By Paula Pyzik Scott

The June 16 meeting of the Village of Ada Council was chaired by Mayor Dave Retterer with all council members present and new Village Administrator Casey Smith on her second day of employment with the Village. Both the outgoing and incoming fiscal officers, Patty Navin and Lydia Fountaine were present.

PUBLIC COMMENT
Ada resident Kevin Wagner addressed council to announce that he has filed a formal complaint with the Ohio Court of Claims regarding public records request compliance and that he has sent a detailed submission to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office to request a review of specific administrative practices and compliance protocols. Wagner said, ”I do not know if the rot I believe exists in this room is also affecting the government in Columbus. I will find out.”

RESOLUTIONS
Council approved two resolutions by emergency: the first allows the Village Administrator to enter into a Natural Gas aggregation agreement and the second allows her to enter into an Electricity aggregation agreement. The resolutions enable the Village to lock in prices without waiting for a council meeting.

NEW BUSINESS
Council approved two separate items related to the August 22 Made in Ada Wilson Football Festival. The first established the location of the festival for the purpose of the Ada Area Chamber of Commerce application for a temporary liquor permit. The second item approved street closures for the festival.

REPORTS

New furniture will expand seating in Council chamber
Council member Sean Beck provided information on a quote from Friends Office Supply to replace the tables and chair in the Council chambers. The new furniture, which is priced at $14.7K, will allow seating for more people at public meetings. Council approved the purchase.

Requests for pool use and passes
Council considered three requests for use of the Village Pool. Fiscal Officer Patty Navin explained that the Village is not a service organization and cannot grant free use of the pool unless it is open to the entire community. Council approved giving one 2027 family season pass to the Farmers & Merchants committee for a raffle and giving one adult and one child day pass to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwest Ohio for use as a prize.

Ada Police Department
Police Chief Alec Cooper reported that since the last council meeting, the department responded to or initiated 110 calls for service, made 13 incident and offense reports, and 1 vehicle accident report.

Cancellation of Tuesday night swim
Council member Xander Wells asked for information on the cancellation of Tuesday night swimming at the Ada Municipal Pool. Patty Navin explained that there have been major issues with the weekly event since COVID (2020), with groups of kids causing trouble, including climbing the fence. Chief Cooper noted that there has been one knife incident during the last three years. An officer has been assigned to the two-hour event for the last two years. 

This year, an officer was not assigned to the event. On Tuesday, June 9, attendees threatened the lifeguards, resulting in the event being canceled for the rest of the season. Navin said that the Village is considering scheduling family movie nights.

Executive Session
The meeting went into closed-door session at 7:19 p.m. to discuss two employment items.

NEXT MEETING
Council holds its next regular session at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 7.