COLUMBIANA COUNCIL $10K payment OK'd after being defeated

Remarks were made about the conditions of park and cemetery property.
COLUMBIANA -- After initially defeating the measure, city council OK'd paying an additional $10,000 to a law firm that negotiated the city's cable franchise agreement.
With Councilman Bill Kimpel absent from the first part of Tuesday's meeting, the 3-2 vote in favor of the $10,000 payment to Walter and Haverfield failed because four votes were needed for passage. Council members Donald E. Leonard and Donald L. Vignon voted no.
But Kimpel asked that the council reconsider the matter when he arrived at the meeting, and the vote passed 4-2.
A concern
Mayor Lowell Schloneger said he was concerned that a failure to amend the contract with the Cleveland law firm would provoke a lawsuit against the city.
Leonard said he opposed the measure to protest the agreement in the first place. He said the original contract, struck in July 2001, was for $15,000.
"They were 2 1/2 years late getting the contract to us," he said after the meeting. "We never gave them the authority to spend that kind of money."
Leonard said he opposed the original contract with the law firm, arguing that the city's law director could have handled the duties without extra cost to the taxpayers.
Similar concerns prompted Leonard and Vignon to dissent from a 4-2 vote to pay A-1 Tree Service of Salem $24,400 for tree and stump removal services in the southwest corridor of Columbiana.
Trimming trees
"I still think our own employees should be trimming trees," Leonard said.
In other business, council:
* Discussed criticisms leveled at City Manager Keith A. Chamberlin by some members of the park board over management of park employees and poor maintenance of park land and the city's cemetery.
Reacting to an article in a local newspaper, Chamberlin expressed disappointment that critics did not raise their concerns directly with him.
"I feel a little blind-sided," he said.
Chamberlin said one of the problems is that students hired to perform maintenance over the summer leave Aug. 10.
Council member Pat Keylor asked if retirees or others could take their place. She suggested a tax levy to provide park funds failed because of the conditions.
"Our cemetery's a disgrace. It is. And something has to be done," she said.
Made a suggestion
Leonard suggested the council member attend park board meetings to improve communication.
"Their frustration is showing," he said. "Somewhere along the line, somebody's not doing their job."
* Passed a resolution to keep city government operating through March while elected officials hammer out a 2005 budget.
* Accepted the resignation of planning commission member Ron Barnhart and set a deadline of the council's second meeting in January for applications for a replacement.