City council tables several agenda items and refers them to committees

The Clarion City Council met Tuesday evening with a lengthy agenda. There were several ordinance matters on the schedule, including some that caused quite a stir.

            After passing the consent agenda, the council jumped ahead on the schedule to discuss four new ordinances that addressed different city employees and departments. The first ordinance talked about was one amending the code of ordinances regarding the ambulance service. As explained, this would put the ambulance service under the control of the city administrator rather than the mayor, which is the case currently. Councilperson Dan Hennigar asked why this change was necessary. Mayor Duane Asbe explained that this is a more sound business structure and a more sensible chain of command. Councilperson Andy Young also noted that since the city administrator already does the budgets for the departments like ambulance, it would make more sense for that person to oversee them. Councilperson Teresa Lancaster added that this change would provide more consistency and clearer expectations across city departments.

            Members of the public voiced concern. Cindy Dorn, who works on the ambulance service, noted she was speaking as a citizen when she explained that she wanted the mayor to stay in the position over the ambulance department since one of the reasons she voted for him was because she trusted him to do that very job. Hennigar ultimately recommended tabling the ordinance and 3 others pertaining to the police department, mayor and city administrator. He was concerned that more citizens would want to voice opinions on the matter since he had already heard from people who were not able to attend the meeting. Young added that they could refer the ordinances to the Public Safety Committee for further discussion. The four ordinances were tabled and referred to that committee.

For the full story, see the April 25th edition of the Monitor