Council Met in Regular Session Monday Night

At Large Councilman David Rhodes

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By a vote of 6-3 Monday night, Newark City Council defeated an ordinance aimed at borrowing money to pave city streets. 

“The administration wanted to indebt the city $1.2 million, which would have provided and freed up some additional dollars for some additional paving this year.”

At Large Councilman David Rhodes says the city never had a steady plan in place to pay that money back. 

“There was talk of a plan. We first heard four years, then we heard five years, then we heard maybe six years and then we heard maybe they would take part of the insurance premium holiday to make the first payment. So, there really wasn’t a solid plan in place.”

Before the meeting started, Mayor Bob Diebold suggested that council table the ordinance for now...but when the motion was on the floor, council defeated it by a vote of 6-3 with Councilwoman Carol Floyd, Councilman Don Ellington and Councilman John Uible voting to table the issue.

Rhodes explains the reasoning behind the motion to table. 

“The mayor said he wanted it tabled because he wasn’t sure exactly how much money they wanted to borrow. I was opposed to that because in the legislation, it said ‘up to and not to exceed,’ which means we could have borrowed less if we wanted to.”

Councilmen John Uible, Don Ellington and Ed Houdeshell were the only members to vote in favor of the ordinance, while Councilwoman Irene Kennedy was absent from the meeting.

Rhodes explains why he voted ‘no.’

“Indebting the city is a very hard vote. The city’s economical times isn’t the best right now. There are a lot of indicators that point to the fact that we are going to need some additional dollars this year and next year just to keep the city moving forward. We don’t want to eat up those additional dollars by paying additional debt.”

Rhodes says he believes there may be other ways to pay for paving. 

“There are different ways to look inward to find additional paving dollars, such as the percentage on EMS, such as the insurance premium holiday and things that we have been working on over the last couple of years that are just now coming to roost.”

Rhodes says all of the council members agree that the roads need to be paved, but the real debate is how to pay for it.

“That’s the debate. What’s the best way to get to the paving. I think we have a path and a path that is going to unfold over a period of time that is really going to make a difference in the city streets. There are some additional things we could do, such as employee cars. I don’t believe employees should be able to take cars home, and I think it needs to start at the top, I think it needs to start with the administration.”