Perrysburg City Council approves emergency budget, CRA action and municipal court software upgrade

Perrysburg City Council on Jan. 21 passed several emergency ordinances and resolutions by roll call vote and approved a council appointment, moving a set of budget, contract and administrative items forward for immediate effect.

The measures, taken during the regular council meeting, included an amendment to 2025 appropriations, finalizing a community reinvestment area (CRA) agreement tied to a downtown redevelopment parcel, authorization to solicit bids or use state-approved purchasing programs for vehicles and equipment included in the 2025 budget, and a resolution to fund a municipal court software upgrade. Council also accepted a resignation from a council representative on the local Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) board and confirmed Carrie Wellstein as the replacement.

Why it matters: The appropriation amendment and related emergency declarations speed budget adjustments before the end of the month; the municipal court software upgrade — a $95,730 contract proposed with Henshin and Associates Incorporated — will replace the court’s current system and is intended to be funded from the court’s designated computer fund and 2025 budget adjustments rather than the general fund. The CRA action and vehicle purchasing authorization affect local redevelopment incentives and the city’s capital-equipment procurement schedule.

Committee and staff briefing highlights

At the Finance and Economic Development Committee meeting on Jan. 14, staff reported the city collected $2,040,000 for the month of December 2024 (up 9% from December 2023) and total collections for the year ending Dec. 31, 2024 were $27,300,000 (up 2.9% from 2023). Staff member Amber Ratburn told the committee that the municipal court has budgeted half the cost of the software upgrade and the remainder is covered in the 2025 budget adjustments; the project total listed was $95,730.

Other administrative items relayed to council included installation delays for recently purchased AEDs due to weather, a health insurance fund balance of just over $1,700,000 at the end of 2024 which helped absorb rate increases for 2025, fourth-quarter investment income of $887,682 (and more than $3,400,000 in interest income for 2024), and a 2024 credit-card rebate from Huntington Bank totaling $9,883.85 that will be placed in the general fund.

The committee also discussed a requested rescission of a CRA abatement previously approved for Main Street Retail Enterprises LLC related to a property at 135 W. Indiana; the company informed the city it would not proceed with the project as originally envisioned, and the committee moved that rescission to council for action.

Council actions and outcomes

- Ordinance 1-2025: Amendment to appropriations for current expenses and other expenditures for the year ending Dec. 31, 2025; declared an emergency and adopted by roll call. Outcome: passed (emergency).

- Ordinance 2-2025: Authorization related to a Community Reinvestment Area agreement with Main Street Enterprises LLC and B Enterprises LLC (d/b/a B Couture); declared an emergency and adopted by roll call. Outcome: passed (emergency).

- Resolution 3-2025: Authorizing the mayor and director of finance to advertise for bids and/or participate in State of Ohio approved purchasing programs for vehicles and equipment approved in the 2025 budget and to trade in or sell vehicles and equipment; declared an emergency and adopted by roll call. Outcome: passed (emergency).

- Resolution 4-2025: Authorizing payment to Henshin and Associates Incorporated to upgrade the municipal court’s software system; declared an emergency and adopted by roll call. The municipal court will use its court computer fund plus budget adjustments for the expense. Outcome: passed (emergency).

- Resolution 2-2025 (separately numbered in the meeting packet): Approval of certificates (itemized as attached in the meeting exhibit) in an amount recorded in the minutes; declared an emergency and adopted by roll call. Outcome: passed (emergency).

- Resolution 5-2025: Supporting the America250 Ohio designation and declaring an emergency to process the designation before month-end; council noted the designation could make grant funds available for events tied to the commemoration. Outcome: passed (emergency).

- CVB board representation: Council accepted a resignation from a council representative on the Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) board and confirmed Carrie Wellstein as the replacement council representative by roll call vote. Outcome: appointment approved.

Procedural notes and executive sessions

Council suspended rules to allow single-reading and emergency adoption for several items. The council also recessed into two executive sessions during the meeting: one to consider confidential marketing/business strategy information, trade secrets or comparable confidential information and another to discuss the potential purchase of real property; no public action followed those executive sessions during this meeting.

What council did not decide

No final policy changes on CRA policy, procurement rules or long-term court funding were made beyond the specific votes above. Where the transcript records only that an item was forwarded from committee, the council moved those items to formal votes tonight rather than deferring further; details of future implementation (timelines, vendor start dates) were not specified in the meeting record.

Next steps

Council noted its next regular meeting date and several committee meetings were scheduled in late January and early February. Several items approved as emergency measures will be processed administratively in short order as outlined in the motions and accompanying staff reports.