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Marietta City Council met on Thursday to discuss several pieces of legislation.

Safety Service Director Steve Wetz outlined several meeting requests for upcoming committee meetings, including a joint Employee Relations, Lands, Buildings, and Parks Committee to discuss the Aquatic Center, Employee Relations with Water and Sewer to review the Water Reclamation Plant table of organization and a proposed pay increase for the plant’s maintenance manager, Water and Sewer Committee to examine city responsibility in water and sewer taps inside and outside city limits, and consideration of the State Route 7 transmission project.

Planning and Development Director Geoff Schenkel reminded council of the importance of Ordinance 165 concerning the Glendale Road project. The Glendale Road project anticipates making changes to the sidewalks in the area for more pedestrian safety. Schenkel emphasized the emergency clause to ensure timely construction scheduling.

“Just want to stress with one missing member tonight, the importance of the emergency clause that’s attached to keep multiple construction projects on schedule for this construction season,” said Schenkel. “Pulling this off in an expedited first-step has an impacting effect on later projects since this is also tied to a project that was underfunded in past years.”

Ordinance 165 was later passed during the meeting.

Ordinance 154, which was tabled at a recent meeting, was passed on Thursday. This ordinance deals with wage and benefit adjustments for non-union employees. In a prior meeting, the council had expressed concern surrounding the financial ramifications this could have on the city.

Councilman Mike Scales explained that this ordinance was meant to allocate funds in anticipation of a forthcoming ordinance, ensuring financial readiness.

“(City Director of Budget and Purchasing Mitch) Dimmerling and myself have been working on this since January and looking at the trends where we’re going, we figured we could afford it and still have some money for this Stabilization Fund.” said Scales.

Councilman Jon Grimm expressed concerns about advancing funds before the corresponding ordinance had been passed.

“I understand what Mr. Scales is doing, but again, as I’ve expressed before, I think this is kind of put in the cart before the horse.” said Grimm. “This is to fund an ordinance that hasn’t even been passed yet. I don’t see the rush on getting this in, so I will not be supporting it.”

Ordinance 154 was passed with a 4-2 vote with Grimm and Councilman Ben Rutherford voting in opposition.

Ordinance 167 was also adopted by council, the ordinance covered a raise for seasonal employees for the city of Marietta. The wages, according to Scales, who is also the Finance Committee chair, will be 100% reimbursable for the city.

Several ordinances received second readings, including a potential loan from the Ohio Water Development Authority. According to a release from the OWDA the city of Marietta could receive $2,442,820.00 at 4.06% interest rate for five years. The loan would cover a detailed design of 63,000 feet of water lines along State Route 7 to increase capacity and replace aging waterlines.

The next regularly scheduled Marietta City Council meeting will take place on Thursday, March 20, in The Armory at 7:30 p.m.