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Lakemore council approves hiring, reappointments, OPWC application and pay adjustments
Summary
The council approved a package of resolutions to hire and reinstate part-time police and fire personnel, reappoint zoning and planning members, authorize an application to the Ohio Public Works Commission for emergency water-main replacement funds and approve several salary increases and appropriations.
The Village of Lakemore council approved a bundle of administrative and capital measures during the meeting, adopting multiple resolutions and one ordinance that together address personnel, board appointments and emergency infrastructure work.
Personnel: Council approved Resolution 7527-2026 to hire Luke Theodore Rhodes as a part-time patrol officer; Rhodes was sworn in at the meeting and took the oath required under Ohio Revised Code section 737.16. The council also adopted a sequence of resolutions approving hires, reinstatements and resignations in the Lakemore Fire Department (including approvals to reinstate Allison Stahl and Doug King and to hire Jacob Bostick, Connor Hostetler, Noah Denzer and Cohen Marzilli), and accepted the resignation of Ricardo Calzada as a part-time firefighter medic. Several reappointments and board transfers were approved, including reappointments to the Board of Zoning and Building Appeals and Planning Commission members.
Pay and hiring authority: The council approved multiple salary adjustments for public service employees (for example, Christopher Alderman to $31 per hour, Jean Taylor to $26.50 per hour and others at amounts specified in the resolutions). Ordinances updated pay scales for police and fire personnel and a broader ordinance amended the village's 2026 appropriations to increase fire-salary funding and small adjustments across other funds.
Infrastructure and contracts: Council authorized the mayor and village administrator to apply to the Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC) for emergency funds to replace Springfield Lake Drive water main and to advertise, accept bids and execute contracts as required. The transcript records acceptance of professional engineering proposals for sanitary-sewer improvement phase 2 (Hamentry and Associates, estimated $96,000) and an engineering proposal for Springfield Lake Drive emergency water line replacement (estimate $26,000).
Public comment and follow-up: In public comment, John Yergan urged the council to ask the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to deny FirstEnergy's request to increase allowable outage response times; the council discussed PUCO contact methods. Terry Dodson requested a meeting with staff to resolve alleged discrepancies in his water and sewer bills. Council later moved to enter executive session to discuss employee matters and a council vacancy; no final public action on those internal matters was recorded in the public portion of the meeting.
Outcome and next steps: The hiring and hiring-authority resolutions were adopted by roll call and some were declared emergency measures so that new hires and reappointments could proceed. The OPWC application was authorized and village staff indicated they will proceed with grant applications, bidding and contract execution as allowed by the adopted resolution.
