Council approves finance, development and personnel measures in series of voice votes

The City Council of Saint Marys approved a bundle of finance, development and personnel measures during its meeting, including authorization for a third-party tax collector, an assignment of an investment-advisory contract, pension funding for 2026, an unrestricted fund-balance transfer, multiple CDBG actions and land-development approvals, and the appointment of a new police chief.

Councilors moved quickly through several routine and substantive items. Treasurer Matt reported fiscal-year-to-date numbers for general-fund revenue and expenditures and then the council handled a sequence of resolutions and motions that passed by voice vote. "Total revenue for the general fund as of 08/31/2025 is at 6,200,000.0 or 69% of the budget," Matt said in his report. Joe summarized an assignment request from an investment adviser and described the proposed change in parent ownership while saying that operational relationships with the adviser would not change.

Why this matters: the approvals affect city fiscal operations, pension funding, use of federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) dollars and local land-development approvals that have neighborhood impact.

What the council approved (selected items): - Resolution 25-10 (authorizing the finance director as liaison with Berkheimer/Berkheimer to handle local-service-tax matters) — motion made and approved by voice vote. - Resolution 25-11 (assignment of investment advisory contract from CS McGee to its new parent/holding company) — presented by Joe and approved by voice vote. - 2026 minimum municipal obligation (pension): council approved contributions into the non-uniform pension plan, described in the meeting as $620,000 with an increase of $11,870 from the prior figure as stated during discussion. - Unrestricted fund-balance transfer for infrastructure — approved by motion and voice vote. - Approval for Berkheimer to collect the city’s local service tax (LST) — approved by motion and voice vote; council discussed that Berkheimer would handle mailings and electronic processing and that some employers remit the LST in installments. - 2023 CDBG modification (Memorial Park): council approved a grant modification to remove two specific spots and repave those areas so the project could meet ADA elements for the lot. - 2025 CDBG tentative projects: council approved the tentative project list as presented. - Land development reviews (Snappy, Goodwill): both were approved; Goodwill’s approval included a council condition on view-shed/landscaping behind Deckers Chapel (see separate article). - Appointment of Kenneth Michael Schaeffer as chief of police, effective Jan. 1, 2026, with swearing in at the Jan. 5, 2026 reorganization meeting — approved by motion and voice vote.

Many approvals were acted on by motion with a second and concluded with the clerk or mayor calling for "All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it," indicating voice votes rather than recorded roll-call tallies.

Council members and staff emphasized that some changes (for example, the investment-adviser assignment) would not alter day-to-day service or management of the city’s pension plans. On the local-service-tax collection, staff and council discussed that some employers remit the LST in multiple installments, and that Berkheimer was viewed as having more modern processing technology than the current local collector.

The council set no additional implementation deadlines at the meeting beyond the effective date for the chief of police and routine timelines for CDBG project administration.

Ending: The meeting concluded after citizen comments and council announcements; the next scheduled council meeting was listed as Oct. 20, 2025.