Special online meeting of UH City Council to be held March 19 at 6:30 p.m.

University Heights Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan has called for a special meeting of UH City Council tonight, March 19, at 6:30 p.m. At the meeting, Brennan will give a report on the city’s response to COVID-19, and answer questions.

Three proposed ordinances will be considered, in order to respond to the pandemic.

The agenda includes:

Ordinance 2020-17 - Providing for paid emergency leave and allow[ing] the mayor or his designee to temporarily expand the use of existing paid sick leave of absence (on emergency).

Ordinance 2020-18 – Granting them emergency spending authority (on emergency).

Ordinance 2020-19 – Adopting temporary voting requirements during the period of emergency (on emergency).

To join the meeting on Zoom:

Zoom.us/j/753578440

Meeting ID: 753 578 440

The first piece of legislation asks the council to authorize the mayor to provide all full-time employees with 80 hours of paid emergency administrative leave that may be used between March 9 of this year through the end of the calendar year.

Upon exhaustion of paid sick leave time, this additional 80 hours becomes available. If that additional time is exhausted, the mayor would have the power, on a case-by-case basis, to provide more. This emergency paid administrative leave is not subject to rollover or payout.

“People should not to come to work if they are sick,” Brennan said. “People should not worry that they will not get paid if they are sick, especially if they have limited sick time hours banked.”

The second piece of legislation expands, on an emergency basis, both the public bidding requirement and the mayor’s spending authority from $15,000 to $50,000. It also includes a reporting requirement to council by the mayor of any expenditures that exceed the typical $15,000 requirement to keep them informed of any emergency spending that arises. This reporting shall be done in advance when possible; otherwise, immediately thereafter.

Brennan said, “Other communities are doing this or have done this, as avoiding the need to go to public bid will streamline our acquisition and implementation of things that arise during this emergency.”

Finally, the third piece of legislation adopts temporary voting requirements during council meetings during this emergency period. Quorum will remain four. But a simple majority of those present, rather than four affirmative votes, will be sufficient to pass motions.

For example, under current law, if four [council members] are present to conduct business, it takes all four to pass a motion. Under this temporary provision, three would suffice; same if five are present. If six or seven are present, the number returns to four to pass.

“This is to make it easier to conduct business in future special meetings in the event that our numbers of councilpersons are diminished, if some councilpersons become unavailable or otherwise unreachable,” Brennan said.

Mike Cook

Mike Cook is the communications and civic engagement coordinator for University Heights.

Read More on University Heights
Volume 13, Issue 4, Posted 5:09 PM, 03.19.2020