In an effort to allow more people, including city council members, to attend the Aug. 16 benefit concert for U.S. Army Spc. Kyle Hockenberry, Marietta City Council on Thursday rescheduled its regular mid-August meeting to a Wednesday.
"We want to make sure citzens know that the meeting will be changed to Wednesday, Aug. 15, to help remove any conflict of scheduling for the community and to allow council members, if they wish, to attend the concert," said Councilman Tom Vukovic, D-4th Ward.
The concert, by actor Gary Sinise and his Lt. Dan Band, will be held at Marietta College's Dyson Baudo Recreation Center at 7 p.m. Aug 16.
Hockenberry, of Marietta, lost both legs and his left arm after an explosion occurred while he was on foot patrol in Afghanistan in June 2011.
All proceeds from ticket sales will go into a fund for Hockenberry.
City safety-service director Jonathan Hupp also announced Thursday that a web site, www.supportkyle.com, has been established where tickets can be purchased online. He said tickets may also be purchased by calling 1-800-293-5949 or at Peoples News outlets in Marietta, Belpre and Parkersburg.
Fact Box
Kyle Hockenberry concert
The concert, by actor Gary Sinise and his Lt. Dan Band, will be held at Marietta College's Dyson Baudo Recreation Center at 7 p.m. Aug 16.
A web site, www.supportkyle.com, has been established where tickets can be purchased online. Tickets may also be purchased by calling 1-800-293-5949 or at Peoples News outlets in Marietta, Belpre and Parkersburg.
Also during Thursday's council session, Thomas Wendelken of Marietta asked council to allow vendors to operate ice cream trucks in town.
Some council members have recently cited concerns that children hearing music from an ice cream truck might run out into traffic as the vehicles pass through their neighborhoods.
No formal legislation has been passed, but members of council's planning, zoning, annexation and housing committee have discussed the possibility of limiting ice cream vendors to stationary locations in some city parks.
"It's great when an ice cream truck comes by in the neighborhood," Wendelken said. "This is something we need. People gripe that we don't have anything in this city, but when someone does come in with a new idea, you stop it. Please don't take the ice cream trucks away from us."
In other business, council authorized advertisement for bids and the entering into a contract to purchase equipment for a lift station replacement project on Gilman Avenue.
Council also approved a change order for Davis Architectural Group, doing design work on the Armory Square project, that will result in a savings of $20,750 in design fees due to a narrower scope for the project.
In addition, a resolution of support was passed that will allow the local Friends of the Lower Muskingum group to construct a rain garden project in East Muskingum Park.
City Councilman Steve Thomas, D-3rd Ward, was welcomed back to the table by fellow council members Thursday after he suffered a stroke last month.
"I want to thank everybody for their prayers and thank the city fire department for getting me to the hospital so quickly-we were there in six minutes," Thomas said.
He was flown from Marietta Memorial Hospital to Riverside Hospital in Columbus where Thomas spent five days under physicians' care.
"I'm just glad to be sitting here instead of six feet under," Thomas said.
