Circleville council passes emergency ordinances including $5,000 archives grant and budget adjustments

Circleville City Council on May 20, 2025 voted to pass multiple emergency ordinances, approving a $5,000 archival grant, several appropriation amendments that returned $839,163.38 to the general fund and other targeted budget adjustments, authorized participation in an ODOT road-salt contract, and levied assessments for weed abatements on five city lots.

The measures were presented largely by Finance Chair Katie Hedges and approved after motions to suspend council rules and immediate roll-call votes. Hedges told council the appropriation work came out of an April 29 finance meeting and “resulted in a $839,163.38 returned to the budget.” She added that “$340,361 were cut specifically related to the levy not passing.”

Why it matters: the appropriation changes reallocate unspent or unfilled line items back to the general fund and enact urgent purchases and assessments the administration said are needed before the next budgeting cycle. Mayor Michelle Blanton earlier noted the administration would continue discussions with council about a series of budget cuts and the ordinance package on the evening’s agenda.

Details: Council approved an ordinance to enter into an Ohio Archives grant agreement with the Ohio Historic Records Advisory Board to accept a $5,000 award intended to support a city records project. Hedges said the clerk led the grant application and “we were awarded that grant.” The council approved the ordinance by roll call after suspending the rules.

The finance committee presented multiple appropriation amendments and adjustments across city funds. Hedges described much of the returned $839,163.38 as the result of positions that had not been filled yet this year and other housekeeping adjustments. Council also approved additional appropriations and transfers to cover municipal court contributions and the parks-and-recreation items; the packet materials referenced $138,800 in total adjustments of which roughly $130,000 were court contributions and about $3,900 were for “movies in the park.”

The service committee presented an ordinance authorizing the director of public service to participate in an ODOT contract for road salt for the coming winter; council approved the authorization and declared it an emergency so the city could join the state purchasing contract.

On nuisance enforcement, the judicial committee reported the city had cut and abated weeds on five properties and council authorized levying assessments to recover those costs. Judicial committee chair Tom (presented at the meeting) summarized the work and said city crews had performed the cuts and the ordinance assigns the charges to the affected lots.

Quotes and process notes: Tom said of the weed abatements, “we're actually going out and, basically, charging these folks for the work that we have had to do to cut those lawns.” Hedges and other councilors repeatedly moved to suspend rules so ordinances could be passed at first reading; roll-call votes recorded affirmative votes from the councilors present on the listed motions and final passages.

Next steps: Ordinances declared emergencies took immediate effect as recorded. The administration and council will continue budget discussions in follow-up meetings; Hedges announced an additional finance meeting on May 27 to continue the budget-cut conversation.