Mayor Josh Schlicher and Marietta City Council President Susan Vessels discuss the new marquee outside of Peoples Bank Theatre prior to Thursday’s council meeting. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

Marietta City Council met Thursday evening to introduce several new pieces of legislation.

Nine ordinances held their first readings, with eight of those being related to budgetary measures from different departments into the 2025 General Fund.

One ordinance related to the transference of unappropriated funds to the general fund for various departments including council, mayor, auditor, planning and development, information systems, safety administration, property maintenance, police, fire, service administration, engineering, lands, buildings and parks, maintenance/repair. Additional money should this ordinance pass after further readings would go toward the Fire Levy Fund, Victims Information Program, Domestic Violence Fund, Water Administration and the Sewer Administration.

Of the proposed ordinances two passed. Ordinance 153 transferred an unappropriated $99,048.15 to the Street fund and $311.67 to the Tree Planting Fund. Ordinance 155, according to Councilwoman Erin O’Neill, was to amend a clerical error in a handbook document about city employee vacations.

Resolution 53 also passed on Thursday, allowing the director of public safety and service to establish a Citizen Participation Plan for Marietta. It would allow Marietta to post notices on its website instead of all notices needing to run through the newspaper. In a previous meeting, Marietta Development Director Geoff Schenkel explained that new federal regulations now allow public notices to be posted on the city’s website rather than requiring publication in newspapers. This change is expected to significantly reduce costs.

Councilman Bret Allphin said this would not fully remove the ability to place notices in the paper, but would allow discretion on the mayor and the city’s behalf when putting out notices.

“I’m not under the impression that this, by taking this action, means every single notice will be posted on the (web) only. I’m trusting that the mayor and staff have good judgment to know when things need to be posted in the paper,” said Allphin. “So I think this flexibility is just fine.”

During the public forum, Marietta resident Michael Feorene expressed his concern about the impact semi-truck traffic has on the citizens in Marietta. Feorene suggested creating an alternate truck route instead of all truck traffic going through the city, particularly Washington Avenue and Third Street, could have a significant impact on residents within that area that deal with noise pollution and potential safety hazards.

“There’s a lot of safety issues involved, too. People walking their dogs. I can’t even walk my dogs because I witnessed the trucks curbing their tires constantly. And I know that those truckers probably don’t want to drive it, because I have friends that are truckers.” he said. “It’s a very intricate, tough route to come through.”

The next Marietta City Council meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20, at the Armory.

Gwen Sour can be reached at gsour@newsandsentinel.com