Between the COVID-19 crisis and unseasonable weather, Chardon residents are living the reality of the old saying, “when it rains, it pours.”
Between the COVID-19 crisis and unseasonable weather, Chardon residents are living the reality of the old saying, “when it rains, it pours.”
But Finance Director Mate Rogonjic told Chardon City Council at its meeting May 16 Chardon still has money in its rainy day fund and could weather this storm.
The city has identified budget reductions of $636,000 and placed holds on roughly $500,000 more expenditures, Finance Committee Chair Nancy McArthur said.
The committee approved those cuts at its May 7 meeting.
Rogonjic told council his department pulled records of the financial impact of the Great Recession, between 2007 and 2010, on income tax and unemployment claims. That data allowed his team to predict about 8,500 unemployment claims would be filed in 2020.
Those numbers, extrapolated onto the city’s 2020 budget, produced an estimated 10.75-percent drop in income tax, which Rogonjic said could lead to a potential loss of over $700,000 in income tax revenue.
“But with that said, we’re not touching any of the $2.1 million dollars that we have in the operating reserve, (which is) just basically our rainy day fund,” Rogonjic added. “So, we haven’t touched any of those funds, yet.”
City Manager Randy Sharpe said parks and recreation programs will remain cancelled, although Gov. Mike DeWine recently ordered a limited reopening of public spaces. The city pool was scheduled to open May 23 and the first concert in the park was planned for June 5.
The Ohio Department of Health website had not yet posted the protocols and guidance for opening public pools or operating sports and day camps — meaning the city would have little time to enact the protocols to open the programs on time, Sharpe said.
Sharpe said he believed some protocols could include cleaning restrooms, facilities and fixtures like lounge chairs every two hours, as well as limiting the number of people allowed in the pool facility at a time.
Although day camps would be allowed to open May 31, with the first originally schedule for June 8, Sharpe said he did not know if it would be feasible to run the programs.
“The day camp in particular is an environment where it’s really high contact,” Sharpe said. “There’s a high potential of those number of contacts between the children and there’s not a real high likelihood of being able to modify their behavior and to try to contain the (novel coronavirus).”
Adam Rogers, parks and recreation director, told council some complications of reopening the pool revolve around the long season of pre-planning that takes place every year, including hiring of staff in March and April.
“So there’s a lot of moving parts that I guess have been put on hold because of the lack of information,” Rogers said. “They’re saying things are able to open up right now. But without knowing the guidelines needed to safely run the pool and safely run the camp for residents, it’s going to be challenging once those roll in to see what we need to do to make it safe.”
Although the pool is currently filled, Sharpe said after the meeting it will stay filled for cleaning and maintenance purposes and also because leaving it empty for a year could compromise its structural integrity.
Sharpe’s final recommendation to council was to keep the pool closed – not only due to uncertainty over rules around reopening, but because doing so would save the city around $63,000 out of a budget hit hard by tax revenue losses.
The Chardon Square Association, led by Beans Coffee Shop owner Slyvia McGee, is working with the city on plans to hold the weekly farmers market on the square.
Council member Heather Means said it would probably look different than in the past, but the group hopes to be running by mid-June if possible.
The July 3 fireworks show has been cancelled, as well as Old Glory Day and Chardon KidsFest. Sharpe said groups are still working to determine whether and how to go forward with events such as the Arts Festival, Harvest Handmade Happenings, the Chamber of Commerce Car Show, First Fridays and Dog Days.
Director of Public Service Paul Hornyak said plans to repair the gazebo on the square have been moved up to take advantage of cancelled activities.
Hornyak said Randy Darling, of Chardon-based construction firm Ayrshire, Inc., has committed to supplying materials and labor to do all the structural rehabilitation at the gazebo.
The donation should bring the cost to the city under $100,000, Hornyak said, adding some local contractors have shown interest in doing the balance of the work to complete the remodel possibly before the end of June.
Means, chairperson of the Theater Ad Hoc Committee, presented a report working to address the recent breakup of the Geauga Lyric Theater Guild. GLTG property will revert to the city May 20, the day it is in legal violation of its lease with the city. The city, aided by Law Director Ben Chojnacki, will establish a process for property claims and address them on a case-by-case basis.
Means also said the timeline to reopening the theater is uncertain, especially considering the current public health crisis.
