Council discusses new generator for city building, renewing jail contract

Athens City Council discussed Monday purchasing a new generator to power the city building and law administration building during power outages.

Councilmember Chris Fahl said there’s already a generator there, but it only powers a small part of the building. 

“We need to protect long-term and provide resilience, especially when it comes to climate change and the weird weather that we get,” Fahl said. 

The city building and law administration building house police and dispatchers as well as servers and infrastructure that allow services such as the sewer system to work. 

The money for the new generator will come from a reimbursement from the Bureau of Worker’s Compensation, Councilmember Sarah Grace said while introducing the ordinance. 

This was the first reading of the ordinance, meaning it won’t be passed for at least another four weeks.

Council also discussed renewing a contract with Washington County for use of their jail when the Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail runs out of space. 

“This is an ongoing agreement that we’ve had for many years with Washington County,” Grace said when introducing the ordinance. 

Both Grace and Fahl explained that COVID-19 has exacerbated an ongoing space issue.  

“I think especially now with COVID because they reduced the number of people, and that puts pressure on (the jail). It’s also seasonal — what happens with who goes and who doesn’t,” Fahl said. 

Mayor Steve Patterson echoed this in a comment during the meeting.  

“It’s a real challenge when we are having to look around to see where there is space to retain somebody, and oftentimes that’s not the case to where no one has space and we have to release the individual,” Patterson said. 

Council also unanimously voted to extend the Athens poet laureate's term by 11 months. Wendy McVicker will remain the Athens poet laureate until Dec. 31, 2022. 

The Municipal Arts Commission, which had a part in creating the position, recommended this extension. 

Patterson and several councilmembers praised McVicker. 

“If you don’t walk the Near East Side Neighborhood, one of the things she’s taken on before the snow was writing poetry on the sidewalk in front of her home,” Councilmember Sam Crowl said. 

Patterson also announced corrective action that the city is taking in regard to an EPA violation at the wastewater treatment plant. 

Of the five employees that work at the plant, only four have a license that allows them to sign off on reports and other similar work. The one employee whose license does not allow them will be sitting to receive their licensure soon.

Patterson also announced two events happening in the coming weeks.

• The Black Summit is taking place via Zoom on Thursday, Feb. 18, from 6 to 9 p.m. RSVPs can be emailed to Reggie Morrow at reggie@communityfoodinitiatives.org.

• A Black History Month Celebration will take place on the Athens County Courthouse Steps on Feb. 23 at 3 p.m. The event is sponsored by the Andrew Jackson Davison Club at Athens City Schools, the Ohio Valley Bank, Mount Zion’s Athens Black Wall Street Project and the Ohio University Multicultural Center.