GALION — Galion City Council has established a new fund to handle money the city is receiving through the Capital Appropriations Bill.
Council voted to create the Leisure Time-State Capital Funding Bill Fund, which will be where money allocated to the city through the Capital Appropriations Bill (Senate Bill 310) will be located. The City of Galion was the recipient of $100,000 in state funding through the annual capital appropriations bill.
According to a summary published by the Ohio Legislative Service Commission’s Legislative Budget Office, the General Assembly approved a total of $2,129,358,799 in capital funding requests by entities from across Ohio. The $100,000 allocated to Galion through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources will be used for the Galion Park Square Renovation project.
“The goal of (the ordinance) is to set up this fund for us to receive this state capital grant and then, theoretically, and then allow us to use that same fund structure to draw down funds if we’re able to secure any more state funding,” Mayor Tom O’Leary said. “I think it’s the second capital bill (grant) that we’ve administered; the railroad pavilion being the other one. This will be a cleaner way to (handle the funds).”
Eunice Collene, administrative clerk for the city auditor, said the the city auditor’s office consulted with Ohio Auditor of State’s office and received authorization to establish the fund.
“So, we’re good to go,” Collene told council.
The City of Galion was one of three Crawford County entities to be approved for funding in the capital appropriations bill. The Crawford County Fair will receive $300,000 from the Department of Agriculture and the Crestline Historical Society is the recipient of $10,000 through the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission.
Council also voted to renew two reinvestment recommendations made by the city’s Treasury Investment Board. Auditor Gail Baldinger told council that the Meeder Investment Management, a firm that the city contracts with for investment advice, recommended to the board to approve both reinvestments.
The ordinance council ended up approving concerned two investments that matured in February. The first investment in the amount of $599,380 matured on Feb. 2, 2021, and the second investment in the amount of $299,087.75 matured on Feb. 19, 2021.
Baldinger said the first investment has been renewed for a period of five years and the second has been renewed for a period of one year. Investment renewal can only be completed with approval of city council, Baldinger said.
“There’ll be some more (investments) coming due throughout the year, too, probably four, five, maybe six more,” Baldinger said.
Baldinger said the total amount of the city’s investment portfolio is about $20.3 million. The amount being managed by Meeder is $16,485,286. An additional $3,829,848.87 is invested with the State Treasury Asset Reserve of Ohio (STAR Ohio).
Council also approved an ordinance authorizing Safety-Service Director Nicole Ward to apply for and accept a Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act airport grant in the amount of $9,000. The grant is administered through the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration.
“This is basically the follow-up to the CARES Act,” Ward said. “We’ve been given $9,000 by the federal government for application to the operations, maintenance, etc., at the airport. This money has already been given to us; we just need to sign the application and submit it. … They leave it pretty wide open. Operations, personnel, cleaning, sanitization — whatever we would typically do for normal operations at the airport can be covered by this money.”
Galion City Council will meet in regular session at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 9 via Zoom teleconference. The meeting will be streamed live on the City of Galion Facebook page. For information, visit Galion City Council page at galion.city.
