Village of Fairfax adopts emergency ordinance to defer loan payments for Little Miami Joint Fire and Rescue District

Unidentified Speaker 1 (meeting chair) said the council was considering an emergency measure to help the local fire district by deferring loan payments until 2021, citing pandemic-related expenses. "This is what I called everybody about to talk to you about, due to the pandemic and, seeing expenses that so that we could help the fire district right now that we, defer the payments until 2021," the chair said.

Council members moved to suspend the three readings and adopt Ordinance 15-2020 as an emergency measure. The motion to suspend readings was seconded; a roll-call vote followed and the chair announced, "Ordinance number 15 20 20 has been adopted." The transcript records affirmative roll-call responses from the members present.

Why it matters: the ordinance temporarily changes the village's loan agreement timeline with Little Miami Joint Fire and Rescue District so that payments originally due in 2020 are deferred to 2021. Council framed the change as a short-term fiscal relief step intended to assist the regional fire district during operational and revenue uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

What the ordinance does: the council authorized the village administrator to execute an amendment to the loan agreement with Little Miami Joint Fire and Rescue District, declaring the matter an emergency and adjusting payment dates. The ordinance text and formal agreement language were referenced in the meeting but are not printed in the transcript provided.

Next steps: the ordinance was adopted during the April 3 meeting. The council did not record additional conditions, a sunset date beyond the 2021 deferral, or a detailed repayment schedule in the transcript; those specifics would be found in the executed amendment and loan documents.

Provenance: topicintro: SEG 377; topfinish: SEG 429.