Council approves several routine ordinances, adopts annual appropriation as emergency

The Cortland City Council approved several routine ordinances on March 16 and adopted its annual appropriation ordinance as an emergency to meet a county auditor deadline.

Council moved and approved ordinances authorizing an agreement with the Trumbull County Commissioners for indigent court services; an agreement with Alexander’s Pest Control Inc. for mosquito control; and an agreement with the Ohio Fire Chiefs Association to provide testing services for upcoming fire chief and captain vacancies. These items were taken on their third and final readings and passed by roll-call votes: O06-26 (indigent services) passed with recorded yes votes; O07-26 (mosquito control) passed with six yes votes and one no; O08-26 (testing services) passed with recorded yes votes.

The council also considered O09-26, the annual appropriation ordinance for the city’s 2026 fiscal year. The finance director said time constraints required an emergency designation so the city’s filing can be accepted by the county auditor by April 1. The council approved the emergency declaration on a roll-call vote (one abstention recorded) and then approved the ordinance itself (one abstention recorded).

Clerk-conducted roll calls provided the official votes for each item. Where members registered formal abstentions during the emergency or ordinance votes, the clerk recorded those responses on the roll-call record.

The council did not debate major policy changes as part of these votes; exchanges focused on procedural questions and scheduling. The meeting moved on to other agenda items after the approvals.