| COLUMBUS CITY COUNCIL MEETING HIGHLIGHTS For Immediate Release: March 4, 2013 For More Information: John Ivanic, (614) 645-6798 |
BED TAX CHANGES: The travel and tourism industry in Columbus is responsible for more than $7 billion in annual spending and helps support some 60,000 jobs. Those are two major reasons that the Columbus City Council, under the leadership of Council President Andrew J. Ginther, worked for more than a year with Mayor Coleman’s administration and business and community leaders to overhaul the way the City’s portion of the hotel/motel bed tax is allocated in Columbus. The proposal, in ordinance 2648-2012 in the Rules and Reference Committee, will increase funding for Experience Columbus, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, and human services organizations without raising the bed tax itself to create a permanent, sustainable funding stream for all three of these important sectors of the community.
HELPING THE HOMELESS: The Community Shelter Board’s Rebuilding Lives program is a two-pronged approach to ending homelessness and literally “rebuilding lives.” The first prong is meeting the short-term needs of homeless men and women through an improved safety net of emergency shelter. The second prong is the meeting of long-term needs through the development and operation of permanent supportive housing. Health and Human Services Committee chair Priscilla R. Tyson is sponsoring two ordinances this evening in support of the Shelter Board’s Rebuilding Lives mission. The first, 0469-2013, provides $902,734 to support the Rebuilding Lives Program with the second, 0495-2013, authorizing the Director of the Department of Development to enter into a contract with the Community Shelter Board for the Safety Net Program. The contract will provide $3,022,304 from the General Fund for the purpose of continuing the City’s support for homeless emergency shelters, the Maryhaven Engagement Center, related homeless shelter services, and homelessness prevention and transition services. These programs have effectively and efficiently enabled our community to help individuals and families who are homeless or near homelessness to resolve their housing crisis.
RAIN BARREL PROGRAM: Rain barrels are simple, inexpensive tools that help residents make a positive impact on our environment. The barrels divert storm water runoff from properties and lower the impact on the sanitary storm system. Ordinance 0218-2013, sponsored by Public Utilities Committee chair Eileen Y. Paley, authorizes the Director of Public Utilities to enter into an agreement with the Franklin Soil and Water Conservation District (FSWCD) for the GreenSpot Backyard Conservation Program for Fiscal Year 2013. In 2011, a pilot rain barrel program was expanded through a partnership established by Mayor Michael B. Coleman with Franklin Soil and Water Conservation District, local watershed groups, and EarthMinded. The goal of the program is to improve environmental stewardship and water conservation of City of Columbus residents through outreach, workshops and educational material. In order to obtain a rain barrel at a discounted cost, residents were required to attend one of twenty-one in-person rain barrel workshops. In addition, an online option was designed by the FSWCD to allow participants to view a rain barrel installation video, receive information about stormwater and water conservation, and take a quiz. Participants were provided with a fact sheet, access to various websites and other backyard conservation tips. The participants were given one reduced-cost rain barrel per household. In 2012, Franklin Soil and Water and partners were successful in dispensing 964 rain barrels.
HIGHLIGHTING “HIGHLIGHTS”: A beloved children’s publication is expanding its corporate headquarters in Columbus thanks in part to a jobs growth incentive deal with the City. Councilmember Zach M. Klein, chair of the Development Committee, is sponsoring ordinance 0435-2013 to enter into a 25%, five-year jobs growth incentive with Highlights for Children that will allow the company to create 50 new, permanent full-time jobs while retaining 164 others. Highlights plans to invest about $1 million to expand its operations, while creating new jobs with an estimated annual payroll of $3.9 million at its Watermark Drive site.
UPGRADING POLICE TECHNOLOGY: Columbus police officers will soon have faster access to crucial criminal information databases following an upgrade to City systems that contain that information. Ordinance 0326-2013, sponsored by Public Safety and Judiciary Committee chair Michelle M. Mills, authorizes the Department of Technology to enter into a $325,000 contract with Asysco, Inc. for software licenses and professional services to improve the current criminal history information management system to a more modern platform. The upgraded system will support the Division of Police and their law enforcement partners in Franklin County and will allow users to access the system through web-based or mobile platforms.
CALMC SUPPORT: The Columbus Area Labor-Management Committee (CALMC) is a not-for-profit organization that promotes the development of high-performance organizations through joint participation of labor and management. Since its founding in 1986, CALMC has worked with many private and public sector companies and organizations and their unions to help them achieve their goals through effective training, communications, and leadership to benefit the citizens of Central Ohio. Ordinance 0471-2013, sponsored by Administration Committee Chair Hearcel F. Craig, allows the City of Columbus to spend $20,000 to continue to support CALMC’s mission and make strategic investments in projects that will ultimately create and retain jobs within the City.
-30-
JOHN IVANIC
COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR
_____________________________________________________
90 W. Broad Street
Columbus, OH 43215
Direct: 614-645-6798
Cell: 614-701-1411
