Napoleon City Council approves three emergency pay-increase ordinances, awards water-plant chemical bids and confirms board appointments

Napoleon — The Napoleon City Council on Dec. 30 approved three ordinances declaring emergency pay increases for city officials, awarded annual chemical contracts for the city’s water and wastewater treatment plants and confirmed multiple mayoral board appointments, including Judge Elizabeth Schuller as the public-sector representative to the Northwestern Ohio Community Action Commission governing board.

The pay-increase ordinances — Ordinance 04724 (law director), Ordinance 04824 (finance director) and Ordinance 04924 (city manager) — were considered on second reading under suspension of the third-reading rule and passed on roll calls during the meeting. Council members recorded “yes” votes during roll calls for each ordinance (Tom; Dr. Dave; Brittany; Ross; Ken; Jordan). The council also approved a motion to suspend the reading requirement so the increases could take effect immediately, citing payroll timing concerns.

The council approved awards for the fiscal-year 2025 chemical contracts used at the water treatment and wastewater treatment plants. Two vendors submitted bids: Uselco and Chemtrade. The memorandum provided to council lists Uselco as the successful bidder for aluminum chlorohydrate and Chemtrade as the successful bidder for liquid aluminum sulfate. Council voted to award the contracts by roll call (Tom; Dr. Dave; Brittany; Ross; Ken; Bob; Jordan).

On appointments, the council approved multiple mayoral reappointments to city boards and commissions in a single motion and later confirmed a requested appointment from the Northwestern Ohio Community Action Commission: Judge Elizabeth Schuller was approved to serve as the public-sector representative on that commission’s governing board after the previous public-sector seat became vacant. Roll call approvals were recorded for the reappointments and for Judge Schuller (Tom; Dr. Dave; Brittany; Ross; Ken; Jody). The city clerk said the commission notified council late in the previous week and requested the council’s approval of Schuller’s appointment.

The council also moved and approved reappointments of current members to select boards and commissions in one motion; the roll call on that item recorded “yes” votes from Tom, Dr. Dave, Brittany, Ross, Ken and Jordan.

No ordinance discussed at the meeting included additional ordinance text or salary amounts in the public transcript; the meeting record identifies each ordinance by number and purpose only (for example, “ordinance authorizing a pay increase for the city of Napoleon, Ohio law director”). Council members and staff said the emergency/suspension procedure was chosen so the changes would apply before the next payroll cycle.

The meeting included routine consent items, a reminder to file annual financial-disclosure statements, and an executive session on compensation of personnel after which no additional public action was reported.

Votes at a glance: - Ordinance 04724 (law director pay increase) — Passed (roll call: Tom; Dr. Dave; Brittany; Ross; Ken; Jordan) - Ordinance 04824 (finance director pay increase) — Passed (roll call: Tom; Dr. Dave; Brittany; Ross; Ken; Jordan) - Ordinance 04924 (city manager pay increase) — Passed (roll call: Tom; Dr. Dave; Brittany; Ross; Ken; Jordan) - Award: Water/wastewater chemicals — Uselco: aluminum chlorohydrate; Chemtrade: liquid aluminum sulfate — Award approved (roll call: Tom; Dr. Dave; Brittany; Ross; Ken; Bob; Jordan) - Appointment: Judge Elizabeth Schuller, public-sector representative, Northwestern Ohio Community Action Commission governing board — Approved (roll call: Tom; Dr. Dave; Brittany; Ross; Ken; Jody) - Reappointments to select city boards and commissions — Approved (roll call: Tom; Dr. Dave; Brittany; Ross; Ken; Jordan)

Council members and staff said several of the emergency/suspension votes were timed so changes would be effective with the next payroll; staff advised that payroll processing would be affected if the council delayed action. The awards to Uselco and Chemtrade were described in staff memoranda as the result of the city's standard annual bidding process; two firms were the sole bidders listed in the memo for the listed chemicals.

The council set an executive session on personnel compensation and then returned to finish reappointment votes. There was no public comment recorded on the payroll ordinances, the chemical awards or the appointments during the meeting.