Athens City Council discusses possible cancellation of HallOUween

Athens City Council discussed the potential cancellation of Halloween and the closure of streets for the block party at their committee meeting Monday night.

Mayor Steve Patterson and City Engineer and Public Works Director Andy Stone answered council questions regarding Ohio University’s largest holiday. With COVID-19 cases rising and the delta variant at large, City Council is unsure whether it will go through with road closures for the Halloween block party. 

“We are certainly watching things closely and deciding what is the safest thing for our community,” Patterson said.

Road closures for Halloween were not enforced last year. With the current rate of rising COVID-19 cases, there is a possibility of a similar fate this year. 

“Do we cancel Halloween and the block party?” Stone asked. “When looking at the (current) number of COVID cases, my recommendation would be yes.”

Patterson and Stone said neither have heard of any plans for Halloween regarding bands or vendors. There also has been no word from Passion Works regarding their annual Honey for the Heart parade.

“This is very telling to me about what they have been thinking about the block party,” Patterson said.

Both Patterson and Stone said that they would like to wait until late September to come to a final conclusion, with the status of coronavirus cases then advising their decision.

Though the block party is still up in the air, neighborhood trick or treating will be held Oct. 28 from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

In other business, the Finance and Personnel Committee shared a presentation by Enterprise Fleet Management that discussed leasing city vehicles as an alternative to purchasing them. Patterson said this would lower maintenance costs and improve the fuel economy, assisting in his goal to reduce carbon emissions by 50% by 2030.

The City and Safety Services Committee announced a change to a previous ordinance that looked to allocate funds towards a new dump truck. Due to the dump truck being a newer model than initially thought, there was a price increase of $1,200. The committee discussed introducing the amendment at the next meeting.