Wooster Council approves multiple budgeted equipment purchases and vacates polluted alley to allow cleanup

The Wooster City Council on Feb. 3 approved seven budgeted equipment purchases, including a Ford Ranger inspection vehicle, a new asphalt distributor truck, a dump truck and multiple crew vehicles, and voted to vacate an unnamed alley so a contaminated site can be consolidated and remediated.

The purchases were presented as budgeted items and drew little debate. Council members voted unanimously on each item during roll calls conducted by Clerk Miss Hamilton. The ordinance vacating the unnamed east–west alley (Ordinance 2025-01) passed the council’s three-reading rule and was adopted the same night to allow the single adjacent property owner to obtain full site control for environmental cleanup.

Why it matters: the equipment votes authorize planned replacements that city officials say keep the public-works fleet and utility systems functioning; the alley vacation removes a legal impediment the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the property owner said was preventing final cleanup steps on a contaminated parcel.

Most important facts - The council adopted Resolution 2025-06 to purchase a Ford Ranger as an inspection vehicle; Resolution 2025-07 to buy replacement meter transmission units for utility automation; Resolution 2025-08 to extend the city’s…