Council to meet Thursday

Published 10:12 am Tuesday, April 30, 2019

On Thursday, the Ironton City Council will once again have a meeting of the whole. They previously had one on April 8.

A meeting of the whole is different than a regular council meeting.

Vice Mayor Rich Blankenship explained that a committee meeting of the whole is when all city council members are invited to discuss things ,but there will be no vote on any ordinances or resolutions and there will be no audience participation.

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He said the meeting is a way for council members to discuss things that they can’t get into regular meetings. And at the previous meeting, they didn’t get through all 15 items on the agenda and decided to hold another one to continue the discussions.

Several of those issues deal with a piece of property in Ironton, the former Dayton Malleable property. Discussion will include the property’s lease with the Lawrence County Economic Development Corporation, a spec building on it and space needed for a lay down yard for pipes and the number of employees that business would have. There will also be a discussion on the potential for areas of that property needing to be cleaned up.

Other properties to be discussed are buildings such as Memorial Hall and the Brumberg Building, the construction of the second hotel in the Gateway Centre, riverfront property and a rent release on The Depot.

The committee will also discuss items brought up by citizens during regular council meetings including business licenses, a city planning commission and getting the review board for historic buildings in the city up and running again.

There will also be talk about the needs of the expanding Muth Lumber company.

In infrastructure needs, they will talk about getting zero percent loan for phases IV and V of the combined water and sewer line separation that was mandated by the Ohio EPA, creating a plan for the city’s sewage and water plants and a combined water plan for Coal Grove and Ironton.

The meeting will be in council chambers on the third floor of the City Center and is open to the public.