Council adopts four resolutions, directs staff on electric aggregation and assigns ordinance to committees

The Grandview Heights City Council on Monday adopted four resolutions and took staff-direction related to the city’s electric aggregation program.

Resolutions: The council approved four separate resolutions by roll call. - Resolution 01-2025: The council voted to join the Ohio chapter of the national America250 initiative to help plan events for the nation’s 250th anniversary. Roll-call votes recorded in the transcript were all “yes.” - Resolution 02-2025: The council self-certified a $50,000 micro-purchase threshold for use of federal funds, a routine annual housekeeping action required for federal grants. Roll-call votes recorded in the transcript were all “yes.” - Resolution 03-2025: The council authorized disposal of surplus city property by Internet auction or other permissible means and allowed vehicle/equipment trade-ins when appropriate. Roll-call votes recorded in the transcript were all “yes.” The resolution reflected a minor change clarifying trade-in procedures for items such as medical devices. - Resolution 04-2025: The council adopted a resolution opposing AT&T’s tariff revision filed with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio that would, the city attorney said, shift pole-moving costs to municipalities. Council authorized the city to work with other municipalities and the municipal league to seek intervention at PUCO. Roll-call votes recorded in the transcript were all “yes.”

Why it matters: Resolution 04 addresses a potential regulatory change the city said could impose unplanned costs on municipalities by allowing a utility to shift pole relocation and related expenses to local governments. City officials described the item as time-sensitive because tariff filings can be automatically adopted if PUCO does not act within a statutory window.

Electric aggregation discussion and direction: The council spent an extended portion of the meeting discussing whether to remain in a regional electric-consortium purchasing arrangement or move all accounts to the city’s clean-energy aggregation program. Director Becky Miller provided account and usage numbers and said the consortium currently supplies the city’s largest accounts while about 24 accounts are in the city aggregation and 16 are on the consortium. She said a conservative estimate of a 2-cent-per-kilowatt-hour price difference would cost the city about $26,000 annually on roughly 1,300,000 kilowatt-hours used by consortium accounts.

Council members debated the trade-off between immediate budget savings and the climate benefits of buying cleaner energy. Several members said they favored clean energy despite the cost; others urged fiscal caution given budget pressures and new facilities coming online. The council did not take a final formal vote to change suppliers. Instead, members directed staff to: - Ask the consortium for shorter initial contract terms or flexibility (staff indicated the initial contract term can be two years with extensions up to five); - Ask the consortium about any green-energy options or plans to increase the share of renewables in its supply mix; and - Re-evaluate pricing and the city’s position before committing beyond the initial term.

Planning referral: Ordinance 2025-01, an amendment to Chapters 355 and 351 of the city code regarding the northeast quadrant (a change prompted by a 2023 resident petition and a public study), was assigned to the Planning & Administration and Safety committees for further review.

Roll-call tallies and votes at a glance: The transcript records unanimous roll-call approvals for the four resolutions; the clerk read roll calls for each item and each returned “yes.” The transcript did not record any “no” or abstain votes on the four resolutions presented.