember Jessica Thomas, At-Large, read the ordinance in his absence.
Councilmembers Beth Clodfelter, At-Large, and Michael Wood, D-3rd Ward, both had questions pertaining to the ordinance, but Clodfelter’s questions came from a misunderstanding of the ordinance, while Wood’s came from a dislike of it.
Wood aired his grievances with the ordinance and stated the answers from Stone, when asked about it, were “pretty flip”. Wood also said he was inclined to vote against it, but after much deliberation he ended up voting in favor.
Ordinance 0-64-25 authorizes 2025 staffing levels and changes the position in the mayor’s office formerly known as the DEIA/training coordinator to a different position called community engagement and accessibility coordinator. Risner introduced the ordinance and made the motion to adopt it. The motion passed with no discussion from councilmembers.
Ordinance 0-65-25, which amends the 2025 appropriations ordinance, was also introduced by Risner. The ordinance passed with no discussion.
There were seven ordinances for second reading, with no suspension of the rules. Ordinances 0-66-25 through 0-72-25 were all read by Risner, with no discussion or elaboration from the other councilmembers.
There was one resolution for first reading. The resolution allows for the appointment of a citizen member and the reappointment of citizen and government members to the Board of Trustees of the Ridges New Community Authority. The appointments and reappointments were approved by the Council.
To end the meeting, there was a motion to adopt the April 2025 financial reports, which passed, as well as the March 2025 credit card transactions, which also passed.
