Council Can’t Reverse Course On Street Vacations

9/5/18 – 5:11 A.M.

A request by a Findlay city council member to rescind the vacation of two streets didn’t move forward Tuesday night. The Courier reports Councilwoman Holly Frische made the request about the undeveloped roads off of East Sandusky Street. However, Law Director Don Rasmussen told council they couldn’t act on the motion because it was in violation of their own rules. Rasmussen says they can only reconsider the legislation the meeting after it’s enacted. In this case, they would have had to reconsider the street vacations on August 21. It’s also too late for a mayoral veto.

Matthias Leguire owns property at 830 East Sandusky Street and has opposed council’s move. He says he uses the undeveloped area to access the back of his land. However, the neighbor who petitioned for the vacation says kids play in the undeveloped area. Leguire is circulating a petition to reverse the council’s decision on a future ballot.

Monday’s meeting got heated at times. Charles Williams of Fishlock Avenue waived banners that called council corrupt. Council President Ron Monday threatened to have Williams removed from the meeting if he continued to waive the banners. Frische told Monday he was rude to citizens who addressed council and also needed to “change his tone” when addressing her.

Council members debated whether the street vacations truly landlocked any property. One property in question, 730 East Sandusky Street, may not abut the vacated streets. That means under city law the property owner wouldn’t receive notification about a hearing to vacate the street. Mayor Lydia Mihalik said in an email to the council that she is in favor of looking at how property owners receive notification in the future.

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