London City Council adopts multiple ordinances and resolutions; suspends three-reading rule for ODOT salt contract

The London City Council on a single night approved a package of ordinances and resolutions covering surplus property sales, trash-hauling procurement, police-records fees, contractor permit fees and liability limits, and participation in an ODOT road-salt contract — the latter after the council suspended the three-reading rule so the city could meet an external deadline.

The measures affect city procurement and revenue and change permit and record-request fees that affect contractors, residents and city administration.

At the meeting the council moved and adopted the following measures (votes recorded by roll call as shown in the minutes):

Votes at a glance

- Resolution 128.25 — Authorize advertisement for bids for personal property no longer needed for city purposes (surplus equipment). Motion to adopt made on third reading and adopted by roll call (recorded as all present voting yes).

- Resolution 130.25 — Authorize safety-service director to advertise for bids for trash-hauling services. Adopted on third reading by roll call (recorded as all present voting yes). Transcript notes the current contract runs until November and the measure sends the service out to bid.

- Ordinance 131.25 — Amend section 209 of the codified ordinances to establish charges for preparing law-enforcement video records. Adopted on third reading by roll call (recorded as all present voting yes).

- Ordinance 132.25 — Amend section 1446 of the codified ordinances to increase contractor permit prices from $25 to $100 and update liability-insurance minimums (certificate of liability insurance of not less than $500,000 per occurrence and $1,000,000 aggregate). The council approved the amended language and adopted the ordinance on third reading by roll call (recorded as all present voting yes).

- Resolution 135.25 — Authorize participation in the ODOT Road SALT contracts awarded in 2025. Council suspended the three-reading rule so the city could meet the May 2, 5 p.m. deadline for participation in the procurement pool and then adopted the resolution (suspension and adoption recorded by roll call; emergency clause included in the resolution).

What the votes change and why they matter

The adopted measures allow the city to sell or dispose of surplus equipment, put the city’s trash-hauling contract out for competitive bids, and update fees and insurance requirements that apply to contractors working in London. The ODOT salt-pool participation was time-sensitive; council members said joining the pool is intended to obtain a lower per-ton price for winter salt. The contractor-permit ordinance raises permit fees and increases minimum liability insurance language that city staff and council said had been amended since the last packet and will be reflected in final documents.

Items left on the agenda

Council discussed but did not adopt major development items that remain on the agenda for further review: a commercial tax-increment financing (TIF) ordinance and a related New Community Authority (NCA) resolution were left on the docket so the school board could finalize related language and documents.

Procedure and next steps

Several measures were adopted on third reading; the salt agreement required suspension of the three-reading rule because of an external procurement deadline. For items that remained on the agenda — notably the commercial TIF and NCA matters — council members said they expected documentation from the school board and anticipated a special session or continuation at the May 1 meeting.