By Noell Wolfgram Evans

The Munroe Falls City Council held its regular meeting on Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. in council chambers. In attendance were Council President and Ward 1 Council Member Ross Widenor, Ward 2 Council Member Bob Post, Ward 3 Council Member Connie Collinson and At-large Council Members J.J. Mesko-Kimmich, Dina Edwards and John Hegnauer. Also in attendance were Mayor Allen Mavrides, Police Chief Steve Dunton, Fire Chief Lee Chafin, Clerk of Council Misty Smith, Law Director Tom Kostoff, Public Works Director Jim Bowery and Finance Director Mia Swartz. 

The meeting was called to order by Widenor, who then led those in attendance in the Pledge of Allegiance.

The first order of business was the approval of the minutes for the regular council and standing committee meetings of Nov. 18. Those were approved unanimously and without comment. Following that vote, Mavrides offered up the Mayor’s Report. He opened on a solemn note, acknowledging the sudden passing of Council Member Jim Iona. Mavrides then provided a litany of the meetings he attended since council last met. While there were a number of procedural and informational meetings, there were two that he focused on. One was a meeting with ODOT to discuss the role that the police and fire departments will need to play in regard to traffic control for the impending bridge and roadway work. 

The second meeting was one that brought about a considerable discussion among the council. Mavrides shared that he was asked to attend a meeting at Cuyahoga Falls. He believed that this would be to discuss a hike in water rates, but what he was told was that Munroe Falls owes $285,000 to Cuyahoga Falls for fees related to the water services it provides.

“Apparantly, these are fees that they have somehow neglected to collect from us for two years,” Mavrides said. “They offered us an interest-free payment plan that would stretch the payments across five years.” 

Edwards asked if there was a “paper trail” to back this request up, and Mavrides said that they were looking into it. Bowery explained that Cuyahoga Falls had alerted the city that they would be raising rates two years ago but, he said, “apparently they never charged us for that.”

Mesko-Kimmich responded, “I’m just floored. If this is a billing issue, it’s on them.” 

Hegnauer questioned whether the city could legally make payments because they would be, in effect, “paying resident’s water bills.” 

Mavrides said that Silver Lake was also placed in a similar situation, and both cities were looking into what could be done. As part of that, he would be inviting a representative from Cuyahoga Falls to address council directly.

Next, Kostoff provided a brief Law Director’s Report, which consisted of the office hours he has held and the meetings he has attended. 

Widenor then offered remarks as president. At the top of the list was to ask for a moment of silence for Iona. Widenor let those in attendance know that a memorial service was planned for Dec. 5.

He also provided a look at other upcoming council events. On Dec. 4 at 6 p.m., there will be a budget meeting, on Dec. 16, there will be committee meetings and the regular council meeting, and on Jan. 2, there will be a council organization meeting to allow for the election of officers and committee assignments for 2026. He then invited Eric Burns, president of Independent Energy Consultants, to address the council. Burns spoke on the relationship IEC has had with the city, saying that it has saved residents over $1.3 million with lower rate options. Burns said that the “program has out-performed NOPEC for 17 years,” and he encouraged the city to continue with it.

The next item on the agenda was the various committee reports. Edwards said that the General Government Services Committee recently met to discuss the latest water main break. 

“Our infrastructure is just aging,” she said. 

Their next committee meeting will be held on Jan. 6. Post had no update from the Planning Commission, but announced a meeting on Dec. 17. For the Community and Economic Development Committee, Edwards said that they would need a lot of volunteers as part of their Main Street Munroe Falls initiative. They will be discussing this more at their next meeting on Jan. 6.

With no one desiring to address the council, pending legislation was brought forward. Ordinances 2025-07 and 2025-52 had been tabled in previous meetings; they are now off of the table and will be considered at the next meeting. A second reading was held for ordinances 2025-10 and 2025-11, which deal respectively with fee revisions and contracting with NOPEC.

The council then moved onto new business. Widenor offered a revision to ordinance 2025-07. The ordinance provides regulations for feeding wildlife and stray animals. In what he said was a response to resident feedback, he asked council to consider amending the language of the ordinance to include the phrase “...that causes unnatural or disruptive gathering of animals.” The change was accepted unanimously. It was also noted that this would cause the ordinance to be brought up again for a first reading at the next council meeting.

Widenor also brought attention to the clothing collection happening in the city. There is a collection box in City Hall and there will be a drive-thru distribution on Dec. 13. Dunton noted that Shop with a Cop was happening that day, as well.

The only other item of new business was centered around how to fill the seat on council left by Iona’s untimely passing. Widenor said he had consulted with the Board of Elections and Kostoff and they determined that there were two terms to be filled. One would be for the remainder of the 2025 term, and the other for the seat that Iona won in the last election, which would officially start on Jan. 1. While council is actively soliciting applications for the term that will start in 2026, Widenor believed that the best course of action was to leave Iona’s seat vacant for the remainder of the year. His reasoning was because of timing, as he explained that someone would not be able to be installed until the next council meeting, which is the last one of the year, so “there is essentially nothing for them to do.”

At this point Post spoke. He said he was doing research and believed that “everything comes back to the charter.” After he presented all of the details and facts he uncovered, he questioned why council wouldn't appoint someone who was in attendance instead of “picking someone who had never been to a meeting.” Widenor suggested that this should be a discussion for another time, which set off a spirited debate over who had the floor and what could and could not be said and done at that time about the vacant seat. Widenor gavelled hard to bring the debate to a close, but Post only responded with a Point of Order call. Kostoff was called upon to render a legal opinion, which brought the discussion to an end.

Post then asked that the council be called into executive session to discuss the recent resignation of an employee in the police department and the ramifications it could have on the city. Kostoff was called on to validate that this warranted an Executive Session. He read the legal requirements, finally finding one that he said was “remotely relevant.” With that, the full council voted to move into executive session.