By Noell Wolfgram Evans

The Tallmadge City Council met in council chambers at Tallmadge City Hall on June 11, 2026, at 6 p.m. In attendance were President of Council and Council Member At-Large Jessica Epstein, Council Member At-Large Lindsay Halm, Ward 3 Council Member Jonathon Bollas and Vice President of Council and Council Member At-Large David Kline. Also attending were Mayor Carol Siciliano-Kilway, Director of Public Service Jasson Urey, Director of Finance Mollie Gilbride and Clerk of Council Rachel Osborne.

Epstein called the meeting to order promptly at 6 p.m. and invited Pastor Ken Bulgrin to provide the invocation. Following that, the Pledge of Allegiance was offered and the roll call was taken. Three council members – Tracy Pletcher, Donald Pavlik and Ted Roy – were not present and Epstein noted that they had been excused from the meeting.

The next item on the agenda was the adoption of the May 28 meeting minutes, which the council approved without comment. Council also approved the pre-provided financial reports.

Paul Anderson, an Akron resident, then rose to speak about the case of Ruth Guthrie. Guthrie was abducted on June 12, 1963, and her body was found a short time later. Anderson said he was one of the last people to see her alive and asked if, in light of new technologies, there was any progress on the case. Kilway said that the police department was exceptional with cold cases and she would see if there was an update she could share.

No other members of the public were there to speak, so Kilway provided the mayor’s report, which consisted of a series of dates. Those included the opening of the farmer’s market, the closure of City Hall on Juneteenth, open office hours from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. on June 25, and Circle Fest, which will be happening on Aug. 8 with a parade this year.

Urey next offered a wide-ranging report on the public service work in the community. Some of the points he covered were:

He also said that in light of the impending changes to the school bus schedule and routes, they were starting to look into how that would affect before and after school programs at the rec center.

Halm commended the Maca Pool team for their smooth check-in processes and added a special bit of acclaim for their playlist selection.

For the report from the finance department, Gilbride said that tax revenue continued to show growth in line with current budget expectations.

There were no other reports from city administrators, so the council moved to the reports of the standing committees. For the Finance Committee, Kline offered ordinance 2026-53, which dealt with sewer rates. Gilbride explained that the purpose of this ordinance was to correct a typo in the currently posted rates. After Bollas confirmed that this had and would continue to have no effect on the residents, council approved the ordinance.

Bollas then offered up Ordinance 2026-52 for the Personnel Committee. This ordinance, which concerns the hiring of police officers, was put forth for a first reading. Kilway explained that this was needed to correct a typo in a previous ordinance. It was decided that a public hearing will be held on July 9 at 6:01 p.m. 

Bollas next offered a first reading of Ordinance 2026-55, which concerns collective bargaining matters. A public hearing will be held on this ordinance on July 9 at 6:02 p.m.

The last committee that had an action item was Public Service. Halm read ordinance 2026-54, which would allow for the sale of unneeded equipment and vehicles. This was a first reading and no action was taken.

With no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 6:32 pm.