Votes at a glance: Lima City Council amends budget, advances zoning and sends alley vacation and human-relations legislation for further review

Lima City Council on May 19, 2025 approved an amendment to the city’s 2025 budget and a string of ordinances on first reading, unanimously where recorded, and sent several other matters — including a request to vacate an alley segment off Grand Avenue and a proposed Human Relations Commission ordinance — to further consideration.

Front and center, council amended the 2025 annual budget (Ordinance 1-11-25). Councilors voted to replace Exhibit A and then passed the ordinance as amended on first reading by a unanimous roll call. The council also placed the city’s 2026 tax budget (Ordinance 1-12-25) on second reading for further consideration.

Other ordinances passed on first reading by recorded unanimous votes (7-0) covering contracts, equipment disposition, staffing authorizations, donations and routine city purchases. Among those that passed on first reading were: - Ordinance 1-13-25: amendment to a contract with Utility Metering Solutions (first reading, passed 7-0). - Ordinance 1-14-25: authorize online equipment disposal via govdeals.com (passed 7-0). - Ordinance 1-15-25: contract with Lima Memorial Occupational Health (passed 7-0). - Ordinance 1-16-25: contract with Fire Safety Services for the fire department (passed 7-0). - Ordinance 1-17-25: purchase of a Ford F-350 for the fire department (passed 7-0). - Ordinance 1-18-25: accept anonymous donation for Limeade Community Aquatic Park (passed 7-0). - Ordinance 1-19-25: accept donation of 55-gallon barrels from Lima Pallet for park trash receptacles (passed 7-0). - Ordinance 1-20-25: accept an anonymous donation supporting Simmons Field renovation (passed 7-0). - Ordinance 1-21-25 and 1-22-25: amendments to authorized positions in Public Works and Housing & Neighborhoods (both passed 7-0). - Ordinance 1-24-25: amend the city zoning map to reclassify parcels in Northern Heights Extension and Main Street Plaza to Class 2 residential (passed 7-0). - Ordinance 1-25-25: contract with CDW Government and Rapid7 (passed 7-0).

Items moved for further review or to additional committee work included the petition to vacate an alley segment off Grand Avenue between Elizabeth Street and Main Street (Ordinance 1-23-25). During the public hearing, several neighbors asked questions about access to garages and the length of the alley; Public Works staff explained Air Force Community Schools is seeking to vacate the entrance off Grand so parcels owned by the school may be used as a playground, while access from Murphy Street would remain for properties north of the school. After the administration requested additional investigation, a pending motion to pass the vacation ordinance on first reading was withdrawn; council formally placed Ordinance 1-23-25 on second reading for further study.

Council also considered Ordinance 1-26-25, amending the codified ordinances regarding the Human Relations Commission. The ordinance failed to pass on first reading by a 4-3 roll call split (Gordon, Nipper and Dixon voted no; Thompson, Jordan, Jones and Glenn voted yes). Council moved that item to second reading for further work. Ordinance 1-27-25 (amending council-authorized employment positions) was placed in council of the whole and put on second reading as well.

Other procedural votes recorded during the meeting included typical consent-calendar and communications actions: the council received and filed routine communications, authorized the clerk to object to a liquor transfer request from the Ohio Division of Liquor Control and to request a hearing in the city for one application, and authorized a no-objection notice on another application. Those communications votes were approved on the council floor by voice votes as shown in the minutes.

What happens next: items placed on second reading and those sent to council of the whole will return for additional debate at a future meeting; the clerk’s office will publish required legal notices for upcoming public hearings as directed by council.